All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, 1
Corinthians 13. The apostle Paul has set forth the
absolute necessity of love, charity. And now, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, He's going to declare the manifestation of
that God-given love. I was sitting here thinking just
as we were singing that last song, there has only been one
who has ever loved thus. Only Christ. No one else can say I've ever
loved like this book describes love to be. Love is of God. God is love. So this description
that we're about to consider, let me just go ahead and say
what everybody's thinking. Only God can love like this. But I do know this, found within
every believer is a desire. I want to love like this. I do. I do. And let me tell you something
else. One of these days, we shall. We shall. But until that time,
I read these scriptures as we look at them together and we
think, oh, to love like that. I would just, I'd love to. Verse four says, charity suffereth
long. Unlike the temporal gifts of
the Holy Spirit, love is ever. Love is ever. Love is slow to
be aroused, to resentment, and love patiently bears the provocation
from others. I was thinking about when the
Lord Jesus Christ was hanging on the tree, and those people
were wagging their heads. He saved others. himself he cannot save. Let him
come down. Call upon God. Let him save him
if he will. But do you know that found within
that group, and I know this because there's no prayer that's ever
been prayed by the Lord Jesus Christ that the Father didn't
grant. The Lord said, my Father heareth me always. He heareth
me. with desire, not just hear like we just, well, you heard
me, but no. He hears him with love and hears
him with compassion. He hears him. There was some
people in that congregation or that group out there that was
wagging their heads and railing on him that were sheep. And I
know that because this is what he said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're
doing. They don't realize what they're doing. You think about
before the Lord called us, any of us, out of darkness. We didn't
know what we were doing. We didn't realize the rebellion.
We didn't realize the hatred and resentment we had toward
Him. But for Him that would know those, now He's praying for His
sheep. He's praying for only those in
that group out there that God was going to save. I know that
because of his high priestly prayer. Revelation 17, 9. I pray for those that thou hast
given me. That's John. If I said Revelation,
I meant John. John 17, 9. I pray not for the
world. I pray for those that you've
given me out of the world. for they are Thine, and Thou
gavest them Me. I pray for them. I don't pray
for the world. He prayed only for those that the Father had
given Him. So when He said, Father forgive them, do you know what's
going to happen? The Father's going to forgive
them. Love suffers long, not quick. to assert its rights. Do you
think hanging on that tree he had the right to do whatever
he wanted to do? But he gave himself. He made himself. No reputation. Oh, I'm so arrogant, so proud,
so haughty. Not him. Scripture declares and
is kind. It's not easily offended or given
to wrath. It's kind, it's good-natured,
tender, compassionate with the faults of others. I think about
how he bore with his apostles. These were apostles. And how
many times they failed, they faltered. And they heard the Lord, and
look at the kindness. I'm thinking to myself, these
are my brethren. These are brethren. They're just
like me. They're just dust. Frail creatures
of dust. I'm thinking, Marvin, settle
down. Settle down. Love is kind and it considers
the weakness and the ignorance and the error and the infirmities
of the children of God. Children loved of God, redeemed
by the blood of Christ. And love wants to bestow the
best upon the objects of God's affection. Love, true love. If I love you, If you love me,
we want the best. I do want to have you back. I don't want to talk about you. I don't want to browbeat you
and run over here and tell somebody, you ain't going to believe what
they did. It's considerate. Charity envieth
not. It doesn't boil over inwardly. It's not moved with jealousy
and zealousness against, is what it's saying. It envieth not. It doesn't look for something
to stir up and get it going. The Lord never did that. I don't
want to. Charity vaunteth not itself. Not puffed up. What does
that mean? Not conceited. It's not arrogant. Not proud. If I don't have your
