First Corinthians 13, verse 13,
and now abideth, faith, hope, charity, these three. I've entitled this message, These
Three. Now abideth, faith, hope, and
charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. If God has done a work of grace
in my life, and if he's given his son to die for my sins, and
if he's given the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be my personal
righteousness, he's given me these three things, faith, hope,
and charity. And I know that Christ himself
is infinitely the greatest thing, thing, person, I shouldn't even
say that, who can speak of his greatness. But insofar as our
experience goes, we do not have any experience of him apart from
these three things, faith, hope, and charity. And it could be
said that these are the three greatest things in the world.
faith, hope, and charity. The person that possesses these
three things is someone God has elected before time began. There's someone that Christ has
paid for their sins. What a glorious thing. And to
have his righteousness as my righteousness before God. Somebody
that has these three things is somebody that God the Holy Spirit
has birthed into the kingdom of heaven. They've been given
this holy nature, and that's where these three things come
from. Faith, hope, and charity is the result of all of this.
Now, these three things, God's gift
to the believer, they're not found in the natural man. Now,
what do I mean by a natural man? I'm talking about the way me
and you were born. We were born without faith. We were born without
hope. We were born without this charity. Now a natural man has a type
of faith. He believes something. He's got
a type of hope. He has a hope in something. And
there are things he loves. He loves himself. And even if
he says, I hate myself, he still loves himself, or he loves what
is associated with him. The natural man has a type of
faith, and they have a type of hope, and they have a type of
charity, but they don't have what Paul is talking about here
in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 3, 13, when he says, now abideth
faith, hope, and charity, these three. I want you to turn with
me. to Colossians chapter one for
a moment. Colossians the first chapter. Now Paul had never met these
people in the flesh. And he says in Colossians chapter
one, verse three, we give thanks to God. And the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your
faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all
the saints, the charity which you have to all the saints and
for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven where have
you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Now
what does he thank God for? Their faith, their charity. and their love. This is what
he saw in these people. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter
1. Now Paul makes an incredible
statement in verse 4 with regard to the Thessalonians. He said,
knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Now what a statement,
and this was in a of one of the first churches. And from what
I can understand, Paul had only been gone about three weeks.
away from these people when they first heard the gospel. And yet
he makes this incredible statement with regard to them. He says,
I know your election of God. Now, he didn't have any access
to the Lamb's book of life. He didn't have any way of knowing
for certain that their names were written in the book. Yet
he says, I know your election of God. Now, why does he say
this? Well, look in verse two. We give thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing, and here we're gonna read of these three things,
your work of faith, and your labor of love, and patience of
hope. in our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. Now, wherever there's faith,
wherever there's hope, wherever there is this charity, it's the
result of God's grace. And he says to these people,
knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. Now, these are
the gift of God to every believer without exception. And they all
have Christ as their object. Faith has Christ as its object,
doesn't it? I look to Christ only. Hope. My hope's in Christ. It's not in my works. It's not
in myself. It's in Christ. Charity. A love for Christ. If you believe Christ, you love
Christ. You love him as he is. Faith, hope, and charity. And
they always go together. If one is present, they're all
there. And if one is absent, none of them are there. Now why
does he say now abides faith, hope, and charity? He's making
a point. There are things that will not
abide, will not continue, that are no longer. Look what he says
in verse eight of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, charity never fails.
But where there be prophecies, they shall fail, they shall cease. Before the full canon of the
scriptures, there were men who could speak prophetically and
say, thus saith the Lord, and it is what the Lord said. And
this was a gift in the early church, the gift of prophecy.
I could say, thus saith the Lord, and it is the Lord speaking.
