THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD.
…
Having treated of Faith in God,
and
of Trust or Confidence in Him,
the next in course to be considered is
the Grace of Hope in God.
…
It is in this order they stand,
“Faith, Hope:-
-Faith is the
“Substance
of Things Hoped for,”
and
therefore “Faith”
and “Hope” go together.
…
Also the same word is rendered
sometimes “Trust,”
and sometimes “Hope,”
because these Graces are so near akin:
thus in (Ephesians 1:12 what we translate,
“Who first Trusted in Christ,”
is in the Greek text,
and so in the margin,
“Who first Hoped in Christ.”
…
4.8.1. The Object, Ground, and Foundation of
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD.
is Jehovah, God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
…
The Object, Ground, and Foundation of
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD
ARE NOT TO BE FOUND
in any Created Creature whatever,
NETHER IN AN Angel
or ANY man OR WOMAN:
NOT IN: the Virgin Mary,
the mother of our Lord,
as the papists impiously
and
blasphemously
address her,
“Salve regina, spes nostra;
Save us, O queen, our hope!”
…
There is NO “HOPE”
IN AN Angel
or ANY man OR WOMAN.
…
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD
ARE NOT TO BE FOUND
in any creature enjoyment;
“If I have made gold my hope,”
the object of “Hope”, says Job,
meaning, he had not
“made gold my hope”;
though some have
made gold their hope,
by placing their hope
of future good in “gold”,
in this life,
to the neglect of a Dependence
on Divine Providence
(Job 31:24), and indeed,
have carried it so far, as to hope and imagine,
that they are the persons
whom God Will Delight in
to Honor in the World to Come
with
Happiness and Bliss,
who have had so great a share
of Temporal Happiness and Bliss
in this Life;
forgetting, or not knowing, that
“not many noble are Called.”
…
ADDITIONALLY,
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD
ARE NOT TO BE FOUND
in ANY
Created Individual’s Merits;
…
WHY NOT ???
…
BECAUSE:
THERE ARE NONE.
…
A Created Individual Human Being
cannot merit anything at the hand of God.
…
A Created Individual Human Being
is not even deserving
of the least temporal Mercy from God,
having sinned against Him.
…
Nor can
A Created Individual Human Being
“give” God anything
which Would Place God
under an obligation to
that Individual Human Being.
…
Nor can
A Created Individual Human Being
“give” God anything “to God”
which God has not Already Have
A Prior Right To.
…
Much less can
A Created Individual Human Being
merit Eternal Happiness of GOD,
and
so have any Hope of Eternal Happiness
on account OF THAT
Individual Human Being’s “merit”.
…
Hope of Eternal Happiness is
“The Free Gift of God
through Christ.”
…
FURTHERMORE:
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD
ARE NOT TO BE FOUND
in ANY
Created Individual’s “righteousness”,
which is the FALSE hope
of the moralist and legalistic lost souls,
who hallucinate that “they” have
Kept all the Precepts of the Law
from their youth,
and
that Regarding
The Righteousness of the Law
that they are “blameless”,
and
are “not as other men are”;
and
they therefore
“hope” for Eternal Life
and Happiness.
…
But such “hope” is like a “spider’s web,”
spun out of their own bowels,
and which has no strength,
solidity, and substance in it;
which, if they lean upon,
“it Will Not Stand;”
and if they attempt to hold it fast,
“it Will Not Endure”
(Job 8:14, 15),
…
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD
ARE NOT TO BE FOUND
in ANY
Supposed Privileges of Birth
and/or
Education,
and/or
of
Profession of Religion;
such as being born of Religious parents,
Educated in the Christian Religion,
and
having some notions
of the Principles of Christianity.
…
Going yet further,
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD
ARE NOT TO BE FOUND
in
Making a Profession of Faith
in Jesus Christ,
or simply
Subjecting to the Ordinances
of Jesus Christ,
such as Baptism
and
the Lord’s Supper,
and
Continuing in Religious exercises,
and yet
WHILE REMAINING
SPIRITUALLY DEAD
&
Destitute of
The Grace of God
in Truth.
…
“What is the Hope
of the hypocrite,
though he has gained”
“a place”
and
“a name” in the church of God,
“When God
Takes Away his Soul?”
(Job 27:8).
…
But
JEHOVAH GOD ALMIGHTY,
The Creator and Lord of all,
and
The Covenant God of His People,
is The Principal Object of Hope,
and
The Only Solid Sufficient Ground
and
Foundation of
THE GRACE of TRUST
and
HOPE in GOD
FOR ETERNAL LIFE.
…
As David said,
“You Are my Hope,
O Lord God;
You Are my Trust
from my youth!”
(Psalm 75:50).
…
“Blessed is the man
that Trusts in the Lord,
and
whose Hope the Lord is!”
(Jeremiah 17:7; Psalm 146:5).
*****
Adapted from
A Body of Doctrinal
& Practical Divinity
By John Gill
*****
Aware of The Godhead 