16 - I Don’t Hope at all
One day I walked with a respectable and religious farmer along the shore and met a fisherman, whom I asked if his Sins were forgiven. “No, they’re not” said the fisherman. “Oh, I hope we’re all forgiven” said the farmer.
“But I don’t hope at all” I continued “I’m sure about mine. Though, like you only a poor unworthy Sinner, I trust that Jesus paid my debt when He died on the Cross, and He says ‘He that believeth hath everlasting Life’ and I just take Him at His Word. Now let me make this plain. If a gentleman were to buy a boat, give it to our friend here, and he accepted it, and took possession of it, he would not say he ‘hoped’ to have a new boat, but that he was sure he had one. Now I hope I enjoy heaven, because I am not there yet; but I do not hope to be forgiven, when God tells me plainly that He has blotted out my Sins. (Isaiah 44:22)
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