Thank you, Sherry. Alright, in a moment we're going
to look at 1 Corinthians 13 again, but first turn to 1 John. The first epistle of John. 1 John. We looked at 1 Corinthians 13
as early as last January, but yet it is so vital, so necessary
that we need to consider it. I remember telling you we need
to look at it once a year, but maybe twice a year is not enough.
You certainly need to consider it and remember it daily. Subject is love. That's the subject. The object is love. That is, that we might have true,
fervent love for Christ, for the brethren, and for others. 1 John 2. Let's look at just several
places here. The whole book of 1 John, this
is pretty much the subject. 1 John 2, verse 10, He that loveth
his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling
in Him. Chapter 3, verse 1, Behold, consider
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Verse 11 of chapter 3. This is the message that you
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Verses 18 and 19, 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 God. Verse 23, This is His commandment,
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as He gave us Commandment, chapter 4, verse
7 and 8. You see how vital this is. Beloved, chapter 4, verse 7 and
8. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Verse 10 and 11. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, a bloody
substitute, sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. A few more. Verses 20
and 21. If a man say, I love God and
hated 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, that he who loveth
God love his brother also." The next chapter, verse 1. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone
that loveth him that begat, that is God, loveth him also that
is forgotten of God. Doctrine is important. John also wrote that any man
abide not in the doctrine of Christ is none of it. Doctrine
is vital. The truth, which is teaching
the doctrine of Scripture, the truth is vital. But now, wait
a minute, truth without grace is hypocrisy. Doctrine without
the grace of Christ in the life is hypocrisy, and the believer
can bring more reproach. The believer, those who say they're
believers, can bring more reproach on the gospel than anyone by
acting in a manner contrary to the gospel, to the grace of God. so that's why this is so that's
why uh... the apostles speak to believers
as much as they do on the subject brethren do love one another
this church is one of the finest if not the finest example of
brotherly love of any i know of do you agree you came from
And one that was truly, is truly an example. Would you agree that
this one? Why is that, you suppose? Because
we look at this so often. You know? Because we consider
these things so often. That's why. We, and we come far short. Don't
we? Each of us would Admit it, we
come far short of the glory or that love which we should display. Don't we? We sure do. Do we need
work? We sure do. John's epistle is
all about love, the love of God to us. He said, herein is love. Here's true love. And here's
the motive. behind our love. Here's the reason
why we should love. Because if God so loved us, that
is, that God sent his son to be a substitute for worthless
people. Sent his son to take the place
of worthless people. No good. People didn't want him.
Sent his son to take our place and be a bloody sacrifice for
The holy spotless Son of God to take the place of, to be a
substitute of such rotten, no good, hell-deserving sinners
such as we are. If God so loved us, then we ought
to be able to love our own kind. That's what he said. We ought
to love one another. John 13, our Lord said this,
listen before we get to, and you can turn to 1 Corinthians
13. John 13, our Lord said this,
and listen to the weight of this statement. I know you've heard
it, you've read it many times. Our Lord said, By this shall
all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love
one to another. That's what he said. This is
the way they're going to know that you are my disciple. Think about the weight of that
statement. This is it. He said this is the way they're
going to know. So, you know, this love that he's talking about,
it must be something deeper than the average person thinks it
is. Paul wrote this. Paul said in
2 Timothy 3, he said, in the last days, that's these days,
in the last days, the days immediately preceding our Lord's return,
he said, men shall be, and he gives a long list of things that
describe our society. And the first thing he said,
the first mark, the first evidence, The way the world will be, he
said, in the last days, men shall be lovers of themselves. That means selfish, thinking
only of themselves. And that doesn't just mean themselves
personally. It means me and mine, my family,
me, us only, us four no more, us three, us two. But now, the
love of God shed abroad in someone's heart. True love. True love,
this supernatural love, will actually make a person love a
brother as much or more than his own flesh and blood family. Now, that's not natural. That's not natural. Blood is
thicker than water. And only the true love of God
put in somebody's heart can make them love somebody that's not
their flesh and blood. Our Lord himself exhibited that,
didn't he? His mother, his brethren came
to him one time and he said, who is my mother? This is my
mother and my brethren, he said. So a true love, true godly love
that loves others Even more than self. It's supernatural. It's a miracle. It's a miracle.
