1 Corinthians 13:8

Love never fails. Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away with.

When I was a child, I spoke 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 I am also known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Father, we are so grateful that you have demonstrated your love for us. That while we were yet sinners, you died for us, Lord. You have made the way open that we can stand before you at this moment because of your love. We are thankful for your great love for us while we were dead in trespasses and sins.

God, would you, as you have already done, pour out again a fresh, a new, and a powerful way your love upon our lives, into our lives, that it would overflow. Lord, that we would love you with all of our being, all of our heart, soul, and strength; that we would love our neighbor as ourselves. May your love in us be evident to this world, that people would see and know that we are followers of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords because of the love that we have one for another.

Father, work this into us, we pray. We know that we cannot achieve these things in and of our own strength. God, we know that we can do all things by you because you strengthen us. Bless this time, we pray, as we study your word.

Give us insight and understanding, we ask in Jesus' name. And all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

As we have seen, especially in chapter 12 and now in chapter 13, the church at Corinth was a church that manifested spiritual gifts. Based on those spiritual gifts, they believed themselves to be spiritually gifted, spiritually superior, and elite. Paul has made the case very clearly, and he will continue in this final paragraph of chapter 13 to show that the gifts of the Spirit are not signs of final perfection, nor are they evidence of spiritual maturity.

The Corinthians, in some way, felt that they were perfect or that they were mature because of the abundance of spiritual gifts that they possessed. And they did possess many spiritual gifts; Paul recognizes that. This was a testimony of the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 7, he says, "Your testimony is that you come behind in no spiritual gift," or "you are lacking in no spiritual gift." So, they possessed these things.

However, Paul establishes that the gifts are themselves imperfect. Therefore, they are not a sign of spiritual perfection. When perfection does come—because there is a perfect that is to come, as we will see in this portion of Scripture—these gifts will go away. Not only are these gifts imperfect, but they are also temporal. The church at Corinth had a way of investing in these things in such a way that one might think they are enduring and eternal. Paul makes it very clear that these things will cease. They are temporary and are not a measure of spiritual maturity. They are for now; they are for today, but they are imperfect.

The focus of the Corinthians, therefore, was wrong. Paul is seeking to reorient their attention, to reorient their focus, and to change it.

Because they were so enamored with things identified as spiritual gifts, this was really what they were endeavoring to have in their lives or to show as a church: spiritual gifts, especially those that made them stand out. They were very enamored with tongues and prophecy. As we'll see, they were also enamored with spiritual knowledge—knowledge that is given from God, revelatory knowledge. They liked these things because it would put them on display.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, I believe all believers are gifted by the will of the Holy Spirit with at least one, but probably many different spiritual gifts. If we are all gifted these things from God, there is no boasting in having them. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7, Paul said, "The manifestation of the Spirit, that is, spiritual gifts, is given to every man, everyone within the body of Christ, for the profit of all." Going on to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 11, he says, "But all these spiritual gifts work that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."

So, God, by His Spirit, gives to all believers spiritual gifts. If you have spiritual gifts, they are a gracious gift from God and not something you can boast about, as if you attained it or gained it by your own work. These gifts are not of us; they are of God. If you have them, they are from God's grace, not gained by our effort, and they are given at conversion, I believe. There is no possible way to point to them as signs of maturity.

Furthermore, final perfection, which the church at Corinth seemed to equate with spiritual giftedness, is not achievable in this life. When I say final perfection, I am talking about a final perfection that mirrors sinless perfection. I would think that every single one of us here today would probably recognize, if we're breathing, that we have not in any way attained sinless perfection.

If you think you have achieved perfection, let's ask your spouse. Very quickly, it becomes clear that it's just not reality. Final perfection is not achievable here. However, we ought to seek maturity; we should be pursuing maturity.

Well, that begs the question: What does Christian maturity look like? If we are to be pursuing this and seeking to lay hold of it, what does it look like? In a word, it is Christlikeness. Maturity is Christlikeness. The practical evidences of Christlikeness were considered in our last three studies in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 4 through 7. These verses give us the practical evidences of Christlikeness, such as patience, kindness, humility, meekness, selflessness, consistency, and compassion.

Where do all these things come from? We see it in the text: Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not behave rudely. Love does not boast itself. Love is not easily angered. These qualities issue forth from love. Therefore, the defining characteristic of Christ is this kind of love—not the kind of love we think of when we consider the American idea or ideal of love, or the Western understanding of love, but love as it is described in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This is the defining characteristic of Christlikeness and the practical outflow of what that love means in our lives.

