Thanks, Sherry. Thank you for
that prelude. that was taken from first Corinthians
thirteen, which says now abided faith, hope and charity or love
these three. But the greatest of these is
charity or love. Love is our subject tonight.
Go with me back to John thirteen. John thirteen. Let's read two
verses again, which our Lord spoke, John 13, 34, and 35. The Lord says, A new commandment
I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. I've been thinking about this
all week long, and I hope it is a blessing tonight. The Lord
said a great deal about love to his disciples, that is. He
said it quite often to them, loving one another. And then
later, the disciples themselves all wrote, all who wrote epistles
said something about this in their epistles, especially John,
as you know. His whole book, First John, is
about the subject of love. Why is it so important? Well,
it is God's Word, but here's a few things. Number one, it's
glorifying to God. This thing of love, loving one
another, is glorifying to God. We'll see that in a moment. Number
two, it is proof of the new birth. proof of the new birth, a new
creature, because this is not natural. The kind of love we're
going to look at tonight is not natural to man. So this is proof,
the kind of love we're going to look at, true love, God-given
love, is a mark of God's work on a human being, in a human
being. Thirdly, love, I could find no other way to put
this, but love endureth all things, and love endures. Love will make faith endure. Faith will endure, friendships
will endure, marriages will endure, if love is there. How important
is this? Without it, there'll be nothing.
That's what he says in 1 Corinthians 13. All right? Love is glorifying
the God. Look at chapter 13, verse 1. Look at what it says of our Lord. It says that having loved his
own. The last line, having loved his own, which were in the world.
Now that's proof of his love that he left where he did to
come to this place. And we can't really enter into
that. But he did. He left where he
was loved by all, and all he loved, and yet came to a place
that hated him. Out of love. He did it out of
love for his own. And it says, having loved his own which were
in the world, how do we know he loved them? He loved them
to the end. He never quit loving. That's
true love, never faith. And look at verse 31 and 32.
It says, now when he was gone out, that is Judas, the Lord
said, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him.
If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself
and right away glorify him. So God is glorified. God is glorified
in God's love for us. It's glory to God that he would
love us. You know that? We love those
that love us. We love those with something
lovely about them, or we think is lovely. Not God. There's nothing
lovely. He didn't see anything lovely
in us when he loved us. That's glorifying the God in
us, to love the unlovely. Our Lord said that, we might
get to it. He said, if you love those that
love you, the publicans do that. What praise have you? Be like
your father who loved his enemies. Verse 34, our Lord said, this
is a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another
as I have loved you. As I have loved you. And by this,
verse 35, By this, that is, if you love one another as I have
loved you, then all men will know you're my disciple. Because, as we said, this is
not natural. Well, who are we to love? Well, our Lord told us. Look
at Matthew 5, Matthew chapter 5, and I've already Let it out. If you love those that love you,
that's not thank worthy or praiseworthy. But Matthew chapter five. Look at what our Lord said in
verse forty four and forty five, I say unto you. Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that you
may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. He maketh
the sun to rise on the evil and on the good. He sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust. If you love them which love you,
what reward have you? Republicans do the same. Verse
48, Be ye therefore perfect that it is complete in your love,
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. So love is glorifying
to God. It's proof. It glorifies God,
His love to us. And our love to Him is glorifying
to His Holy Spirit who put it there. And our love to one another
is him as well, because it's not natural. Love is proof of
being born of God. Turn to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3, I was kind of, really
this is a message with two or three texts. Two or three texts. This love is proof of a new creature
born of God. And he says this so many times
throughout this epistle, 1 John 3, 1, Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, amazing love. We sing that song, amazing love.
How can it be that God would love a soul? Behold, he says,
stop and think about what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we I hope it would be called the
sons of God. Verse two, beloved, now are we,
now we are the sons of God. We are, but it does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we are right now. Well, how do you know?