It is a miracle. There's no real virtue. There's
no real virtue in just loving your family. You should. Our Lord said that
if you love those that love you, that's what you ought to. That's what you're supposed to
do. But now, there's true grace and true virtue in loving those
and loving others, loving the brethren as family. All right,
1 Corinthians 13. The title of this message is
The Character of True Love. Paul says, Though I speak with
the tongues or languages of men and of angels and have not love,
I am become a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Though I
have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove
mountains and have not love, I am nothing. I have known over
the years some persons who have a very
good doctrinal knowledge, very good doctrinal knowledge, very
good knowledge of the doctrines of grace and even could articulate
those doctrines to others and seem to be zealous in their love
for the doctrine. Yet, they did not exhibit the
love of Christ in their home amongst the brethren. And Paul
says, though I know all doctrine and can expound it, And that
goes for the preacher or whoever it may be. It's nothing without love. Nothing. The fact of the matter
is, nobody is going to listen to what you're saying if they
don't think you really care about them. They're not. They're really not. Words mean
nothing. Words mean nothing if actions contradict them. Don't
think. If we talk about the grace of
God, and yet we are not gracious, our words mean nothing. They
don't mean nothing. And we do more damage. We really do. That's how important
this message is. He said in verse 3, he said,
Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though
I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profiteth me
nothing. Works without a motive of love. Anything done with anything
other than a motive of love. It's nothing. Prophets, nothing. It actually works against you.
Our Lord said of the Pharisees, he said, they do what they do
to be seen of men. And he said they have their reward.
That's their reward. That people brag on them for
what they do, but God doesn't. God is angry with them. So anything
done outside of a motive of love, there's no virtue in it. Now, the word love here is charity. What do you think of when you
think of charity? What do we think of when we think
of charity? When we use the word charity,
we think of giving. No, we think of freely giving. to a cause or to some want charity. Well, that's the word used for
love here, because that is a good definition of love. He said to
husbands, Husband, love your wives as Christ loved the church. How? And gave himself for her. That's how Christ loved the church. the manner in which he loved
the church. He gave himself thirty-three
years. He gave himself. And greater
love hath no man than this, and he lay down his life. Our Lord,
oh my, He is love, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is love,
isn't it? Personified. greater love if no man than this
and he laid down his life. He truly gave himself, did he
not? Did he love himself? Well, he
loved his brethren. He loved his people as himself
and gave. How do we know he gave himself? I mean, gave all that he was
and had. Every moment of his life was
spent in service to his loved ones. Is that right? The area is love. That's love. Is that not the goal we shoot
for? Is it not Christlike love? Love
is brethren. Peter, Paul, James, John, they
all speak of it many, many, many times. Peter said, see that you
love one another with a pure heart. And so on and so forth. Well, love is giving, giving of your
heart. We love God. God said, my son,
give me your heart. Don't just give me five dollars,
five hundred dollars. Give me your heart. Give me your
heart. where the heart is, or the treasury
is, that's where the heart is. All right, here's the character
of true love. Love, verse 4, suffereth long. Love suffereth long. The motive for all this is our
Lord's love to us, is it not? As we look at each of these,
we need to consider how long has the Lord suffered with me? Is that not the motive? I mean,
that's the motive here. How long has the Lord suffered
or put up with me? Some of us did not make a profession
of faith until later on in life, 30 years, 40 years, maybe even
50 or 60 years. How long would you put up with
someone that never gave you a thought, never gave you a word of thanks.
How long would you? God did. Do you remember Sunday
morning, 2 Peter 3, where he said, now consider this, remember
this, the long suffering of the Lord is salvation. The fact that
he waited to be gracious to us, put up with us, that was our
salvation. Should have been done with me,
Brother Henry, a long time ago. It should have cut me off, but
it didn't. I don't mean before I say it, I mean since. Long-suffering. So he says, what
about us? Now let me ask you something.
