In the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, I want to draw your attention to the last few verses
for our message this morning here, beginning at verse 8, concerning
the greatness of godly love. The greatness of godly love.
Now, we've been studying this chapter and I had Joe, Brother
Joe, read it in its entirety this morning again. We've read
it before, and most of you are well familiar with it. But I
wanted to keep things in their context. The first thing that
we need to really have sealed in our minds is this, this issue
of charity or love. That's what it is. And what this
love is. This is the godly love that,
number one, God in Christ has for His people. We've quoted
so many times in 1 John 4 and verse 10 where the Apostle John
writes by inspiration of the Spirit, he says, herein is love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation That word propitiation, you know what it
means. It's a sin-bearing sacrifice, substitute, that makes satisfaction
for sin. There's the key to propitiation.
It's a satisfaction. It's not an attempt. It's not a good try. It's a completed
work of propitiation for our sins. Christ died for the sins
of his sheep. He put them away. He satisfied
the justice of God for our sins. He satisfied the debt. Paid the debt in full. And that
was proven. That was proven by His resurrection
from the dead. He died. He was buried. He arose from the dead. Life
came from His death. How do you know? That's the proof
that what He did on that cross in His death was a completed
work, a redemption, the establishment of righteousness, the putting
away of sin. Now, his doing that is the greatest
manifestation of the love of God to his people, his sheep,
his church that has ever been found or ever will be found.
And I think you can see that pretty clear in scripture. As
is stated over and over again, we quote John 3.16. Many people abuse that and quote
it out of context. But that's what that's talking
about. It's not talking about a universal salvation at all,
not even universal love. But it's talking about the magnitude
and the degree of the love of God in sending his son to save
his people out of this world God's elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue and nation, Jew and Gentile. He sent His Son. And there's the condition of
salvation met in the death of Christ. There's the stipulation,
the requirements, all met in the death of Christ. Salvation
conditioned on Christ. There's grace. Not on the sinner. That's works. And in John 13
and verse 1 it says, He loved His own unto the end. That means
the finishing of the work. So he proved that love by doing
that great work. And I often hear preachers today
make this point, and it's a good point, that this love is not
a noun, it's a verb. It's not just something you sing
about and write poetry about and sit around and smile about.
It's something, it's action. And that's what he's talking
about. This is divine love. It's not human love. This love
is not human. It comes from the fact that God
himself is love. It's love that none of us have
by nature. This kind of love. We have love
by nature, but not this kind. We love self. We love extensions
of self. And I dealt with all that. Man's
problem is that he loves sin. That right? We love sin. Jeremiah said, we drink iniquity
like water. And that's our problem. That's
why we need salvation. Even the most religious of us,
even the most moral of us by nature, we love sin. We love
ourselves. But this kind of love is the
love that God shows towards his people in our redemption. And
it's the kind of love that God sheds abroad within our hearts,
our minds, affections, and will by the power of the Holy Spirit
as He shows us our sinfulness, our deservedness of damnation,
and then shows us the glory of Christ and salvation, forgiveness,
justification, sanctification, all in Him. So if you want to
see and experience the love of God, and let me say it this way,
look here what he says in chapter 13. He talks about tongues, that's
languages, preaching the gospel in other languages. Though I
have that gift, speak with the tongues of men and angels, and
have not love, and I'm become a sounding brass or a tinkling
cymbal, though I have the gift of prophecy, that's preaching,
it's not necessarily just foretelling the future. It's preaching the
word and understand all mysteries and all knowledge. Now that's
important for our lesson today, for our message today. That's
a special gift of understanding all mysteries and all knowledge.
