Love is presented as the supreme and permanent attribute of Christianity, surpassing all spiritual gifts and abilities. The sermon emphasizes that while gifts like prophecy, tongues, and knowledge are temporary, love is eternal and the core of true Christian life. It details fourteen properties of love, highlighting its patient, kind, and selfless nature, and contrasts it with the temporary nature of spiritual gifts, illustrating that without love, even great abilities are meaningless. The message concludes by asserting that love is the ultimate solution to all problems and the defining characteristic of Christ's followers, urging believers to manifest this love in their interactions.
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I shall read again this morning in First Corinthians chapter twelve on verse twenty eight. First Corinthians chapter twelve in verse twenty eight. I'm going to have to say to some in the church. First apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles then gifts of healing. helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I on to you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not loved, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol. And though I have the gift 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. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not loved, It provideth me nothing.
Love suffereth long on its kind. Love envieth not. Love wanteth not itself. Is not puffed up. Doeth not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own. Is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not an iniquity. But rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things. believeth all things, hopeeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth, but whether they be prophecies they shall fail, whether they be tongues they shall cease, whether they be knowledge it shall vanish away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I speak as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish 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. And now abided, say, hope, love, these three. But the greatest of these is love.
Follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. I don't suppose there's a more important passage in the Bible than the one we have read this morning. I have come to feel the older I get. that the very heart and core of true Christianity is love. And I think it would be well worth our time this morning to look at this lovely chapter. And first of all, to look at the preeminence of love in the beginning of the chapter, and then the middle part of the chapter where we get the properties of love, fourteen of them all together, and then at the end of the chapter to look at the permanence of love.
Other things are temporary, but this great quality, this great attribute of God, love is something that's permanent. And again, I want to repeat, it is the heart and core of true vital Christianity. Now we have been looking at these various things in the first official of the Corinthians that was giving trouble to the assembly. and also bringing heartache to the heart of the Apostle Paul. He was a man that was a gospel pioneer. And anyone who has done that type of work know a little bit about his feelings at this time.
I don't think that there's anything that brings more joy to the heart of any servant of God and to see a little company that God has used him in raising up to see them going on well. But you remember the Apostle in speaking about his trials, his tribulation, the credentials of his ministry. In the second epistle to the Corinthians, he gives a list of the different things that he had endured as a servant of God. Some of them were physical. He speaks about shipwreck. He speaks about being beaten with rods and all that kind of thing. This persecution he had endured. But at the end of that list, he says, That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
Now I think that any man that knows anything at all about the work of God would say that this last item is the one that gives them more exercise before God, the care of all the churches. You know, it's one thing to go into a place and preach the gospel, and to see God's hand-working, in a wonderful way, and see a New Testament assembly being raised up. It gives one absolutely unqualified delight and joy. It's the greatest joy of the Gospel pioneer. But you know, as soon as that happens, very often there are difficulties and problems arise. And as long as God leaves his servant down here, one anxiety, the greatest anxiety that he has.
the greatest tension that he has in his heart, or how those little companies are going on. As they're going on with God, on things are developing and God is blessing, it gives him indescribable joy. But when difficulties and problems arise, and there is the possibility that the work might be destroyed, it puts him on his face before God. That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Now this is what we find in the first epistle of the Corinthians. And as we have been pointing out, from beginning to end of the epistle, there are problems here that has given the Apostle a good deal of anxiety. He has dealt with them one by one.
And the final one here that we have been looking at is the question of public ministry, the public ministry of the Word. I believe that these things that give the Apostle anxiety in his day, these are very practical problems today. These are things that we find in our church testimony on every hand. And I think that we should have a clear perception, a clear idea in our mind of what the Word of God has to say about them. Now the Lord knows my heart that the only object we have had during this week in speaking about these things is to be a help of one another. These are things that are being let go of the day.
