In this episode of Hope for Today, we delve deeply into 1 Corinthians 13 and explore the unfailing nature of divine love. With Bible teacher David Hawking at the helm, listeners are guided through the timeless truths that prophecies will end, tongues will cease, and worldly knowledge will pass, but God’s love will endure forever. An insightful listener letter from Irene sets the stage for reflections on how the Bible’s age-old wisdom remains relevant and encouraging in the fast-changing modern world.
God’s love will never fail because of who God is and what God does. And I need it in my life. And it’s produced in me by the Holy Spirit. And I fight it all the time. I want to do things my way. I fight this wonderful, wonderful love of God that will never fail. And my mind is closed to it and I’m blind to it because of my own selfishness and stubborn ways. And God wants to take it away from me and stop fighting, grieving the Holy Spirit. You and I need to be controlled by the Holy Spirit that we might know the love that never will at any time under any circumstances ever fail.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is hope for today. The world is always shifting, isn’t it? People change, circumstances turn. Things men trust, praise, and cling to often vanish before they even realize it. The love of God, however, the love that God describes in 1 Corinthians 13… it doesn’t break down under pressure. It doesn’t expire. It doesn’t walk away. Love, true love, God-honoring love never fails. On today’s broadcast, Bible teacher David Hawking continues his message called Love Never Leaves. We’ll be back in 1 Corinthians 13, verses 8 through 10, where God’s word reminds us that prophecies will end, tongues will cease, and the knowledge of this present age will pass away, but godly love endures right through it all. And just before today’s lesson, well, Matt, we have a special listener letter this week we’re going to share. It comes from Irene in Yakima. What does Irene have to say?
SPEAKER 02 :
She just says, this morning I was listening on KYAK in Yakima. That’s the American Christian Network Station, KYAK. Amen. Yeah. And it said it started out talking about Iraq. My dad was preaching about Iraq. She goes, I couldn’t write it all down about the days to come. All written in our Bible.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I love that she says that. She goes, thank you so much for the news you report on all scripture. You know, I’m so concerned about getting the truth out there. And you have been a blessing. Thank you so much. I love that. Just look back to the Bible. It’s all there.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s amazing. Your dad has shared this before, but that book you’re holding in your hands, that Bible, is an amazing commentary for all the books on your shelf. Over 2,000 years old and yet still… Incredibly relevant today. Extraordinarily relevant to the problems of today and the encouragement we need for today. The hope. We need for today.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
There you go. Folks, if you have a note for us, a prayer request, maybe send a donation if you like. We could use that help. I’ll tell you just a bit later how to get in touch. Now here’s David with day two of Love Never Leaves, taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
SPEAKER 01 :
Here’s what does last, and it’ll help you to understand why God’s love will last. One, the Word of God endureth forever. Amen? Isaiah 40, verse 8, 1 Peter 1, 25. The word of God endureth forever. His word is forever settled in heaven. We will never be without his word. Number two, the Lord himself will endure forever. Well, why are we surprised at this one? After all, 1 John 4, 8 says God is love. He’s not merely love, but he is love in every sense of the word. So because God endures forever, I love Deuteronomy 31, verse 6 and 8. He will never fail you. He will never forsake you. Why? He lives forever. He endures forever. Joshua heard that when he went in to conquer 31 Canaanite kings. He heard the Lord say, I will never fail you. I will never forsake you. I’ll be with you wherever you go. I live forever. I will exist forever. Forever. Go to Psalm 9, verse 7. Just clear statements. They’re everywhere in the Psalms. But Psalm 9, 7. But the Lord shall endure forever. He hath prepared his throne for judgment. Here it’s talking about judging the world. We look at all the wickedness and why doesn’t God do something? And the answer is he will. Remember, the Lord endures forever. He’s on his own time schedule, his own plan. He will take care of it. The word of God endures forever. The Lord himself endures forever. I love Psalm 102. Psalm 102. Look at verse 11 and 12. My days are like a shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord. There it is. “…shall endure forever, and thy remembrance unto all generations.” You know what else endures? The Lord’s glory. The glory of the Lord endures. In Psalm 104, verse 31, just a couple pages to the right, “…the glory of the Lord shall endure forever.” Praise God. All that He is, the demonstration of it, we call it the Shekinah, the dwelling of God’s presence and manifesting His glory so that we can see something of Him. The glory of the Lord endures forever. Psalm 72 verse 17. We read these words. His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in him and all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. That’s how David ended his psalms and his prayers. The name of the Lord endures forever. Here’s something else mentioned 41 times. 