How much do we truly suffer with from other people? How much do
we truly suffer? How much do we have to be long-suffering
of? If you really think of yourself as the chief of sinners, you
would say, they suffer with me more than I suffer with them. Do you follow me? It really should
be nothing for us to suffer long with our loved ones or our brethren
or whatever, because if the truth be known, they suffer a lot more
with me than I do with them. Right? You feel that way? The
chief of sinners do. They feel that way. All of our
fits of madness, I'm talking about when we act
crazy. All of our fits of anger, all
of our poor conduct, all of our forgetfulness, they put up with
it. They suffer us. So, love is long-suffering. Long-suffering. It's our reasonable
service, really, to endure whatever others due to us because we do
a lot more than that. Is that right? Sure it is. I
mean, I always use our children as a good example because they're
the best. We love, I don't suppose there's
any greater love than a parent for a child. But our children,
how much will we suffer then? How long will we suffer their
thanklessness, their ungratefulness, their They will never do for
us what we have done for them. Never. They won't ever come close.
But you don't expect that. You don't expect them to. Why?
Why do you put up with everything? You love them. And you'll put
up with it until the day they die or you die, whoever dies
first. Right? Let me ask you this. How much did your parents put
up with in you? So should we put up with it in
our children? It's a wonder my dad didn't just
kill me. Why didn't he? He loved me. He loved me. Oh, he was so long-suffering
with a young rebel. So long-suffering. The least
I could do is put up with him. And my brethren, long-suffering. Long-suffering. Verse 4 says,
Love is kind. This is a good definition of
love, and it loves kind. Love is kind. I like the sound
of that word, kind. One of the best things you can
say about someone is, he's so kind. There's several people in there,
many people. If not most people in here are so kind. So kind. Kind means really thinking of
others, really tender, sweet, considerate. Kind, he's so kind. That's one of the best things
you can, one of the most Christ-like virtues, you can think, he's
so kind. The kind man, kind woman. The worst thing you can say about
somebody is, he treats me so unkindly. Isn't it? The most un-Christ-like thing.
kind, easily unkind means be easily mad, easily set off, treat
everybody roughly. Now who are we supposed to love
and who are we supposed to be kind to? Just the brethren? Our Lord said this in his Sermon
on the Mount. He said, I say unto you, you've heard
it said of them that you should love your brethren and hate your
enemies. But I say unto you, love your
enemies, that you be the children of God. God loved some of his
enemies, not all of them, but some of them, didn't it? Doesn't
it? Yes, he does, did, and does.
We're told to love everybody. We are. But we don't know who's
going to finally be one of God's children. Besides, how can we
get mad at anybody who's just like we were before the Lord
saved us? I'm guilty. I'm one of the worst. I have
a hard time putting up with dumb Armenians. I mean, people that
don't know the truth. and go around espousing their
false doctrine and all that. But, folks, every one of us were
ignorant blasphemers. Paul said that. He said, I was before a blasphemer,
injurious, the chief of sinners, he said. But I obtained mercy. So how should we treat others?
Kindly. Consider that they're just ignorant.
Spurgeon one time used an illustration. He said there was a man down
in a pit with a bunch of other, all of his friends. They were
down in a pit. And somebody came along and mercifully, graciously
reached down and picked him, this one person, out of the pit.
He wouldn't have got out of the pit unless the man picked him
up and took him out of it. But that man mercifully and graciously
pulled him out of the pit. But what did the man do that
was pulled out of the pit? He turned around and started
railing on the people in the pit. What are you doing in the
pit? You bunch of dummies! Get out of the pit! The man should have kicked him back
in the pit. Huh? The reason he's out is by grace.
