Days ago I received a bulletin from Pastor E.W. Johnson, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I read in his bulletin a frightening
statement. The conference this year at Ashland
was the biggest and best your pastor has ever attended. the
largest crowds, the finest preaching, the best music, the greatest
spirit among the people that I have known in 25 years of going
to Bible conferences. He said, Pastor, you ought to
be clicking your heels together and rejoicing that a man of his
intelligence and knowledge and wisdom and experience would make
a statement like that about the Thirteenth Street Baptist Church
and its conference. There's a sense in which I feel
a deep sense of satisfaction and gratitude and praise, but
a greater sense of fear. And I'll tell you why. In 1965-66, I attended a conference
similar to this one that we've just completed in what was then
considered a great church. They brought everybody there
from everywhere. Brother Barnard, Brother Kendall, Brother Connolly, who was alive
at that time, all of the people, had a tremendous conference,
a tremendous church, filled to capacity for all the services.
That church had a preacher school. It turned out missionary Walter
Groover, Milton Howard, David Pledger, R.J. Cootes, and several
other preachers. That church today is non-existent.
It was as if a bomb were dropped in the middle of it. It's disintegrated
completely. Its people despise one another
and they're scattered all over Texas. I attended a conference similar
to this in 1970, Birmingham, Alabama. That's where I met Brother
Walter Gruber. The church in Birmingham was
about the size of this congregation, thriving. good preaching, good
singing, good spirit, good fellowship, ambitious, I believe, for the
glory of God at that time, and all of these things. People were
there from everywhere. The Spirit of God seemed to be
in the place. That church today is almost nonexistent, down to handful
of people. Its former members are scattered
all over the United States. There's a spirit of anger and
animosity and hatred that's indescribable. There was a conference in Memphis,
Tennessee in 19, I forget the exact date, 7345, international
conference. There's a large Baptist church
there. People were there from everywhere. Brother Clark came
from France, people came from Europe, came from the north and
the south, the west and the east. The church had a school of about
400 students. It started a theological training
school for preachers, started a college. It's had three splits
since then. It's almost non-existent. When I was in Australia, I visited
several churches, preached in them. I was impressed, especially
with one church. I was impressed with all of them,
I beg your pardon, but especially one church. I visited Newcastle,
Warners Bay, Nepean Baptist, but I went to the Macquarie Baptist
Church. They had two elders, two pastors,
two preachers. Both men my age impressed me
deeply. Two of my favorite people. We
had chairs in the aisle. The best song service. I had
more liberty preaching that night on repentance than anywhere the
whole time I was there. That church is down to about
eight people now. Those two men divided, one went
one way, one went the other, but they both left. A vying for
power, preeminence. When two men ride a horse, one's
got to ride in front. But they weren't satisfied with
that, they both wanted to ride in front. And they destroyed
that church. And you say, Preacher, other
things account for this, do they? I know. Poor leadership, sidelines,
schools, all these other things. But the people did it to themselves. They did it to themselves. There
was one missing ingredient. They had the theology, they had
the organization, and that's the reason that highly organized
churches go on. The organization is powerful
enough to hold it together. It's built on organization. It's
built on ritualism and ceremonialism. That's the reason a thing like
the Catholic Church can withstand any kind of shaking, because
in other denominational churches, Because they have the farm, and
they have the program, and they have the ritual, and they have
the headquarters to keep things together. Headquarters. Generals
off somewhere else that hold it together. But there's one
thing missing. They had all these things, but
the one ingredient, the great absence, was L-O-V-E. Because
a family can withstand all manner of trials and troubles. But if they love each other,
they stay together. Nothing can divide people who
love each other. Paul said over in Galatians,
I'll just read this so you don't turn to it, it's not our text.
He says, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, I
shall love thy neighbors thyself. But if you bite and devour one
another, But if you bite and devour one
another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
You'll do it. You'll do it. If it's done, you'll
do it. And we can blame Satan, we can
blame schools, we can blame poor leadership, we can blame all
these things, but there's only one to blame, and that's us.
