God hath given us a "good hope through grace."

     Being conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity, and brought forth from the womb speaking lies, it is the hope that I shall be born again by the Spirit of God and the Word of God and given the very life of God through faith.

     Being a sinner by choice and by practice, having offended God in thought, word, and deed, it is the hope that my sins shall be forgiven by the mercy of God and blotted out by the blood of Christ.

     Having no righteousness nor merit of my own (for even my righteousness are as filthy rags in His sight), it is the hope of being clothed in the beauty of holiness and the righteousness of God accomplished by the obedience and merit of Christ.

     Being frail flesh and subject to temptations both within and without, from the flesh and the devil, it is the hope that by the grace of God I will continue in the faith of Christ, hold to my profession, and perserve to the end--being able to declare with Paul, "I have kept the faith."

     Being a dying man (for I shall go the way of all who have lived before; and as it is appointed unto men once to die, I shall die), it is the hope that, in Christ, I shall have part in the first resurrection and that this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible, incorruption.

     Having a desire to be with Christ and to be like Christ, it is the hope that I shall live eternally in His presence and be perfectly conformed to His blessed image!

These eyes shall see Him in that day,
The Lord that died for me;
And all my rising bones shall say,
Lord, Who is like to Thee?
There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast.