In this episode of Hope for Today, Bible teacher David Hocking walks through one of the most familiar passages in Scripture—1 Corinthians 13—and challenges listeners to see it in a deeper, more personal way.
This isn’t a sentimental message about love. It’s a direct confrontation.
Hocking breaks down why love is not just important—but supreme. Greater than knowledge. Greater than spiritual gifts. Even greater than faith and hope. He explains that while we chase understanding and try to “get it right,” we often miss the one thing God actually commands us to pursue above all else.
Love.
But not the version we think
SPEAKER 01 :
Some of us are so proud, well, I don’t say much because I know that, you know, those are problems that people have. You’ve got a problem. Look, we all have problems. What we need is the love that only the Holy Spirit can put in your life. It’s the love that put Jesus Christ on that cross to die for our sins.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is Hope for Today. Welcome to our Friday Bible study. You know, this world, it’s drunk on what’s temporary. It chases what sparkles for the moment and clings to what can never last. But in the last three verses of 1 Corinthians 13, God pulls our eyes off the partial, the childish and the fading, and sets them on what abides. Love is the greatest. Today, Bible teacher David Hocking brings us day three of his final message in our series from 1 Corinthians 13. Love is the greatest. Stay tuned. First, get over to davidHocking.org. It’s loaded with strong biblical teaching resources. You’ll find free study materials right from the homepage. On the homepage, you’ll find downloadable books and booklets free. Click on the radio tab and you can listen to previous programs. And the media center, find online video teaching by David available 24-7. And if this ministry matters to you, we ask you to stand with us in prayer. First of all, please pray for this ministry. And if you can also stand with us financially, your giving helps keep this broadcast on the air. It helps us cover the cost of airtime, declaring the word of God and God’s love with clarity to a generation that’s drowning. well, soft religion and shallow talk. To make a donation by phone, call us at 875-BIBLE. In Canada, 888-75-BIBLE. Bible is 24253. Or go to our website. Again, that’s davidHocking.org. And here’s David to take us into the Word.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know, in a certain sense, it’d be easy to say, oh, the perfect thing is the Bible completed. I have held that view. I was taught that view. but it doesn’t fit. Folks, one day I am going to know and understand things I don’t now, even with this blessed book of knowledge we call the Bible. But my understanding, my ability to see it from God’s point of view is lacking. Why? Because I’m finite and I, I’ll use the vernacular, I am stupid. The point is that you and I need God’s love. And a lot of us think we have it and we are the farthest thing from it. And it’s very hard to admit that you don’t have an ounce of it being reflected in your life. That you’re running on your own gas. You’re planning your life the way you want it planned. And you think that you can somehow love anytime you want with the love of God. Listen, I have experienced failure. Have you? You fall flat on your face. And I think God delights in that. Righteous men, according to Proverbs, will fall seven times a day. But thank God the Lord will lift them up. And a lot of us are falling on our face thinking that somehow we’re loving people. And in the process we’re actually hurting them. We’re not building them up or tearing them down. And I’m good at it. How about you? And I can feel fully justified. And I can give you at least 17 arguments as to why I was right. When are we ever going to humble ourselves before God and say, God, I’m making a mess of things. I need your love in my life. You see, what is said in verse 12 is that love will enable you while you wait for that greater understanding. I will not have this problem with others that I have now in the future. When I die, I’m absent from the body and present with the Lord. And in his presence, there’s fullness of joy. And I certainly will know things then I don’t know now. And there is a wonderful people say, well, are you talking about the millennium? Are you talking about the kingdom of God, the city? Or are you talking about the eternal state? Watch my lips. I don’t care. All I know is that one day after my death and my life is over, my mind will be opened up by God like I have never known in this entire life. Believe me, I have a thirst for knowledge. I am so thankful for that. I really mean that sincerely. I am so thankful that I have a thirst for knowledge. Because I’ve seen a lot of people my age who quit, who shut down, who run on former gas. I can’t wait to learn something more. I want to learn everything I can. And I love this book more than anything else in life. But I want you to know one day God is going to open my brain and I’m going to see things like I never saw before. And I will know with a full knowledge as he knows me now. I think it’s a future state. Call it what you want. It’s after this life. It’s in the future and it is a blessing, praise God. But now I’ve got a burden because I see things darkly, dimly, obscurely. You know what? Have you ever been talking to somebody who’s explaining something to you and you don’t have the foggiest idea what they’re talking about? But you keep saying to them, right, yeah, well, hey, that’s a good point. God bless you. And you don’t know a thing what they’re talking about. And you want to hear the real funny thing? Neither