1 Corinthians chapter 13. I just have one verse of Scripture
and we want to look at this chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, but
I want to read the last verse of that chapter. 1 Corinthians
chapter 13 and verse 13. And now abideth faith, hope,
and love, but the greatest of these is love. Now about a faith,
hope, and charity are love, these three, but the greatest of these
is love." I have no idea why our translators translated this
word charity as they did. It's the same word in other places
in the scriptures that we find translated love. Most places
in the scriptures, this word that we use here as charity is
translated love. It's translated love when it's
speaking of the love of God. God commendeth His love toward
us. That's the very same word that
translated charity here. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. That's the same word charity.
It's translated love when he's speaking of the love of Christ.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. And who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? The very same word. I'm sure
the translators would have a reason if they were here to tell us
why they did this. When the Bible talks about the
love that we have one for another as children of God, It's never
translated charity, it's always love. By this shall all men know
that you're my disciples, if you have love one for another.
So, I don't usually do this, I don't usually recommend this,
but I can safely say tonight, when you read chapter 13, if
you want to, drop the word charity and replace it with love. Because
it's the very same word that other places has translated love. And when we think about charity,
we think about something we give to somebody, don't we? It's really
lost the meaning, the original meaning of charity, which used
to be love. But now we don't think of charity
as love. It should be done out of love,
but it's something you do. So when we look at this chapter
here, we'll read it and we'll go ahead and say it's love. The greatest of these is love. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. So the church here, as I said
last time that we looked at a passage here in the twelfth chapter,
this church was having problems. And one of the problems they
were having, they had all of these spiritual gifts. And it
was leading to divisions among them. In the first chapter, you
can read this, where a man by the name of Chloe had written
to the Apostle Paul and said, there's a lot of divisions among
the members of the church here at Corinth. And Paul was writing
to correct those divisions. And one of the things that was
causing divisions was the pride that was coming out of all of
these spiritual gifts. And they had knowledge. They
had the gift of knowledge. I want you to look here in chapter
8 and verses 1 through verse 3. Chapter 8 in 1 Corinthians. One of the gifts that the Holy
Spirit was given was special knowledge. And what was happening,
they were getting puffed up in their knowledge. They were getting
proud of the knowledge that they had. Look here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 8 in verse 1. Now as touching things offered
unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth
up, but charity or love, it fills up, it edifies. If any man think
that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought
to know. But if any man love God, the
same is known of him. So what was happening in this
church? They had all of these gifts.
They had the gift of healing. We'll look at some of them just
in a minute. They had the gift of tongues, interpretation of
tongues. They had the gift of knowledge.
But one thing They came short of it. And that was love. And
that's what this whole chapter here is about. Look in chapter
12 in verse 31. The Apostle Paul had begun to deal
with the gifts that the Holy Spirit had given so many in this
church, and he commends them for their gifts. He doesn't rebuke
them. He commends them. In verse 31,
he says, "...covet or desire earnestly the best gifts, the
best spiritual gifts that will help the church edify the body
of Christ. And when you've got these best
gifts, whatever they are, yet show I unto you a more excellent
way. And that excellent way He's going
to show them is the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 which deals
with love, the love of God in Jesus Christ that is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. If our gifts, what He's going
to tell these Corinthians, if their gifts is not seasoned with
the love of God shed abroad in their heart, these gifts are
probably going to do them more harm than good. Because it's
just going to lead to pride and getting puffed up. Have you ever
seen an old toad frog when he swells up about twice
his size. That's what that word pumped
up means. You know, you get all swelled up in pride. That's the
way they were doing it in their minds. And Paul said, I'm glad
you got these spiritual gifts. It's a blessing to the Lord's
church. It builds them up. But if you don't have love, If
your gifts aren't saturated with the love of God in your heart
towards God and Christ and those that you're trying to edify,
then he says your gifts are going to be more harm to you than good.
