rather than the 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. If you could have all the very
best gifts that God gives, would that be the best thing? Would
that make you profitable to others and profitable to yourself? God
gave you the chief office in the church, it made you an apostle.
If God gifted you to speak in every language that ever existed. If God gifted you to preach the
gospel better than any person in history. God gifted you to
know every mystery of God perfectly. If God gifted you to have a perfect,
miracle-working faith. If He gifted you to be the greatest
giver, so that you gave all the goods that you have to help poor
and needy. And if He gave you the gift to
give the ultimate sacrifice, to give your own body to be martyred
for Christ. Would that make you profitable
to others and profitable to yourself? That's the answer the Spirit
of God answers for us in our text today. Now having shown
all the different administrations and the different gifts and the
different operations that God gives, the Spirit moved Paul
to say not everybody has those. In verse 29 he says, Are all
apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?
Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing?
Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? And the answer
is no. He says, but covet earnestly the best gifts. And another time
we're going to see that the best gifts are those which edify the
church. Those are the best gifts that
edify the church. But he says, verse 31, yet I
show unto you a more excellent way. I show you something even
more excellent than having all the very best gifts. I show you
something that's more needful and superior to having every
gift that can be given. I'm interested in that. That's
our subject, the more excellent way. Verse 1, 1 Corinthians 13,
1. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become 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 could remove mountains and have not
charity, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. The more excellent
way, better than all the very best gifts of God, is to have
charity. The more excellent way is to
have charity. Now first of all, what is charity?
The Greek word is agape. And it's translated in most of
the scriptures as love, as love. Now many teach that this word
charity means a denial of self. And charity is to deny yourself. And many teach that this word
charity is to give of your possessions, to give your money and things,
to be an almsgiver, to provide for the needy. That's clearly
not what the Spirit of God is teaching. Neither of those things
is what the Spirit of God means by charity. Look down at verse
3. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor. That's ultimate almsgiving. To
bestow all my goods. And though I give my body to
be burned. That's the ultimate self-denial.
To be martyred for Christ. And yet have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing. So that's not what the word charity
means. It's not self-denial here, and it doesn't mean giving of
my goods. Others teach that charity is
the common, natural love possessed by some form, in some form, by
all men. Like a husband and a wife love
each other, or a parent and children love each other. But charity
spoken of in our text does not exist in sinners by nature. And it doesn't exist in all sinners.
This charity is the love that God is. This charity is the love
God is. And this charity is the love
that only God gives. And that God only gives to His
elect. And it's the love He gives when He creates us anew by giving
us of His Spirit and forming Christ in you. That's the love
spoken of here. Charity is not produced by the
sinner. The love we're talking about
here is not produced by the sinner. No sinner by nature has this
love. He doesn't possess it and he
can't give it to himself. Charity is the gift of God. It's
the gift of God. It's by His free and His sovereign
grace. Charity is to have God dwelling
in you and you dwelling in God. to have God dwelling in you and
you in God because God is love. Now turn to 1 John 4 and I'm
going to give you just an exposition of most of this chapter and I'm
going to show you what love is according to the scripture. First
of all, now the word here that's translated love is the same word
agape or a form of it that's translated charity in our text.
So when we read love here, we're talking about charity. When we
read charity, we're talking about love. It's the same Greek word.
Alright, first of all, it tells us love is of God. Verse 7, 1
John 4, 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. You see that? They're born of
God and they know God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. You see, love is of God, and
therefore we only have love when we're born of God and made to
know God. Do you get that? You see that? You only love when you are born
of God and know God. God is love. That's who God is. He is love. And therefore when
God dwells in us by the new birth, We have this love. God is love and therefore all
who are born of God know God. Therefore all born of God love
God. And all born of God love those
born of God. Because God is love. I find it,
he's telling you that, you know, fire, when it kindles fire, the
fire that is kindled, isn't it exactly like the fire that kindled
it? There's no difference in them. And what he's telling you
here is God is love. And so when God dwells in you
and gives you a new spirit and a life and a heart to know God,
that nature is going to be like God. God is love. So that's what the
nature is going to be. It's going to be love that he
creates. I find it ridiculous that men deny imparted righteousness
for this reason. Is Christ righteousness? Yes. Is Christ imparted into the sinner?
