Okay. I have several verses of scripture to read in
the course of the message, so we will take this as our scripture reading. As I say it, I want you to get
the bulletin ready or look at the article in it. This message
tonight is one that I preached several times here, not the same
message, but the same text anyway, 1 Corinthians 13. It's a message that bears repeating
over and over again. Our Lord did. He spoke much of
this thing of love, didn't he? This morning when I spoke of
love, the world's philosophy being love, love, love. It's
not first. I mean, the truth that every
believer and child of God learns first, all that are taught first,
is not of the love of God first, but the holiness of God, righteousness
of God, the sovereignty of God. That's what everyone he teaches
first learns of him, right? Not the love of God. The holiness,
the righteousness, the sovereignty of God. Learn to fear the Lord. That's the beginning of all wisdom,
isn't it? Scripture says, fear the Lord.
And that's what's missing today. No fear of God before they're
out. Why? Because they think of him as
all love. It's all the philosophy of the day, love. But to the
believer, though, we do know him as God who is love. And that is the theme that our
Lord continually impresses upon his disciples. That's the theme. That's the commandment, isn't
it, Terry? That's the commandment that he
impresses upon us as his disciples. By this shall all men know you're
my disciple. This is my commandment. On and
on he says that, doesn't he? All the laws fulfilled in this
one word, right? The royal law of Christ to the
believer. I turn first to John chapter
15, the gospel of John chapter 15. leading into the subject of love, I want you to
see what the Lord himself says about it. Of course, everything
written is inspired by our Lord himself. But listen to his very
words here from John 15, verse 2. Now, pay attention to these scriptures,
because they're all tied together. John 15, 2, he says, Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. Every branch
that beareth fruit, he purges it. That is, he prunes it. He makes sure that it brings
forth more fruit. Right? More fruit. You should
never be satisfied. We do bear fruit, but we need
more fruit, don't we? And like some of the disciples
one time said, Lord, when did we do these things? They weren't
aware that they had done anything worthy of notice. So we need
more fruit. Verse 8, he says, Herein is my
Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. Much fruit. Look at verses 10 through 12.
If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even
as I have kept my Father's And therefore I abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain
in you, that your joy might be full. This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you." This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have loved you. Now look over at 1
John chapter 3. I remember our Lord was talking
about fruits, that every branch in him that beareth not fruit,
he takes it away. Or every one that appears to
be in him, every professor that beareth not this fruit, he takes
away. But every branch that beareth
fruit, and it does. Everyone that abides in the vine
must bear fruit, but he purges it to make it bring forth more
fruit. What is this fruit he's talking about, chiefly? Look
at it, 1 John 3, verse 10, "...in this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God, neither is he that loveth not
his brother." This is the message that you heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another. 14 through 16, we know that we have
passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that
loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his
brother is a murderer. We know that no murderer hath
eternal life abiding in him. Hereby I perceive we the love
of God, because he laid down his life for us, so we ought
to lay down our lives for the brethren. Look at chapter 4,
1 John 4, and he goes into this fruit. This is the fruit. This
is what our Lord taught. This is the fruit of the Spirit
that he produces. That is, it's the love of God
shed abroad in the heart. This is it. This is the fruit
from which all works and everything comes from. All right? Verse 7, 1 John 4, Beloved, let
us not love one another, for love is of God. Everyone that
loveth is more of God. and knoweth God. And we're going
to see in a moment from 1 Corinthians 13 what this true love is really. It's not just a superficial,
I love you brother, you know. It's described in 1 Corinthians
13, isn't it? Read on. He that loveth not knoweth
not God. God is love. God is in you, then
love is, right? And this was manifested, the
love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through him. Here is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us. I'll just digress a little bit here. I
always, when I hear people... I heard a fellow on tape the
other day, and it was a good message, until he started talking
about how much he loved the Lord. and how much his parents who
raised him loved the Lord. I don't like to hear that, you
know? I don't like to hear that at all. I don't believe anybody
that has any true understanding. We must be able to say, yes,
we do love him, but we don't go around telling everybody that.
