[Date not given.]
I. Nature of hope.
No man since the fall, probably no creature, can be satisfied with the present. Here is always either some evil pressing on us, some capacity of enjoyment unfilled, or some desire for the perpetuity of what we possess, which passes beyond the present into the future. This expectation and desire of future good is hope. Its object is the unseen. This desire and expectation of future good is, 1. The spring of all activity. 2. With regard to sinners under the sentence of the law, and in prospect of eternity, it is indispensable to any rational peace.
II. Good Hope; that is, a well founded hope. It is a hope directed towards what is truly good.
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Some men are insensible and indifferent with regard to their future destiny. This state of mind is (a.) Irrational. (b.) Unsatisfying, (c.) Precarious, (d.) Destructive.
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Others have a hope, but it is not good. It is founded (a.) On the general mercy of God. (b.) On their relation to the church. (c.) On the assumption that all are to be saved. (d.) On assumed revelations. (e.) On spurious religious experience of. (f.) On the assumption of our own goodness. The general basis therefore, of a false hope is error; either error as to the purpose of God in reference to the punishment of sin, or error as to the conditions on which exemption from sin is promised, or as to our having fulfilled or experienced those conditions. A good hope is, therefore, (a.) A hope which is founded on the truth, on the promise of God, and the work of Christ. (b.) One which we have a right to entertain, i.e., which is the genuine fruit of the Spirit; not an unauthorized anticipation on our part, but one which is inseparable from faith. (c.) One which has for its object the infinite blessings of redemption, sometimes Christ’s coming, sometimes the resurrection, sometimes the glory of God. Towards this the whole creation looks forward with earnest expectation.
III. Through grace, i.e., a hope which God graciously gives, and gives in the exercise of his grace. God gives us this hope, 1. In that he promises to us the blessings which are the object of our hope.
- Because he produces in our minds the exercise of our hope.
IV. Evidence that a hope is good.
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That it has a scriptural foundation; that is, that it rests on the promise of God clearly revealed in his word.
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That it has scriptural blessings for its objects; not earthly good or millennial prosperity, but conformity to Christ, and the enjoyment of him forever.
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That this hope sanctifies the soul, makes us pure even as he is pure.
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That it is the fruit of faith, which is by appropriate evidence proved to be genuine.
V. This hope,
- Is a helmet. 2. Is an anchor. 3. Is to the soul what wings are to the eagle. It elevates it above the world. It raises us toward heaven, and fills us with its spirit.
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