All right, if you will take your
Bibles and turn with me to First Corinthians, Chapter 13. First Corinthians, Chapter 13.
The title of the message this morning
is The properties of God's love. The properties of God's love.
Now, last week, we looked, we saw from the Word of God that
God is, is both, is love and God does love. Because God is
love, God does love. And the love of God is so vast
So eternal. So unchangeable. And friends, God's love is powerful.
I like that. It's effectual. In other words, everyone that
God sets His love upon, everyone who God has loved, He has redeemed. by the blood
of Christ. And He has and will call them,
and only them, to salvation. You see, God never started to
love me. There was never a time that God
did not love me. He always loved me. Now, I had not always known it. I had not always known it. And
friends, I had not always cared about it. When I was living in my sin,
I could care less what God loved and what God didn't. I only cared
about one thing, and that was me. But now, but God, who is rich
in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us and gave
Himself for us." What a wonderful love that God
has. And all love then comes from
God as its source. It was God who loved His elect. It was God who chose a royal
priesthood for Himself, for His own glory. And this love, though
hidden in the mystery of eternity, is now, now, right now revealed
to every one of His saints this morning. If you are a child of
God, this mystery, this thing about the love of God, No, we
don't fathom it. We can't get to the bottom of
it. But we understand some of it. We understand something of
the love of God. And His love that extends to
us overflows in our hearts toward each other. That love is always
going to be manifest. If you have the love of God,
you'll love His people. My mom always told me, she said,
if you lay down with dogs, you're going to get fleas. I mean, that's just sensible,
isn't it? You know, I'll tell you what. I love to be with you. That's a good thing. Because
that's not natural. The only person I really don't
like to be with is me. But praise God that I do have
love for you and desire to be with you. I desire to be here
more than any place else in the world. There'd be no place in
this world that I would rather be than here with you preaching
the gospel to you. No place. No place. For nobody
would I miss this. If God be gracious and not hinder
me, this is where I want to be. This is where I long to be. This,
friends, is a taste of heaven for me. This is just a portion
of heaven to be with you. And our Savior in our midst.
Our Savior is here. And His love has always been...
His love was not on accident. His love was on purpose. His
love was on purpose. Friends, He purposed to save
me. It wasn't by accident I stumbled on something, slipped on a banana
peel and was saved. I didn't make a decision. I didn't
do anything. All I did was sin. God saved me. I had a purpose
to do it. J.D. Cook, it's no accident that
you were here. A year ago, it's on purpose. God purposed it. God planned
it. God moved heaven and earth to
make it happen. There was nothing going to stop
you from being here. Nothing. He purposed it. The same with every one of us.
It's on purpose. God purposely shed the blood
of His own Son and made it an offering for sin. An offering. God must have an offering for
our sins. If you are here today without
an offering, if you are here without an offering, Friends, my soul aches for you,
because all your offering is filthy works to a holy and living
God. I agree with this, when Luther
said, I will have nothing to do with an absolute God. In other words, I'll have nothing
to do in myself with an absolute God. I must have an offering. I must have a sacrifice. I must
have one to die in my place so that I will not suffer the wrath
of Almighty God. And that one, that one who suffered,
endured the wrath of God, His name is Jesus Christ the Lord,
the Son of God and the Son of Man. And he bore the wrath of God
for my sins in his own body on the tree." Go over to 1 John. 1 John chapter 4, verse 10. Friends, I do love you, but if
you're looking to me as an example of love, you're looking in the
wrong place. John says this in verse 10, herein
is love. You want to know what love is?