Why should we be unkind to anybody just because they don't know
the truth? Now let me let me qualify that
preachers. Shoot them if you've got a gun
on you. But the people I feel sorry for the people. I really
do. I really do. But we're told to
be kind. We're told to love our enemies. Love our enemies. Yes we are. Be kind to everyone. Who knows? Peter gives this example
to a believing wife, a woman who's married to an unbelieving
man. He says, your lifestyle in front of your husband, your
graciousness, your loving kindness, your mercifulness, your kindness,
your gracious spirit and all just might have an influence
on him. He'll see There really is something
to this that you believe, isn't there? But if you act otherwise,
they're not going to believe your religion. No matter how
much you preach to them, if you act contrary to it, they're not
going to hear your word. Is that right? It sure is. Love is kind. The true
love of God is kind. This is a growth. This is a grace
that we all grow in. We can't expect to have full
kindness as soon as we're born. We can't. If you would ask my
father, he would tell you, and I would tell you, that he was
pretty rough as a young man, as a young preacher. Pretty hard. But how is he now? You tell me. you'd be the judge. She'd grown him kindly. He asked
my wife. You know, a young, newly married
young man. Boy, he's got a little bit of
authority. I am husband. You are. Submit. It's funny, really. It's kind
of funny, but it's not funny. It's sad what women endure in
the macho young fellows, you know. You'll have to ask my wife
if perhaps I've grown a little bit more kind over the years. I sure hope so. I sure hope so. But this is a grace that we grow
in. Every one of these is not something
we can expect overnight. So those of us who live with
should not expect our husband or wife or whoever it is, children,
parents, whoever it is, we should not expect them to have full,
full fruit of this, full growth overnight. But you should see,
this is the thing about life, it grows. If it doesn't grow,
it's not alive. It grows. Man or woman grows
kind, must grow kind with each passing year until they become
an old sock. Oh yeah. Tenderhearted. You know, I thought about this.
This world that we live in is a violent place. It's an unkind
place. Isn't it? People we work for,
our employers, people we meet, the dog eat dog that step on
you, run all over you, Don't care about you. Generation is. We get enough meanness and unkindness
where we work and out in the world. And we ought to be able
to find some kindness when we get home. We ought to be able
to find some kindness when we come in this place, right? These
are the places we go, the refuges we take to find some kindness. Kind. Love is kind. Kind. That's the character of lovers
for love. Envy, if not. Love truly is truly
happy with the prosperity of the one it loves. Love is truly happy with the
prosperity of the one it loves. Someone you love, you never envy
them having more or better or having it easier. That's just
not love, is it? And again, I'll use our children
as an example. There's not a parent in here
who would not be happy to see their children excel far and
above they have. Have more than they have as long
as it doesn't keep them from Christ. Love envieth not. No, love is
truly happy with the prosperity of the loved one. Love vaunteth
not itself. Faunteth not itself. Love would
rather brag on the one it loves than itself. Love would rather brag on the
one it loves than itself. And this is where in this husband
and wife relationship grows over the years. She's put up with me. Love would
rather brag on the loved one than itself. Love is not puffed
up. Love is not puffed up. Love takes no credit for anything. You sure have been a good father.
A big deal. That's my daughter. How can you take credit for that?
You understand what I'm saying? It's your reason. You sure have
been a good husband. Oh my, look at the wife God gave
me. Why wouldn't I be? Proverbs says, He that obtains
a wife obtains favor from the Lord, a real wife, a loving wife,
a true wife, a servant, a godly wife. Favor, great favor, undeserved
favor from the Lord. You sure are a good husband.
Well, I ought to be. How can I take credit for that?
You understand that? She's lovely. Why shouldn't I
love her? Love is not puffed up. It's love. Love's not proud of
love. It just does. Love read on. It does not behave
itself unseemly. Now, I'm the most guilty one here,
people. We all behave at times unseemly. We all get out of character. We all get, like I said, these
pits of madness. We all get crazy, like David.
