May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let us turn
to the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians in chapter
13, and we'll read verses 4, 5, 6, and 7. The first epistle of Paul to
the Corinthians, chapter 13, reading verses 4 to 7. Charity
suffereth long and is kind, Charity envieth not, charity vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. I expect most of us realise that
the word charity has changed its meaning considerably since
at least this translation of the Word of God was carried out,
but also It is so that this word, charity, comes from the word
agape, and it means love. And it's translated as love in
many, many places, many well-known places in the Word of God. In
fact, nearly all the places it's translated as love. And we find that commentators,
old commentators, make the point that it should have been love
and also JC Philpott when he wrote on this said it should
have been love and of course to us today the word love makes
much more sense than the word charity because we think in we
think of charity what charities represent and they represent
really things like almsgiving and don't really speak to us
of the wonder of love. So let us realise that we are
thankful for the Word of God that we have, but here in this
chapter, this word charity would have been better translated as
love. And of course it makes, to our
understanding, a much better situation as we meditate on it. And so we have this statement
here in this 13th chapter of the first epistle of Paul to
the Corinthians. And he begins a warning, though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. And of course
that refers to languages, different languages, like on the day of
Pentecost. Not people just muttering a lot
of rubbish. It's actually speaking other
languages, which it was in the day of Pentecost. But he says
here, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
and have not love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal. So he's making the point that
love is so necessary, is so essential, and of course it is. Because
if it was not for God's love, we would have no hope of salvation.
As we remember those glorious and yet well-known words, For
God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life. We have therefore the wonderful,
wonderful example of God's love. And if we are therefore to be
and are his people, his followers. And surely it is important that
we have the same desire and the same position. And so to recognise
here that love is so necessary and so essential, especially
when we think of the Word of God where we're told in John's
epistle, for we know, and just to refresh our minds on the It's
the fifth chapter in the epistle of John, the first epistle of
John, where he tells us, but this we know, that we love the
children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments,
for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments
and his commandments are not grievous. And also in chapter
four, we read in verse 19, we love him, because he first loved
us. For man sayeth, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother,
whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? And by the way, all those words
we referred to there in love, in actual fact, are the same
word translated in this chapter as charity. So we have this statement
that the apostle makes, Though I speak with tongues of men and
of angels and have not charity, I 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 am nothing. So we can see, can we not? It's
very important that we do possess love and we only possess true
love if we know God's love toward us. Not that we love God, but
that he loved us. And how wonderful it is if we
have the evidence in our heart that God has loved us. Because unless we have that evidence,
unless we have the knowledge of God loving us, we will never
love God. And so may it be a continual
concern that our hearts are moved by God's love toward us. And the Apostle goes on more
powerfully, we might say, when he says, And though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, we couldn't think there was a greater condition
than to give our body to be burned, and have not charity, have not
love, It profiteth me nothing. So the Apostle has cleared the
ground really on these first three verses and speaking to
us of the necessity of love. Well, the great question is,
do we know that God has loved us? And if so, do we love God? We may think, well, I seem to
come so far short. Well, I'm sure we will. I'm sure
we will. But do we know a little of God's
love? Have we been touched by his love
toward us? We will only be touched by his
love toward us if the Holy Spirit shows to us that Almighty God
The Lord Jesus Christ loved us so much that he was willing to
come into his sinful world and to die that sin-atoning death
upon the cross at Calvary in order to redeem our souls, to
pay the price. Greater love hath no man than
this. The man lay down his life for
his friends and we were his enemies. To think the Lord Jesus Christ