back. If I don't suffer long with you. If I'm not kind to you. You know
what I'm really saying? I wish you were as spiritual
as I was. I wish you could come up to my
standing. Maybe one day you will. Maybe
one day you'll get as spiritual as I am. Charity doesn't vaunt itself,
doesn't puff itself up. I wish all of these lowlifes,
the little people, would be like me. Love doesn't do that. Let me ask you this. What do
we have to be proud of? What do we have to be conceited
about? Who maketh us to differ from
another? Paul said, I've read this numerous
times in the last few weeks, Romans 12, 3, 4, I say through
the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think. I'm telling
you, the moment I say something, The moment I express something
about you, one of my brethren, to somebody else, the moment
I put it out there, you know what I've done? I've puffed myself
up. Hey, the rest of the world, you
all ain't going to believe what this one did. You're not going
to believe it. Love vaunteth not itself. Not puffed up. A man, a woman,
puffed up, has a conceited and high opinion of himself, boastful,
and they desire nothing. They want to have others look
at them and say, boy, I tell you what, I sure do appreciate
that information. Thank you, great bearer of filth,
and that which slams the brethren. Oh, that I would realize. How
the Lord has loved me and been patient with me. How the Lord
has kept me, directed me. Verse 5. Love, charity, does
not behave itself unseemly. What does that mean? Disgracefully. Love doesn't act in a way that
is not gracious. It doesn't place a reproach upon. It doesn't do something that
causes me or someone else to be ashamed. Love seeketh not her own, her
own what? Her own rights, her own will. It's not easily provoked. It's not quick-tempered. It's not touchy, it's not resentful,
and it's not easily offended. Man, alive. Man, you're talking
about somebody guilty on all points. I'm telling you, you say something
to me, or I find out that you said something about me, and
I do. I do. I mean it. Somebody says,
well, I'll never find out I said this. I did. I did. I found out. Marvin, settle down. Love seeketh not her own, is
not easily provoked, and it thinketh no evil. It doesn't plan, it doesn't devise
evil against another, It forgives. Oh, I'm telling you, I'm thinking
if there's ever a gift, Fred, that we all need, this is it. This is the greatest of all gifts. Can you imagine the ability,
the possession of love? What about all these other gifts?
Love. Verse six, it rejoices not in
iniquity. What does that mean? It doesn't
rejoice when others fall or stumble. Now you think about this. Someone
stumbles and let me tell you the first thing we do, they got exactly what they deserve.
I knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to happen.
Love doesn't rejoice. in iniquity. It's not glad when
someone goes wrong. It never delights to point out
evil in others and just broadcast it. I'm telling you, now you
listen to me, the moment we broadcast it, the moment you put it out,
the moment you say it, you've vaunted yourself, you've puffed
yourself up, and you rejoice in their iniquity. Yeah, but
you don't know what they did. Oh, really? Well, let's just
look at each other then, and then just realize, what about
me? What have I done? What have I
failed to do? It rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but it rejoiceth in the truth. Now, there's a blessing. I truly, I do, I do, as Peter
said to the Lord, Lord, you know I love you. You know I love you. To rejoice in the truth is to
rejoice in the Lord and to rejoice in the Lord's mercy and His grace
toward us, to give us a heart to rejoice in Him and to be thankful
for one another, toward our brethren. I've told you before I'm so thankful
to be able to be here. I'm thinking, here's a group
of people that I'm convinced, there's some folks here that
Almighty God's everlasting love, I believe that. He died for them,
loved them, Christ redeemed them, Spirit of God's called them out
and kept them, robed them in the righteousness of Christ.
I'm so thankful that I can be here with you. I'm here only
by the grace of God. It rejoices in the truth. It
rejoices in the virtue that Almighty God's bestowed upon others to
give them faith to believe, to settle them down, and to be kind
and considerate toward me. I rejoice that the truth that
the Lord said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you.
