1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,240 Well, good morning. It's good to see you guys give 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:12,560 you a chance to find your seat. As you do. 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,800 You can open your Bible to 1st Corinthians chapter 13, First 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:19,160 Corinthians 13. We're still working our way 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,160 through love through this chapter on love here. 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:27,440 So we'll be in verses 8 through 13 today, but First Corinthians 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:32,200 13, if you'll remember, if you were here last week, we studied 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:37,200 Paul's description of love and the way that he defined it 9 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:38,720 really is action. All right? 10 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,560 It was. There was a character nature to 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,920 love, if you will. And so he defines it in its 12 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,120 character or in its action and the things that it does. 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,880 He mentioned things like love is patient and kind. 14 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,360 It rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes 15 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,440 all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 16 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,640 And so there was a lot there about love and the kind of love 17 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,080 that all exists, particularly among believers, right, 18 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,360 Particularly among believers. Now, the reason this was 19 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,120 important is because the Corinthians had forgot love. 20 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:19,800 We'll look at it more today. But they were so, so convinced 21 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,880 that spiritual gifts, particularly the sign gifts or 22 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,400 the greatest examples of a maturing Christianity, right 23 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,760 that those things were to be held in high regard. 24 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,480 And so they were they they would prefer some gifts of their other 25 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,760 others. They would prefer some people 26 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,240 who held those gifts other over others. 27 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,640 And it was creating in them a real sense of pride. 28 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,120 Pride is selfishness. Pride is anti love, right. 29 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:54,920 And so now what Paul does in this chapter is he turns from 30 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:58,120 Love's character to Love's duration. 31 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:03,000 How long does love last, right? How long does love go on? 32 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,160 And so he turns from the character of love to the 33 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,000 duration of love. And what he's going to do here 34 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,520 is he's going to contrast for us love with spiritual gifts. 35 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,440 He's going to contrast them even with virtues that we would hold 36 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,520 in high regard, like faith and hope. 37 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:23,400 And what he's going to show us is that love is supreme because 38 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:26,360 it alone endures forever. It lasts forever. 39 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,880 Love never ends. OK, so First Corinthians 13/8 40 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,120 through 13. If you're able to, would you 41 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,920 please stand as we read God's Word together? 42 00:02:41,730 --> 00:02:45,010 I think what I'll do today is I'll read one through 13. 43 00:02:45,410 --> 00:02:47,850 This is a way to catch the context, in case you weren't 44 00:02:47,850 --> 00:02:51,440 here last week. If I speak in the tongues of men 45 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:56,560 and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a 46 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,160 clinging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers 47 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:04,320 and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all 48 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:09,880 faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. 49 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,720 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be 50 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,160 burned but have not love, I gain nothing. 51 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:23,080 Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. 52 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,280 It is not arrogance or rude. It does not insist on its own 53 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,720 way. It is not irritable or 54 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,560 resentful. It does not rejoice at 55 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,200 wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 56 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,320 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, 57 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,640 endures all things. Verse 8. 58 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:49,520 Love never ends As for As for prophecies, they will pass away. 59 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,360 As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass 60 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,200 away. For we know in part, we prophecy 61 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,680 in parts. But when the perfect comes, the 62 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:03,520 partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like 63 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,120 a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. 64 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,280 When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 65 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:15,760 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. 66 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,880 Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as 67 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,560 I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love 68 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,760 abide these three. But the greatest of these is 69 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,880 love. This is the word of the Lord. 70 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,160 Thanks be to God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come now to 71 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,520 1st Corinthians 13, and particularly with eight through 72 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,520 13 in mind. And we ask, Lord, that you would 73 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,760 instruct our hearts, that you would instruct our minds, that 74 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,800 you would instruct our our lives and our very souls, Lord, that 75 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,160 you would give us life through your word today. 76 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:57,960 And Father, as we examine the enduring nature of love, Father, 77 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:02,080 would you help us to be so convinced, so convinced that 78 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,280 loving the Lord God with all our heart and mind and strength and 79 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:10,320 loving our neighbor as ourself are two of the greatest things 80 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:14,640 we can give ourselves to. It's the enduring way, it's the 81 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:19,200 virtue that never expires. And Lord, as we see that today, 82 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,600 would you help us to be convinced of it, that we might 83 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:25,080 live it out? And so, Father, plant this word 84 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:27,640 deep into our heart by the power of your spirit as it's 85 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:33,120 proclaimed that it might bear fruit for generations to come. 86 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,080 We love you, Father, and we thank you for Christ our Savior. 87 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,960 We thank you for the Spirit which grants us life and 88 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:47,320 godliness, and we ask that you, Father, would instruct us today. 89 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:49,920 It's in the name of Christ we pray. 90 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:51,200 Amen. Amen. 91 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:59,840 You may be seated. You and I live in a world where 92 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:05,040 everything wears out. Everything has an expiration, if 93 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,800 you will. Your car will break down. 94 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:15,800 Batteries will run low, cutting edge technology is replaced in 5 95 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,480 minutes. It seems your bodies even are 96 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,680 wearing out right? They will give way to death. 97 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,440 Even the strongest athletes eventually retire eventually 98 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:31,880 cannot perform at the highest level any longer. 