And it's happened almost to every, to every, and this is what, it
was, it was unusual that this article should be just below
that one in Brother Johnson's paper. Listen to the article
just below the one I read. The conference at Ashton was
the biggest and best your pastors ever attended. Largest crowds,
finest preaching, best music, greatest spirit among the people
that I've known in 25 years of going to conferences. Right below
it. The law of God commands love,
perfect love for God and for one another, love for our fellow
man equal to that which we have for ourselves. But the law of
God cannot give love. Nor can man, being commanded
to love, make them love. The law of God can't give them
love, and you can't give them love by commanding them to do
it. Only the gospel of free grace
in the faith of the cross of Christ, it is only in that gospel
that we poor sinners can really love God and each other. Isn't
that something that should be right below it? And I've got
together a message for myself, I hope you'll kind of listen
in while I preach to me, 1 John chapter 4. And it begins here. We used to sing a little song,
and I'm dead serious about that, Lord send a revival and let it
begin in me. Me. And another little song we
used to sing as kids, J-O-Y, Jesus and others and you. That's
the way to spell joy. But here in 1 John 4, verse 7
and 8, here's the great absence. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knows God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love." Now, what he's saying here is true and
sincere love for God. I'm not talking about love in
word, and love in profession, or even love in profession or
decision. I'm talking about a love of heart
and experience for God, loving God for himself, who he is, and
for one another, for who we are. A genuine, sincere love. It's
absolutely essential to saving faith. Absolutely essential. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. That's how essential it is. And
the reason it's essential is this. Love is the commandment
of Christ. He said, this is my commandment,
that you love one another. This is my commandment. Yes,
we're commanded not to kill, but we're commanded to love each
other. We're commanded not to commit adultery, but we're commanded
to love one another. We're commanded not to steal,
but we're commanded to love. He says, this is my commandment.
Not only is it the commandment of Christ, but he said it's the
evidence of salvation. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples. If you have the biggest building
in town, no sir. If you have the soundest theology,
no sir. If you have the best choir and
music, no sir. Ah, this shall all men know you,
my disciples, if you have the best preacher, no sir, if you
love one another. That's the way men tell it. And
I can tell you this, it's the way men tell you're not the disciple
of Christ, when you don't love one another. It's glaring. Love is a glaring evidence of
faith. The absence of it is a glaring
evidence of the gall of bitterness. It's the fruit of the indwelling
Spirit. He says the fruit of the Spirit is. He gives nine
gifts, or nine fruit, or evidences, or manifestations of fruit. The
fruit of the Spirit is, number one, love. The love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Love is the
crowning grace. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
13. This is where we're going to
dwell for a little while. 1 Corinthians 13. Love is the
commandment of Christ. I'm talking about not a profession,
not a claim. I'm talking about experience,
a genuine heart experience, love for God, love for Christ, love
for the Spirit of God, and a genuine experience of love for one another. It's the commandment of Christ,
it's the evidence of salvation, it's the fruit of the Spirit,
it's the crowning grace. Look at verse 13. 1 Corinthians 13
says, verse 13, "...and now abideth faith, hope, and love." These
three, but what is the greatest? L-O-V-E. The absence of love, to me, is
the great absence. It's the fatal mistake. It is
so essential that if we have everything else and do not have
love, it profits us nothing. That's what he said. Look back
at verse 1. Though I speak in verse 12, he's been talking about
the gifts. See, this church at Corinth was
a proud church. They were a mighty church. They
had a good foundation. Paul laid a good foundation.
Paul was the wise master builder who came there and preached for
18 months. He laid a good foundation. That foundation was Christ, the
gospel, redemption of the globe. He laid a foundation. It was
a mighty church. It was a church known everywhere.
It was a church with gifts and graces. And here in verse, chapter
12, he talks about these gifts of healing and tongues and prophecy
and all these things. But then in verse 13, read verse
31 of chapter 12. Covet the best gifts. Covet the
best gifts. Covet the best thing that God
can give you. But, I'll show you something
better. I'll show you something better
than orthodoxy, I'll show you something better than the gift
of healing, I'll show you something better than the gift of tongues,
I'll show you something better than any other gift because you
can have all the rest of them and you don't have this, you're
nothing. You're headed for destruction, you're headed for devastation,
you're headed for disintegration. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels." Verse 1, chapter 13. I may have this
gift, but if I don't have love, I'm a sounding brass and a tinkling
cymbal and I won't tinkle long. That's exactly right. God just
put up with tinkling cymbals so long. God just put up with
sounding brass so long. And though I have the gift of
prophecy, I understand the mysteries, I can tell you all about the
millennium and the advents and events and the tribulation, I
have all knowledge, I have faith so that I can remove mountains
and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow my goods
to feed the poor, I'm benevolent, I'm charitable, I want people
to have good things. And I'm a martyr, I'll give my
body to be burned for my doctrine. I'll stand till I die for God's
free grace. And don't have love, it'll profit
me nothing. They might as well burn the garbage
can as when they burned me. Because nothing else is accomplished.
