Would you turn now to Colossians
chapter three? I'd like to read verses 12 through
14 of Colossians chapter three. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, boughs of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one
another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave
you, so also do ye. And above all these things, that's
what I entitled this message, above all things, put on charity. which is the bond of perfectness. The bond is what holds everything
together. Perfectness is the end or the
goal or the maturing of a thing. Charity is the bond of perfectness. Now in this passage of scripture,
Paul was speaking specifically to believers. He says in verse
one of chapter three, if you then be risen with Christ, he's
speaking to those people who are risen with Christ. Now, sometimes
Paul is speaking to men in general. Sometimes he's speaking to unbelievers
and sometimes he's speaking to believers. I think for the most
part, he speaks to men. You just don't always need to
make a distinction, but I think this distinction is important
here. He is speaking to believers. He says, put on as the elect
of God. He's speaking to the elect of God. And he's speaking
of things of immense importance. For instance, he says in verse
one, if you didn't be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above. where Christ sitteth at the right
hand of God. In verse five, he says, mortify
therefore your members, which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. Somebody may be thinking, well,
give me some help there. How do you go about mortifying
these things? I looked on sermon audio and
listened to a man preach, and he made this statement regarding
the mortification of the flesh. He said, if you see a scantily
clad woman, look down at the pavement. And I told Cody Groover
about it, and he said, well, if I wasn't looking at her before,
I would be now after he said that. I mean, the strength of
sin is the law. What is this thing of mortification
of the flesh? Look to Christ. That's the only answer. You look
to Christ. Rest in Him. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only answer to that. He says, verse 8, what to put off. You
put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. You put on, verse 10, the new
man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created
him. You see, he's speaking to believers. And he says, above
all these things, here's the most important thing I've said.
And you see, he's been talking about some very important things. Then he says, above all these
things, put on charity. This is what is most important.
And really, in doing this, you will be doing all those other
things. And if you don't do this, you won't be doing any of those
other things. Above all things, put on charity. Now, I think it's interesting.
He talks about putting it on and he's using the analogy of
putting on clothes. Obviously, charity is not natural
to us. As a matter of fact, no natural
man has a drop of it. And we are to put it on, consciously
put it on every day by the grace of God. Put on charity. That's the most important article
of clothing. Now the first thing I would like
us to see is the importance, the priority, the supremacy of
charity. The Bible makes a big issue of
this in many places. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 4. I
want you to look at these scriptures with me. Peter says in 1 Peter chapter
4 verse 8, and above all things, there's that language again.
Do you see how strong this language is? This is so important. Above
all things have fervent, white hot charity among yourselves
for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. I love that scripture. Love covers the transgression.
The Lord's love. causes him to cover transgressions. May we practice that too. Charity
that covereth. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
12. Now, Paul had been talking about
gifts. Gifts to heal, gifts to speak with tongues. working miracles, and who wouldn't
want to have gifts? I'd love to have any gifts that
he'll give me. I'd love to be able to preach
the gospel in such a clear, powerful way that people understand. I
would love to have the gift of giving and the gift of service.
He says covet earnestly these best gifts. But look what he
says in verse 31. Yet show I unto you a more excellent
way. This is better than any gift,
this thing of charity. And then he goes on to write
that 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. And he says, now abideth faith,
hope, and charity. The greatest of these is charity. Turn to John chapter 13. Verse
34. The Lord says, John 13, 34, a
new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as
I have loved you. You think of the way he's loved
you. As I have loved you, that you also love one another by
this. This love, this charity, shall
all men know you're my disciples if you have love one to another. That's the true badge of discipleship. That's the mark of being a true
disciples of Christ. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples. By your charity, your love to
one another. Galatians chapter 5 verse 22
tells us the fruit of the Spirit is what? Love. Charity. Ephesians 5, 6, for
it says, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Faith is energized by love. Now we see the importance of
this. Above all things put on charity. Now what is charity? What is
charity? It's the word used to describe
God's attitude toward his son. That's about the best way I know
how to define it. The father loveth the son and hath given
all things into his hand. Now, if you want to know what
charity is, you think of the father's attitude toward his
son. That is charity. It's his attitude
toward the world. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish but have everlasting life. It's the word used to describe
God's love for sinners. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God sent his son to die for us. Now that is charity. Charity is God's attitude toward
those who love his son. The Lord said, he that loveth
me. shall be loved of my Father also." Anybody that loves the
Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father loves that person. He loves him. He has charity toward him. Love
is God's will for his children and their attitude toward one
another. And it's used to express the essential nature of God. God is love. That is so vast. That's one of
the things I love about John's writing. God is love. What a vast ocean there is in
that statement regarding the character of God. Never says
he is wrath, but it says he is love. Love can only be known
by what it does. John said herein is love. Not
that we love God. but that He loved us. You know I'm thankful for that
verse, aren't you? Because when I think of my love to Him, it's
not something I feel good about. I feel like I should love Him
far more greatly and more intensely. And I'm thankful for that verse
because when John says, when we're going to talk about love,
we're not going to talk about our love. I love the way John calls himself that
disciple that Jesus loved. That was his claim to fame. He
called himself that disciple that Jesus loved. That's who
I want to be. I want to be somebody who he loves. Now I want to be
somebody who loves him in return. And if he loves us, we will love
him in return. We love him because he first
loved us. But herein is love. Not that
we love God. but that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sin. Now, God's reason
for loving lies within himself. He loves because he is love.