Remember, David acted like a crazy man. And you'd never know, you'd
never have known he was a believer the way, if you'd come across
David the day he was acting like a wild man, you'd have thought,
he's a devil. But that wasn't the general character
of David. That wasn't the constant demeanor
of David. Oh, no, that wasn't the tenor
of David's life. That was a pit of madness. We
all get in a pit of madness. But the general rule of believer
is that they don't constantly misbehave, behave unseemly. Unseemly means out of character,
that which is not becoming to someone who professes to love. You see? That's not the general
character. Love seeketh not her own. Verse
5. Love seeketh not her own. That is, myself. A man, a woman who truly loves
her husband, wife, children, brethren, whoever, will think
of them first. Will spend more time on them
than self. We'll spend more money, we'll
buy them more things than Seth. That's love, isn't it? That's true love, isn't it? Charity,
again we're back to charity. A person, now listen, a person
who is selfish, who thinks first of Seth. It's probably lost, but maybe young. But this is one
of the things in regeneration, that God, the first thing he
does is make a person feel like they're nothing, and everybody
else is better than they are. That's the first thing every
young believer thinks, I'm the worst one here. Everybody here
is going to make it but me. Did you think that way when you
first heard the gospel? I'm the chief of sinners. And
so that's the general character of love. I'm a nothing, but there's
someone, there's somebody. And so love seeketh not her own
purse because it's not worthy. And if a person does, a person
that's self-centered and selfish and seeks only their own, and
this goes for just the family, just me and my family at the
exclusion of everybody else, needs conversion. There's a difference between
regeneration and conversion. When the Lord told Peter, When thou art converted, strengthen
your brethren." What did he mean by that? Well, Peter had been
talking about himself. Everybody else may leave you,
but me, not me. Yeah, they're going to. They
probably will, not me. Peter was always speaking up
first, always talking. And the Lord said then, Peter,
when you're converted, What are you going to do? What's
conversion? Strengthen the brethren. That's conversion. You quit thinking
about yourself. That's conversion, you know,
where you're converted from a selfish person to when you finally realize,
hey, I'm not on this earth to serve me and mine. I hadn't been saved, I hadn't
been put in church to serve me and mine, but the bread. Peter, do you love me? Hey, Lord, you know it. Feed my lamb,
feed my sheep, feed my people. Strengthen the bread. Strengthen the bread. So love
seeketh not her own. person's truly converted, they'll
realize that I'm not here for me. I'm not here for me. I'm here
for somebody else. And the ultimate purpose for
a believer in church is, huh, you're a stone in the building.
that which you use, that which every joint supply. To build up the breath, not stay
off to yourself, but in the church to help the
church. Verse five, he says, love I think it is not easily
provoked. Love is not easily provoked.
Do you need this? Do you want me to continue? Do you want me to continue? I need
this. Maybe we need it every three
months or weeks. Love is not easily provoked. If we really think we are worthless,
Now getting back to this again, if we really think that we're
the chief of center, how could anybody provoke us? How could anybody provoke the
chief of center? Spurgeon used to say this, he
said, if somebody says something bad about you, just be thankful
they don't tell the whole truth. Just be thankful they don't know
the whole truth about it. And don't tell it off. They can
just say it's part of it. Don't get provoked. Who or what
could provoke the Chief of Senate? I'd love to have David's attitude,
wouldn't you? Shimei cussed him, you know, leave him alone. The
Lord sent him to cuss me. That fellow, remember Shimei,
was cussing David. King. God's King. And David's friend, now this
is what a friend will do, a friend will stick up for the honor of
the one that it loves. He said, I'm going to go take
his head off. David said, no, you leave him alone. The Lord
sent him to cuss man. Well, you need a good cussman
every now and then. Well, love is not easily provoked,
love redone. Thinketh no evil. Got to hurry. Love thinketh no evil. Instead
of saying this, what did she mean by that? Somebody does something or says
something and we take it wrong. What did they mean by that? Love
should say, they really didn't mean that. Shouldn't it? And again, I'll use children.
