Is it this one? You can stand the maze while
you're sitting down, can't you? We're going to look at the subject
of love tonight. Let's not let the world, the
religious world, false religion that abuses it and uses it, misuses
it so much, let us not let them keep us from being amazed by
it, the wonder of God's love for us. Desiring it ourselves
first Corinthians 13 my dad and I are going to preach this message
together tonight We're preaching this together. I looked at five
of his sermons on this went through all five of every word read them
all and They had many more than that, but and then I listened
to a message you preached on this So we're preaching this
together taking some of his thoughts and some of my own and others. Love is a subject. We all need
it. And I'm preaching it and trying
to teach it, not because I've mastered it, but because I need
it. I need it. We all come far, far short of
this, that glorifies God so much. He said, herein is the Father
glorified that you bear much fruit. You know what the first
fruit of the Spirit is? Love. And here it says it's greater
than faith. Greater. Love. Now, three things. This was his outline. Three things.
The importance of love. The source and strength of love. And the attributes or characteristics
of love. The importance of love. Scripture
says, he that loveth not knoweth not God. And the love that he's
speaking of is love first to God, and love God as God. Love his word, love his truth.
You love his truth, all of his truth. Love God, this is the
end of the commandment, Scripture said. All the laws fulfilled
in one word, love. Love to God, the first four,
and love to your fellow man, the last six. And I remind you,
the Lord said, love your neighbor as yourselves. He's not talking
about that natural love of family, but this is different. This is
supernatural love. And he even said, love your enemies. Anybody measure up to that? All right, we need this, don't
we? So he's talking about love, love to God and love to others.
And he that loveth not, This is how important this is. He
doesn't know God. By this, our Lord said, shall
all men know you're my disciples. Certainly we believe the truth
and tell the truth. We have the right doctrine, but
he said, this is it. And we don't diminish the importance
of doctrine, but he said, this is how they'll know if you have
love one to another. And I quoted what John said,
we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren. Or that is, there is this real,
genuine, true love for your brethren that you didn't have before.
And then scripture says, Peter wrote this, he said, above all
things. How important is it? Above all
things have fervent love among yourselves. Because how important
is it? Love covereth all sin. Love covereth the multitude of
sin. Anybody got a multitude of sin? You need love, don't
you? You need to be loved and you
need to love. They're all centered. Paul said, above all things put
on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Completeness, be
like Christ. This is the bond, or this is
the tie that binds us, that will keep us together if you love,
because he goes on to say, never fail. And it binds, and nothing
can separate us. Who shall separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ? Nothing, why? Because he has
perfect love. And herein is love with us perfect. in this way, what we're doing
right now. Okay? So we're not perfect in
this by any means, not even close. Like Paul said about himself,
he said, I haven't arrived yet, neither am I perfect, but this
one thing I do, I follow after. And we just read there where
he said, follow after charity, pursue it, ask for it, endeavor
to do it, provoke, make somebody love you. That's what provoked
the love. And listen, how important is it? The last thing our Lord
said in his prayer, it was the last thing he prayed to the Father
for us. Listen to it. The very last thing
must be important. He said, I have declared unto
them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them and I in them. I want that, don't you? I don't want anything except
like us. All right. Now, the source and
the strength of it. The source and the strength of
it. Look at 1st John chapter 4. And
we're going to look at the characteristics of it down through 1st Corinthians
13. But 1st John chapter 4. You know,
I read all of 1st John. You know, the whole book is about
love. That's the theme. of John's book,
1 John 4. And by the way, I read through
nearly every epistle of Paul, especially his prison epistles,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. And there's not a
chapter that he doesn't mention about. 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians,
all along. And Peter, Peter exhorted us
to them. The source of love is God, because
God is love. He's the source of it. It comes
from Him. Anyone has love, they get it from God. All right? If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, John wrote, and his love is perfected in us. First John
4, look at verse 4. You're of God, little children,
have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he
that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth, And
we're going to look at what love is. Everyone that loveth in this
way is born of God. Because this is not in us. It's
not something that's in our nature. And Paul wrote in Romans, he
said, by nature we're haters, full of hate, haters of God. He that loveth is born of God
and knoweth God. He that loveth not, verse eight,
knoweth not God, for God is love. And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world, that we might live through him here in his
love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sin. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another in this way. No man has seen
God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfected, matured in us completely. This is the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. Paul wrote about it in Ephesians
4. He said the preacher is to edify, that we might come to
this point that the whole body may edify itself in love. Build up. How important is love?