He doesn't have to find a reason in you to love you. It's his
nature to love. God is love. Turn with me for
a moment to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Verse 6. This is Moses giving his last
address before he is taken away. And he says to the children of
Israel, for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Isn't that amazing? That describes
every believer. Every believer. Christ is their
holiness. They've been given a new nature.
And every believer is holy. And Moses says, For thou art
an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath
chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people
that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his
love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number
than any people. For you were the fewest of all people. But
because the Lord loved you. That's why he loved you. Because
he loved you. That's all the reason it's needed.
Because the Lord loved you. He would keep the oath which
you had sworn unto your fathers, that the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeem you out of the house of bondmen
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now, have charity. Have fervent charity among yourselves. This thing of Christian love,
he's not talking just about God's love when he says, above all
these things you put on, the bond of perfectness or charity,
which is the bond of perfectness. He's talking about our love now,
the love he gives us. The only reason we have it is
because he gave it to us. But it's seen in love to God. Do you know, we really do love
God. We've never seen him, but we
love him and we love him as he is. It's not just empty talk.
I love the sovereignty of God because I love God. I love the
justice of God because I love God. And I want to say this carefully. I love, I don't want to experience
the wrath. I don't want you to experience,
but, but, but there's such a thing as the wrath of God. And if it's,
if it's God's, we, we love him for it. Everything he does, we
love. We love His wisdom. We love His
mercy. We love His grace. Every attribute
of God we love. Any attribute of God that you
don't love, you wouldn't love God Himself because that's who
He is. We love God as He is. We love the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior, our Redeemer, our Husband. What a thing it is to
be married to Him. What a husband He is. We love
God the Holy Spirit who reveals the beauty of Christ to us. And
all we experience of God comes through God the Holy Spirit.
We love Him. He's a person. We love His people. Oh, we see
them as they are in Christ. And we love them. We see the
warts. If you're around me long enough, you'll see the warts.
But we love them anyway because they're God's people. They're
perfect in Christ Jesus. We love men. We preach the gospel
to men because we love them and want them to come to a saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, where does this love come
from? Where does this love come from?
Well, it's not found in the natural man. Charity. What he's spoken
now, there is kinds of love in the natural man. We're thankful
for it. I'm, I'm glad of the love between a parent and their
child and the child and their parent. I'm thankful for that.