I believe it specifically had to do with being able to, at
this time, being able to read and study and interpret in light
of Christ and the grace of God, the Old Testament. And he says,
and though I have all faith that I could remove mountains, that's
a pretty extreme faith, isn't it? And have not love, I'm nothing. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor. Now listen, here's the point
I want to make. This love now, we ought to be charitable people
in helping those who are downtrodden, those who are hungry, People
who are poor, genuinely poor, and who are in need, out of our
abundance, we should be helpful, but that is no proof of this
love. That's what I'm saying. Now,
the world would say it is. In fact, there are people today
who say that the mission of the church here on earth is to help
the poor. Well, the church should help
the poor when we can and have opportunity, but that is not
the mission of the church. The mission of the church is
not to start soup kitchens. The mission of the church is
to preach the gospel. Now, listen, does that mean we
shouldn't give a fellow a bowl of soup? No, we should. But what
I'm telling you is that's no proof of this love. He says,
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though
I give my body to be burned, you can sacrifice yourself. But
have not this love, it profiteth me nothing. You see what he's
saying? That's the necessity. These first three verses here
speak of the necessity of this love. This is godly love. This
is divine love. And what it teaches us is, if
you want to know and experience this love, the only way that
a sinner can know and experience this love is in Christ. Looking
to Christ. Resting in Christ. Believing
in Christ. That's how the Holy Spirit, Romans
chapter 5, sheds this love abroad in our hearts, our minds, affections,
our will, by showing us our utter sinfulness, God's absolute holiness. That if God were to judge me
at any time, my best moments, my worst moments, and every moment
in between, based upon my best efforts to serve Him, I would
deserve nothing, earn nothing but damnation. And yet, as the
psalmist said there in Psalm 31 that we read, he's merciful. God be merciful to me, the sinner,
the publican said. You remember that's equivalent
to that word propitiation. God be propitious. And then from
verses four to verse seven, he shows us the nature of that love.
You want to see what kind of love this is and what kind of
love imperfection. You want to see something that,
if you're honest, will really convict you. Look at that. Love
suffers long, puts up with a lot, kind, envies not, vaunteth it
not itself. Love doesn't have its own agenda. It's not what God wants, it's
what I want. You see, that's what he's talking
about. Doesn't behave itself unseemly, rudely, that is. Seeketh
not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. How much evil
can love think? None. You ever have any evil
thoughts? Well, let me tell you something.
You don't have this love in perfection. Doesn't mean you don't love.
Doesn't mean you don't have this love. But we don't have it in
perfection. If you want to see the perfection
of this love, I'll tell you exactly where you can see it. Look to
Christ. There's that perfect love. And it's a miracle of God's
grace that we have this love at all. If we have it. Isn't
that right? If we have it. This love is that
which binds God's children together despite all of the wickedness
that still resides in us. This love binds God's children
together despite all the selfishness that would drive us apart. This
is love in the truth. It's not love in a lie. Look
here in verse 6. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth. It rejoices in Christ, who is
the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. It is not
love for me as a minister of the gospel to promote or encourage
any person to continue believing a lie. That's not love at all. And if I cannot prove or if I
cannot test my salvation from this testimony here in God's
word, if it won't stand that test, it's certainly not love
for any of you to promote me in that. Jeremiah called it speaking
peace where there's no peace. And yet the world will not recognize
that. John said in 1 John 3, he said
the world knoweth us not. Now think about it, he said because
it knew him not, knew Christ not. Christ, you could say it
this way, Christ is love incarnate. He's the very embodiment of perfect,
holy, pure, uncontaminated love. You want to talk about an uncontaminated
love, talk about Christ. Don't talk about yourself. I
had a fellow tell me that. He said he loves with an uncontaminated
love. And I said, you do not. And I
said, one thing, you don't speak with an uncontaminated tongue
or you wouldn't say stuff like that. You don't. I don't. And that's
to our shame now. I mean, that's nothing to boast
about, is it? None of us. But here's Christ,
love incarnate, and the world didn't look at Him and say, well,
look how much He loves us. The world looked at Him and called
Him a malefactor. You know what that is? That's
a criminal. The world looked at Him and called Him an ungodly
person. The world looked at him and said,
you have a demon. Remember that? That's the way
we all look at him by nature until God, the Holy Spirit, sheds
that love abroad in our hearts. He says here that love faileth,
love beareth all things, verse 7, believeth all things, that
is all things that are true, all things that are glorifying
the God, and all things that endure. Now here, beginning at
verse 8, we conclude this with the greatness of godly love. Now listen to what he says here.
Here's the greatness and the perfection, the completion of
godly love. First thing he says is love,
charity, never fails. It never fails. That word fail
means to become null, or to become void, or useless. In other words,
there's never a time when this love can be considered useless. Love never ends. This love is
defined in the book of God. This sacrificial love shown in
the ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Could you
ever see that being useless in your case? Boy, I can't. I need it all the time. Somebody
said, well, when you're in need, you ought to go to God in prayer.
