1 Corinthians chapter 13. We really should read the last
verse of chapter 12. So let's begin there, verse 31
of chapter 12. But covet earnestly the best
gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Then in
chapter 13, Paul shows them that more excellent way. Though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity,
that is love, I am become a sounding brass and a tinkling, or a tinkling
cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth
long, and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity
varneth not itself, is not puffed up. You remember That was the
root of the problems to these people that Paul wrote to, pride. Verse 5, does not behave itself
unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh
no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. Charity never faith. But whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail. And whether there be tongues,
they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy
in part. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When
I was a child, I speak as a child. I understood as a child. I thought
as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. For now we see through a glass
darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known. Now abideth faith, hope,
charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. The greatest of these is charity,
that is love. Unlike our imperfect knowledge, we don't know as much as we think
we do. And we'll realize that when we
enter glory. But love, unlike our imperfect
knowledge, limited knowledge, and spiritual gifts, as Paul
says in verse 9, are only in part, love, unlike those, will
never cease. Will never cease. Love is the
only thing we'll take with us into heaven. The only thing. Knowledge, as Paul says, will
cease, so will tongues, different languages, because in heaven,
all of the multitudes Every citizen of the new Jerusalem, the heavenly
city, will all speak the same language. They'll all speak the
same language. And Paul said even those gifts
of God's grace, and he names three, faith, hope, and love,
even faith and hope will no longer be needed in heaven. They won't
be necessary. Faith shall give way to actual
sight. We'll see that, for which we
now believe by faith. Sight, or rather, faith will
be swallowed up with the vision of heavenly glory. This is what
Peter says in his first epistle. Listen to these words. 1 Peter
1, verses 8 and 9. whom, that is the Lord Jesus
Christ, whom having not seen, ye love. In whom, though now
ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls. Likewise, this is also true of
hope. It too shall cease, because then,
then, in glory, unlike now, while we're still here, we shall possess
that which we now hope for. It'll be ours. As Bobby sang
a moment ago, when I stand with Christ in glory, When I stand with Christ in glory,
looking back over life's story, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
but not till then, how much I owe. This hope, like faith, shall
no longer be necessary. Turn back, if you will, to Romans
8. This is exactly what Paul tells us here. This is why When
we enter heaven, faith will cease. It will no
longer be required. It won't be needed. Here in Romans
8 verse 24. For we are saved by hope, but
hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does
he yet hope for? They shall see his face. I won't be in heaven hoping to
see his face, I shall see his face. I won't need to hope for
that any longer. Verse 25, but if we hope for
that we see not, which is our case at the present, then do
we with patience wait for it. All but in heaven, the waiting
will be over. When the end is reached, the
means, the means, faith, hope, will no longer be needed. Those
are the means until we reach our end. But once we reach the
end, the means are no longer necessary. When our race has
been won, when the gold line, the gold line has been crossed,
We can take off our running shoes. We can take off our track shoes
once we've crossed the finish line. But Paul says here, not
so with love. Love will take with us into glory. The love of God that has been
shed or brought in our hearts shall never ever cease. It shall
go on forever. It shall even expand. It shall
continue to grow and increase in the presence of him we love
because he first loved us. The love of God and the love
from God flowing from his heart into our hearts and then back
to God will find room, will find an expanse, room to grow for Forever. No wonder Paul said
this love is the greatest of the gifts. It's the more excellent
way. Paul compares, in verses 11 and
12, he compares our present state to that future state. He compares
the believer's time on earth to that time when he shall enter
glory. And he does this in two ways.
First, he compares it to being a child himself. When he was
a child, compared to when that child, Paul uses himself as an
example, when I, he said, grew and became a man. Look at verse
11. When I was a child, I spake as
a child. In my childhood state, I spoke
as a child speaks. I understood as a child understood. My grasp of things was determined
by my ability to so grasp them. I reasoned as a child. That's
why, Joe and Abby, you may find this out. God willing, you shall
find this out. You'll find out that your level
And that child's level of reasoning are two different levels indeed.
