The first phrase in chapter 14,
verse 1, follow after charity. The word is pursue charity. Make charity your aim. Every one of us are pursuing
something. And here's what we ought to be pursuing. Every one of us. Charity. This beautiful gift of God the
Holy Spirit that every believer possesses. Charity. Now, the church at Corinth had
the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They practiced these gifts. Look back in chapter 12, verse
8. For to one is given by the spirit,
the word of wisdom. This is within this church. To another, the word of knowledge
by the same spirit. To another faith by the same
spirit. And he's talking about miracle
working faith. He's not simply talking about
faith in Christ. If you could ever say simply
talking about faith in Christ, it's the most glorious thing
you can speak of, but he's speaking of faith in that sense. To another,
the gifts of healing by the same spirit. Now these men had the
gift to heal. Somebody could be sick. They
could lay their hands on them, heal them without the use of
means, and they would be healed. This was actually taking place. To another, discerning of spirits. To another, diverse kinds of
tongues, speaking in other languages. To another, the interpretation
of those tongues. But all these worketh that one
and the self, same spirit, dividing to every man individually as
he will." So these church, they're actually practicing these gifts. And just like they had been guilty
of abusing the Lord's table, look in chapter 11, verse 17. Now in this chapter 11 verse
17, now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not that
you come together not for the better but for the worse. When you come to take the Lord's
table, it's not for the better but for the worse. For first
of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there'll
be divisions among you. And I partly believe it, for there must be
also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be
made manifest among you. When you come together, therefore,
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper." Now,
do you see he's saying you're coming together supposedly to
eat the Lord's supper, but that is not what you are doing. You see, they were using these
gifts in a manner they were never intended to be used. They had
these gifts and they were showing them off. And it was creating
jealousy among the different members of the church. Some said,
I've got a more spectacular gift than you. My gift is more important. That's the way human nature is. Somebody else will say, well,
I don't have Such a gift. And they were jealous and envious
of those people. As a matter of fact, Paul said
there's jealousy, strife, and envy in your midst. Now in verse 31 of chapter 12,
I love this. He says, he's been speaking on
these gifts in chapter 12. He said, but covet earnestly
the best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. This way is better than any gifts. Now, I have thought it seems
like it would be good to have these gifts still in operation. I'd like to be able to do it,
but evidently it's not best. and we no longer have these gifts. And I've already seen, we've
already seen that the reason we know that is because it was
only through the laying on of the apostles' hands that these
gifts were given. And when the apostles died, no
one else had the ability to transfer these gifts. And when people
claim to have them, I don't believe them. I don't believe them at
all. These gifts have been done away with, but they were practicing
them. and it was causing problems within
the church. And Paul says, covet earnestly
these best gifts, but I want to show you something better
than any gift. I hope that makes us all desirous
of this gift, charity. Don's reading out of 1 John chapter
four, And I'd like you to turn there again for just a moment.
I was glad you read that, Don. Verse seven. Beloved, let us love one another
for love is of God. Now look at this next statement.
Everyone that loveth is born of God. and knoweth God, and
he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. Now, only those who are born
of God possess this love that he's speaking of. An unbeliever
does not possess this love. Only those who are born of God.
Now, an unsaved man loves, and I'm thankful for that. What kind
of society would this be if there were no love? An unsaved man
loves, an unsaved man loves his wife, he loves his kids, but
really it's all self-love there. It's his wife, it's his kids. It's not the love that Paul is
speaking of when he describes this beautiful love in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. As a matter of fact, this love
is called the fruit of the Spirit. Not the fruits, the fruit of
the spirit. This agape, this love is the
fruit of the spirit, which manifests itself in joy, peace, long suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. But
this is the fruit of being born again. This is a spiritual love
that only the believer possesses. This is the love of which the
Lord said, by this shall all men know you're my disciples.
By this love, we're speaking of here. This love you have one
to another. Now do you, by the grace of God,
look to Christ only as everything in your salvation right now?
You can answer that with a yes or no. Is he the only ground
of your salvation? Yes. Then make this your aim.
pursue this love being spoken of in this passage of scripture. Now we may go back to look at
different parts of this chapter in the weeks to come, but I just
wanna look at the whole chapter right now. And one of the things
that encourages me when he says pursue love is because everything
I'm gonna talk about, I'm woefully aware that I fall so short and
I am to pursue it. I want it, I pursue it, and this
is something that every believer is called upon to pursue. This
is ought to be more important to me and you than anything else,
to pursue this love that is the fruit of God the Holy Spirit.
