1 Corinthians 13 now, 1 Corinthians
13. We've looked at this so many
times together, many times, and yet we cannot exhaust it, we
cannot look at it often enough. In fact, we just looked at it,
I didn't know, but we just looked at it almost a year ago to this
day. But we're not even close to comprehending
the love, the love of our God that's in Christ. We're not even close. The love
of Christ which passeth knowledge. The length, the depth, the height,
the breadth, we're not even close to understanding that. And that's
why we need to keep looking at this. This is the most important
message you'll ever hear. Really, because Paul said now
about the three things. Faith. He said faith is important. Yes. Just shall live by faith. It's vital. Hope. Oh, we don't
need hope, don't we? We live, we're saved by hope.
We have a good hope. And love. But he said the greatest
of these is love. the greatest, so this is the
most important message we could possibly hear. Charity is the
word here in our text, and it's a good word. I wouldn't change
it. I wouldn't change it for anything.
I wouldn't change one word in our Bible. When you think of
charity, what do you think of? Giving. Every time, don't you? Giving, charitable, something's
given. Well, that's love. There is no
love that doesn't give. And this describes our God, didn't
it? Our gracious God. Grace means gift. And He giveth
and giveth and giveth more grace. So true love, real love, the
love of God giveth, giveth. That's the greatest definition
of love in God's Word. The greatest display of love
is how God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son, his well-beloved only begotten son, the apple of his eye. Gave
himself. for us. So charity is a good
word, but we're going to use the word love because we're more
familiar with it. All right? Love. We'll use that
throughout this. I hope this is more than a sermon.
I hope it's more than a subject we study. I hope the Lord will
show us something He has loved and give us this love, put this
love in us. All right. Love. What is it?
Where does it come from? 1 John 4. Turn to 1 John 4. We're going to look at each verse,
each description of love in 1 Corinthians 13. But look at 1 John 4. John wrote of love more than
any apostle, didn't he? Mostly in 1 John. And he says... I've got this new Bible on me. I should have waited. 1 John
4. Verse 7 and 8, it said, Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God. This is where love comes from.
Everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that
loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. I know people abuse that and
I hate it, I'm so glad that God is love, aren't you? That's His
nature. That's His nature. God is love. So, love originated with our
God. And since God is love, now, God is love. And love, to be
love, has to express itself, doesn't it? Well, God didn't
dwell alone, God the Father, in the beginning. He dwelled
with his beloved son. That's what he's called. He's
the one he loved. And the Holy Spirit. These three,
they dwelled together. Proverbs 8 says of the Lord,
the Lord says, I was daily his delight before the world. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit dwelled together in light and in perfect love. And God loved His Son so much,
Barnard used to say this, the purpose to have a people, Barnard
said, a whole bunch of boys just like Him. A whole bunch of people
just like Christ and for His glory and for His honor and just
for His kingdom. So, love began with our God. And since God is love, and love
is of God, there is no true love. There is no true love outside
of God. And it won't last. If it's not
of God, it's not true love. And it won't last. That's a fact. Right? And you can't describe,
you know, Isaiah, our Lord keeps saying, to whom will you liken
me? And people, they say God's love is like a mother's love.
Hold on now. If a mother loves, then her love
may be a little bit like God's. You don't compare God to people. No, no, no. He's the source of
love. He's the definition of love. He's the true love. So, love originated with our
God. It's true love. And any love,
any true love, like 1 Corinthians 13, is in God, in Christ. And it will never fail. Alright,
the importance of love. Verse 13, we saw this, that the
greatest of these is charity, or love. The greatest of these.
Listen to this. We read this. He that loveth
not, knoweth not God. He that loveth is born of God.
That's how important it is. Everything works together for
good to them that love God. Everything. If you don't, nothing's
working for you good. Right? God's against you. See
how important it is? The Lord preserveth them that
love Him. That's what the Scripture said.