I'm so glad God's given them longsuffering toward me because
I need somebody to be longsuffering with me. Verse 7, concerning
love, All things beareth. It bears in silence the troubles
of others. It bears in silence. Do you know
how hard it is for me to keep my mouth shut? My flesh, I want to tell you
so badly. I want to share. I want to tell
everybody. I want to. I'm thinking, Marvin,
that old man has just reared its ugly head and shown you yourself
again. Love beareth, beareth, and beareth,
and beareth. How many things? All of them. All of them. It covers. Now this, that word
bareth right there, that's a big word. It covers and conceals
with silence all things in others concerning
their falling, stumbling, rather than gleefully disclosing them. I'm telling you, the moment you
put it out, the moment you repeated it, there ain't nobody here today
that's guiltless. Oh, for the blessed righteousness
of Christ that beareth all things and earned that righteousness,
that obeyed this word right here, and then imputed it to me. In
Christ, I bear all things. Oh, in my old man. And I'm telling
you, here's the bad thing. I know better. I know better. You ever talked about somebody
and you think, Why didn't I just shut up? Why
didn't I just keep my mouth shut? Why didn't I just be quiet? Do
you like stirring up stuff? Do you like stirring up stuff
among the brethren? No. Love believeth all things. It
isn't suspicious, but readily gives credit to what men say
in their defense, if someone tells me something. Love doesn't
say, I hear what you're saying, but I know what you mean. I know
what you're saying. I know what you're saying. It
believeth all things. It has faith. It puts the most
favorable construction upon one situation. Someone gets in a situation and
they're, you know, you look at it and you come to an immediate
conclusion. I know what they're doing. And they will say to me,
listen, this is my situation. This is what happened. This is
what happened. Someone said, I don't believe
that. I don't believe that at all. Love believeth all things. It puts the best twist, the best
a statement of faithfulness and love toward that brother or sister. It gives them the benefit of
the doubt. Can I say it like that? Faith hopeth all things. It desires the best for. I truly, I do wish myself to
have this desire. I want the best for you. I do. I want the best for you. I want
to mean that. I want to mean it. Lord forgive
me when I don't, but I want to. Love endureth all things. It
endures for the glory of God and for the good of the body.
It endures trials and sorrows and disappointments and hurt
feelings and offenses. Love sustains without complaint. The assaults and the persecutions
of others. He knows that when others are
cruel and unkind and you say you're just cruel and unkind.
If I just stop for just a second and I think to myself, Marvin,
you've done the same thing. You're just as cruel and unkind
as the one you're accusing. You don't have anything to say.
I was talking to a dear, dear brother. here not too long ago
about a situation that's just so hurtful, just so hurtful. And he said, Marvin, he said,
I'm going to tell you something. He said, the reason we go through
trials like that is because we need them. I thought, yeah, I guess you're
right. I guess I need to be reminded of the sustaining grace of God
Just wait upon Him. Charity, verse 8, never faileth. Love is going to endure to the
end of this world. But it ain't stopping there.
It never faileth. You mean love is going to continue
after this world is over? Love never faileth. It's just going to be perfected.
We struggle now with this body of sin, longing to be free from
the battle of this flesh, wars against our new mind. But one
day, by the grace of God, we're going to be free from this, free
from this old body. We know then, perfectly. Apostle Paul says,
verse 8, but whether they be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they
shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. All the prophecies of Scripture,
when they've been completely fulfilled, then prophecies will be abolished. There won't be any more prophecies
concerning what God's going to do when they're all completed,
when all the tongues are going to cease. I feel, I believe that tongues
have ceased, but I'm going to tell you something, I can't,
I'm not even going to remotely try to, I think they have. The
scriptures have been written and they're written in languages,
but I cannot, without the assurance of scripture, say that they have,
but I'll tell you that they're going to be. I know this, they're
going to be. I'll tell you why I feel that
these tongues, Hebrews chapter 2 verses 3 and 4. There were
signs that were given, Hebrews 2, 3 and 4. How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him? God also bearing them witness
spoke with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. So, if they have
been, then they have been. The Lord determines that, not
me. But I know this, whether there be prophecies, they're
going to fail, tongues, they're going to cease, whether there
be knowledge, it's going to all, you know. The knowledge that
we now possess, the knowledge, whether there be knowledge, it
is going to vanish away. Now here's something I'm going
to share with you that I feel that the Lord's given me some
light on, since I was studying this right here. On that last
part right there, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish
away. The knowledge that we possess
right now. The Lord's been pleased to teach
us some stuff concerning Himself, concerning us, concerning others.
He's been pleased to give us, grant us some knowledge. So that
knowledge, it's going to vanish away. What does that mean? That
means that the knowledge that we now possess, that We have
a clouded knowledge, a vague knowledge, and that's going to
pass away. Well Marvin, can you prove that?