It builds up. It unifies. It binds. Pleases
God. Pleases God. The strength of
love. The strength of love. Love is
received. Love is learned only by the Spirit
of God at the feet of Christ. Love is received. Love is only
learned by the Spirit of God at the feet of Christ, at the
foot of the cross. For greater love hath no man
than this. Real love is only learned at
the foot of the cross. This is where real love is seen. Not for the good, not for the
righteous. But God commended this love toward
us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now, that's
love. And he said, brothers, brethren,
beloved, you love like this. And nobody can say they do until
they live like that. All right. We've got a long way
to go. We need this. I need this. I
need this greatly. Scripture says, how important
is it? Well, and where's the strength of it found? To whom
much is forgiven. The love money. The more you hear about Christ,
the more you realize you've been forgiven by Christ, by God, the
more you ought to love. You will, he said, you will.
If you really are the chief of sinners, if you really do feel
yourself to be the chief of sinners, you will not look down on anybody. And you will look in amazement
that God loves you. Biggest lie that's ever been
told, Martin said this years ago, and it's true. Biggest lie
ever been told is that God loves everyone. But I tell you what,
the biggest, the greatest wonder and amazing truth of all is that
God loves anyone, let alone many people. That's the stars in the
sky. And a real sinner, if he really
thinks he's a sinner, he just stands amazed in the presence
of Jesus of Nazarene and wondered how he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. If you really feel that way,
you will love your brother. You will. So this is the importance
of it. This is the source and the strength
of it. Now look at verses one through
three. He said, he had been talking
about gifts all through chapter 12. And I mentioned this, that
the church was all taken up with these things. They wanted this
gift and that gift, wanted to be able to preach, wanted to
be able to talk, speak in other languages. They wanted to be
able to heal and all that. And he said, That's fine if it's
for the glory of God and you really want to help people and
preach the gospel. But he said, I'm going to show
you a better way, a more excellent way. This is something that every
single person can do by the grace of God. This is something everyone
needs, something everyone can use. And he says in verses one through
three, though I speak with the tongue of men and angels and
have not charity, I'm becomes a sounding brass or tinkling
cymbal. I have great ability to expound
the word, and preach the word, and speak with great unction,
and move people, and oratorical ability, and eloquence, and so
forth. And have not love? I don't love
the God that I'm preaching of, the Christ, the gospel I'm preaching,
and the people to whom I'm preaching. I'm a nothing. And it will avail
nothing, my preaching. I remember reading as a young
preacher years ago, reading this quote, and I never forgot it.
The man said, it's one thing to love to preach. It's quite
another thing to love those to whom you preach. That's what God will give. Verse
two, though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge. I mean, that's not possible,
is it? Suppose a man did have great understanding of the mysteries
of the scripture and some men do. Able to expound these things,
open up these mysteries, but I don't have love. It's nothing. And I've heard lots of preaching
like that. Intellectual preaching. It amazes you, but it doesn't
bless you. Doesn't bless your heart. It's
not preaching with love. Verse two, I have all faith. I seem like it. Nobody has all
faith. I seem like it. I can remove
mountains. There's no obstacle too great.
