Want to remind you that after
the service, we're going to have a get together for our graduating
high school seniors. You remember when you graduated
from high school? I have a hard time remembering
it, really. First Corinthians chapter three, I'd like to read
the first seven verses. I've entitled this message, Carnal
Christians. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, And I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, and not
with meat. For hitherto you were not able
to bear it, neither now are ye able. For you are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you
envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk
as men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not yet carnal? Who then
is Paul, and who is Apollos? But ministers, by whom ye believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man, I planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave thee increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth. but God that giveth the increase. Now, Paul saw these people as
his brethren. He says, and I, brethren, could
not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. But he uses
some pretty rough language with these people, doesn't he? I mean,
this is this is pretty rough what he says to these people.
Now, they were spiritual. If you're a believer, you're
spiritual. You have the Holy Spirit. You have a spiritual
nature. There's no such thing as an unspiritual
believer. Every believer has a spiritual
nature. Because they've been born again,
every believer has the mind of Christ. You know, Paul said here
in verse 16 of chapter two, for who's known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him. But we have and this is every
believer. We possess the very mind of Christ. That doesn't mean we just think
like he thinks. We have his mind because of the holy new nature
that every believer possesses. We have the mind of Christ. So every believer is spiritual,
but Paul says, I couldn't speak to you that way. You're acting
like a bunch of unbelievers, is what he's saying to these
people. You're acting like natural men. You're acting carnal under
the influence and control of fallen human nature. At best, you're acting like big
babies, infants, crybabies. Immature, childish, selfish,
and self-centered. Now, that's what he says to these
people. Carnal. Carnal. Now, a baby is a human
being. A baby has all the parts of a
human being. They're just as much a human
being as we are. And they have life. And you know,
we love babies, don't we? I mean, we delight in babies. Everybody does. And we're very
patient with babies. But what if they stayed babies
for 20 years? What if you had to be changing
somebody's diaper that was 20 years old? That would get to
be a burden, wouldn't it? Now, he says to these people
who were his brethren, he said, you are infants. Now, a baby is extremely self-centered
and self-focused, aren't they? That's a good description of
a baby. They think about themselves. They're immature. They are very
dependent and very needy. They do not make contributions
to the family. They are takers and not givers. They are receivers. Now, I repeat,
we love babies. Now we do. You love your baby,
don't you? But if they stayed that way.
If after 20 years they were still at the same level of maturity.
You'd be very troubled, wouldn't you? Now, Paul says to these
Corinthian believers, you are babies, you're infants, you are
carnal. Now, a baby obviously cannot
be spoken to like an adult. I could not speak to you as mature
believers, but I had to deal with you like you were infants,
babes in Christ. That's what he says to these
people. And I'd rather, and I couldn't speak unto you as into spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Now, I wonder,
I want you to think about this. I'm talking to myself. I'm talking
to you. If Paul the apostle were here tonight, I wonder how many
of us, he would say the same thing to your infants, your babes. You haven't reached the level
of maturity that you ought to have reached. Now, I want to
mature, don't you? I want to be a strong man in
Christ Jesus. You know, according to the scripture,
There are different levels of growth. Remember there in 1 John
chapter 2 where John speaks of little children and young men
and fathers. Different levels of maturity
in grace. And I want to grow up. I want
to be mature in grace. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
4 and look at verse 15. Paul says in verse 15, for though
you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, fellows who can tell
you the right thing, and they've got the doctrine down pat, so
they think. They're instructors. He said,
though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, you have not many
fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten
you through the gospel. Now, I want to reach the stage
of a mature believer, don't you? I know you do. I know you do. Well, verse two, the first Corinthians
chapter three. He says to these Corinthian believers. I have fed you with milk. And not with meat. For hitherto,
you were not able to bear it. Neither now are you able, because
of your immaturity, he says to these Corinthian believers, I
could only feed you with milk. You were not able to digest meat. And isn't that what a baby is?
You can't speak to a baby like you would a grown-up individual
or a mature individual. It's impossible. And that baby
cannot digest meat. All that baby can take is milk.
And he said, I've not given you meat, all I could give you was
milk. Remember how the Lord said to
his disciples, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot
bear them now. He said that to his disciples.
