to First Corinthians chapter thirteen. First Corinthians chapter thirteen. Read from verse one. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not loved, I am become a sounding brat for a tinkling symbol. Though I have the gifts of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not loved, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not loved, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind. Love envieth not. Love wanteth not itself. It is not fucked up. does not behave itself unseemly. Sheeketh not her own. It is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Rejoice it not in iniquity, but rejoice it in the truth. Share it all things. Believe it all things. Hope it all things. Endure it all things. Well, that's all we read this morning because we're going to be speaking on the remarkable love of God that indescribable. Last week we were speaking on, it's indescribable. You just can't get along without the love of God, regardless of your gifts or your talents, as you have described in verses one and two. Though a man speak with the tongues of men and of angels, for all his fluency and ability, he may be a great orator, a great command of language, nevertheless. If he doesn't have love, it's sounding brass and tinkling symbol. And so he goes into this chapter and points out how indispensable love is. Would it not for our gold reserves, our currency, or what we handle in the way of paper money, nickels and dimes, wouldn't we worth anything? The only way our currency is of value is because of the gold reserves that are backed up. backing up our currency. And without the love of God, there is a gold reserve. Without the love of God, all that we have outside of Christ and all our natural endeavors are nothing. They're value-less. That's the argument, and that's the point Paul is trying to get across here. The value of love is indispensable, and also is indescribable. Can you describe? Who can describe the love of God? I don't know anyone who can describe it. You can try to illustrate it, but as you define it, it's difficult. Because God is love. Now, who can describe God? Who can apprehend and elaborate on the vastness of God? Space staggers up. We can't apprehend space. And scientists tell us all about light years, billions of light years, and still further on, there's faith. There's no wall around. There's no shell. There's no limit to faith. Thus, you can't describe God. He's in this tribal. God is love. And no matter how one tries to describe God, he's only touching the hem of the garment of his greatness, or like a child paddling on the beach or a mighty ocean, out beyond, all man's definition lies the mighty ocean of the eternal God, unfathomable. And you read in your Bible about the heights, the depths, the lengths, and depths of the love of God. And so you have love described here, and this is the love of God. God is love. This love is pure, it's holy, it's sacred, it's beautiful, it's powerful, it's incomprehensible. How wonderful is God's love, and that's what he saw here. And unless a person has this love, he never will get to heaven. Unless he has this love, his service amounts to nothing. This is the essential ingredient in salvation and in service. how important it is. It is one thing love, and love can do great things. I just read this passage of something that might illustrate a little bit of love when the war was being fought in Korea, in South Korea, while there was a man, he was a Christian, and he was operating an orphanage. Well, some of the communists got a clock, the line. I remember now they might have infiltrated and they captured this man and demanded that he be shot. But the young Carmen, his leader, only a young man, about twenty, he discovered that this man was in charge of a mission. And he was looking after little Korean children. So he said, we won't kill him. We kill his son. So this man's nineteen-year-old son was shot. right before his eyes, father's eyes. Well, at times, forces of war turned, and then the Communists were captured, a lot of them. And as they were going through these captured men, these prisoners, they discovered this young Communists who had ordered the death of the son of this man who ran the mission. And, of course, the United Nations forces, they'd insisted that he pay with his life, that he was shocked. The father of that boy that was shocked, for the man in charge of that mission, he pleaded that this young man must be shocked. He said he was only young. He said, Give them to me, and I'll pay them. And they yielded to the old man's request. Today that commonest officer is a pastor of an evangelical church. She would love this. Why, our human nature would rise up, they sure should have. Yes, but this is where love triumphs. And this is just a little illustration, for God had his son put to death by the world. The world clamored for the death of Christ. Away with this man. You will not have him to raid over us. And so this wicked world crucified the son of God. Yet God says, I'll give my