99 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,040 Everything has an expiration date. 100 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:39,760 Everything right. And the Corinthians knew this 101 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:43,480 really well. They then understood the idea of 102 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,800 exploration. Their their city was filled with 103 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:52,840 monuments to pass to glory, monuments erected for past 104 00:06:53,280 --> 00:07:01,120 victories, past, you know, even Olympic athletes and past gods 105 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,760 and and those sort of things. Monuments to pass glory. 106 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:09,240 Buildings that once shined now weather with age, right? 107 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:13,680 What buildings that once stood as great inventions of mind and 108 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,480 hand are weathered? Their harbor. 109 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:19,760 We've mentioned that there are port city. 110 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,600 Their harbor brought in treasures from across the 111 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,800 empire, but even the newest goods eventually wore outs. 112 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:31,280 They were worthless. And sadly, the church in Corinth 113 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:36,280 was acting as if even the most precious things of God were 114 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,720 disposable, acting as if these things don't matter. 115 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,040 They were boasting in their spiritual gifts. 116 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:48,080 They were dividing over which ones were most important, but 117 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:53,040 forgetting the one thing that would never expire. 118 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:58,520 Love. Love for God and love for your 119 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,360 brother and sister in the Lord. And So what Paul wants the 120 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,080 Corinthians to understand in verses 8 through 13, what he 121 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:11,600 wants us to understand is that love has no expiration dates. 122 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:17,280 Spiritual gifts, as wonderful and as necessary as their season 123 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:24,840 may be, will one day vanish. Even the central graces of faith 124 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:29,200 and hope will one day give way to something better. 125 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:35,200 But love, Paul says love will endure forever. 126 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,320 Love never ends. Why? 127 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:41,640 Why does love never ends? Well, if you remember some of 128 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,560 what we talked about last week, you make it answer that question 129 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,640 this way. Love never ends because love 130 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,320 reflects the eternal character of God himself. 131 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,800 Think about it. And eternity. 132 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:01,320 When you're present with the Lord and his people, you won't 133 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:06,880 need prophecy. God's word will be fulfilled and 134 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:08,920 eternity. You won't need tongues because 135 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,280 we will all praise with one voice before the throne. 136 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:17,280 We won't need faith because faith will become sight. 137 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:23,120 We won't need hope because every hope that we had, hope and the 138 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,160 promises of God will be fulfilled. 139 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:34,360 But love, Paul says, will never end because God himself is love, 140 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:38,520 and he has made us to dwell in his love with his love forever. 141 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,640 So the main point of today's passage is this Christian love 142 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:48,120 endures forever because it reflects the eternal character 143 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,160 of God. If you're taking notes, you may 144 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,040 want to write that down. Christian love endures forever 145 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:57,760 because it reflects the eternal character of God. 146 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,640 Paul's going to show us this in four different ways in these 147 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:05,280 verses. I'll just mention those to you 148 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,440 and then we'll walk through them and you can take notes at that 149 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,120 point. But we're going to 1st see the 150 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:14,240 permanence of love. Paul's going to show us that 151 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,760 gifts will fade, but love never ends. 152 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:19,280 We're going to see the permanence of love. 153 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,680 Then we're going to move into the progression of maturity. 154 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:29,680 The progression of maturity. Childish things pass away, but 155 00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:34,600 love leads us to grow up. Love leads us to maturity. 156 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,960 Third, we'll come to the perspective of eternity. 157 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:45,200 One of the greatest things I hope for you is that you'll have 158 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:52,640 a strong sense, a strong understanding of eternity and 159 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:57,080 that your perspective for all of life will be viewed through this 160 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:02,640 lens of eternal things. But right now, Paul's going to 161 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:06,440 show us we have a dim knowledge, but that dim knowledge is going 162 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:10,680 to give way to face to face clarity in Christ. 163 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,840 And then finally, he's going to show us the preeminence of love, 164 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:20,240 that even above faith and hope, love stands as the greatest. 165 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,840 So today we're going to walk through each of these truths, 166 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,440 and along the way we're going to see why love is the greatest 167 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,800 investment that we can make with our lives because love is the 168 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:37,200 one thing that lasts forever. First, the permanence of love. 169 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:38,880 Look at verses 8 through 10 again. 170 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,960 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will 171 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,640 pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. 172 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:52,960 As for knowledge, it will pass away, for we know in part and we 173 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:57,480 prophecy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will 174 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,080 pass away. Paul's explaining here the 175 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:05,160 permanence of love. He contrasts what is temporary 176 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:07,960 with what is permanent. Knowledge will pass away, 177 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:13,800 prophecies will pass away, tongues will cease, and when the 178 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,440 perfect comes, these partial things will pass. 179 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:21,600 You see the Corinthians exalted spiritual gifts, especially 180 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:27,840 those quote UN quote spectacular ones, but Paul says they all 181 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:32,240 have a built in expiration date. Again, prophecies will pass 182 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,560 away, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass away. 183 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:39,680 These gifts, if you think about building a building right, these 184 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,080 gifts would be like scaffolding on your building project. 185 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,800 The scaffolding is necessary for a time, but once the building is 186 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:53,160 complete, they're removed. Love, however, never fails. 187 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,800 Love is a part of the foundation of the structure. 188 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,760 When Paul says love never ends, that phrase means it never 189 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,720 fails. It never falls over, it never 190 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:08,560 topples. It never collapses. 191 00:13:08,560 --> 00:13:12,360 It never becomes obsolete. Love never ends. 192 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,800 It is a love that endures into eternity because it's grounded 193 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:21,800 in our eternal God and our eternal God never changes. 