In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 Paul
speaks of love or charity as the Orthrites version refers
to it. He says in verse 1, though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity
I am become a sounding brass 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
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth 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 faileth. But whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail. 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 spake as a child, I understood as a child, I fought
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. And now abide if faith,
hope, charity. These three, but the greatest
of these is charity. Now abide if faith, hope, charity. These three, but the greatest
of these is charity. Charity or love. It's remarkable
here in this chapter how highly Paul speaks of charity or love,
given the context of the other things he is also speaking of.
In this last verse he says, Now abide in faith, hope and charity. These three. But the greatest
of these is charity. Now that is remarkable in the
light of the New Testament and everything that we read of in
the New Testament and the Gospel and how we are saved. That we
are saved by the grace of God through faith. That faith is
not of ourselves, it's not natural, it's the gift of God. But it's
through believing the truth, believing the Gospel that we
come to know Christ. It's through faith that we are
justified. It's through faith that we are
saved. It's by faith that we have hope
of eternal life, hope of salvation. Our hope is built on Christ and
Him crucified. And our hope is conveyed unto
us by that God-given faith that enables us to look and to behold
and to lay hold of Christ, our Savior. faith is hugely important to
salvation. And yet in this chapter Paul
says that the greatest of these faith, hope and charity is charity. Now that often might seem to
run counter to what we might expect. There are those that
make much of love. there are those that make much
of the love of God when they present their understanding of
the gospel they don't like to speak of the wrath of God against
the sin of man and they don't like to speak of the love of
God for his own the elect But they love to take the love of
God and make it universal. They love to think that there
is love for all, that all is forgiven, that salvation is for
all and we're all gonna be saved in the end. And the only thing
that would stop us is if we steadfastly refused it. Now in the light
of this, and the reality of the truth, that salvation is of God
alone, that salvation is of those whom God the Father gave to the
Son in eternity past His elect, His chosen. Those whose eyes
are opened by the Spirit of God when they are born again to see
the truth, to see Christ and to believe on Him. In the reality
of the fact that salvation is absolutely dependent upon faith
and upon having our eyes open to look under Christ, we might
think that faith would be classed higher, greater than love. And yet Paul here says the greatest
of these is love, charity. Now does this mean that he dismisses
faith or hope? Certainly not. But it means that
behind faith, behind the giving of faith to man, behind the exercise
of faith by man, lies love. And without love, there is no
true faith. Without love, there is no true
hope. Without the love of God for man,
there would be no salvation in the beginning. And without love
shed abroad in the heart of man when God brings him to life,
there is no true faith. We may say we believe the gospel. We may say we believe the truth. But if our faith and our profession
is not accompanied by love, it's but a lie. It's but head knowledge
of the truth, an outer shell with nothing inside. It's not
real. Faith, worketh by love, Paul
says in Galatians. It's evidence by love. The fruit
of faith is love. Faith which produces no fruit
is not faith. It's a profession, it's a claim,
but it's not faith. Faith which is not accompanied
by love is but knowledge in the head. But where faith is, there
is always love. And it is love which gave faith
unto man It is love which saved God's own and it is love which
responds to God's salvation as the evidence of true faith in
the heart. Therefore, as Paul says, the
greatest of these is charity, is love. We may claim to believe the truth.
