I thought of the Lord saying, Father, I will
that they whom you have given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. First Corinthians 13. Verse 11, when I was a child,
I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. I've entitled this message, When
I Became a Man. Now, let me say at the outset
that this is not a message on what people call biblical masculinity. There are a lot of messages upon
that subject, how believers are to be men. And for some reason,
that type of message irritates me. I don't know what else to
say about it. It just irritates me. I go back
to some movements where men get together. I think of the promise
keepers, for instance, men would get together and they would hold
each other accountable to each other. And they would, there
would be groups and they would, even when they failed, they would
confess their sins to each other as a sense of accountability
to one another. Now that's unclean. The only
person you confess your sins to is the Lord. not to a man. And if the Lord's not enough
to keep me accountable, knowing him, I don't know him in the
first place. Is Paul speaking in our text
of young, immature believers growing up into mature believers? A child becoming, through spiritual
maturity, a man No, that's not what he is speaking
of. And I say that because of two
words Paul uses in this verse of scripture. He says, when I
became a man, not when I grew and matured into
a man, but I became a man. And the word here means to come
into existence. You become something you were
not before. You come to be, it means to arise,
to appear in history, to be made. This is what happens when one
is born again. new creation in Christ Jesus. You're made a man, you're no
longer a child, you're made a man. And then when he uses this language,
when I became, when I was made, when I came into existence, when
I became a man, I put away childish things, I inactivated as a word,
I Dishonored. I caused to cease. I deprived
of its force. I terminated all intercourse
with. Passed away. Done away with. Abolished. That is what I did
with these childless things. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. Now let me support this with
another scripture, Galatians chapter four. You know, if you can't prove
something with another scripture, you got a wrong look at it. And this
scripture, I think, verifies what I'm saying. Verse three,
let's start in verse one. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differs nothing from his servant, though he be
Lord of all, but is under tutors, governors into the time appointed
of the father, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage
under the elements of the world." We were controlled by the way
the world thinks when we were children. That person is not
saved. That is not an immature believer
that's going to grow into one. Now the Lord saves children.
He makes some new creatures in Christ Jesus. But this child
is someone who is governed by the principles and the maxims
of the world. That's what the elements of the
world means, the ABCs of the world, or worldlings, these children. And that is what Paul is referring
to in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. He says, when I was a child,
I spake like a child. You know the way children speak.
I thought like a child does. I reasoned like a child does.
Unbelievers speak like unbelievers. They act like unbelievers. They
reason like unbelievers. But when I came to be what I
was not, a man, I put away. I abolished. I stopped all association
with childless speech, opinions, and reason. Paul was saying before
I was saved, I spake like an unbeliever speaks. A religious
unbeliever. I had their opinions. The way
I viewed the world was the way a lost person views the world. I had the same way of reasoning
an unbeliever has. I started in the wrong place.
You know, we say wrong on the fall. That's true. Wrong on the
fall, wrong on all. That's a very true statement,
but this is equally as true. Wrong on God's character, wrong
on it all. You start wrong there, you'll
end up in the wrong place. But, this is the but of grace. I love this word, but, but God,
God intervened. Back to our text in first Corinthians
13, but, When I became a man, when I was
made to be a man, when I came into existence as a man, a man
in Christ Jesus. I love it when Paul says, I knew
a man in Christ. 14 years ago, he was so humbled
about himself. He wouldn't say that's me. I
knew a man in Christ. That's how I identify myself
as a man, a man in Christ. When I became a man, by the grace
of God, I put away childish things, the way children speak, the way
children think, the way children reason. Now, what is the difference
between a child and a man? What is the difference? Now,
you know that God is the difference. His grace is the difference.
1 Corinthians 4, 7 says, you to
differ from another. God did. And you know that if
he made you to differ. I don't have to argue with somebody
about that. They know it. God made you to differ. He made
you to differ in eternal election when he chose you. He made you
to differ in redemption when he represented you on the earth
and worked out your righteousness and put away your sins on the
cross. He made the difference when he gave you life from the
dead. when He birthed you into His kingdom. God made the difference.
Now, what is the difference that is seen? In the context of this
passage of Scripture, the difference is charity. That is the difference. He that's born of God, loves
God. He that loves not has not been
born of God. The difference is charity. That's the difference. Now, I
know the grace of God is the difference. I know God made the
difference. But in a believer, there is this thing of charity
that he's speaking of. And in an unbeliever, there is
no charity. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter
13 verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, now that sounds like a man, a man that
can speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity,
I become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though
I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries.