Love is the fulfillment of the law. We're not told to keep the law,
but we are commanded to love. He said that's the fulfillment
of the law. How important is it? Great peace have they, I
love this verse, great peace have they who love thy law, thy
word, and nothing shall offend them. How important is it? If you love God's Word, love
God's salvation, you love His truth, you have great peace and
nothing and no one will offend you. Now that's important. It's a great thing, isn't it? They shall prosper. Listen to
this, talking about Jerusalem, talking about the church, Psalm
122. I was going to preach on that, but I don't know how I
got here, but I'm glad I did. They shall prosper that love
Jerusalem. All those that love God's kingdom,
that love God's church, they will prosper. Everything about
them. By this shall all men know. You're
His disciples if you have this love. How important is it? Listen to this. Our Lord in Proverbs
8 says, I love them that love me. I love them that love me. And
this verse in verse 8, love, charity, never faileth. This love of God, His love, will
never fail us. If God loves us, and this is
why we're so jealous about using that, God loves you. But if God
loves us, God's love never fails. He will
never quit loving us. It's not possible for God to
love someone less than another. Christ said, My Father loves
you as He loves me. God cannot destroy somebody He
loves. Cannot. See how important this
is? Love never faileth. If God loves us, He won't fail
us. If this love is in us, friendships
won't fail. Marriages won't fail. If this
love is in a husband and a wife, Christ in you is the hope of
glory. If this love is in you and your
husband and your wife, your marriage will not fail. Love never fails. This church
will never fail if God's love is here. Love never fails. It
doesn't fail. It won't fail. All right? So God is the source of it. And
go back to 1 John 4 again with me. 1 John 4. We're going to
get to 1 Corinthians 3. But I want you to look at this.
Just read this with me. Verse John 4, 7, Beloved, let
us love one another. Love is of God. Everyone that
loveth is born of God, knoweth God. That means love God, love
His truth, love His salvation, love His glory, love His honor,
love His Son, love His Word, love His truth, love mercy. He that knoweth not, knoweth,
loveth not, knoweth not God. He that loveth not the truth,
loveth not God as God, God's right to be God, His sovereignty,
His holiness, Christ, knoweth not God. God is love.
And this was manifested, the love of God toward us. He's talking
to His people, beloved. Because that God sent His only
begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Whoever
God loved is going to live forever. Herein is love, not that we love
God. None of us did. Romans 5 says, Why we were yet
sinners. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to pitch us, to cover us in His
own blood, to bear us, propitiate us, cover us, atone for us. Beloved,
if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Now,
no man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us and His love is perfected, matured. Hereby know we that
we dwell in Him. Do you love His truth? God's people receive a love for
the truth, all of it. The truth, the whole truth, nothing
but the truth. Do you love God's kingdom? Do
you love His people? Do you love what we're doing
here? Do you love to hear Christ exalted? Can I preach God to
Sovereign? Can I say anything about man
that would offend you? Well, you love the truth, don't you?
You know how few people do. Oh, God dwelleth in us. Hereby we know we dwell in Him,
He in us. He's given us of His Spirit,
His Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit. What's
the first fruit of the Spirit? Love. Love for God. Some of you were in religion
and you didn't love God. You heard the truth about who
God is and you, I don't believe that. Aren't you glad God loved
you? Set His love on you, you will.
God says, you will love me. And loving me you'll, this is
way on down the line, but loving me you'll hate yourself. And
you'll hate every false way. That's what David said. Do not
I hate them that hate thee. Hereby we know, verse 14, we've
seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the
Savior of the world. Gentiles. Whosoever shall confess
Jesus as the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God,
and we've known and believed the love that God hath done.
God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and
God in him. He keeps stressing it. Herein
is our love, for love with us made perfect, mature, grows,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. I'll never
forget Brother Scott Richardson preaching on this. Nobody will
ever forget it when they heard it. Because as he is, so are
we in this world. There is no fear in love. See,
if God really loves us, we should have nothing to fear. And if we love one another, We shouldn't be afraid of offending
one another too much. If we had the love of God in us, really,
if it was perfected in us like it is in our Lord, we wouldn't
worry about offending one another. And we'd love others better than
ourselves. We love Him, verse 19, He that
is pureth is not made perfect in love. We love him because
he first loved us. If a man say, I love God and
hate his brother, he's a liar. He that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him. This is a commandment.