We may claim to believe the gospel. We may be right on so many doctrinal
matters. But if our heart shows forth
little or no love, what is it? What are we? We are become a
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, Paul says. Just noisy. Words, claims. making a great
show sound in brass we look great but there's nothing there though
i have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge and though i have all faiths that i could remove
mountains and have not charity i am nothing Paul says nothing
i'm nothing though i can suffer all sorts of wrong though i can
walk through this pilgrimage in this earth though i can take
so much opposition though I can hope for things which have yet
to come to pass and though others can look on and say he has such
faith he carries on going despite the fact nothing goes his way
though he apparently could remove mountains by his faith oh what
a man of faith he is if the evidence of that faith being of God is
not there if it's not accompanied by love that man is nothing I
am nothing. Paul says though I bestow all
my goods to feed the poor. Something which you would describe
as a wonderful act of love, an act of compassion. though you
should give all your goods away you should spend all your money
to feed the poor oh you can't get much kinder much more benevolent
than that surely though i bestow all my goods to feed the poor
and though i give my body to be burned though i'm willing
to be sacrificed to death paul says if i have not love charity
it profit if me nothing That in itself is a remarkable comment. It demonstrates that you could
give all your goods to feed the poor and yet have no love. It demonstrates that you could
suffer even unto death, you could go to be martyred, to be burned
at a stake, so strong for what you see as truth, so determined
to serve God as you see it. And yet you could do that without
any true love for God and his people in your heart. Why is this so remarkable? Well
it's remarkable that the will of man can go to such lengths
without the reality of God's love in the heart. And it's remarkable
in how This distinguishes between the
true child of God and the false. Because we're so easily taken
in by outward appearance. We're so easily deceived by the
outward acts. It's so easy to look upon others,
other professing Christians, other great people in history,
and to say, but look at their love, look at how they raise
money for the poor, look at how they've given Themselves over
to this cause or that look at the sacrifices that this person
makes you can't You can't do those things surely unless you're
a true Christian You can't deny that these people are Christians
when they feed these people when they go to they go to Africa
they go to these countries and they they give up all their lives
and their comforts and they spend so much effort and energy looking
after the good of others These people who run to the aid of
others when they're sick, when they're ill, those who work and
they nurse others who are terminally ill and they spend all their
time looking after others, giving up their whole lives at times
to care for other people who are worse off than themselves.
You can't say that they could do that and not be a Christian,
could you? And yet Paul says here that you
could, that you can give all your goods to feed the poor,
that you can give your body to be burned and have not love. And should you do it, it's of
no profit whatsoever. Whatever the profession and whatever
the outward deeds, which make a great show and a great appearance
before man. What matters before God, what
matters in the end, is what's in our hearts. What we say, what
we profess, and the works we do, however wonderful they may
appear, are nothing unless the true faith of God works in our
hearts by love unless that faith which we claim is not of man
but of God and unless that faith is accompanied not by the sentiment
of man not by the selfish though it looks selfless motivation
of man not by the works of man unless it's accompanied by the
love of God shed abroad in the hearts it is nothing Now this
strips us down to the core. This takes away all false veneers
which we can build up. This takes away the fig leaves
which we sow around ourselves to give an appearance of righteousness. This strips the best and the
most noble and the most wonderful looking professor down to nothing. Because all the words, all the
knowledge of the truth, all the doctrinal claims, all the profession,
and all the works, all the selflessness, all the devotion, is nothing,
nothing, except it is of God, by grace, through faith, by love. Unless God sows the seed in the
heart and brings forth the true fruit, all is nothing. Unless it's God's love in the
heart, all is nothing. However great the claim, and
however perfect the doctrinal knowledge that we profess, brings
us to nothing. And it needs to bring us to nothing
because by nature we are nothing. And that's one of the messages
of this book in Corinthians as we've seen before. Paul starts
off, he starts off addressing the errors at Corinth and the
divisions and troubles which have come in by showing them
that they are nothing before God. By showing them that he
calls those whom he calls. And the ones he calls unto salvation
are the nothings of this world. to bring to naught the things
that are. To show that those who think
they are great, especially in religion, are nothing. But those who are nothing are
those whom God calls. He's called the base things of
the world, those which are despised. those which are not to bring
to naught things that are that no flesh should glory in his
presence that according as it is written he that gloryeth let
