I want you to open your Bibles
first to the book of Hebrews, chapter 2. Our Lord died on the
cross to redeem us by his precious blood. He was buried and rose
again, our justifier, and he ascended to the right hand of
the Heavenly Father where he ever lives to make an accession
for us. And before he went back to the
Father, he gathered his disciples about him, and he told them to
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be
damned. And as these men went out to preach, they went with
the Old Testament scriptures. The New Testament had not been
written. But they went forth to preach the gospel of Christ
to people who were taught, raised, schooled in Old Testament types,
shadows and pictures. And the Lord gave these apostles,
he gave these disciples and their friends, these early elders in
the church and these leaders, he gave them some great and marvelous
and unusual gifts. and miracles, gifts of healing,
the ability to speak the gospel in other languages, to discern
spirits. You remember Simon Micah wanted
to buy the power to lay hands on people that they might receive
the Holy Ghost, and Peter discerned his evil heart. He said, you
have a heart of bitterness, you're in the gall of bitterness, you
don't know God. God gave these men discernment, interpretation
of the will of God. Paul was able to say, this is
the will of God for you. And he gave them these special
gifts. Look at Hebrews chapter 2, verse
3. He gave them as signs and witnesses,
signs and wonders and miracles, as a witness that they were his
servants, that they were speaking for God. Because these men themselves
later were used of God to write the New Testament, the scriptures
from which I'm reading right now, and from which I'll preach
my entire message, the scriptures that they wrote themselves. But
until they wrote them, he gave them these gifts. Now look at
Hebrews 2, verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the
Lord, the Lord himself? and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him, these apostles. God, listen to verse 4, God also
bearing them witness. They were witnesses of his and
he was witnesses of them. He was a witness of them. He
bore them witness with signs and wonders and different miracles
and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his will. And these signs
and wonders and miracles were done by the hands of these apostles. But they're not needed today.
They're not needed at all today. We have only to preach his word.
Now, God still heals, and God still sends men to other countries
to preach the gospel, but these men learn the language. And they
go forth not to preach themselves, demonstrate and promote themselves.
They go to preach the gospel. in the language of the people.
And the truest evidence that a man speaks for God is not that
he can heal the sick or speak in another language. The truest
evidence today that a man speaks for God is that he preaches the
Word of God, preaches the truth of God, the Word of God, and
that he seeks God's glory and the good of his heavers, and
he feeds them. the blessed children's bread,
the word of God. Turn to 2 Timothy 4. This is
what Paul said to the young preacher, Timothy. To the young preacher,
Timothy. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse
1. Listen to Paul, speaking to young
Timothy. He says, Timothy, I charge you,
therefore before God, And the Lord Jesus, who shall judge the
living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom, preached the
word. Be instant, in season, out of
season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
shall not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they'll
turn away their ears from the truth and be turned to fables.
So what's our calling? preach the word. What's the evidence
we're called? Preach the word. The blessings
of God are upon us when we preach the word. He said, my word will
not return unto me void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I've sent it. Now to my text, 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. Turn back to the scripture I
read. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
but before you turn there, Turn to 1 Corinthians 14, just for
a moment. 1 Corinthians 14. Here's something that Paul wrote
to the church after he dealt with this business of other tongues
and languages. In 1 Corinthians 14, verse 21,
Paul said, In the law, in the scriptures, the Old Testament,
it's written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I
speak to this people. And yet for all that, All these
gifts and healings and tongues, they'll not hear me, saith the
Lord. Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, but not to them that
believe. Tongues never did bring a man
to hear the Word of God. The Holy Spirit has to teach
the way. Tongues never did bring a man to Christ. It's the Word
of God that brings a man to Christ. So tongues are for a sign, but
not to believers. but to those who do not believe.
But prophesying, preaching, serveth not to them that believe not."