34 of them in the Psalms. His mercy endures forever. You can’t separate his love from his mercy. His mercy which holds back from us what we deserve. Here’s another one. The goodness of the Lord endures forever. Psalm 52 verse 1. Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually. Mercy, goodness, righteousness also, the righteousness of the Lord. And all these are attributes of God’s love. In Psalm 111 and verse 3, his work is honorable and glorious and his righteousness endureth forever. Psalm 112 verse 3, wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousness endureth forever. Psalm 112 verse 9, he hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness endureth forever. Also, the truth of the Lord will endure forever. The truth of the Lord. Psalm 100 and verse 5. A psalm of great thanksgiving. Enter his gates with thanksgiving into his courts with praise. Verse 5. The Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting. And his truth endureth to all generations. According to Psalm 119, 160, all the judgments of the Lord will endure forever. In Psalm 89, verse 33, the faithfulness of the Lord will endure forever. And that’s why love endures forever. The praise of the Lord will endure forever. Psalm 111, verse 10. The seed of David and his throne upon which the Messiah will sit will endure forever. Psalm 89 verse 29 and 36. The compassion of the Lord will never fail. Lamentations 3.22. Love never faileth. The kingdom and dominion of the Lord endures forever. Psalm 145 verse 13. And I want you to turn to one last one in Luke 12 and I’ll quit this. But I want to overwhelm you with the fact that God’s love will never fail because of who God is and what God does. Here in Luke 12 is something very interesting that will also endure forever. And that’s the treasure in the heavens that you and I are laying up there by what we do down here. Very interesting what Jesus said. Luke 12, 33 and 34. He said, Sell that you have and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old. A treasure in the heavens that faileth not. Where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Love never fails. Love always accomplishes what God wants it to. And love, listen carefully, always lays up treasure in heaven. Amen? And it will never fail. Never. Let’s come back to 1 Corinthians 13. We’re talking about, as we said… The reasons why God’s love is exalted. It’s exalted because it endures. Number two. It’s exalted because it exists when gifts are no more. This is very interesting in these verses. Verses 8 to 10. And I’d like you to look at your Bibles again and read it in the light of what we’ve just said. Love never fails. It will always endure, and it will exist when gifts are no more. It says, but whether there be prophecies, notice it’s a plural noun, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, notice it’s plural, not singular, 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 has come, then that which is in part shall be done away. Love is exalted because it exists when gifts are no more. The gifts are temporary. Love is eternal. For those of you who are taking notes, three things I would point out to you. First of all, in verse 8, is the inability of gifts to last forever. They are wonderful. And it’s interesting that he chose these three. The inability of gifts to last forever. Let’s start with prophecies. I asked you to notice that it was a noun. It is not the gift of prophecy here, but it’s the result of prophesying. That’s not my view. That’s the grammar of the noun here. It’s prophecies. In other words, the result of preaching is the revelation that is given, obviously. Now, according to this text, it will fail. In the old King James, the word fail, after prophecies, is exactly the same as the last one. Knowledge will vanish away. Vanish away and fail are the same word in Greek. The only word that’s different is about tongues. Now, what did he mean prophecies and knowledge will vanish away? That’s an interesting problem. The Greek word kartageo is a very common word. Kartageo is a future. And it means to render something inoperative or to phase it out. It becomes ineffective. According to this text, prophecies and knowledge both will not last. Love will. They won’t. Why? Because they’re going to be phased out. They’re going to become ineffective. They will not achieve their original purpose anymore. It’ll be all over. They’re only temporary. And I think to myself, wow, what wonderful temporary gifts. We’re talking about the very substance of what church life is all about. Learning God’s Word and the revelation. Why without, the Bible says, without vision the people perish. The Hebrew word is revelation. Without revelation from God, we all would perish. Thank God for the Bible, amen? If I didn’t have the Bible, I wouldn’t know what I’m doing. Half the time I don’t know what I’m doing even with the Bible. You know, it’s very important. We have revelation from God. We have prophecies. We have knowledge in the Bible that’s incredible. When I