I think I can. Look at verse 9 and 10. For,
you know what that word means? Because. Because. Whether there
be knowledge, it shall vanish away because. We know in part,
and we prophesy, in part, that knowledge that we possess right
now is going to vanish away because the knowledge that we have right
now is obscure. We know it in part, we prophesy
in part. When that which is in part shall
be done away, when that which is perfect is come, when that
which is complete and perfectly total is made to be seen. When the incomplete and imperfect
will become void and superseded, when we behold with perfection,
imperfection is laid aside. And the Apostle Paul, under the
Spirit of God, continues to explain more about what he's saying.
Look at verse 11. I'm going to give an example. And we understand some things
right now. We have some knowledge. But when that which is perfect
is seen, when that which has been perfected to us, which I
truly believe is in the second coming of Christ, when this old
body is put off and that which is mortal is then immortal and
that which is imperfect is perfect, When this happens, then that
which is in part, this knowledge that we have in part, that's
going to vanish away. Well, what's going to happen?
Well, he explains it. He says, all right, let me give
an example. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood
as a child. I thought or I reasoned as a
child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. Now, the believer right now in
the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been taught some things. But
Apostle Paul is saying there's coming a time when this time
right here, the knowledge that we have right here, right now,
is going to be like when we were children. when we were kids. And I, you watch a child, you
listen to a child. I can remember my kids growing
up and I'd get on to, Gabe was the one I got on to the most,
he deserved it. He deserved it. And I'd tell
him, I said, Gabe, why did you do that? And this
was his answer, for no reason. I'm thinking, what do you mean
for no reason? Well, whatever that meant to him, evidently
he justified it. That's childish talk. That's
talk without real understanding. You're not communicating with
me. Paul says, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood
as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Right now, what we know, the
knowledge we have, though it is wonderful, we walk by faith,
when we don't walk anymore like children, spiritual children,
when that which is perfect, whether that's dealing with the completion
of the entire canon of Scripture or more probably the return of
our Lord in this body of flesh put off, then our understanding
of Him is not going to be any more By faith, we're not going
to talk like kids anymore. We got some knowledge, but we
talk like kids, Paul says. You're talking like children.
Children. But when that which is perfect,
we're not going to talk anymore like kids, like children. By faith, we're going to see
by sight. And then, we'll speak in perfection. When that which is perfect, our
imperfect knowledge, our weak faith, these temporal gifts and
talents, viewed in the glorious light of perfection, it'll be
like putting away childish things. We don't play with toys anymore.
You find an adult sitting around playing with kids and acting
like a kid, you say, you're acting like a kid. Grow up. Paul said that's what... Look
at verse 12. He continues to prove it. He
said, for now, because now we see through a glass darkly. We
see in a riddle. Explain to me the glorious knowledge
that we have of God's electing grace. Explain that to me perfectly. Explain to me absolutely being
found in Christ. Explain that to me. Explain the
Trinity. One God in three persons. Explain
that to me. Explain that to me. Explain to
me the Lord Jesus Christ being made sin. Explain to me the Father
forsaken Him. Explain all that to me. We see
through a glass darkly. We see in a riddle all but then,
face to face. We're going to see Him face to
face. Now I know in part I'm like a child. I don't understand. There's things I just don't understand. I want to understand, but I'm
bound up in a body of flesh. Oh, but then shall I know even
as also I'm known. Time is coming and we've got
to not see anymore through a glass darkly. We're going to see no
more by faith. Oh, as precious as faith is.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. But there's coming
a time when faith is going to fail. Are you sure? Look at verse 13. Now abideth
faith. Now abideth faith. One day, that
faith is going to give place to sight. We won't be living
by faith anymore in glory. What are you going to be living
by? Sight. Face to face. Now abideth hope, expectation. But there's coming a time when
that hope, that expectation is going to give way to fulfillment
and accomplishment. There He is. There's the Lord. There's the Lord. No more, no more in expectation,
but you know, Here's the one that loved us, gave himself for
us, now abideth faith, hope, and love over these three, but
the greatest of these, because it's never going to fail. The greatest of these is love. Lord, teach us these things. Lord, sustain us as we, by children,
walk through this world, Lord, looking unto you, waiting on
you. Lord, thank you for your long
suffering. Thank you for your mercy. Lord, teach us to be so
toward our brethren for Christ's sake. Amen.