Alright, let's turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 13. Last week we talked about the
body of Christ. The body of Christ is the church
of the living God. There are many members, Paul
said, made up of all God's elect from the beginning of time. I
used to hear from certain denominations the term New Testament church. There is no such thing as a New
Testament church. The church of the living God
is made up of believers from all times, Adam, Abel, all the
way down through time. No such thing as a New Testament
church. And He has one body, and this
body consists of all His elect from Adam until the last man
is called. And everything that Christ did
as a man, He did as a representative of His church. He did it as the
federal head of all God's elect. Everything He did was for the
church, and the church was in Him by divine appointment. Read Ephesians 1. According, all these blessings,
all these blessings of the Father, all of them, all spiritual blessings
were given us according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. The church was in Him by divine
appointment and union with Christ. And actually, when you study
the work of salvation, only two men are ever used when He is
summing up. What salvation is, only two men
are spoken of in the whole thing, Adam and Christ. All the way
through Romans chapter 5 you see that. You see what happened
in Adam, you see what happened in Christ. He says in Romans 5, verse 18,
Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free
gift came upon all men to justification of life. The all men there are
all men of whom Adam was the federal head and all men whom
Christ is the federal head. You find that federal headship
all through. The funeral, everybody calls
it the funeral chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, talks about these
things, sums them up in the same way. In Adam all die, in Christ
shall all be made alive. Talks about the first man and
the last man. There's only one way of salvation
and the way of And that's the way of representation and substitution. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire. Now I'm telling you, I know what
religion believes, I know what they preach, and I know how subtle
they can be. And I see the bumper stickers,
smile, God loves you. He doesn't do any such thing.
He loves his elect, period. Now all of that love, read Romans
chapter 8, all of that love, who shall separate us from the
love of God, what's the rest of that sentence? Which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. And I'm telling you for your
own benefit, the love of God is particular. The love of God
is in Christ. And if you're in Christ, God
has loved you, He does love you, and He'll always love you. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire. And this is the way of grace,
the way of peace, and the way of love. And Paul's shown us
the way of ignorance. He's shown to us the way of darkness
and superstition. Now he's going to show us what
he calls a more excellent way. The way of religion is the way
of law. I'm not speculating about these things. I've been in it.
I've listened to what they said. I bought into what they said.
I practiced what they said. It's a religion of law. Brethren,
the law is impartial. I want you to just think about
that for a minute. There may be somebody here this morning
still, still resting on that, still leaning on that thing of
law, still leaning on that, well, I can achieve this, I can attain
this, I can get there doing this and doing that. Let me tell you
something about the law. It's impartial. It's impartial. It doesn't matter who you are.
It doesn't matter how rich you are. It doesn't matter who's
son you are, or what office you hold, or how much you've done.
The law is totally impartial. It's cold, and it's hard, and
it's impartial. And the law demands what the
sinner can't pay. It demands absolute perfection
in motive, thought, and deed. And the law's uncompromising.
The best you can do will not satisfy the demands of the law.
The law must be obeyed. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. Religion is the way of law, and
secondly, religion is the way of works. Salvation is not according
to our works, Paul said, but it is according to God's own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. It's not of works, he said, lest
any man should boast. And then in Romans 9.15, he tells
us plainly that God's mercy and compassion is sovereign. And
he shows it to whom He will. Moses said, show me your glory.
He said, here's my glory. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. That's the glory of God. He shows
this This grace is sovereign grace. This mercy is sovereign
mercy. This compassion that He show,
it's all up to Him. It's not up to you. It's all
up to Him. And then Paul says this, so then,
if that be so, and he says it's so under divine inspiration, if these things be so, so then,
It's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Religion is the way of law, and
religion is the way of works, and religion is the way of man.
666, that's the number of man. What he's telling us there is
that beast, that ungodly, unregenerated portion of this society is all
about man. It's all about him. He judges
the gospel by his own reasoning, by his own intellect. Everything
that he does and believes is according to himself. Everything
that he practices has himself exalted the highest. It's what seems right to him.
