Most everybody likes to talk
about practical religion and like for preachers to preach
about practical religion. And the reason they like that
is because they think they measure up pretty good to other folks
and how they ought to behave. Well, tonight I have the most
practical subject imaginable. It is a subject about which men
talk, I suppose, More than any other. There's more talk about
this subject than any other in the religious world. And a subject
about which there is less practice than any other. The title of
my message tonight is Walk in Love. Walk in Love. I'm not going to talk to you
about saying sweet things and all the silly, sentimental, sloppy
nonsense that people talk about that means nothing. I want to
talk to you as practically and as plainly as I possibly can
from Ephesians chapter 5 verse 2 on the subject walk in love. We all pray for more Christian
love and well we should. We recognize that the greatest
problem in the church of Christ is a lack of brotherly love.
And that probably is so. Our Lord gave us this great commandment
that we should love one another. And while he was upon this earth,
he fervently made supplication for us that we would dwell together
in love. He gave us commandment to love
one another. And today he intercedes for saints
in heaven that we might be made perfect together in one body
in him. And that which is the joy of
that perfection is the love we share with one another. Love
Alan just read is the bond of that perfectness, that perfect
oneness we have in Christ. The church of God is one, one
in thought, one in purpose, one in desire, one in Christ, one
in faith. and the joy of that blessed oneness
of heart, that oneness created in us by the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. That's the joy we have. Being one with Christ, we are
one in Christ, and we enjoy the love of God flowing from heart
to heart. I don't think I've ever said
this to you, My son-in-law often reminds me. He enjoys the company
of this assembly, enjoys meeting with us. He says to me often,
God's given you a family. What a blessed, blessed, blessed
reality. A family of believers joined
together in the love of Christ. not just with our names on a
church roll book, but joined to Christ and joined to one another
in Christ. In the third chapter of Ephesians,
we find the Apostle Paul praying that we might know this love.
Then in the chapter, the fourth chapter, he gave us instructions
about how this love is to be practiced. Now we come to chapter
five, and Paul moves from prayer and instruction to exhortation.
In our text, being inspired by God the Holy Spirit, the apostle
commands us to practice the love of Christ. Let's begin at verse
one, and our text will be verse two. Ephesians 5, one. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. and walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." How good it is for us
to pray for more love. We ought to. But the way to nurture
and cultivate love is to walk in love. The more we practice
it, the more loving we become. You'll notice that in this chapter,
Paul sets before us many practical duties that the people of God
must perform. And in those duties, there is
one dominant overriding motive. The preeminent motive by which
we're inspired and encouraged in all these practical responsibilities
is love. because love is the sum of the
law. By this, the law of God is fulfilled. Love is the rule of Christ's
kingdom, the principle by which God's people are governed in
their hearts. Love is that seed planted in
us in the new birth, growing out of Jesus Christ himself.
And that seed of love brings forth the fruit of love in the
lives of God's children. Now, this is not something that
is an optional extra. This is not an add-on grace. This is not something you choose
or choose not to have. Love is essential. Without it, there is no Christianity. Without it, there is no spiritual
life. Without it, there's no faith
in Christ. Without it, there's no salvation.
