Our Hope

But I believe confidently, that the standard of requirement I have set
up, is not a whit too high. I believe that the man who has a "good hope"
will always be able to give some account of it.
II. In the second place, a good hope is a hope that is drawn from
Scripture. What says David? "I hope in Your word." "Remember the
word unto Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope." What
says Paul? "Whatever things were written
, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of
the Scriptures, might have hope." (Psalm 119:81, 49. Rom. 15:4.)
If our hope is sound we ought to be able to turn to some text, or fact, or
doctrine of God's Word, as the source of it. Our confidence must arise
from something which God has caused to be written in the Bible for our
learning, and which our heart has received and believed.
It is not enough to have good feelings about the state of our
souls. We may flatter ourselves that all is right, and that we are going to
heaven when we die, and yet have nothing to show for our expectations
but mere fancy and imagination. "The heart is deceitful above all
things." "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool." (Jer. 17:9. Prov. 28:26.) I
have frequently heard dying people say that "they felt quite happy and
ready to go." I have heard them say that "they felt as if they craved
nothing in this world." And all this time I have remarked that they were
profoundly ignorant of Scripture, and seemed unable to lay firm hold
on a single truth of the Gospel! I never can feel comfort about such
people. I am persuaded that there is something wrong in their
condition. Good feelings, without some warrant of Scripture, do not
make up a good hope.
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