And that's not what we're wagging about anyway. Hearing is love,
not that we loved a God. Oh, I know so-and-so's a believer
because he loves the Lord. Well, yes, but no. So-and-so's a believer because
he believes the Lord loves him. You understand what I'm saying?
As a commentary on that verse. Here is love, not that we love
him. Verse 11, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to
love one another. No man has seen God at any time
if we love one another. God dwelleth in us and his love
is perfected and matured in us. Read that again. No man has seen
God at any time if we love one another. And I've shown you before,
we've seen before, how that we are to one another, we are the
body of Christ. We are, Christ said, as much
as you've done One of these, you've done it unto me. Whatever
we do to one another, we do to Christ. We can't touch him. He's
in the heavens, right? Can't do anything for him. Doesn't
need anything. But his body does. His heel does. His feet do. Hereby know we dwell in him. Now here it is. Here's the fruit.
Hereby we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because
he has given us of his Spirit. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
We have seen and do testify that the Father, this is faith, this
is faith right here, we have seen and do testify that the
Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, whosoever
shall confess Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, he
and God, and we have known and believed the love God hath to
us. This is faith, isn't it? God
is love, he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God
in him. And that's love, faith and love. Faith, hope, and love is what
that is. We hope in Him. Herein is our love made perfect. Love with us is made perfect.
We may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is,
so are we in this world. There's no fear in love, but
perfect love casts about fear. He is perfect love, because fear
hath torn me of the heated. Fear is not made perfect in love. And if we realize that God really
loves us, That'll cast that off you. Like a Heavenly Father,
like a Father pitieth his children. If you realize that, that'll
cast that off you. What, me worry? My Heavenly Father
loves me and everything he does is for my good? We love him,
yes we do, verse 19, because he first loved us. Now, if any
man say, I love God and hates his brother, he's just a liar.
He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God whom he hath not seen? This commandment have we from
him, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also. All right? Now look at the article in your
bulletin. And this is the thing I'm aiming
at in this message, what I'm aiming at for you and for me.
And I know this message is needful because I need it. I know it
will bless you because it will bless me. And the things I aim
at for you, I want for you, I want for me. That's generally how
I approach things. Whatever I know I need and whatever
I know, however the scripture speaks to me, I know it will
speak to you because we're men and women of like passions, right?
And I ran across this verse in Ephesians. Look at it. Until
we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of
the Son of God on the perfect man, a mature man, the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we'd be no more
children. And one of those things that
I aim at for us, and the purpose of this message is number three
there, the third thing, maturity and love. Maturity in love. Mature love. And I quoted James
2.1. Brethren, have not the faith
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect to
persons. Christ was no respecter. He didn't
love John more than he did Peter, did he? He didn't love Peter
more than he did whoever. James did it. He played no favor. And mature
love doesn't either. Mature love is a broad love. It plays no favorites. It loves
all equally and unconditionally. Mature love is more concerned
with giving, giving than receiving. Mature
love looks on things of others, not self. Mature love is sacrificial. Mature love is all those things
in 1 Corinthians 13. All right, so let's look at it. Let's look at it, and this is
what I want from me. And if this is the thing that
our Lord said, this is my commandment. This is not an option. This is
the proof. This is how you may know. This
is how all men may know. Terry, I've got to know if this
is in me. Don't you? I've got to. It behooves
us. It's imperative that this love
be in me, right? If this is how all men know,
If this is Christ's commandment, and he said, you abide in my
love if you keep my command, if this is his, if this is what
is the fruit of the Spirit, what must come from me and out of
me and in me, from him, I've got to have it. And to a degree,
don't I? I've got to have it. All right?
Look at it. 1 Corinthians 13. And let me
say this first. I see this love here. Let me
commend you first. This is the confidence I have
in this church, that you do love one another. I have that confidence
in you, like Paul did for the Ephesians, like Paul did for
the Colossians, the Thessalonians, the Philippians. He said that
in each of those letters. He commended them for their love
one to another. And I commend the same to you.
this message. I commend you for the same. I
see it here. I see it and I experience it.