If you have not love, you're not of God for God is love. This is what the book says. Everyone
that loveth not knoweth not God. Are we gods? Are we gods? If we are, we both should and
must walk in love and we do. Now this love runs in two directions. We love God and we love one another. So here we have Paul's second
admonition for a life of godliness. First he said, be imitators of
God. Now he says, walk in love as
Christ also hath loved us. We're exhorted to imitate God
and now we're exhorted to walk in that love which is revealed
to us in the love of Christ for us. The exhortation, walk in
love. is motivated and enforced by
the practical example of our Savior's love. Since it is by
the love of Christ that we're reconciled to God, we should
imitate his love. In this, as in all things, for
the believer, Christ must be our pattern. Christ must be our
example. We are to love one another as
Christ loved us. Listen to the scriptures. John
chapter 13. Love one another as I have loved
you. First John chapter three. Hereby
perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. In John
15, our savior says, this is my commandment that you have
love, that you love one another as I have loved you. Love one another, not just like
me and talk about it. Love one another, not just like
you might imagine love ought to be, but love one another as
I have loved you. Is this not an irresistible motive,
constraining our hearts to love one another? Christ loved us. Can we resist that as a motive
for us and do despite to that love, which caused him to lay
down his life for us? We live in hope and expectation
of heavenly glory. And what is heaven? It is a world
of love. Love never faileth. Love never faileth. Heaven's glory in many things
is revealed, but in nothing more than this. There, believers,
men and women born of God, redeemed by blood, chosen of God, love
God perfectly and walk in love perfectly forever. When the saints
of God walk in love, we enjoy a little of heaven on earth. Now that which the Holy Spirit
teaches us in this text is unmistakable. The Lord Jesus Christ showed
us such great love in giving himself for us as a sacrifice
to God that all true believers are bound to walk in love. as Christ love does. I want to
show you three things in this text. We'll look at it line by
line, and I will spend the bulk of my time deliberately on the
first point. First, love's example. That's
the most important part of this. Secondly, the love's walk. And then thirdly, love's constraint. First, I want us to see the example
of love that's set before us in our text. I will spend the
bulk of my time here because this is the most important thing.
And I'll spend the bulk of my time here because if truly we
know experimentally the example of love, having tasted the love
of God in Christ, the two other things, the walk of love and
the constraint will flow from it. Christ also loved us and
had given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet smelling safer. Now, we must never, never fall
into the era of looking upon the death of Christ as nothing
but a moral example of dedication and love. Our Savior's life and
sacrifice was indescribably more than that. His death was infinitely
more than that. The death of Christ was the substitutionary
atonement for sin, the satisfactory payment to divine justice for
our transgressions. His death was the death of death
for those for whom he died. It was the reconciliation of
God and man. It was the end of sin, the accomplishment
of righteousness. But the death of Christ was an
example. An example he set for us, and
we're told specifically in the word of God, he died leaving
us an example. Listen to this, you don't have
to look at it, 1 Peter 2 verse 21. Christ also has suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his
steps. In his sufferings, Mark, he showed
us how to live. That's what Peter says. In his
sufferings, he gave us an example how we're to walk in this world,
how we're to conduct our lives in this world, how we're to live
in this world. He gave us an example that you
should walk in his steps. In Ephesians 5, 2, the apostle
Paul shows us the death of Christ as an example of love to be imitated
by us. Look at the example. First, The
Lord Jesus loved us. We may search the scriptures
and search the world over and search out heaven itself, but
we'll never find any other thing that moved the son of God to
die in the place of sinners than this. Christ also hath loved
us. It is true, our savior came into
this world to suffer and die in obedience to his father's
will. Then said I, he said, lo, I come in the volume of book
that is written to me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God, yea, thy law is written within my heart. By the obedience
of one, many are made righteous. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. But don't ever imagine that our
Lord was forced into his obedience. His obedience was the obedience
of a voluntary surety, of a voluntary servant. Our Lord Jesus was not
forced to obey his father, but rather he was his father's willing
servant. The whole of the law of the bond
slave, given in Exodus 21, is a picture of our Savior. You
remember the bond slave was brought into bondage, and after he had
served for seven years, he could go out free. But if his master
had given him a wife and she had children, then the wife and
children would remain servants to the master. And if the man
wanted to stay, he would say plainly, publicly and to his
master, I love my master, I love my wife, I love my children,
I will not go out. And he had his ear bored through
with an all publicly, identifying himself as a willing bond servant. So our Savior, because of his
love for his God and our God, because of his love for us, his
bride, his wife, and his children, he says, I will not go out free. But rather he willingly bowed
himself to obedience to all the stipulations, all the requirements
set forth in covenant grace for the redemption and salvation
of our souls. He said, no man taketh my life
from me. I lay it down in myself. I had
the power to lay it down and I had the power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. It was our savior's
great love for us that constrained him to become our surety, our
substitute, our redeemer. He loved me and gave himself
for me. He loved me and gave himself
for me. And to him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, let us then give ourselves, and
giving ourselves to him, give ourselves to one another. It
was not anything in us that constrained our Savior to die in our stead.
