Faith, Hope, And Love

Good News – April 2022 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Faith, Hope And Love

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” –1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

Faith
Salvation is by grace through faith. Because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Ti. 2:11).

Your sins have separated you from God, and in order for you to be saved and reconciled to God someone has to pay your sin-debt. The good news is that Someone not only paid it, but paid it in full. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, … He was buried, and … He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Do you believe concerning Christ, the Son of God?

Another verse says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). You cannot be saved through your own efforts, by joining a church, through baptism or in taking communion. Scripture emphatically declares, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8).

Faith is what moves you to stretch out “empty hands” to receive God’s gift of salvation. It is the key that opens the door of your heart to receive Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Hope
Hope means “a confident expectation.” As a sinner you have no hope, for you are “without God in the world” (v.12). If you die without Christ, that will be the beginning of your troubles, for your soul will be in torment forever with no relief ever to be seen.

But what hope is yours when you put your trust in the Lord Jesus! His Spirit comes to live in you, opening up the whole vista of glory which is yours in Christ. What a confident expectation can be yours of the coming of the Lord to take you to be with Him eternally in heaven. You must choose whether to face eternal hopelessness or to have an enless and enduring hope of glory with Christ Jesus. Christ living in you is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

Love
Faith and hope will find their fulfillment in the coming of the Lord for all who have trusted in Him, followed Him, and waited for Him. The greatest of these is love because God is love, and His love will endure forever. Salvation originates in His love: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). God loves every person! There was nothing good in any of us to draw His love, “for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly … God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6-8). “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:10). The word “propitiation” means that through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, God has been vindicated in His holy and righteous character. Therefore, He can show mercy by forgiving you of your sins if you believe on the Lord Jesus. John then wrote: “We love Him, because He first loved us” (v.19). Do not to spurn the love of God, for it would be your eternal loss and an insult to Him who gave His only Son to die in your stead that you might be saved.

Yes, faith, hope and love abide for all whose faith rests upon Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. On the other hand, wrath or judgment is the only thing left for those who reject Christ. “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (Jn. 3:36). We can tell you how you can believe!

By Richard Barnett

My faith is centered in the Christ Who died to set me free. My debt of sin I could not pay. He paid it all for me.
My hope is fixed upon His Word “I go, a place to prepare”; He’ll take me to His Father’s house, To live with Him up there.
My love is set upon my Lord, He loves me to the end. Nothing can part me from the love Of my Beloved, and my Friend.