Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
13. We left off last week in verse
8 with this statement. Charity never fails. It never stops doing what it
does. That's what is meant by it never
failing. It never stops loving. Now, the charity spoken of is
what only the believer has and what every believer has. Everyone that loveth, the scripture
says, everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. The charity that he's speaking
of is not something that the natural man can produce. It's
only what the believer has that's given to him as a result of the
new birth. It's the result of being born
of God. This charity is not found in the natural man. And this
charity is described, as we looked at last week, in verses four
through seven. But let's read those verses again. Charity is defined, or love is
defined, by what it does. And here's what it does. Charity
suffers long. It's patient. And it's kind. Charity envieth not. You can't
envy somebody that you truly love. Charity vaunteth not itself. It doesn't push itself forward.
It doesn't seek attention. It's not puffed up, swollen with
pride. It does not behave itself unseemly,
rudely. Seeketh not her own, seeking
her own benefit, is not easily provoked. It's not touchy and
irritable and flying off the handle. It thinketh no evil. It's not suspicious. It rejoices
not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things. And you remember that word bear
means it covers all things. If you love somebody, you cover
them. You don't want them to be exposed.
You cover them. covers all things. It believes
all things. What it can't see it believes.
It hopes all things. What it can't see or believe
it yet hopes for. It endures all things. Charity never fails. It never ceases. It never stops
loving. Now this is the more excellent
way that Paul was speaking of. And his purpose is to teach us
that grace is better than gifts. The charity that he's speaking
of is better than any gift you may have. It's more to be desired
than gifts. Now, Paul's main purpose in teaching
about the gifts is to show the Corinthians that charity is more
important than these gifts that he's speaking of in 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. And he goes on to talk some about
them in chapter 14. Here's what to earnestly covet
and to earnestly pursue. May God give me the grace to
do this. May he give you the grace to do this. Pursue after
charity. Make this your ambition. You
want to be ambitious about something. You want to desire something.
Here's what to desire. Follow after, pursue charity. Now, he says prophecies shall
fail. But charity won't. Now remember,
I want to emphasize this as much as I can. The charity that he's
speaking of is God-given charity. There's human love. How many
times in our country in the last ten years has somebody been passionately
in love with somebody else than they really thought they were?
And they meant it. I mean, they thought they were
in love, but they ended up getting divorced. They end up, something
happens. They don't love anymore. Now,
they felt love. I mean, it was real and it was
sincere. They felt like that, but not anymore. Now, maybe they
can't stand each other. Maybe they can't even stand the
sight of each other. Now, that's not the charity spoken of in
the Scripture. We're talking about that which is given by
God, the gift of God's grace. It never fails. It never ceases. It's impossible for it to stop
doing what it does, what's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13, 4 and 7.
Charity never fails. It never ceases. But prophecies
shall What do you mean by that? That statement used to always
trouble me. You mean God can inspire a prophecy
and it ends up being wrong? Is that what that's a reference
to? Can God have a prophecy and then boom, it ends up being wrong? No. What he's talking about,
it doesn't mean that if God inspired prophecy, prophecy shall end
up not coming to pass, but the gift of prophecy is going to
cease. Now, before the full canon of
the scripture, before we had. Genesis, the revelation, and
remember when Paul wrote this first Corinthians is the first
of his epistles, most people say most of the epistles, most
of the New Testament had not yet been written. They didn't
have a copy of the New Testament the way you and I have. All they
had was thus saith the Lord, and at that time before the full
revelation of the full canon of the scripture, There were
men who were gifted in prophecy to where they could say, thus
saith the Lord. And they spoke under the direct
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And what they were saying was
infallible. It was it was infallible. They had a thus saith the Lord.
That's the gift of prophecy. But we know we've already seen
after the death of the apostles. Remember, these gifts came with
the laying on of the apostles hands. The only people who had
these gifts were people who the apostles actually laid their
hands on them and transferred these gifts. The scripture says
they received them through the laying on of the apostles hands.
And when the last apostle died, that was it. These gifts were
no longer transferred. But when you have the full Revelation
of Scripture, you don't need prophecy. Prophecy has become
obsolete. It's become no longer necessary.
We have the full revelation of God in this book, the Holy Bible. Aren't you thankful for that?
I'm so thankful for this book. I don't have to wait on a man
to give me any new information. I've got all the information.
Needed, this is God's revelation of himself. So prophecy shall
fail. They shall cease. They become obsolete. They are
no longer needed. They're reduced to inactivity.