They don't pay attention to preaching. But for them that believe, they
love preaching. You see that? These signs and
wonders and miracles were credentials for these men that went out to
preach to a hostile world, a world that hated Christ, crucified
Him. didn't believe he was the Messiah. He was in the world and the world
didn't know it. He came to his own Jewish nation. They didn't
receive him. And these men went out to preach Christ, who was
despised and rejected of men. And God gave them special powers
and gifts and wonders and miracles, signs, credentials. No man could
do these miracles except God be with him. But when the Word
is completed, we don't need the miracles, because the miracles
never saved anybody. It's the Word of God. The miracles
were done to make them shut their mouths and listen to the Word.
In other words, when Paul picked up that piece of wood out of
the fire, and there was a coral snake on it, the most deadly
snake known, and he clamped onto Paul's hand, and Paul shook him
off, and all these heathens around there waited for him to drop
dead, and he didn't drop dead. And they shut their mouths and
listened to him. They said, is a God that they listen to. And that's why God gave these
miracles, so that somebody will stop and listen. But nowadays,
the miracles wouldn't do anything but glorify the one who did them.
So God says, preach my word. Preach my word. And anyway, here
in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about these gifts. And then down
in verse 31, he closes with this word. Verse 31, chapter 12. Covet the best gift. Covet to
preach. Covet to be a servant of God
in any way that God's pleased to use you, as a missionary or
whatever. Covet the best gift. But I'm going to show you something
better. I'm going to show you a more excellent way, something
much more important, and that is love. My friends are talking
about gifts. These gifts were given to certain
apostles and elders. Like Paul asks here, are all
apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Are all
teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles? No. Does everybody have the gift
of healing, gift of tongues? No. But love everybody has. Everybody has the love of God
and the grace of God, see. Just chosen people have certain
gifts, but everybody has such love, every believer. Secondly,
these gifts were temporary, and they were limited to the earth.
But love is forever. Now God is faith, hope, and love,
these three. But the most excellent of all
is love. Thirdly, however poor we are
in gifts, however poor we are in the gifts and talent and so
forth, we can still be rich in love. Did you know that? Did
you know the greatest man who ever lived And I'm talking about
Christ now. I'm talking about the greatest
all-human that ever lived. You know who it was? John the
Baptist. Christ said that. He said of every one born of
woman, there hadn't been one born yet as great as John the
Baptist. He never spoke in tongues. He never healed a sick man. He
never gave any miracle. He never performed one single
miracle. Greatest man who ever lived.
I'll give you a type, won't I? These things, I say something
a lot better than gifts. A lot better. And that's to love
Christ. And Christ to love you. And to
love one another. And let me say this about gifts.
They were given to certain people that everybody in the kingdom
of God loves. They were temporary, loved forever. However poor I am in gifts, I
may not be able to stand up in front of people and say anything.
But I can be rich in love. And this, gifts are not essential. They're not essential. They're not essential to maturity.
They're not essential to faith. They're not essential to salvation.
Gifts are not essential. But love is. Turn to 1 John,
chapter 4. Love is essential. Love is a possession of every
believer. Listen to 1 John, chapter 4,
verse 15. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. That's faith, isn't it? Whosoever
shall believe and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwells in him. Now look at verse 16. And we
have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love. And he who dwells in love dwells
in God, and God in him. So these are essential two things,
faith and love. If anybody believes that Jesus
is the Christ, and confesses it, God dwells in him, and he
dwells in God. And if anybody loves God, and
loves his people, and loves the gospel, God dwells in him, and
he in God. That's all I need. God dwells
in me, and I dwell in God. All right, let's go back to my
text now, 1 Corinthians chapter 13. One verse gives you the importance
of love. It's not verse 31. Paul said,
I'll show you a more excellent way. But it's verse 13, the last
verse in chapter 13. Our Lord said it's the greatest. Love is the greatest gift. And
now about is faith, hope, and love, these three. But the greatest,
the most excellent, is love. The greatest is love. Why is
love the greatest gift? Well, number one, because it's
the command of Christ. He said, this is my commandment,
that you love one another. Love is the greatest evidence
that we're saved. Our Lord said to his disciples,
by this shall everybody know you're my disciples, if you love
one another. I command you to love one another,
and this is the way everybody will know you're a believer,
you love one another. And love is the fruit of the
Spirit. Paul says in Galatians 5.22, but the fruit of the Spirit
is What's the first one? Love. Joy, faith, love. Number one. The fruit of the
Spirit is love. And love is not a pornography.
