First Corinthians 13. Last week
we started this chapter and we didn't finish it. It was my intent
to finish it but we didn't. And we saw that the word charity
in this chapter means love. Charity means love. And the Apostle
Paul went into great detail to describe the importance of love. the absolute importance of love
and what it actually is. He told us how important it was
and he told us what it actually is. And we read a few scriptures,
don't turn to them, but we went to 1 John 4 which says, Beloved,
let us love one another for love is of God. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that be truly wonderful
if we could truly love one another? I mean, really have a heart for
one another. For love is of God, and that verse went on to say,
everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that
loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. I titled this Love
Without End. We know how this chapter ends.
Verse 13 says, now abideth faith, hope, love. These three, the
greatest one is love. You think about eternity and
eternity of absolute love, absolute heartfelt, genuine, sincere,
fervent, active love, love, just true love. How wonderful. We also read a
verse that said, by this shall all men know that you are my
disciples if you have love one to another. So love is vital. It is absolutely vital. And the kind of love that the
Apostle Paul is describing right here can only be found in Christ. It can only be found in Christ. This does not describe the flesh. And this is growth in grace. I want to grow in grace. Don't you? Sophie, whenever she
was four years old and about to turn five, I told her she
was not allowed to turn five. Can't do it. I just don't want
you to. I want her to stay just like
she is. And she said, please can I? And I said, no, I'm sorry, honey,
you just can't. And so she said, we were sitting at a restaurant,
and she said, okay, if you'll let me turn five, I won't turn
six, seven, or eight. I said, okay, that's a deal. And then she just turned six,
and she did not hold up her end of the deal. But here's my point. She does not want to stay small.
No child does. You know what she wants? She
wants to get big. She wants to grow. And that's what a child
of God wants to do. I want to grow, don't you? I
want to grow in grace. I want to be conformed into His
image. I don't want to stay alive but
in a form that no one can recognize. I want to grow. I want to look
like Him. I want to have all my fingers
and toes and I want to walk like Him. I want to talk like Him. I want to grow. I want to grow
in grace. And this right here, what we're
reading is not describing this flesh that we're dragging around.
We're dragging around this flesh and this only describes Christ.
Only Christ could do this perfectly. But this is the image we are
being conformed into. Okay, now one of these days,
and I'm not going to have time to get there, I can tell already,
I'm not going to make it to the end of my notes. But one of these
days, we're going to see him as he is. Alright, and this is
what a couple of scriptures tell us. As soon as we see him, as
soon as he appears, and as soon as our eyes see him, we're going
to be changed. As soon as we physically see
him, we will be changed. Alright? And it does not appear what we
shall be. We don't know yet exactly what
that's going to be, but as soon as we see him, we're going to
be just like him for we shall see him as he is. All right. So all eternity, what we're reading
right here is what we're going to be like for all eternity. And my prayer is that along this
way, The Lord begins to conform me and you into this image now. Help us to start heading that
way now. Just like a pregnancy for nine months, a child from
the moment that child is conceived, it's alive. All right, the moment
that child is conceived, it doesn't look like me. Does it? I've seen, you know, you've seen
pictures and it doesn't look like me. But it's alive. But for those nine months, it
is growing and it is being conformed. And one of these days, as a woman
in travail, it's brought forth, complete, whole. So, this is
what we are being conformed into. And even though we fall so short,
this is what God causes every one of his children to want to
strive for, to have a heart to strive for. We do want to be
like him. We want to be able to say, as
he is, so are we. All right, let's read down through
this and we're going to acknowledge Christ in it. And let's ask the
Lord to give us a heart to desire this for ourself. Verse one,
though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I don't
have Christ, if I don't have him, and if I
don't have the love that a sinner finds in him, if I don't have
true love for God almighty, And if I don't have true love for
his people, he said, 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, if I don't
have Christ, if I don't have him, and if I don't have love
for God and love for his people, he says, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
if I don't have Christ, if I don't have love for God and true love
for his people, it profits me nothing. Verse four says, Christ
suffered long. He suffered on that tree, didn't
he? He sweat blood, he spilled blood,
he suffered for me. And if He did that for me, then
I ought to do that for you. If He did that for me, I ought
to do that for you. Verse 4 says, Christ suffered
long, and He's kind. Love suffers long, and love is
kind. Love envieth not, it doesn't
hate. Love vaunteth not itself. And love is not puffed up. Christ
was not, and neither should I be. Men are puffed up. And I mean men. Normally when
I say men and man, I mean man and woman. But I mean men are
puffed up. That's what we do. We're going
to be alpha male. I'm going to show my stuff. I
tell you what, and I'm going to be the head of everything.