They're no longer relevant. But what he says next in verse
eight. Whether they be tongues. They shall cease. Now, this was
an amazing gift that the early church had. The ability to speak
in other languages. If I had the gift of tongues,
I could speak in French fluently. I could speak in Spanish. I could
speak in Russian. I could speak in whatever language
it was. I could go into a country, didn't
matter what country it was, and supernaturally, I'd be able to
preach the gospel in their language and they'd be able to understand
it. What a gift that was. But whether
there are these gifts of language, they shall cease. And actually,
that word It says whether they be tongues, they shall cease.
It's the same thing. It's the exact same word where
it says whether they be prophecies, they shall fail. And it's the
same word where it says when knowledge, where there's knowledge,
it shall vanish away, cease, fail, vanish away. It's the same
word, Greek word used. It means they're no longer needed.
When someone claims to be speaking in tongues, you don't want to
do it. It's phony. that they may not believe it
so they may be glad really doing this you know you make yourself
believe anything you can lie to yourself and make yourself
believe you're doing it. I have no doubt that many people
who speak in tongues sincerely believe they're speaking in tongues.
I'm speaking in tongues. But the Bible says these gifts
have ceased. They are no longer. So when someone claims to be
speaking in tongues, they are being phony. Now are they purposely
being phony? I don't know. I can remember
one time praying the Lord would enable me to speak in tongues.
I thought, if it's real, I want it. If this is something that
God actually gives, I want to be able to do it. I remember
there was a bunch of guys that lived beside me over on Transylvania
Park when I was in college. And those guys seemed so spiritual
and they seemed so holy. The way they talked to me, they
were better off than I was. I mean, these guys were so religious,
and boy, they had something. So I thought, oh, I was impressed
with them. And I wanted to have what they had. So I thought,
Lord, if tongues are real, give me the grace to speak in tongues.
It never happened. I'm thankful. But I can see where
if you thought, well, this would prove God's blessings on me,
so you'd start it. You'd start it. You'd tell yourself
that. Understand this tongues have ceased and that gift is
not in operation anymore. And that's proven once again,
because it only came through the transference of the gifts
of the laying on of the apostles hands. He says next, whether
they be knowledge. It shall vanish away, the gift
of knowledge spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12, 8. This gift is no longer
needed. It's become obsolete. It has
vanished away. It was useful in its time. This
gift where somebody could infallibly, they had some kind of supernatural
gift where they could infallibly interpret Scripture, Old Testament.
It's no longer needed because we have the New Testament. It
has ceased. It's vanished. And then he says in verse nine,
for we know in part And we prophesy in part. Now, Paul's saying what
we're doing is partial. We know only a part of the whole,
and our prophecy is only a partial. We know in part, we prophesy
in part, but, verse 10, when that which is perfect is come,
then that which is in part shall be done away with. It becomes
obsolete. It's no longer needed. Now, what's
the one perfect thing we have in this world? It's the Word
of God. It's perfect and it's complete. There's no error in it. We have
the full revelation of God. All he's pleased to make note
of himself is found in this book. We have it. Thank God for this.
I love the Bible. I know the Bible is the Word
of God. I know it is. I know it's the inspired Word
of God. I know it's without error. I know it's infallible. How do
you know that? I just do. That's enough for
me. I know that this Bible is the
Word of God. And if you read it, you're going
to believe the same thing. I mean, it speaks for itself. I don't have to prove that which
is true. It's just true. It's true. And I can't prove
it. You say, well, I don't believe it. Well, that's your problem.
I mean, if you don't believe it, because this is the Word
of God. And we've got the full revelation when that which is
perfect has come. The full revelation of Scripture,
Genesis through Revelation, the full canon of Scripture, that
which is partial, it's going to be done away with. You don't
need a thus saith the Lord prophet. You don't need the gift of tongues.