him glory in the Lord because we are nothing we are sinners
by nature we are corrupt to the heart to the core black rebels
violent selfish disobedient arguing We go our way, we will not be
told. Our hearts are full of lies. Our hearts are full of hatred. Now we can do a great deal in
our life to hide that. We can make a great appearance
of being loving, particularly for other men. And it sometimes
takes a lot to bring the evidence of the hatred which is in our
hearts to the surface in some. In some, all you see is hatred. In some, all you see is anger
and frustration. In some, all you see is a life
of crime and a life of rebellion. And it's easy to look upon them
and say, well, that's a sinner. But it's the others that appear
so great, so wonderful, so pure, so perfect. Oh, they haven't
gone to this length and to that length. They've not got into
that trouble or that trouble. They've never broken the law. They've never harmed another
one. They've never stolen anything. Oh, they're so good. But you
bring the knowledge of the truth into their ears. And you bring
the preaching of the gospel unto them. And you present unto them
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You present unto them the truth
of salvation and the truth of a sovereign God that does whatsoever
He pleases. You present unto them the truth
that salvation is of God by grace alone. You preach unto them free
and sovereign grace. And then that face which seems
so loving, then that countenance which seems so pure, changes. Then the heart of hatred which
lies within, hidden away from man, bubbles up to the surface
and can be concealed no longer. Is that you? Is that you behind
your veneer, behind your good works, behind your profession? Does there lie hatred in the
heart to God and his gospel? Does there? Because by nature,
in all of us, that is what there is in our hearts. In some it's
more evident than others, but by nature, we have no love. No love for God, no love for
the truth, no love for his people in our hearts. We hate the truth,
we hate God and we hate his people. We have a natural love, a natural
care and a concern for others, that which makes us appear loving
in the eyes of man. We have a love for humanity,
and actual care very often some more than others but even that
love even the best examples of that love even the best expressions
of it that we see in those who have given up their lives for
the good of others even that is ultimately rooted in self
motives even that is corrupt even that is no true love and
even that when it comes face to face with the gospel of free
and sovereign grace turns and rages against it we have no love
And yet we need love. For Paul says, if I have no love,
though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, I am as
sound in brass and tinkling cymbal, though I have the gift of prophecy,
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, though I have
all faith, if I have no love, I am nothing. Though I give all
my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned and
have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Do you have love in your heart
for God and his gospel? Do you? Do you? Do you believe his gospel? Do
you believe the truth? Have you heard it? Have you heard
of Christ? Have you heard of his love for
sinners? Have you heard of his sacrifice in laying down his
life upon the cross, that he might bear the sins of his people,
that he might take them away, that he might forgive them their
sins, that he might wash them clean in blood, have you heard
that? Have you received it? Do you profess to believe it?
But do you love it? And do you love those for whom
he died? or is your embracing of these things merely in your
head? We're without love by nature
we have no love in our hearts by nature our fallen hearts are
barren they're bankrupt they're full of self they're full of
sin and they're full of hatred for God and His grace We rail
against it, we rail against the knowledge of the truth. We don't
mind another gospel. We don't mind a gospel that rewards
our works, that tells us how good we are. We don't mind a
gospel that tells us that salvation is easy, you just say a quick
prayer and you're there. Doesn't matter how you live,
just accept this, Jesus, and you're on your way to heaven.
We don't mind a gospel that tells us that God loves everyone. Just
follow him. But we hate the truth of grace. And we hate the truth that salvation
lies not in our hands, in our decision, but in God's hands. We hate to feel that we're not
in control, but God is. We hate it. And we're born hating
man and hating God. We need love. We need love. And there's only one place that
that love will come from. And that's from God. He's the
only one who is love. And he's the only one who can
give love. He's the only one that can put love in the hearts
of wicked rebels like you and me. He's the only one that can
transform our hearts. He's the only one that can turn
us from our evil ways. He's the only one that can lead
us under him. He's the only one who can show
forth love and give love to sinners desperately in need of it. And we read in Romans in chapter
five, really for the first point in Romans, Paul having shown
man's desperate state in the first few chapters, how we're
all sinners, we've all gone astray. and then having shown us the
wonderful truth of the gospel and Christ's death for sinners
he comes to talk about this and how it expresses God's love in
chapter 5. For in chapter 5 and verse 8
he says but God commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners Christ died for us his own. While we were
yet sinners. much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his love.