That's quite a resume. And I have all knowledge and
though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains. What
a resume, miracle working faith, all knowledge. Yet if I have
not charity, I'm nothing. I'm not a believer. I'm not saved. The Lord's never done anything
for me. Verse three, and though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, what a noble endeavor. And though
I give my body to be burned for the cause of God and truth, and
I die a martyr, and I will not recant, and have not charity,
it profits me nothing. The Lord said that the greatest
commandment. And I love this is to love God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength and your neighbor as yourself. That's the greatest
commandment. Now, a couple of things about that in Christ,
I've kept that commandment. When he loved God with all of
his heart, I did. When he loved his neighbors himself, I did. I have kept that commandment
in Christ. And there's something else that
this tells me, that if to love God with all your heart and all
your soul and all your strength and all your might and your neighbors
yourself is the greatest commandment in myself, I'm continually breaking
the greatest commandment nonstop. Both of those are true. No unbeliever loves God. Every believer loves Him. Every believer loves God. Now, do I feel like I love God
the way I ought to? No. Do I feel like there's enough
strength in my love and enough ardor and enough zeal and enough
passion? No. I want to love much more
than I do, and you do too. I know you do. I would love to
love him more than I do, and I'm ashamed that I would even
have to speak like this to think of your love not being what it
ought to be. And my love is not what it ought
to be. If it was what it ought to be, I'd never see him. That's
the fact of the matter. That being said, how I don't
feel good about my love to God. I love God. I love his word that tells me
his character. I love the character of God. I love every attribute of God. You know, I love his sovereignty. I love the fact that everybody
and everything and every event is under his direct control and
he is the first cause behind everything. And I love that because
I love who he is. I love his holiness, his otherness. I don't want to talk about His
holiness as like His purity or His moral purity. He is absolutely
pure. He is absolutely righteous. But
His holiness is His otherness. That means there's nothing here
on earth you can compare Him to. And we love that, don't we?
We love who He is. We love His justice. How He's
going to punish all sin. There's not one sin that's going
to remain unpunished. We love that. We respect His
character. We love His power. The power
exerted in creating the universe. We love His power in controlling
every event. We love His power in our salvation
where He actually made it to where my sin is no more. What power? It's no more. I'm
not going to be in heaven and all of a sudden my sins are going
to be uncovered because there will be none. That's how effectual
the blood of Christ is. I love His power in perfectly
conforming me to the image of His Son. What power will be seen
when we're in glory and see Him as He is? I love his independence. I love this more than I ever
have. The fact that he doesn't need for me to do something before
he can act for me. He's utterly independent. He
speaks and I will and they shall. That's his independence. He has
no needs. I love his immutability, how
he is Beyond change, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. I love his wisdom, his omniscience. I am amazed at the fact that
he's never learned anything. He's never informed. He knows
everything. And in his wisdom, he made a
way to be just and justify the ungodly. I hope we never get
to the point where we think, well, I already know that. Oh,
we ought to be continually amazed by the glorious fact that he's
made this way to be just and justify the ungodly. We love
his attributes. We love him. We love how he's
revealed in his word. We love his love. I love that
verse this morning, having loved his own, which were in the world. He loved them to the end. We
love his grace. We love his tender mercy. We love his kindness. Every attribute
of God is altogether lovely. Every believer loves God, the
Father. As a father pitieth his children,
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knows our frame. He remembers that we're dust. Don't you love him as your father?
Our father. What a blessed thing to say.
Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. I remember reading a commentary
on that once, and the commentator said, that means let your name
be glorified. And I thought, that doesn't feel
right. No, we're not saying let your name be glorified, though
we want it to be glorified. We're saying, holy is your name. Not let it be known, but it is. You see, every believer is a
worshiper of God. Hallowed be thy name, our Father,
which art in heaven. We love God the Father. That's charity. That's agape,
charity. Only the believer has this. No
unbeliever has this love. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Well, I love, you love your family. You love your friends. You love
your country. That's very commendable, but
that's not love to God. We're talking about love to God. Every believer loves the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the difference between
him and the unbeliever. We love the son of God, our savior,
our prophet, our priest, our king. I love when Thomas said
to the Lord Jesus, my Lord and my God. We love him. as our shepherd,
we love him as our friend. There's a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. We love him as the Lord, our
righteousness, Jehovah Zedkennu. Don't you love him being your
righteousness? We love him as the Lord, our
shepherd. We love him as Jehovah Jireh. I am the Lord that provides for
you everything He requires, He provides. We love Him in that
office. We love Him as the Lord, our
peace. We love Him as the Lord who heals
us. We love Him as the Lord who sanctifies
us. We love Him as the Lord, our
banner. I think of the scripture, I am the way. The truth and the
life, no man cometh to the Father but by me. I love him being my
way, don't you? With him being my way, I'm already
there in the way. I love him being the truth. He
is the truth. There is no truth outside of
his glorious person. All the truth of God is found
in him. I love Him as my life. He is my life before God. Don't
you love the way He said, I am the life. He's my life before
God. That's why I'm justified. That's
why I stand before God accepted. That's why I'm beautiful in God's
sight because His life is my life. I love the Son of God being
the way, the truth, and the life. Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says,
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body lay, and you
are complete in Him." We love the Son of God. We love God the
Father. We love God the Son. We love God the Holy Spirit.