We'll go down to verse eleven. Now, this is what you heard from
the beginning, that we should love one another. Verse fourteen,
and we know we've passed from death unto life because we love
the brethren. More about that in a little bit.
Chapter 4, 1 John 4, look at verse 7. Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God. Now, in a minute we're going
to see what this is talking about. Now, you know everybody out there
that professes love is not born of God. There is familial love,
family love. There is love out there of for
various things and objects and between people. That's not the
love that this is talking about. Real love. That kind of love
won't last. But this will. And we'll see
in a few minutes. Chapter 5. Look at chapter 5,
verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat That is, God loveth him also that is begotten of
him. That is, he loves God's people. You love the Father, you love
his children. It's like your father, your earthly father,
you love him, you love your brothers. Right? It's there. It's there
no matter what. That familial love. And so is
this. And then we said the third thing
about this love is that it endureth all things. It always endures
and endures all things. In Hebrews 12, what a verse this
is. Hebrews 12 talking about our
Lord's love for His people. In verse 2 it says, Christ for
the joy that was set before him. And you could you could say the
love for his people, the joy being that he loved his people
so much, and it was his joy and rejoicing to make us his people. Please, the Lord, to make you
his people, because he loved them. Here's what he did. He
endured the cross. He endured the cross, despised
the shame, that is, thought nothing of all the shame he was put through,
thought nothing of it. Why? Because he loved his own,
and you would do the same for those you love. All right, now, Romans 5 says
then, now you don't have to turn there, but it says in verse 5
of Romans 5, the love of God has been shed abroad in the hearts
of his people by the Holy Spirit. the love of God is true, everyone
whom God, the Holy Spirit gives life to through the word. See,
he puts his love of God abroad, sheds it abroad, fills their
hearts up with this love, love of God. And this love of God,
this love of God is several things. Now you can turn to 1 Corinthians
13, all right, and this is where we'll stay the rest of the evening. 1 Corinthians 13. You had to
know that we'd go there, didn't you, to describe love? But this love of God, it says
the love of God that's shed abroad in the hearts of God's people
by the Holy Spirit is, you could read that several, three ways,
different ways, the love of God. All things work together for
them that love God. The love of God is shared abroad
in the hearts of His people. God's people love God. I mean,
they love God as God. A lot of people say they do. But then you get to talking about
God's rights, God's will, God's power, God's joy, God's... And
they'll start gritting their teeth. And they don't love that
God. They love their little measly
God. But now, God's people love God as God. I mean, their heart
is full of this. They can't get enough of hearing
this subject. Love of God, love God as God. They love all of God's character. This is important. This is vital. This is true love. They love
all of God's character. They love the fact that he's
holy. The world doesn't care, do they? Nobody's ever saying
anything about that, unless they sing that song that Sherry played.
Thank you for playing it. But it doesn't mean anything
to them. But God's people, it does. They know that he's holy,
and they love that fact. And just. Someday, we're going
to fully understand and appreciate why God is just and love that
he is. Because his justice demands our
salvation. His justice will prevent sin
from ever entering again. You understand what I mean? His
justice ensures that the blood of Jesus Christ actually quenches
sin. You understand what I'm saying, don't you, John? They
love God's justice. They love it. They love His mercy. There again, the world doesn't
even, they don't think they need mercy. God's people do. Oh, they love to hear about God's
mercy. Sovereign mercy. They know it's got to be sovereign
if it's mercy. And grace. Knowing how weak and
helpless they are, they They love to hear about God's sovereign
grace. They love to hear that it's all of grace. Several of
you are smiling right now when I'm talking about it. Not the
world. They like to hear about what
all they do for Jesus. You know, but God's people, they
love the fact, or they love the character of God, the character
of His grace, His sovereign grace. They love God's word. All of
it. I've asked you this before. And
this is a good test. Is there any verse in this book
that you wish wasn't in there? Honestly. Can you say that with
in all sincerity, that there's not one? Well, the world, there
are whole chapters and books all together they wish weren't
in there. Right? They love God's Word. They love
whatever God says, they love it. Why? Because He said it.