He agreed to it from eternity, and only because of His love
did He step forth as our surety. Simply out of the abundant fullness
of His grace, Christ loved us and became our substitute. From
eternity, He said, my delights were with the sons of men. So
that from everlasting, He loved us freely. He loved us fully. He loved us perfectly. He loved
us forever. And because of his great love
for us, we read he gave himself for us. Oh, blessed gift. Oh, blessed giver. Thanks be
unto God for his unspeakable gift. The Lord Jesus Christ loved
us. Look at this great giver. He
gave himself. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Our Lord Jesus voluntarily
gave himself. Now, try to get some understanding
of this. Look at the gift. He gave himself. He gave himself. All himself. All himself. The Lord Jesus is
both priest and sacrifice. As our God, man mediator, he
is our priest. As this God who is man, he is
our sacrifice. Christ, our Passover sacrifice
for us. He gave himself. as our representative
in the covenant before the world was. He gave himself as our kinsman
when he came into this world in human flesh, in our nature,
God. He gave himself as the man of
sorrows throughout the days of his humiliation, walking on this
earth, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He gave himself as
our great priest in Gethsemane's garden. where he bowed and prayed
three times, at last breaking out in a sweat of blood, crying,
my God, if it be possible, oh, my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. And then he strengthened himself. He heard God speak from heaven.
He said, Father, glorify thy name. And God said, I've both
glorified it. We'll glorify it yet again. And
he stood and went forth and gave his back to the spiders and gave
himself as our substitute at Calvary. He gave himself, all
himself, his throne, his glory, his majesty, his riches, his
grace, his dignity, but he gave more. He gave himself. Christ offered himself to God
through the eternal spirit. He loved me and gave himself
for me. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. We're told over and over again,
he gave himself, himself, himself. What can that mean? All his divinity,
all his humanity, all his holiness, all his righteousness, all his
being, our Lord Jesus gave himself for us. Hear me, children of
God. Sinners that we are, vile as
we are, wretched as we are, he gave himself for us. Our Lord Jesus gave himself for
us in a way that would both demonstrate the glory of God and secure our
everlasting peace. The substitutionary sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ in our stead demonstrates the justice
and holiness of God. God hates sin. He will by no means clear the
guilty. God Almighty cannot deal with
sin like you and I must. You and I forgive offenses in
the sense that we sweep them under the rug and pretend they
don't exist. God can't do that. God won't do that. God will not
deal with sin in an unjust way. He deals with sin justly because
sin opposes all that he is. And God has sworn the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. God will and must punish sin. He will by no means clear the
guilty. If God didn't execute the penalty of the law upon fallen
man, his justice would fall to the ground. And God could not
remove sin except by the sacrifice of one who is of infinite worth
and merit. And so the Lord Jesus stepped
forward. God's own son. And he said, I will go and I
will save my people. I will give myself. And the holy
God said, that's enough. And accepted him, the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And so when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his son made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. Christ, by the sacrifice of himself,
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. And that display of God's justice,
God's righteousness, God's truth, is the great display of God's
infinite, indescribable love for his own. Our Savior secured
our eternal happiness and peace at a dear price. This is frequently
quoted by folks who have no idea what the Savior was talking about.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. Don, we don't have a clue yet
what all that means. The Son of God laid down his
life for us. That ought to be the motive which spurs us in everything
we do. That ought to be the inspiration
of the totality of our lives. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. By the substitutionary death
of Christ, We have the greatest possible
revelation of God's love. Now let every sinning, unbelieving
soul hear this and tremble. God has put his mark on sin. If God spared not his own son
when his son was made sin for us, you can be sure if God finds
sin on you, He will not spare you. Let every believer read
God's word and rejoice. He gave himself for us to satisfy
the justice of God. And now, because he gave himself
for us, he, by the sacrifice of himself, put away sin. And
God himself can never find sin upon us, for Christ gave himself
for us. and now we're accepted in him
never to die. Look at the manner in which the
death of Christ is described. It's called here an offering
and a sacrifice to God. Back in Leviticus chapter four,
you find that the death of Christ is described as a offering of
peace, a peace offering. a burnt peace offering that was
designed and intended to show forth the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus to secure our reconciliation to God, our peace with God. And he also is described as a
sacrifice of blood because both the peace offering burnt and
the blood sacrifice sprinkled upon the mercy seat are necessary
to make atonement for sin. Christ Jesus gave himself an
offering and a sacrifice to God for us that ought to remind us
of the misery we were in, sinners who've broken the law of God,
guilty of every transgression, and we are reconciled to God.