do they. Like the fellow says, I’ve already told you more than I know. Think about that. You see, a lot of us are that way. And some of us are so proud, well, I don’t say much because I know that, you know, Those are problems that people have. You got a problem. Look, we all have problems. What we need is the love that only the Holy Spirit can put in your life. It’s a love that put Jesus Christ on that cross to die for our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. It’s a love that God gave you when you were still a sinner and you didn’t care anything about him. The Bible says our capacity to love this way is because he first loved us. Well, you can’t even begin to understand it or experience a dose of it until you are born of the Spirit of God, according to 1 John 4, 7 and 8. We need to understand our need of God to love like he wants. So let me back up. We’re talking about the fourth reason why love is exalted. Not only because it endures. Not only because it exists when gifts are no more. Not only because it eliminates or excludes immaturity. But it’s also exalted because it enables us while we wait for a greater knowledge. And it hit me like a ton of bricks while I was studying portions of this this afternoon. That you know what? My thirst for knowledge is an Achilles heel in my life. Well, I’m not saying I’m hating it. I love it. I thank God I have it. But you know what? It’s an Achilles heel. Because you can think that if you just know something, you’ll be okay. Wrong. Without God’s love, it profits you nothing. Which brings me to the last thing. Why is love exalted? Because it excels all other spiritual blessings. Do you understand verse 13? I think it’s one of the most unusual verses in the Bible. And I don’t want to bore you to death, but I want you to see it. Look at this again. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13. It’s a good verse to memorize. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, or love. These three. But the greatest of these is love. I want to ask two questions here that you might not even have thought of. But they’re very important questions here. One is why is love similar to faith and hope? You say, what are you talking about? I’ll never forget. I can still remember the day I was in my study and saw this in the Greek text. I still remember the exact moment when I saw it. I was so troubled. I thought there was a mistake. There must be a manuscript problem here. I’ll tell you why. The word abide is singular, not plural. But there are three things mentioned. It’s the most unusual example of grammar that you’ll find in the New Testament in this regard. Three things are mentioned. It should be plural. Now abides all three. But it’s not. It’s singular. How can you have three things as a noun and a singular? It doesn’t make sense. And because it’s singular and not plural, I ask myself the question, there’s something here that I’m not getting. I’m not understanding. It’s only one thing that continues to abide. And it is best described by three words. Faith, hope, and love. They aren’t separated. They go together. They’re the same. And I started thinking about it. And I came up with three things to help me that might be a helpful thing to you. First of all, I think what they have in common is that all three are the result of God’s work in the heart of the believer. Did you know that? All three of them. Faith and love are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5, 22 and 23. The Holy Spirit has to produce them in your heart. Faith and love. And hope, according to the Bible, is based on the promises of God upon which your faith depends. In other words, all three of them, folks, are the result of God’s work in the heart of the believer. Number two, a second answer to why faith, hope, and love use a singular verb. Why? Because all three are a reminder of the nature of Christian maturity. He just got through saying, I spoke like a child, I understood a child, but when I put away childish things, I became a man, I was mature. In other words, faith, hope, and love, what they have in common, describes maturity as a believer. Let me give you an example. Turn to Colossians. And look how they’re put together. Verse 4 and 5. Since we heard of your faith, there’s number one in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all the saints, for the hope that’s laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. There they all three are. Go over to 1 Thessalonians, just to the right, one book. 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 3. Remembering without ceasing, here they are, your work of faith, one, your labor of love, two, and your patience of hope, three, in our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, those three really summarize the Christian life and the maturity that we have in the Lord. In chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, verse 8 says, It says, let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. You’ll see this often. Faith, love, and hope put together to describe the Christian’s life and maturity. But here’s something else. As I looked at why faith, hope, and love, all three of them, abide. Why are they put together? Because all three are a reality that exists forever. They’re found in heaven as well as on earth. Ephesians 2, 7 to 9 tells us that in the ages to come, God’s going to continue to show us the riches of his grace for we are saved by faith. Without faith, says Hebrews 11, 6, it’s impossible to please God and we’ll be pleasing God forever. So we will need a faith that continues to grow even in heaven. We will see God stretching us to believe the enormity of who he