I'm the object of it. I see that love here. But it's
not perfect, is it? It's not perfect. Do we need
to grow here in this grace? Oh, my. Don't we, Vicki? Oh, I want it more, don't you?
I want to grow up in Him in all things, especially this, because
herein is love. And I want it to be perfected
more and more, along with faith. Now, here's real love, and he
says in verse 1, Though I speak with the tongue of men and of
angels, and have not charity, I am become as sound and brass
and tinkling cymbals. Isn't it interesting that he
begins this way? First thing he says on the subject
is, though you talk real big, If your walk doesn't match it,
you're nothing. That interesting? Ah, boy. It begins with this,
though I speak. Our Lord said this when he talked about the Pharisee
in Matthew 23. He said, they say and they don't
do. Remember that? and they don't do it. You know, I talk the talk and
know the terminology and the doctrine, and I'm a good-sounding
Calvinist and so forth, and everybody's impressed with my knowledge and
my abilities to read and to pray and my discernment. If this love
is not there, it'll find me out, and besides that, all I'm saying
to God, anyway. It's like beating an old gong.
You ever heard anybody beat a gong for any length of time? It's
absolutely irritating to your ears after a while. You ever
heard that? I have. And that's what God says. It's irritating to his ears.
Well, look at verse 2. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, though I have
faith to I could remove mountains and have not charity, though
I'm gifted with some understanding. Paul speaks sarcastically here,
I believe. Nobody knows all mysteries, do
they? Some think they do. You know, we all, like I said,
we all need this because talk is so cheap and we're all so
full of it, aren't we? We know so much. And I quote
it all the time in the scripture that says, if any man thinks
he knows anything, anything, if anybody thinks they've got
anything down pat, they don't know anything. They need to start
all over again. And I see it in myself and mourn
it, but I'm beginning to reach the point where a lot of talk is becoming increasingly
distasteful to me. I hear people just talk, talk,
talk, talk, talk. And, oh my, God is in the heavens,
let your words be few. That's what he said, isn't it?
Huh? Let your words be few. And, without love, we're nothing.
We're less than that. He says, less than nothing. I'm nothing. Less than that. Verse three,
for I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, Do I give my body,
do I do many things for the good of others and so forth? And don't do it out of a true
motive of love and so forth. Out of the love of God shed abroad
in our hearts, love to the glory of God. To Christ, having my
love, it profits me nothing. It profits me nothing. Many charitable
organizations, you know, they're doing these things. mostly for
their own glory, not out of love to God for his charity toward
us. Verse 4. Charity. And here's
a description of love. He describes it. Charity, or
love, suffereth long. Suffereth long. We think we've
put up with a lot from people, don't we? It's really us they put up with.
You know? It's really us they put up with. Suffer with. Suffer. Suffer with the... They suffer
with our abuses and so forth. How long were we supposed to...
Peter one time said, Lord, how long? How many times were we
supposed to give our brother? And he thought he was being real
charitable, didn't he, when he said seven times? Our Lord said
seventy times seven. And that was just a number meaning
infinitely. How long does the Lord put up
with us? Isn't that what He said, John? How long must I suffer
with you? Long time. The Lord suffereth long. Long
time. Long time. Long time. God said in one place, He said,
as long as you show mercy, I'll show mercy to you. Read on. Love
is long-suffering. Love is kind. Love is tender. Love is compassionate. Love is
caring. It's kind. You know what kindness means?
You know anybody that's a kind man or a kind woman, that means
they're just very tender. They're very caring. They're
very complimentary. Well, that was kind of you. They're
very thoughtful, right? They're kind, complimentary.
I wrote this down. If we never tell someone of our
love to them and our appreciation for them and we're never thankful
for what they do, we couldn't love that person, could you?