Now, milk is a good thing. Thank God for milk, and we never
quit using milk, do we? The strong man in Christ Jesus
loves the milk of the word. Peter said, as newborn babes
desire the sincere, the pure milk of the word that you may
grow thereby. I want milk. We never graduate
past milk. But when there's maturity, there's
something more than milk. You eat meat. You eat that which
is more difficult to digest. Now, what is the milk of the
word when he says I fed you with milk and not with meat? What
is the milk of the word? You know, we don't have to speculate
because we're told exactly what the milk of the word is in Hebrews,
chapters five and six. So turn with me there for a moment.
This is this is what he said it with and turned to Hebrews,
chapter five. Now, the writer to the Hebrews
had been talking about Melchizedek. Verse 10 of Hebrews, chapter
five, he said, called of God and high priest after the order
of Melchizedek, of whom, speaking of Melchizedek, we have many
things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull
of hearing. You are slow to hear. For when
for the time you yourselves ought to be teachers, you have need
that one teach you again which be the first principles, the
ABCs, the elementary truths of the words of the oracles of God,
and are become such as have need of milk, and not strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness. He is an infant. He's a baby,
but strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, that have
reached maturity, even those who by reason of use have their
senses exercised to discern, to know the difference between
good and evil. Now, if all I can take is milk,
I'm a baby. I'm a baby. I haven't become
grounded in the ABCs, in the principles of the Word. Now,
he talks about the principles of the Word, the elementary principles
that these people had not become grounded in. And the reason they
had not reached maturity is because they were not grounded in these
principles. Now, what I got to thinking about,
I got to thinking about my golf swing. Is anybody laughing at
me yet? Brian's laughing. Brian and Claire
both practiced with me on a golf swing. In a golf swing, there
are four or five principles that you have to have down. where
they become natural to you. See, I can't even tell you what
they are. I forgot what they were. I've been taught them several
times, but I've forgotten them. There are four or five things that
just need to come natural for you to have a good golf swing.
And as long as you're trying to think about them and figure
it out, you're never going to have a golf swing, not a good one.
They have to become second nature to you, to where they're there. You got it down. Now, I can play
golf. Don't anybody laugh. What I mean by that is I can
get the ball in the hole eventually. I mean, I might shoot 140, but
I can get the ball in the hole eventually. I can play golf,
but I'm a terrible golfer. Terrible. Now, if I don't have
the ABCs down of the word, the elementary truths of the word.
I may be a believer. But I may be a terrible believer. I don't want to do that to you.
I can accept that with my golf swing. But I want to have these
principles that he's talking about as part of my nature. So
I don't have to be taught these over and over again, but I'm
grounded in them. You see that person who's not
grounded in These principles spoken of, we're going to get
to them in just a minute, in a minute of what they are. That
person, he says, is a baby. They're unskillful in the word
of righteousness. They can't take the meat of the
word. When you talk about the responsibility of the believer,
the immature believer thinks, oh, that works. That works. When you call on men to come
to Christ and plead with men to come to Christ and command
them to come to Christ in the preaching of the gospel, you
think, well, the preachers turned Arminian on us. I mean, he's
turning in free will or talking that way. What's wrong with him?
That seems inconsistent with the truth. That's what an immature
believer does. I mean, they're not grounded
in the word of God. They're not grounded in these
principles. And. You see what happens. They can't discern the
difference between good and evil. Now, what are these principles,
he says, we have to be grounded in. Look in verse one of chapter
six, Hebrews six. Therefore, leaving the principles,
the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, if you have to be learning the
ABCs over and over again, what's it going to do to you? Never
going to really be much of a reader, are you? Not if you have to learn
them over and over again. Now, he's not saying we leave
these in the sense of we never come back to it. We use the ABCs
with everything we write, with everything we read. It's always
there. We always have to have the ABCs. But if I'm always A,
B, what comes next? If I don't have my alphabet down
the path, I'm not going to be much of a reader, am I? Now,
he says, therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of
Christ, let us go on unto perfection, unto maturity, not having to
lay again the foundation, the foundational truth. of these
six things, repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the
doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection
of the dead, and of eternal judgment, this will we do if God permit.
Now, he talks about these six foundations that we shouldn't
have to always be laying again and again where you're not grounded
in it. This ought to be natural to us. We're just This is it. We believe this. And maturity
will not come until I'm grounded in these six foundational truths.