Mr. Spurgeon said, true love is not
fancy virtue. to which certain spiritual saints
attain, true love is the common, everyday character of a Christian. Then there aren't many Christians,
exactly. That's exactly what I'm saying.
True love is not the fancy virtue to which certain special saints
attain, it's the common, everyday character of a Christian. He
that loveth not knoweth not God. And we all are admirers of Mr.
Spurgeon, the Prince of Peak Preachers. I want to read you
a statement he made in volume 27 of MTP, page 497. True love is not the prerogative
of a few. It's the possession of every
child of God. Do not look upon love as a lofty
model you can't reach. You must reach it. And this love is not a thing
greatly desirable, it's a thing absolutely essential. He that
loveth not knoweth not God. That's strong, isn't it? That
he's not through. If you excel in every gift and
have not love, it'll profit you nothing whatsoever. I pray that
this shall be understood by all of us at the very beginning,
lest we should slip away from the truth taught us by the Holy
Ghost and try to excuse ourselves from the grace of love with the
notion it's too high a virtue, we're too feeble, we can't attain
it, nor can we be expected to attain it. We must love or we
cannot enter into eternal life. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. That's how strong it is. And
1 Corinthians 13 is the definition. It's the properties of love,
the characteristics of love, the nature of love. 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, in the first three verses, he said, I may have all
these other things. And men, if you ask God for one
gift this morning, One gift. Some of us would ask for power,
influence. Some of us would ask for the
gift of tongues. Imagine being able to go to France
or Spain or Africa and just preach the gospel. Woo! I'd like that.
Wisdom, intelligence, faith so you could pray for the sick and
they'd be healed, mountains and they'd be moved. Wouldn't that
be something? pray for wealth that I might distribute it to
the poor everywhere. I may have all that, but if I
don't have this, L-O-V-E, I am nothing, it profits me nothing,
and I'm a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. And here's
what it is, verse four. Love suffers long. What does
that mean, preacher? It means it endures long and
is patient. Love is patient. Now, I'm preaching
to me. I need this as much as anybody
here. I must have it. It's not a fancy virtue, as Spurgeon
said. It's not a thing greatly desirable. This love for God and love for
Christ and love for his people is essential. In other words,
love makes a man patient and long-suffering with others. It
means being slow to anger. It means being slow to be offended. Turn to James. I want you to
trace a few scriptures now with me. Just take your Bible. I'll
give you time to find them. Because this is so vital. This
is so essential. This is where we'll be destroyed
if we destroy it. This is where it'll happen. So
we need to be forewarned. James 1 verse 19. 2 Timothy 2, verse 24. 2 Timothy 2, verse 24. Love is patient. It's long-suffering. God is long-suffering to us.
2 Timothy 2, verse 24. Listen to this. The servant of
the Lord must not strive. He must be gentle unto all men,
apt to teach, patient Romans 12. Let me read this to you. Romans chapter 12, verse 19 and
20. Romans 12, 19 and 20. Listen.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. It is written, I, vengeance is
mine, I'll repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. Let's try another
in 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, verse 22 and 23. Let's talk about our Master. In 1 Peter 2, verse 21 says,
Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example. Verse 22, he did
no sin. Now verse 23, when he was reviled
and persecuted and hated and spit upon, he didn't turn and
give them the same thing. He reviled not again. Our Lord
gave an illustration over here in Matthew 18. I want you to
turn over there a moment because I want you to see a word. This
is, I'm taking the word, patient. Love is patient. It endures. It's long-suffering with others. And here in Matthew 18, our Lord
gave the illustration of the man who owed the great debt.
You remember? Down here in verse 26. And he called him. Back here, yeah, in verse 26.