the offended God by an act of God himself who appeased his
own wrath and justice by the sacrifice of his son. Behold
the love and mercy of God to sinners. God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
on him might have everlasting life. Let us never forget that
the only means of redemption is by the sin offering and perpetuatory
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. God could not ever put away sin
in some other way. If that were true, then the conclusion
must be reached that Christ died in vain. God in his holiness
could not forgive sin except by the sacrifice of his son.
When he made his soul an offering for sin, God was satisfied. When the Lord God made him sin
for us who knew no sin and poured out the fury of his wrath on
him, justice was satisfied. But before sin could be moved,
the sacrifice of God's own son was necessary for the satisfaction
of justice. One last thing in this regard. The Holy Lord God is completely
satisfied with his son. Completely satisfied with the
sacrifice of his son. He gave himself for a sweet-smelling
savor. A sweet-smelling savor. The apostle uses the language
of a man to describe the effect of our Savior's sacrifice. Men,
men and women, like to smell things that smell good. We like
sweet aromas, sweet fragrances. My wife makes a pound cake. If you were in the house, you'd
think, I've got to have some of that. If it's the last bite
I get, I've got to have some of that. And it's as good as
the smell. It just fills the house. But
when she's not baking pound cakes and she's wanting to cover up
the smell of my pipe, she gets those sticks, you know, and has
perfume in there, and she gets those things and plugs them in
the wall, that kind of stuff. Because we like sweet smelling
things. I, for years, smoked tobacco
in my pipe, not because it was the best thing to the taste,
it wasn't. but had a vanilla flavor or a
cherry flavor, something like that, so that folks in the room
might smell it and enjoy it rather than being offended by it. That's
the very picture that our God gives us here of Christ's sacrifice.
God was satisfied with the person offered, his own son. He is satisfied
with the obedience he accomplished. Christ performed righteousness
of infinite merit as a man because that man is God. In other words,
his obedience is of infinite worth to the holy God to satisfy
every demand of God's holy law revealed in Holy Scripture. God
is satisfied with the sufferings Christ endured. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That means, Merle, that God Almighty
satisfied all his fury, all his wrath, all his justice, all his
anger against sin when he slaughtered his son in our stead. It satisfied
the Lord to bruise him. and God is satisfied with us
in his son. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. A woman gives birth and a child
is born and she goes through all the pain and travail of giving
birth. And all of that is looked upon
as insignificant as soon as that healthy baby is at her breast
in her arms. She's satisfied. The Lord God
our Savior, this is more than I can imagine, is satisfied with
me in His Son. He's satisfied with us in His
Son. And God showed his satisfaction
by the resurrection of his son from the dead, seating him in
his own right hand, giving him power over all flesh. Now, second,
I want us to understand what it is to walk in love. Christ
is the example. And using him as the example,
Paul teaches us to follow the example. Since he loved us in
such great measure, Those who are redeemed by his blood should
walk in love. Now, this doesn't speak of an
act or two. It doesn't speak of a deed here
and there, but rather it speaks of the constant tenor of life. Walk in love as Christ loved
us and gave himself for us. All the time, He stood as our
substitute from eternity. When He came into this world
and lived as a man, all the days of His life, He walked through
this world in love, loving us and gave Himself for us. You
and I are to walk in love, in love to God and our Savior, of
course. We love Him because He first loved us. If God so loved
us that he gave his only begotten son to have us, surely we ought
to love him. If Christ so loved us that he
gave himself to die in our stead, surely we ought to walk in love
to him. It's impossible for us to truly
love men if we don't love him. All true love flows from love
for God created in us. Everything that's called love
outside the life of Christ in us is but the gratifying of the
flesh. Our physical relationships, our
earthly relationships, whatever they are, however dear they are,
except they flow from Christ in us and the love of God created
in us by Christ are but the gratifying of our own flesh. People talk about unconditional
love. The fact is we don't know anything about unconditional
love except the love of God revealed to us and given to us in Christ. By this, we know that we love
the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. I repeat, there's no genuine
love upon the earth except that which has God as its primary
object. The first impressions of the