And not only that, but there's a tremendous confusion in people's minds as to what the mind of God is for his people as they gather together in church capacity. We have been looking at the truth of fellowship in first Corinthians ten. And then we were looking at the truth of headship in the first section of chapter eleven. And then we were looking at that lovely subject of worship. The heart going up to God and worship. and particularly at the Lord's table. While we partake of the Lord's Supper, the heart going up to God and worship. This is the great central truth. And I do believe that the greatest meeting, the greatest time in the life of any believer, is when we sit at the Lord's table and remember the Lord in his death.
I think that this is the climax of the teaching in First Corinthians chapter eleven, worship. and how little it's understood today. And then we were looking at the truth of Lordship, the preeminent position that our Blessed Lord occupies among his other people. Now yesterday we were considering the truth of membership in the body and certain practical problems connected with it and especially connected with the public ministry of the Word. We were pointing out yesterday that every member of the body as a function to perform. There's no such thing as a member that doesn't have a work to do.
Each member of the body, even taking our physical body, every organ of our body has some vital function to perform. Some members are more obscure than others. You think of these members that are hidden that we don't see at all. And sometimes we hardly know their name. As we look at the human body, you think of the spleen. It's a very important organ. I never knew that I had a spleen until I went to Africa. And when I started to get malaria, I started to get a pin here on my left side. And when I consulted a medical man, he said, why? He said, that's your spleen. Every time you get a dose of malaria, it acts as a kind of a filter.
On all that dead blood that has been destroyed by the malarial germ, the spleen, the function that it has, is to eliminate it. It acts as a kind of a filter. On all that dead blood that goes into your spleen and it swells up. I have seen native children with a spleen as big as a football, and their little tummy all swollen out by the spleen. I didn't even know I had a spleen until I went to Africa, and then I found out, I had to find out the hard way. But you know, these organs that we have in our body, every one of them, has a vital function to perform, and whether it's man or woman or child. in the body of Christ every member has a function to perform on the great truth of membership that we find in first Corinthians chapter twelve that is the truth that's taught there the truth of membership in the body now there are some things that we didn't have the time to look at yesterday and I think it might be as well just to outline what we believe about gift in the body of Christ on the members and the functions that they have to perform This is a very confusing thing in many people's minds today.
Now, I believe that gifts, and particularly the gifts that are outlined in First Corinthians chapter twelve, that they fall into three categories. Now, we won't have time to go into them all, but I think that it would be a good idea, we've got it clearly in our mind, that gift, exercise in the body of Christ, members functioning in the body, that they're looked at in a three-fold way in this great passage. First of all, there are foundational gifts. Now, we have been pointing out that the Apostle and the Prophet, these were gifts that we find in the body, in the foundation. Right at the commencement of church testimony, we find the Apostle and the Prophet.
I don't believe we have the Apostles and Prophets with us today. They were men that were in the foundation. They were raised up by God to do a specific work. They're incorporated in the foundation of the building. And we're right at the commencement of church testimony of the Apostle and the Prophet. Now there are other gifts that are called sign gifts. And I believe that the word you could put upon them is temporary. And someone might say, these gifts that are mentioned here in First Corinthians twelve, the gifts of healing, the gift of tongues, the gift of miracles and so on. Do we have them with us today? When I personally believe that they were temporary gifts, they're called sign gifts that were given at the inauguration of the dispensation.
And if anybody were to tell me today that they have the gift of healing, that they have the gift of prophecy, that they have the gift of miracles, that they have the gift of tongues, I would like to put a few tests to them that the Word of God gives in connection with it. People who profess today to have the gift of miracles, I would say, well, now, I would like you to demonstrate to me if you're able to raise the dead. You know, in the early days of church testimony, that was done. We find it in the Acts of the Apostles that actually the dead were raised. The gift of miracles. On people who professed today, professionally, who professed today to have the gift of miracles, I believe that that cannot be demonstrated.