194 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:28,800 In Malachi 3 verse 6, the Lord reveals something about his 195 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:34,800 nature, about his character. He says, for I, the Lord do not 196 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:41,760 change, I do not change. In first John 48 we read anyone 197 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:47,480 who does not love does not know God because God is love. 198 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,040 So love outlast all failures if you will. 199 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,440 Paul strengthens the point on the permanence of love by 200 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,640 comparing it to the spiritual gifts that the Corinthians 201 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:02,600 highly prized, prophecy and knowledge and languages or 202 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,480 tongues, all of which he says will come to an end. 203 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:13,040 Now in the text there may be a distinction being made here on 204 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:17,000 how prophecy and knowledge come to an end and how the gift of 205 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:21,760 languages comes to an end. It's indicated by two different 206 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,720 Greek verbs being used. In the case of prophecy and 207 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:29,400 knowledge, they are both said to pass away, or in other words, 208 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:34,600 they are to be abolished. In both cases, the verb 209 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,040 indicates that something will put an end to those two 210 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,440 functions. Verses 9 through 10 indicate 211 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:46,440 that what will abolish knowledge and prophecy is that which is 212 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,680 perfect. When that occurs, those gifts 213 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:54,160 will be rendered inoperative, will no longer be needed. 214 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,160 The perfect in verse 10 does not refer to the closing of the 215 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:02,520 Canon of Scripture, but to the consummation of Christ's 216 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,560 Kingdom, the Scripture. The Scriptures do not allow us 217 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:11,920 to see yet face to face or have perfect knowledge as God does 218 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,240 now. The perfect must be the eternal 219 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:20,320 state when we see in glory God face to face and have a full 220 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:23,320 knowledge in the eternal new heavens and the new earth. 221 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,800 Just as a child grows to full understanding, believers will 222 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,480 come to perfect knowledge and no such gifts will be necessary. 223 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,440 Now, let me pause and clarify something for a moment, because 224 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,840 this might sound different than something I said a couple of 225 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:42,440 weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago, I said 226 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,520 that the perfect referred to the Canon of Scripture. 227 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:51,120 However, as I've studied this more carefully and I've as I've 228 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,680 examined the great teachers throughout church history, such 229 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:59,400 as and, and just walking from kind of beginning of those those 230 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,480 men to most recent. As you look at the teachings of 231 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:07,360 Saint Augustine or John Chrysostom or John Calvin or 232 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,040 Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards or Matthew Henry or Charles 233 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,880 Spurgeon or RC sprawl or John MacArthur. 234 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,520 What I found is that Paul's words here clearly points to the 235 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:22,120 return of Christ. Paul explains this in verse 12 236 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,520 when he says, then you will see face to face or then we shall 237 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:29,400 see face to face. Now that cannot be reduced to 238 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:35,360 possessing a complete Bible. It points to seeing Christ in 239 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,920 glory, as Revelation 22 Four says they will see His face and 240 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:43,840 His name will be on their foreheads first. 241 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,160 John 32. We read there from John, 242 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:50,840 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not 243 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,120 yet appeared. But what we know what I'm sorry, 244 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:59,000 but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him because we 245 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:04,640 shall see Him as He is. So the point is this that Paul 246 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,880 is making in, for and in these verses. 247 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:12,560 Gifts are temporary, but love is eternal, because love alone 248 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:17,960 carries over into eternity, when we will see Christ Himself. 249 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,119 Saint Augustine said this. He said love will last forever. 250 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:27,680 For when we see him face to face, what we need, sorry, What 251 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,000 need will there be of faith? What need of hope? 252 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:35,760 Love, having begun here, will be perfected there. 253 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,280 Amen. So knowledge and prophecy will 254 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,000 pass away at the consummation of the Kingdom of God. 255 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,960 But languages or tongues get a different Greek verb when he 256 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:51,440 says they will cease. Paul teaches that tongues will 257 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:56,920 cease by themselves, as it did at the end of the Apostolic age. 258 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:00,960 It will not end by the coming of the perfect, for it will have 259 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:05,360 already ceased. The uniqueness of gift language, 260 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:08,600 the gift of languages, the uniqueness of their 261 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:13,840 interpretation, was, as all sign gifts, meant to authenticate the 262 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,720 message and the messages of the gospel before the New Testament 263 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,520 was completed. Hebrews 2, Three through 4 we 264 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:23,880 read this. How shall we escape if we 265 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:27,640 neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the 266 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:31,720 Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God 267 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:35,800 also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, 268 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:40,040 and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His 269 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:44,200 will. Tongues is also limited by being 270 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:49,120 a judicial sign of Israel's judgment from God. 271 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,280 Tongues were also not a sign to believers, but unbelievers, 272 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,560 specifically unbelieving Jews. 1st Corinthians 14. 273 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,240 We'll get into this in the coming weeks, but Paul writes 274 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,880 there. Thus, tongues are a sign not for 275 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,560 believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for 276 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:12,160 believers but for believers. Tongues also ceased because 277 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,600 there was no longer a need to verify the true messengers of 278 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:17,800 God. Once the Scriptures were given, 279 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:20,520 it became the standard. The Scriptures became the 280 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:26,440 standard by which all teachers are to be tested as either true 281 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,200 or false. Tongues was a means of 282 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:34,960 edification, but it was a means of edification in a far inferior 283 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:39,880 way to preaching and teaching. In fact, chapter 14 in First 284 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:43,440 Corinthians is designed to show the Corinthians who were so 285 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:47,960 preoccupied with tongues that it was an inferior means of 286 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,200 communication, it was an inferior means of praise. 287 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,760 It was an inferior means of evangelism. 288 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:59,520 Paul says there that prophecy was and is far superior. 