We believe What the Bible says, God is one God and three distinct
persons. Do we understand it? No. Do we
believe it? Yes, with all of our heart. I think that's so
mysterious. I think it's so glorious. I think
it's so other. It's so otherworldly. There's
nothing in the world. Somebody says, that doesn't make
sense. Well, not to our stupid minds, but it's the most glorious
thing there is. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Everything I experience of Jesus
Christ is God the Holy Spirit. He's the blessed comforter. Scripture
says, he shall testify of me. He's the blessed comforter. I
love the way it says, he shall not speak of himself. He's the
humble, lowly God, the Holy Spirit, just like the Lord Jesus Christ
is meek and lowly in heart. Oh, the blessed Spirit who gives
us life, born of the Spirit of God. That's the difference between
a believer and an unbeliever. No unbeliever loves any of the things I'm saying.
Not in their heart, not when God looks at the heart, but a
believer can say, Lord, you know all things. And he was saying
this aware of what had just taken place, aware of the fact that
he just denied the Lord. And I'm sure he was still embarrassed
by that and feeling bad about himself and about it. But he
could say when the Lord said, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love
me? Lord. The second time, Simon
son of Jonah, do you love me? Yea Lord. The third time, Simon
son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved that he asked
him the third time and he appealed to his omniscience. He said,
Lord, you know all things. You know me all together. You're the only one who knows
me all together. And you know that I love your
person. What's the difference between
a man, a believer, and the child, the same child that's under the
elements of the world, Galatians chapter four? Charity. Love to God. We love his salvation. Do you love being saved all by
grace? When the Lord looks in your heart,
does he see someone who loves being saved by his grace? You
love that salvation is not by works, but it's by grace. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, that
faith. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. I love that. Love that. Wouldn't want it to
be any other way. We love his people. Now this demands some thoughtfulness. We love his people. First John chapter five, verse
one says, who so believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. You know, the verse doesn't stop
there. I quote that all the time. I love that verse because I do
believe Jesus is the Christ. I do believe He's God's prophet,
that prophet. I believe He's that priest unlike
any other priest. He doesn't come with the blood
of a dead animal. He comes living with His own
blood into the very presence of the Father. Oh, He's the King,
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. He's the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. We believe he is the Christ. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God and he that loveth him that begat,
loveth also him that's begotten of him. It's as natural to love somebody
that loves Jesus Christ as it is to breathe. That's the one
criteria. We may have all kinds of differences,
different philosophies, different this, different that. But if
somebody loves Jesus Christ, they actually love his person.
They love his gospel. We love that person. We love everybody that loves
him, no matter what other differences we may have. And there may be
many. but they all are pushed into
the background. Grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. And if any man loved not the
Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said, let him be anathema, maranatha. Let him be damned upon the return
of the Lord. To not love the Lord Jesus Christ
is the greatest of crimes. Now, we love God, we love believers, and we love
men. We want them to know the same
Savior we know. Now, that's what it is to love
somebody. You may disagree with them on many respects, But if
you love them, you want them to know the Lord Jesus Christ. You want them to experience the
same Savior you have, and the same grace you have, and you
preach the gospel to them. We love men, we want them to
know the Lord. Now men love, children do not. That's what the context of this
passage is speaking of in 1 Corinthians 13. That is the fruit of the
Spirit is what? Love. That's the fruit of God,
the Holy Spirit. Now I want to close by giving
a number of scriptures I'm going to say very little about, but
it'll show the importance of this thing of charity that the
believer has and to put away these childish things, these
ways unbelievers think and reason and understand. John chapter
13 verse 34, By this shall all men know you're my disciples
by your doctrinal integrity. No, by this shall all men know
you're my disciples by the love you have one to another. Romans 12, nine, let love be
without dissimulation. Don't let it be an act. That's
what dissimulation is, is hypocrisy. Let love be without dissimulation. Romans chapter 13, verse 10,
love is the fulfilling of the law. First Corinthians 16, verse nine,
Let all your things be done with love." Everything. Second Corinthians 8, 8. See
that you abound in this grace also, speaking of giving, see
that you abound in this grace also and prove the sincerity
of your love. It's not trying to prove it to
somebody else, it's showing the Lord. Galatians 5.6, for in Christ
Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith, which worketh by love. Galatians 5.22, the fruit of
the Spirit is love. Ephesians 5.2, walk in love as
Christ also hath loved us. Ephesians 4.2, Walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and
meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love."
