Faith + Hope = Love

I rarely title sermons, but today I’ve given this one a title: “Faith plus Hope equals Love.”

It sounds like a math equation. Does that equation work? It does, and we see it in the Gospel lesson. We see it with the ruler who came to Jesus and said, “My daughter has died, but if you will come…” Faith in who Jesus is and hope in what He can do.

We also see it when Jesus heals the two blind men. They come to Him believing He is able to do what they ask: “You are able to do this, Master.” That is faith in the hope that He will do what He has said He will do. Faith and hope. Faith and hope.

That great faith and great hope is what it takes for the restoration of that which has been broken and that which can be fixed at the Master’s hand.

To have great hope, we must first have great faith. We talked some about faith last week, maybe the week before, and I want to refresh that because faith is the first ingredient—the essential ingredient—in bringing us to a place where what is broken can be fixed.

Donald asked me about a car this morning. I have great hope and faith that that little Subaru can be fixed and driven again. Great hope and great faith. But what is that faith?

Hebrews 11 describes faith as that necessary ingredient. If you bake a cake and leave out the baking powder or baking soda—whichever the recipe calls for—or if you try to make bread and leave out the yeast, you won’t be successful. Without the necessary ingredient, what you’re trying to do will fail.

In the same way, without the ingredient of faith in our walk with Christ, we will not be successful in having hope, and we will not see God’s intended end result. So we must have faith.

Hebrews 11 begins, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” That is faith. But verse 6 goes further and shows us how central faith is to our relationship with God: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

Faith is the key ingredient. Faith means believing—going on belief—that God is, that Jesus is, that the Holy Spirit is. Not a constant questioning, but a settled belief. In that faith we recognize that, though everything around us changes, the One in whom we have placed our faith—Jesus Christ—is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The One in whom we trust does not change, will not change, and is faithful to all He has promised.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. The truth is that without faith in God, there is no hope. If you do not have faith in God, you do not have real hope. You must have faith, and faith produces the hope that we have.

Ephesians 2 begins, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air… All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh… Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” That is where we were—dead and without hope.

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved… For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”

All of this comes because of faith, because you believe. Because at some point you take a holy “chance” when everything in you and in the world says, “No, I don’t believe,” and you say, “I will place my faith and belief in Someone I cannot see, cannot touch, cannot taste. I will place my faith there. I will place my belief there.”

It is in the placing of our faith and belief—in saying, “I’ve got nothing else; I’m going to trust God”—that God begins to work, begins to reveal, and begins to change. Then our eyes begin to see, and we gain hope for what life with Him will be.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” He gives us that hope. He has gone before us. God’s desire—His hope—is that we all come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, that we all become His sons and daughters.

So, faith produces the hope we have—the promise we have in Jesus. Everything will not suddenly be perfect the moment we believe. Life remains difficult, challenging, and tough. But we now have a promise about tomorrow.

I don’t know about you, but I find great joy in the promise that a day is coming when I will have a whole new body with no aches and pains. A day when I will not have to rise from this bench and question my next step because my back just caught and I’m staggering like an older man than I am. I find great joy in that.

I find great joy in the promise that one day I will live with Him in His dwelling, where there is no evil, no danger, no challenge to my life. A place where I don’t require food, water, or medical care because Jesus is my all in all and sustains me completely. That is my hope. That is my great hope. I have that hope.

I’m thankful every day that Jesus gives me breath for this day, no matter what it brings, and that He is also giving me hope for tomorrow. That alone ought to have you jumping up and down, shouting, “Praise the Lord!” If you don’t have that, you need to get that—and it can only come by placing faith in the living God and in His Son who died for us. It cannot be found anywhere else.

Now turn with me to Psalm 62. It is hope that allows us to persevere when times are tough. It is hope that allows us to have joy when our heart is sad. It is hope that gives us the prospect of better days, better life, and better health when things are not going well.

And this hope comes from Jesus.

The psalmist writes, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from Him.” Where do we place our trust when life is tough and difficult? Where do we place our trust when life is good? Where do we place our trust when everything around us seems to be going to hell in a handbasket?

If our trust is not in God alone, if we do not wait patiently for Him to move, we are building our hopes on sand. He is our hope, and our hope only comes from Him. “Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken.” “My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.”

He is our hope. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Place your faith, your hope, your trust in the One who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we can ask or imagine. Place your trust in Him. That is good news this morning.

Now back over to 1 Peter, chapter 1. Faith: our belief in God, our trust in God, our refusal to let the world tell us anything other than the truth that God redeems us, saves us, loves us, created us, and can restore us. That is our hope.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Thank You, Jesus.

“Preacher, what do you mean that faith plus hope equals love?”

Faith and hope are only available to us because “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.” Because of that love—because of that great love—we are given a Savior to trust, to believe in, to walk with, who paid the price for us. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We hear often, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” It is because of the great love of God that we can even speak of faith and hope. We know, feel, and experience that love when we have faith to believe and when hope is built in us as we see what He is doing. Then we begin to understand and experience the great love of God shown to us in Jesus Christ.

And then Jesus calls us to be agents of the love He has given us. He says, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” When we are steadfast in our faith and rejoicing in our hope, love is produced—the love of God—for the world to see, experience, and hear.

We are the agents of God’s truth, the witnesses of His Word, and the bearers of His love. We must move forward so that others come to know Jesus Christ as Lord by our being all that He has called us to be: strong in faith, expectant and joyful in hope, and overflowing in His wonderful love. Faith plus hope equals love.

Pray with me.

Father, we thank You. We thank You for Your goodness and Your mercy. We thank You for the ability to believe, even when what we must believe seems unbelievable before we grasp it fully.

We thank You for our hope—that no matter what is happening around us, we have a joyful expectation of what is to come and of what You are doing in our midst.

And Father, we thank You that we can see, understand, and rest in Your love; that we can have that love, hold that love, and share that love. How blessed we are to be called Your children—sons and daughters of the living God.

Father, never let us fall away from our faith, our belief, and our hope. Never let us go forth without Your great love, which You have shown to all people in the hope that they will come to You, surrender themselves, and be saved.

And Father, if there is anyone who needs to move forward in that faith today, who needs that hope, who needs that love, we ask that You would touch their hearts and move them toward You today.

For all this we give You thanks, honor, and glory, in Jesus’ name. And everyone said, Amen.