289 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,960 Another reason that tongues have ceased should be clear from 290 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,680 their absence from any other books in the New Testament 291 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,120 except Acts. Tongues ceased to be an issued 292 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:14,760 of record or practice in the early church as the scripture 293 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:20,800 was being written. Tongues is also another sign of 294 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,760 it ceasing to us. That should be clear. 295 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:25,480 Is its absence through church history? 296 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:30,120 Since the 1st century? It appears only sporadically, 297 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,840 and then it only appears in questionable groups. 298 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,440 We're going to see these truths about tongues more clearly in 299 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,320 chapter 14, but it's worth mentioning here because Paul 300 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,400 says they will cease and he uses a different Greek verb rather 301 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,720 than saying they will pass away or be abolished at the point of 302 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:53,280 the text, Chapter 14, we'll get more into prophecy in tongues. 303 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,520 The point of the text today is that love never ends. 304 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,960 And so it demands our highest pursuits, demands our highest 305 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:02,840 pursuits. So again, you think of 306 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:05,400 scaffolding around a cathedral, right? 307 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:07,640 It's necessary while the work is in progress. 308 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,200 But when the cathedral is finished, the scaffolding is 309 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:16,080 removed, it's taken down. The church is God's cathedral. 310 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,680 It's God's temple, if you will, and the gifts are like 311 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,640 scaffolding. But love is a part of the very 312 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:26,080 building itself, and it will remain even when the work is 313 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,240 complete. This means we must not cling the 314 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:34,200 gifts as if they are ultimate. All right, all of you have a 315 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,920 spiritual gift. And the warning here is that we 316 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:41,280 not cling to the gift as is. It's as if it's the ultimate 317 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,400 thing in our lives, all right. Spiritual gift is a tool meant 318 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,440 to be used for the glory of God and the good of your brother and 319 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,960 sister in the Lord. How can it be used for the glory 320 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,000 of God and the good of your brother and sister and the Lord 321 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:59,240 if it's not used in love, A love for God and a love for his 322 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,520 people? All right, so gifts are 323 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,960 temporary, but love is eternal. And so when we read that, we 324 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:11,000 have to ask ourselves this, do I prize experiences? 325 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:20,640 Do I prize knowledge? Do I prize my abilities more 326 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:24,640 than love? Like when our lives are over, 327 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,720 what will matter most is not the measure of our talents, but the 328 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,920 measure of our love. What will matter most is how 329 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:36,480 much do I love God? How much do I love his people? 330 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,000 And if love is permanent while gifts are temporary, then we 331 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:46,000 must also learn to grow up into love because love marks true 332 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,200 maturity. Which brings us to our next 333 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,600 point in verse 11, the progression of maturity. 334 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,960 Verse 11. When I was a child, I spoke like 335 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:57,680 a child. I thought like a child, I 336 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:02,680 reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up 337 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:07,720 childish ways. Paul illustrates with the 338 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,840 picture of childhood versus adulthood here. 339 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,200 Childhood has its ways, doesn't it? 340 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,320 A child speaks a certain way, they think a certain way, they 341 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,760 reason a certain way. And all of these are fitting for 342 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,600 a child, right? We understand as we're raising 343 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,200 children that they're, they're going to speak like a child, 344 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,120 think like a child, reason like a child. 345 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:35,840 And a part of being a parent is helping your child grow up out 346 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,640 of those things, to learn to speak and to reason and to think 347 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,400 with maturity. Maturity requires putting 348 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:50,120 childish things away. In the same way the church is 349 00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:53,160 now in its childhood, so to speak. 350 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,720 We are being formed, we're growing. 351 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,800 We are still dependent on temporary means, like the 352 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:06,120 spiritual gifts that you all may possess, but in eternity, in 353 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,400 eternity the church will be fully mature. 354 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:12,560 It will lack nothing, and love will be the marker of that 355 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:17,440 maturity. Ephesians 413 says God's purpose 356 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,400 is that the church would attain to the mature manhood, to the 357 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:26,960 measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that the 358 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:32,640 church would be matured well. Love is the evidence of this 359 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,120 maturity. Knowledge and gifts without love 360 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,280 are childish things. Remember Paul said, if I speak 361 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,840 in tongues of men and angels, but I have not love, I'm a noisy 362 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,920 gong or a clinging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers 363 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,960 and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all 364 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,440 faith so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. 365 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,680 If I give away all that I have and if I deliver it my body to 366 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:01,320 be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 367 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,320 Love is the evidence of maturity. 368 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:10,520 John Calvin put it sharply when he said this. 369 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:15,440 He said he who has not love, though he be an Angel, is 370 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:22,480 nothing but a child. When you were a child, you 371 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:28,520 probably treasured some toys that you no longer think about 372 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,320 all right, or don't think much about. 373 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:34,800 As I've been raising kids, I've found myself hearkening back to 374 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,200 toys I really loved. Often I'll go buy something 375 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,680 that's similar to that, and my kids are not interested, all 376 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,920 right? It doesn't carry the same glory 377 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,880 for them that it carried for me. Rest in peace, Ninja Turtles, 378 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:58,590 I'm afraid. They seem so important, though, 379 00:25:58,630 --> 00:26:02,990 those toys of your childhood. But you outgrew them all, right? 380 00:26:03,070 --> 00:26:05,950 In the same way the Corinthians were clinging to gifts like 381 00:26:06,230 --> 00:26:11,240 children do to toys. But maturity means laying them 382 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,800 aside and embracing what will endure, which is love. 383 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,600 Some Christians never seem to grow beyond childishness. 384 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,640 Age is not representative of spiritual maturity. 385 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,080 It's just not. Age is not representative of 386 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:34,600 godly wisdom. It's just not right. 387 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:39,400 The Lord and his, the maturity of of a love that's growing for 388 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,080 God, a love that's growing for his people. 