Paul said, I speak as a child, I understood as a child, I reasoned
as a child. That's all we can do, John. That's
all we can do. That's the best we can do. That's
the state that we're in now. But then notice Paul goes on
to say, but, but, when I became a man, I put away childish things. In the future, when we're in
glory, when we are men, we'll put away childish things and
heaven will look back on our present state and then as a grown
man looks at his childhood, and we'll probably be shocked at
how little we actually knew. We're probably amazed, standing
there, at how little we actually comprehend it, how narrow our
views were, because we're children now. We're children. We reason.
We comprehend things as children. That's all we can do. Our notions
of heavenly things are quite indistinct now in comparison
to what they shall be then. It's like this. Perhaps you've
done this, I did. When I lived in that coal camp
that it was called, with the coal mines, my father worked
in and the fathers of all my friends worked in, and everything
was built around the coal mines. The houses, the company owned
them, the coal company. There was the company store.
They even had their own money, Lester, called it script. You
could only spend it at the company store, the school. But I remember
when I went to school there, the first grade through the sixth
grade, I thought that was such a big place, such a big place. And then after I'd been in high
school and even after, I went back one day to visit that. And
John, as I walked into those classrooms, I thought, Why did
I ever think this place was so big? It's tiny. It's tiny. What had happened?
Had it changed? No, I changed. When I was a boy,
I could sit in that desk and swing my legs. They wouldn't
even touch the floor. I couldn't even get in it then.
Now, rather, when I became a man. That's what Paul says. When I
was a child, I spake as a child. But when I become a man, I put
those things away. Now, the second comparison Paul
gives us is in verse 12. Comparing our earthly state to
our heavenly state, he gives a second illustration.
And this will be our text. We'll take our text from this.
And the title of my message is, Now But Not Then. Now But Not
Then. And I thought a moment ago, before
I stood up here, I'm just going to skim the surface. But pray
that God will enable you to take this thought with you. How much,
how much did I fail to mention can you apply this blessed truth
to? Now, now, Oh, but not then. Now I'm hurting,
but not then. Now I weep, oh, but not then. Not then. Weeping will not be
for eternity. It's only going to be for a short
time. Oh, but rejoicing, it's never
going to cease. It's going to go on and on and
on. Larry! I can't get a hold of
that. I can't either. I'm a child right
now. I'm a child right now. I'm looking
through a glass darkly. Oh, but then, then I shall see
clearly. Now, but not then. Paul says
with this illustration, now we see through a glass darkly. Now
we know in part the glass that is a mirror, a mirror. Our present
state is like a person looking at a vague image of themselves
in a mirror, in glasses, Paul says here. But now remember,
remember, in Paul's day, a mirror is not like what you looked at
this morning. I mean, it gave an accurate reflection
of you whether you liked it or not. More gray hair. More gray than brown. But in
Paul's day, that wasn't the case. Marys weren't glass. They were
polished metals, perhaps bronze. And they looked into that and
it gave a very vague reflection of the one looking into it. Imperfect. Imperfect. Because the instrument
was imperfect. Even so, as believers in this
world, our perception of things is very limited. We've all asked,
we won't admit that, but we have all cried in the privacy of our
own loneliness. when no one else is around to
hear us. We don't want anyone else to
hear us. But our heart is cried out. We've expressed the thought
of our heart, if not with our voice, at least with our hearts.
We say, why, Lord? Why? I don't understand. Why are you doing this? What
are you doing? Why are you allowing this? I
don't see the good in this. We've all been there. Because
now, like that polished metal, we see darkly. Darkly. Standing where we are
now, we can only see so far. We can only see so far. Heavenly
things, eternal things, they're distant. They're distant things,
Lord. They're distant. And we're nearsighted. We're nearsighted in this present
state, so we don't see them distinctly. This is exactly what Paul says
in 2 Corinthians 4. Turn there for a moment, if you
will. In 2 Corinthians 4, this is what Paul speaks of here in
verses 17 and 18. A very familiar passage, verses
rather. But we can apply what we're seeing
Now but not then, right here. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, and remember the man who wrote this? Paul. He refers to his affliction more
than all of us combined will ever suffer. Paul said it's light. It's light compared to what,
Paul? I mean, you say you were hated
by your own countrymen? You were hated by false brethren. You were persecuted on land,
on sea. You were beaten with 40 stripes
save one. They would stop at 39 just to
be sure they wouldn't kill the man they were inflicting those
stripes on because often they would die under that punishment.