That he who loveth God love his brother also. So this is the
importance of love. All right, now go to our text.
And let's look at the character of love. And we'll see God's
love for us and hopefully, you know, there's nothing that
begets love but love. The law won't do it. Nothing
motivates love but love. You understand? It's the love
of God, the goodness of God that brings us to repentance. In the
love of God, when we see what Christ did for us on Calvary's
tree, that will make us love Him. So here's the character
of love, okay? And you're going to, as you read
this, you know this, and it's like someone said to me, oh,
I'm so convicted. Good. For whom the Lord loveth. He's chasing it. If this doesn't
chasten you, God doesn't love you. He didn't hear it. He didn't
hear it. He talks about hearing as our
love perfected. Our love is far from perfect. All right. Verse 1. Now, verses 1 through
3, he had been talking about speaking in tongues or languages.
He had been talking about prophecy, people that could preach and
prophesy. He'd been talking about knowledge
and so forth. One is given the gift of knowledge
and a better understanding and talking about gifts, you know,
healing and so forth that was given to some back then, not
now. He's been talking about giving,
that some were given the gift to give, given the means to give,
and he said in all that, If you don't have love, it's nothing. I don't care what you say or
how you say it. You're just a sounding brass
and a tinkling sound. You're a noise in God's ear.
Without this heartfelt love for God, His truth, His glory, His
honor, for His people, if that's not there, it's love of self. You want to hear yourself. I
remember this thing about preaching. I remember reading as a young
preacher, an old preacher said, it's one thing to love to preach. It's another thing entirely to
love those to whom you preach. Completely different. I have
listened to men that, it's obvious that they really liked the sound
of their own voice and they were just mean to people. Oh my, without love. Sounded
brass, tinkling cymbal, although you may know all the doctrines
you think. You know that's hypothetical. If I knew all the prophecy, nobody
does. He went on to say we know in part. But suppose we thought
we did. They have not love. Nothing. Nothing. If you bestowed everything
you had, if you gave your body to be burned, and without this
love of God in you, love of Christ, it profits you nothing. Now here's
love. Here's God's love. Charity. Love. Suffereth long. Suffered long. Our Lord one time
said to His disciples, And he said it in a way, I know
he said it in a way to rebuke them for their unbelief. Because
they, think of all that they saw. Think of all that they heard. And yet they still acted at times
like they didn't believe or hear a word he said. And I'm glad,
because that's me. Okay, and so he said, how long
must I suffer with you? Remember that? And you know,
they were hanging their heads. Oh Lord, we're sorry. Like little
kids. How long did he? Having loved his own, he loved
him to the end. Love suffereth long. Patiently
endures. Patiently endures. That's what
long suffering means. Patiently endures. Love is kind. Love is kind. The word merciful
is the same thing as kind. Love is kind. Love is kind. Our
Lord is so kind and so merciful. When Moses asked him his glory
and the Lord said, I'm going to make all my goodness pass
before you. I'm going to claim the name of the Lord. And he
said, the Lord, the Lord God. What's the first thing he said?
Merciful. Gracious, long-suffering. That's His name. Oh, my, so kind. God's been so kind to me, hasn't
He? So merciful, not giving me what I deserve, giving me more
than I deserve, and so kind to me. Love is kind in thought. God said, I know my thoughts
towards you. Thoughts of peace. Love is kind in word. The Lord chastens us mostly through
His Word. Isn't that kind? He doesn't take
a rod out. He takes the rod of His Word
out and chastens us with it. We often think, the Lord's going
to get me for that. No, Brother David keeps telling
us he's out to do us good. No, no, no, he's not like us.
He doesn't take vengeance on his people. He chases them. He's
kind in word, he's kind in deed. He's kind in thought, in word,
in deed. You remember the criteria for speaking about someone? Or speaking of someone? Is it
true? The Lord knows the truth about
us. The whole truth. Does he tell anybody? Is it kind? What you say about someone. Is
it necessary? Yeah, love is kind. Love envieth
not. Love envieth not. Love wants
the best for the one it loves. Seeks to bestow the best. Love
wants the one it loves to be better off than yourself. Boy, that's our Lord, isn't it?