I love the love between a man and a woman, a husband and a
wife, the love between brothers and sisters, the love of friends
and neighbors and so on. We couldn't operate without that
kind of love, but that's not the charity that Paul is talking
about. Let me show you this from the Scripture. Turn to 1 John
4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. These are the only people who
really love, those who are born of God, born again. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. Love is the fruit of
the Holy Spirit, Paul tells us. Romans chapter 5 verse 6 says,
the love of God is brought in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given to us. So we see this charity, this
love he's speaking of is not found in the natural man. Now,
I believe one of the most beautiful chapters in the Bible and one
we should look at very often is that chapter I just read,
1 Corinthians chapter 13. It's so beautiful. Turn with
me there once again, and let's spend a few minutes looking at
it. Now Paul says in verse 29 of
chapter 12, Are all apostles, are all prophets,
are all teachers, are all workers of miracles. He's talking about
these gifts given for ministry. Have all the gifts of healing,
do all speak with tongues, do all interpret. And remember in
the early church they had these supernatural gifts. They had
the ability to speak in tongues. The people who talk about speaking
in tongues today are phonies, because it's not in action anymore. It only came through the laying
on of the apostles' hands. Acts 8 points that out. When
they saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying
on of the apostles' hands. And through the laying on of
the apostles' hands, these people were given the ability to heal,
to give sight to the blind, to raise the dead. They were given
all these miracles, miracle working ability. that Paul says this
is better than any of these gifts. Do you believe that? This is
better than any of these gifts. Covet earnestly the best gifts
and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak
with the tongues of men, what if I could speak every language
fluently? Go into any country with the
gift of tongues and speak fluently. Wouldn't that be something? To
be able to, oh, that'd be great. He says, though I speak with
the tongues of men and even of angels. I don't know what angel's
language is. I would assume Hebrew, but I
don't know. But if I have all that and have not
charity, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. All of that is nothing without
this thing called charity. He says in verse 2, and though
I have the gift of prophecy, the gift to preach and understand
all mysteries, I can tell you what everything in the Bible
means. And if I have all knowledge, I know it all. And though I have
all faith so that I can remove mountains, I have miracle working
faith. I don't have any doubt that Judas performed miracles.
If I have miracle working faith and have not charity, I am nothing. Verse three, and though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, what would you all think of me
if I sold everything I have and gave it all away to the poor
and was left with nothing? You think, what a, that's something,
that's impressive. And though I give my body to
be burned, he's talking about dying for the cause of God and
truth. What if I let him, well I didn't let him, but I got put
on a stake and he burned me for the cause of God and truth. You
know that, I do think that it would be a great privilege to
die for Christ. I mean, I've thought that. I think every believer
feels that way. I mean, when the Lord gives us grace to think
in those terms, I'd like to die for Christ. If that was his will,
if it would glorify him. What an honor, what a blessing. Paul says, but even if I give
my body to be burned and have not charity, it profits me nothing. Now he goes on to tell us what
charity looks like. Do you want to know what charity
looks like? Well, first of all, charity suffers long. It's patient. It's long-tempered
toward the object of its affections. Long-tempered, long-suffering. If you really love somebody,
you're going to put up with a lot out of Marcha, and you're going to
wait on them. You're going to wait. You're not going to cut
them off. Charity is long-suffering. And charity is kind, and the
word is gracious. The same word the Lord used in
saying, my yoke is easy. His yoke is an easy yoke. Charity
is gracious, easy, and pleasant. You know, when you're around
somebody who really loves you, you don't feel judged by them.
You don't feel threatened by them. Charity is gracious and
kind. It's approachable. It doesn't
hold you away. It's kind. Don't you love kindness? The gift of the Holy Spirit,
the product of charity. And then next he says in verse
four, charity envieth not. You know, you don't envy those
you love, do you? None of you love them. Like if
I love you and you're prospered, Am I going to be envious of you
or am I going to be happy about it? Am I going to rejoice in
it? Love doesn't envy. You know,
I want the people you love, if they're promoted, you're promoted.
If they're honored, you're honored. If you love them, charity doesn't envy. Next it says in
verse four, charity vaunteth not itself. It's not a braggart
is what that means. Charity is not a braggart. It
doesn't seek to promote itself, but the object of its love. It's
not seeking to push itself on the object of its affections.
It takes a back seat. That's what love really does.
It's willing to take the back seat. It wants the object of
its affection to be in the spotlight as it were. Charity is not a
braggart. It doesn't vaunt itself. And
next he says, Charity is not puffed up, swollen,
filled with pride, filled with hot air. That's self-love, that's
not charity. Charity is not filled with pride. And verse five, he talks about
charity's behavior. Charity does not behave itself
unseemly. It's not rude and indecent or
disgraceful. It doesn't behave itself in an
unseemly way. That's not the kind of language
we use today, but it's good language. It doesn't behave itself unseemly.
And then next he says, love seeketh not its own. It seeks not its
own welfare, but the welfare of the object of its affection.
