Then what follows ? Nothing is so certain as the accomplishment of God's promise. He that builds his hope on faith in God's promises, nothing is so sure as he shall attain his desire. On the other side, he that builds his hope on the presumptuous conceit of his own brain, there is nothing so certain as that man's hope shall be vain, as Bom. v. 23, ' We,' saith he, * have peace with God ; ' and not only so, ' we glory in tribulations : knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, experience ; and experience, hope : and hope maketh not ashamed.' What is the meaning of that ?
Beloved, it is as much as if he had said, there is a difference between divine and human hope. The one hope is, when I repose confidence in the promise of a man, and when I look for the thing hoped for, the man breaks, so that my hope cannot be firmer than that I grounded on. It bmaks, I am ashamed and confounded, that I did repose my hope and con- fidence that w-ay ; for this, see Job vi. 15, in the winter time, there comes land floods : * My brethren,' saith he, ' have dealt deceitful as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away ; which are black by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid : what time they wax warm, they vanish away : when it is hot, they are consumed out of * Qu. ' ceasing' ? — Ed.
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their place. The paths of their ways are turned aside ; they go to nothing, and perish. The troops of Tenia looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. They were confounded, because they hoped ; they came thither, and were ashamed.' In the winter time, when waters abound and there is no need of waters, there will be a mighty stream, but in summer being parched with heat, he turns himself thither, and there is no water to be found, he is ashamed ; when a man's hope is disappointed, it makes him ashamed.
Then here is the difference between the hope of God's child, that puri- fieth himself, and of an impure person ; when the time comes he shall have need of hope, his hope is gone, as this hope will, that he shall be saved, though he purify not himself. The devil may continue it as long as he continues, but come to death, there is the difference, he is ashamed and disappointed. You see, Prov. x. 18, which is cited there, ' The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish;' that is, thou mayest hope for salvation, as well as God's children, but what is the difference ? ' The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.' Again, chap. xi. 7, ' When the wicked dies, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of unjust men perisheth.' So they have a hope, but a hope that shall perish as well as themselves, that shall be quite gone at the time of their death. Therefore, Job xxvii. 8, saith he, ' What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul ?' Give me that hope that I shall have the comfort of when God takes away my soul. Now, while thou art in this world, thou hast a hope as strong as God's child, and thou wilt not be beaten from it, but when the Lord takes away thy soul what wilt thou get by it ? It shall stick upon the world without end ; it shall vex and gnaw thy soul, that thou shouldst stick to a hope that deceived thee.
So you see what a case a man is in that takes no pains to purify. We can speak no more to a man's discomfort than to tell him thou canst have no hope. It is said of the Gentiles, before they knew Christ, ' they were strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, being without hope in the world,' Eph. ii. 12 ; and that is thy case. Let not the devil feed thee with a false hope, and say thou shalt be like Christ in glory, though thou art not like Christ in purity in this world. It is false, it cannot be ; thou art in the case of a very Turk, notwithstanding thou hearest much of the Lord Jesus ; thou hast received baptism, yet as yet there is no hope for thee unless thou repent. I beseech you, as you tender your own salvation, yield to the truth of God's word. Let not Satan lead you on, and train you to destruction, to think that things may be otherwise than this preacher speaks, as the oracles of God. If we say that a man that purifies not him- self cannot have hope, this is confirmed in heaven ; whosoever hath this vain hope shall be ashamed. Therefore every one that hath this divine hope, that looks to be saved, to be like Christ in glory, he must without delay purify himself. So much for the workman.
Now, to come to the work. Then, what is the work ? ' To purify him- self.' ' Every one that hath this hope,' &c.