These Three

1 Corinthians 13:1 – 13

1. Faith Makes it Possible

a. To Live Different – Definition of faith - Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the knowledge that God is in absolute control of all the situations of life and that He is working in everything, all the time, Rom. 8:28

Genuine biblical faith can be seen in thousands of ways in the Bible and within your life and mine.

It takes faith to live differently. It takes faith to be a David.. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo.

It takes faith to be an Abraham, a Peter, Paul.. all lived lives differently than everyone else..

We as Christians should be different from the world. We should be different in the way we live our lives, because our focus has changed from ourselves to Christ. This is because of faith..

I have Faith that Christ is with me always, so I am careful where I take Him!!!

I have faith that He’ll never leave me, so I lean on His strong arm..

Faith makes it possible for..

b. Salvation – Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Saved from what? Punishment of sin – hell. It is finished – paid in full.

Do you have faith that Christ died for you?

Do you have faith that He rose again three days later?

Do you have faith that He will forgive your sins if you confess them to Him?

Do you have faith that He has prepared a place for you in Heaven?

Do you have faith that one day you will see His face, His nail scarred hands, His smile….?

Faith makes it possible for..

c. Daily Christian Life – Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

The Christian life is a walk of faith. We are set apart, we are to live differently.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him

2. Hope Makes it Worth it

What is hope? The dictionary defines it as "to have a wish to get or do something or for something to happen or be true, especially something that seems possible or likely." Biblical hope is something far different. Biblical hope is, "A confident expectation which rests upon the promises of God." In other words, Hope is believing that God’s Word is true and can be believed.

Genuine hope is not wishful thinking, but a confident expectation that God will do as He has promised. Hope takes the Word of God at face value!

a. Glorious Hope – Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

One day because we have accepted Christ as our Saviour, we will stand in the very presence of God, we will behold His glory. We have a hope of eternal life, and it is glorious because God is full of glory.

We have been accepted by God because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. A sinner cannot stand before God unless he is covered with the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have access to God because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Once you accept Christ as your Saviour you have access to the Father. He makes intersession for us. We can go to the very throne room of God because of what Christ has done for us.

b. Lively Hope – 1 Pet 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Lively = life, to live. Therefore this is a living hope. It is alive, it will come to pass. It is not a dead hope… Hope to have a million pounds….

We have a hope that is lively because of Christ’s resurrection, we have the hope of a new birth, we have the hope of our resurrection.

c. Blessed Hope – Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

It is a blessed hope because Christ is coming back for us (John 14:1-3 in My Fathers house) we will escape the tribulation; Christ will rapture the church and as a result we will not go through the 7 years of tribulation.

Looking for means to EXPECT. It should not come as a surprise to us because we are expecting Christ to come…