Love is not a priority. Love is not a privilege of a
few. Love is a possession of every believer. The love of God. And the love of God shed abroad
in the heart and love to God I love these people. Go back
to 1 John now. I want you to do that with me.
1 John chapter 4. Back to that scripture just before
the scripture I read a moment ago. 1 John 4. I'm saying that
love is not a prerogative. It's not just a priority. It's
not the privilege of a few more mature believers. It's a possession
of everybody who's saved. It's the evidence of faith, it's
the commandment of the Lord, and it's the possession. Look
at 1 John 4, verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. Love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God. Everyone that loveth is born
of God, and he knows God. And he that loveth not knoweth
not God. Because God is love. How can
you know God and have God dwelling in you and not have the love
of God? It's impossible. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. Because God sent his only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through him and hear in
his love. It's not that we love God, he loved us. And he sent
his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God
so loved us, We ought also to love one another. No man has
seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells
in us and his love is perfected in us. Paul has strong words
for religion without love. He has strong words. First three
verses of 1 Corinthians 13. Look at them. Strong words for
those who do not love. 1 Corinthians 13, Though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I
become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. That's strong
words, isn't it? A preacher is nothing but sounding
brass and tinkling cymbal? Nothing more nauseating than
sounding brass, the old Chinese gong, you know, especially if
you wear ear-nades, or the tinkling of a cymbal. But that's religion
without love, preaching without love. Look at the second verse.
Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries
and knowledge, I'm a theologian, and I have faith, oh, so strong
I can move mountains, and I have not love, it makes me nothing,
a nobody, and my works to be works of iniquity, nothing. And verse 3, and though I bestow
my goods to feed the poor, I tithe and give alms. That's what the
old Pharisee said, I tithe, I fast twice a week, I give alms to
the poor. And even to give my body to be
burned and have not love, it will profit me nothing. Horatius
Bonar, whom we love so much, wrote so many great hymns. Horatius
Bonar says, Religion without love is like a human body without
life. It needs to be buried out of
sight. Religion without love is like a contaminated whale. They should wear a sign, don't
drink my water. Religion without love is like
the kiss of Judas. It hides the fatal soul. Religion
without love is a form of godliness that denies the power. It's a
house built on sand. It's a branch that bears no fruit.
It's to be without Christ, without God, and without hope in this
world. And Bonar continued, So brethren,
beloved, let us love, for love is of God. In God alone love
has its true abode. Beloved, let us love, for those
who love, they are his sons born from above. Beloved, let us love,
for love is rest, and he who loveth not remains unblessed. Beloved, let us love, the love
of God is light, and he who loveth not walks in the night. Beloved, let us love, for only
thus shall we behold him who first loved us. And our Lord
said, all the law. It's fulfilled in one word. Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbor
as thyself. That's the importance of it.
Now let me give you the character of love in the next few verses.
The character of love. First of all, it says this in
verse 4. Love suffers long. Love is not
only present in the good times, but in the bad times as well.
Love says to the object of affection, I'll be there for you. I'll be
there for you. Whatever comes or goes, I'll
be there for you. You have my love and fellowship.
Doesn't matter how, or when, or where. I love you, and I'll
never stop. For God, for Christ's sake. It
suffers long. Secondly, love is kind. What
does the word kind mean? Gracious. Love is gracious. Love is tender. That's what Paul
said in Ephesians 4, Be ye kind one to another. Tenderhearted.
Forgiving one another as God, for Christ's sake, forgives you.
Love is kind. Love envieth not. You see that
word? Envy. Envy. True love does not envy. True love rejoices in the gifts
and blessings and happiness of those whom we love. You just assume they'd be elevated
and blessed and happier than yourself. Envy is another name for many
evils. Envy encompasses jealousy, covetousness. I'd rather I have it than you.