And the servant therefore fell down and said, worshipped him
and said, Lord, have patience with me. Have patience with me.
Be patient, be long-suffering. In verse 27, the Lord of that
servant was moved with compassion and forgave him. He was patient
with him. Verse 28, that same servant went out and found one
of his fellow servants, which owed him a small debt. He laid
hands on him and took him by the throat and said, You're going
to pay up. And his fellow servant, now here's
the same scene, fell down at his feet and saw him saying,
Have patience with me. And he would not. And he would
not. That's what I'm saying. 1 Corinthians
13 again. That's what love, the love of
God is long-suffering and patient. God is so tender with us, so
patient with us, so long-suffering, endures our foolishness and failures,
folly. And we're so ready, so quick
to judge, so quick to cut me in half, so quick to fall out.
so quick to separate from our company? Love is patience. Secondly, love is what? Love
is kind. The word is tender, compassionate,
ready to do good. Love produces in a person a desire
to be kind to others, considerate. Ephesians 4.32 says, Be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, forgiveth you. Kindness, goodness, is the
goodness of God that led us to repentance. We tasted that the
Lord is gracious. We're taught to be merciful as
our Father is merciful. Kind, tender, gentle, compassionate. Turn to James chapter 3. I heard
somebody say one time, and I wish I could put this in practice
all the time. I tell you, we have so much flesh
to contend with, but we need to be reminded constantly of
it. Someone said to me one time that whatever you say, especially
about another person, you ought to put it through three doors
before you say it. The first door is this, is it
true? Do you know it's so? Do you know that's so? If you
were called upon to prove that it's so, could you prove it?
And secondly, is it necessary for you to say it? Is it absolutely
necessary? Say it is true. Is it necessary
for you to say it? And thirdly, is it kind? Ah, is it kind? James 3, verse
5, the tongue is a little member. It boasteth great things. Oh,
my soul, how great a matter a little fire can kindle. And the tongue
is a fire, it's a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members,
it will defile the whole body. It's not talking about our body,
it's talking about the body of Christ. One tongue can destroy one church. or two or three, set on fire
with hail. Love is kind. And then 1 Corinthians
13 again. Love does not envy. It's never
envious. Here's what the Amplified says.
It says in verse 4, 1 Corinthians 13, love suffers long, that is,
endures with patience. It's kind. It doesn't boil over
with jealousy. Nothing is more adverse to love
than envy. Did you know that? It does not
envy. This was a case of Joseph's brethren.
Joseph came out there in the field. His father had given him
a coat. Joseph was a special child, no question about that.
Special in the favor of the Heavenly Father and special in the favor
of his earthly father. There was no question about it.
David was a special child. John the Baptist was a special
child. Our Lord said there wasn't one born of woman like him. But
he came out there and his brothers were envious. Oh, eaten up with
envy. And they justified themselves
in setting him into slavery. His brother bought a sacrifice.
God was pleased with it. God was not pleased with Kings.
What happened? He burned up with envy. That's
what Jews said. Envy consumed him. And he destroyed
his brother. And it was born of envy. It was
born of jealousy. And he set out to destroy him,
and he murdered him out of envy. It says the Pharisees were moved
with envy against Paul when they saw the crowds that had come
to hear him pray. Turn to James again, let me show you what James
says about envy. In James chapter 3, in James the third chapter, he
calls it this, verse 14. If you have bitter envying, bitter,
and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the
truth. Where love prevails, envy just
cannot live. And then fourthly, let's look
back to 1 Corinthians 13. Love does not envy, and it vaunteth
not itself. It's not puffed up. In other
words, fourthly, love is not conceited. Love is not proud
and arrogant. What do we have to be proud of?
What on earth? Here, Jay and I are the leaders
at least in title here, what do we have to be proud of?
I don't know of anything we have to be proud of. I don't know
of anything anybody out there has to be proud of. I don't save my
life. What do we have to be conceited about? He says, who makes you
to differ? What you have, God gave you.
What have you got to be proud about and lord it over God's
people? Who maketh you to differ? Lord, I thank you I'm not like
other men. I thank you I'm more beautiful
than other women. I'm more talented than other
men. I've got more smarts. I've got more intellect. You're
a fool is what you are. I am what I am by the grace of
God. I don't have anything to be proud of. Love's not arrogant. Turn to Romans 12. Romans 12, verse 10. My friends,
the great business of the truth is to reveal two things to me.
