1 Corinthians 13, verse 13. And now abideth faith, hope,
love, these three, but the greatest of these is love. Now abideth
faith, And the word abideth here is
the same word used in verse seven, translated endureth. It means
to remain. In verse seven there, if you
look back at that, just glance back at verse seven for a minute,
it's a compound word there, a two-part word indicating that love remains
in spite of things. You see where it says endureth
all things. That's the word in verse 13 here
with that compound word, that second word attached to it to
show that it remains even in spite of these things that are
mentioned there. It endureth all things, all trials,
all obstacles, all difficulties. Here in verse 13, it's just that
it remains. And a key word is now. Now it remains. And I know we're down in the
weeds a little bit here with the wording, but bear with me
for a minute. Now is there in contrast to the word then in
verse 12. We need to understand what then
is and what now is because the first thought that we're gonna
consider regarding this verse has to do with that. Then, in
verse 12, then we see Christ face-to-face, right? The verse
itself defines what then means. It's when we are face-to-face
with our Lord. When we see the Son of God as
He is, we know even as we're known, perfect knowledge, perfect
fellowship, perfect worship, perfect joy. That which is perfect
is come, that's then. But now, now is until then. Up until then. And that's important
here. We see Christ face to face, faith
is over. It abides now, but not then.
We don't need faith anymore when we see our Savior and know Him
as He knows us. That supersedes faith. faith
is believing Him, then we will experience what we believe Him
for, what we believe about Him, from Him, and it's face to face. So it's wonderful to know now
that faith will become unnecessary. As wonderful as faith is now,
It's good to know that we won't always rely on faith, especially
our limited faith. He said, your faith, you have
no faith, relatively speaking. And at that moment, he said,
where's your faith? Why is it that you have no faith?
And he said, even if we had faith as a grain of mustard seed, we
could do things we can't do now. But we don't. The truth is we
don't. But faith connects us to Christ. Faith is all the difference.
It's the gift that unites us to the Lord. It's by faith that
we do what we do in this world for the Lord, for his glory. By faith, those men in Hebrews
11 did what they did. but now is until then. So wonderful
to know that then, face to face, but also it's wonderful to know
that for now, faith stays. Faith remains now. It doesn't
just come and go with doubts. It doesn't come and go with our
feelings. It remains for now. It's a gift that's not repented
of, the Lord, The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Job lost everything, but the Lord put very prominently on
display with Job that when he gives faith to a sinner, that
faith doesn't fail. He lost all outward evidences
of God's favor, of God's blessing. upon him. He lost all of his
possessions. He lost all of his family. He
lost his health. He couldn't even sit in a chair.
He didn't have a home to have a chair in it if he could, but
he couldn't even sit in it. He had to sit on the softest
thing there is, ashes, in order for the pain not to
become intolerable. But there on that ash heap, he
was able to say, I know that my redeemer liveth. The Lord is the author and finisher
of faith. That's why it doesn't go away.
He gives it, he sustains it. He told Simon, Satan hath desired
you that he might sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you. What did he pray? Faith. that your faith would
not fail. In that one statement from our
Savior to Simon Peter, we learn a lot there. Think about what
we learned from that. Clearly, Simon's faith would
have failed if not for the Lord's intercession. That's an important
lesson. We need to understand all the
time how desperately we need Christ. We don't act like that
a lot of the times, do we? Those that we love don't act
like that. You need him all the time. You
need him every second of every day, and yet you neglect his
worship. You thumb your nose in his face. You show over and over you don't
give a hoot for him or his people. Simon needed Christ just as much
in that moment as he did the day they met. How about you? How about me? Do you rely on
him tonight? And I'm not talking about just
a fact that you understand. Are you relying on him tonight? Are you looking to him? Are you
praying unto him and begging him, asking him, Lord, keep me,
hold me, save me, save those that I love. Everything falls apart without
you. Every circumstance is a heartache
without him. Every contingency is a disaster
without him. I rely on him. Most people don't now. They'd
agree that you should, but they just don't. The power of Simon's faith was
not according to the character of Simon. In that moment, but
it was according to the grace of christ the object of his faith
Same Also, we learn here we have a
real enemy in satan And if he can shift an apostle
like wheat, how are you going to measure up to him? We need christ We're taught to
be vigilant because our adversary who he is and what he does is
that not right be vigilant because of him And what he's doing in
this world now, we look to Christ because Christ is in control
He's the one that sits upon the circle of the earth, but we're
to be vigilant and understand the tactics And it's very simple
We're to look for ways that Satan might be duping us. That's what
he does. He deceives. To be vigilant is
to look for that. I can see that in you a lot better.