I love John 3.16. Don't you? Sure I do. You do. I love God's ways. They don't understand everything.
We're not called to understand everything God does. And as we
said Sunday morning, we're going to see someday. We're going to
know as we've been known and we're going to be so thankful
that God works all things according to his will. I love God's salvation. They love the way God saves sinners. They wouldn't have any other
way. It brings all glory to God. It gives God all the glory. And
God's people who are really interested in God's glory, they love God's
salvation. Oh, how I love thy salvation.
It gives God all the glory and, ah my, they love God's Son. They
love God's Son. They certainly want him having
all the glory and the preeminence in all things. They love the
fact that he's the only mediator. They love that. They would not
have him share his glory with Mary or anybody else for that
matter. They love him having the preeminence in all things.
They love him being the head of the church. They love him
being the surety of the covenant. They love him being the intercessor, the advocate, and
on and on. The Lord. So this is the love of God. They
love God. God the Father, the Son, the
Holy Spirit. And this love of God that shed abroad in their
hearts is the love of God. It's a kind of love That's a
bad way to put it, because God is love. You don't say it's the
kind of love God has as if it's something... He is love. This
is the way He is. And this love we're going to
look at now, right now, is the love of God that's in the hearts
of all God's people. It's not complete, it's not perfected,
but it's there. It's that in degree. All right,
let's look at it. First Corinthians 13. Now, this
is all you could very easily and we've done this before and
I've kind of wrongfully done it this way because. Well, you
could apply every bit of this to Christ, you could change the
word love to Christ and it works, but that's not why this was written.
I mean, he does get the glory here, but it's an exhortation
to us. This chapter is an exhortation
to us to love as he loved. And we're certainly going to
make application to his love for us. All right, the first three verses,
he's speaking to those who are just professors of religion.
He says, now, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
The great, high-sounding orator, intellectual. If I have not love,
I have become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. You run
into those characters in Pilgrim's Progress yet? Mr. Sounding Brass and Tinkling Cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, That is doctrine. Oh, I know the doctrine. And
though I have all faith, so I could remove mountains, do great works,
and have not love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, no matter what sacrifice someone may appear
to make in the name of God, though I give my even body to be burned,
and many have, they still do in the name of God and religion,
and have not love, It profiteth me nothing. It profiteth me nothing. And before we go any further,
let me just say something about this Islamic religion. There's
no love in it. That's how you know it's not
of God. No love in it whatsoever. None. It's all a religion of
hate. What they accuse us of is what
they're guilty of. That's how you know false religion.
And our Lord, taught love. All right, how does the love
of God conduct itself? How is the love of God? Verse
four, love. Now, the word here is charity. Now, this is good. This is important.