You don't need the gift of knowledge or the gifts of healing. You
don't need healing, but healing is part of this. And remember,
if you really have the gift of healing, these preachers that claim to
have the gift of healing, why don't they go into a hospital
and start healing people? There's only one reason why they don't
do that, because they're phonies. That's the only reason. They
don't have the gift of healing. If they had the gift of healing,
they'd go into these hospitals and start healing people. If
I had the gift of healing, I could look at Ann and I could say,
you're broken footed, not broken anymore. Boom. She'd just get
up and start running around the room. That's what somebody who
has the gift of healing would do. But no, it's obsolete. When that which is perfect has
come, that which is in part shall be done away with. Verse 11. Paul says, when I was
a child. And every time this word child
is used in the scripture, it has reference to immaturity,
it means literally without the power of speech, and it's always
associated with immaturity. When I was a big baby is what
he's saying. When I was a baby. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
3, hold your finger there. Verse 1, And I, brethren, when
you were speaking to the church of Corinth, I could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ, immature. I fed you with milk and not with
meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither now
are you able, for you are yet carnal. For whereas there is
among you ending and strife and divisions, are you not carnal,
and walk as men, and act like natural men who do not even know
the Lord? That is what he is saying to
these people. Now, he said, when I was a baby, when I was a baby,
what did I do when I was immature? When I was a child, I was just
that. I spoke as a child. There was not much Understanding
what I said, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I reasoned
as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish, immature things. I grew up. It was time to put
those things away. I spake and understood and reasoned
with some spiritual maturity. When I became a man, I put away
childish things. Now, that's the result of growth
in grace. 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, got some maturity, I put away childish things. Verse
12, for we now see through a glass darkly. Now, thank God we do
see. He doesn't say we're completely
blind and in the dark. He says we do see and thank God
for spiritual sight. We see who God is. I do. I see who God is. I see Him as
He's revealed in His Word, His sovereignty, His holiness, His
glory, the excellency of His person. We see who God is. We
see who we are. I see that I'm a sinner needing
His mercy. I see that. I see that if God
leads me to myself, it's over for me. I see the only hope I
have is His free grace, and I see my need of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have some knowledge of myself. I have some knowledge of Christ
and His salvation. I know salvations of the Lord.
I mean, here's some things I see very clearly. We see, but we
see through a glass darkly. And don't you know, that's the
truth. We see through glass. Darkly, you can't see very well
through a dark glass. Now, the word darkly is where
we get the word enigma from. We're puzzled. It's an enigma. I can't really get a hold of
it. There are a lot of things that
puzzle us that we have no explanation for. You know, regarding God,
I say, I see some things concerning God. I see who God really is.
I see the truth of the scripture, but I see just a little bit.
Just a little bit. You think of the vastness of
God, the vastness of his glory. I see so little. I know him. I know him. My dog knows me. My dog actually knows me, knows
who I am. She knows who I am and recognizes
me. But she doesn't know me very
well. She's a dog. How can she know me very well?
Now, I know the Lord, but I feel like I just have glimpses regarding
myself. Don't you find yourself to be
an enigma? Don't you think? I can't understand myself. I
can't understand why I go the directions I go, think the things
I think, do the things. I don't understand myself. I'm
an enigma. I'm disappointed in myself. I'm
an enigma. You see through a glass darkly,
don't you, with regard to yourself? And regarding God's providence,
what God's doing, I see through a glass darkly. I don't know
what He's doing. I don't know why he's doing it.
Now, I trust that he does, and I'm fine with that. And I can
just rest in that, but I don't know what he's doing. I don't
know why he has done the things he's done to me. I've gone through
a lot of illnesses. I mean, he took my esophagus
out just a couple of years ago. I don't know why. I don't see
what it was I was supposed to learn from that. I still haven't figured
it out. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why the Lord
does what he does. But I trust him. I trust him. But he does, and that's enough
for me. We see through a glass darkly. You know. Regarding what God does, I don't
know why he does anything he does. I can't give you a reason
for it, not a blessing thing. But everything he does, he does
it on purpose, and he's got a specific purpose behind it. He said, I
put in the light, I create darkness. I make peace, I create evil,
I the Lord do all these things. Shall there be evil in the city,
and hath not the Lord done it? That's all darkness. I don't know why, I don't know
what his purpose is, but I believe he does and I'm just so, I rest
in that. But what he's doing is an enigma.
But one of these days, I'll see clearly face to face. Now look at the language. 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 we know, thank God, we know God, we know ourselves, and we
know Christ, but our knowledge is partial, isn't it? We just
know in part. But then, face to face, one of
these days we're going to be known even as we are also known. Now we know in part regarding
everything. For instance, God. How much do
you understand of the Trinity? How that God is one God revealed
in three distinct persons? How much do you understand that?