He would be the one who directed me to say it. But he says, these
prophecies, they shall fail. That doesn't mean they'll be
wrong. That means they'll cease. They'll cease. Whether they be tongues,
They shall cease. They had the gift of being able
to preach the gospel in other languages. But when the full
canon of scripture comes, that ceases. When people claim to
be speaking in tongues today, maybe they believe they really
are. I don't know. But it's phony. It's not real. It's not inspired
by the Holy Spirit. It's another spirit. Whether
there be knowledge, this supernatural gift of knowledge that he speaks
of as one of the gifts to the early church, which will vanish
away, let me remind you, only the apostles could transfer these
gifts. You can read about it in Acts
chapter 8, when they saw the laying on of the apostles' hands,
the Holy Ghost was given. No one who had these gifts transferred
to them were able to transfer them to anybody else. So the
gifts died out. And this is what Paul's talking
about when he talks about these things ceasing. They're going
to cease. Four, verse nine, we know in
part, we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is
come, the Holy Scriptures, the full canon of Scripture. They
didn't have that. But when that which is perfect
is come, prophecy will no longer be needed. This is a closed revelation. Now, this is the word of God.
It's complete. There is no other revelation
other than what's in this book, the full canon of scriptures.
When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall
be done away with. Now, when I was a child, I spake
as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when
I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through
a glass darkly. But then, face to face, now I
know in part, but then, shall I know even as also I am known,
and now abideth. This is what is remaining. These
gifts are gone. They've ceased. Now abideth faith,
hope, charity, these threes, but the greatest of these is
charity. Now, real simply, what is faith? What is hope? What is charity? If I am a believer, these are
the three things that remain in me, that by his grace, I practice
faith, hope, and charity. What is faith? Faith is belief. That's simple enough. You believe. Now everybody believes something.
An atheist believes there's no God. A freewheeler believes in
a non-existent God. A person who thinks salvation
is in some way by their works. whether in the beginning, as
an act of my will, in the middle, when I become holier by works
of obedience, which I perform, and that makes me more pleasing
to God, or if I don't have them, I'm less pleasing to God, or
at the end, when I think that by my works, I've earned a greater
reward in heaven, that's works. Whatever you call it, it's works.
And if I believe in works, I'm totally ignorant of the character
of God. I'm totally ignorant of my own
character, my own sinfulness. I'm totally ignorant of how God
saves sinners. Faith is believing God. Turn to Romans chapter three. Not believing a non-existent
God, but believing the living God. Verse 31, Romans chapter
3, do we then make void the law through faith? Do we say the
law is of no use? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. The only way you establish the
law and honor God's law is by looking to Christ alone. That's
the only way it is done. Look up in verse 28, therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without The deeds of
the law. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing
it's one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and
an uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void of the law
through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. Now here
is the most simple illustration of what faith is. I believe in
all the word of God. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father as pertaining to the flesh, How was Abraham saved? How was Abraham justified? What
about him? Four, verse two. If Abraham were
justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. Now what is meant by
works? If there is anything that I must
first do before God can do something for me, that's works. It's that simple. If God cannot
bless me unless I first do this, that is a work I perform. And if I perform it, that means
God's not giving it to me, he's paying me what he owes me. I
did what he requires, now he's got to pay up. And that's exactly
what he says. And that very way of thinking
is irreverent. It's contrary to a knowledge
of the living God, but that's anyone who believes in works.
If Abraham were justified by him doing something, here's an
illustration of believing works. People think justification by
faith means you'll be justified if you believe. You gotta believe
before you'll be justified. Now, you will not be justified
apart from faith. There's no question about that.
But you're not justified because you believed. You're justified
because Jesus Christ paid for your sins and put them away and
gave you his righteousness. And you now stand before God
having never sinned. being without guilt. That's justification. I'm not justified because I believed. I'm justified because Christ
died for me. I'm justified because my sins
were put away. Because he's given me his righteousness.