And I want us to look at that here in verses 1, verse 3. He
first deals with the negative aspect of having these gifts
apart from a heart love to God and Christ and one another. And
look how he says it in verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding
brass, or a clinging or a tinkling cymbal." Boy, there are some
people that can speak, and when they speak, they speak with such
words and they speak with such authority, they command your
attention. I think any preacher worth his
weight in salt wants to speak that way. I want to speak in
such a way that men cannot resist listening and speak in such a
way, clarity, that when I do speak, people will understand
what I'm saying. But Paul said a man may speak
that way. A man may speak eloquently and
plainly and powerfully with his voice. If he don't have love,
if he don't have the love of God in his heart, and if he doesn't
speak to those people out of love, it's nothing more than
taking a huge hammer and beating on a piece of brass. It means
nothing. But he said not only that he
had the tongue of men, but the tongue of angels. Boy, if an
angel, if you went home tonight and you walked in your bedroom
and you got ready for bed And you're ready to lay down on the
bed and suddenly an angel of God appeared to you and spoke
to you. You'd listen, wouldn't you? You
look at the New Testament when these angels appeared to somebody
and they began to speak, people were afraid. They trembled. I
mean, the voice of an angel speaking. And Paul said, although I speak
with the voice of angels, if I don't have the love of God
in my heart, If that love does not saturate my words and my
motives for speaking, he said, just like tinkling cymbals, it
won't do me any good and probably eventually won't do anyone else
any good. Then he goes on to this. He goes
on to chapter verse two, and he talks about another gift.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and though I understand
all mysteries, And though I have all knowledge and though I have
all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not love,
I am nothing. Boy, to have the gift of prophecy.
They had this in the New Testament, a man by the name of Agabus.
He was an old man. He predicted there's going to
be a famine throughout all the world. And it happened. He predicted
that Paul was going to be persecuted at Jerusalem, and it happened.
The gift of prophecy to foretell what's coming in the future.
And Paul said, though I have this gift of prophecy, and though
I have the gift to understand all mysteries, all the mysteries
of God, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest
in the flesh. What if we understood that? The mysteries of the two natures
of Jesus Christ, the mysteries of creation, the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven. I had the gift, he said, to understand
all these mysteries and have not love. What did he say? I'm nothing. I'm nothing. And though I had faith, look
at this, though I had faith that I could remove mountains, literally
remove mountains or symbolically remove spiritual mountains that's
in my way and the way of others and have not the love of God
should have brought in my heart, then I'm nothing. I'm absolutely
nothing. We may impress other people by
our understanding, by our gift of prophecy, but we don't impress
God. if we don't have the love of
God shed abroad in our hearts. Here in verse 3, he deals with
something else. Here's the ultimate sacrifice.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though
I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profits
me nothing. I mean, give all your goods to
feed the poor? I was reading John Gill on this
passage and he listed several people that went on record that
they gave away everything they had to the poor. They collected
all the property they had and everything in the house and they
gave it to the poor. Even one man was a king and he
gave away everything he had to the poor. And John Gill went
on to examine their motives and read why they did it. And none
of them did it out of love. They didn't do it because they
loved God. They didn't do it because they loved the poor people.
He said mainly they did it out of a self-righteous, legalistic
spirit to earn God's favor, to earn interest in a world to come. And if a man gives everything
he has to feed the poor and he don't do it from the love of
God shed abroad in his heart, He don't do it because the Lord
Jesus Christ is precious to him and he does it because he loves
the poor. What did Paul say? It won't profit me a hill of
beans. And here's the ultimate sacrifice, though I give my body
to be burned. Man, that's the ultimate sacrifice,
ain't it? We talk about soldiers giving their life for the country.
We talk about a mother going in a burning house and giving
her life to save a child. Paul said a man may do that.