You can't even grasp it, can you? You believe it, but your
knowledge of this is so partial. My knowledge of myself is very
partial. I have some suspicion of myself
that I'm a weak, sinful person. I don't really know. I don't
even know the tip of the iceberg in reality. And I don't want
to know, to be honest with you. I don't ask the Lord to show
me how sinful I am. You know, I've asked that before, and I
think He gave me a little glimpse of it, and I've never asked it
again. I don't ask the Lord to show me how sinful I am. I ask
the Lord to give me the grace to trust Christ only and to look
to Him. I'm not going to be asking for
anything else like that. We know in part, and really, we're better
off that way. We couldn't take the knowledge
if He gave it to us. We know in part, and you know
that's true. I like what Robert Murray McShane
said in his poem, when I stand before thy throne, dressed in
beauty not mine, when I see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning
heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, but not till then, how
much I owe. But then, O blessed time, then
shall I know, even as also I am known." You know, the Lord knows
me. I don't know myself. I really
don't. And I mean that. I do not know
myself. I like what I heard Brother Mahan
say once. We're all three people. We're
the people we think we are. where the people others think
we are, and then where the people God knows we are. I don't know, but He does. He
does. He knows me all together. And
one of these days, according to this passage of Scripture,
I don't know how I'm going to know Him all together, but it
says, We'll know even as also we are known. That's the promise.
We have something hindering us right now. It's called the flesh.
But one of these days will be perfect. Then what a glorious
time, I can't wait. 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. Now don't you see the meaning
of this? 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 know. And now, here's the main thing
I wanted to deal with. And now, abideth faith, hope,
charity. These three. This is what remains,
all these other things, these gifts, prophecy, tongues. Working
of miracles and all those different things. They're going to fail.
They become obsolete. But what is it that remains?
What is it that stays with us? What is it that we still have?
Faith, hope, and charity. These three. Now, if these are the things
that abide and remain, it's awfully important, first of all, that
I have them. I want to make sure I have faith,
hope, and charity, and I would understand what they are, don't
you? I want to understand what faith is. I want to understand
what hope is. I want to understand what charity
is, and I want to practice these things. I want them to come from
my being, somebody who really believes God, someone who has
faith. I want to be that, don't you?
I want to be somebody who believes God. I want to be somebody who
truly has hope. Hope there is in the gospel.
And I want to be someone who actually has charity, who practices
charity, who actually loves people, who loves God and loves his brother. Now, what is faith, hope and
charity? These are the things that remain. Faith, hope and
charity. These three. What's faith? Faith is believing
what you cannot see. I could define it by believing
God, and that would be a good definition, is believing what
God has said. Somebody says, I believe God
can do anything. No, that's not believing God. A heathen can
do that. Believing God is believing what
he said. Believing he will do what he
said he would do in his word. That's faith. You believe God.
It's believing God will do what he said. And it's believing what
you cannot see. Paul said we walk by faith and
not by sight. And the great example we're given
is Abraham. I love to go back and read Genesis 15 very often.
I like to think about it. God appears to Abraham. And this
is the first time belief is used in the scriptures. In Genesis
15, 6, Abraham believed the Lord. It was counted to him for righteousness,
but here Abraham is an old man and he was an old man and his
wife had already gone through menopause. It was impossible
for her to bear children. And God said to Abraham, see
the stars? Can you count them? Abraham said,
no. He said, so shall thy seed be. Now, as far as physical evidence
that that would take place, did he have any? None at all. He didn't have any evidence that
this would take place. But he believed God. He believed what God said. Now that's what faith is. It's
believing what you cannot see. Can I see that I'm without sin
before God? Can I see that I'm perfectly
righteous before God? Can I see that I'm just without
guilt. Can I see that I'm exactly like
the Lord Jesus Christ and when God looks at me, he doesn't see
anything but that which he's pleased with. Can I see that?
No. As a matter of fact, I see the
opposite. As far as what I see, I don't see any of those things.
I don't see how I'm without guilt before God. Give me five seconds.
I'm going to cut. I'm a sin. I can't see where
I have a perfectly holy nature. I can't see any of those things.