lay down his life for such unworthy sinners. Well, bless God if you've
stood there as an unworthy sinner and have been amazed at the Lord
God. He should have looked upon you
He looked upon you because of his love. And you can therefore understand
the wonder of that truth. You have not chosen me. We never
would. But I have chosen you and ordained
you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit
should remain. These are the blessed words of
the Lord Jesus. And if we then take these verses
we read this evening, from verse four to seven, and think of the
blessed Saviour, and think how He walked this out in His life. Consider Him, as the Apostle
tells us when he wrote to the Hebrews, consider Him. It's a good thing to do. It's
a good thing to do. Yes, if you find yourself in
a difficult situation, in a place of temptation, consider Him. And therefore, as we might consider
Him, what do we read? Love suffereth long and is kind. Love envieth not. Love vaunteth
not itself. is not puffed up, doth not behave
itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth all things. We have the wonderful example
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friends, if he has granted
to us something of his love, you may well say, well, how do
I know that? I believe you may know it like
this. When the Holy Spirit softens your hard heart, By nature, we are hard-hearted,
just like a stone. That's why we read when the Lord
says, I will take away the heart of stone and give you a heart
of flesh. What is that? It's the work of
the Holy Spirit. What is it? It's the evidence
of his love toward us. If he's given us a soft heart, a tender conscience, a desire
not to offend God. There would have been a time
in our lives when it didn't trouble us. What we did? Well, we might have
tried to impress people by keeping a tolerably good outside. We weren't concerned about the
inside. And we weren't very concerned about the outside. But if the Holy Spirit of God
has come, and it may only be in a small way, my friends, don't
despise the day of small things. The Word of God tells us this,
a little that a righteous man hath is better than the treasures
of many wicked. Treasures of time fade away. A little that God gives of His
grace, of His love, is of infinite value. because it will take us
through life into glory. And so, may we have, as we search
our hearts, to see whether the Lord has come and softened it. And you may say, well, what does
that mean? It means that we are receptive to hear God's Word. That means we are receptive to
receive what he says. We don't want to carry on against
God, walking contrary to him, realizing the great truth, which
he says, if ye walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to
you. And you have many, many evidences
in the word of God of that great truth. Yes, Israel turned her
back upon God and there were those occasions when he was very
merciful. There were those occasions when it wasn't so. you walk contrary
to them. And so what a mercy if we have
therefore the evidence of God's love toward us. And if it is
so, then we will be concerned to be a true follower of the
blessed example of our Saviour. And we will be concerned to know
more of his love and to be kept in a right frame, in a spiritual
frame, in a godly frame. Well, here we have in these four
verses some great tests for us. And no doubt, if we are honest,
we probably fail in all of them. But what does our heart say? Have we a desire in our heart
to walk in the way which is set forth here by the Apostle in
these four verses? Remember, the effect of love
is to suffer long and is kind. What that means is that we are
to suffer. The Lord Jesus suffered. And
the Word of God tells us, if we suffer with Him, we shall
also reign with Him. And that doesn't mean you're
going to suffer for half an hour. It really means fellowship with
the Blessed Lord and suffering with Him. And therefore it tells
us here, suffering long. Yes, it is a life of suffering. The Lord lived a life of suffering,
didn't He? What a wonderful example we have. His life was a continual
life of suffering. And if you and I are his friends,
blessed God that it may be so, then you see, may we be counted
worthy to suffer for his sake. Suffer for his sake, remembering
the suffering he did because of his love toward us, to redeem
our soul. And so, love suffereth long,
long, and is kind. Yes, it's not rebellious, it's
kind. Desires to do that which is right, to not retaliate. Naturally we tend to retaliate,
don't we? At least we think we retaliate.
We work out in our mind what we're going to say to so-and-so
because of what they've said to us. Well, here is the opposite
situation. You see, love, the love of Christ
toward us and our love toward him will produce that desire
therefore to follow his gracious and blessed example and therefore
to be kind. One to another. Yes. Love suffered
long and is kind. It's a lovely word, isn't it,
to be kind. Kind to people. It's noticed, isn't it, when
people are kind. You may say, what a kind person.