I made this statement last week in the third service, and I believe it was definitely from the Lord. I had never read it anywhere before, and flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. The statement is that love is the essential Christian ethic. I believe that is true. I have thought quite a bit about this over the last week, and love should be that which defines our character as we seek to be Christlike. This is why Jesus would say to his followers, his disciples, that the world shall know that you are my disciples.

By your love, you have one for another. Not by your spiritual gifts, not by your good doctrine. All those things are important and good, but love is the defining characteristic of the Christian. It should be.

Final perfection is not achievable here in this life, but we should be seeking maturity, which is Christlikeness, and this comes from love. Maturity issues forth from love, or the evidences of maturity. Such love comes from where? Well, 1 John chapter 4 says, "God is love." Therefore, this kind of love comes from Him.

How do we apprehend such love? How does it become a part of our lives? Paul gives us three words in this chapter, in the remaining verses of chapter 13, that are incredibly important to Christian maturity. We might even call them the divine triad of the Scriptures, because these three words are seen all throughout the New Testament. The three words simply are faith, hope, and love. Paul makes this great statement that the greatest of these is love.

He begins in verse 8, saying, "Love never fails." The remainder of the passage emphasizes or proves this thesis statement. The thesis is that love never fails. He spends the remainder of chapter 13 explaining why love never fails and how it is great—greater than faith and hope. Ultimately, I believe we will see, as we go through this, that love issues forth from faith. Through hope comes love. It is faith that brings hope, which gives rise to love, and love never fails.

Love produces patience, kindness, humility, and meekness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, as Galatians chapter 5 says, and from that love flows what? Joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. All these things issue forth from love. I believe that the fruit, singularly, of the Spirit is love, and all these other things come from that. This is the evidence of God's Spirit working in our lives, not spiritual gifts.

How can we know that for sure? There are non-believers who exhibit things that look like spiritual gifts.

Therefore, we can't say that a person is evidencing something that looks like a spiritual gift unless they are a Christian. How do we know them? You shall know them by their love. Faith, hope, and love form the divine triad of Christian maturity.

Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 5. Faith, hope, and love are clearly seen in this passage, and the way it lays out for us is, I believe, important. Romans chapter 5, verses 1 through 5, states: "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope does not make ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us."

Notice what Paul is saying here in these five verses in Romans chapter 5. We are justified, that is, declared righteous before God, by faith. Faith in what? Faith in the finished work of Christ, which brings peace between us and God. Jesus' work on the cross—His death, burial, and resurrection—culminated in His last words on the cross: "It is finished." Our confidence in His work for our salvation gives us peace with God.

Through Jesus and the work He did on the cross, we now have access to God's grace, and we stand rejoicing in hope. This word "hope" is important. The Greek word "elpis" often leads us to think of hope as a kind of blind optimism.

The kind of hope that we often see as Christmas approaches can be illustrated by asking a little child in the children's ministry, "What do you want for Christmas?" They might respond, "Well, I really want..." Then, when you ask them, "Do you think you're going to get that for Christmas?" they might say, "I really hope so. I haven't really been a good boy this year." Their hope is dependent upon their actions, what they have done. They express a kind of hope that is blind optimism; they don't really know for sure.

When you ask a friend, co-worker, or family member who is not a Christian—someone who has not put their confidence in Jesus Christ for salvation—"If you die tonight, would you go to heaven?" they might respond, "I really hope so." When you follow up with, "What do you base that on?" they might say, "Well, I'm a pretty good person." Again, they are basing their hope, their blind optimism, on their good works, saying, "I hope so," without any certainty.

However, the Greek word translated as "hope" means to anticipate with pleasure. It signifies a sure expectation with confidence. I have a steadfast expectation that something will come to pass. Why? Because my faith, my confidence, is not in me; my confidence is in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I have full, total, and complete confidence that what He did on the cross is sufficient to deal with my sin. Consequently, I have absolute expectation that I will be with Him in eternity. This is biblical hope built on sincere faith.

Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ births our hope, which is steadfast. Notice what Paul says in Romans chapter 5: this kind of steadfast hope is not affected, injured, or destroyed by trial and tribulation. In verse 3, he writes, "And not only so, we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." A blind optimism is greatly devastated by the trials of life.