Here it is. Not that we loved God. You know, religious people don't
like to hear this. They are haters of God. If you're trying to earn your
salvation by working, you are a hater and despiser of the living
and holy God. If you are here without faith
in His holy Son, You are a despiser of God's mercy and God's grace. You spit on the Son of God. Don't look at yourself to find
love. Here's love. But that God loved us and sent
His Son to be the sacrifice The mercy seat, the offering for
sin. Scripture says, scarcely for
a righteous man, some may dare to die. A good man, some people
may go out there and die for a good man. But I'll tell you
this, nobody's going to die for an ungodly man. Nobody's going
to die himself, much less send his son. But you? I wouldn't. I love my son. But see, my son, if I offered
my son for any one of you, he could not save you. Here in his
love, God offered his son, and his son does save you. His son
has saved his people from their sin. Here in his love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son be the propitiation
for our sins. God loved us on purpose. And now, then, in our text, I
want us to see these properties real quickly. I want us to see
these properties real quickly concerning the love of God, this
gift of love here. God is love, and God is the source
of all love, so then the grace that we receive, the grace of
the Holy Spirit, you remember in Galatians he says, this is
the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance,
faith. You see, love is a gift, is a
fruit of the Spirit of God. Only God can give us love for
Him. We have no love for Him until
He gives us love for Him. And even when He gives it to
us, we don't dare rest in our love for Him. It's so shallow.
It's so weak. We don't dare rest in that. We
rest in His love. So these properties that are
here mentioned of love, in verses 4 it begins, love is Long-suffering. Long-suffering. I don't think I'm a very long-suffering
person myself. I really don't. My patience gets
worn down awful quick. I mean, it doesn't take much
to get on my nerves. It just don't. And that's not
good. That's a bad thing. That's horrible.
Why? Because that's not real love.
That's self-love. That's self-love. But God's love,
God's love is long-suffering. How long? Eternally long. Eternally long. He suffered long with us before. We even committed our first transgression. He suffered long before we ever
knew Him. He was long-suffering. Matter
of fact, this is how He describes Himself in Exodus chapter 34,
when Moses was put in the cleft of the rock. You remember, God
proclaimed His name. He said, The Lord, The Lord God,
long-suffering. Merciful and gracious. Forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin. I like that because there's all
three of them. Iniquity, transgression and sin. So whatever men label
it, it doesn't matter. Iniquity, that's just breaking
the law with or without your knowledge. Transgression is rebellion. Sin. And all of them, just seeing
his disobedience to what you know to be true. And he forgives
all of them. Because God is love, God loves
his elect, he of necessity must be long-suffering with us. I'll
tell you, there was a time where we did not know him. There was
a time in our life, I've said this before, but there was a
man I was talking to and he said, I asked him, how long have you
been a Christian? He said, well, since I was born,
I guess. I said, that's too long. That's
too long. There's always a time of being
lost. No one is saved unless they're
lost. How can you be found if you're
not lost? How can God show mercy to you
if you don't need mercy? I need mercy. I need grace. God is long-suffering with the
objects of His love. And God chose us in Christ before
the world began and ordained that we should be sons. Let me
ask you then, is there anything that would have stopped us from
being His son? His child? No, because He already
adopted us. He has already taken us and put us in Christ
before the world began. And so then when we were born
in sin, born dead in trespasses and sins, we were both unable and unwilling
to come to Christ by faith. You could take a rotting corpse
and you could lay him out on this table and you can offer
him a drink of water. You can make the sweetest invitation
possible. You could spend eternity there
at his corpse begging him to drink. You can open his mouth
and pour it in, but you can't make him drink. He's dead. He's dead. If you have no love
for Christ, it's because you're dead. You're dead in sins. Praise God in the time that I
was born and the time that I knew Christ, that God was long-suffering
with me, patient. Oh, His patience. Can you not
tell of the experience that God has given you concerning His
patience with us? I wouldn't be patient. Man, if I'd be patient... I am
having to be patient with me. Those children are me. So I'm
having to be patient. And that's not possible. I'm
just not as patient. as I should be. But God, oh,
the tender kindness of God as He helped us along even while
we were rebelling. He still moved all things. He
still was working all things for our good. And He had an appointed
time. An appointed time where we would
come and meet God's man with God's message. And we would hear
the Gospel for the first time. And our hearts would be broken.