Well, I'm in need all the time. How about you? We're a needy
bunch. That's what we are, sinners saved
by grace. So aren't you glad that this
love never ends? It never fails. This love that's
exemplified in our lives, when we line up together with Christ
and his truth, and each other in the truth and follow the guidance
of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And when we fight the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit, of which one of the greatest
battlegrounds that you'll have and I have is fighting off myself. That's right, fighting off myself.
I'm in a battle with myself. Now some people will tell you,
well, I've got my perfect self, and it's in a battle with my
sinful self. I don't go that far. I think that's confusing.
I think it leads to self-righteousness. I don't know how to explain it
to you, and I'm not even going to try. I just know there's a
battle, there's a warfare in my heart. And it keeps me from loving you
like I ought to love you, perfectly. But thank God, it keeps me from
going the other way in sin, too, fully. It's a battle. I know that there's victory in
this battle, and the victory really is already won. You can't
see that in me because I'm gonna probably lose my temper and get
discouraged and get down and self-pity and all that junk that
we do. I'm gonna do that. But I can
tell you where you can see it, in Jesus Christ. You can see
it in him. Thank God. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death, Paul said. You know what he was
talking about there in Romans 7? His warfare within. His struggle
with himself. His fight against himself. And
he said, I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. And so he said, with the mind
I serve the law of God. And with the flesh, I serve self, sin. But there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ."
There's the victory right there. You can see it in him. And this
whole thing, look at it, look here in verse 8, he says, Love
never fails, but where there be prophecies, they shall fail.
What he's saying here is not the failure of prophecies. Now
prophecies here is the spiritual gift that God gives certain men
to communicate the gospel. He called it utterance in 1 Corinthians
1. Preaching. Even the gift of tongues. Look, whether there be tongues,
they shall cease. What is that tongues? That's
not spiritual gibberish. It's not some kind of a heavenly
language that people cannot understand. That's preaching the gospel in
other languages. It began back at Pentecost in
Acts chapter 2 when there were so many cultures and different
people and foreigners in Jerusalem at that time. And they didn't
speak the same language but everyone heard the gospel preached in
their own language. What a miracle. That's a gift.
That was useful for that time. But He says there's going to
come a time when that's not useful. It's not needed. That's what
he means by that. And so this gift of prophecies,
preaching, sometimes it involved foretelling the future, but sometimes
it was just preaching the word. The prophets of the Old Testament,
there were times they foretold the future as God revealed it
to them, but there were some times they just preached the
word. They were still prophets. But he's saying here that specifically
there's coming a time when the preaching of the gospel won't
be needed anymore. The preaching of the gospel in
other languages won't be needed. He said, they shall cease. Now
verse 8, he says, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish
away. All these spiritual gifts that
the Corinthians were magnifying these spiritual gifts and using
them to exalt themselves and even divide brethren. We've experienced
that in our day. It's spiritual gifts without
love. But these spiritual gifts of ministry will not be needed. Now, when is it they won't be
needed? When the people of God are glorified, perfected in themselves
with Christ in the end. When Christ comes again and gathers
his church unto himself, and we are united with the perfection
of our spiritual bodies, period. But now love, he says, will endure
throughout eternity. There'll be no need for preaching
then, or preaching in other languages. There'll certainly be no need
for telling the future. And then he says this, partial
knowledge will give way to complete knowledge. He explains it further
in these verses. Look at verse 9. He says, for
we know in part, and we prophesy in part. Now we have knowledge,
we who know Christ, Christ said it in John 17, verse 3. He said,
this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. Over in John chapter
6, listen to this. Christ is talking about here
how He draws His sheep, His people unto Himself. Remember there
in John 6, verse 37, He said, All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me. And all who come to me I will
in no wise cast out. He says in verse 44 of John chapter
6, listen to this. He says, No man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. In other words,
if you come to God, it's only because He's drawn you. It's
not because of your free will or your goodness. It's not because
you're better than the guy sitting next to you or the girl sitting
next to you. who won't come to him. It's because of the grace
of God in drawing you. And he says, I will raise him
up at the last day. Verse 45, he says of John 6,
it is written in the prophets that they shall all be taught
of God. God's going to teach his people.