What do you think of when you think of charity? Giving. Don't say taxes. You think of giving, that's the
word we use for charity, giving. Well, our Lord said to, over
in Ephesians 5, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. There's the word, charity, gave
him that. Love is the word here, and the word we
use is charity, but it's giving. All right, verse four, love suffereth
long. Love suffereth long. The word is patient, long-suffering. Our Lord said, as I have loved
you, You love one another. Be long-suffering, patient with
them. How has he been patient with
them? Peter said this. Listen to what
Peter said in 2 Peter 3. He said, now you need to take
into account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. Let
me read that again. Quote that again. He said, take
into account that the long-suffering of the Lord, the fact that he's
patient with us, is our salvation. The disciple said, he said to
them, how long must I suffer with you? Well, all their days,
if he doesn't, if he ever quits, they're gone. And so love one
another as Christ loved us. How's that? Suffered long, patient
with. Now, if you want to save your
marriage, you want to save a friendship, brotherhood, and all that. You
practice these things. You do as our Lord says. He said
this. How many times did he say, this is my commandment? This
is not an option. It's like him telling his children,
son, you better do what I say. And a wise son heareth instruction,
right? And it'll be well with him. Hear
my doctrine," he said over in the Proverbs. I'll give you good
doctrine. It'll be health to you, neighbor. It'll be good
for you. It's true. The Lord saved his
marriage. How long does the Lord's marriage
last? Forever. Why? He loved his own to the
end, and they will love him too. So, this is, why is this so important? This is what, this was what was
bearing on me for a week, thinking about this thing of love. It's
really the answer to everything. That's why John puts in a whole
book. It really is the answer to everything. It really is. You want to save
your marriage? Your love is Christ's love. Love is kind. Oh, my. Love is kind. Doesn't the sound of the word
appeal to you? It's kind. Doesn't the sound of the word
appeal to you? It's kind. Love is kind. How kind? The word kind
means tender. feeling, compassionate, considerate. How much, how kind has the Lord
been to us? He said, you love one another
as I loved you. Be kind. Love is kind. Love is kind, tender, compassionate. consider it. Love envieth not. Verse four. Love envieth not. Let me read you a couple of proverbs
about envy. Envy is a horrible thing. Envy
and jealousy are synonymous. Envy is is not happy with the prosperity
or well-being of someone else, but rather you would have rather
had it for yourself. That's what envy is. It's not
being happy that someone else is doing well or prosperous or
gets this or gets that, but you wanted it for yourself. You envy
theirs. You would rather have it than
them have it. And you're jealous that they have. This is it in
the proverbs fourteen thirty says is a rottenness to the bone. It rots you from the inside out.
In the proverbs twenty seven four says who is able to stand
before envy. Like I said envy and jealousy
is not being happy with the prosperity of someone else. You're really
not happy about it. You're jealous of it. That means
you want it for yourself. And what all this kind of love
is designed to do is kill self. This is what God Almighty does
to everybody He works on. He kills self. Without exception,
this is what God Almighty does when He creates a new creature
in Christ Jesus. He kills self. Does that not
describe our Lord, who is the only one deserving of recognition,
who is the only one who ever lived, who could have been proud? Yet he was. He denied himself,
took upon himself the form of a servant who was equal with
the Father, yet denied that. I'm not in a position to take
upon the form of a servant and look for the good and the happiness
of those he loves. He came to serve. Envy. I've used your children before
as an example in this, and if my son-in-law became President
of the United States, and his wife, my daughter, was First
Lady of the United States. You think I'd envy his prosperity
and his position? Well, I could have been a better
one. Why him? Don't be ridiculous. You would rather your children
do much better than you, wouldn't you? You'd rather them have more
than you. You'd rather them be I think you'd rather them be
smarter than you. I think that'll never completely be because experience,
you know, is the teacher, right? You can't ever catch up and experience. But you see what I'm saying?
No, you don't envy those you love. And if there's love, there
is love between brethren. And love doesn't envy the prosperity
of a brother. Know what? No way. Love envy if not, love prefers
the prosperity of a loved one. Love envy if not, whatever, attainments,
possessions, duty, wisdom, whatever it may be. It doesn't matter
what it is. Love envy if not. Brother Mack back there, Kelly
and I went out to help him build his big new barn. That's a nice
barn. That's a great barn. I love barns. And that's about as fine a bar
as I've ever hit in a kelly. Man, it's a fine bar. And I'm
glad you've got that bar. I really am. I'm as happy for
you as if it was mine. As a matter of fact, I got a
favorite asking. I bet you he's going to let me
use it. Guaranteed. I don't envy that.
Do you? No way. Love doesn't do that.
and do that. Got a new house? Wonderful. New
car? Great. Fantastic. Love vaunteth not itself. Verse
4. Love vaunteth not itself. He's
not puffed up. These go hand in hand. Vaunting
means to boast or brag about yourself. Lovers of self are the only ones
that do. In other words, You've been around
people who clearly love themselves. And that's who they love to talk
about. Can't wait for the subject to get around to themselves.
