I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Lord willing, I'm going to preach
through the entire chapter in both services today of the 13th
chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians. The Apostle Paul had been dealing and is dealing
with the subject of the gifts of the Spirit. Remember, the
Lord had promised before he left that there was going to be an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit baptized by the Holy Spirit,
that is, the Spirit of God being poured out upon. Almighty God
was pleased on the day of Pentecost to pour out the Spirit of God
in a way that had never been poured out before. The filling
of man to be able to preach the gospel and to confirm that the
men that were preaching the gospel were truly sent of God. The Spirit
of God gave to different ones, not to all and not to all the
same gifts, but there were different gifts that were given to confirm
that these men were truly sent of God because of all the fakes. A man stands up and says, God
sent me. Well, how do I know? I mean, how do I know if God
sent you? How do I know if you're really
of the Lord? How do I know if what you're
saying is true? They didn't have the New Testament.
They had the Old Testament. But they didn't even have the
New Testament. I've got the Scriptures now. Somebody can say something
to me and they say, well this is what God says. Well I say,
well let me look that up. Let me just check on you. Just
find out if what you're saying is so. Let me search the Scriptures
daily and see if what you're saying is so. You may be lying
to me. And if you're lying to me, then
God didn't send you. So Paul had been proclaiming. that the spirit had given these
gifts. But I'll tell you another battle
that was being raised. With these men that had been
given these gifts, gifts of tongues, gifts of healing, gifts of discernment
of spirit, those different gifts that were confirming what they
were saying. You have to understand that there
was a real battle that was going on. Not only in the person that
had received it, because the person that received it, they're
just a vessel of clay with an old man that's still there that
wars against. And the Spirit of God gives someone
the gift of tongues or healings Discernment, discerning of spirits,
like Paul when Simon the sorcerer, Paul said, I perceive. How did
Peter know that? The Spirit of God gave him a
gift to know that. But not only was there a blessing
given, there's a war that's going on. And then the war even gets
greater. It gets to a point now to where,
let's say somebody is in a congregation, and the Lord's given this one,
and this one right over here one, and this one right over
here's got a gift, and that one over there's got a gift, and
the others of us that don't have that particular gift, we're thinking,
well, I don't have that gift. In fact,
I don't know I don't know. I don't even know what my gift
is. I'm just kind of, you know. So
there's a battle going on inside, battling with the one that has
received it. Now he's warring with the Spirit.
A war is going on. His old man is fighting him,
but then even among the brethren. We're just prone to jealousy. And so Paul is dealing with that. So the case is that these gifts
are given to honor the Lord Jesus Christ and to edify the body. So now Paul is going to deal
with this situation on what about those that don't have that special
gift. to be able to, you know, discern,
be able to speak. Tongues, what about? So here's
Paul, he's going to set forth under the inspiration of God's
Spirit. I'd like to look at verses 1, 2, 3 in chapter 13 this morning. He's going to declare to these
believers, they're Corinth, and now to us. This word is alive,
it's quick, it doesn't change, it never changes. And this is
for us. This is for every believer. Now
you listen to me. Every believer sitting in this
congregation this morning has been gifted. Gifted by the Spirit
of God. Everyone. Without exception. And now Paul is going to set
forth that the gift that every believer possesses is going to
be set forth and manifest. It's that gift that is superior
to every gift that could possibly be given by the Spirit of God.
That gift that all of God's sheep have and that gift sets forth
truly that one which is known and loved of Almighty God. It does not matter If the believer has been called
to be a preacher of the gospel, or if that believer is one to
be found a widow with two mites left of her name, it doesn't
matter if it's a Paul the apostle or if it's a dying thief hanging
on a tree. Every believer possesses this
gift, the greatest of all gifts, love. Love. Love for Almighty God as he is
set forth in this book. Love for God Almighty who rules
in heaven and earth. Love for God himself who is the
God of all grace. I'm talking about God now. I'm
not talking about somebody wanting to be God. It's trying to do. If the God you serve is trying
to do something, I'm not talking about your God. I'm talking about
God now. A love for Almighty God who does
as He will, when He will, with whom He will. And love for His
gospel. The gospel of God's grace. Love
for His glory. And love for His people. And
love for His providential order. Love. Love. Love is better. There are some that could speak
in tongues. Now, I'm not talking about this
silly. foolish stuff, gibberish. Tongues in the Bible was languages. You know that. You know that.
