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1. Hope is an instinct of the soul. "Thou didst make me to hope when I was upon my mother's breasts." As an instinct —

(1) It implies the existence of a prospective good, and the possibility of coming into its possession.

(2) It is one of the strongest and most operative forces in our nature. Hesiod tells us, that the miseries of all mankind were included in a great box, and that Pandora's husband took off the lid, by which means all of them came abroad, but hope remained still at the bottom,

2. The real worth of this instinct to man depends upon the direction it takes.

(1) "Wrongly directed, it is a fawning traitor of the mind." The goodly scenes it spreads out to the soul turn out to be a mere mirage. False hopes are like meteors that brighten the skies of the soul for a moment, only to leave the gloom more intense. They are mere blossoms on fruitless trees, pleasing the eye for the hour, then fading away and rotting into dust. Few things are more distressing than the loss of hope. Longfellow compares it to the "setting of the sun." Solomon speaks of it as "the giving up of the ghost."(2) Rightly directed, is among the chiefest of our blessings. It is that which gives sunshine to the sky, beauty to the landscape, and music to life. Such is the hope of which the apostle here speaks. Two things are essential to a "joyous hope."

I. A RIGHT OBJECT.

1. It must not —

(1) Be selfish. So constituted is the soul, that the hope that is directed exclusively to its own happiness never satisfies. Down deep in the soul is the feeling that man has to live for something greater and nobler than himself.

(2) Be incapable of engaging all our powers.

(3) Less lasting than its own existence. Man can never be fully happy whose hope is directed to the transient and the dying.

2. That which will give a joyous hope is moral goodness — assimilation to the image of God.

II. A CERTAIN FOUNDATION. Unless a man has good reason to believe that the object he hopes for is to be gained, he cannot rejoice in his hope. Three reasons for believing that a soul, guilty and depraved, can be brought into possession of true goodness, and restored to the very image of God, are —

1. The provisions of the gospel. The life and death of Christ, the agency of the Spirit, and the disciplinary influences of human life are all divinely appointed methods to re-create the soul and to fashion it into the very image of God.

2. The biographies of sainted men. History abounds with examples of bad men becoming good.

3. The inward consciousness of moral progress. The man who has got this hope is conscious that he has made some progress, and that the steps he has taken have been the most difficult. His past efforts are aids and pledges to future success.

(D. Thomas, D.D.)

Patient in tribulation. —

I. WHAT ARE TRIBULATIONS? What-soever —

1. Is hurtful to us.

2. Vexeth us.

II. WHAT IS IT TO BE PATIENT?

1. Not to murmur against God (Exodus 16:3).

2. Nor despair of deliverance (Psalm 42:5).

3. Nor use unlawful means to get out of them.

4. To rest satisfied with them (1 Samuel 3:18).

5. To be thankful for them (Job 1:21, 22; 1 Thessalonians 5:18).

III. WHY ARE WE TO BE PATIENT?

1. They come from God (2 Samuel 16:10-12; Psalm 39:2).

2. Are no more (Lamentations 3:39), but less than we deserve (Ezra 9:13).

3. Impatience does not heighten them.

4. By patience we change them into mercies as in Job, Joseph, David.Conclusion: Be patient.

1. No afflictions but others have borne (1 Peter 4:12; 1 Peter 5:9).

2. Christ has undergone more than we can (Romans 8:29; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 4:13).

3. God knows how to deliver us (2 Peter 2:9).

4. By patience you make a virtue of necessity.

5. Will do you much good by them (Hebrews 12:6-8).

(Bp. Beveridge.)

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KJV: Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

WEB: rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;