A mother and her son. Let's use that. That is the ultimate
example. A mother and her son. Mothers
are so easy on their boys because their boys can do no wrong in
a mother's eyes. I know I was one. I was the baby
boy. And my mother was either just
so naive or just so overlooked things or just maybe so in love
with me that she always didn't know he was a sweet boy. Now, Dad, he's a monster because he's me.
That's me. I know it, Mother. Oh, he's sweet. He didn't mean that. He really
didn't. He didn't mean it. Well, that's the way love ought
to be among the brethren, too. Among everybody. Among everybody. Love thinketh no evil. Love,
and the word thinketh no evil means no premeditated evil. Love
doesn't seek revenge. I'll get her for that. Oh, no. Oh, no. That's not love. That's revenge. That's malice. Verse 6, "...who rejoiceth not
in iniquity." Love rejoiceth not in iniquity. When someone
falls, when a believer falls, when someone messes up, love
doesn't rejoice in that. Love grieves over that. Listen
to this statement my dad made. What a man is, he wishes others
to be. If he's evil, he delights to
see evil in others, and he points it out. He loves to see others
fall, because that's where he is. When people finally leave
the gospel, one of the first things they begin to do is find
fault with everybody else. That's right. If you find yourself finding
fault with everybody else, it's a bad sign. What a man he is,
he thinks he wishes others to be. If he is evil, he delights
to see it in others and points it out. Love finds reasons to
love somebody. Love finds reasons to love, not
reasons to hate. There's enough of Christ in every
brother to love him. No reason to find things to hate. Verse 7, Love rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth. Love wants to get to the truth
of the matter, too. I don't know which is worse,
he that starts gossip or he that repeats it. Scripture says much
about gossip, the tail bearer. God hates it. You remember the three criteria
for repeating a matter? You remember? Before you repeat something about
someone. Ninety-nine out of a hundred
things are not worth repeating about someone. Especially if
it's going to sow discord, don't do it. God hates those that sow
discord, and that's one way of doing it. Number one, before
you repeat a matter, is it true? Do you know beyond a shadow of
a doubt that it is true? If not, it's gossip. Number two,
is it kind? Is it going to be something kind? That would stop the first one
would stop seventy five percent. The second would stop ninety
five percent. The third one must stop at all.
Is it necessary. Is it necessary. I really need
to even say this at all. Is anybody profit from me saying
that. We sure don't know. We we end up worse than we were
before we reveal. We really do. It's a poison. Verse 7, Love beareth all things. The word beareth, turn to Proverbs
17, quickly. Proverbs 17. I'm going to wind
this up. Proverbs 17. The word beareth
is covered. I don't know why they use the
word beareth there, because it's not. It's the only use of the
word in the New Testament right there, beareth. The word is covereth,
and if you look it up in the Greek dictionary, it means like
putting a roof over it, putting a lid on it. That's exactly what
it means. And we get this. It says, Love
covereth all things. Proverbs 17, and this is just
one of many, many verses. Proverbs 17, verse 9, He that
covereth a transgression seeketh love. But he that repeateth the matter,
separateth their claim. The only reason we would repeat
something about someone is to bring them down the eyes of someone
else. But if we don't want to do that, then we cover it, don't
we? We don't want to tarnish their reputation. We want to
love them. Cover it, the transgression.
Isn't that what we do about our family? Much more, our brethren. We don't go around repeating
And I won't repeat it. When our children get in trouble,
when our children break the law, when our children get speeding
tickets, we don't go running around telling them, I just did. We don't do that. That's a minor
violation of the law. So my parents didn't go running
around telling everybody everything I did. Do it. That's part of the process, is
humiliation. Part of the learning process.
Humiliation and fines, money. It'll soon be over, Hannah. It'll soon be over, believe me.
Just don't get another one. Anyway, love coverage. We don't
go running around telling people how bad our children and our
husbands and wives are. We don't do that. We cover it.
We cover it. Love covereth the transgression.
Seeketh love. Love believeth all things. Love believeth all things. Believes the best. Love believes
the best in someone. Hope with all things. These go
together. They believe the best in someone.