son to die for that wicked world. That's the love of God. How can you fathom it? Many a time in my life I questioned how certain people could love others. I've known some people, like my wife, have a husband. Just showy, that's all you can say. He's drunk. He doesn't in any way help the family. All he wants is drink, drink, drink, drink, drink. No regard for his family, his wife, or his children. All he wants to do is drink and cry out. And yet, how in the world is this woman, not a man like that? Show me a will. It's hard to understand. And I've had it reversed. A woman just as bad as a man. I thought, how can a person's love, a mate of that character? And yes, they do. It amazes. It amazes. But what amazes me more is the love of God. What did a holy God, a righteous God, see in me to love me? For you? Yes, the amazing, fascinating. law is love. For God so loved the world that he gave that only begotten Son, the whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If love had reigned, that chorus, this church were speaking of us, a lot of things wouldn't have happened. Love was not reigning. Why had there been love there? There wouldn't have been any division because the church was divided. There wouldn't have been any incapacity. There was immorality there, there wouldn't have been any lawsuit, there wouldn't have been any stumbling of others, or shite, or unseeming behavior, or idolatry, jealousy, gluttony, disorder, eric. There would have been none of those things had love reigned in court. There would have been no discipline. But there was discipline. The point of this is those who had to be discipline had shown love in the first place. The church would not have had to have done what they did discipline, which seemed so contrary to love. But that's the way it is, if you trace things back to the source. Well, church has to discipline. If the ones they've got to discipline had manifested love, there'd have been no need of this. The same thing applies as we've often referred to the illustration of parents discipline their child. Many a time my father worked me over, and I'm going to tell you, he had a good big chance to do it with, too. Well, I'll tell you, he could tell me all he liked. He loved me, but I thought if he did, he wouldn't be doing what he'd do. Now, the father said they loved their children. And really they did. But she doesn't understand that. She says, this is a poor way to show it. But there's the point. And in Corinth, if love had dominated, Love had reign that had been no need of jesus. In our country, with its judicial system falling apart, they say this unusual punishment. We were talking about it in the form of absurdum. Unusual punishment. Well, I don't know any love. If you look at the cross and how the Lord Jesus was punished, that's unusual punishment. sinless man, the Son of God, should suffer for guilty men, that unusual punishment. I don't know any punishment, more unusual, than the love of God to man. Why should God, the holy, righteous, omnipotent God, punish that innocent man, his own son, and that son dying for the guilt, paying the price of the sins of the That's unusual punishment, but it was just. God was dealing with sin, and he had to deal with sin before he could say that. That's the thing connected with our judicial system. It's not unusual judgment or justice, unusual punishment, because that man has sinned, and he deserves to pay the penalty for his sins. The Lord Jesus never had sin, yet he's paying the penalty for those who had sin. Unusual punishment. Unusual love to think that God should love who is innocent, such as you and such as me. Remember, there are fifteen virtues here in these four verses, from four on to seven. Fifteen virtues. The first two are positive. Then you find eight negatives. Then you have five positives for them. How wonderful all this is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is a wonderful thing about this chapter. If you were to take out the word charity, maybe I'll do it. I thought I might do it at the end. But I'm going to do it now. Here you have a portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was the personification of love. And if you use Christ instead of love, see what we come up with. says in, we see, we begin first well. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not Christ, I am become a sounding draft or a tapening symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mystery and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not Christ, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, Though I give my body to be burned, and have not Christ, it profiteth me nothing. Christ suffereth long, and is kind. Christ envieth not. Christ bounceth not himself. He is not tossed up. Christ does not behave himself unseemly. Seeketh not his own. Not easily provoked. He thinketh no evil. Christ doth not rejoice in iniquity. He rejoices in the truth. Christ beareth all things. He believeth all things. That is according to the will of God. He hopeth all things. He endures all things. Christ never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall treat. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, and that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I speak of a child. They understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away child as things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. Now abide at Christ, take, and hope. Love, Christ, these things. And the greatest of these is Christ. In other words, Christ remounts everything. He outlasts everything. Christ said if these other things just are secondary, Christ is freedom. In all things, he must have the free image. That's the way to read this chapter. It's a portrait of the person of Jesus Christ. Then how in the world can I be saved? Because this overshadows me in every way, shape, or form. I don't care how great the preacher is. What his abilities are? What is the accomplishments that they do? It's Christ. Christ living in me, says the apostle. And only in the measure that Christ lives in me. and possesses me, can I do in it? That says, God, glory unto the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is everything. I am nothing. That's the way you spell or explain a Christian. C-H-R-I-S-T. Christ. I-A-N. I am nothing. That is the message of this chapter we are speaking on. the wonders of the person of Christ. If you move away from him, you're in trouble. Love's values and love's virtues. Here we have the virtues of love as seen in the person of Christ. Patient under provocation and pressure and passive under trial. Love suffers long. Love suffers long. Love suffers long. Why some people can suffer long. How some endure, I don't know. Physically, I've seen a lot of people, and it's been pain, pain, pain, all their life. Problems, problems, problems all their life. Hardships, all their life. They hardly see the sunshine that's always cloudy. How they endure that suffering I know not. Love suffers long. Love can endure a lot of things. Love can endure all kinds of perfection that you need to have. That's what the Bible says. Long, supple. Love's virtue, and then if you go through this list, you have over in Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit is love. It's right at the top. Love, joy, peace, and all the other things following it. And Peter gives us a list of things, but he puts love at the bottom. Love is at the last of the list over in Second Peter, one, five, eight. Love at the beginning, love at the end. And all in the truth. Love is Christ and love is man, the love of Christ. This is the message of this chapter. Love is kind at the second thing. Love is kind. And it's good. How kind. You know, there are two remarkable verses I want you to read here, or notice as I read them. You'll find over Romans two and four. Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads us into repentance. Here you have God's goodness and long-suffering, leading a person to repentance. How often this has happened? after a long time of suffering. The long suffering of God is waiting through, waiting till you come to repentance, waiting till you come to an end. God using circumstance. How did Job go through all he went through? Was he not long suffering? He lost everything. He sat on the ash heap outside that Oriental town, creating the corruption as it oozed from the boils of his body. Ah, yes, Job, how did he do it? James referred to the patience of Job. Oh, what patience. Day after day, attacked by the devil, lost everything in the way of comfort, lost his ten children, attacked by the devil. And Job says, Oh, he slay me, O God, slay me! I yet trusted him. And that word delay means send me to hell. I've got such faith in the justice and righteousness of God that he can't make a mistake. Though he send me to hell, that's what the fault must be with me. That's what we have there in Job, long suffered. So God and love here is long suffering, at patience, and it's kind. but it tells you. Right here, in the second virtue, it is time. But notice this verse in Titus three, four. But after that the kindness and love of our Savior. God links them together. These two. Love and kindness and goodness. But after that the kindness and love of God, our Savior, toward man, if he is, not by works of righteousness which he have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed or showered on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. Isn't that love? Isn't that kindness? Isn't that God's goodness? It certainly is. And so this is what God does. He's manifested his untariness and love, his unequal love, and he's been long-suffering Reason the Old Testament the antediluvians and that wicked, ungodly world, when once the long-suffering of God waited while the Ark was preparing. Why did God wait so long? He had the power he could have swept the antediluvian age from the face of the earth. But once the long-suffering of God waited while the Ark was preparing. And with all this long-suffering and patience only eight people