And while God the Holy Spirit used the word charity or love,
we can read this passage of scripture and put Christ wherever you see
the word charity and it will work. Let's read it that way
just for a second. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels and have not Christ, I'm become as a sounding
brass or a tinkling 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 can remove mountains, and have not
Christ, I'm nothing. Nothing. And though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, and have not Christ, profits me nothing. Christ suffers long. and is kind. Christ envieth not,
Christ vaunteth not himself, is not puffed up, does not behave
himself unseemly, seeks not his own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil, Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in
the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things. Christ never fails. Can you see how beautifully Christ's
name can be used in that passage of scripture? But God, the Holy
Spirit does not use the name of Christ. He uses this word
charity. And that's how we are to consider
it. Now the church at Corinth was
enamored with tongues. And tongues is the ability to
speak in another language. It's not a heavenly prayer language.
It's not some kind of gibberish that people use where their spirit
is edified, so they think, but their understanding is unfruitful.
We're gonna look at that in chapter 14, and I think I've got some
light on that chapter when we get to it. But understand this,
tongues was not a heavenly prayer language. And these people in
Corinth were using their gifts, speaking in tongues, speaking
in Russian or Spanish whatever language it was to impress people,
they actually had the gifts. And look what Paul says, though.
They were enamored with this. And you know, this is a gift
that you can show off. What if I could speak in other
languages? I'd be showing it off. I'm sure
I would. I'd let you know what all I could do. And Paul says,
though, I speak with the tongues of men, all the different languages. Do you know there are over 7,100
languages in the world? 7,100 spoken languages, not all written
languages, but spoken languages. And though I spoke with the tongues
of men and I could understand every one of those language and
take it a bit further, I could speak with the eloquence of an
angel. I'm sure there are a whole lot
better speakers than we are, a lot more powerful. But I would
have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal. All my words are meaningless. They might all be accurate, but
they're like AI. There's no heart in them at all. They are meaningless. And then
he says in verse two, and though I have the gift of prophecy,
well, that's a gift. Now, before the full canon of
scripture, men could come up and they could actually say,
thus saith the Lord, as a prophet. Now that we have the full canon
of scripture, we don't need that. But then they did. When Paul
wrote this, A lot of the epistles he'd written had not yet been
written. The book of Romans had not been written. Where would
we be without the book of Romans? The book of Ephesians, as a matter
of fact, this was either his first or his third epistle. Some think that 1 and 2 Thessalonians
were the first. They may be. Some think this
is the first. But most of Paul's writings had
not come to pass yet. The book of Revelation had not
yet been written. First, second, third John, the
gospel of John had not yet been written. And that which was perfect
had not yet come. And so they had this ability
to say, thus saith the Lord. They even had the ability to
foretell the future. You remember Agabus telling Paul
what was gonna happen to him when he went to Jerusalem. I
mean, this gift of prophecy. He said, though I have the gift
of prophecy and I understand all mysteries. I understand everything. Now, I think that that is a figure
of speech. But at any rate, he's saying,
though I understand every mystery in the scripture, I can tell
you what it means. I can speak on it profitably. And though I have all knowledge.
And he's talking about this supernatural gift that was given in the early
church. I read about it. I don't know what all that means
to have this gift of knowledge, but it was a gift like tongues,
like healing. to have some kind of special
knowledge. He says, though I have all knowledge and though I have
all faith so that I can move mountains and have not charity,
this fruit of the Spirit, the gift of God, the new birth. If I have all that and have not
charity, I am what? Nothing. Not just a little bit
behind. Nothing. Verse three. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor. I sell everything. I sell my
home. I give up my retirement. I sell it all to feed people
who are in need. Boy, that's a noble thing, isn't
it? I admire somebody very much who
did that. And though I give my body to
be burned, he's talking about dying at the stake as a martyr.
I am not going to be dissuaded. I'm going to stand for the truth.