A woman may do that. A person may give their body
to be burned. But if they don't do it with
the love of God shed abroad in their heart, then he said, it
won't amount to anything. It won't profit us at all. Not one iota. So that's the negative
aspect here. The Apostle Paul is saying if
we don't have love, we may have all of these gifts. It may be
a reality, but if we got these gifts and they're not saturated
with the love of God, we see what it would profit us. Nothing. We're nothing. Now in verses 4 through 8, he
gives the true nature of this love of God in Christ that he's
talking about. Here's the true nature of this
love, and this is not a natural love. It's not something you
and I are born with. It's something that we're born
of. Any man that's born of God, he's
born of love, isn't he? For God is love. And here's the
true nature of the love that he's talking about. I want to
read this in the King James, and then I want to read it to
you in an amplified commentary. And look at these verses as I
read them. Look in verse 4. Love suffereth long, and is kind. Love envieth not. Love bondeth
not itself, is not puffed up. Here's what the Amplify says.
Listen to this. Love endears long, and is patient
and kind. Love never is envious, nor boils
over with jealousy. Love is never boastful or vainglorious,
does not display itself haughtily. It never does, because that is
the pure love of God in a person's heart. Verse 5, let me read it
to you in the King James. Love doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Here is the Amplified. Love is
not conceited. It is not arrogant and inflated
with pride. It is not rude or unmanly. It does not act unbecomingly.
Love, God's love in us, does not insist on its own rights
or its own way, for it is not self-seeking. It is not touchy
or fretful or resentful. It takes no account of the evil
done to it, pays no attention to a suffered wrong. See why
love is so profitable. Gifts will make you proud. Gifts
will make you brag. This love of God should have
brought in ours. It looks for the good of others.
It looks to help others. And when others speak evil of
it, it just eats it. Gives no mind to it. The love
of God shed abroad in our hearts. Verse 6. Love rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but it rejoiceth in the truth. The Amplified said,
Love does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices
when right and truth prevail. Verse 7. Love beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. The Amplified says love bears
up under anything and everything that comes. Love bears up. It is ever ready to believe the
best about every person. Its hopes are faithless under
all circumstances, and it endures everything without weakening. I love that, don't you? And then
verse 8 in the King James, it says, Love never faileth. Were
there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues,
they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. And the Amplified says this,
Love never fails, never fades out or becomes obsolete. Love
never comes to an end. Love never ceases. The love of God in Christ that
shed abroad in the hearts of His children. It will never,
ever cease. It will never fail. It will never
fade. This love may grow. It may increase. It may diminish. That happens in our heart. Did
your heart ever get real cold? The Ephesians left their first
love. Their love towards Christ got
cold. But there's one thing about this love. It'll never die. It'll never cease in the heart.
You know why? It's the love of God. It's shed
abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.
It can no more die. The grace of love that you're
born of can no more die than God can die. If the love of God
in you can die, then God can die. If the love of God in you
can die, the new creature that He's made you can die. That will
never happen, brothers and sisters. This love, this love, it may
grow, it may diminish, but it will never cease in the heart.
Once you're born of it, you'll die with it. You'll die with
this love, the love of God in Jesus Christ. In verse 8, quickly, Paul tells
us about some things that will cease. There are some things
that's going to cease. Look in verse 8. Love never fails,
but where there be prophecies, they'll cease. That word means
to cease. Where there's tongues, they shall
cease. Where there's knowledge, it shall
vanish away or it shall cease. Prophecies shall cease. Well,
there's a lot of prophecies. in the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament and the New
Testament is full of prophecies. Many of them have already been
fulfilled. Those prophecies about the coming
of Christ and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. But
there's other prophecies that haven't been fulfilled yet. The
coming of Christ, He's coming again. Many prophecies have been
fulfilled. But you know something? The canon
is complete. There's no new prophecies being
given of God. They've ceased. I was listening to a radio broadcast
not long ago, and the DJ on the radio was asking people to call
in if they'd had a vision from God, or if they'd had a dream
from God. And he said, call us in and tell
us what the prophecy is. There's no such thing from God.
It's ceased, hasn't it? These prophecies have been shut
up in the canon of scriptures. It's been sealed. You can't take
away and we're not to add to the prophecies in the scriptures.
The last chapter of Revelation tells us that, doesn't it? So
Paul said these prophecies, they ceased. They ceased. All of them have been given.
And if you think you've got a dream with some new prophecy, please
don't tell it. He says, Lord, forgive me. Forgive me for even
having an awful dream like this. Because prophecies have ceased.