Have not love. I'm a nothing. And though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned,
and many have laid down their lives for various causes, haven't
they? But it's not the cause of Christ. It is not out of love
to God. His truth and His people. Paul
said, I'm ready to lay down my life for you. That's what Paul
said. He even said this, he said, the more I love you, the less
I'm loved. That's loving. Now he said, I'm a nothing if
I don't have that. Nothing. All right, now here
are the attributes of love. Here are all the, not all, but
here are the characteristics of true love. Now these are in
every child of God in principle, not in perfection, not even close,
but in principle, in the degree, okay? And this is why we're being
perfected. This love is growing, in other
words. Hopefully, if you're alive, it's growing. But it's not there
in perfection, but it's there in principle, in degree. Now,
every one of us are going to be convicted about everything
here. Some more, about more things than others. Certain things will
convict you more than it will convict others. But we're all
guilty. We're all. And we all need reproof,
rebuke, correction, instructions in this love. in this love, right
there. I don't want to scare you, but
there are 15 of them. 15, and 8 of them are negative,
and 15 count in love never failing. 6 of them are positive. Or in other words, He's going
to tell us what love is not, and what love does not do. And
he's gonna tell us what love is and what love does. All right? All right, look at it, verse
four. Love, now, the old word, let me just say this. I like
the word charity. But we all know it means love,
don't we? Back years ago, when people talked about charity,
everybody knew it was love. And charity, what do you think
of when you think of charity? You think about gifts. You think
about benevolence. You think about doing things
for people. That's love. Our Lord says, Husband,
love your wives as Christ loved the church and did what? Gave
himself. Love gives. So charity is a good
word, but we're going to use love, okay? Love suffereth long. Suffereth long, is long-suffering. Love is long-suffering. Go back
to Psalm 86 with me, Psalm 86. And this is where we get our
motive to love, is God's love to us. God is long-suffering
to us. Oh my, Peter said, you need to
take into account that the long-suffering of God is salvation. He said, take into account that
the long-suffering of God is salvation. Our Lord one time
said, how long must I suffer with you? Talking to his disciples.
Sinful, unbelieving. They were bickering among themselves
about who was the greatest and so on and so forth, just like
us. And he said, how long must I suffer with you? How long must
he suffer with me? Long time. How long? Till the day we die. That's what
love does. He is loved. He did, didn't He?
Having loved His own, He loved them to the end. He was long-suffering
to the end. Look at Psalm 86, verse 5. Thou, Lord, art good and ready
to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon
Thee. Verse 11, teach me Thy way, O
Lord. Teach me that. I will walk in
thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my
God, with all my heart. I will glorify thy name forevermore,
for great is thy mercy toward me. Thou hast delivered my soul
from the lowest hell. Look at verse 15. Thou, O Lord,
art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering,
and plenteous in mercy and in truth. Long-suffering. Love suffereth
long. Look at the next time. And, you
know, we take a marriage vow. Those of you who are married,
when you're married, you take the vow in sickness or in health,
in poverty or in wealth, meaning whatever it is, up, down, bad,
good, love, suffers long. Suffers together. Love suffers
together. That's the next thing. Love is
kind. Love is kind. That describes
our Lord, doesn't it? Kind. Our Lord are compassionate. That's kind. Same thing. Compassion. Full of compassion. Kind. Love
is tender. Love is compassionate. Look at
Ephesians 4. Go over to Ephesians 4. Love
is kind. Now, all of us act unkindly. at times, don't we? And it grieves
us. And it shames us. And it hurts
other people, doesn't it? Nothing hurts more. We all act
that way. And it should grieve us. It certainly
grieves the Spirit. It certainly grieves the Holy
Spirit and grieves those to whom we are unkind, doesn't it? We
look at Ephesians 4, verse 22. Put off concerning the former
conversation. The old man, he's corrupt. Verse
23, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Put on the new
man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Down in verse 26, be ye angry,
sin not. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. That is, make peace. Neither give place to the devil.