389 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:47,160 Those things represent maturity. Some Christians never grow 390 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:48,560 beyond this. They're always chasing 391 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,680 experiences. All right? 392 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,360 I've even heard churches now calling the Lord's Day worship a 393 00:26:56,360 --> 00:27:00,280 worship experience. That's icky to me. 394 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:08,760 They're always comparing gifts I wish I had that gift, or a 395 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,560 person doesn't have the gift I have. 396 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:17,080 They're always quarreling over secondary matters, finding 397 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:22,240 issues to fight over, but really, in the grand scheme of 398 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,840 things, mattered not. But true maturity is measured 399 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:30,640 not by the gifts you display, but by the love you demonstrate. 400 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,720 And how do we know this? How do we know that true 401 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:41,440 maturity is found in love? Well, because of the perspective 402 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,280 that Paul gives us in the next verse. 403 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,880 Right now we see dimly, but one day we will see fully. 404 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,840 So Paul offers this perspective of eternity. 405 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,080 He's trying to ground the Corinthians and understanding 406 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,560 that love will last forever and that those eternal things are 407 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,440 what are most important. Look at verse 12 again. 408 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,920 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. 409 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,680 Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as 410 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:16,560 I have been fully known. Corinth was famous for its 411 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,880 bronze mirrors. You know, I think about a bronze 412 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:22,200 mirror. Maybe you just looked into a 413 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,160 bronze, you know, a plate or a cup or something to see the 414 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:30,200 reflection. But the reflections never 415 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,040 reflected perfectly. They're not like the mirrors we 416 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,960 have today. And Paul says our present 417 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,960 knowledge of God is like looking into those bronze mirrors. 418 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,400 It's real, but it's dim and incomplete. 419 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,160 But one day you will see face to face. 420 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,640 This is the language of God's immediate presence. 421 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,800 And Exodus 3311 we read there. Thus, the Lord used to speak to 422 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:01,800 Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. 423 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,880 It's a real presence. We will see Christ himself in 424 00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,360 heaven, and then we will know fully, just as we have been 425 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:15,920 fully known by God. The phrase dimly, for we see 426 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,000 dimly, literally means that you see in a Riddle. 427 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:24,160 All right, my boys just this morning and Nolan were asking 428 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,760 ChatGPT to tell them various riddles. 429 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:35,520 All right, it's pretty fun. Dimly means you see an 430 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,880 obscurity. It's not clear to you. 431 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:45,600 You can't figure out everything. Our knowledge is now partial. 432 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,920 Our knowledge is now mediated. Our knowledge is indirect. 433 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,280 But in eternity it will be immediate and direct and 434 00:29:55,280 --> 00:30:00,040 complete. We will know fully as we have 435 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:06,080 been fully known. This first rules out again. 436 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,320 The Canon view of the perfect scripture is complete and 437 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,880 sufficient. Yes and Amen. 2nd Corinthians 438 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:17,600 316 through 17 tells us as much, but Scripture has not removed 439 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:22,040 our dim vision of God. You think Ecclesiastes 311 that 440 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,440 says God has put into the heart of every man a desire for 441 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,000 eternity, but in such a way that he cannot figure out its end, 442 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,320 right? We have in our heart a desire 443 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,680 for eternal things. We have in our heart a desire to 444 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:40,560 know that which is eternal, and yet the inability to do so. 445 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:49,000 Proverbs 25, I think verse 2 tells us that it's the glory of 446 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,360 kings to search things out, and it's the glory of God to keep 447 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:58,480 them hidden. Our dim vision remains. 448 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:00,680 We still walk by faith, not by sight. 449 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:02,680 As Second Corinthians 57 tells us. 450 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,520 The fullness awaits Christ's return. 451 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,720 You think of think of a loved one who's been away for some 452 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,160 time, all right. And maybe on your front door you 453 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:18,800 have like a frosted glass. They come home and you can see 454 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,360 the outline. Maybe you can hear their voice, 455 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:25,280 but you don't see the full detail. 456 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:31,480 And then you open the door and you behold them face to face. 457 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,920 What's the difference between now and eternity? 458 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,680 And this truth should produce two things in US. 459 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:46,200 One, humility. Humility because none of us can 460 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,480 see fully now. No matter how much you might 461 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,160 think you know, no matter how much you might actually know, 462 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:57,400 you don't see fully now. Even the most mature Christian 463 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:02,720 has a dim view of God. We'll be humble before the Lord. 464 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,920 We ought to know that there are thoughts that are greater than 465 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:08,800 the thoughts we have. There are actions that are far 466 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:15,120 beyond the actions that we understand, like God is forever 467 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,360 amazing. He's eternal, right? 468 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:21,440 He's sovereign in power. He's magnificent and glorious 469 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:28,600 and holy beyond recognition. And we can know pieces of those 470 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:33,880 things about God. You know, what does Paul pray in 471 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,240 Ephesians? My prayer is that you would come 472 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,920 to know the height and the depth and the breadth and the width of 473 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:46,000 God's love for you. You just think about what that's 474 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,880 describing. It's describing a height that is 475 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:50,920 unending. It's describing a depth that is 476 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,040 unending, A width and a breadth that are unending. 