A REASONABLE HOPE

We all hope for eternal life and glorious bliss of heaven. But is my hope reasonable? Peter wrote, “Be ready always to answer every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you,” implying that a good hope is both reasonable and evident.

This I know, the eternal, immaculate God of heaven will never accept anything less than absolute perfection. Therefore, it is most unreasonable for me to trust myself, or anything I have done, for my acceptance with God.

My only hope is in a Substitute, one whom God will accept in my stead. God himself has provided such a Substitute for sinners like me. Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, took upon himself my own nature. He lived in this world as a man for 33 years in perfect conformity to God’s law and will, establishing perfect righteousness for sinners. Then he went to the cross, there to suffer the just penalty of God’s law and justice for the sins of his people. Being both God and man, he was able to satisfy the infinite wrath of God by one great sacrifice. Dying in my place, the God-man was buried in a tomb. But on the third day after his crucifixion, my Substitute broke the walls of the grave, declaring that those people for whom he died were justified! By his resurrection, the Son of God is declared of God to be accepted as the all-sufficient Sacrifice for sin. My sins, which he bore, are all gone. My debt to God’s offended justice was paid in full by the price of Immanuel’s blood!

Now, it is most reasonable for me to trust him, and him alone, for my entire salvation. No other sacrifice can give my guilty conscience peace; and none other can meet the requirements of a just and holy God. God himself provided Christ as a Substitute for sinners. God laid my sins upon him. God killed him in my place. God raised him from the dead as my Representative. And God declares that all who trust him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Trust him I will, I must, I do! I have no other hope. Will you trust him too? It is most foolish not to trust the only One who can satisfy your guilty conscience, and the only One whom God has sworn to accept. All other trusts are mere delusions. Trust Christ alone. Trust his righteousness. Trust his blood. Trust his power. Trust his grace. Trust him now! Faith in Christ is the most reasonable thing a man can hope for.