Now, how's he going to do it? He's going to do it through the
preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. So
he says, and they shall all be taught of God, every man therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh to me. And
there's the key. You hear the gospel, faith cometh
by hearing, hearing by the word of God. By the power of the Spirit,
what happens? He teaches you and you learn
of the Father. What that means is you learn
through Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary, how God can be both
a just judge as well as a merciful father, a just God and a Savior,
so that you can come to Him confidently in Christ, crying, Abba Father,
Abba Father, with confidence. And He will receive you and accept
you, not because you're better than that fellow sitting next
to you, not because you've done so well, not even because you
accepted Him as your personal Savior, but because of what Christ
did on Calvary's cross in putting away your sins. Because of the
righteousness of God in Him, charged to your account, imputed
to you. And then you come unto Him. In
the New Covenant, it's prophesied and confirmed in the New Testament.
He says, they shall all know me from the least of them to
the greatest. You're going to know God. Back
in 1 Corinthians 13, what he's saying, verse 9, we know in part,
we prophesy in part. Well, we know God, but our knowledge
here on this earth is still partial knowledge. John wrote about it in 1 John
3. I quoted part of it earlier. Listen to what he says here in
verse 1 of 1 John 3. Behold, what manner of love,
what he's talking about love, the Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. A sinner like me
called the sons of the son of God. Yes, he said, therefore,
the world knoweth us not. The world looks at you and they
say, well, you don't look like a son of God to me. You look like a
scoundrel to me. Well, you haven't seen me in
my best times. Huh? Well, that wouldn't prove it
either, I'm telling you. He says, the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. That's a done deal, folks. That's
right now. When does God's people become
sons of God, children of God? Well, you'd have to say in eternity
past, in the everlasting covenant of grace, before the world began,
when God chose you and gave you to Christ. It's what the scripture
teaches, doesn't it? Somebody said, well, I don't
think that's right. Well, you better read the Bible, because your
argument is not with me. It's with the book of God. It's
with God. God chose his people and gave them to Christ. That's
why he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And
then we're sons of God by redemption. A redemption price had to be
paid. Why? Because we're sold under sin.
We're born, even though in eternity is chosen in God in Christ, we're
born into this world as ruined in Adam, aren't we? Fallen, dead,
and trespasses in sin. And by nature, Ephesians chapter
2 says, we're no different than the children of disobedience.
Following the path of Satan. By nature. And that refers to
the best of us and the worst of us. Man at his best state,
altogether vanity. So what do we need? We need redemption.
We who have been ruined by the fall have to be redeemed by the
blood. Christ had to pay the redemption
price. He had to fulfill the conditions,
the stipulations, the requirements of the salvation of ones whom
He calls brethren. Because they're all sons of God
in Him. The many sons whom He calls brethren. It's an amazing
truth of this love that he's not ashamed to do so. Hebrews
chapter 2. He's not ashamed to call me a
brother. He's not ashamed to call you a brother or sister
in Christ. If you're in him. And then we're sons of God by
regeneration. We have to be born again. Natural
birth won't make you a son of God. We're born by nature, dead
and trespassing. Have to be regenerated by the
Holy Spirit. And that's the Holy Spirit's
work in applying what God purposed before time and what Christ purchased
in time. That's what it's about. So, beloved,
verse 2, now are we the sons of God. Right now. And it doth
not yet appear what we shall be. That's glory. That's what
it is. You know, a lot of people say,
what are we going to be like in glory? I always go to this
verse. It doesn't yet appear. Anytime I talk about final glory,
and we do preach on that, because we do have some revelation in
scripture on it, but I guarantee you, in our own partial knowledge,
it genders more questions than it does answers. I think the
closest we can get to understanding what we're going to be like in
glory is to look at the resurrected body of Christ, because we'll
be like Him. Look, we know that when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him. for we shall see him as he is.
Now, go back to 1 Corinthians 13. He says in verse 9, we know
in part, we prophesy in part. Now we know what God has taught
us in the gospel. To be ignorant of those things
is to be lost. Isn't that right? Romans chapter
10, you remember he said, Paul wrote in verse 1, he said, my
heart's desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be
saved. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, are going about to establish their own righteousness,
and have not submitted unto the righteousness of God. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. To
be ignorant of God's righteousness is to be lost, according to that
passage. Well, see, I know God's righteousness.