Malice. Really envy is nothing in the
world but a cover for hatred. And these are not marks of grace.
And love bonneth not itself. It doesn't promote itself. Love
is not a self-promoter. Love is a promoter of others.
Love is not puffed up. Love is not proud. That's puffed up proud. Paul
tells us, don't look on your own things. Quit talking about
yourself all the time. Look on the things of others.
Draw from them conversation about their wants and their needs and
their worth. Praise them. Encourage them.
Especially those who have the least attention. Actually, somebody
said most of us don't need any more attention. We've been ruined by all the
attention. Love doesn't bond itself. It's
not puffed up. And love doesn't behave itself,
verse 5, unseemly. You write in the margin of your
Bible, rudely. That's the word. Love is never
rude. Love is not discourteous. It's
just not rude and discourteous. Let me read you something Peter
said. Finally, brethren, be of one mind. Have compassion one
of another. Love is brethren. Be pitiful. be courteous." Christian courtesy. This world needs to see some
of that, more of it. We see plenty here, but we need
to see more. Courtesy is revealed, Christian
courtesy is revealed in daily words and daily temperament,
in the house, on the street, on the job, in the school, Everywhere,
anywhere, just plain, everyday courtesy. Love is never discourteous. And then love seeketh not her
own. True love, listen to me, I found
this, it's not mine, I found this somewhere, listen. Love
seeketh not her own. True love can enjoy nothing alone. I love the Blue Ridge Parkway.
You know that. I go up there often. But I always
have Doris with me and some other folks. One time I was up there
preaching and I thought, on my way home, I'm going to drive
the parkway. I didn't enjoy it at all. I couldn't say, look
at that. You see that? Isn't that wonderful?
I didn't. I finally got off and came home
to Shortcut. Love enjoys nothing alone. Someone said a palace alone would
be a prison. Think about it now. A palace
alone would be a prison. The person who seeks his own
happiness without the concern for the happiness of others will
never find what he seeks. It's impossible. Love seeketh
not her own. And love is not easily provoked.
It thinketh no evil. The word here provoked is offended.
Love is not easily offended. Love doesn't go around looking
for secret meanings in words that are spoken. Love does not
care about a suspicious nature that's touchy, resentful, looking
for a reason to be upset. Not love. It's not love between
parents and children and children and parents and friends and brothers
and the like. You're not resentful, you're
not touchy, you're not looking for something to be upset about,
you're not easily offended. Brother Magruder, one night somebody
said something to him, he said, I don't mean to offend you. He
said, you can't offend me. You make me mad, but you can't
offend me. Because I know what I am, so
you can't offend me. He's upset with me, but I can't
offend him. But love is not easily offended. And this love of God,
listen to this, it rejoices not in iniquity. I was with a person one time
whom I hadn't seen for many years. And we were bringing up people
we knew back yonder 30, 35 years ago, preachers, friends, churchmen.
And most everybody I'd bring up, he'd remember something they
did wrong or some fault in their life. You remember this guy? Somehow, every person I'd bring
up, he'd bring up something backyard that he knew about, nobody knew
about. That's evil. Love doesn't do that. And I let
him know in my silence. I wasn't happy about it. And
he called me later. And he said, I didn't mean to
offend you by bringing up these things. But he kept doing it. And love doesn't do that. Love
doesn't rejoice in iniquity. Love rejoices in truth. Love is never glad when somebody
goes wrong. Love does not rejoice in the
failure of others. It rejoices in the goodness of
others, in the kindness of others, in the success of others. We
don't rejoice and delight in remembering our own sins. Why
remember theirs? Does that make sense to you? I don't want you to bring up
mine, so I'm not going to bring up yours. Love does not rejoice in the
telling of, or the hearing of, past faults of others. It just
doesn't do it. Isn't enough of it? And then
look at verse 7. Four things. These are characteristics
of love. It bears all things. believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things. You know
what the word bearer means there, beareth all things? The word
is covers with silence all things. Proverbs says love covereth all
sins. Proverbs says a tale bearer reveals
secrets. He that is of a faithful spirit
concealeth a matter. Proverbs 17 says he that covereth
a transgression seeks love. He that repeats a matter separates
friends. Love bears all things. It covers
with secrecy. We do that for our children,
let's do it for everybody else. We do it for ourselves, let's
do it for everybody else. It bears all things. It believes
all things. It believes the best. Love believes
the best. Wants to. Wants to. And love hopes for a peaceful
resolution. It hopeth all things. It hopes
for a good, peaceful resolution. I hope they get back together.