And you know what? I believe that. I believe that. That's what faith is. I believe
that. If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to
glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God. Now there's faith. Abraham believed
God. That's the most simple, beautiful,
clear illustration of what faith is. I believe God. I believe
what he says. I know it's His gift to me, but
I believe God. That's what faith is. Faith believes
God. Believing what He said, relying
on what He said. I love the scripture, faith cometh
by hearing. What we're doing right now. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. Now, what is meant? by this statement,
for what saith the scriptures, Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. It almost sounds like it's saying
that faith is counted for him, to him for righteousness. I mean,
if you look at it without looking at the rest of the scripture,
you'd conclude that. Abraham believed God and it, that faith
was counted to him for righteousness, but he goes on to tell us what
he means now, verse four. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, Not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If there is anything
you do that causes God to do something for you, I did this,
I checked the box, I did what I'm supposed to do, that would
mean God is your debtor. That means he would be paying
you what he owes you. rather than giving you what he's
giving you by his grace. Now that is so clear. Now to
him that worketh, if there's anything I do, I don't care what
it is, to him that worketh is a reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him, that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Now, if I work, God's paying me what he owes
me. But if I work not, He that's entered into his rest has ceased
from his own labors. To work not, to him that worketh
not. Now, what that means is I am
convinced that I cannot be saved by my works. If salvation is
dependent upon me doing anything, I have no hope. Amen. To him that worketh not, This is not talking about spiritual
laziness. It's just saying, you know, you can't be saved by your
work. You're sinful. To him that worketh not, but
believeth. There's the word. That's what
faith is. It's believing God. Believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. Now, in and of myself, this is all I
can claim. Ungodly. Ungodly. unsaved-ness. And my only hope
is that God, through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, actually
justified me. It's God that justifieth. He justified me by His saving
work on Calvary's tree. He was delivered from my offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. And I'm relying on that. I'm relying on Him. I'm relying
on Him who justifies the ungodly. Now that is what faith is. I love the scripture. Roman,
I mean, Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine, by grace
you save through faith and not of yourselves. And faith, it's
not of yourselves. And everybody that has faith
knows that. You know that your faith is not of yourself. You
know it's the gift of God that He worked in you. It wasn't something
you worked up. It's his gift. That not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of orcs, lest any man should
boast. Now abideth faith. 2 Timothy 1.12, Paul made this
statement. I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. Now, there is no faith without
knowledge. You cannot believe what you don't know. But I love
the way Paul says, I know whom. I have believed. He didn't say,
I know what I believe. You know, whenever I hear somebody
say, I know what I believe, I think, you don't believe anything. You
don't really understand what you're saying when you make a
statement like that. What we believe is determined by who
we believe. I know whom I have believed. He's incapable of failure.
That's why I believe in a successful atonement. The Lord Jesus Christ
can't die for somebody's sins and they wind up in hell anyway.
Well, that's impossible because we know who we believe. I know
whom. have believed." Everything we
believe comes from who we believe. Who we believe determines what
we believe. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I am persuaded. Now in the original, that's in
the passive voice. I've been acted on and God's
persuaded. The reason I'm persuaded is he
persuaded me. And if God persuades you, you're
persuaded, aren't you? You're convinced. If God's your
teacher, what he teaches you, you've been taught. I am persuaded
of what, Paul? That he is able. All of my hope is in his ability. I am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed to Him. Now, this is so important. What have you committed, Paul? 100% of my salvation is dependent
upon what He has done, who He is, and what He's done. I don't
have an ace in the hole. I don't have a plan B. If what
he did is not everything in salvation, I won't be saved. Now, if I believe
in salvation by works in any way, it's a failure to commit.
Most people, when they think of the commitment, they think
about how zealous and how committed they need to be, and I want to
be zealous, and I want to be sold out. I want to be committed.