is and what he has promised in the future. And hope, Colossians 1.5, we just read, says the hope is laid up in heaven. You think you have hope now? Wait till it’s realized. Wait till you see the fulfillment of everything you believed. And love, 1 John 4, 7, and 8 says God is love. And he who is born of God will continue to love. We will never stop loving. They are going to exist forever. So I ask the question, why love? What do these three have in common? And that’s what I came up with. But I think the greater question, again, 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, is why he says the greatest of these is love. Folks, listen. I’m not making this up. I hope this is obvious to you all. The Bible tells you that love is the most important pursuit in life. After telling us the greatest of these is love, look how chapter 14 begins. Follow after love. The point is the highest good, the greatest pursuit, the number one priority for all of us is God’s love. And I’m asking myself, why is that love so great? Why is it greater than faith and hope? We get saved by those. So how could it be greater than that? And that’s what I’m asking. So here’s my answer. Number one, it’s because God is love. 1 John 4, 8. The Bible doesn’t say God is faith. That’s nonsense. It doesn’t say God is hope either. But it does say God is love. Therefore, love is greater. Amen? Doesn’t take a whole lot to figure out. And secondly, it’s got to be greater because without it, you wouldn’t have any faith or hope. God loved you and you didn’t care anything about him. It’s because of God’s love that you become a believer. How powerful can you get? And this is love, not that we love God, but he loved us. There wouldn’t be any faith or hope without love. Of course it’s greater. Number three, it has a wider application. What do I mean by this? Faith and hope are both directed toward God alone. We put our faith in the Lord. We put our hope in what he’s promised. But think about it. Love is first to God, but then the Bible says to others, whether they are believers or non-believers. So it’s love that has a wider application than even our faith and hope, which is only in the Lord. Here’s something else. Number four, love has to be greater because it’s the main motive for both obedience and service to the Lord. John 14, 15. If you love me, Jesus said, keep my commandments. He never said, if you believe in me, keep my commandments. So that is what we would expect. If you hope in what I promised you, then keep my commandments. No. Obedience. Maybe this is why we’re struggling, folks. Obedience is the product of love. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. It’s the primary motive. 2 Corinthians 5.14, the love of Christ constraineth us. It motivates us. Galatians 5.13, by love serve one another. He doesn’t say by faith or by hope, but by love. And here’s something else. Love can do what faith and hope can’t do. You say, what do you mean? Faith and hope do not forgive. Only love does. You say, well, I want to forgive those who offended me and I want to get straightened out. And maybe you’ve been a victim or one who caused it. And I want to get the relationship healed. But wait a minute. Faith won’t do it. You say, well, I’m a believer. That ought to settle it. No. Hope and what you hope. No, that won’t do it either. What is going to actually apply forgiveness? The answer is love. God will forgive you because he loves you. You see, you don’t forgive people because they deserve it. He doesn’t deserve it. He said that to me four times now. How much do I, excuse me, love will forgive even when there’s not a correct apology. And I want to mention one more thing. Love is greater because it doesn’t depend upon things outside of itself in order to function. For an example, faith requires an object to be trusted. Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Hope is based on the promises of God. That’s clear in Romans 8, 24 and 25, Hebrews 6, 18 and 19. It’s very clear. Faith needs an object. Hope needs a promise to trust. But love doesn’t require something outside of itself in order to function. Love is the greatest. So here’s my conclusion. Turn to Matthew 22. You say, man, don’t we have enough? No, I want to really lay it on you. Matthew 22. I got beat up when I studied it. I want to share the punishment. Matthew 22, please. Look at verse 37 to 40. Watch this carefully. Jesus said unto this lawyer who came to him, who asked him, what’s the greatest commandment in the law? There are 613 of them. Now, which is the greatest? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great, we would say most important commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, thy friend, as thyself. On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets. Wow. Love’s the greatest because it’s developed as the consuming passion of our total personality. He said, love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Everything that you are. And love is also the greatest because it’s designed to be the main priority of our lives. It’s the first and is the most important commandment that God ever gave. And love is the greatest because it’s demonstrated also in our relationships with other people. The second is likened to it. Love your friend as you already do love yourself. And love is the greatest because it’s described here by our Lord as the fulfillment of all the law and all the prophets. Same thing is said in Romans 13, 8. Oh, no man anything but to love one another for love is the fulfillment of the law. Don’t be bitter. Don’t be critical. Heal it. You say, how? By the love of God alone. What’s the root problem? and I leave it with you.