and you are going to listen to me." Christ was the exact opposite. He said, take my yoke upon you,
learn of me. He said, I am meek and lowly
in heart. He had the ability, he is the
head of everything. He has the ability to squash
everything, do away with it, quit listening to it, but he
didn't do that. And if he was not that way, neither should
we be. Verse five says, love does not behave itself unseemly. Love seeketh not her own. Love
is not easily provoked and love thinketh no evil. Everything
that Christ did was for you and me. Everything he did was for
you and me. I wish that I could remember
that every morning when I wake up. Everything that he did was
for you and me. I wish that I could remember
that as I go through this day. Everything that he did was for
you and me. I don't, but I wish that every
time something crossed my path, I saw it as an opportunity to
make things better and easier. more fulfilling for you, for
my wife, for my children, even if it's at my expense. I wish
I had that. I wish I had that because that's what Christ did
for you and me. I wish that I had a heart to
do all the giving so that my brethren could do all the taking.
I wish I had that. That's what Christ did for us.
Verse 5 says, love 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. Everything that is
not this word is sin. Everything is sin. Every motivation
behind it, everything is tainted. Everything in this world is tainted
by sin. Everything. And this flesh finds
happiness in this world. That bass bow is going to make
me happy. This flesh finds happiness in
this world. But the love that Christ puts
in a sinner only finds happiness in the truth. Only finds happiness in the truth.
It only rejoices in Christ. It only rejoices in his word,
in his gospel. And it's so hard to see it sometimes
because that flesh is what's out front. This is what I can
see. But when the Lord causes his
love to be revealed every now and then from time to time, I'm
reminded the only thing that I find happiness in is Christ
and his word, his gospel. Verse 7 says, Christ bore all
things. Maybe he'll give us the grace
to just bear a few things. He bore all things. Wouldn't
it be wonderful if he'd give us just enough grace to bear
a few things? Verse 7 says, Christ bore all
things. Christ believed all things. Christ hoped all things. Christ endured all things. Christ never failed. He never failed. My prayer, you know, here it
is, 2016, 39. If the Lord would give me 40
more years here, let me be standing here at 79. 2056, my prayer is
that by the year 2056, every soul in this room who is still
here, still loves God, the God of scripture,
and still loves each other. That's my prayer. That is my
prayer. May that never fail. May that
love never fail. How good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The only way that's
going to happen is if he keeps us. We must be kept by his power
and by his love. So that's our prayer. May he
do that for us. Verse 8 says, love never faileth. But whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail." Future predictions are going to come to pass, and
then they're over. All through the Old Testament,
it prophesied that the Messiah would come. Four thousand years,
all those men prophesied the Messiah will come. He came. That one's over. All right, now
for the last 2,000 years, men have been prophesying, he's coming
back. And as soon as he does, that
one's gonna be over. Where there be prophecies, they shall fail.
Verse eight says, whether there be tongues, they shall cease. God made this world with one
language. And it wasn't until the Tower of Babel that all these,
that English began. And one of these days, when he
folds up this world and he brings every soul into his kingdom,
we're all going to go back to one language. All these languages
are going to fail. They're going to cease. Verse
eight says, charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they
shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. It's not that there won't be
any knowledge anymore. It's that one won't possess more
than another one. Go with me to Jeremiah 31. I've always loved this. Jeremiah 31, look at verse 31. No, I'm sorry,
33. Jeremiah 31, verse 33 says, but
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in
their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be
their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord." Now here I stand, and I preach, and I teach, and
I stand up here saying, Know the Lord. We all need to know
the Lord. This is life eternal that they
might know the Lord. Well, he said in verse 34, They
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more. He's saying everybody's
going to be complete. Sinless, perfect, complete. They're
all going to know as they've been known. Fully taught of God. We're going to be just like Christ.
We're going to know like Christ, and we're going to love like
Christ. Go back to the text in 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 9 says, For we know in part, and we prophesy
in part." Have you ever heard that, you know, they say it's
a scientific fact that we use just such a small percentage
of our brains? Have you heard that? And if we
could just tap into the rest of it, we could, you know, tell
them what we could do. We know concerning Christ and
concerning this gospel and concerning all things, we know just a little
bit. And we preach just a little bit. Just a little bit. Turn back
a couple of pages to 1 Corinthians 8. Verse 2 says, And if any man
think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he
ought to know. We can read that two ways. Number
one, don't be too prideful. You know, if a man thinks he
knows something, he doesn't. But here's the other way. If you love the gospel now, just
wait. I mean, really, just wait. If
you think this is good news now, you haven't heard anything yet.
You have not heard anything yet. We're not going to turn over
there, but we were going to go to 1 Kings is the story of when
the queen of Sheba came to see Solomon. Solomon was the king. The queen
of Sheba represents every believer and Solomon represents Christ.