How about you? I can look at other people and
say, boy, be careful. Are you really doing that? Be
careful. Is that the way you're going
to handle that? I don't know about that, it's
harder to see in me. Can I see that in my own life,
can you? I've identified plain as day,
and you probably have, I bet you have too. I've identified
clear as day, at least one way and maybe more, that Satan attacks
me. There's no question about it. but are there a hundred more
that I don't see? Vigilance is watchfulness. It's
to be cautious, to give strict attention, to caution. One bad decision, how many times
have I told you this over the years? One bad decision can ruin
a life. Just one. Be vigilant. And how are we vigilant? What
is it that we literally do? Of course, we think about it
and look at our own vulnerabilities and see that Satan's going to
exploit them. You know he is. But what's he really up to? What's
he really up to? What has Satan targeted in us? What was the issue with Simon? We know a little bit about Simon
from the scriptures, don't we? When the Lord said, I've got
to be arrested and abused and crucified and slain. And Simon
said, no way, that's not gonna happen. Not as long as I'm here. And the Lord said, you're savoring
the things that be of men, not the things that be of God. You're
being selfish about it. That's something you don't want
to happen. So you're saying it can't happen, but it is gonna
happen. It must happen. It had to do with Christ crucified. Can you imagine saying no way
to Christ crucified? That's about as dumb as you get.
But that's us, isn't it? We'll find ourselves right there.
Unless he intercedes. But what is it that he targets
in us? Our faith. How do you know that,
Chris? The Lord said, Satan wants you,
Simon. He's coming for you. He's come
for you. He wants to sift you as wheat,
but I've prayed for you that your faith fail not. So what
was Satan up to? Anything. He doesn't care. Satan doesn't care whether you
cuss or smoke or drink alcohol. except that ultimately it's about
whether you look to Christ or not. Just don't look to Christ. That's
all he's worried about. If he can get your eyes off of
Christ, that's a win for Satan. And let me explain that though
now. Satan has used alcohol. or drugs or lust or many other
things to ruin people's lives and to cause them to never look
to Christ. Satan's victory is not in those things themselves.
He uses whatever he can to keep you from looking to Christ. That's what faith is. He's desired
you that he's gonna sift you a sweet. How does he do that?
Your faith will fail without Christ. sustaining you, being
the finisher of your faith that he gave you. He doesn't want you looking to
the son of God for hope and salvation and righteousness. And he'll
use whatever he can to keep that. That's a win for Satan right
there. He'll, you know, more often than not, he'll pump you
up with pride. That's what happened in the garden.
You shall be his gods. I could sit here, we could talk
all day about psychological stuff and say, you know, when you do
drugs and alcohol, you know what you're saying? I'm God. I'll
do what I want. Oh, it ruins people's lives.
Not me. Not me. I want to feel like I want to
feel and to hell with everybody else. Is that not what it is? It's the most selfish thing in
the world that you can do. Right. That's the devil and that'll
keep you from Christ now. That's one of the ways. Unless
of course the Lord has mercy on you. But we're taught, we're
exhorted to be vigilant about these things. He'll pump you up in pride so
that you start thinking that just Everybody just needs to
listen to you and they'll be fine. If everybody just did what
you told them to do, then all their problems would be over.
He'll raise you so high up in your own mind that you'll get
angry and pout like a little child. I've seen people, I've
seen myself acting like a little child when things don't go our
way. You'll be petty and jealous of
everybody else because in your heart, you're God. You have to
be the one always on top, the one with the attention, the one
with the glory every time. And Satan that way, you're never
going to look to Christ until the Lord brings you down from
that high horse, breaks you. But Satan's in the pride business.