The great business of the truth is to reveal two things to me,
my own sinfulness and the undeserved goodness of God in Christ. If
you can learn those two things, if I can learn them, my own sinfulness,
my own inability, my own wretchedness, and the goodness of God in Christ
that's revealed to me by his mercy in his divine purpose.
If I can learn those two things, I'll learn what truth has set
out to reveal and what sets a man free, free from pride and self-righteousness
and arrogance. Romans 12.10 says this, be kindly
affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honor of preferring
one another. Pride and self-esteem, contrary
to love. And then fifthly, love, it says
here, does not behave itself unseemly. See that 1 Corinthians
13 verse 5? Does not behave itself unseemly. In other words, love is never
rude and unmannerly. Now pride, pride begets rudeness. When people are rude, that's
pride. When we're rude. Self-righteousness begets rudeness. Conceit begets rudeness. There's
none so timid and humble as a dirty, ragged beggar who's without support,
food, or clothing." Now, he's pretty humble, and he's pretty
polite. He puts his hat in his hand,
and he comes to the door, and he knocks, and he says, yes,
could you maybe give me something to eat? I'd just be much obliged
if you'd give me something to eat. There's no arrogance, there's
no rudeness, there's no unmannerly conduct, but now let that beggar
get him an inheritance and drive up in his Cadillac and his brand
new suit and his hair all slicked and shiny, and I doubt if he'll
even come to your door, because he's above you now. He's somebody. And he'll be rude and arrogant
and unmannerly. Hmm? He's proud now. See, pride begets rudeness, conceit
begets rudeness, self-righteousness begets rudeness. And then in the sixth place,
it says, Love seeketh not her own. Seeketh not her own. Love does not insist on its own
rights. I need to learn this as a pastor. Love does not seek its own rights,
its own way, its own will. Turn to Philippians 2. We all
need to learn this. I'm going to have my way or I'm
going to quit. If I insist on my rights, I insist
on my way, I insist on being treated with respect, I insist
on being heard, I insist on things going my way, I'll quit. That's not love. Philippians
2 verse 3 says, Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better
than themselves. Not equal to us. better than
themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man on the things of others. Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Jesus Christ, who being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took on himself the form of a
servant, and became obedient unto death, even crucifixion." Even crucifixion. Go back to 1 Corinthians 13.
Love does not seek its own. It's not clamoring after its
own success and popularity and rights and will and way. And then it says love is not
easily provoked. You see that in verse 5? It's
not touchy, resentful. Now, I know it's difficult to
abstain from all anger and resentment when accusations are hurled at
you, implications, criticism is leveled. It's hard not to
get angry. It's hard not to get upset and resented. It's difficult
to abstain from being provoked when you put forth every effort
to do the best you can And you're still criticized, and you're
not appreciated, and you just, you just, that resentment, that
irritation and anger boils up in your heart. But it's got to
be suppressed. For true love takes into account
human nature, and human flesh, and human failure, and overlooks
human hurt. There's something greater. Joseph
said to his brethren, these men put Joseph through some hard
times. besides being in a pit, and besides
being in a prison, and besides being a slave, and all these
other things, years because of these fellas, but finally wound
up on the throne, and here they are in front of him now, and
it's time to get even. Now you got him, Joseph, right
where you want him. And you know what he said to
him? You meant it for evil. What you did, yes, you meant
to hurt me. You meant it for evil. God meant
it for good. God meant it to put me where
he wanted me. You meant it to put me in prison,
to put me out of business. You meant it to destroy me. That's what you meant to do.
Brethren, they meant to destroy him. They would have destroyed
him. One of them talked him out of it. But he said God meant
it for good. So we must not allow ourselves
to be provoked and touchy and resentful. Because even in the
hardest time, God means it for his glory and our good. And he'll
work it out for our good. Then it says, love thinketh no
evil. What does that mean? The best
answer I've found is this. To think evil of another is to
reckon or impute evil to them. That's what we're doing. It's
to impute evil to that person. To think it is to impute it,
to charge it, to reckon it to that person. In other words,
love doesn't carry a suspicious nature. Not true love. But rather true love interprets
actions and words by a rule of grace. Somebody said love doesn't
pay attention to words spoken in haste, or words spoken under
pressure, even to appearance, because love thinketh no evil.