Blessed glory. He who was rich, yet for our
sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be what? Made
rich. My, my. That's love. Not envy. Envy. You know, jealousy has
to do with the relationship. You're jealous of somebody loving
somebody else. He wants everybody to love everybody. Not wants. He commands it. Did I say that? Erase that. God commands that we love one
another as we love Him. Love each other. Jealousy has to do with relationships. How can we be jealous of anybody's
love for one another? Envy is wanting what somebody
else has. Envy has to do with things. Wanting
what somebody else has. Want their talent. Want their
looks. Want their possessions. Want their whatever. Our Lord
was rich and gave it all. Why? Who did He do that for?
Gomer. That poor, long woman. My, my. That's love. That's love. Greater love is no man than this.
Love, verse 4. Vaunteth not itself. It's not
puffed up. Love doesn't vaunt itself. It's not pried, puffed up. It
doesn't like to talk about itself. This is self-denial. It's the
first thing our Lord said. when He said, if you take up
your cross and follow Me, let a man deny himself. That's what our Lord did, didn't
He? He denied His own self, His own glory, His own comfort, His
own well-being, His own praise, His own honor. And He came down
here. The reproaches of them reproached
the fellow man. And he came not to vaunt himself,
he came to speak of the Father, to bear witness of the Father.
Now the Father speaks to the Son, the Holy Spirit speaks to
the Son, but the Son speaks to the Father. He denied himself, he really
did, and so should we. As I said in the beginning, to
love God is to hate yourself. If you really love God, know
something of the love of God and the character of God, you
will hate yourself. The more you know of God, the
more you will be ashamed of yourself. That's right. Pride cannot dwell
for very long in a believer. It cannot, or you don't know
God. You don't know God. Love, verse 5, does not behave
itself unseemly. That means it's not rude or discourteous. Oh my. Let's talk about our Lord
first. Our Lord served his people when
he was on this earth. He served his people every waking
hour of his life. Every moment that he was awake,
he served his people. He was courteous. Courteous. That's what Peter wrote. Courteous. That is, preferring other, thinking
of other before yourself. After you. After you. No, after
you. No, I don't see it. It's rude, you know, to do otherwise. Rude. Oh, we've all been rude
and discourteous, even to those we love. But it's not a constant
thing. If love is truly there. You really
do want the other. Prefer the other one before yourself.
You really do. Our Lord, that's Him. That's
Him. Love, verse 5, seeketh not her
own. Seeketh not her own. This goes
along with that. Christ served His people all
day, every day for thirty-three years. Oh, how long He served. Love seeketh not her own, not
my wants, not my will, not my wishes. What's in it for me? Our Lord knew what was in it
for Him when He came. What? Hatred and indignation
and grief and sorrow. That's what He knew. He bore
our griefs and carried our sorrows. The one time our Lord was in
the garden when He thought, I'm not going to be able to live
through this thinking about separation from my Father. He said, I'm
not going to live through this. He said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will. And we say that. And then God
sends tough things, and it's not what we would want, but we've
got to bow to it, don't we? And we'll see. Don't you love
that verse that we're going to know as we've been known? We're
going to know like our Lord knows, and we're going to see clearly. Love seeketh not her own. Love
is not easily provoked. Oh, my. That's our Lord, isn't
it? Listen to Psalm 106. You know
this. You know this well. Psalm 106,
Psalm 107, all of these. It says they provoked Him at
the sea, the Red Sea. Nevertheless, He saved them for
His mercy's sake. He went on to say that many times
did he deliver them, but they provoked him with their counsel,
and they were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless,
he regarded their affliction. When he heard their cry, he remembered
his covenant. Oh, my. Nevertheless. That's
a good word, isn't it? For sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. Not easily provoked. Oh, we do
so much to provoke His anger, but God is slow to anger. Let's
be that way. Slow to anger. Swift to hear.