And oh, how they love themselves. But they're the only ones that
do. Love is not boastful or bragging. Love, like to talk about others, love
is not puffed up. Proud is the word, puffed up. Love is more interested in and
complimentary of the one it loves. Mike Bartram is an accomplished
pianist, isn't he? Isn't he? Gracious, thanks. But
the whole time he was here, I mean, he won't talk about his piano
playing. He didn't want to play the piano. What do you want to
talk about? What do you want to talk about? I mean, those
little grandbabies of his. about the ones that love. Love
does not behave itself unseemly. Verse five, does not behave itself
unseemly. The word unseemly is improperly,
indecently, unbecoming in a shameful manner. Now, everyone in here
feels guilty about this. Everyone in here has lost it
with somebody you love. I think, maybe Stan hadn't. My mother hadn't. Sure should
have, but there's very few who haven't. I'm guilty. How about
you? Have you just plumb lost it and
behaved in a shameful way to someone you love? But that's not the general characteristics
of this love. It may happen. Peter sitting by that fire started
cussing and carrying on, didn't he? Oh, man, well, he paid for
it, didn't he? And then later on, when the Lord
called him, called Peter, he said, Do you love me? Oh, you
know I do. I sure didn't act like it, did
I? But you know I do, but love does not generally speaking. Does not behave itself inappropriately
or or improperly or in an unbecoming way. But love behaves decently
and kind. Love seeketh not her own. Love seeketh not her own. This
is what we were Somewhat of what we're talking about love. Does
not seek its own rights and will. And so forth. Love does not. This is why true
love to God. Wants God's rights, right, wants
God's will be done, not my will. Our Lord was a perfect example
of that, was he not? He said, not my will. He's the
only one that could say, and he did one time, Brother Henry,
he said, Father, I will. In his prayer, I'm glad he said
that. I will that they be with me where
I am. Those whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am, that they might behold my glory. I will.
He could have said that all his life. This is what I will. But
never, he said, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be
done. He truly loved the Father's will.
He came to do the Father's will. And love to God, true love to
God, seeks the will of God, His will, His rights. And love to
one another does the same. The welfare, the happiness of
others. Greater love hath no man than
this. It was said of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he laid down
his life for his friend, he who was rich, yet for our sakes became
poor. And we, through his poverty,
might be made for him. Oh, he sure didn't seek his own, did
he? But he sought the good, the welfare, the happiness of his
people. He became poor. Love is not easily
provoked. Verse five, love is not easily
provoked to anger, that is. Not touchy, not too touchy, not
resentful, not easily offended. Now, this again goes back to
this thing of regeneration. When God starts working on somebody,
he kills self, starts killing self. He starts showing us what
we really are. He reveals to us we're sinners
and every one of God's people think they're the chief of sinners.
Every one of God's people think they're the worst of the word.
Every one of God's people say with the Apostle Paul, I'm less
than elite. I'm not fit to be called the
same. You'd ask Jacob that, he'd say, oh, I'm not fit to be called
the same. You'd ask Lot that, I'm not fit to be called the
same. You'd ask Peter, I'm not fit to be called the same. You'd ask Paul,
oh, I'm the worst. And on and on it goes. And that's what God does when
he begins this work. And so, those who think right
thoughts of himself, that is, that I'm nothing. I'm a chief
of center. Shouldn't be easily offended,
should we? We shouldn't be easily offended. How many times have I told you
that what Charles Spurgeon said, and you laugh every time, you'll
say it and you'll do it again. Spurgeon said, if somebody says
something bad about you, if somebody says something bad
about you, Don't get mad, just be thankful that they didn't
tell it all. It's so true, isn't it? Be thankful
that God is the only one that really knows us. Be thankful
that our thoughts of just today are not put up on a screen for
everybody to see. How could you offend someone who's so offensive? Like a death row criminal, how
could you offend a death row criminal? Well, but love is not
easily provoked by one it loves. Not easily provoked, not easily
offended, not touchy and resentful because, read on, love thinketh
no evil. Verse 5, love thinketh no evil. Love never intends to do evil
toward the one it loves. It does sometimes. I mean, we
do. Our Lord doesn't. Our Lord is love. He cannot do
evil. He is incapable of doing wrong
to His people. We do, but we don't mean it. You understand? True love doesn't
mean it. It does evil sometimes. But the
tenor of true love, the bent of the wheel of true love, never
intends to do evil to the one it loves. Right? Never. Always wants the best.