It was the ability to be able to speak in languages that you've
never learned previously. Somebody understood them. You're speaking in their language. Love is better than the gift
of prophecy. To be able to foretell future
events. If I could have that ability,
I could tell you what's going to happen tomorrow. I'll tell
you what's going to happen tomorrow. That's what God's prophets, they
had the ability to foretell what was going to take place. Love
is better than being able to perform miracles. Miracles, I mean, to be able
to do something that humanly can't be done. Love is better
because love never fails. All these other gifts, they fail. Oh, may we be found with a heart
that loves as being granted from heaven. Not lust. I grew up, I had a dog. I love my dog. I'm not talking
about that. I'm talking about love from above. Love for God. Love for God's
glory. Love for God's people. May the
Lord give us a heart this morning to receive what the Spirit of
God has to say. Now in the first three verses
of our chapter, the Apostle Paul uses this word, though. Though. And he gives five examples
of spiritual gifts that were bestowed upon men and those five
gifts divinely sent without love. Now in this one I'm going to
tell you the importance of having love and Lord willing in the
next one I'm going to tell you what love really is. What is
it? I mean you think about this.
Somebody says tell me what love is. You think well I think no. Scripture tells us what it is.
So I want to look at this. Now, verse 1. Though, or in case. That's what that means. That's
what that word means. In case. If in the event. Though I speak
with the tongues of men. Though I speak with a God given
ability to preach the gospel in a language, in a foreign language. to be able to preach in languages
that someone in another place that speaks another dialect understands
what I'm saying. Though I'm able to be able to
preach in tongues. And listen to this, the tongues
of men. Though I'm able to preach with
those languages. Or look at this, and of angels. Though I can preach with the
tongues of men, every dialect, every dialect. I mean, I can
tell you this, I speak English, that's what I say. But if you
listen to my dialect, I might be using some words that you
don't understand. And you go down to South Louisiana,
and you're really going to hear some dialects that you don't
understand. But even there, there's a different way of saying stuff.
And they don't pronounce things the same way. Things that I,
you know, I mean I have to listen to what they're saying and I'm
from there. But if I, Paul says, if I could
speak with the tongues of men, every dialect, and of angels, who can tell the language of
angels? What language do angels speak? That's what he's saying. If I
could speak with all the dialects of men and speak the language
of heavenly creatures, if I could communicate in all
human and divine ways, yet have not charity, love, the love of
God, and the love toward men shed abroad in my heart. Paul
said, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. That is to say, I am no more
of any worth if I have not love, love of God and love of men.
If I can have all those gifts, I could do miracles. I can speak
angel. I speak angel. I speak all languages. And I don't possess love. I'm no more than a clanging,
irritable sound of banging on a piece of metal. It's not even
an instrument. And that tinkling cymbal is nothing
more than just two pieces of metal banging them together. Just like a child. You ever had
a child just get a hold of something and just banging on it and just
wear you out? And just, would you please put
that down? If I could speak and I don't
have love, I am doing nothing more than making irritable noise. That's all I'm doing. You're
wearing me out. And though, if the case be, I
have the gift of prophecy, and I understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so I could remove
mountains and have not charity, have not love, I am nothing,
though I had the ability, if it were the case, that I could
declare from divine inspiration the will and purpose of Almighty
God. If I could, by God's ability
to predict, this is a hypothetical thing, it ain't gonna happen.