got saved. God in his patience and long-suffering and timeless, he waited, he waited, he waited, he waited. Only God could have done it. An awful stench of moral corruption and sin breaks the nostrils of Almighty God. And yet God will, will man repent? Will he repent? Only eight still. And they said in the ark. And God made provision from all the wickedness that was in the world at that time and that judgment that was coming upon us. Oh, how kind. How kind. And God's patience in today is manifest. The longer you live, unsaved, the greater his long-suffering and patience. But remember, when God's long-suffering ends, your long-suffering begins and eternity entails, and that they depart. It will be a long-suffering. Here you have God's long-suffering, loved long-suffering, and kind, love is kind. By how kind love is. That's of the kindness and love of God, our saviour toward man appears, not by works of righteousness as we have done. But according to his mercy, he says, our character, our good life, our work, can't save us. Only what Tark did in providing a change, like he provided an ark, he got more of the building. That's the only way of escape. Only in the ark, that the ark had one door, just one door. And it was in the side of the ark. No getting in that ark without that one door. And there's only one door to heaven. Christ says, I am the door. Find me if any man entered in. He shall be saved. And that door was in the side of the ark. A soldier took his lance, and he pierced the heart of Christ in trade. And they came forth blood and water. That's the door that heaven, the precious blood of Christ. Oh, the kind and love of God. God should be so long suffering and patient and kind and gracious and good, as to deal us with man and give man an opportunity to be saved in the judgment that is to come. So love is kind. And when it says, it envies not, it envies not. What is envy? Envy is an awful thing. Over in. Proverbs twenty seven four you read this wrath is cruel anger is outrageous but who is able to stand before envy envy envy was the seed of the first murder in the history of the human race came envy to his brother Abel Abel had brought an offering that God was pleased with And God accepted it. God rejected Cain's offering, and in rejecting Cain's offering, God rejected Cain for the offerer and the offering Samuel Paul said. Whatever your offerings are God, if it saves as God and God accepts your offering, he'll accept you with it. But you're sure you've got the right offer. Why did God accept Abel? Because he accepted his offering, because Abel took a lamb and shed his blood. And on the basis of that bloodshed, God accepted a chain that didn't bring an animal afar. There was no blood on it. Chains on it. It was all the worst that it had. The best fruit, the best vegetables, everything was the best. Wow. Nice array. It wasn't a drop of blood in the whole business. God rejected the chain. And why was the chains of that wicked one as soon as possible? Why did he fail the Bible just because his own work were evil and his brother's right? What are you offering to God? You could write a check for a million dollars and say, here, God, I'm giving you a million dollars to use in your service, your work, wherever there's a need. Does God accept you on the basis of that million dollar check? No. The world is his and the fullness of all. God could create another planet and inhabit like these planets. Have it a different material thing. Don't mean a dime in salvation. You can't buy your way to heaven. Your offering won't be accepted. If you can offer God your good, clean, honest, upright life, may pride yourself on being a respectable citizen, God says, I don't want that. That's all proud self. That's all honest flesh. And I don't want it. The only way you're going to be accepted by God is to come to God with an offering. And that offering is Jesus' sight. You can't offer your own body, take your own life, and say, Lord, I'm going to offer my life for you. God says, I don't want your offering. You're a sinner, and a sinner can't die for sin. The offering has got to be a sinless offering. And only one person in the universe of God is qualified to suffer for sin. And that's the one who had no sin. He did no sin. He knew no sin. Yet he was made sin for me. But I might be made the righteousness of God and him. And so here you find envy. Right in the beginning of the human race. It was this wicked thing called envy that brought about the murder of Abel. You know, some people, they envy others. They envy their position. They envy their possessions. They envy their gifts. They envy them. Envy the wicked things. That's what the Bible says. Love envious not. It doesn't envy anybody. Take a case of Saul. You know this change. What about Saul? Well, Saul was king of Israel, head and shoulders of everybody else. Along came the little shepherd boy, David. But David, when he threw Goliath into the stove, the two of Israel, the damsels of the court of the king, they were out singing. They