Well, it's good when the grace of God and the love of God has
made us kind. Kind to people. Not retaliating. Love suffereth long and is kind,
and it envieth not, envieth not. I suppose it really means that
we are not, as the command tells us, to covet. Apart from the
fact we are to covet earnestly the best gifts, we are to seek
those, we are to desire that they might be blessed, and it
can therefore be a godly envy, a godly envy that we desire,
that we might indeed be blessed with those heavenly blessings,
as perhaps we might see one another, and perhaps we might read one
another, and there might be a godly envy that we might enter in and
be favoured like that. But here we're talking about
a wrong envy. Yes, and how good it is when
love delivers us from an envious spirit. The Word of God tells
us we are to be content. And as the Apostle tells us when
he wrote to the Philippians, he said, I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. Now you children would have heard
that at Sunday school this morning. I wonder if you remember that
word. It's in the fourth chapter of
Philippians. I have learned, in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content. And it's a good word to meditate
on. And it means what it says. Whatever
state, to be content. Whatever state the Lord lays
upon us. Remember, the Lord is dealing
with us, laying upon us situations to bring us into conformity unto
his image. And so here we have this statement,
envieth not, and love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. That means we don't project ourselves. Pride wants to project ourselves. Pride wants us to, wants people
to think well of us and to say well of us. And therefore the
effect is, like we have here, to vaunt ourselves. But you see,
love, the love of Christ and our love to Christ will make
us willing therefore and desiring to follow the pattern we have
here. And therefore not, to not vaunt. ourselves and to not be puffed
up. Being puffed up, of course, is pride, isn't it? It means
we swell out, very proud of what we've done and what we're doing.
Well, here we have the Word of God telling us that charity,
love, vaunteth not itself and is not puffed up. So may we look
at our own lives and our own hearts and see whether we find
that. Showing its ugly head. Not doing
that which is in accordance with the Word of God, but what are
we doing? Well, we're listening to the
devil. The devil wants us to disobey the Word of God. And
my friends, he's very clever and very cunning. in the way
it produces such situations. And we need to be on our guard
at all times to take the whole armour of God. And so here we
have this statement, vaunteth not itself is not puffed up. And then, it does not behave
itself unseemly. In a wrong way. Unseemly. What does that mean? It means if we're walking not
in the way as a true believer should. What does it mean? It means then that we're following
the position of the world. And when you and I live in the
world, and you children at school, and those at university, and
those who go to work, and those at home with their neighbours,
it's important therefore that we should behave ourselves seemly,
that means uprightly, that means with the right spirit, that means
not following the way of the world, that means not agreeing
to the things of the world and not trying to fall in line with
the things of the world. Does not behave itself unseemly,
Yes, you see, very easily, we want to be thought well of by
the world. When I was schooled and a student,
you know, one of the situations that was usually asked was, on
a Monday morning, the question would be asked, well, what did
you do, what did you do, Steve, on the weekend? That was a testing
question, wasn't it? Well, ashamedly, I wasn't very
honest. I used to home in on the things
that I'd done, but I never mentioned that I went to church on a Sunday. I never mentioned I kept the
Lord's Day holy. And so we see therefore, I wasn't
really walking in such a way like this, was I? It's very easy
therefore to go along. And what does it mean? I was
behaving myself unseemly. It wasn't in the way that a Christian
should walk. What was I really doing? Being
ashamed of Jesus. And so here we have this statement. Doth not behave itself unseemly
and seeketh not her own. Again that means not to seek
our own will. Let's always come back to this
and lay it alongside the blessed example of the Lord Jesus Christ
that lived that perfect life because of his great love toward
us so that he could die on our behalf and pay the punishment
instead. What a blessing it is to have
such words to direct us to what he did. Seeketh not her own the
Lord Jesus Christ only did the will of his father He didn't
seek his own will He did a will of his father And that's an example
for us, isn't it? Here we have seeketh not her
own now then if we possess God's love and if we love God our concern
will be to follow such a pattern a pattern like this which is
a high standard, but we should never lower the standard. We
should realise that we have a standard, God's standard, in the Word of
God. And that should be our concern to walk that way. And so, seeketh
not her own, is not easily provoked. Is not easily provoked. You see,
we have to be careful, don't we? The devil will try and provoke
you. He will. He'll try and provoke
you to anger. He'll try and provoke you to
speak unseasonable words. He'll try to provoke you to speak
against the brethren. Oh, he's a very cunning foe.