That's what he uses to divide and separate. Verse 30, greed
not the Holy Spirit. Verse 31, let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted. Why? Well, forgiving one another
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Read on. Be
followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also
hath loved and gave himself for us. There's the motive. We don't
need another motive. Don't need another example. Love is kind. You know, there's
a proverb, I wrote an article on it recently. It says, a righteous
man regarded the life of his beast. A man, when the Lord saves
a man, puts the love, sheds the love of God abroad in his heart,
he's even kind to the animals. But it says, the tender mercies
of the wicked are cruel. There's no kindness in him. No
kindness. Love is kind. How kind is the
Lord to you? How kind are the brethren? Love
is kind. Love envieth not. Here's what
love is not. One of the things love is not,
it's not envious. And there's so many things that
come out of envy, jealousy, covetousness. Envy is wanting what someone
else has. Envy is the terrible feeling
you have, the pain or the bitterness you have at the superior gifts
or talents or success or prosperity. Someone has more things, better
things, more talented, more whatever it is, than you. Envy, that's ugly. Love rejoices in the prosperity
of others. Love rejoices in the prosperity
of others, especially in spiritual matters. There is no room for
jealousy and envy when it comes to the Kingdom of God. Because
if we're really in this for the glory of God and the salvation
of men's souls, there's no room for envy or jealousy. That's
the reason the Lord was so angry with the disciples when they
were arguing among themselves who was greatest. Brother Marvin Stoddicker texted
me, said he listened to a message of mine. He was greatly blessed
by it. And I wrote him back and I said, Brother Marvin, that
means a great deal to me coming from a fellow preacher. When
a fellow preacher, and I added one so much older than me, I
said, when a fellow preacher calls another preacher and talks
about how greatly blessed he was by that man's preaching.
That means there's no envy, there's no jealousy there. And that can't
be. We ought to be greatly happy
and rejoice that the Lord uses anybody. Whether it's me or not, it doesn't
matter. Love envieth not. Love vaunteth not itself. Here's
another thing, love is not. Love doesn't vaunt itself. That
means it doesn't show off. It doesn't show off. That's self-love in it. Look
at me. Watch me. Listen to me. Don't
you want to hear what I have to say? It's ugly and nobody wants to
be around somebody like that. That's not love. with your children, okay? Do
you vaunt yourself? Do you show off? Watch me, little
girl. Oh no, you're more interested in them, aren't you, than talking
about yourself. That's love. That's love. Love is interested in others. That person who loves to talk
about themselves or hear themselves or wants others to see him, that's
self-love. Love's not puffed up. Puffed
up. We all laugh at a turkey, don't
we? A turkey gets all puffed up,
you know. And he gets swelled up. Full of hot air, that's puffed
up. He swells up real big, doesn't
he? To try to impress those hens,
doesn't he? After all his swelling up, what
is he? A turkey. Or a blowfish. You ever caught
a blowfish? You know, they try to make themselves
big to scare their predators away. After all is said and done,
it's still just a fish. And we can puff ourselves up,
but after all we say and do and try to make ourselves to be full
of vain conceit, full of hot air, we're less than the least.
We're nothing. We're vanity. We're just a worm. The love of God doesn't puff
us up. The love of God deflates us.
Knowledge puffeth up. That's what Scripture said. But
love edifieth. Edify. Here's what love does
not do even. It doth not, verse 5, behave
itself unseemly. 1 Peter 3. Go over there quickly. 1 Peter 3. Love is not rude. That's what that means. Love
is not rude. Love is courteous. In honor,
Scripture says, we need to prefer one another. In honor. 1 Peter
3, you remember this? We went all the way through it.
1 Peter 3, verse 8, it says, finally, finally, and Saul said,
done, finally, be ye all of one mind. That's the mind of Christ.
Let this mind be in you. He humbled himself. He didn't
vaunt himself. He was interested in us, that's
why he came here. He said, having compassion one
of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, be
courteous, and on and on it goes. Love is not rude. Rudeness and
discourtesy. rudeness and lack of courtesy
comes from pride and self-worth. We ought to acknowledge every
single act of kindness that anyone does to us. We ought to acknowledge
every single act of service to us, no matter how small it is.
Because if we really thought we were unworthy, we'd be very grateful if anybody
do anything for us. We ought to be very grateful
for their mercy and their grace toward us. We ought to be very
thankful, not rude, but courteous. Christian, listen to this. Here's
provided by my father, this written by somebody, not him, but somebody.