477 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,960 And Paul's prayer, there is a hope you will come to know it. 478 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:04,160 I hope you come to see this love that he has. 479 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:09,440 There ought to be a humility in us when we think about knowing 480 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,840 in part, they're also. The second thing this ought to 481 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:20,440 do to us is create a hope within us, A hope because one day we 482 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:36,960 will see clearly. Really, really struggle to talk 483 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,040 about heaven without getting teary these days. 484 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:50,360 In eternity, our faith, our faith will become the sight our 485 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:58,640 our questions will be answered and our communion with Christ 486 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:04,400 will be unhindered, uninhibited. My doubts and fears and 487 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:08,000 frustrations and failures and sin and temptation, it'll be 488 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,639 unhindered. We have perfect communion with 489 00:34:12,639 --> 00:34:18,159 our Lord in heaven. So I ask you, if that's where 490 00:34:18,159 --> 00:34:22,080 history is headed, if it's headed to an eternal dwelling 491 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:27,280 place with God, and it is, then what do you think we should 492 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:34,800 value most right now? Well, Paul answers that question 493 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:41,600 for us when he says the greatest of these is love #4 the 494 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,840 preeminence of love, the preeminence of love. 495 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:48,080 Look at verse 13. So now faith, hope, and love 496 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:55,159 abide these three, but the greatest of these is love. 497 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,480 Paul ends with a triad of Christian virtues, faith and 498 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,160 hope and love. And I don't know about you, but 499 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,920 I can remember being a teenager reading these verses and 500 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:12,760 thinking to myself, how can love be greater than faith and hope? 501 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,520 Like wrestling with that in my mind. 502 00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:23,160 What is Paul talking about? He says they all abide right 503 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:24,960 now. Faith and hope and love all 504 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,000 abide right now. They're all essential right now. 505 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:32,800 But even among these, love gets the greater value. 506 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:38,720 Love is the greatest. Why? 507 00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:46,600 Well, faith is trusting in what we cannot see, walking by faith, 508 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,520 not by sight. Faith is trusting what we cannot 509 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:50,800 see. But one day faith will give way 510 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,960 to sight. Think about Hebrews 11/1. 511 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,240 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction 512 00:35:57,240 --> 00:36:00,800 of things not seen. Second Corinthians 57 For we 513 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:06,800 walk by faith, not by sight. So faith trusts and what we 514 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:08,800 cannot see. But one day it will give way to 515 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:13,000 sights, and so it will pass away. 516 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:19,440 Hope anticipates what is not yet right. 517 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,840 Hope is anticipating the promises of God that are yet to 518 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,400 be fulfilled. Hope is trusting that the Lord's 519 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:33,240 Word is true, knowing that it's true, building your life on His 520 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:38,160 Word. But hope will one day be 521 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:41,880 fulfilled. Romans 824 and 25 For in this 522 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:46,880 hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not 523 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,280 hope, for who hopes for what he sees. 524 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,880 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with 525 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:59,160 patience. So hope will have an end. 526 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:03,000 It'll one day be fulfilled. But for now, hope should abide 527 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:04,520 in you. You should hope with great 528 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,160 patience for what is to be revealed in heaven one day. 529 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,880 Amen. Hope. 530 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:19,000 But Paul says in verse 8, love never ends. 531 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:23,360 That's the way he started this passage that we're looking at 532 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:26,840 this morning. What is love never end? 533 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,240 Well, we covered the sum last week, but it bears repeating. 534 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:34,640 Love is the very nature of God. In first John 48, God's John 535 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,320 writes there of God. God is love. 536 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,040 God is love. Anyone who knows God should know 537 00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:44,080 love. And anyone who is not loving 538 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,480 does not know God. They they're lying. 539 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:54,560 Love is the very nature of God. But two his people, God's 540 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:59,560 people, you and me, will dwell in his love forever. 541 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:04,720 Forever, if we are hidden ourselves in Christ. 542 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:10,320 So the objects of faith and hope will be fulfilled. 543 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,320 They have an expiration, they'll be fulfilled. 544 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,680 They'll be perfectly realized in heaven. 545 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:20,960 But love, the God like virtue of love, is everlasting. 546 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,120 It's never ending. Heaven will be the place for the 547 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,840 expression of nothing but perfect love toward God and each 548 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:35,480 other for eternity. I hope that you look forward to 549 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:44,680 that one day. No more broken relationships, no 550 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,400 more arguments, no more pain, no more distress, no more 551 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:52,200 backbiting, no more slander, no more gossip, no more bitterness 552 00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,320 and unforgiveness. All those things will cease in 553 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:59,240 heaven, Amen. And love will be the ultimate 554 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,600 reality. A love from God, a love for God, 555 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,120 a love from God, a love for his people. 556 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:12,360 Perfect. The Puritan Richard Baxter, 557 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,920 great pastor, once said this. He said faith will be swallowed 558 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:18,480 up. Insight and hope will be 559 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:22,880 swallowed up in fruition, but love will be perfected in 560 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:27,360 heaven. Heaven is a world of love 561 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:32,400 because God himself is love. You may think of a wedding, 562 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,000 right? We have a wonderful couple here 563 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,680 set to get married. Today's the 31st, just next 564 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:44,920 month, right? Engagement ring that's given 565 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:49,920 from a man to a woman. It's precious and it's necessary 566 00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:55,600 for a time. But the wedding day makes the 567 00:39:55,600 --> 00:40:00,960 engagement ring less central, because the reality has come. 568 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:06,920 In the same way, faith and hope are like the engagements, but 569 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:10,360 love is the marriage itself that lasts forever. 570 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:14,800 This is why Paul says in Colossians 314. 571 00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:22,840 Above all these put on love, which binds everything together 572 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:27,400 in perfect harmony. Above all these put on love, 573 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,480 which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 574 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:31,080 Above all these, put on love, which binds everything together. 575 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,400 In what's Paul saying in Colossians 3 and in First 576 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:36,720 Corinthians 13, he's saying we must. 577 00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:41,120 As Christians, we must pursue love more than talents. 578 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:43,920 We must pursue love more than gifts. 579 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,720 We must pursue love more than knowledge or more than 580 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:50,640 reputation. Love is the one virtue that 581 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:59,040 carries over into eternity. And so Paul has shown us in 582 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,800 First Corinthians 13/8 through 13, the preeminence of, or 583 00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:07,320 sorry, the permanence of love. He's shown us the progression of 584 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,040 maturity. He's shown us the perspective of 585 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,760 eternity. He's shown us the preeminence of 586 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,000 love. And the point that he's making 587 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,680 is that everything else fades away, but love endures forever. 