If they do have the gifts of miracles, they should go the whole length and be able to raise the dead. Now the Lord Jesus did it when he was here on earth, and in the early days of church testimony there were miracles performed in that day, but I believe that there were temporary. At the commencement of every dispensation, we find that miracles were performed. It was the credential that God gave to his servants at that time. that the work that was being performed was of God. The credentials that were furnished by God at the commencement of each dispensation, you find it right through the Bible. And certainly, in the church age, we find exactly the same thing, but they were temporary gifts.
They're called sign gifts. Now, the gifts of tongues, I believe, is a sign gift. We find in First Corinthians fourteen these words that the gift was given as a sign. Not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. And if we were to take the passage that's quoted in First Corinthians fourteen, and turn over to Isaiah chapter eight from which it's quoted, you'll find that the sign was given to the Jews. It's the unbelieving Jews. And in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, you'll find sixteen different people from different areas of the world gather together at Pentecost, each speaking a different language.
on every man heard in his own dialect, every man heard in his own tongue the wonderful works of God. It was a sign gift, and it was given particularly to the Jewish nation. You'll find that in every place in the Acts of the Apostles, where you find the gift exercise, you'll always find the unbelieving Jew in the background. It was a sign gift that was given to them the fulfillment of of what we find in Isaiah chapter twenty-eight. The unbelieving Jew was given the sign of tongues to show that God was working. It was to authenticate the work that was being done in that day.
Anyone today who professes to have the gift of tongues, there are certain tests. We mentioned the other night. First Corinthians fourteen, the test of confusion, the test of the name of the Lordship of Christ, the test of the interpreter. No one can speak in tongues publicly unless there's an interpreter. And then finally, there's the test of whether it's a woman speaking or whether it's a man. About eighty percent of those that profess to have the gift of tongues today are women. And there is something about the psychological makeup of a woman that would tend in that direction.
The Word of God says, let your women keep silence in the church. and the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God can never be antagonistic one to the other. If God is working and the Holy Spirit is speaking, it must never be contrary to the plain teaching of the Word of God. So that there are temporary gifts. On anyone who professes to have it a day, I believe that they should put the test of the Word of God on the test that are laid down in First Corinthians fourteen concerning the exercise of that gift. So there was a young woman in Angola with her husband many years ago. Fine, fine people.
They came from this country. They were from the state of Tennessee. And they came out to Angola to form a new mission. I don't want to go into the story in detail. But they were not able to get permission from the Portuguese government to start a work. They came from a little denomination. in Tennessee, and the professor had the gift of healing of the gift of tongues. They refused to take any medicine. And after about six months in the country, the husband, fine-upstanding young man, twenty-six years of age, he started getting malaria.
Now we have a specific drug for malaria. We have other synthetic drugs today to keep it under control. And after about six months, this young man started getting malaria. Now, all he needed to do was to take a few doses of quinine, or there are other drugs that we use for the day. But he said, no, he said, we have the gift of healing. And he said, we're willing to trust God. He said, to heal our body and to refuse to take the medicine, the specific that we always have to take. And he became desperately ill. And while he was in a coma... The nurse that was there sent for a doctor against their will.
And when the doctor arrived and walked into the room and stood at the foot of the bed, he was just in time to see that young man pass out, and I believe pass into the presence of the Lord. A truly born-again man and a fine, upstanding young fellow, I believe that God had used. We had the medicine there to keep him in health. but he believed he had the gift of healing and that he didn't need it. And the result was that he lost his life. Oh, every time I looked at his grave, his name was Edmund Stark. And every time I looked at his grave over there, I couldn't help but feel, oh, what a terrible tragedy of a misinterpretation of the Word of God.
But a little while afterwards, the wife, she decided to stay on in the country. She actually lived in the country for eighteen years. and try to do some work among the women and the girls. But you know, that girl who professed to have the gift of tongue, after eighteen years in the country, never was able to learn a simple African language so that she could express herself clearly among the people in the country. What value has the gift of tongues if it hasn't a practical value? Never was able to learn an African language and express itself clearly to the people, and yet at the same time profess to have the gift of tongue. I just can't understand that kind of thing. But I believe that the simple teaching of the Word of God is this, that it was a sign gift, a temporary gift that was given to the church in the early days of the church's testimony on when its purpose had been fulfilled.