I'm not gonna deny it. If I give my body to be burned
at the stake as a martyr for the cause of God in truth and
have not charity, it profits me Nothing. Now he says without
charity, I'm like a sounding brass, a tingling cymbal. I'm
nothing. And everything that I do profits
me nothing. Now he gives this beautiful defining
of charity. And let me remind you, this is
the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. This is something every believer
has as soon as they're born again. And it can be developed by the
grace of God and you can grow in love. I wanna do that, don't
you? He says, make this your aim,
make this your purpose. Now look at this beautiful defining
of this God-given grace, the fruit of the Spirit, love. You
know, when Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit, He says
the fruit of the Spirit is love. And it's manifest in long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, joy, all
those things. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love. This is what every believer possesses. Now he describes this
love. Charity suffereth long. It's patient with the object
of its affection. It does not say I'm done with
you. I'm done. It's over. I'm washing
my hands. It doesn't do that. It's kind. Charity is kind, is gracious,
is thoughtful, is non-judgmental. Charity envieth not. You know, you don't envy somebody
you love. If you love him, you're not envious of him. If you're
envying that person, it's because you do not love that person. Charity vaunteth not itself. It's not a braggart. I love that. Don't you become annoyed being
around a braggart? Well, charity is not a braggart. It's not trying to convince you
of how great and important he is. The last phrase of verse four,
it's not puffed up. It's not swollen. It's not full
of itself. Five times in this epistle, he
says to the Corinthians, you're puffed up. You have an inflated
view of yourself. You're full of yourself. That is opposite of charity or
love. Love vaunteth not itself. It's not puffed up. Verse five. It does not behave itself unseemly. It's not rude and disrespectful. It's lowly. It doesn't behave
itself unseemly. It seeketh not her own. It's not self-seeking, seeking
to use and manipulate you for self gain. It's not like that. It's not easily, we're still
in verse five, it's not easily provoked. It's not touchy and
irritable. You don't have to walk on eggshells
around love. It's not easily offended. It thinketh no evil. And you
know what that means? That word thinketh keeps no records. It keeps no records of wrongs.
Isn't that beautiful? It keeps no records of wrongs.
Now the Lord doesn't keep any records of wrongs because there's
no record of the wrongs. They're gone. They're put away.
But this is what every believer is called upon to do, to keep
no records of wrongs. What a beautiful thing a forgiving
spirit is. Verse six, rejoices not in iniquity,
it doesn't rejoice in the fall of others, but rejoices in or
with the truth. It bears all things. That means it covers in silence
all things. Love covers a transgression. Aren't you thankful the Lord's
covered your transgressions? Never to be brought up because
when he covers them, they're no longer there. That's what
the blood of Christ has done. But love covers a transgression.
If I'm trying to expose you, If I'm trying to speak evil of
you to others, it's because I don't love you. Love covers the transgression. Believes all things. Believes the best of those it
loves. It hopeth all things what it can't see it hopes for. It endures all things. It's never
reduced to inactivity. It never says, I've had it. Not
with somebody you really love. Now, that happens in human love. There are people who get married
that love one another, and they quit loving one another. Somebody
says, well, they never loved each other in the first place.
Yes, they did, but they stopped. But this love never fails. It's never reduced to inactivity. Charity never fails but whether
they be prophecies, they shall fail. They shall cease is the
word. It's not saying somebody says
something prophetic that's actually true inspired by God and it ends
up being untrue. No, it's saying these prophecies,
this prophetic word that people have, it's going to cease. It's
not going to continue. Whether they be tongues, ability
to speak in these other languages, they shall cease. Whether there
be knowledge, this gift of knowledge he's talking about, it'll vanish
away, it won't continue. Now understand this, people that
claim to have these gifts today, Maybe they really think they
have them, but I don't think they do. That's my opinion. They talk
about them, but if they really thought they had, I've said this
several times since we've been going through 1 Corinthians,
if they really thought they had the gift to heal, they'd walk
into the hospital and start healing people. And this is fraud, I
think. And Paul is saying it's all gonna
cease, all these gifts. And then he makes this statement
in verse nine, and I love this statement. For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part. We don't know everything. We
realize the limitations of our knowledge. I like the way Paul
said, I've not yet attained. And Paul said, if a man thinketh
he knoweth anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. Do you think you have some subject
in the scripture grasped? You're deceived if you think
that. is way above and beyond you. And even Paul, speaking
under the Holy Spirit, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, we
know in part and we prophesy in part. Don't you know that
so with regard to you? Our knowledge is so limited. Verse 10, but
when that which is perfect has come. You know, I was surprised that
Most people interpret that as when you go to heaven. No. When that which is perfect has
come. If you've got a Bible in your hand, you've got that which
is perfect. When that which is perfect is come, the full revelation
of God. You know, this is a closed revelation. That's why there are no prophecies.
It's all contained in this word. This is the word of God. This
is the gospel. This is everything. The word
of God. When that which is perfect is
come, the word of God, the full canon of the scriptures, that
which is partial is going to be done away with. It's no longer
Now, he says in verse 11, and he's speaking to the immaturity
of the Corinthians. Remember, he said to them, you're
carnal. I couldn't speak unto you as
spiritual men, but as babes, carnal men. I had to talk to
you like you're unbelievers. You're so immature. He said this
throughout this epistle to this group of people. Now, he says,
when I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. That's
what we expect. I mean, if somebody's five years old, we expect them
to think like a five-year-old. We expect them to talk like a
five-year-old. We expect them to act like a
five-year-old. But if a 20-year-old's acting that way, we've got a
problem, don't we? What he is saying to these people
is grow up. Quit being so infantile. When
I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Verse 12. For now we see through
a glass darkly. Now the word is enigma. We see in an enigma. Mysterious, puzzling, difficult
to understand. And if I don't realize this about
myself, all I reveal about myself is my own profound ignorance.