588 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,120 Again, the sermon in a sentence, if you will, Christian love 589 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:26,680 endures forever because it reflects the eternal character 590 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:32,800 of our God. But I need you to listen to me 591 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:40,280 for a moment. You and I do not endure forever 592 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:44,440 in this life. We have an expiration. 593 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:49,520 We're made of dust, and to dust we will return. 594 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,800 Our days are short, our days are numbered. 595 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:58,440 They're fixed by God from eternity past. 596 00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:04,960 Our breath is fleeting and we only have so much time given to 597 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:09,240 us. As some of you sitting in here 598 00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:11,600 feel the weight of that greater than others. 599 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:18,240 Maybe it's age, maybe it's body breaking down, wearing out, 600 00:42:18,240 --> 00:42:22,680 maybe it's injuries, maybe it's an illness, maybe it's hurt and 601 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:28,120 pain. Give a deep sense of the 602 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,640 fleeting nature of life. It truly is a vapour. 603 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,560 It's here one day and gone the next. 604 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:43,360 We only have so much time to love God and to love others with 605 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:48,920 the love of Christ. And so I'm imploring you from 606 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:54,920 First Corinthians 13 today, do not waste your life chasing what 607 00:42:54,920 --> 00:43:02,400 will fade, whether it's the gifts of the spirits or the 608 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:08,120 treasures of the world. Do not waste your life chasing 609 00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:11,600 what will fade. Give yourself holy, everything 610 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:15,040 that you are. Give yourself to what will last 611 00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:22,440 church. When your life is over, what 612 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:26,040 will matter most is not the strength of your gifts or the 613 00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:29,560 size of your knowledge, the size of your bank account, or the 614 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:33,560 extent of your experiences and your adventures. 615 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:38,080 What will matter most is whether you loved God and loved others 616 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:49,710 with the love of Christ. We live in a world that has 617 00:43:49,710 --> 00:43:55,790 attempted to define love and all manner of unholy, unloving ways. 618 00:43:58,070 --> 00:44:03,320 So the question should come to us when Paul's telling us to 619 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:06,400 love a certain way and that love never ends, right? 620 00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:10,880 When he's talking this much about 1 virtue, we should ask 621 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:16,400 what does he mean by love? I think he answered much of that 622 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,640 last week as we were looking at First Corinthians one through 7. 623 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:23,320 But just kind of as a way to bring all this together, at the 624 00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:27,520 end of chapter 13, I want to provide for you some thoughts on 625 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:33,720 what biblical love is. And maybe by hearing what it is, 626 00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:35,480 we'll hear some of what it is not. 627 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,440 Biblical love is not a passing feeling. 628 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:46,400 You can't wake up one day and say I don't love you anymore. 629 00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:50,520 It's not a passing feeling. It's not it's, it's not up to 630 00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:54,200 your feelings. Biblical love is action. 631 00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:57,040 There's a character, nature, quality to love. 632 00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:58,920 Biblical love is not a passing feeling. 633 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:01,760 Biblical love is not mere kindness. 634 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:04,920 It is a kind thing to open the door for the little old lady as 635 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,440 she's coming into Walmart. Or those are automatic. 636 00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:10,480 Sorry, terrible example. Just step on it real quick, all 637 00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:13,640 right? Maybe you help her load her 638 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:14,680 groceries. There you go. 639 00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:18,480 Biblical love is not mere kindness. 640 00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:22,600 Biblical love is not tolerance either. 641 00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:26,600 The world defines love as tolerance, so long as you are 642 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:32,560 tolerant of the right things. Biblical love is the self 643 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:36,040 giving, sacrificial commitment to seek the good of others in 644 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:39,680 obedience to God, which is modeled perfectly in Jesus 645 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:42,400 Christ. I'll say it again in case you 646 00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:46,120 want to write that down. Biblical love is the self 647 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:50,760 giving, sacrificial commitment to seek the good of others in 648 00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:56,120 obedience to God, modeled perfectly in Jesus Christ. 649 00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:02,520 Jesus said in John 1513. Greater love has no one than 650 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:07,000 this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 651 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:11,240 Who modeled the laying down of life better than Christ? 652 00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:14,120 Nobody. Nobody. 653 00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:18,880 Often imitated, never duplicated. 654 00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,480 Paul wrote God shows his love for us and that while we were 655 00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,800 still sinners, Christ died for us. 656 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:32,960 Romans 58 John tells us by this we know love, that he laid down 657 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:36,680 his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the 658 00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:43,760 brothers, meaning the church. His biblical love is active 659 00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:46,240 again. We talked some about this last 660 00:46:46,240 --> 00:46:49,480 week, but you have to bring it back in here because this is 661 00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:52,280 what Paul's hammering home. Biblical love is active. 662 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,000 It bears burdens. It forgives wrongs. 663 00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:58,040 It seeks holiness. It speaks truth that endures 664 00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:01,080 trials. It's rooted in God's own 665 00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:03,560 character. God is love again. 666 00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:07,400 First John 48 and it's poured into our hearts through the Holy 667 00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,240 Spirit as we see in Romans 5 verse 5. 668 00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:17,840 So what does this mean when you think about your life? 669 00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:20,880 I want to I want to apply this a bit further because right now 670 00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:23,920 I've offered a lot of general truths, right? 671 00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:27,640 And the Lord I trust is leading you in certain directions in 672 00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:31,120 your mind and in your heart now of how can I be loving? 673 00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:32,760 How can I walk in the love of Christ? 674 00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:37,040 I pray that's true, but I want to push that down a bit further 675 00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:42,320 into your hearts. Now what this means is that 676 00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:50,320 husbands, you are to love your wives not only with words, not 677 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:54,880 only with pleasantries, but with daily sacrifice. 678 00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:00,200 Daily sacrifice. Wives, you are to love your 679 00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:04,800 husband's with patience and respect. 680 00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:10,880 Parents, you are to love your children by providing for them, 681 00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:16,520 but even more so by leading them to Christ and discipling them. 682 00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:22,320 In Christ Church families, we think about being members of one 683 00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:27,200 body together, love one another by bearing burdens, love one 684 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:30,720 another by forgiving offenses, love one another by speaking the 685 00:48:30,720 --> 00:48:39,200 truth in love that we might grow up together in Christ again. 