Christian courtesy is the offspring of Christian character. And it's
revealed in daily words. It's revealed in your temperament
on the street. in the school, at work, in your
car? I can't tell you how many times
that, you know, we all do it. Somebody pulls in front of you,
somebody does this, somebody's going too slow. We need to consider
that that person, whoever it is, is just like us, liable to
make a mistake. And that's somebody's mother
that's going 40 miles an hour in a 55 zone. Right? What would you think if somebody
got railed on your mother, your poor little old mother? You don't
have to worry about my mother because she drives too fast.
But anyway, that's somebody's mother. That's the way we need
to think about it. Somebody's daughter. Oh, my. We had love, this Christian courtesies,
the offspring of Christian characters revealed in the car, it's revealed
before waitresses, before servants. Boy, if the Lord's given you
a lot, served you greatly, you'll give those that serve you a lot. Those people don't make much
at all. One of the toughest jobs around.
I had one. Love is not... rude. Love seeketh not her own. Love
seeketh not her own. That person who seeks only their
own happiness is never happy, never will be happy. The Lord
won't let it happen. We seek our own. The Lord's gonna
leave us on our own. True happiness is in making others
happy. Here's what the Lord said, it's
more blessed to give than to receive. More blessed to give
than to receive. True love can enjoy nothing alone. True love doesn't really enjoy
anything alone. Always more enjoyable with others. All the more reason to have people
over in my people. Look not every man on his own
thing, but on the things of others. Love is not easily provoked.
Can I go past this? We all get irritated, don't we?
I thought about our Lord. Do you know how many people were
pulling at Him at all times of every day, day in and day out?
Do you know how many people, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, help,
help, do this, do this, do that, do that, do this, do that, all
day, every day, all His adult life. Thousands of people. You know how men are men, those
twelve disciples and bickering, you know, they were this and
that and the other, and he was right in the middle of all, he
could read their thoughts. Aren't you glad he's not easily
provoked? I was going to have you read
Psalm 106, but I'm running out of time. But over in Psalm 106,
over and over again, it says they provoked him. They provoked
him. They provoked him. They kept
provoking him. Paul wrote a letter to Hebrews.
He said, don't harden your heart as in the provocation. Or at
least provoke the Lord. Love is not easily provoked.
It shouldn't be easily provoked. It means easily upset, easily
offended. That's pride, isn't it? Touchy.
I perceive slights or perceive whatever. And sin's our problem. And if we were nigh unto God,
and remember the message on draw nigh unto God, if we were closer
to our Lord, we'd have less of that. We'd be more aware of His
presence. How could we be provoked in anybody
when the Lord is so tender and long-suffering with me? How could
we? Look at the next thing. Love
thinketh no evil. We all think evil thoughts. This
is not saying that we never have evil thought, but it's saying
toward others, truly evil thoughts, malice, that you want something
bad to happen, or you delight in something bad happening. Oh,
that's not loving, that can't be. Love thinketh no evil. Love does
not think, and one of the old versions, I forget which it was,
Greek Septuagint or something like that, says love remembers
no evil. That's good, isn't it? Love remembers
no evil. Love doesn't think on the wrongs
done to that person, but has forgiven, like God has forgiven.
Love remembers no evil, but having forgiven and forgotten won't
bring it up again. Isn't that our Lord? Anybody
got this mastered? Love thinketh no evil. My dad
gave this illustration. It's a good one. He said, the
more you dwell on something, the worse it is. You keep thinking
about it and it gets worse and worse until this root of bitterness.
That's what Paul said. Beware this root of bitterness.
And we all get bitter over hurt feelings or perceived wrongs. We might be wrong about that
wrong. We might be all wrong. But anyway, we all get bitter
and this bitterness says a root of bitterness springs up and
it says many are troubled by it. You're nothing but, you grieve
the spirit, you quench the spirit and everybody around you is affected
by bitterness. And he gave this illustration. He
said, you mash your thumb. You mash your thumb, okay? And
you know, you keep thinking about it and it hurts worse, doesn't
it? Keep thinking, Ricky, you'd smash your thumb all the time,
don't you? What are you going to do? Keep thinking about it. It just throbs and, oh, I think
I'll lie in the bed. You've got to go on, don't you?