God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. God's love goes beyond the response
of others. God's love wasn't based on what
we are. God doesn't love those that love
him. God doesn't love the good. God
doesn't look on men and women and look for those who are better
than others as we would and have love and compassion towards those
who are good and kind. and dispenses with those who
are horrible. We look on men and women and
we make judgments according to what we see on the outside. There
are those that we just could not love. They're full of hatred,
full of enmity. They've got nothing good to say
about others. They just cause trouble all their lives. They're
repulsive. We look on them and we just find
that we cannot love them. And yet there's others we meet
who are just kind and considerate, always thinking of others, never
seem to be seeking their own things. They seem so different
on the outside. And those we look on and we say,
well, I could love them. But not God. God looks upon the
hearts of man. He looks beyond that outer veneer. And he sees that all are sinners.
and whether they're evil on the outside and evil in the inside
or whether they look good on the outside and are evil in the
inside they're evil And yet despite this, despite how contemptible
we are before Him, despite how He looked upon His people chosen
in Christ and He looked upon them from all eternity and saw
their rebellion and their hatred for Him, saw their rejection
of His truth, saw their rejection of His Son, saw their rejection
of all that is good, though He looked upon them and saw their
rebellion, He commended His love toward them, in that while they
were yet sinners, despite their hatred of Him and His truth,
He gave His Son for them. Christ died for us while we were
yet sinners. Did He die for you? Did he die
for you? Do you know God's love? Has God
commended his love to you? Has he made it known in your
heart? Do you know whether Christ died for you while you were yet
a sinner? Does it not matter? Does it wash
over your head? Is it something you leave for
another day? Is it something that doesn't
concern you whilst you go your selfish way in this world? Is
it something you're going to leave until you're old? Is it
something you shut your eyes and your ears to? Or has God
sounded the alarm in your heart that your sin and your sins will
be paid for? That there is fast coming the
day when you will have to give an account, not just to your
parents for your deeds, not just to teachers, not just to your
colleagues, not just to your employers, not just to men, not
just to the courts, but you will have to give an account before
a holy and a righteous God. who holds in his hand your eternal
destiny, there fast cometh that day when you will stand before
your Maker and answer for your sins. Has God sounded the alarm
in your hearts of what is coming? That sin will be paid for. And if you've got no price to
pay, then you will know the paying of that sin in eternal wrath
forevermore. Has He sounded the alarm? If
He has, has He opened your eyes to look for an escape, to look
for an answer, to look for where you might be delivered from that
wrath to come, that condemnation? Has He commended His love to
you in pointing you to Christ, His Son, crucified upon a cross
for sinners like you? Have you seen Him? Have you seen
Him suffering? Have you seen the love of Christ
made known upon the cross as He suffered as men crucified
Him, as they nailed His hands and His feet to the tree, as
they left Him to die, as He railed under the outpouring of God's
wrath, as He hung there as God's wrath poured down upon Him, and
His body had to take that burning fire of God's wrath, His soul,
was burned by the fires of God's wrath against the sins of his
people have you seen him there suffering for sinners have you
seen his love for sinners that though he would have to wade
through that death wade through the rivers of that death even
so he loved them he loved them before he was nailed to the cross
he loved them as he died he loved them as he was laid in the grave
and he loved them as he rose with them from the grave in eternal
life. Have you seen him? Have you seen
God's love commended unto you? Has God opened your eyes to see
it? Has he opened your ears to hear
of it? Has he opened your hearts to receive it? Has he opened
your heart? Has he shed his love abroad in
your heart by the Holy Ghost? When you hear this Gospel, not
just in words, not just as I speak them in words in your mind by
knowledge, but when you hear this Gospel in power, in such
a way that the Spirit of God takes you and takes the hard
shell of your heart and rips it in two and lets the light
shine in, and lets the love of God shine in, and causes you
to be born again, that you might live, that you might see, that
you might see that Christ is your Saviour. When you hear this
Gospel like that in power, then the work is transforming. Then God sheds abroad His love
in your heart. And it's this, it's this that
causes those who hate it to love. It's this that transforms those
who were once at enmity with God, to be at peace with God,
to make them love God, to rejoice in His Gospel, to love His Gospel,
to love His Son, and to love His people. It's this that brings
not just faith, not just knowledge, but faith which works through
love, true faith, living faith. life in the heart within it's