By trial and tribulation, steadfast hope based on confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ is encouraged and actually built up. In the midst of trials and tribulations, the person who has steadfast confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ and established hope that they will be with God in eternity looks at these challenges and says, "Nothing can take me away from what God has promised." These assurances are not based on personal merit but on God, and therefore, there is no need to worry.

The sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. We look at these challenges and recognize that they only encourage and fuel our hope for heaven. We may say, "Yes, this life is tough, but I cannot wait for heaven." This kind of hope does not lead to shame.

In Romans chapter 5, verse 5, we see the distinction between a blind optimism and steadfast hope. A blind optimism might say, "I really hope I get this for Christmas." When Christmas arrives and the package is opened, the realization that you didn't receive what you hoped for can lead to shame. In contrast, steadfast hope, which is founded upon a confident trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, will never lead to shame.

Why is this the case? Because, as verse 5 states, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us. We will not be ashamed of our sure and steadfast hope in God because God has already given us the down payment of our eternal inheritance. The New Testament promises that we who have put our confidence and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation will have an eternal inheritance that fades not away.

What is that eternal inheritance? It is not merely heaven; that is a byproduct of the inheritance. The inheritance is God Himself. Here in this life, as we place our confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ, He establishes our hope for eternal things with Him. He has given us a down payment by imparting a part of His divine nature.

That is His indwelling Holy Spirit and His love. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14 tell us that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our eternal inheritance. It's like the down payment or the first installment. When we put our confidence in Jesus Christ for salvation, God says, "You in the future will inherit Me and eternity with Me, and as proof of that, I'm going to give you the down payment now and give you a part of My divine nature indwelling you: My Holy Spirit and My love."

For God is love, and He has shed His love abroad in our hearts. Faith, hope, and love are essential. Perfection is in heaven, while maturity is what we should seek for now. Perfection in heaven is guaranteed by the finished work of Jesus Christ, and we have an absolute expectation of that. Maturity here and now, however, is something we recognize as lacking in some who have been Christians for 20 or 30 years.

What does an immature Christian look like? One of the defining characteristics of an immature Christian is an immature faith and an immature hope. Therefore, they lack in love and the evidences of love. For example, if you ask a person who is an immature Christian, "Are you going to be in heaven when you die?" they might say, "I hope so, but I'm not sure." Why? Because their faith is not in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross; their faith is in their own works, and so their hope is failing. From that, their love is not fervent.

We ought to strive for spiritual maturity, which is not spiritual giftedness but rather the increasing abundance of spiritual fruit that is love. The Corinthians were gifted, but they were not mature, and that was the problem. Paul makes this great thesis statement in verse 8 of 1 Corinthians chapter 13: love never fails.

Love never fails. This is the thesis of the last paragraph of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, which Paul is going to explain further. It is important that we consider what this does not mean. Our familiarity with these verses comes from their presence on greeting cards, calendars, bumper stickers, and throughout the secular community. We often see the words "love never fails" and "now abide faith, hope, and love; these three, but the greatest of these is love." This idea is prevalent in our culture because our culture loves love, but there is a misunderstanding of what love truly means.

The phrase "love never fails" does not imply that love conquers all things, succeeds without fail, or always wins. We often mistakenly believe that this is what it means, but that is not the case. If it were true that "love never fails" equals "love always wins," then Israel in the Old Testament should never have backslid away from the Lord. He loved them with an everlasting love, even in the midst of their sin. He continuously showed His love to them in many marvelous ways, yet they rejected His offer of love.

If love always wins, then Judas should never have betrayed Jesus. If love always wins, then the religious leaders in the first century should not have crucified Christ. If love always wins, then people would never refuse or reject God's offer of love. Yet, we know that many do; in fact, many people reject our offers of love.

So, we recognize that love does not always win. What, then, does it mean that love never fails? Paul is speaking about the eternality of love. He is emphasizing the fact that love endures.

Love never ends; it endures and continues. I don't think it's a stretch to use the logic that God is love and God is eternal; therefore, love is eternal. The English Standard Version is helpful in its translation of this because it says love never ends and not love never fails.

In contrast to the enduring nature of love, what does fail? Notice what Paul says in verse 8: love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Love never fails, but spiritual gifts will end. You see that it's right there: love never ends, but spiritual gifts will. Paul identifies three gifts—prophecy, tongues, and knowledge—but he is speaking of all of them. He identifies these three for a reason, as we will see.