But I believe them. Faith is belief in what you cannot
see. I believe God. Romans 8, 28 says, And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose. Now, I believe
that, but I can't see it. I just cannot see it. But I do
believe it. I don't see how these things
are going to work out for my good, but I do believe. And that's
faith. It's believing God. It's believing what you cannot
see. It's trusting. I trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I do. I trust Him as my
salvation before God. I'm leaning on Him. I'm resting
in Him. I'm not trying to do anything
but simply be found in Christ. That's it. I'm trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what faith is. Now abideth
faith. That's what is still here. Do you practice faith? Believing
God. Trusting the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now abideth hope. Hope is a wonderful thing. In
my experience, whatever that's worth, the worst thing that I've
ever experienced is when I feel despair. When I feel no hope. When I feel like things aren't
going to get better. And that's such a horrible, horrible feeling. Hopelessness. But how wonderful
hope is when you're looking out in the future and you know it's
going to be fine. Hope is a confident expectation
regarding the future. And this confident expectation
isn't just, well, I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. You know, that
doesn't have anything to do with what real hope is. It's knowing
you're accepted in the Beloved and you know that In the future,
when I stand before God in judgment, I'm going to be accepted. I have
a hope. Oh, what a hope I have that all
my sins are washed away, that I'm perfect in Christ Jesus,
and that I stand before God without guilt. I have a hope of that. I have a hope that I'm perfect
before God right now. I have a hope that when I stand
in judgment, there'll be no sin. What a hope! Now abideth charity. Faith, hope,
charity. Charity is love. I do love the Lord Jesus Christ. I know I do. I love Him. I adore Him. He is my all in
all. Now do I feel good about my love?
No. As a matter of fact, as soon as I started talking about my
love, I started to think, well, you ought to love him more, and
that's true. I ought to love him much more passionately, and
I ought to love him to the extent that I never sinned against him.
That's how we ought to love. Now, I do love him, though. I don't feel good about my love.
I ought to love him more than I do, and I ought to love him
with more passion and more zeal and more everything. I realize
that, but I do love him. I can say with Peter. When the
Lord said, Simon, do you love Me? Lord, you know all things.
I can appeal to His omniscience. You know all things. You know
Me through and through. And you know that I love your
person. I love Him and I love His people. I can look at this
group of people and I can say in all sincerity, I love you. You're the people of the Lord.
You're special. I, that's really in my heart. I esteem and love the people
of God. I hope I love in such a way as
it, it'll be manifest that you, you know, it's not just me blowing
smoke, but I really, I do love you. And I hope it comes out
in the way I treat you, that I do love you. Now he says, this
is what remains. All this other stuff doesn't
remain. Here's what it buys. Faith, hope, charity, these three. But he ends with this statement,
but the greatest of these is charity. It's better than faith,
it's greater than faith, it's greater than hope. Now why is
that? Why does he say the greatest
of these is charity? It really is easy to answer this. I have faith. One of these days
my faith will be turned to sight. I will not simply believe that
I'm justified before God, I'll experience it. I'll be without
sin. And I won't need faith anymore.
I'll be in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
won't be one whom having not seen, I love. I'll see him. I'll
see Him, I'll see His face, the one who saved me by His grace.
I'll be in His very presence. I'll be just like Him. I won't need faith. Faith will
be obsolete. I'll be looking at Him face to
face. Hope. Now I have hope, I've already
talked about it. But one of these days, this hope
I have, this hope that when I stand before God, I'll stand before
God without sin, justified, sanctified, glorified, perfect in Christ
Jesus. This hope that I have, it'll
be turned into experience. I'll be like Christ. I can't
even imagine what that's going to be like right now. Can you
imagine what it would be to not sin in your mind? Can you even
fantasize about what it would be to have a totally pure mind
just like the Lord Jesus Christ? Hard to get hold of, isn't it?
But one of these days I'm going to experience it. David said,
I'll be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. I'm going to
awake in His likeness. And hope won't be needed anymore. Faith becomes obsolete. Hope
becomes obsolete. But you know what remains? I'll still be loving Him. And I'll still be loving you.
Charity is eternal. Faith is only for this life. Hope is only for this life. Faith
will be turned into sight. Hope will be turned into experience.
But charity will go on and on for eternity. Love to the Lord
and love to His people. Now abides faith, hope, charity,
these three. But the greatest of these is
charity. So he says in chapter 14, verse
1, Follow after charity. Pursue it, make it your aim. And I ask the Lord that he will
give me the grace to make this my pursuit. And there's a lot
of things I'd like. I'd like to preach better. I'd
like to I would like to be a more effective witness. I'd like to
have more wisdom. There's all kinds of things I'd
like to have more of. And you feel that way, too. I'd like
to be gifted in many respects. But those things pale in comparison
with the importance of this charity. Make charity this wonderful,
beautiful, glorious gift of God, the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit.
Make charity your aim and your goal and your objective. May God give us grace to do that.
Let's pray together.