said, Saul has slayed a thousand. David is ten to a thousand. Oh, Saul caught them. Hey, they're saying, Saul, me. I slay thousands on the battlefield. They're striving ten thousand to David. They're putting him above me. From that moment on, Saul stopped at your age. End. Three or four times he called for David to come in because David could play the harp well. And he had one purpose for David coming in there. And in those days when the king wanted to be entertained, no one was present. I want David to come in here a little place. Hidden behind his throne, he had a javelin, a spear. And on the occasion he hurled that spear of David, hoping he'd hit its mark and nailed David to the wall. David evasion. Look at that. Oh, those dots of end. End. End. Love. end ye of not. That's something in it. And love vaunteth not itself. That's what it says here right in that verse. Love vaunteth not itself. The end of the part four. Verse four of our chapter. What does it mean vaunteth not itself? In other words, he doesn't hold himself or hold himself in the psalmist. Love vows is not itself. It does not plead itself. It doesn't promote itself. Love is not proud. It doesn't show off. It doesn't brag. You'll find love swaggering around? No. Love doesn't promote itself. It's that quiet thing that by not bragging about itself, it can be seen. In other words, the Apostle Paul, you might say, well, Paul, and he wrote this chapter, Thirteen on Louth, so he knew something about it. Yet if you were to turn to chapter thirteen of second Corinthians, you'll find Paul did a lot of bragging. He began bragging about what he had suffered for the cause of the gospel. And he went through a lot, and he kind of excused himself for this kind of bragging. But then he had a reason. He was trying to prove to his critics that they didn't have an eye on him. They were trying their best to criticize Paul. They had little to show, but Paul had lots to show. And so Paul is not vying. He's defending himself. He's defending himself against his critics. He's defending himself against these unrighteous attacks. Now you have that today. President elects selects certain men to be in his cabinet. Boy, that's the time for the news media to go to work. That's the time for those who don't like this man to just bring out all their weapons and try and crucify this man. Take him apart! And these men have got to speak up. They criticize President Ford's time in the White House. What did he do? He presented his record. And when the news media, these men are criticizing these men, that may be confirmed, those that Clark Harder had suggested, these men produced their record. Of course, there are those critics who try to take apart that record. But they defend themselves by proving the rest, producing the rest. That's not right. Paul did that. I think he is eloquent, sir. Yes, but love, when it comes to taking credit, For what they did do, for what they did, the Lord did. Love. He gave the credit to the proper source. What has the man that he hasn't received? And if he's received, why does he ignore him? And so love does not parade itself. It is humble. Another thing about love is not puffed up. You'll notice that at the end of verse four. Love is not popped up. Love realizes that whatever it has, it is a gift of God. There is nothing a man has for what that is in the spiritual realm that God hasn't given. And he's just using the tools that God given him, and thanks God for it. It shouldn't go to his head. And several times we notice on a previous sermon how greed is strength in it. Seven times, they're puffed up, they're puffed up, they're puffed up. Paul says, you got locked and puffed up. Look at this condition. What a mess there is in the church and court. And yet they're puffed up. Their record didn't give them any defense. They were just puffed up. Yes, and love is not puffed up. Another thing. does not behave itself unseemly. That's the next thing in the beginning of verse five. Does not behave itself unseemly. It's not rude. It's not ill-mannered. The daughter has walked with something to be hidden. Some people have some things in their life, and they don't want it out, and they act as though they never did it as it wasn't there. Yes, love doesn't do that. love doesn't behave itself unfeeling. Christ said, concerning himself, he said, in secret I have said nothing. I said nothing. Christ said my life is open for all of you to criticize. In secret I've said nothing. I've nothing to hide that love. Love can challenge Like Christ challenged his enemies, which one of you convicted him. Love is a wondrous fortress. You can't penetrate him. There stands love and all its dignity and grandeur. You can't do much of that. There it is. And it was the person of Jesus Christ. He's the person of Jesus. The person of Jesus. Love. Love. A wonderful love is. Then again, she kept not her old. find that in that first bar. Love, thinker, not her own. It's not selfish. I wonder about us today. Are we selfish? In fact, these very gifts