think of what the Bible has given me in the way of knowledge, as I talk to people who maybe even have PhDs and are well-educated, But the truth is, I see the bankruptcy of the entire educational system. The truth is, the Bible gives you knowledge like you cannot believe. And what is he saying? It’s all going to vanish away. It’s going to become ineffective, inoperative. It won’t be needed anymore. But love will. You know, we need to get our eyes open. As wonderful as all we’re talking about is prophecies, knowledge, the word of God and how precious it is to know what to do and what God wants you to do and know what is right and know what is wrong. That’s wonderful. But friends, there’s a day coming when all of that will be rendered inoperative, ineffective. You won’t need it anymore. On the basis of this, we can at least say we won’t be using our Bibles in heaven. You ever thought about that? I think a lot of people are hoping that they can take their Schofield notes with them to glory. Maybe check out the Lord and see if he’s accurate, you know. I don’t know what we’re thinking. There’ll be no Bibles in heaven. Wow. Interesting, huh? All the wonderful things we’ve learned about God and his word from his passages in the Bible is one day they won’t be needed anymore. Wow. But love will. Love never stops. Love never leaves you. Love never forsakes you. Love never fails to accomplish what God wants it to, ever. How interesting. So both prophecies and knowledge are dealing with revelation, knowledge that we have, wisdom that we have. And yet he says there’s a day coming when it’s not needed anymore. That is really unusual. But he also mentions in this verse what usually fascinates people more than the important point of love. But it fascinates them that tongues will cease. Tongues will cease. He changed the word. He didn’t say they will become ineffective or they’ll be phased out. He didn’t say that. He said they’ll come to an abrupt stop. The Greek word is to stop immediately and abruptly. No warning. They just stop. Wow. The important point here is they’ll not be replaced by something better. They just cease to be needed, and they cease to exist at some point. So what are we talking about here? We’re talking about love being exalted because it exists when gifts are no more. And the first thing we’re looking at is the inability of gifts to last forever, according to this passage. The second thing I’d have you notice is in verse 9, and that’s the incompleteness of these gifts. They are not complete. It says we know in part and we prophesy in part. Apparently the greatest scholar among us, apparently the person who’s had God touch their lives and reveal the most amount of knowledge possible for a human being to gain is still only with partial knowledge. Imagine that. No wonder Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2.9, I has not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered the heart of man the things that God’s prepared for those that love him. Do you know it is without question that I can say to all of us, we have a lot to learn. Amen. More than we ever thought. And there is so much we do not know. Thank God for the Bible. But you know that God’s understanding of all things is infinite and beyond human comprehension. And by the way, he said the same thing about his love in Ephesians chapter 3. It passes human knowledge. He said we can’t even comprehend with all the saints the amazing dimensions of it. How deep and broad and long and wide it is. His love is really the fullness of God himself. And you haven’t even begun to experience a blessing of it. This is an incredible passage. I look at it every time. Every time I come back to it, I see something I didn’t see before. It’s an amazing passage. All of the gifts, as wonderful as they are, are totally insufficient and incomplete. They do not give us what we need. But guess what? Love does and it will never fail under any circumstances and at any time. And by the way, our knowledge of that love will continue to grow throughout all eternity. And we will tell you in our next message together why that love is the greatest of all. And you’re going to be amazed. It’s going to surprise you. Different than what you may be thinking now. The third thing I want to dwell on for a moment is the impact of that which is perfect. Look at what it says in verse 10. But when… Stop right there. If you mark your Bible, you might want to underline or circle when. You see that? And then notice it’s repeated again in verse 11. When… When… But now… Verse 12. Actually, it’s in Greek. Very, very easy to see. When, but then. So when this perfect thing comes, then I’m going to have knowledge like I have never known in my life. It’s incredible. The impact of that which is perfect. When it comes, then that which is in part. What is in part? Verse 9. We prophesy and we know in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part will be done away. The words be done away are the same words vanish away and fail in verse 8. Same word. Now, what about the perfect thing?
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. He’ll be back in a moment to close out today’s time in God’s Word. Right now, Matt joins me in the studio, and we’re going to share this month’s incredible home Bible study resource.