love of Christ upon our hearts produces love to God. Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians
chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, I'm sorry. He says, the love
of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died
for all, then we're all dead. If Christ died for us, then we
died in him. and that he died for all for
this purpose, that they which live should not henceforth live
to themselves, but to him that died for them and rose again. Christ Jesus died for us, not
only to secure our everlasting salvation, he died for us to
secure our hearts to him. to win our hearts to Him. You
fellas aren't too old to remember how you went about winning that
girl's heart that you married, are you? Our Lord Jesus died
for us, not only to redeem and save us, but to secure our hearts
to Him. When we're made partakers of
the divine nature, we're made partakers of the love of God,
causing heaven born souls to have a fervent love for God,
a love that directs our actions to his glory and gives us a desire
to honor him. What then is it to walk in love
toward God? It is to do all things with love. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
16. Let all your things be done with charity. All acts of worship,
all deeds of devotion, all acts of service to God and to one
another in God's name. All the deeds of life, let these
be done in love for God. Otherwise, all the outward things
of religion are just a pretense, a form of godliness. People go
to church and do things for lots of reasons, most of them because
of legality, because they're scared not to, because they're
forced to do so. Believers do what they do being
motivated by the love of Christ. I take you to record. I've been
your pastor for a while now. You've never heard me from this
pulpit or in private conversation or in anything I've written.
Try to motivate you or inspire you in any way by promise of
reward or by threat of loss. I don't preach tithing. I don't
preach any of those things. You can't do that. You just can't,
you can't do that. How do things work? God's people
are inspired and motivated being constrained by the love of Christ. That's all. And if you do what
you do for any other reason, it's just an outward show and
it's a mockery of God. What then is it to walk in love
toward one another? How do we walk in love toward
God's people? Living in this world for their
benefits. To walk in love toward men is
to love our brethren, of course. We're chosen in the same love,
redeemed by the same blood, called by the same spirit, given the
same nature. That's easy enough. We love our
brethren. But we're also to love our enemies.
I don't mean that we should love all men that we don't know. So
I love everybody in the world. That's not, so you can't love
folks you don't know. Talking about loving all men,
I'm talking about loving men wherever you find them, whatever
shape and condition you find the men. And by loving them,
I mean we must, we should, and we must treat men and women,
even our most loathsome enemies, with compassion, tenderness,
and goodness. Never with retribution and vengeance
and wrath. Never striking back. Never striking
back. Say, Brother Don, that's just
not possible. I suppose it really isn't possible, Lindsay, for
us not to strike back. Retaliation is about the most
natural thing I know of to natural man. But the believer is here
commanded of God to walk in love. Don't strike back, don't try
to get even. Deal with folks tenderly, compassionately,
forgiving faults, overlooking faults, overlooking offenses,
overlooking them for Christ's sake. Now, as you're reading
through the law of God, in the book of Deuteronomy, we just
finished that. He's back through Deuteronomy, Numbers, Exodus,
Leviticus. Over and over and over again,
God gives commandments with how to deal with strangers. Do you
remember how he says it? He said, now you do this with
your brethren and with a stranger also. And you do this with the
children of Israel and with the stranger also. And you do that
with my people and with the stranger also. Why does he say that? He
keeps saying for this reason, because you were strangers in
the land of Egypt and I redeemed you. Why should I treat anyone
graciously, compassionately, tenderly, seeking to do them
good to the best of my ability who loathes me and does everything
they can to oppose me because I was such a man before God. And he who today is my most determined
enemy, may after all be my brother before this world is done. He
may after all be one of God's elect. He may after all be redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. He may after all be called by
God's grace. You were strangers, God delivered
you. You deal with others just that
way. Now, let's look at love's constraint. I've been repeating this over
and over again. The love of Christ constraineth us. So follow his
example and walk in love because this is the rule of God's kingdom. This is the motivation of God's
people. This is how we're to live in
this world. Imitating Christ in his love. Are you not constrained by it?