Paul said you endured that and besides all that, the care of
all the churches. And you call that a light affliction? Compared to what, Paul tells
us. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. How
can that be, Paul? While we look not at the things
which are seen, our light affliction, but at the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. They're going
to pass. But the things which are not
seen, which we look to by faith, even through a glass darkly,
they are eternal. They're eternal things. This
word Paul says, again in verse 12, we look through a glass darkly.
Darkly in the original means like a riddle. It has that meaning,
like trying to understand a riddle. Even so, our faith, our sight
is often hindered, isn't it? Like the clouds block out the
sun. And in this present state, we
are sometimes attracted. It's true. It's sad. It's sad,
but it's true. Far too often, I'm attracted. My attention is diverted from
my altogether lovely one, my redeemer. My attention is attracted
to other things. Like Peter on the sea. Lord,
if that's really you. One of the disciples said, on
that stormy sea, our Lord comes walking to his disciples. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. Storm or no storm. And one of them said, it's the
Lord. And Peter said, if that's really you, command me to come
to you. And I'll come. Remember what
the Lord Jesus said? And Peter gets out of the boat
and walks on the water. So what a picture of faith. Strong
faith, robust faith. The lightning's flashing over
Peter's head. You can hear the thunder and
the waves, but Peter's walking like a man strong in faith, looking
directly at his Lord. That's not always the case, is
it? Not with any child of God. Oh,
thank God when it's so, but our attention is soon sidetracked. We look away. We look away from
him, like Peter did, at the ways, and he begins to sink. And the
faithful shepherd of the sheep, though we deny him, he can't
deny us. He reaches out. When Peter cries,
Lord, save me, he reaches out and picks him up. And remember
what he said. What did he say? Wherefore didst thou doubt? Doubt. We cannot believe him
too much, can we? You've often heard it said, but
it's true. We don't always trust him, but John, it doesn't undervalue
his trustworthiness, does it? I may not always trust him, Mike,
and I don't, but he's trustworthy. Oh, my soul, how I ought to sleep
at night if I really believed that everything, everything,
I said everything, Whether I view it as good or bad, everything
is in the hands under the control of that one
that I profess faith in. And if I really believe that
he's working everything together for my good, why do I toss and
turn as if it all depended up on me? Oh, unbelief. Unbelief. Lord, help thou my
unbelief. But Paul says again in this illustration
of looking into a mirror, looking at it darkly, he says, that's
how things are now, but then, oh, but then, but then, I will see him face
to face. Let's pause right there. Face to face. I can't illustrate
that. Don't know how. Face to face. No clouds without. No clouds between me and my savior. Nothing to block my view of him. No clouds
without, and no clouds within, Joe. No clouds within. No sorrow without, no unbelief
within. Bobby again that song saying,
when I see thee as thou art, and I will see thee in a way
that I cannot now because then I shall see him and love him
with an unsinning heart. An unsinning heart. My soul,
there's enough sin coming from this heart right now if not for
his grace is worthy to send me to hell forever. There's enough
pride mixed with what I'm doing at this very moment that needs
repented of. Oh, but not then. You've heard
it and it's true. Your best prayers are full of
sin, full of selfishness, the best one you've ever prayed.
That's just a fact, yours and mine. The best sermon I've ever
preached or thought I preached is so full of pride. I read the
other day, I forget where, but a preacher came out of the pulpit.
Someone met him and said, man, that was a wonderful sermon.
He said, you don't have to tell me that. The devil just did.