Now, the first thing he mentions, the first foundation is repentance
from dead works. I want you to listen real carefully. All of our religious efforts
before hearing and believing the gospel were dead works. Now, if I'm not grounded in that,
I'm going to be a mess. You know, it troubles me when
people want to protect their religion when they did not believe
the gospel. You know, I was talking to somebody
very recently. It's been the last couple of
weeks. And he was talking about his religious experience. And
he had been a drunk. That's a bad thing. He'd been
a drunk. And all of a sudden, he became religious. He had a
conversion. He had a religious experience
of some sort. And he said, now, At that time, I didn't believe
the gospel. I didn't even know Jesus Christ
was God. But I know I had a changed life. And I believe God saved
me when my life was changed. Now, I'm not saying the Lord's
not in everything that happens to us from the womb. He is. Everything that happens to us
from the womb, He's in control of. But a man is not saved until
he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Until he believes the
gospel. And as long as I'm having trouble
on this repentance from dead works, I'm never going to reach
any level of maturity. It's not going to happen. I'm
going to be a big baby. That's what he's saying. Now,
the next thing he mentions is faith toward God. This is the
second foundation, not only repentance from dead works, but faith toward
God. You know what faith toward God is? Faith in Jesus Christ. That's what faith in God is.
It's an actual reliance on the God-man as my salvation. You
know, right now, I am relying only and wholly upon Him. I am. Now, I'm grounded in that. I'm not looking anywhere else.
Faith toward God. I'm relying on Christ. And the
next thing he mentions is the doctrine of baptisms. The doctrine
of baptisms. What is the doctrine of baptism?
I mean, what is the teaching of baptism?
Well, we we have this baptismal pool and what takes place is
somebody gets in the water. Preacher lowers them down, they
go underneath the water, baptism by immersion, baptism, baptize,
meaning to immerse, and they come back up. Now, what's the
doctrine behind that? Well, here's the doctrine behind
that. Union with Christ. Now here's what my hope is, that
when he died, I died. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. That's my hope, union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. What he did, I did. And it's
not as if I did it, I did it in union with Christ. His righteousness,
His perfect obedience is mine. It's not as if it were mine.
It's not like it were mine. It is mine. Their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord. Union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the doctrine of baptisms is all about. Union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you and I are settled
in this thing of union with Christ, aren't we going to have assurance?
Aren't we going to have joy? Aren't we going to have peace?
I mean, if I really believe I'm united to Christ. Oh, my, I can
you bring anything in my way and by God's grace, I can take
it because I'm united to him and I and I rejoice in that.
That's what the doctrine of baptisms is. And that's what we say in
baptism union with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all it means.
And then he says next in chapter six, verse two, he says of the
laying on of hands. The laying on of hands. Now what's
this all about, the laying on of hands? Is this talk about
when, you know, I've seen ordination services where men lay their
hands on other men, you know, to ordain them to be preachers.
I tell you what, I don't feel comfortable with that, to say
the least. I don't want somebody laying
their hands on me like that because I don't think that's what that's all
about. I know that in the Old Testament, I mean, in the New
Testament, during the early church, you would you would lay hands
on people and the transference of the gifts would take place.
And that really did take place through the laying on of the
apostles hands. The Holy Ghost was given. And then in the Old
Testament. Remember how the priest would
lay his hands on the head of the sacrifice? Now, the laying
on of the hands, whether you're talking about the transference
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit or whether you're talking about
the transference of sin to the sacrifice, what it talks about
is the transference of something. Laying on of hands, here's what
the doctrine of the laying on of hands is. It's the doctrine
of transference. My sin was transferred to the
Lord Jesus Christ. and it became His. Who His own self bear our sins
in His own body on the tree. Now you get grounded in that,
you're going to have such joy, it's going to do something for
you. Now not only were my sins actually and literally transferred
to him where they became his. His perfect obedience, his righteousness,
his merits are transferred to me and they become mine. That's what the laying on of
hands is all about. It's about the transference. It's talking
about that priest laying his hands on the head of the sacrifice.
Have you ever become grounded in this wonderful transference
that took place. The transference of guilt and
the transference of righteousness. That's an understanding of what
took place on the cross, isn't it? And look what it says next. And the resurrection of the dead.