Love is kind. Love is kind. Our Lord even commends us. You know that? well done in our
good and faithful service. If he commends us rotten old
fellows, how much more should we render honor to whom honor
is due and his kindness to whom kindness is due? God commended
his love toward us, and we should commend everyone else for their
love toward us. Read on. It says love is kind,
love is Love envieth not. Love envieth not. There's nothing more averse to
love than envy, is there? Nothing. Nothing more averse
or contrary or opposite of true love than envy, and nothing more
detrimental. Are we jealous or envious of
our children? in any way, our child's happiness
or prosperity? Were you ever envious or jealous
over our children's prosperity or happiness? And what if, what
if that, oh, what's his name, Kevin back there, that, that
I'll never forget, see, what if, what if Kevin goes up to
be rich and things? Are you going to envy that? Are
you going to be jealous? Are you, that's what, you know,
you, that will bestow your happiness upon you. That will be your joy.
You don't envy his happiness. You want it, don't you? Love
envieth not. Love wants the best. We're never jealous or envious
of one we love. Love wants more for the one it
loves than for self. Right? I'll give you a thing
about this all the time, Rick. I'll just give this illustration.
Maybe a simple one but it holds true. Rick got his car for sale
up there. What if some guy comes by and
gives Rick $15,000 for that car? Huh? He's asking I don't know
how much. But what if some guy just comes
by and just gives him a big old price for that? Am I going to
say, that's just too much. He shouldn't have got that. How
could he? Here, I'll give you some of it
back. Here, give some to me. I ought
to be delighted. Good. Staying sure they're going
to sell their house and they get a huge price. Good. Great. I'm so glad. That's too
much for that house. It wasn't worth that. No, love
doesn't end it. Love's happy, right? Love's happy
once more for the loved one than even for self. Then that goes
hand-in-hand with the next thing, daunteth not itself. Love daunteth
not itself. Love never boasts itself over
someone else, never proud, never lords itself or daunteth itself
or puffed up. and thinks it's better than another. Never. Never. Read on. Love is not puffed up. Same thing. Love, true love,
is not puffed up, full of hot air. You know, the gospel is
supposed to take the wind out of our sails. My fill is full. It was full of Christ who was
lowly, meek and lowly, not puffed up. Love doesn't puff up. Christ
in us, the love of God shed abroad, it doesn't puff us up with pride.
It brings down humility. Christlikeness, true love, the
love of Christ, the love of God shed abroad, makes us meek and
lowly like Christ, doesn't puff us up. Verse 5. Love doesn't
behave itself unseemly. Now, it doesn't say it never
behaves, but behave, and all these things I want you to know
are a general tenor of life. We come far short of perfection
in all these things, don't we? Come far short. Nobody here,
nobody has loved like this but one. We're going to see that
in a little bit. One person who's loved like this.
But the degree of it must be within us, right? It must. It
must. If the love of God is shed abroad,
it must be there. And it doesn't, you know, Peter
behaved himself unseemly, didn't he? When he denied the Lord,
when he cussed to prove he didn't know the Lord, he got the spitting
and the cussing. Oh, what a, that's terrible misbehavior
on his part, wasn't it? But the point, the thing here
is the general tenor of a person's life. I was a misfit. I misbehaved all the time before
the Lord regenerated me, or began that process in me. I misbehaved
all the time, didn't you? You were just a misfit, constantly
misbehaving. But this is a general tenor of
life. Life does not behave or constantly behave itself unseemly. Unseemly. One thing to lose your
cool every now and then or misbehave, but it's a sign of an unregenerate
heart to be constantly flying off the handle. To be constantly
rude and stuck up and unpredictable and moody and hot-tempered. No, that's just not the way with
the child of God constantly. We don't. Love doesn't behave
itself unseemly because it's thick if not her own. You wouldn't
misbehave if you were looking on the things of others, would
you? The only reason we misbehave is because we think we have been
done wrong. And as I've said before, if we ever have something
done to us and we say, How could he do that to me? We ought to
ask ourselves, who am I? Who are me? Not like Catherine
Hepburn, who wrote that autobiography, and the title of it was, Me.