I want to be all together that, but understand this, this commitment
is not me being more committed. This commitment is committing
the entire salvation of my soul to Him. My hands are off. If
He didn't do it all, I will not be saved. That's what faith is. I have committed the complete
salvation of my soul to Him. And I'm waiting for Him to answer
for me on judgment day. I'm just like the thief. Lord,
remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
if you remember me, everything's fine. He was completely dependent
on the Lord. Now that's what faith is. Now
abideth faith, and it abides. Do you know, if God enables me,
my dying breath, if I have any consciousness, my dying breath
is going to be looking to Christ alone. Nowhere else. Resting in Him only. If you get past that, you're
in trouble. We look to Christ alone. Faith. Now abideth faith. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, that naturally
brings us into hope. abideth hope. What is hope? Well, this week
I put some limbs and yard waste in these brown paper
sacks. Herbie got filled up, so I had
to use these brown paper sacks. And I keep looking, is it going
to be raining in the morning? Because I want to put those out
in the rain. I hope it doesn't rain. I hope
it doesn't rain. I hope it stays dry. I can bring
the sack, because if it rains, those things will get all damp
and torn up, and I'll probably end up having to clean up more.
I don't want to do that. I hope it doesn't rain. Doesn't mean it won't, does it?
30% chance right now, I've been looking at it. I hope it doesn't
rain. That's not the hope we're speaking
of here. The hope in the scripture is a confident expectation. Not a hopeless work, it's a confident
expectation. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now why, how can I
have this confident expectation? Because as soon as I say I've
got confident expectation, I'll have little doubts coming up
in my mind, are you really confident? I mean, you sound that way, are
you? How can I speak of something with a confident expectation?
Because it's what the Word of God says. Remember, faith has
something to do with believing what God says. Hope is totally
in what God says. My hope is in what God says. My hope is found in it is written. John 17, 23, the Lord said, thou
has loved them, talking about all of the elect, his people,
thou has loved them as thou has loved me. Would I dare hope in
that were it not written? But because it's written, I have
a hope in that. He loves me just the way he loves
his son. His son is so altogether lovely
to him, so perfect, so glorious. That's the way he loves me. Well,
how can you believe something like that? Because it's written.
I don't need another reason. Hope is completely founded in
that which is written. 1 John 4, 17 says, as he is,
so are we in this world. Now, that's my hope. Why? It's
written. As He is. Oh, He's... I could spend the rest of the night
talking about how He is. As He is, so are we, right now,
in this world. It's written. Colossians 2.10, it's written,
you are complete in Him. It's speaking to every believer.
You lack nothing. Everything God requires you have.
You don't have the bare bones minimum either. You have the
maximum. You have everything. You're complete
in Him. You can't get any more loved.
You can't get any more accepted. You can't get any more saved.
You are complete in Him. How do you know that? Because
the Word of God says it. I need nothing else. Now this hope that a believer
has is not something that can be seen. Turn to Romans chapter
8. You're in Romans. Romans chapter
eight, verse 24. For we are saved by hope. That doesn't mean we're saved
by the act of hope, but we have a hope in his salvation. We're
saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what
a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for
that which we see not, Then do we, with patience, wait for it? Now, here's my hope. Hope is
a confident expectation with regard to the future. I have
a hope, a confident expectation, that when I stand before God
in judgment, He's gonna look at me and see someone who has
never sinned ever. and has always been perfect,
who kept His law perfectly, never had a bad motive, never had a
bad thought, absolutely perfect in Christ Jesus. It's what the
Bible calls justification. That's what justification means.