We see through a glass darkly. And I know in my experience, I hope it's growing in grace.
The more I know, the more I say, I don't know. I see that so profoundly. The
more I know, the more I see, I don't know. And this is what
Paul is saying. We see through a glass darkly
in an enigma. You know, the gospel is black
and white. Salvation is by grace. Salvation
is in Christ. The gospel is black and white.
There's no enigma about that. Christ is all in salvation. You're
complete. in him. That's no enigma. But
I tell you what, with regard to anything outside the gospel,
there's so many gray areas. It's kind of interesting. When
I was younger, I was certain about everything. I knew it. Whatever it was, I could tell
you. No more. No more. Paul said, we see through
a glass darkly, but then face to face. Face to face with Christ
my Savior. Face to face, what will it be? When with rapture I behold him,
Jesus Christ who died for me, only dimly now I see him. With
the darkling veil between, but a blessed day is coming when
his glory shall be seen. David said, as for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. Now I know in part, and this
is Paul saying this, now I know in part, but then Shall I know
even as also I'm known? Now somebody says, what's that
mean? I can't tell you until I experience it. But I'll know
one day. Now I know in part, but then
I shall know even as also I am known. I love that passage of
scripture in Galatians chapter four, verse nine, when Paul said
to the Galatians, now that you know God, or rather, scratch
that, you're known of God. Now, I wanna know God, but there's
something I want more. I want him to know me. I don't
want to be somebody that name drops his name that he doesn't
really know. I want him to know me. Thou hast searched me and known
me. Thou seest my down setting and
my uprising. You understand my thoughts afar
off. Known of God, then shall I know,
even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope,
charity. This is what remains. That's
what that word means, remains. These gifts, speaking in tongues,
the gifts of healing, the gifts of prophecy, they're not going
to remain. They're just not. That's what
the scripture teaches. But here's what does remain.
Faith, hope, and charity. These three. Faith. Faith, according to the writer
of the Hebrews, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. What is the evidence that you're
justified before God? One evidence. Naked faith in Christ. Nothing
else. I stand before God without guilt
and I can't look at myself and say, yeah, I can see where I'm
not guilty. I can't do that. I look to Christ and He is my
righteousness before God. That's the evidence of things
not seen. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't look at my life and say,
yep, you're justified. But I believe on Christ. That
is the evidence. Hope, what Paul tells us. Hope that is seen is not hope.
For what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for? Hope abides
right now. I have a hope that when I stand
before God on judgment day, and that is a future, a confident
expectation with regard to the future, I have a hope that I'm
gonna stand before God, listen to this, without guilt. without sin, perfect in Christ
Jesus, so that God will say to me, Todd Nybert, well done, thou
good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. He's going to say that to me.
Because what Christ did, I did. When he Did well? I did well because I was in Him. That's my hope and I have a hope
that everything between then and right now is working together
for my good and His glory. Everything. That's what Romans
8 28 says and we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them that are called according to
His purpose. But notice Now abideth faith,
hope, and charity, these threes, but the greatest of these is
charity. Now, why is that? Well, one of these days, my faith
is gonna be turned aside. I won't need faith anymore. I'll
be looking at him. I'll be beholding his face in
righteousness. And that hope I have that I'm gonna one day
be sinless, in my experience, I'll be experiencing it. I won't
need that hope anymore. That faith, don't need it. I'm
looking, I see. That hope, it's been turned to
experience. But you know what's gonna abide
in heaven? Charity. By the grace of God, I'm gonna love him perfectly. without sin, beholding His face in righteousness. And I'm gonna love you the way
I ought to love you, perfectly. Esteeming you so highly, seeing
you as perfect in Christ Jesus, All this flesh will be gone.
All this sin will be gone. All this self-indication and
self-justification will be gone. I will love Him perfectly and
I'll love you perfectly and you'll love me perfectly. That's heaven. Now abideth faith,
hope, charity, these three. They're a glorious three, aren't
they? But the greatest of these is charity. Now, we're going to observe the
Lord's table. What a blessed privilege it is
to do so. We got to witness a baptism this
morning, and now we're getting to observe the Lord's table. And he said, this do in remembrance
of me, and that bread represents his broken body. The blood or
the wine represents his shed blood, the wrath he endured,
the complete salvation he procured. And this is a celebration. I'm not thinking, oh, I'm not
worthy. That's the wrong way to look
at the Lord's table. Here's my worthiness. His broken
body, His shed blood. Pass out the bread.