in Corinth, some of these supernatural gifts we were pointing out tonight, it was really selfish. They wanted these tongues and these gifts so they might draw attention to themselves and give the impression to other people they're more holy than other people because they got to get the sound of treating tongues. They'll do the best, finish up it, their own enjoyment, their own pleasure, for entertainment. Yes, love doesn't do that. No, love does not do that. Love, she does not alone. She's not selfish. My house shall be free to do things for shepherds, to promote, to exalt shepherds. That's an unprofitable business. You'll eventually go bankrupt. If you're not doing what you're doing for the Lord, you might as well not do it. If I did what I've done for the Lord or to please man or to please myself, I'd be a mental trolley into this. For what I've done, I've done as unto the Lord. I had to do it. He gave me the ability to do it, and I've sought to do it to the best of my own life. not to promote death. All that will be would-hane stubble at the judgment feet of Christ if you do things for yourself. To please yourself, will please others. When you do something with a single eye to the glory of God, then you ingest the reward. And we can't proceed any longer on this subject, times, but the continuum of next Sunday morning was one of this wonderful things of love. In describing, in conclusion for the sake of any who may not be Christian. Talking about kindness, I suppose you've heard about the Duke of Wellington. He was about to pronounce a death penalty on a soldier. This soldier had been a good soldier. That is, far fighting was concerned. He's one of them dead, but he wouldn't abide by the rule. He broke the rule time and time and time again. And so when the time came for the Duke of Wellington to pronounce the death penalty upon this unruly man, he was visibly moved about the situation, and he said to the rest of the men, I am extremely sorry, he says, the pastor is sentenced, but he had tried everything, and all discipline and penalty, but has failed to prove this man, who is otherwise a grave and Good so. The general said, maybe some of my comrades here, your comrades, would like to express themselves. A man spoke up, he says, please, Your Excellency, have you tried forgiving him? Have you tried forgiving him this man? No, he says, I haven't. But I forgive him now. for all that he'd done, and I'll blot it out. I'll give him one more chance. And he did. That soldier was never guilty of breaking the rules of him. He was a devout follower, and a brilliant soldier for the Iron Duke. Yes, that's what God did. God gave us the chance. He imposed a death penalty upon us because of our sins, for man has sinned. The Bible says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The law won't bring you under. No. God says, I am going to show them that I love them and I am going to forgive them. And in Bible terminology, God can only forgive them. sin on the basis of sacrifice. And so it is. God wants to forgive you this morning for all your sins. Every woman will forgive them all. He will wash them away in the precious blood of his Son. And if you really appreciate that, you'll be like this soldier. You'll be Lord, the Christ, the followers, the fight. And like the woman on the seventh of... a wicked woman, came and wept at his feet and washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. The Lord Jesus said, Thy sins are forgiven me, so indeed. The Lord will forgive you on the basis of the blood of Christ. If love provided is sacrificed, on the basis of that, if you accept the Lord Jesus Christ, he will forgive you. all your sins, and if the reality of that dawns upon you that your sins and your iniquities you remember no more, he blotted them out. If you realize the wonderful truth of that, my sins are gone, my fears are wrong, I dug red, God's presence, now no more. And you say, well, after that, out of gratitude this soldier was faithful to the IRB. This is the only kind of gratitude the Lord's life. In other words, it's the kind of service he gave life, and the lives he likes, that live as a gratitude to him for what he did for us. He gave his life for us. Do I give my life for him, for him, for service, for me? This is something only you can ask. This is love divine. shall we pray. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into thy presence, he thanked thee for thy birth, and thanked thee for this wonderful capture the manifestation of thy wonderful love of the human race, and how it can only be displayed by Christ's dwelling in it, this lovely portrait of the saint, the personification of divine eternal love, and only when he's in our heart. Can we display things? Can we manifest that divine attributes of love? Help us all, we pray. So did we, any unsaved you this morning, who only know the coldness of sin and of wealth, may they know the warmth of the love of God today by receiving Christ as their personal Savior in all this fullness and sufficient.