Say, how do you know you know? Because I know Christ. I know
who He is. I haven't seen the full perfection
of its glory with these old eyes. But I know He's God in human
flesh. That's who He is. Isn't that
something? If you know Christ, your Savior
is God incarnate. God with us. Emmanuel. That's who He is. Every bit God
and every bit man without sin. And I know what he accomplished
on Calvary, the complete redemption of my soul from all my sins. He didn't do a partial work.
He didn't do his part, now the rest is up to me. He did it all. His blood cleanses me from all
my sins. Sometimes I don't feel that way,
but feelings don't have anything to do with this love. Feelings
come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. No sir. You know how I know it
so always whether I feel like it or not? Because this book
says it. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from what? All sin. Not just past sins. You know
people say, well your past sins and then you've got to do something
to get those other sins taken care of. No sir. That works. That's a false gospel. That's
not grace. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
me from all sin, even sins that I'm not even aware I commit. I had a preacher tell me one
time, he said, unless at the end of the day you get on your
knees and confess every sin you committed during that day, you're
not forgiven. And I asked a question, I said,
how in the world can you even go to sleep? You ought to be
on your knees all night just trying to think them up. What about sins of omission?
You see what I'm saying? The forgiveness of my sins is
not conditioned on my confession, it's conditioned on the blood
of Christ. And if you confess that everything you do and are
is sin without Him, that's confessing every sin, even the ones you
don't know about. They're there, but Christ has
taken them away. They cannot be charged to me.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather, is risen again and
seated at the right hand of God ever living to make intercession.
You see that? We know that. But he says here,
in verse 9, we know in part. And we prophesy in part. When
I preach to you, somebody says, you're not telling the whole
story. I'm telling you what to know. I'm telling you what's
revealed here. I've told you the story about
the two farmers from Kentucky who wanted to go see the ocean
before they died, and they got well up into their 80s, and they
decided to go, and they went to the Atlantic Ocean. They're
standing there on the shore, and one of them said, man, I
didn't realize how big this thing is. And the other one said, yeah,
and that's just the top of it. That's just the top of it. You
know, that's the way I believe it's going to be when we hit
glory. We're going to stand on that shore, so to speak, and
say, I didn't realize how big this thing really was. And that's
just the top. We'll see more and more. Somebody
asked me one time, will we learn in glory? I suspect so. I don't
know. Will we know it all? I don't think we can know it
all. I think that's deity. I think we'll always be limited.
But we will be perfect. He says in verse 10, but when
that which is perfect, that means complete, is come, then that
which is in part shall be done away with. Now you see what he's
saying here? He's not saying, well, all you need is love. You've heard that song, all you
need is love. No, you need more than love. You need to know some
things. In fact, you can't love like
this without knowing some things. He's going to talk about faith
and hope. There's got to be faith and hope.
Those are gifts of God. But what he's saying is that
everything that we know now is partial. And everything we preach
now is partial. But, verse 10, but when that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part will be
done away with. That partial knowledge will be done away because
complete knowledge will be there. And then he says, here's what
he's talking about. It's like the church here on
earth is in its infancy, so to speak. And he says, when I was
a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child, reasoned as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. Even further defines it, verse
12, for now we see through a glass, that glass there is a mirror,
we see through a glass darkly, that means as you might have
in your concordance like in a riddle, but then face to face, we sing
that hymn face to face with Christ in glory. John said it, we'll
see Him as He is, face to face. Now I know in part, But then
shall I know even also as I am known. Now I love that. I want
to show you what I believe it's talking about. Alright, listen
to what he says. I know in part right now. What
I know, I know. What I know is because it's been
revealed. It's not because I'm super intelligent
or smarter than everybody. It's God's revealed it to me.
I know what the thief on the cross knows. knew at the time
even before his death. And he says, I know in part,
but then shall I know even as also I am known. Now let me show
you what I believe he's talking about. Turn to 1 John chapter
4. It's right in the context of this love. I want you to see
this. 1 John 3 and 1 John 4 talk about
this love. We've read quite a bit out of
these chapters. But listen to verse 17. He says, herein is our love made
perfect. Now that means complete as if
to reach a goal. In other words, when the Holy
Spirit sheds this love abroad in our hearts, there's a goal
in mind. Now has it reached that goal?