It means I never sinned. It means I've always pleased
God. There's nothing about me but that which is pleasing to
Him. I have hope. Can I see that hope? Can I look within my heart and
say, yep, you fit that description. Sinless. Of course not. I can't see that hope, but I believe it. I believe it. I have a hope that
everything between now and then is working together for my good
and his glory. Everything. Can you see that? No. No, I can't see how this
can do me any good. I can't see where this is for
my benefit. You have things in your life
that you can't see where it's for your benefit, but you believe
it is because it's written in the Word of God. You can't see
it, but you believe. Hope. The hope that is in Christ
Jesus. I love that Scripture in 1st
Peter chapter 3 verse 15 where Peter says always be ready to
give every man that asks you a reason for the hope to continue. Now I've got a reason for my
hope. Turn with me to 1st Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,
look at which is. It's in italics. The Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. There's my hope. The Lord Jesus
Christ, our hope. He is the hope. He is the reason
I'll be accepted on judgment day. There is no other reason. He is the reason. That's my hope. Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. And 2 Thessalonians 2 16 says,
he's given us a good hope through grace. Now the only good hope
there is, is that hope which is through grace, the saving
grace of God. All other hopes are false hopes,
but all that good hope that the believer has is through the grace
of Christ. That means that everything he
requires of me, he gives me by his grace. Now that's my hope,
that's the good hope through grace. Any hope that is not that
hope is not a good hope. Now abideth faith and hope. And wherever there is faith,
wherever there is hope, now abideth charity. Now abideth. This is what's remained. This
is what every believer has. by the grace of God. Now abideth
faith in Christ, hope in Christ, charity, love for Christ. But let me say this first about
love. I love the way the Lord points this out in 1 John 4,
verse 10. We're talking about love. And
when John's gonna define love to us, he says, herein is love. Anybody know the rest of the
verse? Not that we loved God. When I'm talking about love,
I'm not talking about my love. I do love, but I'm embarrassed
by my love. I'm ashamed of my love. My love ought to be so infinitely
greater than it is. Herein is love, not that we love
God. but that He loved us. and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, the sin-removing sacrifice for our sins. A few verses down, John says,
we love Him. 1 John 4, 19. We love Him. We do. We love Him because He
first loved us. And His love never goes unreciprocated. He doesn't love somebody and
that person failed to love Him in return. We love Him, but it's
because He first loved us. And we love who He is. We love
all of His glorious attributes. I love His sovereignty. I love
His holiness. I love His justice. I love His
power. I love His wisdom. I love His immutability. I love
His independence. Every attribute of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, we love.
We love Him in all three persons of the Godhead. We love God the
Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We love God the
Son, the Savior. We love God the Holy Spirit,
the Author of life. We love His Word. We love His worship. We love the gathering of His
people. We love men. We want men to know
the Lord, don't we? We want men to hear the gospel.
Now abideth faith, hope, and love. Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Now abideth, here's what abides,
here's what remains. Faith, hope, and love. Closing question. As important
as faith and hope are, why does he say the greatest of these
is charity? I mean, I would naturally think,
I wouldn't think one's greater than the other, yet the Bible
says The Word of God says the greatest of these is charity.
How is it that charity is greater than faith or hope? Because you
can't be saved without faith. You can't have faith without
hope. What does he mean the greatest of these is charity? I know the answer to that question. In heaven, there will be no faith. Your faith is turned aside. You
see, faith is believing what you can't see. It'll no longer
be that way in heaven. In heaven, our faith will be
turned aside. We don't see him as he is right
now, do we? One day we will. And when we
see him as he is, we'll be conformed to his image. Faith no more. It's not needed. We see. I have a hope that I'm going
to stand before God justified, sinless. I don't see it right
now. But when I'm in glory, I will
experience that which I'm hoping for, perfect conformity to the
image of Christ, perfect likeness to Christ. I'll never have another
sinful thought. When I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe. Hope will be no more. Faith turned
aside, hope will be experienced, but I tell you what will continue.
Love to Him. Love for His salvation. love
to all my brethren that are perfectly conformed to His image. Charity
continues eternally. These three, faith, hope, and
charity. This is what's abiding right
now, not these gifts people talk about. Those have been done away
with, they've ceased. Now abideth faith, hope, charity. These three, but The greatest
of these is charity. May the Lord give each one of
us faith, hope, and charity. Let's pray. Lord, how glorious your gifts
are that you give your people for Christ's sake. And Lord,
I ask in Christ's name that each one of us might have these three,
and that you will increase our faith, that you would increase
the joy of our hope, and that you would increase our love to
yourself, to one another, and to all men. Bless your word for
Christ's sake, in His name we pray.