this that puts a new heart within a new heart, a new spirit and
when this comes about then and only then do we love Him who
first loved us who first loved us it was He who loved from the
beginning But when he sets his love upon his own and brings
them to a knowledge of the truth, puts faith in their heart and
sends love into their heart, then they love him who first
loved them. Do you love him? Have you love
in your heart? What is that love like? Paul
describes it charity love suffer if long and is kind it envies
not it vaunt if not itself is not puffed up is not proud it
doesn't seek its own end it does not behave itself unseemly It
doth not seek her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no
evil. Rejoice if not in iniquity, but
rejoice if in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. It never
fails. Prophecies fail, tongues fail,
knowledge vanishes away. These things are temporary. Faith
looks and hopes for that which is to come but love never fails,
it's selfless, it thinks of others. God's love for us is selfless. This description of love firstly
describes and should be used to describe that love of Christ
for his own. for there's the true and the
perfect expression of it. He suffered long, he was kind,
he envied none, he vaunted not himself, he was not puffed up,
he did not behave himself unseemly, he sought not his own. He was
not easily provoked, he fought no evil, he rejoiced not in iniquity,
he rejoiced in the truth, he bore all things, he believed
all things, he hoped for all things and he endured all things.
Oh what wondrous grace and love there is in Christ. What selflessness
and what love there is in the hearts of all his children, who
are truly his children. Oh what a character this brings
forth. They love God, not themselves,
not their own things, they love his things. They love his church,
they love his people. They esteem others better than
themselves, they forgive others. They seek the good of others,
not themselves, they put themselves out for others. They don't do
good for others when it suits them, when it helps them also,
but they do good for others when it puts them to trouble. they
say I will look after this one because it's for their good they
say I am nothing I know nothing and they think well of others
they don't say I am I am better than they but they esteem others better
than themselves there's a selflessness to it they suffer all things
they're willing to suffer to the end like their master like
Christ who suffered for them. Nothing in this earth really
matters to them. They can take the suffering and
the opposition because what really matters is Christ and his salvation. This is why this exposes the
false professor. Because the false professor lays
claim to these things in the head. They want to think that
they're escaping the wrath to come and go into glory. But at
the same time they still love this world. And really they want
good in this world and good in the next. And when the pathway
really brings trouble, they find it hard work to rise above it.
Oh with the strength of man's will they make a good show of
it. There are those that seem to give all for others as Paul
says. They can give all their goods
to feed the poor, they can give their bodies to be burned, they
can suffer. But really there's that in their heart that fights
against it, that doesn't like it, that would seek not to go
that way. If it can be avoided, they will not. But the love of
God in the heart. produces that which is true,
produces that which is always looking for the good of the brethren,
always looking for the good of God's church, always seeking
God's glory, always seeking the fervent of his gospel, always
seeking the good of those that love God and his gospel, always
seeking the good of others. There's a wondrous effect. It
puts away childish things, it becomes a man. It puts away the
childish seeking after selfish things and it becomes a man.
Looking through a glass darkly, looking for that hope which is
to come. Knowing that there is that eternal
glory to come and this world does not matter. It produces that faith which
works by love. The effects of God's love shed
abroad in the heart are wondrous. It brings forth love for God,
love for the Brethren. We forgive others as we ourselves
have been forgiven. We esteem each other better than
ourselves because we have such a low view of self. We know we
are nothing. We know that we are nothing for
whom Christ died. then how can we not but look
on others as better than ourselves because we know that we are nothing
we look at nothing in ourselves as as of any merit all is filthy
in ourselves everything in our flesh in our flesh there dwelleth
no good thing all we have we have received by grace all is
of God all is a free gift all is freely given we have nothing
but that which God gives we have nothing but Christ and all the
riches of God in Jesus Christ he is our all and in all we are
nothing and he is all and we love His children as we see Christ
in them. We look beyond what we see of
them in themselves. We look beyond what we see in
the flesh and we look upon them as vessels of Christ, as temples
of the Holy Spirit. We look upon them as those in
whom Christ dwells. We love them for Christ's sake. Oh the love of God. It brings
consequences. Those whom God loves. He chastens. He chastens them. He'll bring
forth that love. He'll bring them through suffering.