I believe it was withdrawn. Tongues shall cease. I believe it was withdrawn. And so all we can do today, people who profess to have this gift, all we can do today is test them by the four or five tests that we find in this passage of the Word of God. There were temporary gifts, but then there are permanent gifts. And there are quite a number of them here. We don't want to go into them in any detail this morning, but of this one gift that I would call it. If there's one gift among the list that I would covet, I believe a permanent gift is the gift of helps. Now, this is a gift that very many people are not very much interested in.
They like these spectacular things, working miracles and speaking tongues on this kind of thing. But if there's one gift that I would earnestly covet a day to have, it's the gift of being a help. to God's people. It's not a spectacular thing at all, but it's one of the most important among the people of God today. The only other place where the word helps occurs in the New Testament is the next chapter twenty-seven. Now I know that the word in chapter twenty-seven is a different Greek word. The original is different. But I want to use it as an illustration of the word that's used here, help. You remember the ship on which the Apostle was traveling to Rome, the green ship?
They had got on board there in Palestine and they'd started off. And the soft, south wind, it blew softly. And the captain of the ship, thinking that everything was all right, started off for Rome. But it wasn't very long until they ran into a storm. And Euro-Cleiden, that great storm there in the Mediterranean, it blew and blew and blew. And the little ship carrying grain and carrying passengers to Rome, it started to go to pieces. Now, it would be interesting to go into the various things that the sailors did to try to save the ship. One of the first things they did was throw the tackling overboard. And then the different means for navigation that tried to lighten the ship and they threw that overboard.
But the last thing they did, they threw the cargo overboard, the grain. That precious grain that they were carrying went over the side, and they hoped by doing that that they would be able to reach their destination. You know, that's a little picture of what people are doing today. The Church of God, the tackling of the ship, on the means of navigation, on the compass, on the charts and everything else, and then finally the precious grain is going over the side. But the final thing, really, that they used helps undergirding the ship. Now when I was a boy, I served a five-year apprenticeship in shipbuilding. And the men with whom I worked at that time were men who had served their apprenticeship in sail.
And I loved as a boy to sit at the feet of these old men who had gone round Cape Horn and the old windjammers in the early days. I was just a boy, sixteen years of age at the time, but these were men, some of them sixty, even seventy, and they had... served their time in the old sailing ships. And a word I used to hear them use quite often was frapping. We frapped the ship. And I would say to them, what do you mean by that, frapping the ship? Well, they said, in those old wooden wind jammers and those terrific storms going around Cape Horn, he said, the ship sprang a leak. And what they did, they took a cable. And that cable, holding the two ends of the cable in the ship, they would take a loop of the cable and go up to the bar.
and drop that loop of the cable down over the bow of the ship, and then pull it around the forefoot of the ship, and then around the two bilges, underneath the keel and around the two bilges, and securing the two ends of the cable in the ship. They put a shackle there, and then with a marlin spike, they twisted it around and around and around, and they frapped the ship. Now that is the word that's used here. They used help. under-girding the ship. They took that steel cable, that is what they did in our day. Of course, in those days it was likely a rope. But they put it around the keel of the ship, and then in the center part they twisted it around and around on the under-gird of the ship when it was liable to go to pieces.
Now, that is the word that's used in Acts chapter twenty-seven for helps. And of this one great work in the Church of God today, it's men that are able to do that. Did you ever see a little company of God's people going through a storm? Many, many times that has happened. And you know, there are a lot of the sailors. There are a lot of the crew on the ship, and they want to launch the boat and get out of it. Get out of it just as quickly as they can. Get the lifeboat and abandon the old thing and just let it go to the bottom. But you know, there's a better way than that. To take helps and undergird the ship. and to see some good man. And thank God we have them among us today.