It's what appeals to his fallen nature. It's what seems in harmony
with the multitude. The way of religion is the way
of law, works, the way of men, and the way of self-will. I want you to hear me. True religion is the way of love. It's the way of love. True religion
is the way of love. Christ loved us. Isn't that what
Scripture said? And gave Himself for us. herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. What do we know
about the love of God? That's what we're talking about
here. I'm not going to leave you to your own understanding. I'm going to tell you what the
Bible says about this love. We don't know anything about
love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us. and send His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And what do we know
about that love? I know that it's particular.
There's nothing in all of Holy Scripture to cause anyone to
believe in a universal love. You find it and bring it to me
and I'll believe it. It's not in there. It doesn't
even hint at the fact that God loves every man, woman, and child. You can't find it in the Scriptures.
In Romans 9, verse 11, God uses two boys who were twins, yet
unborn, still in their mother's womb. And He uses them to demonstrate
and establish the election of God, Jacob and Esau. And before their birth, before
either one had done anything good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth, it was said unto their mother, the elder
shall serve the younger. God took one and exalted him
above the other. He reversed the natural flow
of things. The elder was to rule, but not
in this case. Not in this case. God took the
younger. and had him to rule over the
elder. Now listen, verse 13, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. God's love is particular, it's
toward his elect and no other. In his high priestly prayer in
John 17, verse 9, he said, I pray for them. I pray not for the
world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine,
and thine are mine. God's love is particular. And
God's love is everlasting. We don't win the love of God
or merit the love of God and then lose His affection. Paul
said, who's going to separate us from the love of God? We didn't
have anything to do with it. He stated beforehand our predestination
in Him, and our justification in Him, and our calling in Him,
and all of these things are in Him. He tells us plainly who
he's talking about, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God to let. It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
it's risen again who's even now at the right hand of God. Who
then shall separate us from the love of God? Huh? Shall tribulation, distress,
famine, persecution, none of those things. None of those things. And all these things were more
than conquerors through Him that loved us, and nothing shall separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
God's love is from everlasting to everlasting. And God's love
is a mystery. I know why He hated Esau. I know why God hated Esau. Why
did He love Jacob? There's the mystery. Esau was a man's man. Esau was
a hunter. Esau was a businessman. Esau,
his father loved him. He loved him. He was a man's
man. Jacob, he was a heel grasper. He was a conniver. He was always
trying to take shortcuts. He was always trying to get over
on his fellow man. Why did God love heel? It's a
mystery, isn't it? God's love is a mystery. Why
did he purpose to manifest this love to some and not all? It's a mystery. But isn't that
same thing true, though corrupt, still built into your nature?
Why do you love this one? It's a mystery, isn't it? It's a mystery. We love in particular. Why do we think that we're made
in the image of God? Why do we think God is different?
Why do we think He loves universally? You don't. I don't. We love in particular. What a
mystery is this thing called love. And then consider this.
Love is effectual. It's effectual. Love never faileth.
Never faileth. Love gives what's demanded of
it. Love bears all things, believes
all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things. Now
let me give you something Charles Spurgeon said in a message. We like to think love of this
particular grace, that's hard to obtain. And a few do. A few obtain it. And we love them for it. We honor
them for it. That's how we like to look at
love. The love that Paul is talking about here in chapter 13 is not
that way. It's common. It's common grace. It's common among all believers.
He that loveth not knoweth not God. And this love is a divine
grace. It's not something you can muster
up. We get all frustrated with ourselves because we don't love
like we ought to. You'll never love like you ought
to because you're not what you ought to be. You'll never be
able to do that. And this thing called love is
a divine grace. It takes the power of God to
put this grace in you. You can't muster it up. And as
long as you try, you're going to be disappointed. By faith,
we receive these things. And this thing of love, loving
him who begat and loving them who are begotten of him, that's
the sure evidence of regeneration. And this love is victorious. It's effectual. It's not like
your fickle love. I asked Kathy this morning what
that line was. I went blank. I could remember
about half of the marriage vow. But lots of folks stand before
the preacher and take that oath, for better or for worse, for
richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. I love them. I love them. Forsaking all others,
I'll love them till death do us part. And about two years
later, three years later, five years later, ten years later,
down the road this one goes and down the road that one goes.