This is the fifth principle that I must become grounded in. The
resurrection of the dead. Now, the Bible speaks of three
resurrections. First, the bodily resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was raised from the dead, what's that mean? Scripture says he was raised
for our justification. My justification was accomplished
when he was raised from the dead. Oh, thank God for the bodily
resurrection of Jesus Christ. That sets the joy bells ringing
in this sinner's heart. When Christ was raised from the
dead, my salvation was accomplished. Does that rejoice your heart?
The resurrection of Christ from the dead. And then there's the
spiritual resurrection of the believer. We were dead in sins. We had no life, no spiritual
life, dead in sins. And God gave us life. We were
spiritually resurrected. We were dead, raised from the
dead, given life. That's the new birth. That's
being born again, being born above, born of the Spirit. And
then there's that final resurrection. Don't you look forward to that?
When the Lord comes back with a shout? How loud do you reckon
that trumpet will sound? Everybody's going to hear the
sound of that trumpet. Everybody's going to be raised.
The wicked and the righteous alike. And God's people are going
to meet the Lord in the air in that resurrection. These bodies
are going to be raised. I'm still going to be Todd Norbert. I'm going to be just like the
Lord Jesus Christ. But it's going to be me. You know, we're going
to have fellowship with each other for an eternity after that. What fellowship there be? Oh, the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What joy there is. Paul said,
I want to know the power of His resurrection. If by God's grace
I remember He was raised from the dead and I was raised in
Him, I'm going to be a mature believer. It's going to happen. And the last thing he mentions
in this verse 2 is eternal judgment. Eternal judgment. Now, not just
judgment, but eternal judgment. Now, salvation was accomplished
in what we call time, wasn't it? Our Lord invaded time. Time is a... I don't understand. It's so hard to talk about this.
You know, because we're creatures of time, and time is all we know.
But time is just a blip between the eternities. Christ Jesus
the Lord accomplished salvation in time, but this is an eternal
salvation. Do you know there was never a
time when God began to love this sinner? There was never a time when in
his eyes every believer was not wholly unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Now what God does is eternal.
It's hard for us to grasp this, but it's what the scripture teaches.
Christ is called the Lamb slain from the very foundation of the
world. He chose us in Christ before time began. How many scriptures
are there like that? This is an eternal thing. Not
only did it, even using the word beginning is frustrating because
it didn't begin in eternity. It always has been and it always
will be. Eternal judgment. Now, if you
and I are grounded in that and we don't have to lay these foundations
over and over again. Now, when these foundations have
to be laid over and over and over and over again, you know
what there is? Infants in Christ Jesus. Babies. If these are not settled and
grounded upon. But when we're grounded in these
principles, we're ready for strong meat. We're able to hear of responsibilities
without making a work out of it. Now, how many times do you
think as a mature or an immature, as a young believer, you were
scared to death if anything that sounded like a work? And well,
you should be. Well, you should be. But but
as far as our discernment and understanding, even even things
that are that are a responsibility of a believer. Here's the meat
of the word. Here's what I'm trying to say. Here's the meat
of the word. Love one another as he's loved
you. Deny yourself. Take up your cross
daily and follow him. That's the meat of the word.
Oh, that sounds like works. It's not. It's the command of
the Lord to all of his people. When we're grounded in these
principles, we won't make a work out of things. We're given some
discernment. We can discern the difference between good and evil.
Let's go back to first Corinthians. Verse three. And verse two, he says, I fed
you with milk, not with meat, for hitherto you were not able
to bear it, neither now are you able for you are yet carnal.
Now, he says this to these people he calls brethren. He says you
are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife
and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? You're acting
just like unbelievers act, he says to these people, and he
names three things that were present with him. Envy. Strife. And divisions. And this is how people walk who
do not have the spirit of God and simply obey their human nature. They walk in envy and strife
and divisions, and he's saying you're acting just like an unbeliever. Now you think of these three
things, envy, strife, and division. Do you know what they are? They're
the opposite of love. Envy, being jealous of somebody. You want what they have for yourself. I've even seen parents who are
jealous of their children. You know, that's wrong, isn't
it? If you love your children, you want them to have more than
what you have. You want them to have it better
than you, don't you? Now, when you're jealous of somebody,
you're jealous of what they have. You think I ought to have it.