Men with the exercise for the good of God's dear people and to put their arms around it. And they hold it together while it's going through the storm. The youth helps on their girding the ship. And that's the type of a man I would like to be. And may God help each one of us here this morning to be a help among God's people. And put your arms around it. in any time of a period of difficulty when the church, when the little assembly, the little company of God's people is going through a storm, put your arms around it. Don't pull it to pieces, and when there's a leak, take your axe and widen the breach. Don't do that kind of thing, but put your arms around it and be a help undergirding the ship.
First of all, there's the foundation gives, and then there's the temporary gives. And then finally, I believe that there are permanent gifts that are with us today. We were mentioning some of them the other night. The evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher. Now this brings us to our chapter. And I feel completely unable to open up this wonderful chapter in any way that I would like. But I want you to notice that this beautiful, beautiful chapter, it stretches one hand into chapter twelve. and it stretches the other hand into chapter fourteen. And it's this chapter that holds the two together. That is the reason why I read that last little paragraph in chapter twelve and why I read the first paragraph in chapter fourteen.
Notice what it says. Wherefore brethren covet prophecy and forbid not to speak in tongues. That's chapter fourteen. Verse thirty-one in chapter twelve. but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. So here we get the one hand going into chapter twelve at the commencement, and in chapter fourteen in verse one, follow after love, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. So here this beautiful chapter is what holds the two chapters together.
You know, I often thought that these three chapters, they can't be divided. It's one connected line of teaching. You remember what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy? He said, God hath not given unto us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Power and love and a sound mind. Now, I believe that those three words, are the key words of these three chapters. In chapter twelve we get the par, and in chapter thirteen we get the love, and in chapter fourteen we get a sound mind.
I think about nine times in chapter fourteen we get the word understanding, understanding, understanding, understanding. It's the sound mind, on the exercise of self-control and the sound mind that we get in chapter fourteen. But the chapter that holds the two together, The power on the one side of the Holy Ghost. And the sound mind of chapter fourteen is this lovely outline of love. Again, to use another illustration, in chapter twelve we get a beautiful piece of machinery. So to speak, a chantalant car. Beautiful, beautiful piece of mechanism. I love to see a motor ticking over with hardly a sound.
Beautiful piece of work. And in chapter twelve we get the Cadillac. Or we get the piece of machinery. Now in chapter fourteen we find it running. And operating. But in between we get a very, very important principle. And that is the oil that keeps it running. By the way, some years ago the Governor General of Angola, he bought a Cadillac. sent over to Detroit and bought a beautiful car. And they had a ship to cross the Atlantic, and they didn't know it at the time, but before they shipped it across the Atlantic, they drained the oil and the water out of the car.
If it's being shipped overseas, they generally do that. And the car was landed in Luanda in the capital of Angola. And they sent a notice to the Governor-General that had arrived and was done at the docks. And after it had been cleared through customs, the Governor-General, he sent his chauffeur down to the docks to pick it up and bring it up to his palace. Now, the chauffeur, he didn't know that the oil and the water had been drained out of it before it was put on board ship. And there was that beautiful automobile sitting there on the dockside, and he just took a walk around and took a look at it, and he was just delighted. And to show it off, He started up the motor, and to show it off, he took it around some of the streets of Luanda before he took it up to the palace.
But just as he got there, after a very, very short little run, the thing came to a grinding halt. And he looked at it, wondered what was wrong. He threw up the hood, and he took the dipstick out of the car, and he found that there was no oil in it. And there was no water in the radiator. And when it got up to the door of the palace, the whole thing was completely ruined. The motor was seized. And what was the reason? There was no oil there. Now, the important thing about this chapter is it's the oil that makes the machinery go. We have been talking about doctrine these mornings, and we've been talking about these different ships.