And children, young people, now listen to me now. We've said this to you before.
Your teachers have told you this. Your parents, your parents love
you more than anybody else. And they will never, ever say
or do anything to you intentionally to hurt you. Never. Love can't
do that. Right? Mothers? It can't. The love of a mother true love
for a daughter cannot do evil toward that child. This kind of love won't let it.
And so, but your friends now who say they love you and say
they like you and say they're your friends and all that. The world's love is a selfish
love. They love you for what they can
get out of. You're going to find out someday. You're going to
find out someday. And it'd be a hard, cruel lesson
moment. Some that you thought loved you. Stab you in the back. But now, true love can't do that. Love thinketh no evil toward
the one it never intends evil. It may do something at a time,
but it really didn't intend it. Thinketh no evil. If you have
a true pastor and teachers, sent by God to have this love. They're never going to tell you
what's wrong. No, sir. They're not counting
your head. They don't want to baptize you.
They want you to know Christ. They want you to grow up to be
a believer. They're interested in your soul. And they will not
do evil to you. Unlike these dudes, you know,
that are being caught with all this stuff. They may act out
of, you know, bad at times, but that's not their intention. They
don't think evil, but good. Verse 6 says, Love rejoiceth
not in iniquity. Love is never glad when a brother
fails or falls. Love is never glad. When somebody
falls into sin or fails or makes a horrible mistake or does wrong,
love is not glad of that. Never. Never. But rejoiceth in the truth. Look at the next line. Rejoiceth
with the truth. There's a proverb that says,
as a man thinketh in his heart, so is it. In other words, if
a man thinks suspiciously of somebody, He's skeptical of somebody. He doesn't believe somebody.
He thinks the worst about them. He thinks, ah, he's got a hidden
mouth. You know, you run into pessimists and skeptics and cynics
and people that, you know, just won't believe. Just think the
worst about everybody. Why does he do that? Because
that's the way he is. You understand, he thinks the
worst about people because that's the way he is. As a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he. The Proverbs said, Proverbs 23,
7. An evil man or woman is suspicious of others. He's rotten and dishonest,
so he thinks everybody else is. Right. He's trying to take me. Oh, no, but not love. The Lord
said this one time, the Lord, they accused him of evil. And the Lord said to them one
time, is thine eye evil? Because mine is good. In other
words, he was saying to them, you don't think it's possible
that somebody could actually do well because you're evil,
he said. Will God's people love thinketh?
No, rejoices not in iniquity, rejoices in the truth, thinketh
no evil. Love of God is not suspicious
of others. It's not suspicious of others,
those they love. Verse 7, love beareth all things. The word beareth is cover. Turn
to Proverbs 10. This is Several times in the
proper Proverbs 10 turn over there quickly. We're almost finished.
I kind of think this is profitable, don't you? Proverbs, if you don't, then
I will go. I'm going to start at the beginning right now. You're
the one that needs it. Proverbs 10 says this several
times. Love beareth all things. The
words actually cover. Bears over. Covered. Proverbs 10, verse 2. 10, 12.