Don't forget that. You'll miss the Lord Jesus because
your head is a stump and your heart is a cesspool and you need
a savior. You need the Lord Jesus. And
you're not gonna be able to break out of it because you're held
captive by Satan at his will, all the while bragging about
your will. Posing your will on everything
and feeling so big about it. The only remedy is the intercession
of God's son. He pleads his blood and not your
works. Not the sin you're ashamed of
and not the sin you're proud of. It's all sin. The redeeming power of his blood,
the irresistible gravity of his grace towards you, that's the
only remedy. You're helpless, you're a leaf
in the wind. It was Satan's ambition clearly
to drive a wedge between Simon and the Savior, cause him to
deny the Savior, bring him into circumstance that will force
from his lips a denial of God's Son, cause him to savor not the
things of God, but his own selfish interests. And the things of
God in that context were him crucified. And by the grace of God, now
abideth faith. The Lord's not gonna let it fail
if you got it from him. Thank God for that. Because of
faith being a gift of Christ and upheld by Christ, faith now,
for now, remaineth. It abides. Hope remains now. Because we believe the Lord,
we have a sure and steadfast hope. In a great sense, hope
is a result of faith. I believe God. And you know what
he says? He says there's hope for a sinner
like me. He says in his precious blood,
I stand holy in the presence of God. He says that he loves me and
will never let me go. Faith is believing him. Hope
is resting in him. Faith is trusting Christ. Hope
is assurance and confidence that goes with trusting him. Because
of who it is we trust, not the strength of our faith or our
trust, but because of who it is we trust, we can be assured
that that which we have committed unto him is kept. Kept. I know whom I have believed
and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that. As with faith, our hope is a
person. First Timothy 1.1, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus
Christ, our hope. Our expectation of good is Him. Our confidence of salvation is
Him. Don't look for evidences in yourself,
Look to the Savior. Look not for proof in works of
righteousness which we have done. Look to the Savior. Look to Calvary
and see the love of God for sinners like you, which will blind you
to the strength of your own, or weakness, I should say, of
your own love as a measure of hope. His love will eclipse that. Blind you to that, we sing great
is thy faithfulness. And not just from the hymn book,
but from our hearts. If he's revealed himself to us
now. There's a popular song, it came out a while, several
years ago, but it says over and over, I believe, I believe, I
believe, I believe. It took me a while to figure
out what was bothering me about that. What bothers me about it is that those that do believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ don't say that. They just don't say that. They
say, Lord, I believe. First of all, Lord, I believe. And they say, Lord, I believe,
help. That's what they say. They don't
brag about, I believe, I believe, I believe. They say, I know whom I have
believed. Our faith, our trust, our assurance,
our hope is Jesus Christ. And we experience those things,
faith, hope, assurance, rest, peace, by looking to Jesus Christ. And now, abideth love, now and then. Now, in this life, today and throughout all of our
days, if you love the Lord, if I love the Lord, we cannot not
love the Lord. It abideth. If you love the Lord tonight,
You'll love him when you draw your last breath. And I say it that way. I say
that we cannot not, because if we could ruin it, we would. If
we could ruin it, we would. If we could make it selfish and
call it love. You know what most people call
love is so selfish. We just studied a whole chapter
that talks over and over about how that love is not that way. It seeketh not her own. If we could ruin it, we would,
but we cannot. The gifts and calling of God again are without
repentance. He don't take it back. He gives
and he does not take them back. If our love, think about this. If our love were the cause for
his love, and that's what most religion says very plainly. If you will, God will. Because
remember, love is defined by do's and don'ts, right? It's
not an emotion, it's not a feeling. It's a characteristic, an attribute
that is defined by what it does and doesn't do. If you will,
God will. Blasphemy. If our love was the cause of
God's love for us, we'd be in trouble, yes? But bless God,
it's the other way around. Bless God. We cannot cease to
love the master because faith will be exchanged for face-to-face. Hope will be exchanged for the
reality of what is hoped for. Love is the greatest of the three. The greatest is larger, older,
stronger. Does this mean that love comes
before faith? in the experience of salvation
since the word older is one of the key words in the definition
of greater, it's greater. Does love come first before faith?