You know, if you love somebody, you seek their good. You really
do. Now if you don't love them, you
won't. But if you love someone, you don't seek your own good,
you seek their good. Then the next thing he says is
charity is not easily provoked. It's not touchy. It's not moody. It's not easily offended. You
don't have to walk on eggshells around somebody who loves you.
You really don't. It's not easily offended and
provoked. You don't fear them taking your
words and using them against you. One of the things I love
about being around people who love me, people who love me,
you know, we say dumb things, don't we? All the time, we say
things we shouldn't say. If somebody loves you, you want
them to agree and do, they're not going to use it against you.
They're just going to push it in the background. They're just
going to say, he's just having a bad day. Just leave it alone.
Whereas if somebody doesn't love you, they'll use that against
you. And everybody's experienced that. Isn't it wonderful to have
people who really love you, who what you say will not be taken
and ran with to destroy you? Love doesn't do that. It's not
easily provoked. It thinks no evil. Verse 5, thinketh
no evil, keeps no records of wrongs. That's what love does. It keeps no records of wrongs. You're going to be done wrong
by people you love and you know what you do? Forget it. Don't
keep a record of it. May the Lord enable us to truly
be that way. Keep no records of wrongs. Think no evil. Love doesn't put
a negative spin on everything. It's not suspicious. It thinks
the best and gives the benefit of the doubt. That's what that
means. It thinks no evil. Isn't charity beautiful? I mean,
don't you want to embody every one of these things? Let's go
on reading verse six. It doesn't rejoice in iniquity.
It's not happy in the fall of others. It doesn't want to try
to tear down others and bring them into disrepute in order
to make themselves look better. No, it doesn't do that. It doesn't
rejoice in iniquity, but it rejoices in the truth. You know, I rejoice
in the truth of who God is, how he saves. And I rejoice in the
truth regarding me and you, who we really are in Christ Jesus.
Perfect in Christ Jesus. At the flesh, we still got the
flesh. It's going to be done away with one of these days.
And we're looking forward to that. And we rejoice in the truth. He says in verse seven, It bears all things. And that means literally it covers
in silence all things. I said this not that long ago.
Lynn loves me. And Lynn knows my faults like
nobody else. She's aware of them. You know
what? She's not going to tell you about
him. You know why? Because she loves me. I know nobody will believe that
she has any faults on her, and you all know better than that,
but I'm not going to tell you her. She's got them. She's got
them. But you're not going to hear
about him from me because I love her. Love covers with silence
all things. It believes the best. It bears all things, believes
all things. It'll believe the best. And what
it can't believe, it hopes for. It hopes all things. And when
it can't even see what it's hoping for, it endures all things. It
goes ahead and puts up with everything. If you love somebody, you're
not going to stop loving them. You're going to continue to love
them. Now, there are men and women who have become married
and have been passionately in love with each other, and they
end up hating each other. and getting a divorce and just
splitting apart. Did they love at first? Yeah,
they did. They loved each other and that
kind of love, but it didn't continue. Charity always continues. It never fails. Look what verse 8 says. Charity never fails. It's never
reduced to inactivity. Now, what I like to do also is
think of how the Lord Jesus Christ embodies this. I like to put the Lord's name
wherever you see charity. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and angels and have not Christ, I'm becoming as a sounding
brass or a tingling 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 had not
Christ, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and had not Christ, it profits me nothing. Christ suffers long,
and Christ is kind. Christ envies not. Christ vaunts
not himself. Christ is not puffed up. Christ
does not behave himself unseemly. Christ seeks not his own. Christ
is not easily provoked. Christ keeps no records of wrongs. Isn't that wonderful? That's
what His blood has done. It's put away our sins. He keeps
no records of wrongs. I don't fully comprehend this,
but I believe it. When the Lord looks at me, He
looks at somebody without sin. And I'm saying that with the
knowledge of committing grievous sin, yet the Lord through the
gospel sees me as one without sin. Isn't that beautiful? And that's, you can see where
Christ is described in this chapter. Christ doesn't rejoice in iniquity,
but he rejoices in the truth. Christ bears all things, Christ
believes all things, Christ hopes all things, Christ endures all
things, Christ never fails. His love is never reduced to
inactivity. He never stops loving. You know,
He never began to love either. He always has. Behold, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. You see, before everything, there's
the love of God in Christ Jesus. That came before predestination.
Whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. That four no's, just not
knowing your name before any four left you. That's what that
means. Charity never fails, verse eight. But where there be prophecies,
they shall, that word fail doesn't mean God gives a prophetic statement
and it ends up being wrong. It means they'll cease. They'll
cease. We're going to be in the very
presence of the Word of God Himself. There'll be no need for prophecy.
We'll be with the Word. Whether they be tongues, they
shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away, for our knowledge is partial in it. Don't you know
that? As a matter of fact, the more
you know, the more you know you don't know. And I find that by
experience. I know a little bit, but the
more I know, the more I don't know. Our knowledge is partial. We know in part. We prophesy
in part. Verse 10, but when that which
is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away."
Now what he's talking about is the full canon of Scripture.
They didn't have a copy of the Bible like you and I do. Not
at this time. But when that which is perfect
has come, you know, this book is perfect. Isn't it wonderful
to have something that really is perfect? I know it's a translation,
I realize that. But this book is perfect. And this is all we need. I love
it when that man in hell asked the Lord to send Lazarus back
to warn his brothers that they come not to this awful place.
And he said, they had Moses and the prophets. Let them read them.
He said, nay, but if one rose from the dead, they'd listen.
He said, if they hear not Moses or the prophets, neither will
they believe, though one rose from the dead. Won't happen. Aren't you thankful that we had
this perfect book? As a matter of fact, I would
like to have a culture, if that's the right word, where people
would be uncomfortable here without a Bible. I mean, I love the way
Nehemiah or Ezra opened the book in front of the people. And the
people saw, you can read about this in Nehemiah chapter 8, the
people saw that we were here to open this book and hear the
truth from this book. This is not about a denomination
or a culture. We're here to preach this book. I'm so thankful for the authoritative
word of God. When that which is perfect is
come, that which is in part shall be done away. Now Paul says,
when I was a child, I acted like one. 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. What is the main characteristic
of a child? Selfishness. Selfishness. We're born that way. We were Driving home, I might
have told you this if I have, I'm sorry. We were in Mexico
once and we were driving home after one of the services and
Walter said, Betty, I want some tortillas after when we get home. And Betty said, we don't have
enough for everybody. And he said, well, just give
them white bread. I want the tortillas. And she said, Walter, that's
selfish. He said, that's not selfish. I'm just thinking about
myself. True story, I heard it. That's one of the things that's
so endearing about Walter. I mean, he's just, he's an endearing
guy. But at any rate, Paul says to grow up. I put away childish things, and
this is in verse 12. For now we see through a glass,
darkly, in an enigma. Are you an enigma to yourself? Are you a riddle to yourself? Paul says we see through a glass
darkly. And that's just so true. None
of us really have any idea how sinful we really are. None of
us really have any idea how holy God is. We see through a glass
darkly. But then, face to face, face-to-face with Christ my Savior,
face-to-face what will it be, when with rapture I behold Him,
Jesus Christ who died for me. And I shall see Him face-to-face
and tell the story saved by grace. But then, now I know in part,
but then I shall know even as also I am known. Verse 13, and now abideth faith,
hope, charity, these three. Faith has to do with Hebrews
11.1, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Faith has something to do with
things you don't see. Hope has something to do with things you're
hoping for, but you haven't experienced. You hope. I have a hope. I'm
justified. I can't see it. I can't look
at myself and say, yep, justified. But I have a hope. Now he says,
now here's the only thing that abides. Faith, hope, and charity. These three. These three graces.
Faith, hope, and charity. But charity is the greatest because
my faith is going to be turned to sight. And what I hope for
is going to be turned into experience. I hope to be without sin. I'm
going to experience being without sin. I'm not even going to remember
what it's like to be a sinner. I'm going to experience that.
So faith is going to be gone. No faith in heaven. No hope. You'll be experiencing everything.
But you know what will still be there? charity. The greatest of these is charity. So Paul says in chapter 14 verse
one, follow, pursue, make charity your aim, your goal, that which
you pursue. Above all things, Paul says,
put on charity. which is the bond of perfectness. May the Lord enable us to be
those people as he described in John chapter 13, by this shall
all men know you're my disciples, by your love one to another. Let's pray together.