He'll cause the flesh and the evidence of the flesh to be burnt
up. He'll bring these things to an end, that the love might
shine forth. He chastens them. But all the
time He loves them with that love which is everlasting. He
loves us with an everlasting love, it was set upon His own
from all eternity. He loves them throughout all
time, He will love them for all eternity. Whom He loves, He loves
to the end. His love never fails. The love
of man, natural love, fails. There's a breaking point, there's
a price, there's a point at which it will go no further. But the
love of God never fails. Christ loved his own before they
were born. He loved his own when they raged
against him. He loved his own when they nailed
him to the cross. He loved his own when he went
into the abyss, the darkness of the cross, when God's wrath
burned in fire against him. He still loved at the lowest
point, at the greatest suffering. He loved them. When those people
denied him, when Peter denied him thrice, he loved him. When we hated him and ran afar
off from him, he loved us, if we are his. When we raged against
him, when we spoke evil of his gospel and his truth and of his
name, when we used his name in vain, when we despised it, when
we swore, he loved us. when we came to faith to believe
He loved us, when we were brought into the flock He loved us, when
we wandered away into the ditch and rebelled again as the flesh
warred against the spirit and we let Him down and we made our
profession to look in tatters, when we fell and stumbled as
believers He still loved us. When we fall, when we grumble,
when we complain, when we kick against the pricks, when we struggle
in the hardness of the way, He still loves us. When He picks
us up again and comforts us, when He chastens us and brings
us back and picks us up and comforts us and leads us back along the
right way, He still loves us. Whom He loves He loves to the
end. He loves to the end. Oh the love
of Christ for his own. His love took him to the cross,
that place on which he died. that place in which he died by
faith that place in which he offered himself up as that wondrous
act of faith because he knew he had that hope that his faith
and his love for his own would be satisfied that his death would
bring in a great company of believers that all the father had promised
him would be saved and would be gathered in and his hope was
realized everyone for whom he died were saved he wrought an
effectual and a perfect salvation his faith and his hope were justified
and his love for them that eternal love was satisfied now abide
if faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is
charity Christ's love for his own is great. Do you know it? Do you feel it? Do you feel embraced
in it? When you're in trouble, when
you're doubting, when trials come your way, do you fall into
his arms? Fall into his arms of love? Do
you run to him as a child and pour out your complaint and your
heart before him? Or do you seek by your own effort
and strength to sort out your problems yourself? Throw your
efforts to one side and run to him because his love is great. Oh believer, what is it in which
you walk? Are you valiant for the truth?
Do you rise up to defend the truth? Do you attack every error
that comes your way? Do you in indignation write against
this error and that error, that cult and the other cult, that
heresy and the other heresy? Rightly standing for the truth,
oh have you got your doctrine sewn up? Good if you have, but
is it, is your faith, is your knowledge accompanied by the
love of God shed abroad in your heart? You may have prophecy,
you may understand all mysteries, you may have all knowledge, and
have all faith so that you could move mountains, but if you have
not love, you are nothing. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth
long, and is kind. Charity envyeth not. Charity
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not around, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth
not in iniquity. But rejoiceeth in the truth,
not in iniquity, not in the errors of others, but in the truth as
revealed by grace unto us. It bears all things, it believeth
all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things, it never
fails. Why not? Because God wrought
it, God put it in the heart and God sustained it. What he purposes,
what he starts, will not fail. What is your faith? Is it of
God or of man? What is your love? Is it of God
or is it of man? Will it fail in the end or will
it endure to the very end? Now abideth faith, hope, charity. These three but the greatest
of these, the greatest is charity. Amen.