Slow to anger. Slow to wrath. Love is not easily
provoked. Love thinketh no evil. Love wisheth
no evil upon the one it loves. Wishes no evil, but only good. Now, our Lord told us to even
love our enemies. With man, this is impossible.
But I'm here to tell you, God's grace really is sufficient. There's
someone, well more than one, that hates me. And I pray for
that person. I really do. I hope and pray
that the Lord will have mercy on that person. Save their soul.
I really do. I really do. I'm not vaunting
myself here. I'm just telling you, God's grace
really is sufficient. It's hard to pray for somebody
that hates you. Well, God, all things are possible,
aren't they? Our Lord did. He prayed. He came down to a
place where nobody loved Him. Nobody loved Him. If He hadn't
prayed for us, none of us would have loved Him. Would have. Amen. Love thinketh no evil,
wants no evil to befall the one it loves. My, my. So, our Lord
said this about His people, Psalm 91, No evil shall befall you.
Didn't he? No evil shall befall you. All
working together for good. That's love. That's the love
of God. Think of no evil. Verse 6. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but the truth. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity.
Love grieves over the sin of a brother or sister. I've had people call me, brothers
call me, when they heard some fall of someone, like they couldn't
wait to tell it. That's awful. Awful. I don't understand that. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity.
It grieves over the sin and the falls and the failures. of the
one it loves, grieves over them, and covereth. Love covereth,
doesn't expose, covereth. You'll see that in a minute.
Love rejoiceth in the truth. Love rejoiceth in the truth.
Is it true? Is it really true? Don't believe
something unless you know it's actually true. And I remind you
what David said, all men are liars. So, if we believe men, God's witness
is greater. Let's believe Him. Let's not
judge evil thoughts. James said, we become judges.
Even if it is true. Love, forgive it. And forget
it. Love. Rejoice is not an iniquity. Rejoice in the truth. Let's get
to the truth of this. I had a brother that used to
call me when he'd hear something and say, is this true? Like,
he didn't want to believe it. Or he wanted to get to the truth.
He wanted to hear both sides. That's good, isn't it? You don't
want somebody to dislike you, quit loving you because something
somebody else said about you, do you? Is that fair? Shouldn't
they come to you? Sure they should. So-and-so said
this about him, and now I don't like it. Why don't you call him?
Get to the truth of the matter. You want to know the truth? It
might be completely different than what you've heard. You might
be believing a lie. No, no, don't do that. Isn't
that good counsel? Love rejoiceth in the truth.
Is it true? Love beareth all things. The
word beareth is not the word bear one another's burden, Galatians
6, although we're told to do that. If a brother be overtaken
at a fault, ye that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thine own self, lest ye be Go through
the same thing. Bear one another's burdens and
so fulfill the royal law of Christ. That's bear. That's, you know,
have a burden for and a concern for. But this word means cover.
The word actually means cover with silence. Look it up. I love the concordance.
Look it up. Beareth means cover with silence. I remember so many times growing
up, I did things and I was guilty of things and my dad knew it. He wouldn't say a word. You remember something like that
happened to you, Rob? You tell everybody that story
sometimes. Oh, my. Dear old dad, that's love covered
with silence. We just won't talk about it. Let's just go on. Like it never
happened. Love beareth all things. All
things. Oh, what did our Lord bear in
silence? Everything. He spoke not a word. He was not guilty. We were. He became us. So He shut His
mouth. He could have said, I'm not guilty.
These are all false witnesses. Love believeth all things. Love
believes the best, not the worst. She didn't mean that. She's having
a bad day. I have bad days. I act worse
than that. I just believe that, you know,
she'll get over that, or he'll get over that, or he'll get through
that, or Florida will bring him through that. That's just not
him. That's just not him. That's not him. That's believing
the best. Believe with all things. Love.
Believe with all things. Hope with all things. Boy, oh
boy, you never give up hope for somebody you love, do you? That
can really be down and out. And with those who love that
person will never give up hope. Ever. And as long as the gospel
is being prayed, there's hope. We just looked at Hosea and Gomer,
didn't we? Huh? Was there anything that
would make you happier than to see one of our wayward children
come in and sit and start hearing the gospel and getting that baptism? Would that just thrill your heart
and soul more than anything else? Could you rejoice if it's somebody
else's child? Therese, I know you could. Kelly,
I know you could rejoice if Blair... I know you could. Couldn't you? Whether he saves yours or not,
wouldn't that be wonderful? Hallelujah. Or vice versa. That's love. You love him, he
loves you. You love each other's children.
