CHRIST OUR HOPE

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." -I Corinthians 15:19 [KJV]

Here is a supposition, and a consequence drawn from it. Consider, (1st.) This hope in Christ. It is not common to all men. It is a precious grace of the Holy Spirit. It springs from faith in Christ. It looks to the promises in Christ, and is nourished and supported by them. It is a lively hope. We are “begotten again to it, according to the abundant mercy of God our Father, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3.) By it, we are made to differ from all other men, who, though they may talk of hope in God, yet have no hope; but are without Christ, and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12.) Here is the proof of it: “Every man who hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I John 3:3.) 

Mind—Christ is the object of this hope. It is in, or on Christ. The man who is the subject of it, purifies himself. How? By the blood of Christ, and by the grace of Christ. From what?— From all sin: from the love of this world; from the pomps and vanities of it. He lives not in them; he walks not after them; he hates them; he despises them. Hope on Christ springs up in his heart: that kills the love of the world in him. 

(2d.) What is it to have hope in this life only? have our prospect hounded by the narrow limits of time and sense; to take up with the joys and pleasures of the present world; to set our affections on them, and seek all our happiness in them, without looking after and longing for the invisible glories of a better world. 

(3d.) Why then are we of all men the most miserable? (1st.) Because we are new creatures in Christ; we have a new and spiritual nature in and from Him; we have communion and fellowship with Him: therefore, we cannot enjoy the pleasures, honours, and riches of the world, as other men do. We are “crucified to the world” (Galatians 6:14.) (2d.) We are miserable from the malice, hatred, and persecution of the men of the world, for our hope in Christ. 

(3d.) We are miserable from the burden of a body of sin, which others feel not; from the fiery darts of Satan, which at others he shoots not; the workings of unbelief, which others find not; that we ever offend the Lord, which others care not for; that we cannot perfectly and perseveringly obey His will in all things, which others concern not themselves about; that ever the Lord hides His face, and deserts our souls, which others know nothing of. 

From these, and innumerable other things,— Christians, of all other men, are most miserable. But, O blessed hope in Christ! “He is our hope” (I Timothy 1:1.) While Jesus lives, our hope lives. Time, with all its changes, cannot frustrate it; death, with all its terrors, cannot destroy it; eternity, with all its glories, will be the end and fruition of it.

-preacher William Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)