And the queen of Sheba heard about this king, how great he
was, and how wise he was, and all of his riches, everything
he had. And she didn't believe it, so
she had to go see for herself. And she brought with her some
gold and some spices. She was going to give him some
gifts. And when she got there and saw him and talked with him,
he told her all her answers. I love how it says that. Doesn't
say he answered all her questions. He told her everything she needed
to know. And when she realized his wisdom
and when she saw his greatness, she was so embarrassed by her
little gift she brought. She brought some wagons full
of gold and things like that. And when she saw his table, how
much food he spread out for all of his kingdom to come freely
eat. And when she saw all of his ministers and all of his
servants, and his cup bearers, and their apparel, and the ascent
by which he went up to his throne. When she saw all that, there
was no more spirit left in her. She just was crushed inside. And she said, the half wasn't
told me. She said, they told me about
you, and I didn't believe. I had to come see it for myself.
And now that I've seen it, the half was not told. And we poor weak sinners stand
up here behind these pulpits and we try as hard as we can
to describe God and His kingdom and His glory and can you imagine
that? I mean it's just, it'd be like
a bucket of, one worm trying to tell another bucket of worms
about the Taj Mahal, you know. You haven't, you haven't heard
anything yet. You haven't seen anything yet.
If you think it's glorious now, you just wait. He said back in
the text in first Corinthians 13, he said, we know in part
and we're preaching in part. We have an idea, you know, we
see Christ through his word, but just wait till you see him. Wait till you see him. Verse
10, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in
part shall be done away. Now just listen to this verse
of scripture. May the Lord let us enter into
this. This is glorious. All right. This is John 14 verse
20. And this is what it says. The
Lord Jesus Christ said at that day, you shall know. That I am in
my Father, and you in me, and I in thee. At that day you're
going to know it. Now we believe it, don't we?
We believe that we are in Christ. We believe, number one, Christ
is in his Father, don't we? They're one. And we believe that
we are in Christ, don't we? And we believe that Christ is
in us, don't we? He said, at that day, you're
going to know it. You're going to see it. I mean,
you're going to be convinced you're going to know it. So he
said in verse 11, when I was a child, I spake as a child.
How does a child speak? Usually with wrong words. They say it wrong. They say incomplete
sentences. And they say the word wrongly. OK, it's called a bottle. They
say Baba. That's wrong. I mean, that's
just flat wrong. I'm sorry, but it's wrong. That
is not right. Spiritually speaking, it's the
same. It's the exact same. When God first reveals the truth
to a sinner, they don't say everything right. They don't have it all
right. They don't have it all in order
correctly. Paul said in verse 11, when I
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child. How
do children understand? Very simply. Very simply. A lot of times we don't give
them all the details. They just cannot retain it. They can't understand it. Verse
11, when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a
child, I thought as a child. I reasoned as a child. My understanding
was simple, so my rationale was simple. He went on to say, but
when I became a man, I put away those childish things. Once I
learned the words, I didn't use those words anymore. I didn't
use those old broken, wrong words anymore. Once I understood, I
realized we're not playing games anymore. We're not playing games
anymore. And there's one thing in this
life that's needful. And Paul is telling us right
here what it is. It's Christ. That's what he's
telling us. I need Christ. I need love for
God Almighty and I need love for His people. Verse 12, for
now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I
know in part, but then shall I know even as also I'm known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the
greatest of these is love, Christ, His love. Now, let me close with
this. text, okay, this couple of verses
of scripture. Go with me to Colossians 3 and
we'll be done. The apostle is telling us that
it's time to become men. That's what he's saying. He's
saying we've been told the truth and we understand these things
and we see how vital this is. And so this is his exhortation
to us. Colossians 3 verse 1 he says, If you then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on the things of the earth. Stay on the ground, wallowing
around, crawling around on the ground, fiddling with things.
He's saying, let's rise up. Let's set our affections on things
above. Verse three, for you are dead and your life is hid with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.
Mortify, therefore, that means kill. your members which are
upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
that means vile affection, evil lust, that's what the word concupiscence
means, covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in
the which you also walked sometime when you lived in them. I mean, we're sinners. We've
all sinned. Everything mentioned in this
word, we've done it. Bersadi said, but now you also
put off all these anger, wrath, malice, that means desiring evil
for each other, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
It is embarrassing what can come out of this mouth, isn't it?
He's saying mortify all of it. It's time to end the gospel in
the word of God, in Christ, in grace. It's time to become men.
It's time to grow up. Let's start killing every bit
of this stuff. Verse 9, lie not one to another. Believers are
not liars. seeing that you have put off
the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. Where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, Even as
Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things,
put on love, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace
of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called
in one body, and be thankful." Isn't that wonderful stuff? Wouldn't
you love to be that? Rather than having a whole bunch
of just filthy communication pour out of this mouth, wouldn't
you love to just be thankful? Thankful. May the Lord give us
that faith and that hope. May He give us that love. Alright,
you're dismissed.