Yes. And so that nature that he creates
is going to be like the one who created it. Righteousness and
holiness. And that's what he's telling
you here. God is love and so that nature is going to be love.
Just like God is. Just like God is. The love of
God is only manifest. Now listen to this carefully.
The love of God is only manifest effectually in the hearts of
his elect who were born of God. We're the only ones born of God
who know the love of God, truly know it. Now here's what he says,
verse 9, 1 John 4, 9. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. John's an elect child of God.
And all those he's writing to are elect children of God. And
he's saying, in this was manifested the love of God toward us who
are God's elect. Because that God, and here's
why it's only the elect, because you see what God accomplished
by manifesting his love. Look, because God sent his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. here
in His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and
sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. You see, God loves
His elect in Christ. That's where God's love is. And
God manifests His love to us by sending His Son who effectually,
successfully gives us life by what He did. All God's elect,
before you're even born of God, you have life already secured
for you because of what Christ accomplished. That's what God
sent His Son to do. He didn't fail at it. He successfully
gave His people life by what He did. And by nature, none of
God's elect loved God. We didn't even love God. It can't
be of us because we didn't love God and couldn't make ourselves
have this love of God. But you see, God's love doesn't
need a cause in us. His love doesn't need a cause
in the object of His love. Natural love, the love you and
I possess toward husband and wife, son and daughter, it does.
That's why it's not the love God gives. You and I have to
have some reciprocating love in order to love. That's just
so. This talk of, oh, I love you unconditionally, bull, you
don't. Nobody does. You got to be loved in return
to love. Only God loves without a cause
in us. And that's how He loved. We didn't
love God. God loved His people. And God
manifest His love by sending His Son who propitiated God for
our sins. He succeeded in that so that
God has forgiven our sins in mercy for the sake of His Son.
The only ones who know that in truth are the ones born of God.
That's what He's saying. They're the only ones that will
declare this truthfully, because they're the only ones that know
it truthfully. Therefore, God's love constrains His child to
love one another after the manner in which God loves us. That is,
without a cause from our brethren, but for the sake of Christ. Now
read on, verse 11. Beloved if God so, that word
so means after this manner. That's what it means when it
says for God so loved the world. It means God after this manner
loved the world. He sent his son. Sent his son. And so after this manner God
loved us, so we ought also to love one another after this same
manner. Without a cause, but simply for
the sake of Christ. Now that's the end Get this now,
that is the end to which God's love perfectly brings His child
when you're born of God. He doesn't tempt this, this is
the perfect end which He accomplishes when He makes you to be born
of Him. Look here, verse 12, No man hath seen God at any time.
If we love one another, here's the cause, God dwelleth in us,
and His love is perfected in us. It means His love brought
us to love one another. That's what it accomplished.
Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us, because
He hath given us of His Spirit. You see, God is Spirit, so nobody's
seen God at any time. You're not going to believe something
you can't see. Love is created in us by God
giving us of His Spirit and regeneration. making His child dwell in Him
and He in us. That's when His love is given
in regeneration. When we dwell in Him because
He dwells in us. And we know love is only of God
because we didn't have this love for God before. We didn't have
this love for brethren before and we couldn't make ourselves
have it. So we know it's of His Spirit that He gave to us because
we didn't have it before. That's what He's saying. Here's
how we know we love God and He loves us. He's given us His Spirit.
That's the only way we could love Him. It's the only thing
that made the difference. He gave us His Spirit. He made
the difference. And God's love is perfected in
us by the end that God works effectually. And that is this.