Our knowledge and prophecies are temporal; they are not wholly complete. Spiritual gifts will be done away with. When are they going to be done away with? Notice what Paul says in verses 9 and 10: "For we know in part," or we have limited knowledge, "and we prophesy in part." Our prophecy is limited in its nature. But when that which is perfect comes, then that which is partial or limited will be done away with. Spiritual gifts will be done away with at the appearing or presence of that which is perfect, says Paul.

The temporality of spiritual gifts, therefore, makes it absurd to view them as the essential evidence of maturity. Does that make sense? It's just absurd to say that because you have spiritual gifts—which all Christians have by the will of God, not by their own will or manufacturing—you are therefore mature. You can't say that because the church at Corinth had spiritual gifts.

Gifts are important, and they should be utilized by believers. We should use the gifts that God has graciously given to us, but they cannot be benchmarks for spirituality. However, they should be a part of the bench of every church. Every church should have a deep bench of spiritually gifted individuals who are functioning within their gifts for three purposes, as we looked at in Chapter 12: the glorification of God, the edification of the body, and the evangelization of the world. That is why God has given us spiritual gifts by His Spirit, as He wills, so that we would glorify Him, edify one another, and evangelize the lost world.

Notice that Paul chooses three gifts: tongues, prophecy, and knowledge. Paul does not do anything haphazardly; there is a reason why he identifies these three. When we get to Chapter 14 next week, we will see that tongues and prophecy dominate the landscape of the entire chapter. This will be the focal point of Chapter 14.

We recognize that Paul chooses these three gifts because they were the key things that the Corinthians were fixated upon. They believed that these gifts set them apart as powerful. They wanted everyone to know they were powerful because they had tongues and prophecy, as well as knowledge. The Corinthians believed they had a special spiritual knowledge of things spoken in tongues and things prophetically given. They arrogantly felt that they were better than everyone else in the body of Christ or more spiritually superior as a result of their apparent spiritual knowledge.

Paul reminds them that these things are temporary; they are going to pass away. They are imperfect because we know in part and we prophesy in part. One day, those things that are in part will be done away with when the perfect comes. In this life, we have partial knowledge, and our ability to...

Comprehending and speaking forth God's word prophetically is limited. When the perfect comes, these things are going to be done away with. Paul even goes so far as to say that we will have full and complete knowledge and understanding, just as we are known; we shall know. Now, that's an awesome thing. Spiritual gifts, all of them, are for today, but they will dissolve and cease at some point. The question is, when? Paul gives us a very clear answer: they are going to dissolve and be done away with when that which is perfect comes.

Commentators differ on their interpretation of what the perfect is, and there are three primary views about what the perfect is that will come and do away with spiritual gifts. The first primary view, and I have to say at the outset, I believe this is the least faithful to any text and, in many ways, a baseless view. The first view is that the perfect that does away with spiritual gifts is spiritual maturity. The idea is that God gives the church spiritual gifts to help them mature, and once they are mature, spiritual gifts are gone. That makes no sense; it's just baseless, especially since the church at Corinth equated spiritual maturity with spiritual gifts. So, I think we can cast that view aside without any problem.

The second view is that the perfect that is going to come and do away with spiritual gifts is the canon of Scripture, the completed work of the Word of God, and the end of the apostolic age. This is the view held by those called cessationists. John MacArthur, a great Bible teacher, is someone I think is an awesome Bible teacher, but in this area, I believe he is dead wrong. He is a cessationist, and cessationists believe that all or some of the gifts ceased to be operative when the canon of Scripture was completed.

Scripture was complete, and the apostolic age was over. John MacArthur calls certain gifts "sign gifts." He says they were the signs of the apostles. He lists tongues, knowledge, prophecies, and miracles—those four. He asserts that those are sign gifts, and when the apostolic age was over, when the last apostle died, they were gone.

Now, again, I have to say I think John MacArthur is an incredibly gifted expositor of the Scriptures. However, if you read or listen to his teachings on this passage, he does amazing gymnastics to arrive at that view.

The third view, and again I have no problem saying this, is the view that we hold at Calvary Chapel. I believe it is the correct view: the perfect is not a time in history or a state of being; the perfect is a person, the person Jesus Christ. We believe that one day the perfect Jesus is going to come again. He will come for us individually at death, or he will come for us corporately at the end.

When he comes, when the perfect appears, the imperfect—that is, spiritual gifts—will cease. We will not need the gift of prophecy in eternity when we are with the Lord. We are not going to need the gift of tongues in eternity when we are with the Lord. We will have all spiritual knowledge; we will know as we are known when we are in eternity with the Lord. These things will be done away with; they are therefore temporal and not to be our focal point.