SPEAKER 02 :
David Hocking, as we get ready to wrap up our study in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, here on Hope for Today. And he’ll be back in just a moment to close out our study, Love is the Greatest. First, Matt, I want to share a couple of powerful home Bible study resources with you. Matt? Jim, I love 1 Corinthians 13. And isn’t it intriguing that the King James Version uses the word charity for love? Let’s read through some of those beautiful verses, Matt, and see where the word charity pops up. And when you hear that, folks, remember charity is love. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity, I become a sounding brass or a tingling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself. Is not puffed up. Does not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own. Is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity. Rejoices in the truth. Beareth all things. Believes all things. Hopes all things. Endureth all things. Charity never faileth. Amen. And Matt, the passage ends with, and now abide faith, hope, charity, love. These three, but the greatest of these is charity. It’s charity. It’s love.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s love.
SPEAKER 02 :
If we as believers, Matt, will dive deep into this passage and let it thoroughly saturate our hearts, understand and put its truth into actions, what’s going to happen, Matt? We will radically transform our marriages, parenting, work relationships, friendships and more. Yeah, that’s it. We’ll discover the wondrous study of love in 1 Corinthians 13 with David Hocking’s book, Love is the Greatest. It’s just $15. And your purchase will bless your life and be a blessing to hope for today. Amen. We also want to tell you that you can add David’s Love is the Greatest radio series, our current radio series that we’re wrapping up today, to your order. We have this available on MP3 CD, the entire series, for just $5. Or you can get it on a standard audio CD pack. That’s $20. To order, call 875-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE. In Canada, Bible is 24253. You can also visit our website, make the purchase there, davidHocking.org. And if you’d like to support this ministry with a donation, we would be very grateful. We could use the help. Your giving helps keep Hope For Today on the air, helps cover the cost of broadcast time, and helps us continue taking the clear, straight teaching of God’s Word to people who need the truth to hear God’s love for them. We live in a time when so much has gone shallow. Your support helps us keep this broadcast strong, biblical, and uncompromising. Send a gift by mail in the U.S. Write to Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, that’s T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011. RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S8P1. Absurd, by the way, A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D. And I’ll repeat our phone numbers and web address in just a moment. Right now, though, here’s David.
SPEAKER 01 :
Lord, you know how easy it is for us to think that we got this and to go right out of here and face more problems in human relationships than we can shake a stick at. To be upset about things that really don’t matter for eternity. To get all bent out of shape over something we don’t understand. Yet you told us here that one day we will know what we don’t know now. But what will sustain us until then is your love. To just love no matter what. For that love will cover a multitude of sins. That love will forgive when nothing else will. Lord, I pray that you deliver us from the judgmental, critical spirits that so dominate Christians in this culture. We might fall at your feet and say, God, please fill me with your love. But we quench and grieve your spirit by our rotten attitudes. Thank you, Lord, that you will forgive us. That we can confess and forsake our sin and know your compassion and your forgiveness. And we can start all over again. Thank you, Lord. In the wonderful name of Jesus Christ, we pray this. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’d like to send you David’s booklet called What is Christianity? Along with a free Bible study by mail so you can learn what the Bible says about becoming a Christian, about God’s great love for you. Call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada and Bible by the numbers 24253. We’ll send these free items your way. You can also request them at DavidHocking.org. Again, that’s if you don’t know Christ, but you want to know more, or even if you’re new to the Christian faith. We’ll join us again next time as we begin a series on the attributes of God, right here on Hope for Today.