I hope that this thing is resolved. I hope above all things that
for the glory of God and the good of the house this can be
resolved. Don't you? I hope. I hope. But it endures, all things. Whether it turns out good or
bad, it'll endure. Let me say that again. Love will, by all
things, cover with silence. It'll believe the best report.
It wants to. It'll hope for peaceful resolution. But regardless, it'll endure. Because, verse 8, love never
fails. This kind of love, this love
of God that's shed abroad in our hearts for the Holy Ghost,
never fails. And I'm closing with this. I've
shown you the importance of it. I've shown you the character
of it, I haven't shown you the word, it's shown us. The character
of it. Now here is the perseverance
of it. The love of God never fails. It never fails. Faith and love
in Christ will endure to the end. It'll never cease in this
life nor in the life to come. Why? It is of God. And what God
doeth is forever. That's what Solomon said. It's
the gift of God. You'll never take it back. It's
the life of God. So it'll be lived. Now then,
whether they be preaching, it'll cease. Tongues, they'll cease. Knowledge, it'll vanish away.
Someday the gift of prophecy and tongues and healing and knowledge
will vanish away because we know in part and we preach only in
part. There's so much of the divine
mysteries and knowledge of God that's totally unknown to me
and to you. But the love of Christ for Christ and by the grace of
Christ will continue. It'll be perfected and glowing.
But when that which is perfect is come," now watch the next
two verses. We know in part, we prophesy in part, verse 10.
But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part
should be done away. My imperfect knowledge. I won't
even bring it up. This struggle that I go through
trying to preach, trying to teach, trying to find the truth, trying
to tell the truth. I wish I could do that again,
you know. It'll vanish away. And our weak faith. We say, boy,
I believe Christ. Yeah, but not like I'm going
to. It'll vanish away. Our so-called
gifts and talents. Mike, you sing like a bird, but
one day you're going to really sing like a bird. One day, oh
my goodness. My goodness. Because when I was
a child, I had a yo-yo, but you don't, you see me yo-yoing and
going down the street, don't tell anybody it's me. I had a,
one of those things you push, you know, a wheel with a coat
hanger that you pushed and it rolled. But you see me going
down the street pushing that, Maybe you better stop me. When I was a child, I spoke like
a child, understood like a child, thought like a child, acted like
a child, but when I became a man, those things of no interest. And now, we see through a glass
dimly, darkly, but we do see. Boy, I'm glad of that, don't
you? We do see. We see Christ. We know Him. And
we know Him in part, but we do know. I know whom I have believed. Then I'll know as I have been
known, and now abideth faith, hope, and love," the chief graces
of God's people. They abide, they're going to
continue to abide through this life. Oh, they're weak, faith,
hope, and love on this earth. These graces, they're the essential
graces, they're the leading graces, they're the chief graces, but
as to their full exercise, I'm not familiar with, and not their
full exercise, not their full performance. I've never believed
as I want to, I've never loved as I'd like to. As to their chief
performance and their full exercise, I don't know, because I failed
so much. But that faith one day, by which
we look to Christ, believe on Him, It'll cease, because we're
going to see Him face to face. And that hope by which we wait
for the fulfillment of every promise, one day we won't even
use the word. But the greatest of these is
love. Faith will give way to sight, we'll see Him as He is.
And hope will be a word that we'll not use in glory, but love
for Christ. His glory, His kingdom, His people
is going to be perfected. Absolutely perfected. Oh, and
I pray God will bless that for me and for you.