What that is, it's the opposite of love. He says there's envy
among you and there is strife, rivalry, contention, competition. Once again, you do not compete
with people you love. You don't do it. And division
means literally a standing apart, a separation. This was first
expressed in chapter 1. Turn back to chapter 1, look
at verse 10. Paul says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing. Is that possible? Absolutely. I'll tell you what, if the Lord's
taught me and the Lord's taught you, we believe the same thing,
don't we? Now He says, I beseech you that
you all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among
you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment. You know, how can two walk together
except they be agreed? They can't, can they? But if
they are agreed, you know what they do? They walk together in
fellowship, in harmony. He says in verse 11, for it had
been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are
of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. And
here's what they were. Now, this I say, that every one
of you said, I'm a Paul and I'm a Paulist and I'm a Cephas and
I'm Christ. Is Christ divided? Are there
different denominations and divisions within the body of Christ? The answer is absolutely not.
Christ is not divided. You are all one in Christ Jesus. And when we have these divisions,
these standing apart, this criticism of others, this judgmental, harsh
attitude towards others, all we're doing is acting opposite
of love, isn't it? Now, when he expresses this carnality
in the Corinthians, look how he expresses it. Back to chapter
three. Verse three, for you're yet carnal,
for whereas there's among you envy and strife and divisions,
are you not carnal and walk as men? For while one sayeth, I'm
a Paul and another I'm of Apollos, are you not carnal? Now, this
is this is interesting when he demonstrates the carnality of
the Corinthians. He talks about how they were
acting in their preference of preachers. One says, well, I
like Paul better. Paul's more to my liking. He's
more to my taste. I benefit more from his preaching.
Somebody else says, well, now I like Apollos. Apollos is more
eloquent than Paul. Apollos is a, I benefit more
from him. And you start having preacher
followers, people following a man. You know, that is so incredibly
immature. Childish and babyish. That's what he's saying to have
preferences of preachers like that. He says, who is Paul? Who
is Apollos? But what he says in verse five,
who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believe,
even as the Lord gave to every man. Who is Paul or Apollos? They're instruments. Nothing more. Now, some of you
have come to believe the gospel through my preaching. Some of
you have actually been born again, born from above, given life through
my preaching. Some of you have been born from
above, born again through somebody else's preaching. I was the instrument and that's
how God works. But what is an instrument? What is an instrument? I mean,
when you when you plow a garden and when you grow up, you plant
the seed and you grow the beautiful garden and you keep all the weeds
out and all that kind of stuff that's involved in a garden.
Who gets the credit for it? The hoe? The hoe is an instrument. One hoe is as good as another.
I mean, a hoe is a hoe. And there's not much to it one
way or the other. It's just a hoe. It's just an
instrument. The one who gets the glory is the gardener. The
one who gives the increase. And to put preference of, to
have it, well, I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. That's so immature.
That's so childish. What is the preacher? He's an
instrument and nothing more. I have planted, Apollos watered,
but God gave the increase. Now this preference of preachers
muddies the water of Christ being all. Preacher's nothing but an
instrument. I guess some spades or shovels might look better
than others, but a shovel's a shovel. There's just not much to them.
It's God that gives the increase. Look what he says in verse 7. So then neither is he that planteth,
now remember he said I plant, Paul, Apollos waters, but neither
is he that planteth anything. Neither he that watereth, but
God that giveth the increase, Paul the apostle is nothing. Apollos, the eloquent speaker,
mighty in the scriptures, is nothing. Todd, Nybert, the pastor of Tod's
Road Grace Church, is nothing. God is the increase. Salvation is of the Lord. God is the one who gives growth. Now, what I see from this passage
of Scripture, where there is immaturity, and that's what he
says to these people, you're babies, you're carnal, That's
strong language to him, isn't it? If this is me, I want to
hear what's being said. I want to grow up. I want to
be a mature believer in Christ Jesus. Now, where this immaturity
is, there is one problem that reveals itself in two ways. And
wherever you have this immaturity from people who ought to be more
mature, First of all, there is the ability to handle only milk. You've not been grounded in these
first principles. They have to be laid down over
and over and over again. And where that is, there's never
going to be maturity. Ask the Lord and be careful what you're
asking, because it's going to rip you up inside and out. But
ask the Lord to ground you in these six foundational truths.