If you get your mind off of it, it won't be hurting as bad. The
minute you start thinking about it, oh, it starts throbbing.
And somebody does you wrong a long time ago. And you bring it up
again, and you just bring it up that sore. And you just hurt yourself. Stop
thinking about it. It's over. That's love, isn't
it? Isn't that love? I know my parents
can't remember anything. Well, very little that I did
wrong. Dad doesn't even remember whipping
me. And that's not Alzheimer's, that's
love. Right? Love thinketh no evil, remembereth
no evil. That's love. We need to love
our brethren like we love ourselves, our family. That's what we want
for ourselves. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth
in the truth. Love grieves over the sins of
others. Love doesn't rejoice in failure
and falls apart, no matter who it is. Unless, of course, it's
one of these false prophets damning people's soul. David did say,
do not I hate them that hate thee. I hate them with a perfect
hatred. David did pray at times under inspiration of the Spirit
for the destruction of the enemies of God against his people. But,
really, love, I remember one of our young men had a job here.
And the man was never a good employer. He was never good.
Never a good boss to him. Didn't pay him what he was worth.
He was a good employee of this man. Faithful employee and diligent. Made him lots of money. Well,
this man was not kind to him. Wasn't good to him. Didn't pay
him right. And so the brother Quit, finally quit and went and
found another job and went on to better work. Well, I was angry
at that man, that employer. And my first thoughts were, I
hope his business fails. That's not the right attitude
at all. He's got a wife and children
and they may have nothing to do with that. All right? And he's got employers. He's
got other employers. Do I want them to fail too? No. No. Love rejoices not in the failures
and the falls. Rejoices not in iniquity. Rejoices in the truth. Wants
to know the truth. Not hearsay. Not innuendos. Not
accusation. Doesn't love lies, but loves
the truth, especially First John, second John, he said, listen
to this, let me just read it to you. Oh, I love this. Oh,
you want to know how important truth is? Read first, second,
and third John. But John wrote this in second
John, the elder under the elect lady, how important is election?
He began and ended with that. The elect lady and her children
whom I love in the truth, not I only, but also all they that
have known the truth, for the truth's sake, which dwelleth
in us and shall be with us forever. Grace and mercy and peace from
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father
in truth and love. I rejoice greatly and I found
thy children walking in truth. Truth. Rejoice in the truth. And this is why somebody believes
the truth. Oh, you rejoice, don't you? You
rejoice. Sure don't want to see anybody
fall away. Love beareth all things. Here it is. Here's a characteristic. Lord, love beareth all things.
That means, that's a twofold meaning. Beareth means cover. Love covereth all things. That's
what that means. Love covereth. Wrath, envy, jealousy,
uncovers. Uncovers, exposes the thoughts. Gossip and so forth, repeating
a matter. It doesn't cover it, that makes
it known to everybody. A whisperer, a separator, a very
friend. You don't love somebody when
you whisper about them, talk about them. And a man called
me one time. Right after a brother's son got
in serious trouble and a man called me, another brother called
me immediately to tell me what happened. I thought, why did
he do that? Why is he doing that? Would you want that done if your
child got in trouble? Would you want anybody calling
everybody and telling them about it? Love covereth, doesn't it? When
you take away the fuel, the fire will go out. Oh, love covereth. And it also means beareth all
things. It bears up. It withstands assaults. In many things we offend all.
All of us offend one another because we're offensive creatures,
especially with the animal. We all offend. But love bears
up under that. Suffereth long. Endureth often. Love endures. Verse 13, look
at the next thing. Love, verse seven, believeth
all things. Believeth all things. Love to
God first, believes every word. If you love God, you love everything
he says. All the truth of God. You love
it. It's his character. You love
it. Love is true. You believe all things. And it
also means love to others. You refuse to believe an evil
report unless it's proven by the strongest evidence. You refuse
to believe it unless it's proven by the strongest evidence. And
even then, the next thing says, hopeth. Well, he had a bad way,
but you come at it. Grace of God's in it. I see hopeth. I have great hope. Hopeth all
things. Based on mercy and grace of God.