686 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:41,840 The world wants to Make Love abstract. 687 00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:44,640 It can mean anything you want it to mean. 688 00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,720 And what I'm telling you is the scriptures do not Make Love 689 00:48:49,720 --> 00:48:52,600 abstract. In fact, they refute an 690 00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:56,360 abstractness to love. It's not abstract. 691 00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:01,320 Love is lived out in the ordinary and in the costly of 692 00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:05,440 your day. When you stand before Christ on 693 00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:09,320 the last day, He will not measure your life by your resume 694 00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:12,360 or your reputation or your achievements. 695 00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:19,200 He'll measure it by love. He'll measure it by whether you 696 00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:23,680 knew His love, whether you trusted His love, and whether 697 00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:29,920 you reflected His love. That's why the greatest of these 698 00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:35,160 is love. So let us invest our lives, 699 00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:38,600 everything that we are. Let us invest ourselves in what 700 00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:43,080 lasts forever. I want you to pursue love. 701 00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:46,240 Pursue it with everything that you are. 702 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:50,920 Live in love. Let the definition of love and 703 00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:54,480 verses 4 through 6 be a part of who you are becoming. 704 00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:59,040 Pray those verses. Lord, help me be this kind of 705 00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:07,760 man, this kind of woman, live in it and let the love of Christ 706 00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:13,760 shape our church and shape our lives until we see him face to 707 00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:15,920 face. Would you pray with me? 708 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:23,880 Heavenly Father, we thank you particularly. 709 00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:29,440 We thank you for love today. We thank you for your love which 710 00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:33,320 has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit 711 00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:36,160 through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. 712 00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:41,040 That while we were still sinners, He died for us because 713 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:47,640 of your love for us. Ephesians 2 shows us that we 714 00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:50,280 were once dead in our trespasses and sins. 715 00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:53,920 We were sons and daughters of disobedience following the the 716 00:50:53,920 --> 00:51:00,600 Prince of the power of the air following Satan, but that you 717 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:05,560 saved us with great mercy and great love. 718 00:51:06,680 --> 00:51:09,600 You poured out your grace on us in Christ. 719 00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:14,560 You send him to the cross who knew no sin so that we who knew 720 00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:18,080 only sin might know his righteousness. 721 00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:25,040 And you've made us Co heirs, Co heirs with your son. 722 00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:30,840 And then you've given us the spirit as a sign and a seal of 723 00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:36,920 that work in our lives. And so we thank you today for 724 00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:42,520 your love for us. It exceeds all that we could 725 00:51:42,520 --> 00:51:45,280 ever ask or think. It surpasses all of our 726 00:51:45,280 --> 00:51:48,640 understanding. And yet we desire, Father, to 727 00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:53,400 know it more fully. One, that we might understand 728 00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:57,680 your love, that we might rest in your love, that we might 729 00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:04,360 understand that we are Co heirs with Christ in this love and all 730 00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:07,280 that that means for our future, all that that means for heavenly 731 00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:10,160 reward and residing with you forever. 732 00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:17,040 I want us to know that Father. But two, as we come to know your 733 00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:19,520 love, may we love you more fully. 734 00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:24,720 But we give all that we have, and we give all that we are. 735 00:52:24,720 --> 00:52:28,720 May we use all the gifts and the talents and the personality, the 736 00:52:28,720 --> 00:52:31,320 way that you've wired us, the space and time you've put us in. 737 00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:40,080 May we give it all to you, Lord, as sacrifices of our love for 738 00:52:40,080 --> 00:52:45,600 You. And may we grow in it, maybe 739 00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:48,040 grow inwardly in our understanding of your love, so 740 00:52:48,040 --> 00:52:53,160 that outwardly we become more loving to those around us. 741 00:52:55,120 --> 00:52:59,480 May we love the people you've put beside us, the church you've 742 00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:01,520 placed us in. May we love the brothers and 743 00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,200 sisters here. May we love our spouses and our 744 00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:06,440 children with the love of Christ. 745 00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:13,960 May you convict us of all the nastiness in US, all those sins 746 00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:17,360 that are in US, the the gossip and slander, the backbiting, the 747 00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:20,600 insecurities, the pride, all those things that keep us from 748 00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:23,920 loving others well. Would you convict us of those? 749 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:26,800 Would you eradicate them from our lives by the power of your 750 00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:31,480 spirit, that we might love your people well? 751 00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:38,480 I'm going to give you a moment now to pray there in your seat 752 00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:43,000 to seek the Lord, however He may be leading you. 753 00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:48,880 Maybe there's something in this passage that's convicting for 754 00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:50,320 you. And so you have a need to 755 00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:55,160 confess sin or unbelief. You have a need to confess and 756 00:53:55,160 --> 00:54:00,640 to repent, to walk in the light and to know the forgiveness of 757 00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:08,540 Christ today. Maybe there's something here 758 00:54:08,540 --> 00:54:11,020 that Lord's calling me to obedience in. 759 00:54:13,600 --> 00:54:17,360 You need to ask the Lord now. Help me to obey you. 760 00:54:20,240 --> 00:54:28,620 Help me to walk in love. Maybe you're here today and you 761 00:54:28,620 --> 00:54:33,540 don't know Christ at all. You you're familiar with church, 762 00:54:33,540 --> 00:54:35,860 you're familiar with the words and some of what I've said 763 00:54:35,860 --> 00:54:38,660 today. But you've not made Christ Lord 764 00:54:38,660 --> 00:54:40,980 of your life. You've not submitted to him. 765 00:54:40,980 --> 00:54:43,540 You've not surrendered your life to Him. 766 00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:46,600 You're holding on to your sin. You're holding on to your own 767 00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:49,360 righteousness. You're suppressing truths. 768 00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:55,040 Friend, would you give your life to Christ today? 769 00:54:56,800 --> 00:55:00,000 Would you submit yourself to Him fully, finally, forever? 770 00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:05,240 Would you make him Lord by confessing that you are not 771 00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:11,240 Lord, that you make a terrible Lord, and that you need a 772 00:55:11,240 --> 00:55:14,320 Savior? You need Christ to save you from 773 00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:20,680 your sins. If you believe in your heart 774 00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:24,600 that Jesus is Lord and confess with your mouth that God raised 775 00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:28,840 him on the third day, and you will be saved this day. 776 00:56:08,760 --> 00:56:11,560 Heavenly Father, again now we thank you for your love. 777 00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,000 We thank you for your mercy and grace. 778 00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:21,160 Thank you that you meet us right where we're at. 779 00:56:23,600 --> 00:56:28,560 Whatever trial, whatever trouble, what whatever it is 780 00:56:28,560 --> 00:56:31,360 we're battling in our hearts and minds, we're wrestling with by 781 00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:36,320 your spirit, you meet us there. Lord, help us to be obedient to 782 00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:41,680 You. I'm reminded now of the words of 783 00:56:41,680 --> 00:56:48,920 Christ in John 15. He says, If you love me, you 784 00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:54,040 will obey my commandments. Lord, help us to obey your 785 00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:57,240 commandments because of our great love for your Son Jesus. 786 00:57:00,240 --> 00:57:02,480 It's in the name of Christ to ask these things. 787 00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:03,400 Amen.