They ceased. Speaking in tongues. He says
tongues. What do you say about tongues?
They ceased. Whether there be tongues, they
shall cease. Different languages that they spoke in the Scriptures.
And the Corinthian church had them. And Paul said, if you don't
have an interpreter, keep quiet. Keep quiet. They had the gift
of tongues. You know those ceased? Those
tongues ceased? That's what he's telling us right
here. We never heard of tongues again
from the New Testament days of the apostles all the way up until
what? 1906 or something like that.
Somebody out in California of all places spoke in tongues.
Then it spread with wildfire. Paul says it ceased. These tongues
have ceased. And the special gift of knowledge,
he says here. Now look what he's talking about.
Look in chapter 12 and look in verse 8. When he's talking about
knowledge, he's talking about this special gift of knowledge.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another
the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. That was people
back in the New Testament church. Boy, the Lord just directly gave
them knowledge in their minds. It was a gift. If you want knowledge
now, how do we get it? We read the Bible. You labor
to get it, don't you? We grow in grace and knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This gift of knowledge
that they had back then, it ceased. I'd be awfully silly to get up
here and say, well, I haven't had time to study this week.
Matter of fact, I didn't even open my Bible up, but I'm going
to open my mouth and God's going to give me this gift of knowledge.
He's going to make me look stupid is what he's going to do. It
just don't happen that way, does it anymore? These gifts had ceased. They've ceased. I want to show
you. I'll show you that. Hold that and look quickly. I
won't keep you much longer. Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. And look here
in verse 1. These miraculous gifts ceased,
brothers and sisters, with the New Testament. The reason the
Lord gave them was to establish the gospel. If Peter had come
together and the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and he
just stood up and began to preach, nobody would have listened to
him. But when they spake in 18 different languages, understood
what they were saying, that got people's attention. And these
gifts of the Spirit were given to the early church to establish
the gospel. But once the gospel was established,
those gifts ceased. You know anybody today that can
raise the dead? I mean, if somebody's sick now,
we pray for them. We don't go lay our hands on
them and heal them, do we? Those gifts have ceased. It's
not that God can't heal. He does heal. But He doesn't
give these gifts like He did back then. And Hebrews 2 tells
us why He gave them. Look in verse 1. Therefore we
ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word
spoken by angels there on Mount Sinai was steadfast, and every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of
reward that was sent against the law, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great a salvation which at the first began to be
spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him."
That is, the apostles. God burned them witness both
with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost according to His own will. That's what those gifts were
for, but they ceased. They ceased. These things came
to an end. They ceased. When the gospel was established,
they ceased to be. I've never had a desire to seek
to speak in a foreign language. And I bet nobody here has. We
got enough trouble with the tongue we have, don't we, Jack? We don't
want another one. Never had that desire. Don't
want it. Don't need it. It ceased. But there's one thing
that hasn't ceased, and that's love. That's love. Look what he said back here in
our text in verse 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and
look in verse 9. Let's think about this in another
way too. Not only have these New Testament
gifts ceased, but there's coming a day when
all that's going to be left is love. Look what he says in verse
9. For we know in part, we apostles
know only in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which
is perfect, complete is come, then that which is in part shall
be done away. Is Paul speaking here about the
coming of the Lord? He said right now, We wise apostles, we only know
in part. We don't know everything. John said, Brethren, we know
the Lord's coming, but it does not yet appear to me what we're
going to be like. We just know that when He comes,
we're going to be like Him. John didn't know everything.
Paul didn't know everything. And he said, we only prophesy
in part. One apostle or one prophet, they
prophesied of something that was coming concerning the Lord.
And another one of them prophesied. They just prophesied in little
parts. And here a poor preacher like me comes up and we try to
interpret these prophecies. And we only do it in part. We
only do it in part. But he said, when that which
is perfect is come, When the Lord comes and we're made perfect, then
these things we only know in part, and the knowledge we have,
what little we have, it's all going to be done away with. In verse 11, He likens this life
and what we know in this life as being like a child. When I
was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought
as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. And what the Apostle Paul is
saying here, this life is like a bunch of children. We're just
children. We don't know very much. The
way we think, we think like children. We talk like children. But when
heaven is come, when we're with the Lord, then we're going to
be mature. We're going to be grown men.