I don't know. And I asked myself that question
as I was studying this and I realized it's not a good question. It's
not a good question. What difference does it make?
Does it matter to you? in either time or eternity, which
came first? If it's not a question of the
glory of God now, then what difference does it make? He gives both. There's no question of his glory
either way. His love causes ours. Faith is
his gift, the fruit of his spirit. He's the author and finisher
of it. So either way, what difference does it make? I think I know.
And by simply asking this question, think about this. Do we hate
God because we don't believe him? Or do we not believe him
because we hate him? Do we reject his truth because
we hate him? I think I could answer that,
and you could argue from that that love is necessary for faith.
But I don't honestly know or think we need to know. You could
also argue what we see first in the garden is unbelief. And then as a result of the consequences
of unbelief, the hatred comes, right? We hate God because he
called us on it. That's why Cain hated God. So you can argue that way too.
I believe it's a scriptural principle, and I want
us to learn this. I ask the Lord to teach us this. It's a scriptural principle that
you can always apply, that when God tells you something, you
don't need to figure it out. You're not gonna need to think
a long time about it. Like I've heard people say, I've
given this a lot of thought. Well, but has God revealed it
to you? That's what we need to know.
Is it according to what he says? You're not gonna have to figure
it out now. You know what that reminds me
of? This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Those are the sayings we need
to lay hold of. The ones that can't be denied. You can't argue against him.
And what was he saying there? That Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. You know, that's the gospel. That refutes all false religion,
completely destroys all false religion, it destroys free will,
man-centered blasphemy. He came into this world to save
sinners. He didn't come to give anybody a chance. He didn't come
to do his best and leave things up to sinners. He came to save
them. That's a faithful saying. And
everybody, you don't have any choice but to accept that. You
really don't. You don't have to like it. You
probably don't, unless the Lord has done a work of grace in your
heart. But you're gonna like it one
of these days. whether too late or not, that's going to be between
you and God. But you're not going to have
to figure it out. What do we know beyond a shadow of a doubt about
these three and the greatest being love? Of these three, only
love is eternal. The best I can tell, that's the
only thing we can know for sure that makes love greater. than
these other things, but that's not to be minimized. You can argue all kinds of things
that aren't revealed, but you can't argue about what
God has plainly revealed. You can hate it. You can oppose it. You can say
things contrary to it. Gospel is worthy of all acceptation a Very powerful gospel statement
that cannot be argued with the Son of God came into this world
to save sinners It's not debatable It's not to be argued it's not
to be bandied about like a The vain tiffs that men engage
themselves in. And that saving of sinners. Christ
Jesus coming into the world to save sinners. How he did it,
who did it, how he did it, why he did it, what he accomplished
when he did it. We know that's the definition of love. There is no other true definition
of love, but Christ and Him crucified. And that love is the cause of
our love for Christ and His sheep. And it just keeps on being the
cause. You think about it, love is eternal. Why? You think of
it this way. Do you love Christ right now? Do you love him tonight? He asked
Simon that, we have scriptural precedent to ask ourselves that. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, why? Why? Will you love Christ in eternity? When all of your sin is gone,
I don't even know if it'll be a memory. I honestly don't. Only if it glorifies God for
us to remember what he saved us from will it even be a memory. Will you love him in eternity?
Why? Why? His love, His sacrifice, Him loving us indeed, is redeeming us from our sins with
His own precious blood. His soul-saving, eternity-spanning
love for us just keeps on and on being the reason that we love
Him. The cause never goes away and
so the love never goes away. That's why the greatest of these
is love. Because of Him and what He did. It defines love, it defines us
by His grace. It defines who we are. What did John call himself? The
disciple whom Jesus loved. The eternal love of God for sinners. That's our message. And that
message is Christ crucified. Let's pray.