The devil's already told me that. Sin is mixed with everything
we do. How would you like if there was
a big screen right behind me on this white wall right here
and the thoughts that you have had since you came in here to
worship God were projected on that screen? No. Oh no. Oh no. No. Heaven forbid. But it's still
true. Oh, but in that day, brother-in-law, I'm going to love him with an
unsinning heart. I'll have no desire to see anything
or anyone but him. And that desire will be perfectly
fulfilled. It will lack nothing because
we shall see by God's own light, not through a glass darkly, but
in the perfect light of God's presence. Turn, if you will,
to Psalm 36. I think, if I'm not mistaken, I think this is
what this psalm means, or rather these verses in Psalms 36. Psalm 36 and verse 8. We shall see, comprehend, understand
in God's own light. Verse 8. They shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make
them drink of the river of thy pleasures. And he showed me a
river of life. Verse 9, for with thee is the
fountain of life, and in thy light shall we see light. We shall not see by our own limited
understanding, no, not as a child, but as a man. not through a glass
darkly, but face to face. In thy light, in God's light,
shall we see light. We shall see things, so to speak,
from his perspective. Several years ago, like Louie's
having done, I had a few places removed from my face. But when I visited my family
doctor and mentioned them to him, I said, in a chair and he
rolled his stool up to me and he said, mm-hmm, he's doing this,
and he says, you see that? You see that? I said, no, doc,
I can't see that. How am I going to see it? I can't
see that. Oh, the psalmist said, in that
day, in that day, we shall see in his own light. We shall see
that. We shall see that. Paul said,
not darkly, but face to face. Perfect vision. Perfect vision. Perfect vision. And you know
what I mean by that. The scripture doesn't mean we
won't need these, no. Perfect vision to comprehend,
to understand, to know, to know. And that perfect vision On what
will it look? What will open before our wondering
eyes our perfect Savior? They shall see His face. Oh, again, then, Lord, not now. Oh, but then, but then shall
I fully know. Yes, though our faith is far
from perfect, The object of our faith is, is it not, Jesus Christ
himself. He's altogether lovely. Every attribute of the otherwise
unknown God. No man, John said, has seen God
at any time. The only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. There's no
knowing God apart from Christ. It's impossible. It's not possible. Oh, but in that one who is both
himself God and man, every attribute blends in perfect harmony. Mercy
and truth are met together, how, in Christ. Righteousness and
peace have kissed each other, where, in Christ. Justice satisfied,
mercy given to sinners, but not at the expense of God's justice,
because in his Son, both are perfectly united. No conflict,
they kiss one another. Yes, though through a glass darkly,
yet we do see, do we not? Thank God we do see. I once was
blind, but now I see. Because God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4,
has shined into our hearts. Why? Why? They give us the knowledge
of what, not what, who, the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said, God
who had called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Do you see him? Do you see Christ
your Savior? As David on his deathbed said,
He didn't look at all those vessels of gold. He didn't look at his
many servants. He didn't look back on what he
did for the glory of God to the honor of God. Oh no, he looked
to one thing, one thing only. Thou has made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things insure and Christ is the angel
of the covenant. David's son and David's God,
that's who he looked to and he said, this is all my salvation
and all my hope. Mike Giddens, Joe Z, John, every
child of God, sisters, brothers, the Lord says to you this morning,
In answer to the question, thou art the Christ, the Son of God,
is that your answer? Then he says to you at this very
moment, blessed art thou, put your name in there, for flesh
and blood didn't reveal this unto you, but my Father which
is in heaven. You're a blessed man, Joe. You
are a blessed man. My soul, God Almighty opened
your blinded eyes. He removed all that rubbish. He swept it all away, and you
saw like Luther did. It's not of him that willeth,
and it's not of him that runneth. It's of God Almighty that had
mercy on this sinner, and you'll spend eternity singing his praises
for it. You're a blessed man. And so
is every sinner whose blinded eyes he has opened. We're blessed
today, and we'll be blessed tomorrow, and be blessed forever. Now we
see through a glass darkly, but not then. Not then. Now weeping may endure through
the night, but not then. Now we cry, yes we do, but not
then. We won't have any reason to cry. Remember sometimes when your
children would just seemingly for no reason just cry. My daddy said to me, what's wrong
with you boy? What are you crying about? You've got no reason to
cry. In glory, our heavenly father will wipe away all tears from
our eyes. There'll be no sickness, no sorrow. There'll be no reason to cry.