Then we're going to know. as we've never known before.
For now, in verse 12, we see through a glass a dark way. But then, when the Lord comes,
how are we going to see then? Face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face to see and know. They shall see His face. What will we know in that day?
Now we're like children. But there will be mature men,
mature people. And the Apostle Paul says, Now
I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. I'll know myself just as God
knows me. I'll know everything that He
gives me the capacity to know there in heaven. I'll tell you what we know now,
brothers and sisters, what little we know now. And the best among
us knows very little of God. We know very little of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We know very little of ourselves,
of sin and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But when that
day comes and we're face to face with the Lord, then we will know
of that day. And these prophecies that's here,
Now, and the knowledge that we have now will seem like nothing
in that day. It's going to be almost like
we didn't know anything in this lifetime. You ever notice, did
you realize that the stars are still in heaven, still in the
heavens when the sun rises? You know the stars never move.
You just can't see them. And you know why you can't see
them? The bright shining of the sun. It lights everything up. That's the way it is us. We're
in this dark world. We're seeing these stars darkly. But I'm telling you, when the
Son of God arises, and He takes us to be with Himself, what little
we know in this lifetime will seem like nothing. We'll see
clearly in that day. It'll be as though we knew nothing
in this life that won't be comparable to that life that's to come.
This in part, we know in part, we prophesy in part. Now abideth
faith, hope, and love, these three, that the greatest of this
is love. Why did Paul make this statement?
Love is, faith is essentialism. You can't be saved without faith.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. We're
not justified by love. Paul said being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Faith is essential, but you know
something about faith? It's going to end. It's going
to end in sight. You and I are going to get sick
and old. We're going to lay on our deathbed.
And by the eye of faith, we're going to continue to look to
our Lord. But as soon as the last breath breathes this body,
you'll not look by faith anymore. You'll see Him face to face. Faith is essential. But faith's
going to cease. Hope is essential. We're saved
by hope. But someday, we're going to realize
what we hope for. And we're not going to hope for
it anymore. We're going to possess it. So Paul is saying though
faith is essential and hope is essential, there's something
that's greater than both of them. Because love is never going to
cease. It will only grow and it will
only increase for all eternity. when we're with the Lord. So
what is the central part then? Is it not the love of God in
our hearts? What is knowledge? What is faith? What is it to have faith to remove
mouths if we're not born of love? If we don't love God and don't
love Christ and we don't love one another, what's anything
else worth? Nothing is. Love is the essential
part. Let everything be done in love. From a motive of love. Now by
these three. Faith. Thank God for faith. Hope. Thank God for hope. Thank
God for love. The love of God in Jesus Christ.
Father, we thank you for this blessed word. Oh, how precious
it is. Thank you for the love of God
that you revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. You commended your
love towards us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for
us. You come to us and you gave us
in your birth a birth of love. You shed abroad that love in
our hearts. You've changed everything about us. Oh, thank you for your
love. God is love. We bless you for
such love. Eternal, everlasting love. Mysterious
as it is. Oh, Lord, we glory in it. We glory in your love. And increase
it, Lord, in our souls. Increase this grace in our hearts
to love one another, that our affections may be strong one
to another. Think of one another. Pray one
for another. Love one another as you've loved
us. Thank you for this, dear people. Thank you for their kindness
and their patience, their prayers. Bless them. Bless them in their
homes. Bless their children, their families.
And Lord, when trouble comes and trials come, help us not
to forget the Lord. Help us to remember to come to
the throne of grace to obtain mercy. Thank you tonight for
Clarence, We thank you that you've given him all these years and
you've blessed him with your salvation. Thank you for this
meal and grant us grace to be thankful in Christ our Lord's
name. Amen. They've got some food. I'm not
sure what all they've got, but let's go back and celebrate Clarence's
birthday.