Boy, is that pride. Well, who are you? Me. There's
only one person who can ever say, I am. Right? With pride. glory, self-glory. I am. Who are you? I am me. That's
God, isn't it? That's Christ. I am that I am, and that He is. Right? And I want Him to be in
me. Not me in me. Him in me. My hope of glory. Doesn't seek
her own. Love doesn't seek her own. Again,
love doesn't seek its own, what it can get from people, but what
it can do for people, bestow what it can bestow upon people. If we lavish ourselves with more
things than we do those we're supposed to love, we don't love
them. Forget it. Nor God. That's what the Principle
of James sets forth, doesn't it? When man sees his brother
in need, How can the love of God dwell in him? Read on. Not
easily provoked. Love is not easily provoked.
Not easily offended, touching, temperamental. Read on. Thinketh
no evil. Love thinketh no evil. Never,
love, two ways here that love thinketh no evil. Love never
really thinks of hurting the one it loves. Oh, no. Love never maliciously sets out
to hurt the one it loves. Can't do it. Just can't do it.
It's not within love, the scope of love. Here's an answer. Do
you ever sit around and maliciously think, I'm gonna get that Joe.
I'm gonna get him. I'm just gonna... Do something
that you'll never forget. Is that love? No way! There might be times when you
act like that and you feel like that in the spur of the moment,
when he's acting ordinary or something, and that rises up
the flesh. You don't sit around and plan
it. Thinketh no evil. That's what that means, to think
on evil. Really hurting, never thinks about hurting the one
it loves. And also, this means that think no evil of someone,
true love, is not suspicious. Not suspicious. There's a scripture
that says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. As you think others to be, that's
where you are, evidently. That's cynicism, evidently. Now,
another word for cynicism? to be suspicious of other people.
Listen to this verse of Scripture, and you go home and learn what
this means. Our Lord said, is thine eye evil
because I'm good? Another place he said, if the
eye is evil, then the whole body is full of darkness. If the eye is evil, then the
whole body is full of darkness. Isn't that a a way of describing
cynicism, Vicki, isn't it? If the eye is evil, if you think
evil about everybody else, then you're the ones full of darkness. He's doing that, she's doing
that. You understand what I'm saying, John? That's not love. Others, you know, other people
can see their faults, but we don't see them so readily, do
we? Why? We don't think they're evil. We just don't suspect them
of evil. We all suspect them to hurt more
than anybody else because we know they're ours. Right? So anyway, we all suspect it
of our own more than others because if we know ourselves, we know
that's our offspring and we know the propensity is there. Right?
But we don't. Why? We love them. That's the
way we're supposed to love them. That's the way you're supposed
to love me, Henry. We don't think of no evil. Love, verse 6, rejoices
not in iniquity. Love never rejoices in the fall
of a loved one. So-and-so fell, they sinned,
they so-and-so did this or did that. Love never rejoices in
that. If my daughter someday became
pregnant without being married, think I'd run around telling
everybody about it? Huh? Oh, did you hear this? Did you hear that? Oh, I want
to cover it as long as possible, wouldn't I? Oh, my. Love never rejoices in the fall
of a loved one. Love rejoices not in iniquity. Love rejoices in the truth, with
the truth, in the truth. That's Christ, isn't it? Rejoices
in Christ. Rejoices in the truth concerning
Christ, but with the truth. Love only rejoices in getting
to the truth of the matter. Not hearsay. Not satisfied with
hearsay. A gossip, a rumor. Right? Did you hear about Roberta? I
heard, want to hear that? I heard that, Roberta. Oh, I
don't believe that. That can't be. Oh no, let's see
if it's so. Let's don't just believe that.
Let's see if it's so. Okay? Isn't that love? I don't want to believe that
about her. I just can't believe that about her. Even if it's
so about her. It was the next thing. Even if
it's so. It'll bear it. It'll bear all things. That word
bear means it'll bear it up for a bearer. It'll cover it. It'll
cover it. Love covereth a multitude of
sins, a multitude of faults. Love doesn't publish the faults
of others. It covers them. It hides them.