10, verse 12. Hatred stirreth up
strife, but love covereth all sin. It covers them all. Chapter 11, verse 13. A tale-bearer,
a gossiper, revealeth secrets. He wants to tell all the dirt
about somebody, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth
the matter. The Lord said, Love one another
as I loved you. What has he concealed? What has he covered? Everything
about it. everything about it. Some of
my wife quoted me an interesting quote by some woman on marriage. Jenny gave it to her. Says, you know, when you fall
in love with somebody and you marry someone, you when you when
you first meet them, fall in love with them and marry them.
There's about 80 percent about those people, that person that
you like, that you love. It's not impossible that somebody
be perfect. Absolute hundred percent, but
there's about eighty percent of that person that you fell
in love with and like the other twenty. Well, you just kind of
look over. You think. I can change that 20%. And this
person, this is pretty smart. This person said what you do
then is spend the rest of your years married trying to change
that 20%. And you might change 1%. And the other 19 drives you crazy. But what you ought to do is just
19%, just 20%. Just, just, just try to cover
the twenty. Think about the eighty. That's
pretty good, good advice, isn't it? But now, let me give you
the supreme example. What percent of us did the Lord fall in love with?
What percent of us does he cover and bear with and put up with? A hundred. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. God commended his love toward
us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. Nothing lovely at all about us.
He had to cover it all. Love covereth all sins. We just have 20 percent to do. That's pretty good advice. Now,
don't just remember that and forget the rest of this sermon,
OK? Don't you dare. That's just some silly woman
said that. Pretty good. Well, what our Lord
said it, love beareth all things. Puts up with all, or that is
covers over all things. Love believeth all things. Look
at the next thing. Love believeth all things. That
is, believes the best. If you love somebody, that son
or daughter or husband, whoever, brother, sister, whoever it is,
no matter what, they're like, you believe the best, so you're
just going to believe the best for them, don't you? That's it
there. That's love. I just believe now
God I believe about a brother. He's talking principally about
us to one another, love one another, and one of us starts acting unseemly. Love says this. Love says, I
just believe God is going to work in him or her now, and I
just believe he's going to pull him out of this or her out of
this. I just believe that. Why? Why do they say that? The
person has not given any indication. Why? Because they love on it. Love is believing all things. Well, God can do all things. So believe Him. Hope with all
things. Love hope with all things. Love never gives up hope for
the one it loves, does it? Love never gives up hope for
the one that it loves. True love never gives up hope
for the one it loves. But hope's for their good, hope's
for the best, and therefore it endureth all things. Verse 7,
love endureth all things. Love says this, sure looks bad, but I'm going to hold out hope
and I'm going to put up with all this and maybe this will
pass and I hope And I love him, love her. Thinking about yourself, how
that God has put up with you, forbear with you and long suffering
and endured us and will continue to do so. And in conclusion,
the last thing, verse eight, charity, that is love, never
failing, never failing. Now, our Lord said, You love
one another as I love you. How does he love us? He never
quits. He never will quit loving us. His love never ends. I have loved
them with an everlasting love. Aren't you glad? This is why
I despise this, this, the world's, what they say about the love
of God. That's why I despise it. According to them, hell is
full of people that God still loves. Or quit loving them. That doesn't give me any hope.
I'll tell you what does. God said, I've loved you with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with a loving kindness,
I've drawn you. I'll never quit loving you. Before you were born,
I loved you. Before you were formed in the belly, I loved
you. Called you. Chose you. And I'll never quit loving you.
Your mother and father may forsake you, but not me. Of that kind
of love gives me great peace, cast out fear. That perfect love
of his cast out fear and, you know, as he is, so are we. In
this world. Love never quits, never quits
loving the one it love. Someone said, I don't love you
anymore. That's not possible. You never did, never did. Having
loved his own, he loved them unto the end. Now, I started
this all out by saying, you want to save your marriage? Love is
Christ's love. Save your friendship? Love is
Christ's love. You want to save this church, this brotherhood, this fellowship
we have? Love is Christ's love. Love endureth all things, and
love never fails. Nothing will fail where true
love is concerned. Nothing. How important was it? Very important.