It's just one truth, but ask the Lord to ground you in it.
I tell you what, there's some plowing that's going to go on
in your heart. Behold, it'll be worth it. Ask the Lord to ground you in
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But where there's this
immaturity, there's an ability to handle only milk. You can't
handle the meat of the word because you're not grounded. And where
there is this immaturity, love really is not seen. There's envy. There's strife, there's competition,
and there are divisions. There is a hypercritical spirit. There's competition. There's
a judging, there's standing and judging, judging the preacher.
He's not saying it well enough. He's not judging the other members
of the congregation. They're not this, they're not
that. A hypercritical spirit. If you want to criticize me,
You've got plenty to work with, don't you? You do. You do. If I want to
criticize you, I've got some ammo. Every one of us do. But you know what that's the
opposite of? Love. If I love you, if I love you,
oh boy, I'm going to lay down and let you walk all over me
if I love you. And I'm going to enjoy it if
I love you. Now, where you have this immaturity,
you have strife, criticism, divisions, just this horrible, horrible
spirit that's the opposite of love. Now, let me remind you
of this, what our Lord said in John chapter 13. He said, by
this, shall all men know that you're my disciples, because
you're five-point Calvinists." He didn't say that, did he? He said, by this shall all men
know you're my disciples, by your love one to another. You know how you love Jesus Christ?
By loving me. You know how I love Jesus Christ?
By loving you. That's how I do it. A true, genuine
love. Isn't it wonderful to have brothers
and sisters we love? It's such a blessing. And what
I'd like to do is close by reading 1 Corinthians 13. What is maturity? What is maturity? Love. That's what maturity is. Paul says in verse 29 of chapter
12, are all apostles? Well, the answer is no. Are all
prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Are
all workers of miracles? No. Have all the gifts of healing?
No. Do all speak with tongues? No. Do all interpret? No. Now
covet earnestly the best gifts. And you know, I do covet the
gift to preach in an effective way. In a simple way, I covet
gifts to promote the gospel. And you do too. Every one of
us want to. We covet gifts in that sense.
I want gifts to promote the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in any
way I can. Now, he says, you covet earnestly the best gifts. Yet show I unto you a more excellent
way, something that's a whole lot better than any gifts. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as 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 can 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 for
the cause of God and truth, die as a martyr at the stake, and
have not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity, the gift
of God, God's grace in your heart, that love that comes from God,
it suffers long, it puts up with so much, and it's kind. Charity envies not. Charity vaunteth
not itself. It doesn't push itself. It takes
the back seat. It's not puffed up with pride.
It doesn't behave itself unseemly in a rude manner. It doesn't
seek its own. It's not self-interested. It's
interested in the object of its affection's benefit. It's not
easily provoked. It's not touchy. It's not moody.
It thinketh no evil. It's not always holding a suspicious
attitude towards somebody, judging their motives. It rejoices not
in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things. It believes all things. It hopes
all things. It endures all things. Charity
Never faileth. Now, whether they be prophecies,
they shall fail. Whether they be tongues, they
shall cease. Whether they be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. You know, we know in part and we prophesy
in part. Isn't that just so true? Our knowledge is so partial. But when that which is perfect
is come, that which is in part shall be done away with. Now,
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, when I reached
a level of maturity, 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 about
it, here's what stays, here's what's left. Faith, hope, charity,
these three. But the greatest of these is
what? Charity. Now, follow after charity. Make charity your end, your goal,
your pursuit. You know, we pray for all these
things. Make this the thing we pray for.
May God enable us to. Demonstrate this now. Carnal
Christians. I think that would describe every
one of us from time to time. Every one of us. May God give
us grace to be mature. Strong men in Christ Jesus. And you know, here's something
that's encouraging. Talking about growth. All of
us want to grow. But here's something that's encouraging. You know
what it takes to grow in grace? Grace. Grace. So none of us need despair. Growth in grace is by grace. Let's pray together. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would enable us to be mature believers. I ask that you would ground us
in the principles of your word. And Lord, give us the grace to
love one another. As you loved us. Bless this message for the sake
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for your mercy upon us.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.