Verse 14. We have seen. We have seen. That's the perfect end God's
love works in His child. He makes you to see. And we do
testify. He makes you to declare it. That
the Father sent the Son, the Savior of the world. Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him,
and he in God. You see, that's the perfect end
God's love effectually works in each child. He gives us faith
in Christ. He gives it to us in spirit and
in truth. We see Him by faith. And we see and we testify and
we confess. You couldn't do that on your
own. You couldn't do that on your own. He had to create life
in you and give this love to you. We believe and we testify
and we confess the truth that God successfully saved all His
elect all over the world by sending Christ who saved us by His substitutionary
death at Calvary. That's what it means when we
say we've seen and do testify God sent His Son, the Savior
of the world. And it doesn't mean He sent Him
to attempt to save or to give an attempt at it if you'll cooperate
with it. It means He sent Him and saved
His elect everywhere scattered in this world. That's having
the love of God. And whosoever has the love of
God so that he confesses the truth of the Son of God, it's
because God dwelleth in him and he in God. That's the cause.
That's the cause. So having love is to be made
one with God in Christ. That's what having this love
is. To be made one with God in Christ so that we know and believe
the truth of God in spirit and in truth. And we know that that
love's unchanging. We know that that love's saving.
We know that that love will lose none that He loved. Look here. is to be made one. Verse 16.
We've known and believed the love that God hath to us. We've
known it and believed it by this new birth. God is love and he
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. And so
the perfect end he brings you to is this. Before This happened. Before God created you anew,
you were fearful of death all the time. You had torment because
you knew you're going to face God and you know that you're
going to have to answer to God. And you got no representative,
you got no savior, you got no hope. So we had torment. But when He does this work in
you and makes you one in Christ, He makes you to see that right
now, though we dwell on this earth, We are complete. We are just as Christ is at the
right hand of God right now. And that takes the torment away
from you and gives you boldness to stand before God in the day
of judgment. Now, you may have some torment naturally in your
flesh. You may fear at times in your flesh. That's just your
sinful flesh. That's doubting unbelief. But in our heart that's
created by God, We don't have that torment. We know God's true
and we believe Him. And so we have boldness because
He's made us to be complete in Christ. That's what He says in
verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because
as He is, so are we in this world. And He goes on to say there,
not only do we love God and Christ, He says He gives us the commandment
to love our brethren also. And so we love those born of
God. You know why we love those born
of God? We see how God loved them, and we see what Christ
did for them, and it's for Christ's sake that we love them. That's
why I've said to you before, I don't have to know personally
a believer. I don't have to know personally
the man who's preaching the gospel of Christ. If I hear a man preaching
the gospel of Christ that lives clear around the world and I
don't know him, I love that man. for the sake of Christ. It's
not this sentimental love that has to have a cause from somebody
for you to love them. I love them because of Christ,
because I see what God's done in them and what Christ has done
for them and He's my cause for love because He first loved us.
That's the reason. So, what he's saying here is
only when God dwells in us, because God is love, only when He dwells
in you do you have this love and the effect is you're going
to keep God's commandment. When you think of that, when
you hear keeping God's commandments, do you immediately go back to
the Ten Commandments? That's not what the believer
keeps. The commandments of God to the
believer are twofold. Believe on my Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and love one another. See, when you believe on Christ,
through Christ we fulfill the whole law. That covers the whole
law because Christ fulfilled it for us. So we're just commanded
to believe on Christ that he took care of the law for us.
And we're to love one another. And both those things we do by
God's grace working in us, giving us this love to love Christ and
love our brethren. So that we believe Christ and
we love our brethren. That's by being born of him,
by having him dwell in you. So Christ is love and Christ
is the more excellent way. You see, to have Christ formed
in you is the more excellent way than any gift God could give
combined to have Christ. This is the needful thing. This
is the most needful thing. And in fact, this is the reason
God gives gifts, is to teach sinners this very point that
more than anything else, you need Christ. And if a gift of
any kind or supposed gifts not being used for that one purpose
and edifying sinners for that one purpose, it's not the gift
of God. Because the gift of God is declared,
you need one, that's Christ. Alright, so in our text here,
Go back to our text now, 1 Corinthians 12. We see what love is. You
see why He said it's more important than everything. It's not of
man. It's of God. And it's Christ being in you,
dwelling in you, making you dwell in Him, making you one with Him.
