All right, let's turn back to
1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. We just read chapter 12, which talks about the gifts given
to different members in Christ's body. And they're all wonderful
gifts that God has given to us for the purpose and the good
and the help of each other. Alright? But with all that being
said, chapter 12 ends by saying, Covet earnestly the best gifts,
and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. No matter what physical gifts
God has given us, The spiritual gifts are better. They're better. They are far
more excellent. Eternally more excellent. And our God inspires Paul to
end chapter 12 by saying, let me show you what I mean. All
right? Now, chapter 13, verse 1 says, though I speak with the tongues
of men, Though I'm an orator, though
I can speak with every tongue of men, every language, and of angels, he says, though
I could communicate with angels and have not charity. And charity means love. True, deep, sincere, heartfelt,
honest love, not the kind of love that's in our mind. Well,
I know what the Bible says. You got to love your neighbor
as yourself. The kind of love that comes after that neighbor
spits in your face. True, deep, sincere, heartfelt,
honest love. He says, I am become as sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. What that means is I'm useless. And the gift I possess is useless. I'm a dog with all bark and no
bite, useless. Verse two says, and though I
have the gift of prophecy, Though I could foretell the purpose
of God in the future. The Lord gave some men that gift,
Isaiah and different men. And though I understand all mysteries,
though I could open up the word of God and reveal all the mysteries
of scripture. And he goes on to say, and all
knowledge. Though my mind understands all
the hidden things. Smart. And though I have all
faith so that I could remove mountains. Though I could accomplish
amazing things through my resolve and faith. He says in verse two, if I have
not love, I am nothing. I may be great in the eyes of
men, but in the eyes of God, I'm nothing. Verse three says,
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I'm
humanly speaking a good and selfless person, I've sold my house, mortgaged
everything I have, started a soup kitchen. That's wonderful. But though I'm a good and selfless
person, he says, and though I give my body to be burned, though
I'm zealous and committed to my cause, if I have not love,
then I gave away all my things in vain and I died in vain. It profiteth me nothing. Nothing. Now let me tell you what we're
doing right here. Our ears are waiting on something.
Right? What we're doing right here is
throwing out all the good works of this world. All the good works, all the good
food drives. Right? All that stuff, it doesn't
mean anything. We're going to collect stuffed
animals for the children's shelter. I think that's wonderful. We
have a ton that we could give, but that's not going to get me
into heaven. All these good deeds, it's not going to get me into
heaven. Verse four says, love suffereth
long. Love makes a man or woman patient
and long-suffering with the faults of others. That's what love does.
Love is not easily offended. It doesn't jump to wrath. Verse 4 says love is kind. It's tender. It's compassionate. It says love envieth not. It
doesn't envy. It wants the best for the one
it loves. Love vaunteth not itself, is
not puffed up, it's not proud, and it's not arrogant. Verse
5 says, doth not behave itself unseemly. That means rude. Love
is not rude. Our flesh can be rude to each
other sometimes. True love is not rude. And I'm
going to tell you something, in just a minute, we're about
to see what true love is. We're about to. Just wait. True love is humble and it's
sweet. Verse five says love seeketh,
not her own, not her own good, not her own will. Verse five
says love is not easily provoked. Those of you who are already
reading between the lines, aren't you glad? Not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Love doesn't look for faults.
It's not suspicious. Verse 6 says, Rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth. Love doesn't rejoice when its
loved one falls. It doesn't. Verse 7 says, Love
beareth all things. That word means love covers with
silence all things. That's what Beareth means. Turn
with me to Proverbs 10. Proverbs 10, verse 12 says, hatred
stirreth up stripes, but love covereth all sins. Covers them,
covers them. Look at Proverbs 11, verse 13. A tale bearer revealeth secrets,
but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. We're going to see who's of a
faithful spirit in just a minute. He conceals the matter. Proverbs 17. Verse nine says. He that covereth a transgression
seeketh love, but he that repeated the matter separated very friends. Love beareth all things. I have a lot of things that I've
done. I need somebody to cover all
those. Don't bring them up. Don't bring
them back up. Back over in our text in 1 Corinthians
13 verse 7 says, Love believeth all things. Believes all things. Go with me to James chapter 3. James chapter 3 verse 14 says,
But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory
not, and lie not against the truth, this wisdom descendeth
not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where
envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work,
but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality and without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that maketh peace. peace. Love believes the one it loves. Back over in our text, verse
seven says, Love hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love will
never give up. It'll go through trials, sorrow,
sickness, pain, but it will never give up. Verse eight says, love
never faileth. But where there be prophecies,
they shall fail. Where there be tongues, they
shall cease. Where there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy
in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that
which is in part shall be done away. Love never fails. Chapter 12, we read it just a
minute ago, was talking about all these gifts that were given
to men, but they're going to go away. This knowledge is going
to go away. But love is going to go with
us all the way through eternity. Love. It's going to be there forever.