Hope at the whole thing. Hope. It's not hopeless. It's never hopeless. As long
as this gospel is being preached. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation. Love, hope with all things. Endureth all
things. Endureth. Endureth. Endureth. That means we'll go
through it all. And not stop. Not stop nothing.
Fail. Never fail. Do you know Psalm
136? His mercy endureth forever. And he says that 26 times. Every
single verse. I'm sure glad, aren't you? It's
like he kept saying that and the average person would say,
this is redundant. This is just repeating himself. Why does he
keep saying that? I'm glad. Keep saying it. It's my greatest
need. And so every verse, never miss
a verse. Endureth forever. Endureth forever. Endureth forever.
Endureth forever. Oh, hopeth. You know, the Lord
taketh pleasure in them that fear Him and hope in His mercy. Love, love endureth all things. Love never faileth. Verse 8. You see, this is why whoever
God loves, He saves. Or else His love is a failure.
Right? The blood is a failure. The Holy
Spirit is a failure. That's what one of those false
prophets said. Do you remember that? Was it, I don't know who
it was, Kenneth, one of those guys, I hate to even bring their
name up. But he said hell is an eternal, hell, hell is an
eternal monument to the failure of God to save some people. He
said that. Didn't it? Jeanette, Ed, you've
read that. Love never faileth. Our God,
in Isaiah 42, He said, Behold My servant, he shall not fail. And he's not even going to be
discouraged. Well, Lord, He's a demoniac. Anything too hard for the Lord? He won't even be discouraged.
Set his fate like a flint. Oh, my. I love sovereign election
and sovereign love, don't you? Whoever he loves, he saves. Let's go on and I'll quit. It
says, whether it be prophecies, they'll fail. No more need for
prophesying or even preaching. Won't need me. Won't need Paul. Won't need any other fellow.
Won't need anyone. Christ is going to make it all
real clear. One preacher, forever, him. And
they'll fail, but whether it be languages, we're all going
to speak the same language, heavenly language. They'll see knowledge,
it'll vanish away. We know in part now, we prophesy
in part, but when that which is perfect is God, then that
which is in part will be done away. Speaking as a child and understanding
as a child means all of us, right now, our understanding is so
shallow. Our faith is so shallow. Our
love is so shallow. And it's what he's saying is,
one of these days, we're going to know perfectly. We're going
to need faith. We'll know. We'll see. Love,
oh, love. You know, we love Him, but we're
so ashamed of our love of Him. I love that song. Dear Lord, and shall we live
at this poor dying rate, our love to Thee so cold, so faint,
and Thine to us so great? Come Holy Spirit. I love that. But then we're going to love,
and that's why we're going to sing at the top of our lungs. We want to now, because we love
this song. We've got self. to contend with. We don't have flesh to contend
with. And we're all singing Perfect Key and not trying to outdo one
another. Ah, boy. And he goes on to say,
I became a man, I put away childish things. And this certainly has
an application to maturing. You know, we ought to not be
childish in our love, but more mature. like our Father's love
for us. Now, he says in verse 12, we
see through a glass darkly, dimly, but then face to face. Oh my. Know in part, but then shall
I know even as also I am known. So, now by the faith, hope, and
charity, these three, but the greatest is love, is charity. And I want you to turn with me
in closing Ephesians 3. We always close with a prayer.
And this is my prayer for you and for me. Ephesians 3. Let's
close with this prayer and then you're dismissed. Look at it.
Ephesians 3. And I think this was the first text,
first message I ever brought to you. First, Ephesians 3, Paul
said in verse 14, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named. And I pray 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 be rooted and grounded in
love. may be able to comprehend with
all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height
to know the love of Christ which passeth now, right now, that
you might be filled with all the fullness of God, character
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 Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.