That love wasn't effectual, was it? That love couldn't do what
it promised to do. But God's love does. It does. This love, Paul says in this
chapter, you read it through. He tells us in this chapter that
this love Never faileth. Now let me just show you here
in these things that I briefly read to you. Let me show you
something this morning. If you don't get anything else,
you get this. Love is a man of war. It's a
man of war. It's not this little The thing
that you can do without, it is the power behind the reigning
grace of God. Now you listen to me. It beareth
all things. Love does. Love does. Oh, I've seen men and women,
some of them who go to this very church, I've seen them bear things
that I didn't think I'd be able to bear myself. But they bore
those things. They bore those things. They
went through those things. You know why? Because they loved
them. They loved them that they were
with. And they bore those things. It beareth all things. It beareth
persecution. Persecution. It beareth persecution
for those that you're close to. Your own family members. Your
own friends and neighbors. It beareth all things. And worse
than that, even from those who are our brothers and sisters
in Christ, sometimes we have to bear things. We have to bear
things, difficult things, things that cut to the bone, things
that hurt. We bear those things. Love is effectual. Love never
faileth. It beareth all things. It believeth
all things. Oh, how many times in this life
I thought God loved me. When you really believe that,
you'll believe it like Job. when he's got a piece of glass
and scraping the bowls off his arm, and his kids are all dead,
and his wife's forsaken him, and there he sits in a thing
of ashes, and his friends are standing around him trying to
get him to confess some gross sin of which he wasn't guilty. It believeth all things. It believeth. And it doesn't
matter what comes. It still believeth. Still believeth. See, this is what trials are
all about. God said He's going to take His gold and He's going
to prove it in the fire. He's going to take that little
pitiful profession of faith that we made and He's going to see
what it's all about. It's going to be tried by fire. True faith
is going to believe all things. It's going to go right on through
the fire. It'll go right on through the fire. It believeth all things and it
hopeth all things. And it endureth all things. It endureth. He that endureth
unto the end, the same shall be saved. We endure. We endure
these things. Now, this is the love of God.
Our love for Him is mirrored by our knowledge of His love
for us. Scripture said we love Him because
He first loved us. And as we experience His love
in our daily walk, our love grows. because our knowledge of His
love grows. We glory in tribulations, knowing
that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. I tell
you, I think back on different situations in my lifetime with
my father. And there's a few times when
I was hurting and down and in trouble, and he stepped in and
took his hand, just a little fellow, took his hand, put me
behind him, and he said, whatever he owes, I'll pay it. You charge
me, I'll pay the bill. Now, I was glad somebody got
me out of trouble, but later on when I began to think about
it, I thought about how much He loved me. For a grown man
to step in and do something like that, how much He loved me. This
is what Paul is talking about here, going through these trials
and tribulations and troubles. It works all these things, but
in the working of these things, the love of God He should have
brought in your heart. You see how much He loves you.