Another verse of Scripture that says, He that covereth a transgression,
he's the one seeketh love. But he that repeateth the matter,
he's trying to separate. He's not trying to unite. in
love. It's trying to separate. Generally,
we make ourselves look good when we try to make other people look
bad, don't we? That's not love. That's not love. No, you don't. Love believeth all things. Believeth
the best. You know, it's just as bad to
believe a rumor as it is to tell it. It really is. Love is not quick
to believe a rumor. And you know that three-point
criteria for telling a thing? Is it true? Let's get to the
bottom of it. Is it really true? Nine times
out of ten, it won't be true. Number two, is it kind? Well,
that'll stop ten out of ten. Is it kind? Is it necessary?
That's the last. Is it just necessary that we
repeat this? Is it going to do the glory of
God any good? Is it going to do that person any good? Is it
doing us any good? So that'll stop it all, won't it? That'll
stop all gossip and rumors and hearsay and so forth. Love beareth
all things, believeth all things, loveth hopeth all things. Love
hopeth all things, even if it is true. It never gives up hope. It never gives up hope. These
mothers, you know, whose sons are on death row. Multiple serial
killers. Their mothers never give up hope,
do they? He's a good boy, I know he is. He's brutally murdered 100 people,
but he's a good boy. You know, hope is the whole thing.
That's love, isn't it? It's also ignorance. But it's
love nonetheless, isn't it? Love for that person. Boy, that's
the love of the Lord for us, isn't it? Huh? We're murderers. We are on death row by nature. He said, Lord, we're not going
to give up on him yet. You gave him to me. I'm going
to give up. You gave him to me, and I'm not
going to give up on him. I'm going to make sure he's saved
and brought into the fold. Endureth all things. Read on.
Love hopeth all things, love endureth all things, disappointments,
abuses. Love never faileth. Never faileth. What's that mean? It means never quits. I don't love you anymore, honey.
Maybe I'm here to tell you that. It's all over. I don't love you
anymore. I never did. Right? Love never fails. Is that right? Well, here's our
reason for divorce. Irreconcilable differences. No
such thing. In love, is there? No such thing.
Irreconcilable? No. Love rejoices, beareth all
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. That's reconciliation in Isn't that reconciliation? Love
wants to reconcile. When a person says that, what
they mean is irreconcilable difference is what that means if they don't
want to reconcile. That's what that means, John. And they go
to divorce court. Irreconcilable difference, that
means neither one of them wants to get back together. All right? Love never fails. Never fails. This is my commandment,
Christ said. Not an option, this is my commandment,
that you love one another. How? Like this. Is this good? Is this profitable? Is this right? Is this just?
Is this true? Is this needful? Do you need
this, John? Do you need perfection? Do you need maturity here? You
got this all covered? Come to our shore. Brethren, this is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you." Look back
again now, and let's look at this as Christ loved us. Verse four, love suffereth long. Oh my, that's his name. Salvation. Didn't they say that
in the first period? The long suffering of the Lord
is salvation. It's going to be our salvation.
The fact that the Lord is going to suffer with us till the day
we die. He's going to put up with you,
old boy, till the day you die. He's going to suffer with you,
an old fellow like you. That's your salvation in it.
He's going to put up with you till the day you die. That's
our Lord. That's the love. He says, that's
how I love you. Read on. Love is kind. Oh, how kind. How kind. Bless him. Bless the Lord, O
my soul. And all who's within me, bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, for
getting out all his benefits, his kindness, his loving kindness. The song said, oh, how sweet. How kind the Lord is to us, isn't
he? We don't deserve anything of
his kindness. We've done nothing to merit any
kindness, but nothing but wrath. Anyway, John, we deserve nothing
but wrath. What do we get? Nothing but kindness. We provoke Him without end, don't
we? Provoke Him daily, hourly, minute
by minute. He's nothing but kind to us.