Let me wrap this up. How do we do this? How do we
do this? Turn over to 1 Corinthians 13. Now believe this. Christ loved us and given himself
for us. Us sinners, ungodly, his enemies,
without strength. His love for us will never fail. Let us then not fail him. He that saith he abideth in him,
ought himself also to walk even as he walked. Above all these things put on
love, which is the bond of perfectness. Savior, give me grace that I
may love your people as I ought. Ever serve them and defend them,
and with care offend them not. May the grace you have imparted
in relieving me of woe make me kind and tenderhearted. Give
me grace, your grace to show. As you lay down your life, Savior,
for the people that you love. Help me to lay down my own life
for my brethren whom I love. Now, what's this love supposed
to be? Look at 1 Corinthians 13, verse
four. Charity, love. Charity is really
the best translation of the word that you could have in modern
English, in any English language, charity. Self-sacrifice and self-denying,
unmotivated generosity, kindness and love. Love. What is that? What is it to love your brother? Love suffereth long and is kind. It always is. Anything else is not love. Love
envieth not. Envieth not. Love doesn't seek to take from
its object that which its object possesses, but rather rejoices
that the one love possesses it. Love vaunteth not itself. Love doesn't talk about itself,
doesn't point to itself, doesn't look to itself, doesn't puff
itself up. Whatever does that is not love. Love daunteth not
itself. Love is not puffed up. If you
speak well of, compliment someone you love, tell your wife how
pretty she is, what a good wife she is, It doesn't puff her up
with pride because you want to be a better wife and make yourself
even prettier. Love doesn't puff up. Love does
not behave itself unseemly. It doesn't behave in a wrong
way. It doesn't behave in a selfish,
self-centered way. Love seeketh not her own. Oh
God, teach me to love and to walk in love. as Christ loved
me. Love is not easily provoked.
Doesn't retaliate. Not hot-tempered. Thinketh no
evil. Thinketh no evil. What's that
talking about? Doesn't have any evil thoughts.
Well, maybe that's included. But this is what it's talking
about. It means if I love Lindsey Campbell, I don't think evil
of him. And I refuse to think upon evil
about him, in him, or done by him. I refuse to. I refuse to. Thinketh no evil. Love rejoiceth
not in iniquity. You remember Ham? He rejoiced
in Noah's fall. Shem and Japheth showed us what
love is. Love covers it up. Love doesn't talk about it. Love
doesn't expose it. Hatred. digs something up and
exposes it, not love, not love. We have this every time we have
any kind of election, it goes on from election to election.
Doesn't matter whether Democrat or Republican, doesn't matter
whether Liberal or Conservative, folks dig stuff up, just dig
it up, try to make somebody look bad. Children of God don't do that
to each other. Don't do that to each other.
Just shut your mouth. Well, I've got to tell the truth.
No, you don't. You don't have to tell anything.
Just shut your mouth. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth. And not a truth, the truth. Not
a true story, the truth. Love rejoices in Christ. Christ is in you. There sits
my bestest, there sits Jesus Christ, my brother, my Redeemer. Is the truth in Him? He is indeed. Love rejoices in all that Christ
is in Him. Love bears all things, whatever
comes. Whatever comes, bears all things. Take a husband or a wife, You
say, in sickness and health, in good and in bad, till death
do us part. How come? Because love bears
all things. Love just carries the load. Believeth
all things. Believeth all things. Believes the one who is loved,
but believes all things good concerning them. hopeth all things,
has hope for them, endures all things. And I'll tell you something else
about this love. You can count on it. You can count on it. You can't count on religion,
and you can't count on a religious profession, and you can't count
on religious games, and you can't count on religious creeds. But
you can count on this, love never fails. If it fails, it ain't
love. Well, I don't love her anymore,
that means you never did. I don't love him anymore, that
means you never did. Love never fails. Love never fails. Amen. God teach us, God teach
us to walk in love.