How much He loves you. The love of God is everything
to a believer. Paul said, the love of Christ
constraineth us, motivates us, keeps us from being as evil as
we could be, and enables us to obey. Obedience is the fruit
of love, not law. Listen. Peter? Do you love me? Then obey me, feed my sheep. Obedience is the fruit of love,
not love. Believers obey not to win God's
favor, but to express their gratitude for the favor that He's already
shown. Believers are fully justified, sanctified, and righteous in
Christ Jesus. They have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. And they love Him for it. They're
thankful for it. And they rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And without this love, the greatest speaker who ever stood before
men is nothing but sounding brass. He's talking about Like a big horn. And they're
standing there and blowing one note on the horn. Huh? You get tired of it pretty quick,
don't you? Or a tinkling cymbal. Standing there clanging cymbals
together. Gets you on your nerves, don't
it? That's what a speaker is who
has not this love. This love of God. He's like sounding
brass and a tinkling cymbal. The greatest scholar and the
wisest of men, a man who could perceive all mysteries, a man
who had such faith so as to move mountains. If he has not this
love, listen to me, he is nothing. He is nothing. A charitable man, a devoted man
willing to sell all that he had and give it to the poor, one
ready to give his body and martyrdom to be burned. If he has not this love, it would
all be for naught. All be for naught. Love in this
chapter is called charity because true love is manifested in giving. Don't you listen to something
James said. He said, whosoever hath this world's good, and seeth
his brother have need, and shutteth up his vows of compassion from
him, now listen, How dwelleth the love of God in him? How dwelleth the love of God
in him? Husbands, love your wives as
Christ did His church and gave Himself for it. Love is manifested
in giving. And love is manifested in patience. Love, it says, suffereth long. Suffereth long. You know what
that means? That means it puts up with others
a long time. It suffereth long. But Pastor,
why do you do that? Why do you put up with some of
the things you put up with? I'll tell you why. Because I
love you. I love you. By the grace of God, I'll keep
on putting up with you. And by the grace of God, maybe
you can put up with me. Love suffereth long. It suffers
long. Love manifests itself in kindness. Kindness. Listen to this. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32.
Be ye kind one to another. Tenderhearted. Oh, forgiving one another, even
as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Be ye kind. Love envieth not. What's that
mean? It means it don't boil over with
jealousy. Love vaunteth not itself. It's
not proud. It's not conceited. It's not
arrogant. Every proud, arrogant person
that I've ever known is in love with himself. And there's no room for any competition.
He's self-serving. Love is not puffed up. Not puffed
up. Paul said to the church, I say
through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among
you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to
every man that measure of faith." What have you gotten that you
haven't received? Huh? We're going to take what
God gave us and get puffed up over it. Love does not behave itself unseemly. Oh, there's an arrow in the heart.
There's an arrow right in the heart. Our behavior is a good
measuring stick for our love for Christ and one another. There's
your measuring stick. Love seeketh not her own. Love
loses itself in its object. Christ had no home on this earth.
Boxes have holes. The birds of the air had nests.
The Son of God had nowhere to lay His head. He had no home
on this earth. But He gave me one. He gave me a pillar. You see what I'm saying? It loses
itself. Love loses itself in the object
of its love. He had only one pair of clothes
that he wore. Told his disciples, he said,
when you go out, don't you take two coats, you just take one. I'll provide those. I'll provide
them when you need them. I have a set for you. He had
one set of clothes. He gave me a closet full. You see what I'm saying? Love
loses itself in its object. Loses. Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law. Now listen, being made a curse
for us. And then he tells us love's not
easily provoked. If you really love someone, it's
difficult for them to provoke you. Takes a while. Takes a while. And our text says, love thinketh
no evil. I looked on that a long time,
and this was the best answer I could come up with. Somebody
whispers in your ear or you hear a rumor about your wife or children,
if you love them, you're not going to believe it until you
see the proof. Huh? Not until you see the proof. And love rejoices in the truth,
not in iniquity. It does not rejoice in the fall
and failure of others. What a man truly is, he wishes
others to be. Brother Mahan said, it's better
to believe the best of a brother and be disappointed than to believe
the worst and ruin a friendship. I think that's good advice. And
lastly, Love never gives up. It don't give up. It hopes for
things not seen. It endures all things. God is
its object. And it never fails, but endureth
unto the end. Now, I want you to listen to
what he says here at the close of this chapter. Now abideth. He's talking to believers here.
Now abideth faith. Faith. Faith abides. It's a gift, just as the gift
of love is a gift. It's the grace of God, the fruit
of the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Now abideth faith. Every child
of God has faith, and they have that faith of God's elect. It's
the gift of God. Now abideth hope. Every son of
God has hope of eternal life. They're not living for this world.
We have a hope. We can't see what we're going
to be. Isn't that what John said over
in 1 John, I think it's chapter 3? It does not yet appear what we
shall be. But he said, I know this. This
is what he hoped for. That when we shall see Him, we'll
be like Him. Hope. We have hope of eternal
life and the glory of heaven. And love, he that loveth not
knoweth not God, for God is love. Are you listening to me? The
greatest of these is love.