And they hope for the best. Let's give him more time. Let's
hope for the best. Well, she's a goner. Well, hold
on. We love her. No, no, no. We're
not going to give up any. Well, he's a goner. He's done
gone. He's lost it. No, no. Let's hope not. Let's hope not. Let's hope for the best. God
still puts up with us, doesn't He? Let's hope He'll love us. Bring your prodigal back. That's
love. Love never gives up. Hope's for
the best. Read on. Where am I? Endureth all things
through riches. Richer or poorer, isn't that
the vow we make? For richer or for poorer. The
reason that doesn't work out, I've told you why that doesn't
work out, because we've got marriage all wrong. We've got marriage
all wrong. These couples spend thousands
of dollars on a wedding. The woman, she's never looked
prettier in her life when she comes walking down the aisle.
He's never seen her that pretty. He thinks, wow, look what I'm
getting. And they fly off to Hawaii and stay in the penthouse. And they think, oh, marriage
is wonderful. Why didn't I do this a long time
ago? See, it starts out all wrong.
Then they go home, a week later they're living in a trailer and
his wife wakes up with no make-up on. Wait a minute, that ain't
the one I said I do. They ought to do it the other
way around. Have her coming, walking down the aisle like she'll
look Monday morning without make-up. Say, do you really take this
woman? And have them go live in the trailer for a week without
air conditioning. Do y'all really intend to stay married? And let
it get better. You understand, marriage is all
wrong. It starts out under false pretenses. For richer, for poorer. That starts, for richer, yeah,
for richer. Yeah, I'll stay with her as long
as we're rich. No, it ought to be for poorer
until maybe if you get a little richer. You love somebody when
you're poor, you sure love them when you're rich. Right? Love endureth all things, sickness
or health. Let's wait on that person while
they're lying in bed for a week. That takes patience, doesn't
it, Mindy? Mindy said, I'm a bad patient when I'm sick. I hope
I get better. She's just a bad nurse, is what
it is. She doesn't have much patience with patients. But anyway,
that's how we ought to start out. Let them lie in the sick
bed for a week. Are you really going to love
this person even if they never get up? People have left people when
they've become incapacitated. John Howsam, his wife, he got
him assed. His wife left him, took their
daughter, and he never saw her for 20 years. Never saw his daughter. Man, what do you think that woman's
got coming to her from God Almighty? Through good times, bad times,
they're going to happen, aren't they? Love endures all things,
all things. Love, verse 8, never fails. That's the character of love.
It's love. It never stops. You never fail
it. True love, God-given love, Christ-like
love, God's love. Now, we'll get back to God's
love. The chief example. God quit loving
His people. He said, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to be. And he that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out ever. Ever. I'll never cast them out. Why? I love them. I love them eternally. That's
love. Love is eternal. Love never faileth. Love never quits loving the one
it loves, and never finally really fails the one it loves. We have
failures, but generally speaking, love abideth faithful. verse
of that chapter says, now there's three things, faith, hope, and
love, but faith will give way someday to
reality. Hope will give way to experience. But love, it'll never quit. It'll just get perfect. Absolutely. The greatest, that's why it says,
the greatest of these is. You see why he started out by
saying, though I have all faith, though I have all doctrine, though
I have all everything correct and I know all my doctrine. It
means nothing if you don't love the person that you're speaking with, living
with. Faith, hope and love, the greatest
of these is love. God is love. OK. Sherry, let's sing a closing
hymn, 187. 187. 187 is Bless Me the Time. I love this. We always sing this
hymn after a special time. I think it's fitting. And again,
I hope it didn't sound like a scolding
yet, but scolding myself, if anybody. This church exhibits
more the love of God or as much of the love of God for Christ,
for the gospel, for one another than any I know of anywhere.
I mean that. But that's not to say that we don't need growth,
do we? All right, let's stand and sing
187. Blessed be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above. Verse three, we share our mutual
woe. our mutual burdens bear, and
often for each other blows the sympathizing tear when we asunder
par. you. uh...