So back in our text now, this is what He says in 1 Corinthians
13. The Spirit says so. Without having
this love of God in your heart, without the heart being made
by this love of God and being this love of God, without being
made new, you could have all the gifts that God could possibly
give and it wouldn't profit you a thing. You got to have Christ. Now look here. He speaks there
about the gift of speaking in foreign languages that you've
never learned. The gift of speaking in tongues.
And he even includes the gift of speaking as angels speak. Look at this. Verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. Now let me tell you what the
Apostle Paul is not saying. Please hear this. He is not saying
that God at any time gave him or any other man the ability
to speak in a language that only angels know. That is not what
he's saying. Now there are some who claim
that's what Paul is saying in that verse. They say Paul is
saying there he had the gift to speak a language of angels
and they say that's what they're doing nowadays in their religious
services when they start speaking this this gibberish that nobody
understands. They're saying they're speaking
with the language of angels like Paul did in 1 Corinthians 1.
That's not what Paul's saying there at all. Paul is using a
hypothetical scenario using hyperbole. That is, he's using an exaggerated
scenario to prove his point. Later he says, if I gave my body
to be burned, That's an exaggerated point he's making there, to show
the point. His point is this. Let me read
verse 1, telling you what he's saying. If I could speak with
every language that men have ever spoken throughout history,
even if I could speak the language of angels and I have not charity,
I would be useless. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's saying. You see, the love of God humbles
God's saint. It makes Christ to be all and
it makes you want your hearers to know of Christ and behold
Him as all. But without that love of God
in the heart, if a man had some natural gifts to speak, even
if God gave him gifts to speak in languages he'd never learned
or to speak ways that in the gospel better than anybody, you
know what he'd do? He'd be a boastful, bragging,
sounding brass. That's all he'd be. And if he didn't have God in
his heart so that he loved Christ and wanted his hearers to hear
of Christ only and edify his hearers, he would be as useless
as a little cymbal over in the corner going ting, ting, ting,
ting. Like that distracting, horrible little beep, beep, beep
of that firetruck down there. It would just distract is all
it would do. That's all he'd be. He wouldn't be profitable
to sinners at all. Only those born of that love
of God are going to tell sinners the truth and be profitable.
And then he says the same is true of preaching and knowledge
and of faith. Verse 2, here's what he's saying.
I'm going to just read it like he's saying it. If I had the
gift of prophecy to preach better than any man ever, and I could
understand all the mysteries of God and had all knowledge
of God perfectly, and if I had all faith so that I could remove
mountains and I have not charity, I am nothing. Christ Ambassador's
desire to preach the gospel clearly and plainly. I pray God give
me the ability to preach plainly. I want one of the best compliments
I could get and sometimes people will say something like this
and it's the best compliment you can get. You preach the gospel
where I can understand it. That's the best compliment I
get. I don't want to say something that you don't understand. I'm
not trying to aim over your head. I want the youngest I want the
youngest one here to hear and understand what I'm saying, at
least with the head. So we pray for that. And we pray to have
a knowledge of the scriptures. I want to understanding scriptures.
And we pray for faith to trust Christ to remove every obstacle.
I want that faith. But brethren, if I had all of
that and I didn't have the love of God in the heart, which desires
to help sinners and edify sinners through the preaching of Christ,
I'd be nothing. It'd be nothing. See, that's
what the love of God does. Love of God doesn't want you
to look at the preacher and say, Oh, he's an excellent preacher.
Oh, he's really something. No, he wants you to behold Christ
and say, He's all. I don't even want you to, I don't
even want you to, you know, when you're thirsty, really thirsty
and somebody gives you a good cold drink of water, you don't
even, you don't even see what it came in. You don't even acknowledge
the cup or the pitcher or whatever it came in. You just love that
water. I want you to be taken up with
Christ and not even pay attention to the vessel. But without it,
a man thinks he's something and he's nothing, nothing. And if
a man could have all the gifts and give all his gifts, give
all his possessions but not have love, he wouldn't be a thing.
