A Godly Man's Hope

    The hope of a godly man is well laid in its ground and foundation. It stands upon a rock: "Christ in you the hope of glory." "I hope in thy word." If our hope be a Scripture hope, it is a "good hope." Being built upon the "everlasting covenant," it is " sure," 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.

    And, in the use and benefit of it, is a helmet: "Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." This hope is a good head-piece in the day of battle. It wards off many a blow. It makes a man "more than conqueror."

    It is an anchor: "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail." The anchor is a stay to the ship. The man possessed of this "hope" shall "not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."

    It is a city of refuge: "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." This is very comfortable when the avenger of blood is at our heels.

    It is a cordial: "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." "By whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work."

    It is a laver in which the possessor purifies himself: "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."

    It is a spell to put him forward in heaven's ways. Issachar bowed because he saw the land was good; see Gen. xlix. 14,15. "I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come."

    And in the end and issue of it this hope is "gladness," Prov. x. 28. It ends well. "The righteous" never fails of what he hopes for. His hope never makes him "ashamed," Rom. v. 5. We are "saved by hope," Rom. viii. 24. Not as we are saved by Christ, and by faith; but saved from sinking in the gulf of despair: saved from being overcome by many temptations.

    Then, "rejoice in hope." How doth a young heir live upon his hopes. Every true Christian is a great heir. Oh that we could live upon our hopes!