And so here we have this statement, is not easily provoked. What a blessing then if you and
I observe such a word as that. And then we're also told here,
thinketh no evil. No one sees what you and I think
apart from God. Don't forget that. God sees what
we think. Thinketh no evil. No evil at all. And we read together
in that twelfth chapter of the epistle of Paul to the Romans,
the situation really with regards to evil. And the last verse tells
us, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. That means to turn away from
evil things. And he says, mind not high things,
but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own
conceits, recompense to no man, evil for evil. No man, no matter
who he is or her, do not repay them with evil. If somebody has
dealt wrongly with us, again remember the Saviour. How have
we dealt with the Saviour? How have we dealt with the Saviour?
Wrongly, haven't we? Wrongly. So the Lord recompensed
us for the things that we've done when we've dishonoured the
name of our Saviour, when we've turned our back. Has he turned
his back upon us? Well, here we have this word's
recompense to no man, evil for evil, provide things honest in
the sight of all men. Again, as I've sometimes said,
it's not easy to be honest. It's easy to be on the surface
honest, but remember that God looks at the heart. God looks
at the heart. And if we are therefore perhaps
telling a story or giving a picture, then are we honest in that translation
of the situation which we're trying to, or do we kind of impress
it a bit or enlarge it or make it sound a bit more grand. And
what is that really? Well, it's evil, isn't it? It's
evil. And how we need to realise that
this word goes right into our hearts, thinketh no evil. Remember the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he thought no evil at all, at all. Again, wouldn't
it be wonderful if, before our eyes, more and more was the blessed
example of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that every moment we had a
view of him directing us in our path. So, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth
not in iniquity, You might say, well that's very obvious. Well,
it may not be quite so obvious. You see, when we see something
and do something which is sinful, but yet our flesh enjoys doing. And we are rejoicing in that
sinful situation, that sinful operation, perhaps that sinful
speech, that sinful action. And people may have acclaimed
it as being good. Well the Deva's got plenty of
support. And you won't find you lack support
in wrong things. You may find you lack support
in good things, but remember, you have the support of Almighty
God. And that's worth far more than
the support the devil and all his angels. And so, rejoiceth
not in iniquity. And you see, the Lord's example
again was wonderful, wasn't it? And may we ever think of it and
therefore turn away, turn away. I often think, I do say sometimes,
it's so wonderful and blessed if Our opening prayer when we
get up in the morning is, Lord, lead me not into temptation and
deliver me from evil. That comes from our heart. It's
a good desire, isn't it? It's a good desire, it's a good
prayer. It's a prayer that the Lord gave
his disciples, the prayer that the Lord has given us. And so
rejoiceth not in iniquity. And here we have a very wonderful
positive. But, rejoice in the truth. Rejoice in the truth. You see, we change now from a
negative situation to a positive. And true religion has a negative
side and true religion has a positive side. My friends, if you and
I only have a negative side, there's no evidence of the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit. But here we have this statement
before us here. But, rejoiceth in the truth. The Lord Jesus rejoiced in the
truth. When He prayed to His Father,
recorded in 17th John, He said this, Thy word is truth. What a foundation. What a foundation
for us today. Thy word is truth. Do we rejoice in it? Do we bless
God for his holy word? Do we thank him for it? Do we
have that word before us in our own language? We can read it.