That we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now what
does the Bible say about boldness in the day of judgment? Remember? Compare these two verses. You
write them down. We won't turn there because we
don't have time. Think about Matthew 7, 21 through 23. That's
the prophet, you know, Christ said that not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, He said, not everyone shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father,
of course the will of His Father is to believe on the Son and
rest in Him. And they say, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we prophesied? Haven't
we cast out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? What are they doing? They're pleading what they think
God has enabled them to do at the judgment. Only to hear Him
say, depart from me ye that work iniquity. In other words, you
know, I've heard people say, well, when I go to judgment,
I know, I know God's going to say, well done, thou good and
faithful servant. All right? I ask them this, I
say, based on what? Well, I preached the gospel for
30 years. Or I got baptized when I was 12. Or I gave my heart
to Jesus. Is that your boldness? Is that
the foundation of your boldness? Well, I can tell you right now,
that is. this love has not been shed abroad in your heart. Not
this love. But then look at Hebrews, don't
turn, like I said, don't turn there, but write this down. Hebrews
10, 19 through 22. Where it talks about entering
the holiest of all based on what? Anybody know? Entering the holiest
of all based on the blood of Jesus. Now there's boldness. by a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, that legal self-righteous guilty conscience,
and our bodies washed with pure water. Our boldness at the judgment
is pleading the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ.
You say, that's why Paul said, oh, that I may know him and be
found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law. Now, that's the goal of this love. Herein is our love
made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. The perfection of this love,
the goal of this love is to bring a sinner who knows his sinfulness. down on his knees, professing
and pleading the blood, the mercy of God in Christ, the righteousness
of Christ. And listen to what it says here.
Remember what it says, I'll know as even I'm known. He says, because
as he is, as Christ is, so are we in this world. Now when you
go look in the mirror, is that what you see? I hope not. Not when you look in the mirror.
When I go home looking in the mirror, I don't see this. What
is this saying? It's saying right now, in this
world, I am as Christ is. I know it's true. Why? Because this book says it. God's
word says it. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. But I don't see it in myself.
I don't see it when I look in that glass darkly, but I know
it's true. Think about it, I'm like Christ.
How? As I stand in Him, washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness. But when I get to glory, that
partial knowledge will be removed In verse 12 of 1 Corinthians
13, then shall I know even as also I am known. Then I'll see
it. I'll see it firsthand. I'll see
the glory of it. I'll see the perfection of it.
There'll be no darkness there. There'll be no riddles there.
It'll all be out in plain sight as I stand in my glorified body
resting in, praising, glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ. The perfection
within. That's what he's talking about.
And so he says in verse 13, now abideth faith, hope, and charity,
love. These three. But the greatest
of these is love. What's he saying? Well, we've
got to have faith. The Bible says without faith
it's impossible to please God. What is faith? It's believing
God. Isn't it? You can't go through this life
as a child of God and continually call God a liar in unbelief. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's important. And then what is hope? Well,
hope is an expectation of glory because God's promised it in
Christ. That's the foundation of all
godliness right there. In other words, serving God not
in order to earn my blessings or salvation, but because I have
an expectation of receiving all things in him. But then he says the greatest
is love. Why is love the greatest? Well,
first of all, because God himself is love. God is love. It's his
nature. And it's revealed in Christ,
our Lord and Savior, as He acted in love to His Father and to
His people to put away our sins. The goal of salvation is that
we be perfectly conformed to Christ. And this love in perfection,
in glory, is the greatest evidence of perfect conformity to Christ.
And secondly, because it's the crowning mark and proof of God's
grace, people can claim to believe the truth, even right doctrine.
But without this love, what's it mean? Nothing. That's a sham
profession. People can claim to have hope,
but without this love that causes us to look to Christ, it's only
wishful thinking and self-righteousness. You see, that's why the greatest
of these is love, because it's the crowning mark. It's the goal
of what faith and hope given by God brings us to as we rest
in and follow Christ for all our salvation. All right.