He never loses His... His temper with us. Never. Always
kind. You know anybody like that? There's
a few people in here like that. The most Christ-like people are
like that. You know? We were with one last night,
weren't we? A woman that just never gets
mad. Never gets mad. And some people,
that's the most Christ-like trait. I can think of. So kind. Don't you want that? Huh? Don't
you want that, Rick? I want to be kind. Our Lord was
kind. He was kind. What a kind and
gentle man He was. How kind He's been to me. Hasn't
He been kind to you? Love envious not? Oh, my. Christ took upon Himself
the form of a servant. Envious. His—Lord, for us, John
was diametrically opposed to envy. He was absolutely the opposite
of envy. He was an absolute desire that
we be daunted. Not envy. He, though he thought
it not right for him to be equal with God, took upon himself the
form of a servant, humbled himself, made in a likeness a sinful face
for the likes of you and me. Envy? Isn't God good? Oh, it's 180 degrees the
other way. Love bounteth not itself. Christ, he didn't, it says he
didn't bount himself. He could have, couldn't he? Couldn't
he? One time I remember him saying,
now, and this was one time, I think he said it,
I'm not sure who he said it to, it doesn't matter. One time he
said this, Stan, he said, I'm from above and you're from beneath. I think that was in John 6 when
he said it to the Pharisees. Was it? I think it was. Or John
8, one or the other. I think he was talking to the
Pharisees. That would be true. Don't look it up. Stay with me. Stay right here. But he never
bothered himself, said that one time. Other times, himself. He could have, couldn't he? Now,
I'm somebody. You're nobody. Couldn't you have
said that all the time, John, to those fishermen? Who do you
think you are, Peter? You're nothing! I got you from—you're
nobody from nowhere, going nowhere. You could never have done anything.
No, you wouldn't. I'm somebody, and he could have
rightfully said it, couldn't he? Now, I'm somebody. You're
nobody. Oh, no, he's constantly encouraging and victimizing. Oh, my God, if not puffed up,
he said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. I'm meek and
lowly. I'm not puffed up. Oh, he could have been, couldn't
he? He is all the fullness of God.
Of his fullness have we received. Doth not, verse 5, behave himself
unseemly? Christ never misbehaved. Oh, my. His behavior. What about his behavior, Terry?
His manliness. You want to know the meaning
of true manliness, true womanhood, true maturity? It's being in
control of your temper, of yourself. Ain't nobody here that can do
that fully, completely. Christ could, and did. Never misbehaved. Never got out
of sorts. Never grew angry without a cause. Seeketh not... Christ never sought
His own, did He? Never sought His own. Never did. He never made His own needs. Not one, not one time. Not one time. Thirty-three of
the thirty years, He never did anything for Himself. That's
the inconceivable of it. Well, herein is love, isn't it?
Greater love of no man than this. Huh, John? Greater love of no
man than this. In Christ's love. Never sought
his own. Never sought his own. But here's
a little play on words. He did seek his own. So, yes. Is not easily provoked. Oh, he's... If he can be provoked
at all, he would be. He's never provoked
at us. Not only is he not easily provoked,
he's never provoked at us. You know what it means to be
provoked? We do it all the time. We get provoked with one another.
Steve, our kids, we... Come here, kid! And we catch ourselves, don't
we? We catch our... Son, I'm sorry. Pulled off the
handle and all. I just got provoked with it.
Our Lord never gets provoked. Never. We're a lot worse than Joseph
Aaron. No, no. I got it one too. Never provokes. Not only easily,
but not easily provokes. He never provokes. Think of no
evil. You know, if he thought on us as we really are, that's
all he'd think about us. That's all we are, is evil. You
know how he thinks on us? As righteous. Oh, my. Rejoice is not iniquity. Well,
he rejoiced in. He says, for the joy of certain.
He rejoiced in putting it away. Talking about covering it from
multitude of sins. Ah, you're in his love. Love
covereth the multitude. His love covered them all. Rejoice is in the truth. that
he is the truth. Oh, he said, I do always those
things which please my heavenly Father. He rejoiced in truth,
truth and righteousness. And God the Father rejoiced in
him, his righteousness. Beareth all things, doesn't he
bear all things on him as the weight of all the world is on
his shoulder. He beareth it all. Cast your
care on him, he'll bear it. Believeth all things, He's my
faithful one, isn't He? He's the faithful one in His
faithfulness. He believeth for me. Hopeth all
things. He rejoiced in hope. Endureth
all things. Christ endured it all for me.