As we read it, do we bless God for his truth? Even if it touches
our heart, even if it convicts us to thank God that his word
has an effect upon us, hasn't left us. So here, rejoiceth in the truth. Again, remember the Savior, he
rejoiced in the truth. And as he rejoiced in the truth,
we know how he prayed to his father. Wonderful words, weren't
they, that he prayed to his father with regards to his people, his
people, the blessed Church of God, those who indeed he loved
with an everlasting love, and to realise that the Lord spoke
to his people and he said, and this is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ. whom thou hast sent. Thy word
is truth. Are we thankful for it? Thankful
for it tonight, that we have such a truth as that. And coming
down in this chapter he says, I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. The words of the Saviour. They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. How humbling
that is. to think that because of the
blessed work of the Spirit in our heart, we are not of the
world. And he says then, sanctify them
through thy truth, thy word is truth. And it means to bring
us into a desire to walk in a holy life, a God-honouring life. And he prays this, sanctify them
through thy truth, As the Word of God directs us, as it does
here in this 13th chapter of the Corinthians, Thy Word is
truth, that you and I might desire to be sanctified through His
Word, and to follow the truth of God. Rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, beareth all
things. What have you got to bear? What
have you got to bear? You got a burden? Has God given
you a burden? You think it's heavy? Do you
wish you could be relieved of it? Remember the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a burden he carried. What did he carry? He carried
the sins of his whole church. What a burden. What a burden. beareth all things. And so to
think, God gives grace and he gives more grace to bear that
which the Lord sees fit to lay upon us. And the Lord lays things
upon us to bring us and to make us conformable unto his image. The Lord lays burdens upon us
to bring us closer to himself, so that we are yokes to him. The word of God tells us, doesn't
it? Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. That means
the Lord takes, we have his yoke, his yoke, and he carries most
of the burden. Beareth all things. believeth
all things. Believing the truth of God, the
whole Word of God, to not quibble about it. You see, when the Holy
Spirit is in our hearts and we understand and know and are softened
by the love of God toward us, we don't quibble about the Word
of God. We receive the Word of God. We
thank Him for it. And we pray for that grace to
walk it out, so that his name may be honored and glorified. Beareth all things, believeth
all things. Well, tonight, do we believe
the word of God? And if we believe the word of
God, do we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember those
words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Yes, perhaps that's a big burden upon us, realising that we're
not aware whether we are saved or not. Well, as the Holy Spirit
may show to us that, as I've said, he's given us a softening
of our heart, and it's the indication of his work within. And therefore,
can we not have the evidence therefore that we do believe. As that man in the scripture
said, Lord, I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief. What
he meant was he wanted to believe. He didn't want to have an evil
heart of unbelief. He came and said, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. The
Lord does help. He gives us strength to believe. in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
his work and he grants it to believe in him. Believeth all
things, hopeth all things. A good hope through his grace
that it's well with our soul. A good hope through his grace
that he has died for us. It's all because of love. It's all because of what He has
done in loving us so much that He has given His life. He's died to take away our sins,
every sin. Hopeth all things. Do we have
a good hope tonight? A good hope tonight. that we
have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, if we have, and if
the Lord has given us that love towards him, however feeble it
may seem, then we have the evidence that we are clean, the Lord died
that we might live, that he shed his blood to take away all our
sins, every single sin, not one remaining. Hopeth all things to good hope
through grace, that it's well with our soul, because of the
blessed evidence we have. And my friends, do not deny God's
work. The devil wants you to turn away
from it and say, well, that's not of any value. Don't believe
him. As I've said, a little that a
righteous man hath is better than the treasures of many wicked.
A little. It's not the quantity, it's the
quality. Bless God if he's touched your
heart with his love. And so, hopeth all things, endureth
all things. My friends, the love of Christ
to us, and our love to him, enables us to endure, endure unto the
end. Yes, there is an enduring. The
path to heaven is not easy. It is a path of enduring, but
there will be no failures because everyone for whom Christ has
died means they have been loved by their God. my friends all
the love by their God receive the blessing of eternal life
and my friends that gift of eternal life will never be removed once
in him in him forever the eternal promises of God are yay and amen
they cannot be destroyed they cannot be removed and may be
thankful tonight that we have such a great and blessed Lord
God. We have such a wonderful testimony,
a wonderful example of his life and his amazing love toward us. May we therefore know a little
of his love in our hearts and rejoice and bless God for the
evidence that we have therefore that through his grace it is
well with our soul. Amen.