Nothing to cry about. Sorrow now, but not then. Pain
now, but not then. Death now, but not then. All
those now things we read in Revelation 21 shall then become former things. Things in our past. The former
things are all passed away. They're all gone. As you know,
last Sunday night, I traveled back to Danville, Kentucky, to
attend the funeral of my longtime dear friend, Brother Bob Poncer. As I walked away from that place
where they laid his body, awaiting the resurrection of the just
when the dead in Christ will hear the voice of their great
shepherd and every one of them is going to get up just like
Lazarus did and they're going to follow him all the way to
glory. The body and the spirit united forever. But as I walked
away from that place, I left with the confident hope that
I'll see my friend again. I'll see my friend again. How
can I know that? How can anybody know that? Turn, if you will, to John's
Gospel, chapter 11. We know that because our Redeemer
said so. Our Redeemer, in words that cannot
be misunderstood unless deliberately told us that it's so. Every promise
of God is yay and amen in Christ Jesus. You know the circumstances. He's going to the tomb of Lazarus.
Martha meets him when he comes to Bethany. In verse 23, thy
brother shall rise again. My brother, Bob Poncer, shall
rise again. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Oh, Martha, you're looking through a glass darkly now. You're seeing
things vague. Let me give you a clearer perception
of what I'm talking about. Verse 25, Jesus said to her,
I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
resurrection. Did he arise? Did Jesus Christ
arise from the dead? That guarantees all of his followers
will rise from the dead. He's the first fruits of them
that slept. The head arose. He arose victorious
and every member of his body is going to rise and be with
their glorious head. Martha, I'm the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. If in this life only we had hope
of Jesus Christ, we would be of all men most miserable. The week before I drove up to
see Brother Bob, or attend his funeral rather, and see his dear
wife, I was in Crossville, Tennessee,
as you know. As I've already mentioned, when
I left Mary and Donny's house, and I've known them for many,
many, many years, dear, dear friends. Never been a crossword
between he and I. In all the years we've known
each other, there's never been a crossword. But Mary, bless
her heart, not a whole lot left of her. the cancers ravaged her. And she looked at me and said,
Larry, I knelt down to give her, embrace her, before I left the
house. And she said, Larry, I want this
to be over, son. I want to go home. You say, well, is that wrong?
No. Paul said, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ,
and he said, which is far better. Far better. Child of God, something
better is coming. We sang this song. We sang a couple at Bob's funeral.
We sang this. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought, my sin not in part but the whole, is nailed to his cross
and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ
hence to live, if Jordan above me shall roll, no pain shall
be mine, for in death as in life, that will whisper thy peace to
my soul." Won't that be something? Won't that be something? Oh,
child of God, isn't that something glorious to look forward to?
Just as we're closing our eyes to everything in this life, we're
opening them to behold the Lamb of God. Won't that be something? Something better is coming. There
was a young pastor who was called by one of his elderly members,
a lady, who wanted to meet with him. So she went to his home,
or her home rather, and she wanted to arrange her funeral service. That's what she wanted to discuss
with the pastor who would be preaching it. So they chose the
scripture that she wanted read. Then they chose the hymns that
she wanted sung. And then she said, Pastor, when
I'm in my coffin, put my fork in my hand. He said, what? Did I understand
you right? Put your fork in your hand? Why? She said, when I was a girl
growing up at home with a large family of brothers and sisters,
and mom would set the table, there was seldom enough to eat.
There was never anything left over. And we only had dessert
on Sundays. I remember that. I remember that.
The only time we had dessert for a lot of years was on Sundays.
But what my mama would say to me after she would clear the
table, keep your fork. When mama would say that to me,
I knew something better was coming. Now we see through a glass darkly. but something better is coming.
Now I know in part, but something better is coming, because I want
to see him face to face, and I'm going to know even as he
knows me. Something better is coming. But Lord, it is for thee, for
thy coming we wait. The sky, not the grave is our
goal. O trump of the angel, O voice
of the Lord, blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul. O Lord haste
the day when this face shall be sight, the clouds be rolled
back as a scroll, the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend
even so. It is well. It is well. with my soul. God bless you. God bless each
of you. Amen.