It thinks the best. It doesn't impute or reckon to
that person. Love doesn't carry a suspicious
nature. Turn to Luke chapter 6. Luke
the 6th chapter. And you know, I got to thinking
while I was... Every one of us here, we human beings, we love our children.
and our grandchildren. Wish we loved everybody like
we love them, don't you? Well, we ought to. We ought to. We love our children. We're not suspicious of them,
our grandchildren. We don't care suspicious nature.
We don't carry an axe hanging over their heads constantly to
destroy them. We correct them. We discipline
so, but we love them. In chapter 6 of Luke says, verse
31, As you would that men should do to you, do that to them. If that's... You speak of me
like you want me to speak of you. You deal with me as you
want me to deal with you. That's what he's saying. I deal
with you as I want you to deal with me. If you love them that
love you, verse 32, and most of us do, we love our families
and close friends. Well, what's that? So what? Sinners do that. Sinners love
them that love them. Rebels love them that love them.
If you do good to them, what's do good to you? You give me a
present, I'll give you one. Well, so what? You haven't done
anything. Everybody does that. You lend
to people from whom you hope to receive something in return.
Little interest thrown in? You haven't done anything. That's
what the bank's in business for. But I say unto you, verse 35,
love you your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing
again. And your reward will be great,
and more than that, you'll be the children of the Heavenly
Father. Hmm? You're like your daddy. If you're
not like your daddy, then he didn't begot you. That's what
he's saying to me. If you don't show some evidence
that you're begotten of God, you'll favor him a little. Not
perfectly. Not perfectly, but you'll resemble
him. It'll leak out on your rock, he used to say. And then let's
go back to 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 6. Love does not rejoice
in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Now listen to me.
This got hold of me. Nothing is more conferred to
love than to take pleasure in and rejoice in somebody's failure
or somebody's fault. You know when they came as Saul,
King Saul, was David's different. He threw a javelin at him one
time and tried to kill him. He tried to discredit him. He
tried to murder him. He sent him out in exile. David
lived like a mountain goat on account of Saul for so long.
And you know, if you read 2 Samuel 1, 11, and 12, they came and
told David that Saul was dead, and he wept like a baby. He rent
his clothes. He put on sackcloth and ashes
and cried and cried and cried. and said, oh, how the mighty
are fallen. I wish I could cry over the misfortune
of my enemies. Nothing is more contrary to love
than to take pleasure in and rejoice. The only reason anybody
ever repeats an insinuation or a slander against another person
is because they're glad it happened, they hope it did. You know what
somebody said? What a man really is, he wishes
others to be. If he's a good man, he wants
others to be good. And he delights in goodness.
If he's an evil man, he delights in evil. He's glad. Job said, I do not rejoice at
the destruction of my enemies. I do not rejoice at the destruction
of them that hate me. Even Job said that under Old
Testament dispensation. What a man really is. That's
what he wants others to be. If he delights in evil, if he
is evil, he'll delight in evil. He delights in evil tales. He
delights in evil reports. He delights in these things.
But if he is a man of godliness and a man of compassion, then
he delights in that. That's what he delights in. And
evil tidings upset him. upset him. And then he says,
love doesn't rejoice in iniquity. Verse 7, love beareth all things. Beareth all things. Now you,
most of you here have concordances. When you get home, look up this
Greek word. No problem. Look it up. It's there. I looked
it up. You can look it up just like
I did. You know what the word means? It means this, love covers with
silence all things. That's it. Look it up. I challenge
you. Love beareth all, it covers with
silence all. Let me show you some scripture
on that. Turn to Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs
the 10th chapter, verse 12. Proverbs 10, 12. Listen. You
with me? Proverbs 10, 12. Hatred stirreth
up strife. Love does what? Covers all sins. Proverbs 11, 13, a tale-bearer
revealeth secrets. He that is of a faithful spirit,
what's he do? Concealeth the matter. Proverbs
17, verse 9, he that covereth a transgression a failure, a
fault, seeketh love. But he that repeateth a matter
separateth very friends." Now, we're going to meet with failure
and wrong in the choice of God's people, in the Abrahams and in
the Lots and in the Davids. in the Simon Peters. I read about
Paul. Turn over to Acts 15, if you
will, a moment. I looked at this the other day,
just sat and looked at it so long, and here was Paul and Barnabas. They were brethren. They were
two buddies. They were ministers together
in the gospel. Verse 37 of Acts 15 said, Barnabas
determined to take on the next missionary journey John Mark.