So, we believe that spiritual gifts are important only in the physical earthly realm. Furthermore, we believe that when we see the perfect risen Lord Jesus, we shall be like him. We base that on 1 John 3:2. We believe that we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. This corruption will put on incorruption; this mortality will put on immortality, as 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 establishes. We believe that now we are childlike in our understanding.

Comprehension of spiritual things is important, and spiritual gifts divinely given to us by God play a significant role. However, we will have full knowledge and understanding in eternity, which means that spiritual gifts will not be necessary.

Notice how Paul illustrates this; he uses two illustrations in verses 11 and 12. He states, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things." This is the first illustration. The second illustration is that "for now we see through a glass or through a mirror darkly, but then face to face. Now we know partially; then we shall know even as we are known."

Paul uses these two illustrations to explain the difference between life now and life in eternity when the perfect one, Jesus, comes again. He describes life now as being like the difference between immaturity and maturity. When he refers to being a child, the Greek word he uses speaks of an infant. Therefore, he contrasts our current state, which is like being an infant, with the future state of being an adult. There is a vast difference between being infantile and being an adult, or there should be.

As infants, we speak a certain way, think a certain way, and reason a certain way. This is how we are now. However, when we enter eternity, there will be a difference; we will be like adults. This does not mean that we should not seek to be mature in this life, as that is the focal point for the Christian: to walk in maturity.

We recognize that illustrations break down. Paul emphasizes that when he was a child, he spoke, understood, and thought as a child, but when he became a man, he put away childish things. The idea is that we currently have spiritual gifts that are temporal because we are childlike in our understanding and need God's help in comprehending spiritual matters. In eternity, we will put away those spiritual gifts because we will be in a new place with the Lord.

In the second illustration, Paul explains that our current state is like looking at our reflection in a mirror, while the future state will be like seeing clearly.

Seeing face to face.

In the 1840s, a German physicist and chemist came up with the idea of our modern-day mirror, which is a glass with a silver backing. It is a really effective mirror. You look at it and think, "Wow, that's very effective!" Especially those magnification mirrors, which can be a bit too effective.

A mirror today is a perfect representation of how we perceive things. A mirror in the first century, however, was a polished piece of brass or a polished piece of silver. The idea here is that a mirror can become tarnished. If you were looking through a tarnished piece of brass, it would be hard to see your reflection. Paul says that now is like looking at your reflection in a tarnished mirror, while then is like seeing face to face. Life in eternity is going to be totally different from life now.

Our ability to see and comprehend now is limited. God has given us spiritual gifts for today, but they will not be available, in use, or needed in eternity. Our understanding now is partial and limited, and our experience of God today is also partial and limited because of the limitations of our flesh. Therefore, we need spiritual gifts today. The Holy Spirit and the gifts He brings are given as a down payment or a first installment of our eternal inheritance, which is the Lord Himself.

Paul finishes all of this with a great verse, verse 13, summing up the whole chapter: "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." Faith, hope, and love are the divine triad of Christian maturity. These three things are not natural abilities. Paul is not speaking about a person who naturally finds it easy to believe things.

Speaking of a person who is particularly optimistic, we see people who are so believing that they just receive it. You might say, "Man, they have a lot of faith." Then you find someone who is just so optimistic. In our nation, the majority are pessimistic, so when you run into someone who has total optimism, you might ask, "Are you hopeful?" Sometimes we see it as a weakness in our culture.

However, Paul is not talking about a person who is just naturally optimistic, nor is he referring to someone who is a very loving, outgoing, warm person. When we say, "Boy, are you loving?" he is speaking here about characteristics that are developed in us by the work of God. Our familiarity with this verse fuels our massive cluelessness about the qualities of faith, hope, and love. These are spiritually established characteristics, not something that you pick up by reading a book or something you endeavor to do after receiving a really neat Hallmark greeting card. In fact, those cards aren't even really around anymore.

These qualities are not manufactured by us; they are brought about by confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, hope built on that confidence, and love shed abroad in our hearts. The interesting thing is that when Paul says love is the greatest, he is saying that love endures while faith and hope are also temporal. Faith and hope, like spiritual gifts, are temporal. Why? Because when faith becomes sight, you will no longer need faith. When you get to heaven, there will be no need for hope. You are not going to wake up in the morning in heaven—if there are mornings in heaven—and think, "I really hope I'm still here." You will simply know you are there.