And here it is, the final commentary on Christ's love for us. He'll
never fail. Never fail us. He said, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. I mean, I agree with these people.
You know, these people say that God is love, and His love is
eternal. I know that. I agree with that.
That they believe, you know, there's some people in hell that
He still loves. Not so. Not so. But all He does set His
love upon, He continues to love throughout eternity, but He sure
won't send them to hell. Really. Really. Have love be
with everlasting love, therefore. Therefore. True love does something
for the one it loves. Therefore, with love inclining.
I'm drawing you. Drawing you with cords of what?
Love. Doesn't this draw you to Christ,
huh? Doesn't it draw you to him, his love for us? Greater love
of no man than he is. Now, in verse 13, in closing,
it says, "...now abideth faith, hope, and love." We live by faith
now. The just shall live by faith.
Someday that'll give way to sight. We won't need faith. Well, we
won't need faith. We'll see him, John. We won't
need to just believe on him. We'll see him. We'll be with
him. It's a good hope. It's a sure
hope. It's a good hope through grace. Because it is grace, it's
just as sure as the real thing, John. And it's the evidence of
things hopeful. It's good evidence. It's proof.
It's absolute truth. And certain hope. But that's
going to give way. Hope one day will give way to
actual experience. And love. Now about these three
things, that they'll be done away with, only one thing will
abide, and the greatest of them all is what? Love. Love. Love. Okay. Heavenly Father, we—it humbles
us, it should break us, it should convict
us, how far short we come with this
glorious thing called love. And seeing your love for us,
that's how it humbles us, or should, and breaks us and convicts
us. It gives us hope. Oh, how it
gives us hope. It encourages us and comforts
us and consoles us. that you should love such unlovely
creatures as we are. Love the unlovely. Died for the
ungodly. All herein is love. Not that
we loved you, nor ever will love you like this, but that you loved
us and sent your Son to prove the sincerity of your love. Oh,
that's the proof of the sincerity of God's love, he sent forth
his Son into this world and was made a bloody sacrifice for the
likes of us. What love! Greater loveth no
man than this man. He laid down his life for his,
not only his brethren, but those who were once his enemies. Thank
you, Lord. Thank you for that great love. And Lord, we want this love shed
about in our heart. We not only want to be filled
with a thankful heart for the love of Christ and see and feel
and experience this love toward us, but we want it in us. We
want it to be imparted to us. We want it to come from us through
you. Thou art the vine, we are the
branches. Lord, if we abide in the vine, it will bring forth
fruit and it will emanate from us. through you. From you, though,
you get all the glory. It will come through us and to
the brethren. And Lord, you said this is a
sign, it's a proof, it's an absolute evidence that the love of God
is shed abroad in our heart. Lord, fill us. May we receive
of thy fullness. May we receive grace for grace. Lord, help us. Help us to love
our brethren and not ourselves. Help us to love Christ. Help
us to love one another. May we loathe ourselves. May
we hate ourselves. May we love one another. Lord, let us do something to
prove sincerity of our love. May we grow, mature in love and
faith which worketh by love. Lord, it's my prayer for myself
and this congregation, these people, every one of us, This
love that we have studied, that you have revealed unto us, will
bear all things. Keep us, Scripture says, keep,
may God Almighty keep you in the love, keep you in His love,
the love of Christ. We're kept by it, this love of
God. It'll keep this congregation.
If we love one another, but love you and your gospel and love
one another, it will keep this congregation together. And nothing,
who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus, I know nothing. And nothing will separate this
congregation if that love is shed abroad here. It's my prayer,
for me and for, may I prove the sincerity of my love to these
people and vice versa. All these things we've done,
met together today in that name, In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is love personified, in his name we pray. Amen.