And we would repent and believe on Christ because He had given
us life. Praise God for His loving, long-suffering
mercy. And friends, He is still long-suffering
with us. I'll tell you what. We are just
like sheep. They are the dumbest animals
that ever walked God's earth. And we're just like them. Praise God we have such a good
shepherd. Who's patient with us? Who's patient? Kind. Love is kind. Love is not only long-suffering,
it's kind. Can you not see the kindness
of God in Christ? You won't see kindness anywhere
else. Your kindness and my kindness has a limit. There's only a certain
limit of our kindness. You ever hear that phrase somebody
wore out their welcome? That means there we've ceased
to be kind and now we're kicking you out. That's it. We've had
enough of you. No, God is never that way. He is kind. Do you hear how He speaks to
His disciples? With such tenderness. Oh, at the last supper, the Lord
said, I have longed to have this Passover with you. God says, I have loved you. with
an everlasting love. Is that not kind? Oh, that's
kind. That's kind. Because kindness
is given to those who don't deserve it. Love gives kindness to those
who don't deserve it. And that is us. Love is kind. And friends, if love is kind,
then love is not proud. Look at that. He said, love envieth
not, love vaunteth or does not lift itself up or is puffed up. To the man that was born blind,
when Jesus healed him, What happened to him? The religious world cast
him out. This man, he was born blind. Obviously, he had no profession
but begging. What could he do? Now he is cast out of his religion.
What could he do? There was no sacrifice to be
offered in his behalf. What could he do? Nothing. Who
found him? Scripture says in John 9, the
Lord Jesus found him. When he heard that he was cast
out, he found him. Friends, it's only when the sinful
soul is cast out and cast down by the law of God and shuts our
mouths to grace. Do you realize that this is all
the Word of God does, is to shut us up? What kindness to shut
us up to grace! You see, I can understand shutting
me up to the law. I deserve that. But friends, to shut me up by
the law, to find me and to speak kindness to me, that's beyond
my understanding. It's amazing grace how sweet
the sound. The heart of the natural man
is not kind, it's proud. Men desire to do good to others
only when it's able to return that kindness. That's not love.
Jesus was kind never to exalt himself, but always to glorify God. He
was worthy of exaltation, but as a lamb before his shears is
dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Now, does that describe anybody
you know? That describes only Christ. I'll tell you what, you tell
me something good about myself, my head probably won't fit through
that door. You know what? And if you say
something kind to me, I'm sure I'm going to say something kind
to you. Why? Because you said something kind
to me. See, I'm only doing it because of something you did.
God's kindness is never exhibited that way. You spit in His face
and He gave you a son. Is that not grace? Oh, the grace
of God is beyond measure. What a picture of God's kindness
to find us, who have been cast down and cast out. Let me ask you this. Where was
the cross? Where was it located? It was outside, wasn't it? It
was outside the camp. It wasn't where the people were
gathered, but it's where the lepers gathered. It was where
the defiled gathered. It was where the sacrifice was
burned. It was where the entrails of
the sacrifice flowed out of the temple into that brook. It's
a place where it stinks. That's where He found me. That's
where He found me. Cast out. Cast out. And in kindness, He revealed
Himself to me. He said, Dost thou believe on
the Son of God? He said, Who is He, Lord, that
I might believe? He said, I am He. Revealed Himself. Let me ask you, do you know,
do you know Jesus Christ or you just know about Jesus Christ?
There's a world of difference. There's a world of difference. I know Him. I know whom. Not what. I know whom I have believed.
And am persuaded that He, who? The guy I know. I'm persuaded
that He is able to save. He is able to keep that which
I've committed unto Him against that day. My soul, my life. And friends, can't you not tell
that God is even long-suffering with the wicked? Is that not
great to see how long-suffering God is, even with the vessels
fitted for destruction? God is still merciful. to allow
them to breathe His air, enjoy His kingdom, His world He created. It's just mercy. It's mercy that
anybody lives. Oh, man is so against that, isn't
he? Man is so opposite, so proud, he thinks God owes him something.