Verse 38, Paul, you've got Acts 15, 38, Paul thought it not good
to take John Mark with him. John Mark had left them when
they were somewhere else and went not with them to work. And
verse 39, and the contention was so sharp between Paul and
Barnabas that they departed asunder one from the other. Isn't that
sad? So here's what I'm saying. The
fellow sitting next to you there, don't expect perfection out of
him. Paul couldn't produce it. Even Paul couldn't produce it.
So love covers. We'll meet with failure and faults
in all of God's children And they'll need us to cover for
them with love, because we need them to cover for us. And 1 Corinthians
13, listen to this, it beareth all things, and verse 7, the
second line says, it believes all things. It believes the best,
wants to believe the best. Tell you this, it's better to
think the best of a brother and be deceived than to believe the
worst and destroy the fellowship. It believes the best. I've got
to hurry. Love hopeth all things. Somebody
said what love can't believe, it'll hope for. What love can't
see, it'll hope for. And love endureth all things. It never fails. What am I saying? I'm saying if love is now present,
watch this now. If love is now present, it'll
always be present. And this lends more credit to
what Spurgeon said at the beginning, that this true love is not a
prerogative. It's a possession of God's children.
It's not some fancy virtue that we hope to attain. It's a virtue
we must to some degree exhibit. It's essential to saving faith.
You see, if love is now present, it'll always be present. It never
ceases in this life nor in the life to come. Not if it's the
love of God. That's the reason John made this
statement. He said, they went out from us.
They never were of us. Wait a minute now, John. They
were members. They belonged. They attended. Oh, no. He said
they never were of us. If they had been of us, they'd
still be with us. That's what he says. He said
they never loved. If they had loved, they'd still
love. That's right. Men die, but the love of Christ's
eternal. And it's the love of Christ that's
shed abroad in our heart. Christ can't die. Jay, you can't
stop loving me because Christ can't die. If you ever cease
to love God's children, you never did love them. If you ever cease
to love Christ, you never did love Him. If you ever cease to
love His Word, you never did love Him. That's just so, and
we can make all the professions of faith we want to, we can claim
to believe Christ died, buried, and rose again. I'm going to
preach on that tonight. It's not Christ on the cross
who saves. or rather hope of glory. He saved us. It's not
Christ on the cross that's my hope of glory. It's Christ in
me. Isn't that right? I believe Christ is on the throne,
but he's on the throne whether I believe it or not. And it's
not Christ on the throne who's my hope of glory. It's Christ
in me who's the hope of glory, the Christ of the throne, the
Christ of the cross. You see what I'm saying? And
that's true of this. And here's what I'm saying is
this. And it's not only a love for
Christ, but it's that principle of love that his presence begets.
It's the principle of love which his presence begets. And this
is what I'm saying to you also, that the love in the Spirit differs
from ordinary human love. It just does. I can't explain
that. Everybody here who has it knows what I'm talking about,
and those who don't, it's a mystery. But it's so, the love in the
Spirit differs from what we call ordinary human love. This is
a love that's begotten of God, it's the gift of God, it's the
fruit of the Spirit, it's the presence of God, it's something
that the law can't produce, that commandments can't produce, that
preachers can't produce, that religion can't produce, that's
produced by a new birth. And it's the evidence of salvation.
Lord, we all look up to Thee. as one flock and one family.
May all discord between us cease, as we love thee, the Prince of
Peace. Make us, Lord, of one heart and mind, gentle, meek,
forgiving, and kind, lowly both in thought and word, like thyself,
our beloved Lord. Let us for each other care, each
the other's burdens bear. Each to each by love endeared,
one in faith, one in hope, one in fear. Free from all that men
divide, let us thus in thee abide. and all the depths of love express,
and all the heights of your holiness." Holiness begins with love, that's
where it starts, and it ends with love. Love for God and love
for one another.