Paul said if it were to happen, if it did happen, I could predict
the events concerning Christ's kingdom. I could tell you who was going
to be saved. If I had the gift of prophecy,
I knew the mind and will of God. If I could set forth all these
divine mysteries, Undiscoverable by human reasoning. If I perceived
these purposes of God related to the redemption and salvation
of God's elect, and had the ability to teach that knowledge, to the
best of my ability, I've gone over these scriptures, I've gone
over these words, I've looked them up, I've sought the meaning
and the tense of that word, It's not just a word. That word can
be found in different places, but I want to know what the tense
of that word is. What was the intent of the Spirit
of God? I've tried to search it out and
find out and tell you just exactly what the word means. What's the
sense of that scripture? And struggled to get that. Paul said, if I had the ability
to teach with knowledge, God's knowledge, and all degrees of
faith. That's what he said. Though I
have the gift of prophecy, I understand all mysteries, all knowledge,
and though I have all faith, all degrees and variations of
faith. I gave you an example. I said,
you know, every believer believes by faith upon the Lord. And when Peter and John were
walking into that temple, and that man asked of alms, and Peter
said, you look on us, silver and gold have I none, but such
as I have, give I thee in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Rise
up and walk. Now what do you think is going
to happen if you or I try that? Scripture sets forth, if I had
all degrees of faith, even to the ability to be able to speak
to a mountain and remove it. The Lord said that if you had
faith of a grain of mustard seed, you'd do it. Now where does that
leave us? He said if I had all of that
ability and I don't have love, He said I am, now listen here,
He said I am I'm nothing. I'm no man. I'm nothing. I looked it up. I'm no man. I am good for nothing. That right there is from Matthew
5, 13. If the salt has lost its savor,
it is good for nothing. Same word right here. There's no love, then there's
nothing. There's no life because God hadn't
shed His love abroad in the heart. If I can do that and I don't
have the love of God, when God Almighty calls a man or woman
out of darkness, the love of God is shed abroad in their heart. God has shed, given us the light,
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He said, if
I have all these abilities and I have not loved, God's not giving
me love. God's not giving me life. That
means I'm lost. I'm lost. If I have all of these
abilities and I don't have a love of God and a love of my brethren,
I'm lost. That's what he said. I'm lost.
And though, verse 3, I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
though I give my body to be burned, have not charity, it profiteth
me nothing. Nothing. You're just a loud mouth
clanging cymbal and piece of metal. That's all you are. A
man may from a standpoint of vanity attempt to purchase by
his own works and so-called self-sacrifice a place in heaven. He may give
everything. I mean, we start going around
and just let's just drain our bank accounts and we'll just
all go around. I'm going to go down to the soup
kitchen and I'm going to send over there and give to this organization
and that organization. I may give everything that I
own until he's absolutely destitute. Give His very body to be burned
out of a fear of hell and punishment from God. I don't want to go
to hell. That's no reason. What marriage is that? I'm going to give my heart to
Jesus so I won't go to hell. That's nothing but selfishness.
What about God's glory? What about Christ? What about
God's gospel? What about? What do you mean? I just don't want to go to hell.
That is pure selfishness. What does God desire? Though I give all my goods, I
give my body to be burned, and I don't have love, there's no
benefit. So, from these three verses,
we're made to understand something. Every believer has been gifted
by God. Love. We'll see, it actually
says it in the next message. That this gift right here, the
gift of love is the best one. This is the best one. You mean
above tongues and above, yeah. Because all of that is qualified
by this one. This is the foundation, this
is the standard right here. Love is more valuable, more precious,
more to be desired than any gift given by the Spirit of God that's
temporal. But in closing, I've got two
questions, two quick questions. Number one, how is this love
obtained? How do I get it? And number two,
what's the evidence of possessing the love of God? What's the evidence
of it? Now, I'm going to be honest with you. This is a very, very
convicting part right here, these first three verses, and the next
three verses are as if not more convicting to me. So I truly
want to know. I want to know. I don't want
to think I know. I don't want somebody to lie
to me. I'm telling you that this is the only thing that matters
right here. I want to know this. If love, without love, I'm nothing. Without love, I'm lost. And I've
got a heart, the scripture declares, that's deceitful above all things,
and I don't want to be deceived. I'm going to stand before God.
