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CHARITY (15)

 

Charity…Hopeth All Things

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   Some of the saddest words that can be spoken are the words:  “No hope.”

 

B.   One person has said:  “As long as there is breath there is hope.”

 

C.   For our lesson, we can say:  “As long as there is hope, there is love.”

 

D.   Paul writes:  “Charity…hopeth all things” (I Cor. 13:7).

 

E.   Let’s continue our pattern of study.

1.    The definition of this attribute of love

2.    Bible examples of this quality of love

3.    The application of “charity…hopeth all things”

 

I.             THE DEFINITION OF HOPETH ALL THINGS

 

A.   Strong (1679):  to expect or confide

 

B.   Thayer:  to hope, hopefully trust in

 

C.   Jeremiah:  Love that hopes has a confident expectation.

 

D.   www.thingsofmysoul.blogspot

1.    To look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence

2.    To feel something desired may happen

 

E.   The versions:

1.    KJV:  hopeth all things

2.    ASV:  hopeth all things

3.    NKJV:  hopes all things

4.    NASA:  hopes all things

5.    ESV:  hopes all things

6.    NIV:  always hopes

7.    NLT:  is always hopeful

8.    Phillips:  no fading of its hope

9.    MSG:  always looks for the best

 

II.           BIBLE EXAMPLES OF HOPETH ALL THINGS

 

A.   Jesus with Peter (Luke 22:31-32)

 

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:  but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not:  and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

 

1.    Peter was going to sin.

2.    Jesus looked beyond the sin with hope.  He could see Peter’s usefulness beyond his sin.  “…and when thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

 

B.   Church discipline involves hope (I Cor. 5:5).

 

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

 

C.   The very purpose of several books of the New Testament was to manifest hope for change.

1.    Examples:  Corinthians, Galatians, the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 2-3)

2.    Several hopes:

a.    Hope they will listen

b.    Hope they will repent

c.    Hope they will commit

d.    Hope they will remain faithful

 

D.   James 5:19-20

 

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

 

III.         APPLICATION OF HOPETH ALL THINGS

 

A.   “Hope enables love to coexist with life’s inevitable pain” (Parrott, 81).

1.    When times get bad, there is hope.

2.    When darkness settles in, there is hope.

3.    When relationships are strained, there is hope.

 

B.   “Love hangs on with tenacity when other hands let go in despair” (Jeremiah, 105).

1.    HopeBelief/TrustViolatedWoundedRelationshipWears thinPatienceA PersonChart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


2.    “But when it is disappointed in the object in whom it believes it yet hopes for better things of him in the future, even when others have ceased to do so” (Scroggie, 31).

3.    Examples:

a.    Parents with children

b.    A husband or wife for their mate

c.    Brethren for one another

C.  “Hope never allows failure to be final” (Jeremiah, 105).

1.    Men will make mistakes, sin, and possess character flaws.

2.    We continue to hope that

a.    Something can be said

b.    Something can be done                       That will cause a person to

c.    Prayers will be answered                    change and be better

d.    Situations will develop

 

D. “Wishes the amendment of the worst of men and is very apt to hope for what it desires” (www.biblestudytools.com, Matthew Henry).

1.    The don’ts and do’s

a.    It does not believe the thief is honest, but it hopes all men were made for honesty.

b.    It does not believe the libertine is chaste, but it hopes that all men were made for purity.

c.    It does not believe the worldly person is heavenly-minded, but it hopes all men have eternity in their hearts.

2.    “…where it cannot find root from its faith amid the narrow and sad realities of the hour, love slips its hand into the hand of hope and carries its faith onward into the ampler air of good and holy possibility” (Scroggie, 32).

3.    “When there is no place for believing good of a person, then loves comes in with its hope, where it could not be worked out by it faith, and begins to make allowances or excuses, as far as good conscience can permit; and farther anticipates the repentance of the transgressor, and his restoration to the good opinion of society, and his place in the Church of God, from which he has fallen” (e-sword, Clarke).

4.    It is here that we often say:  “Love is blind.”  Perhaps it would be better to say:  “Love always hopes.”           

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   If we say:  “There is no hope for him,” then, we have ceased to love.  Charity hopeth all things.

 

B.   Dante passed through the gate of hell, which bears an inscription with the famous phrase…”Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” (Dante’s Divine Comedy).  Death and hell are the only two things that can cause hope to vanish.