Hope, I hope it'll be all right. It'll turn out. Love hopeth all
things. Love endureth all things. Verse
seven. Endureth all things. Puts up
with. Goes through. In everything.
True love. Because love, verse eight, never How much of you, let me just
talk to you, Brother John, you're right there. You and Earline
have been through a lot, haven't you? My, my. Earline, I know
you've been through, with John. Same with all these wives. I
know, John's not in his head. But we go through so much, Thomas,
so much water, but what do you say it's under the bridge? Endure
so much. And there you sit. After all
these years. How long have you been married?
A hundred? About a hundred years? Long time in there. You're still
together. Why? Love. The love of God. There you see
it. Been through a lot in there. Endured a lot. Well, you have
to endure a lot when you're married to a 24-year-old boy. Like Mindy was for me. But love never faileth. It doesn't quit. It doesn't stop. It doesn't stop. What's that say about God's love?
It's everlasting, isn't it? It's everlasting. God can't love
everybody, because that means he loves them forever, right? And you'll send people to hell
that you love. All right, love never fails. Go on, let's quit. It says, if there be prophecies,
they're gonna fail. Tongues, you'll see, there won't
be any need for prophecies eventually. They'll fail, the languages,
they'll fail. The Lord removed Brother Cody, didn't he? Whether there be knowledge,
it'll vanish away. vanished away. We know in part,
we prophesy in part, that which is perfect is come, that which
is in part should be done away with. Someday, we're going to
look back on what we thought we knew and realize we didn't know anything,
especially about things like this. I didn't know anything.
How could I have been proud? How could I have ever been puffed
up, vaunt myself? I didn't know anything. If any
man thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing. Read on. When I was a child, this is the
way I acted. I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought
as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childishness. That's what that means. In chapter
14, verse 20, he says, Be not children in understanding, but
in malice. and character, attitude. Children
quickly forget things, quickly forget wrong, they don't harbor
malice and grudge. The children don't do that. Our
Lord said, be like a little child. Put away these childish things,
all of this puffed up and vaunting yourself and being rude, and
that's childish. Read on. He says, we see through
a glass so dimly, but then we're gonna see face to face. We're
gonna see love personified in person. And now I know in part,
but then shall I know even as also I am known. Aren't you glad He knows us and
yet still loves us? Oh my! That's the way we ought
to... Remember it says, know them that
have the rule over you, and I said we need to know each other like
that. We need to get to know each other in such a way that
we realize that ups and downs and ins and outs, and they love
you, and they're not, you know, they just acted that way because
they're a sinner! And I will too! And you won't
quit! Because now abided faith. Someday
we don't need faith, will we? We'll have sight. Hope. Hope
will give way to reality, won't it? Actual possession. Charity,
love, these three. But the greatest of these is love. You see, you can talk
about faith all you want to. You can say you have great faith.
You say, James dealt with this, didn't you? You say you believe
in one God, the devil does that. And James went further. He said,
you going to talk to me about faith without works? He said, show me. He said, I'll
show you. Faith that worketh by nothing. The greatest of things. See,
talking about faith, but working works of faith in love, now that's
greater. And it's great. It's great because
it comes from our great God who loves us greatly. All right, Stanley. Our Father in heaven, we thank
you, Lord, for your Word. It convinces us of sin. You said the Spirit, when He
comes, comforter, He will convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
We need to be convinced of sin. We need to be convinced of righteousness. Christ is righteousness imputed
and judgment. We stand in Christ, not judged. not condemned, and the prince of this world
is judged by Christ on Calvary's tree. And so, Lord, oh, what
great love and mercy and grace you've shown to us, convinced
us of these things, and oh, how this ought to convince us, this
ought to produce in us love. Love for thee, love for that
gospel, love for that truth, love for thy son, love for our
brethren whom you laid down your life for, your little children,
your brethren. Oh Lord, let us love as you love. Put this love in us, shed it
abroad in our hearts. Give us largeness of heart. Give us largeness of heart. Let us love as we ought. Oh Lord,
lay down our lives for our brethren. And it's in Christ's name we
ask these things. Amen. I should be able to reach him.