He wouldn't be a thing. If he could be martyred, he wouldn't
be a thing. Why would a man do all these
things? Why would men preach and claim
to have these gifts and do all these different things and give
of themselves and even willing to be martyred? Why would a sinner
do all that stuff? to try to earn salvation. To be seen of men, to be exalted
by men, to be honored and applauded by men, and try to earn salvation
before God. Christ said men will stand before
Him in the day of judgment and they'll say, didn't we prophesy?
Didn't we do many wonderful works? Didn't we cast out devils? And
He'll say, depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never
knew you. Only the love of God in the heart is going to make
a man desire for Christ to have all the glory and all the honor,
and man to have none, including the one doing the preaching.
See, that was the thing going on at Corinth. They were desiring
gifts, but they weren't even desiring the best gift. And the
reason they were desiring the lesser gifts is because to them
they were the most impressive gifts. And they were the ones
that people would really think they were something if they possessed.
And God sent Paul here to clear this up that you don't need these
other gifts. What you need is Christ dwelling
in your heart. That's the gift. That's more
excellent than anything else. You see, the reason that's so
is because God looks on the heart. God looks on the heart. He said
over in 1 Samuel 16, 7, the Lord seeth not as man seeth. You know,
if a man had all these gifts right here we've been talking
about, you know what you and I would do? We'd say, man, that's something. He's something. That's impressive.
Because that's how we look at things. We look on the outward. God doesn't look on the outward.
God's not impressed. with what men are impressed with.
He don't care how you climb in this world and what honors you
get in this world and what religious gifts you may think you have.
God's not impressed with any of that stuff. God looks on the
heart. What's the motive? What's the
motive underneath everything we're doing? That's what God
looks at. God seeth not as man seeth. Man looks on the outward appearance.
The Lord looks on the heart. Christ said this, I want you
to read this scripture, John 5, verse 41. Now here is love, here is Him who
is Himself charity. And listen to what He said. John
5, verse 41. He said, I receive not honor
from men. Man, I wish I could say that. I wish that I could say that.
I wish that it did not matter to me at all what men thought. Don't you? Look at, he could
say that too. I receive not honor from men.
But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. How did he know that? Look at
this. I come in my father's name and you receive me not. If another
shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can ye
believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor
that cometh from God only? You see, when the love of God
is in your heart, you're going to have that old man wanting
honor from men and And you should ignore that man, put him down,
treat him like he's dead, mortify him. That man is not going to
profit you. The old fleshly man wants to
be noticed. But in that new heart, Christ
won't allow you to seek after that. He won't allow his child
in the new heart to seek after that. He won't allow you to be
like the Pharisee. The Pharisees were ambitious
of honor and respect from other men. That's why they did everything
they did, including all their religion. For honor and respect
from men. The love of God doesn't seek
to be seen and applauded by men. Now get that, the love of God's
not seeking to be seen and applauded by men. That's not the heart
God gives His child. He's not seeking to have the
chief seats and to be the greatest. Those things hinder a man from
believing Christ. Why? Let me tell you the number
one reason men standing in pulpits today won't preach Christ in
truth, other than the fact they're lost or can't do that which God
the Spirit has to make you do. I'll tell you the number one
reason. If they preach Christ, they're going to lose their honor
and their respect and their applause from men. And a natural man can't
give that up. He can't give it up. The love
of God makes us seek the honor that comes only from God. What honor is that? The honor,
and this is honor, of being saved entirely from beginning to end
by God alone. That's the honor he's talking
about. The honor of being chosen by God not based on anything
in you and me. The honor of being redeemed by
the Son of God from all iniquity and saved by His blood alone. The honor of being irresistibly,
affectionately regenerated by the Spirit of God and taught
the gospel so that the Spirit of God gets all the glory for
it. The honor of God of being created entirely anew in righteousness
and holiness by His work and by His righteousness and by His
holiness, in His righteousness, in His holiness. The honor of
being kept and preserved throughout all our life for His honor and
His glory. The honor of being brought out
of the grave and gathered to our people and made to rejoice,
bend in the knee and rejoice and honor Christ alone. That
honor that He gives by saving us entirely of Himself. That's
the honor He makes His people crave. Salvation of the Lord. salvation entirely of the Lord.