And here's the one that I'm concerned about mostly this morning. Somebody said, well, you ought
to be concerned about all of us. I am, but I'm going to tell
you something. Marvin's going to stand before
God. So I want to be honest with myself and I want to be honest
with you. Is this love obtained? And what's
the evidence of it? Well, it's obtained one way. This is it. This is the only
way. Hold your place there. Turn to
Romans 5, 1. Romans 5, 1. Romans 5, verse 1 to 5. Therefore being justified by faith. That is, therefore
being shown to be without blame before God by the evidence that
you believe God. Therefore being justified by
faith. We have peace with God. How? Through the Lord Jesus. He paid the debt. He robed us
with righteousness. We have peace with God. Peace
has been established by whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand. And we rejoice in hope, we rejoice
in confidence, we rejoice in the expectation of the glory
of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations. Why, do you like to go through
tribulations? No, but I'm so thankful for what they teach
me. I'm thankful that Almighty God who says that if you be without
chastisement, you're illegitimate. God's going to teach us something
of ourselves. We're going to go through some
trials, and He's going to show us His sufficiency in our possessing
faith. Not only so, but we glory in
tribulations, knowing that tribulation works with patience, to wait
on God in patience. Experience. Experience. And people call me up and say,
I'm going through a real trial right here, this, this, this,
and this. If I've gone through it, I can tell you, I know how
you feel. If I've never gone through that, I don't know exactly
how you feel. I can try to sympathize with
you, but if I've experienced it, I know what you're going
through. And experience hope, expectations,
confidence. And hope maketh not ashamed. Because the love of God, now
here's where it comes from, is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. How do you get the love
that Paul is speaking of in 1 Corinthians 13? God's going to have to give
it to you. I can't earn it. I can't work
it up. God's going to have to give it
to me. That love for God and for his people, the love of God,
is shed abroad. It's poured forth. But here's the second question,
and I'm going to stop for right now. The evidence of possessing
the love of God. Now listen. Here's the evidence. I'm going to show you. It's going
to be in 1 John 4 if you want to turn there. 1 John chapter
4. Here's the evidence that I love
God. There's only one evidence that
I love God. Somebody says, I love the Lord.
I love the Lord. How do I know if I love the Lord? One way. One way. I love you. Here's the only evidence of love
for God. It's love for the brethren. 1
John 4, 1921. We love Him because He first loved us. Man, I'm telling you,
I'll admit that. I didn't love him first. He had
to love me first before I'd love him. If a man say, I love God,
and hates, detests, recoils, shrinks from, and is repelled
by. I looked it up to find out what
it means. If a man say, I love God, and
he hateth his brother. Now you listen to this. That
man's a liar. You're a liar. I love God, but I detest you. I recall from
you. I'm repelled by you. I shrink
from you. He's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we
from Him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also. How do I get the love of God? God's going to have to give it
to me. In regenerating grace, He's going to give it to me.
The love of God is shed abroad. Now how do I know if I got it?
I love the brother. I love the brethren. I defend the brethren. Chuck and I was always telling
each other, we kidding, we really mean it. I got your back. I got
your back. I remember Scott told me that
one time. He meant it. He meant it. He said, Marvin,
he said, I love you. And he said, these people love
you. And he said, I've got your back. I said, thanks, God. Coming
from you, that means a lot to me. How can I love God and not love
you? Here is the very image of God's
grace, like Barnabas that saw the grace of God. May the Lord
bless these words to our heart and prepare our heart. We're
going to start in verse four, Lord willing, in just a few minutes.
And the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God's Spirit,
is going to tell us, this is the manifestation of love. This
is it, right here. I want to know. I want to know
what God has to say. And may the Lord bless these
words to our hearts for Christ's glory. Amen.