SPEAKER 02 :
Matt, let’s talk about this. The Old Testament Message Series Sermon Notes Outlines is our special package this month.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is a pack of David Hawking’s sermon notes and outlines for 35 message series he has taught over the years in the Old Testament. This is for everyone, including the serious Bible student. The very structure, plan, outline, and notes your dad used to preach each message, all included.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and I love these because the notes are already written down for you. Now, you can add some of your own, of course, but the essential and crucial points are all there for you.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Matt, we have a few of the sermon note packs here. Yeah, let’s take a look at a couple of samples. Matt, I’m holding here a pack of sermon notes by your dad for his series in Job. There’s 24 messages in this series, so there’s 24 message outlines for the series. And the first one here, the first message is, who is Job? And your dad gives historical background on who Job is, the culture of his time, and then a three-point outline says, What a powerful way to follow along as your dad teaches, because all the key points, again, are right here.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, I’m looking at his book of Exodus. It’s huge. And I like the way he breaks it up. Example, on message number 11, Passover, divided into points. So it was chosen to be the beginning of months. It was centered in the sacrifice of a special lamb, the selection of the lamb, the spotlessness of the lamb, the sacrifice of the lamb, the shedding of the lamb. It’s amazing. And all these have subsections to them. All these key points there, the verses that they apply to, cross-references, examples, illustrations. Just a sample of what you’ll receive this month when you order the Old Testament Message Series Sermon Notes Bundle.
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Sermon Notes and Outlines for 35 Old Testament Teaching Series by David Hawking.
SPEAKER 02 :
And a special price? Just $75. You know, the Sermon Notes help you capture the lessons, applications, and encouragement from Old Testament studies. in a comprehensive but concise format. And if you’re listening to David teach, they are an outstanding aid to help you follow along. And again, the sermon outlines and notes bundle for all of my dad’s Old Testament teaching series is just $75.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Matt, we also want to tell folks about a helpful resource from your dad called Love is the Greatest. Now, that’s the title of our current radio series in 1 Corinthians 13. It is also the title of David’s book commentary on 1 Corinthians 13. Listen, this will help you save everything you’re learning on the radio series and give you additional material that we don’t have time to include here on radio. It’ll help you see what God says about love, and not as a sentiment or a religious cliché, But as truth, truth that’s tested, pure, and rooted in God’s Word. Or your copy of Love is the Greatest, David’s Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13. It’s just $15, and you can make the purchase when you call us at 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. Or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 24253. You can also order online at DavidHawking.com. And while you’re on the website, you can send us a note using the contact form if you like. Tell us you’re praying for us, or maybe share a prayer request yourself. We ask you to pray for this ministry, and as the Lord leads, and if the Lord leads, to stand with us financially as well. You see, your giving helps keep hope for today on this station, pay for the cost of broadcast time, and helps us continue taking the straightforward teaching of God’s Word to people who need the truth. In a time when there’s so much compromise on Bible teaching, your support helps us stay on the air and online, declaring the Word of God without compromise. As David says, the Bible, the whole Bible, nothing but the Bible. If you’d like to send a gift by mail in the U.S., write to Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, Tustin is T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7Oaks.com. Abbotsford. Abbotsford is spelled A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D. That’s in B-C-V-2-S-H-P-1. You can also donate by calling us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And again, Bible by the numbers is 24253. Or you can make a donation on our website, davidhawking.org. And here’s David.
SPEAKER 01 :
The healing power of love. I hope this whole series on love will prepare your hearts to just understand that God’s love is something far different than what we’re hearing from the world. We need to know what God’s love is all about. And again, our special commentary, making it available to you, will be a great blessing to you, I know. I’m pretty excited about what God is doing in the lives of people, but I know that we are dependent upon the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit using the Word of God in people’s lives. It may be that you’re listening and you know that your heart is pretty far from God right now. We’d love to help you. We’d love to bring you back if we could. God has to do that, but he can use his word. And if we can help you, let us know. Call us and say, you know, I’m just struggling. I’m not really sure my relationship with God. We have a free booklet, a free Bible study by mail that may really help you. So just give us a call. God bless you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you, David. And if you missed any part of today’s broadcast or if you’d like to hear it again, maybe share it with a friend, visit us online at davidhawking.org. You’ll also find many more Bible teaching resources while you’re there. Good place to visit. Well, tomorrow, David continues in 1 Corinthians 13 with day three of our message, Love Never Leaves. The world glories in what is impressive for the moment, what’s going viral. But God’s Word keeps driving us back to what lasts. Love never fails. And we’ll see more of why that matters in the days ahead. Well, that’s all the time we have for today. Be sure to invite a friend to listen along with you right here on Hope for Today.