Forbearing. You know everybody you know is
going to do things that will offend you. Overlook it. Overlook it. Don't hold on to
it. Forbearing one another in love. Philippians 1.9, Paul prayed
for the Philippians that your love might abound more and more
in all knowledge and in judgment or discernment. Now, he didn't
say that you're knowledge will abound more and more or your
discernment will abound more and more but that your love would
abound more and more in all knowledge. That's what's real and in all
discernment. Philippians 2 to be like-minded
having the same love and the same mind. Colossians 3.14, above all things. Now, don't miss that. Above all
things. Put on charity, which is the
bond of perfectness. Second Thessalonians 2.10 says,
because they received not the love of the truth. I wanna make sure I love the
truth. I don't wanna just argue to try to prove to people things.
I wanna receive the love of the truth. First Timothy 1.5, the
end of the commandment is love. This is the goal of the gospel.
love out of a pure heart. That pure heart he gives in the
new birth. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Those are the only ones who love. Hebrews 10 29, let us provoke
one another to love. Well, I'd like to be able to
do that, to treat you in such a way that it provokes you not
to be irritated with me, but to love me. Let's provoke one
another. to love and to good works. 1 Peter 1.22, see that you have
love one to another with a pure heart, fervently being born again. I love this. 1 Peter 4.8, above
all things, have fervent charity among yourselves. For charity
shall cover the multitude of sins." I want you to think about
this. This is what charity does. It
covers the multitude of sins. And there will be a multitude
of sins, but love covers both the sins of the one loving and
the sins of the one who's being loved. Where love abounds, sin
is in those we love, is overlooked. It's overlooked. It is forgotten. Where love does not abound, criticism,
suspicion, and defense abounds. Oh, it's so much better where
love abounds. And what an argument for love. Charity shall cover the multitude
of sins. Turn to 1 John chapter 4. This
will demonstrate how important this is. Verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God, for God is love. Look in chapter five, verse three.
For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments. And
His commandments are not grievous or not irksome. It's a joy to
keep these commandments. Now, this is the love of God.
And turn back to 1 John chapter 3, verse 23. And this is His commandment,
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as He gave us commandment. Now, there's
His commandment. And that's not grievous. It's
not grievous to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
is it? Oh, you find rest and peace because of who he is. It's
not grievous. It's not irksome. And it's not
irksome or grievous to love one another as he gave us commandment. And I think one of the most sobering
thoughts is what the Lord said to the church at Ephesus. Do
you remember? He said, I've got something against
you because you've left your first love. I don't want to do
that. Lord, would you keep me in my
first love being amazed at your grace? I stand amazed in the
presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love
me, a sinner, condemned, unclaimed. 1 Corinthians 13, when I was a child, and he's
talking about child in the sense of Galatians chapter 4 verse
3, under the elements of the world. Thinking like an unbeliever
thinks, reasoning like an unbeliever reasons, having the same values,
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish
things. Now, how do you go about doing
that? By the grace of God, loving God
for who he is. That's the only way it's done.
Well, I need to quit, no, love God as he is, as he's revealed
in his word. Love his people, love his truth,
love his salvation. This really is simple. It's glorious,
it's majestic, it's awesome, but it's very simple. If I love
God, I'll put away childish things. I'll see them for what they are.
May the Lord enable us all to be men in Christ. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
love, the love you have to your son, the love you have to all
those in Him. How we thank you that your love
is invincible, powerful, glorious. Lord, we stand amazed when we
think of the Scripture of Christ loving His friends
so much. Greater love has no man than
this, man lay down his life for his friends. And Lord, for us
to think of us being his friends, him counting us his friends,
that he would lay down his life for us. Lord, we're truly amazed
and we ask that we might love. as we have seen in this passage
of scripture. Lord, grant us this charity. You've told us, now abides faith,
hope, and charity, and the greatest of these is charity. Lord, we
ask that you would, by your grace, give us this and cause us to
be people who love. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. We pray for your hand to be upon us during this week.
We pray that we would walk with our son by faith. We ask that
you would give us grace to love you more and love one another
more. Accept our thanksgiving, Christ and we pray. Amen.