Verse 11 says, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood
as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. 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 am known. We think we know some
things right now. But one of these days we're going
to see Christ face to face. And when we see him as he is,
we're going to put away every one of our opinions. We're going to put away every
one of our thought processes. We're going to put away every
one of our own beliefs and we're going to know as we've been known. We're going to know the one truth.
We're going to know Christ. We're going to see him face to
face. Verse 13 says now abideth faith. Hope and love these three,
but the greatest of these is love. That's the importance and
the character of love. All right. If I stopped preaching
right now and I said, peace be with you all. We'll see you Wednesday. I could have preached this in
any church in the world. I would have gone right down
to scripture, any church in the world. And I would not have told
you the truth of this passage of scripture. I would not have told you the
truth. Half of the truth is a lie. You know that? Half of the truth
is a lie. Now we ought to be that way.
We should. No doubt about it. But thanks
be to God, His message does not stop right there. I have two
questions about this love. Number one, who has this love? It's important. It's vital. It's the greatest gift of every
gift given. It's the greatest gift. Who has
this love? And the second question is, what
do they love? What do they love? Anything? You just need to love. You just
need to love. Just love anything you want. Love is God. God is love. Love
your way to heaven. Well, let's see what God's Word
has to say about it, okay? I want you to go with me to Deuteronomy
chapter 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse
4 says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy might, And these words which I command
thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently
unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest
in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up. God's people love God. God's people love God. They don't
love their own image of God. You know, everybody has an image
of God that they think God is like. He's not. They don't love the God that
they've made up in their minds. Well, I'm going to go meet a
loving Jesus who sits down on rocks and babies get in his lap. I can't wait to go meet him.
That's not the God you're going to go meet. God's people love God. There is one God. He is as He
is. He changes not. I can't change
Him. Nobody can change Him. He's not going to change. I don't
care how contemporary the times get. They love His purpose. All things work together for
good to them that love God. Not just, oh, I love God. Love
God. to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Learn something about God's purpose
and you will learn something about God. There are no accidents with God. There are no happenings with
God. It is all on purpose. You mean the fact that I forgot
my keys at home and had to turn around and go back? That's all
on purpose? Yes, I do. God spared you from a car wreck
or something. You mean the fact that this terrible
thing happened to me, that was God's will? Yes, it was. You
mean Hurricane Katrina was God? Yes, the finger of God. There are no accidents with God.
It's all on purpose. And God's people love his purpose. Oh man, I love his purpose. I
love it. They love his will. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth, just like it is in heaven. What makes us believe
that God is ruling heaven, but he can't do anything with earth?
He tells angels what to do. He casts Satan and his deemings
down as a bolt of lightning, but bless his heart, he's struggling
with earth. They love his authority. They
love his power. They say not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and
thy truth's sake. God's people love that God is
true and they are liars. God's people love the true God
as he is. How can I know who the true God
is? Just read his book. Although if His Spirit doesn't
reveal it to us, we'll never know who the true God is. But
He has plainly set forth who He is in His Word. As He's revealed
Himself to be, God's people love the true God as He is. Now turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians 16 verse 22 says,
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema
maranatha. And that means cursed. Cursed,
if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, how could you not? How could you not? We've said
it so many times. Go poll people. Does anybody
not love Jesus? Well, no, everybody loves Jesus.
Let me tell you who they don't love. The Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus is his humanity. They love his humanity. They
love his humanitarian efforts. They love his kindness and his
sweetness to people. The Lord means Jehovah. That
means he's the God that is standing at the bar killing sinners who
disobey his will. Christ is the union of both.
The God-man. You tell them who the Lord Jesus
Christ is and they say, I ain't gonna listen to that. I don't
love him. Oh, man. God's people love Christ. That's who they love is Christ,
the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, their God, their God. He is my God. David said, I will
love thee. Oh Lord, my strength, thee. Not a doctrine. And I do love
His doctrine. His doctrine is His Word. There's
only one doctrine. Only one. Men call it the doctrines
of grace. God called it the doctrine of
Christ. One doctrine. Not knowledge. Not religion. The. The. Go with me to 1 Peter chapter
1. 1 Peter chapter 1, look at verse
7. That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now watch this. I want happiness to come over
me. I want to smile to come on my face when I was reading this
in the study. Oh man, I was rejoicing in this. Look at verse eight. Whom having not seen you love. Don't you? You never even seen
him. But you love him, don't you?