So, there is no need for faith and hope in eternity. God has no use for faith and hope. He does not have faith; He does not have hope. What does He put His faith in? What does He hope for? He is love, and love endures for eternity. Love will last forever when there is no longer any need for faith and hope.

What, then, is the importance of faith, hope, and love? Let's consider these things in closing. Faith—what is it? I just remembered Pastor Mark's teaching back when he was in a discipleship program. Someone asked...

One of the pastors asked, "What is faith?" He responded, "It's 'hatayef' spelled backwards." What is faith? It's not that. Faith is an unfettered confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Saving faith is not merely a mental recognition of the claims of Christianity.

What do I mean by that? You may meet a person and ask them, "Do you believe in Jesus?" They might say, "Yeah, I believe in Jesus." Just before you're all ready to get happy in fellowship with them, you realize, wait a minute, their faith in Jesus might be limited.

So, what do you believe about Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus was a man? "Yeah, I believe Jesus was a man." Do you believe that he lived two thousand years ago? "Yeah, I believe that." Do you believe he died on a Roman cross? "Yeah, I believe that." Do you believe that he was dead, buried, and resurrected, and that he is the eternal Son of God? Whoa, wait, what?

It's not just a mere mental recognition of the claims of Christianity. What is saving faith? Saving faith is an unfettered confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is wholesale putting yourself upon the work that he did, putting confidence in the fact that his death on the cross atones for your sin, my sin, and the sin of all humanity. We receive that payment for our sin as we put our confidence in him for salvation. He did it; that's why he said, "It is finished." I put my full confidence in that.

From that unfettered confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ issues forth hope—absolute, steadfast, unending confidence and assurance that I will be with him in eternity. Why? Because it's based on his finished work and not my works. What he did is sufficient; therefore, I have an absolute expectation of eternity with him and an eternal inheritance in him.

Biblical hope is not a blind optimism but a steadfast, absolute assurance. It cannot be apprehended apart from a full confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, biblical hope depends upon faith. If our faith is divided, then it is not a complete and total confidence in what Jesus has done for our salvation and our justification.

Just as if we had never sinned, we would only have an immature, blind, optimistic hope for eternity. I kind of hope it happens. In other words, there will be a reason to doubt whether or not we will be with the Lord in eternity if our hope is divided and our faith is divided.

But Paul says love is the greatest. How so? Because love is refined from the ore of faith and hope, and all of these are essential elements to maturity. When I have full confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ, then I have an absolute expectation of eternity with God and an eternal inheritance in God.

When I step back from those things and realize how awesome His love is, I understand why. If I am, as I know I am, completely sinful, then His finished work for my sins is an awesome demonstration of His love. When I step back and see so great a salvation and such an awesome love given for me, I recognize that he who is forgiven much loves much.

From that faith issues hope, which establishes my love for God, and the overflow of that is love for others. What then should be the focus of the Christian? Excelling in love. We should seek to excel in love. Spiritual gifts—that's God's doing, that's His work in our lives. We should seek, through the building up of our faith and the establishing of our hope, to excel in love for God and love for one another.

Why? Because all the commandments are fulfilled in this: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. It comes down to this: if you know this love only mentally and have not experienced it, then I plead with you today to cast your confidence.

Put your wholesale faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, not your confidence in what you can do to obtain or grasp salvation, because it will never work. I plead with you to put your confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ and to stand with steadfast assurance of hope for eternity because of what He has done. Recognize how great a sinner you are and the great love that He has had to forgive your sins.

As the body of Christ, functioning in the gifts that God has given to us, we should stir one another up to love that is evidenced by good deeds. This should be the focus of this church and every church: love for God and love for one another, established upon a steadfast confidence in the finished work of Jesus and our absolute expectation of eternity with Him. Amen.

I'll stand and pray. Father, I recognize that we have had to use our minds to follow this line here in these last verses of chapter 13, but I ask, Lord, that You would make these things clear. If I have been unable to clarify these things, would You, by Your Spirit, bring clarity? Help us to recognize Your love, and may Your love so permeate our lives that those who don't know You would recognize Your love in us and see us as Your followers because of the love that we have for You and for one another.

This love is different from the love in this world; it exhibits itself in patience, kindness, humility, and consistency. Lord, work these things into our lives—these things that are not natural to us but are an essential part of our walk with You.

Your nature and character, would You bring them about in our lives? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

A Troyville, another I or I who.