Well, God, You created me. You owe me. No, God doesn't owe
you anything. You owe God. You owe God a debt
you can't pay. But God, who is love, does love. And He's offered His Son that
all who believe on Him will not perish. What mercy! What grace! Love is not easily provoked. Look at this in your text. It's
not only not envious, not proud, it doesn't boast, it doesn't
behave itself unseemly. It doesn't provoke, is not provoked
easily, and thinketh no evil. Do you know what? This is so great. I'll never
provoke God so much that He won't love me. There is nothing, there is nothing
that I will ever do good or bad that will ever separate me from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord. Nothing will separate
us. Nothing. So rest. Rest in Him. And friends, it's not only that
He won't be provoked to cease to love us, He doesn't think
any evil of us. Is that not the most amazing
thing that you've ever heard? He doesn't think evil of you.
Why? Because in His eyes, we do no
evil. We do no evil. given the righteousness of Christ. And when God sees us, He sees
His Son. My conscience tells me so much
different. I know what I am. I know what I am. I am a sinner. Guilty. I know what I've done. Guilty. But praise God that He took my
guilt from me and put it on His Son. And took His righteousness and
put it on me. You remember that prodigal son
that came in? Starving to death, he had spent
all his inheritance. He'd spent it all. He'd ruined
it. He'd lived wildly. He didn't
take heed to anything. He just satisfied his lusts. And pretty soon, he was out eating
with the hogs. And as a matter of fact, the
hogs ate more than he did. He ate the husks, which have
no nutritional value whatsoever. And he said, I know this, if
I return to my father, at least if I'm a servant in my father's
house, if he'll just make me a servant, if he'll just bring
me back into his house so that I can feed his hogs, I know this,
I can eat better. I know this, he'll at least take
care of me if I'm a slave. And he comes back and he makes
this speech. He's repeating this speech over
and over so he can say it just right, hoping that his father
lets him back in. And before he can get the words
out, the Scripture says, his father ran. God ran to me. Is that not gracious? And he said, you're not my slave. You're my son. Oh, what wondrous love is this.
Oh, my soul. Love rejoices not in iniquity,
but in truth. The reason He did this is because
of His Son. The only reason I'm a son is
because of His Son. I could never be a son without
His Son. He didn't love iniquity. He hated
iniquity. And yet, He was made sin for
us. Do you know that's where truth
and righteousness meet together? The truth is we deserve hell. But the righteousness of God,
the peace of God comes by the blood of Christ. His blood flowed from his precious
body. Not one drop was lost. Every drop counted. And He paid in full all my sin. All my sin. And this love of God, it beareth
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. God believes the best about us.
Is that not amazing? He only thinks the best of you. We don't like to give people
the benefit of the doubt, do we? Oh, but He does more than that
for us. He erases all doubt and says, come, welcome my good and
faithful servant. Isn't that great? And His love endures all things.
His love endures all the way through this life. And it sustains
us. It's God's love that keeps us
believing. It's not us. My faith is worthless
if it is not His faith. Would to God I'd stop looking
at anything I've done and see Christ alone as all my righteousness. Love never fails. Not that we love God. We fail. We fail constantly. Daily. He doesn't fail. I don't know anybody like that
here. You're just like me. We fail. He doesn't fail. If He has saved
you, He'll bring you to Himself. And not heaven or hell or Satan
or the world or the flesh or sin or anything will stop Him
from bringing us to Himself, embracing us with His arms. I can't imagine leaning on His
chest. I would just be grateful to touch
His feet. He's so precious. His love never ceases. His love never ceases to amaze
us, does it? How deep the Father's love for
us. How vast beyond all measure that He would give His only Son
to make a wretch is treasure. I'm His treasure. If you believe
in Christ, you are God's treasure. Is that not amazing? Love. The love of God. What wonderful
properties the love of God has. I pray that God give us blessings
to see them every day. Every day. No other news day. His love's fresh today. It's
not ever stale. Isn't that wonderful? He loves
you who believe. He loves you. Even you. Even me. With all my sin. I pray that God blesses to our
hearts. Encourage us to look to His love constantly. Look
to Christ. In trouble, look to Christ. You
have needs, look to Christ. And you'll be content with that.
We'll find contentment and peace there. I pray that God bless
us. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Oh, I'm sorry. I get so excited.