Whom having not seen you love. in whom though now you see him
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. You rejoice in Christ as though
you... He's been with me forever. I
know him. I love him. I long to see him. He's the love of my life. Have
you ever seen him? No. Not yet. But he's the love
of my life. With joy, unspeakable and full
of glory. I love thee. I love thee. Why? What is it about Christ
that makes you love him so much? Why do you love him? Turn to
Psalm 40. Psalm 40 verse 16 says, let all
those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such
as love thy salvation. Say continually, the Lord be
magnified, but I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh
upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tearing, O my God." They love his salvation. They love to say, salvation is
of the Lord. I didn't do anything to get saved. People go around saying, I got
saved. I didn't get saved. I didn't go get it. Christ saved me. They love His
salvation. The salvation of Christ, in Christ. You don't have to turn, but you
can listen to Revelation 1 verse 5. It says this. Unto Him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Is that real or fairytale? He washed us from our sins in
His own blood. And He's made us kings and priests
unto God and His Father. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. They love His blood. They cry, worthy is the Lamb. That was slang. They love His
righteousness. That means how perfect this man
is. I'm a sinner. I have terrible thoughts. I thank
the Lord they are not projected. I have terrible motives. Paul said, I'm the worst center
that was ever on the face of this earth. Every true center
is saying, no, Paul, I am. I'm awful. I'm not good enough
to go to heaven. Did you know that I'm not good
enough to go to heaven? Well, you're the preacher. I
know. That convicts me even more. He is so perfect. He is so perfect. They love how perfect He is. They love His work, all His works,
great things He has done. They love the fact that He would
actually love sinners like them. Can you believe God would love
a sinner like me? Go with me to Psalm 119. Psalm
119, look at verse 97. It says, Oh, how I love thy law.
I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. If we want to meditate on something,
meditate on God's Word. Look at verse 127. Therefore
I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore
I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I
hate every false way." What's a false way? Something that goes
against the Word of God. What he's saying is, I love every
single word in here. Well, I believe most of the Bible,
but I don't believe all the Bible. Verse 129 says, Thy testimonies
are wonderful. Therefore doth my soul keep them. The entrance of thy words giveth
light. It giveth understanding unto
the simple. I opened my mouth and panted
for I longed for thy commandments. Look thou upon me and be merciful
unto me as thou used to do unto those that love thy name. Order
my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion
over me. God's people love God's word.
They love His law, His commandments. There's not one commandment in
here that God's people don't love. Not one. The reason is
because He gave it and they love Him. They love the fact that
God is true. Every word in this is true. I
love that. It's all true. Go to 1 John chapter
3. First John chapter 3. Verse 14 says, We know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer. And you know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love
of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this
world's good, and seeth his brother have need, hath shutteth up his
bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God
in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that
we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him.
First John chapter five, verse two says, by this we know that
we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. God's people love God. They love Christ. They love his
word. And they love each other. That's
what God's people love. They love each other because
they love Christ. And as soon as they find out
that Christ is dwelling in another center, for Christ's sake, they
love that center. I'm telling you that's the truth.
I can meet somebody. I can go somewhere and talk to
them. And if in a few minutes, I realize this person is absolutely
smitten with Christ. I'm yours and you're mine. I
love you for Christ's sake. Personalities go out the window.
Characteristics go out the window. Soon as they find out Christ
is there, love reigns. Love reigns. Now, who has this
love? How can I have this love? All right, and I have one more
page of notes, I promise. Turn with me to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 39, we just read
it in the Bible study, it says, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I'm in Christ, then
I have this love. True godly love is only found
in Christ. That's the only place it can
be found. Just listen to Ephesians chapter
3. Ephesians 3 verse 14 says, For this cause I bow my knee
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ. which passeth knowledge, that
you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto
him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen. If Christ is in this heart,
if Christ is inside this heart, I have this love. Christ is the
cause of this love. Christ is the source of this
love. Christ is this love. Now, go with me back to 1 Corinthians
13. First Corinthians 13 verse one
says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels
and have not love for the true God, love for Christ, love for
his word and love for his people, I'm become a sounding brass or
a tinkling cymbal. And we're going to sum all that
up by just saying Christ. Verse two says, 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, I'm nothing. I'm going to wind up nothing.
Verse 3 says, Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
though I give my body to be burned, if I don't have Christ, He profits
me nothing. Verse 4 says, Christ suffered
long. He suffered long. Christ is kind. Christ envied not. Do you know
everything that was given to Him has been given to us, who
didn't deserve it? He envied not. Verse 7 says, Christ bore all
things. Christ believed all things. We
get this credit for faith. Who did the believing? Christ
did it. He's the author and the finisher of our faith. Christ
hoped all things. Christ endured all things. Verse
8 says, Christ never failed. He never failed. Verse 12 says,
now we see through a glass darkly, but then we're going to see Him
face to face. We're going to see Christ. We're
going to see the one we love. We're going to see the one who
loved us. And verse 13 ends by saying, the greatest of these
is Christ. Christ is all. I'm determined
by God's grace to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that. Let's stand together.