You remember those 70 that the Lord sent out? He sent them out
and He gave them all these gifts. They could go out and they could
make devils leave people. They could drink poison, it wouldn't
hurt them. They could get bit by a poisonous
snake, it wouldn't hurt them. Paul one time looked at a man
who was talking and Paul just looked at this man and made him
go blind. It's a good thing I don't have
that power. It's a good thing I don't have it. I would abuse
it. But they came back rejoicing
in those things and thrilled that they had all these powers.
You know what the Lord told them? The Lord said this, notwithstanding
in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you, but
rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. That's
the thing. That's what Paul said in our
text. Don't be rejoicing over gifts.
Be rejoicing in the giver. Be rejoicing that you have Christ
who is God's unspeakable gift. Sinners are only profitable and
only love one another when the love of Christ constrains us
so that God's honor, God's honor preached in truth means everything
and the honor of men means nothing. You think I'm ever going to be
exalted to a place and be like the president's right hand spiritual
advisor? You think that's ever going to
happen? No. Why? Because I'm not preaching
the message the world wants to hear. I'm not preaching a political
message that's going to appeal to everybody. I preach the message
that's going to make folks mad. That man would be kicked out
of office the next day if he chose me to be his spiritual
advisor. But you see, I don't want that honor. You know what
the honor I want? I want the honor of being unknown and being
used of God to preach Christ and Him crucified to His people.
That's the honor. You couldn't give me a better
honor. That's only by God creating love in the heart to make you
truly desire His honor above your own. You know how Christ
said all men are going to know you're my disciples? You know
how all men are going to know that you truly believe me and
trust me and follow me and want me to have all the glory, that
you're my disciples? You know how men are going to
know that? Because you love one another. Because you love one another.
You know what that means? Number one, you speak the truth
to one another. You speak the truth to one another.
You support the truth. You provide one another with
the gospel of Christ. You provide one another so that
you have the gospel of Christ. That's number one. Number one. And you do whatever needs to
be done to keep folks from being separated from that Christ and
that gospel. including looking over their
sins and covering their sins and helping them to be removed
from their sins and helping them to get back on track to see Christ
and follow Christ and not be distracted by other things. That's
how you love one another. Christ said that's how the world's
going to know you're mine. You know why? That's totally
different from the rest of the world, especially the religious
world. That's the love God gives in
the heart. That's what's more needful. The love of God desires
gifts to exalt Christ alone to profit eternity-bound sinners. The only gift I want is whatever
gift I need to exalt Christ and to edify eternity-bound sinners. Eternity-bound sinners. Nothing else is profitable but
knowing Christ. It's to have Christ in you. It's
to have Christ rule in the heart. so that you do everything for
His glory and the good of His people. The way more excellent
than all other gifts, brethren, is to have Christ the way, Christ
the unspeakable gift. He is the way more excellent. God give us grace to desire that
best gift. Amen. Father, thank you for your word. We say that and we pray that,
but we mean that. Thank you for Christ, the word,
and thank you for showing us that in every written word, it's
all speaking of Christ. Lord, don't make us vain. Don't let us be vain and desire
gifts to better ourselves and exalt ourselves and receive honor
for ourselves. Make us, Lord, Seek Christ, the
unspeakable gift. Make us seek only those lesser
gifts that will make us useful to edify one another, to help
our fellow brethren see Christ. That's true love. Make us love
one another more and more in that love. Make us love after
the manner you loved us, Lord, for the sake of Christ, not because
of something in us, but for the sake of Christ. Lord, forgive
us where we seek the honor of men. Forgive us for seeking the
applause of men. Oh, how shameful. We do that
and it's so nasty. It's just wretched. Make us,
Lord, to seek your honor. That honor of being saved entirely,
freely by your grace, by your hand, by your work, by your Son,
by His blood and His Spirit alone. Lord, make us true children,
true children that want the honor of our Father above all. Forgive
us our sins, Lord, in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right.