We've been talking about fellowship and worship. and lordship and membership and so on. Here's a lovely fleet of ships. But if you want the power to make them go, you need the oil. The one go, not a step, the one go without it. And the oil that we get that makes the machinery work here is in chapter thirteen. Now, it's infinitely important. And any engineer, anyone who's had any experience in engineering at all, he would tell you that the grit of the revolution in the motor the better the oil. And one thing that has been a great problem with engineers, automobile engineers up to the present time, is that the more power that there is in the motor, well, you have to be awfully careful about the oil.
We bought a new car at the end of the year, and before we drove it away, we were warned, now get the very best oil you can get. It's not economy at all to buy cheap oil. Get the best grade, and be always sure, that never let the oil drop to a certain level, for the friction is not being eliminated by the oil. Now this is a very simple thing, and yet it's so important. Now here is the oil that makes the machinery work, and makes the ships go. Here's the motor car. And here we find, I believe, the solution to all the problems and difficulties in First Corinthians. Now to look at the passage itself, we want the time to go into all the details connected with it, but just a little word of suggestion in connection with the interpretation of the passage.
The first few verses is occupied with the superiority or the pre-eminence of love. And then the central part of the passage is occupied with the fourteen properties of love. So to speak, it's analyzed for us. Here we get the oil, we get it analyzed, and all the ingredients and properties in it. There are fourteen of them all together, and I would like you to notice that eight of them are negative, and six of them are positive. The positive qualities and the negative qualities of the oil, of this lovely thing that makes the machinery go. And then at the end of the passage, we get the permanence of love.
All the gifts and all of these other things that we've been speaking about, Well, some of them are temporary, others are permanent. But among the most permanent things, the thing that will never, never pass away is this beautiful quality, this attribute of God Himself. It's the attribute of love. Now the teaching of the Lord Jesus and the teaching of the apostles is that the most vital part of Christianity is this wonderful attitude. This wonderful attribute is love. We have been referring several times to the teaching of the Lord Jesus in the upper room. And you remember as he took his disciples up to the upper room, thirty times in the upper room discourse he mentions love, love, love.
He said this, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the uttermost. The constancy of love. And thirty times in the upper room discourse he mentions it. And this is the way he brings it to a head. He said, by this, Shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another? Here is the badge of the believer. We can have all the doctrine in our heads possible. And that is a good thing. It's a wonderful thing to have a clear conception in our minds and hearts of Christian doctrine. But, oh, beloved friends, it must be balanced by love. Here is the heart and the core of the matter.
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have loved one to another. And what does the Apostle John say? He says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. You know, sometimes I have doubts in my mind. I have no doubts at all about God and his love. But sometimes I doubt myself. And I don't know what you feel, but sometimes when I look at my own heart, oh, this poor old heart of mine. And when I look inside and I see the flesh and the body of sin and the old man and the way that it works, sometimes I ask myself, are you a Christian at all? Do you know anything at all about vital Christianity?
I'll tell you one thing I always come back to. It's that verse that John mentions, John's wonderful exposition of love in his first epistle, by this. But the Lord said, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, that ye have loved one to another. And then what John says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. I can remember before God saved me, the only word I can use in connection with myself was, I hated the brethren. Now, that is rather a strong word, but it's perfectly true. brought up on a Christian home. My dear parents were godly people, and I was a rebellious teenager, just like many that are around today.
And my mother, my father, they used to invite people after a meeting to come to the home and would sit and sing hymns, and I absolutely hated it. As a matter of fact, when they were doing that kind of thing, I felt so uncomfortable that the neighbors would see us sitting singing these hymns. I used to get a hold of my hat and get out. And I hated every moment of it. And not only that, but I hated the believer. It's the only word I can use. But you know, God brought me down. And he dealt with me, and he broke my heart. And not only did he break my heart, but he broke my will. And one night I got down before him, and I said, Oh, Lord, I'm just a poor, helpless, godless sinner, fit for nothing but hell, and eternal banishment from thyself.
God broke me. And he brought me down. And one night God saved my soul. And you know, there was something miraculous happened. And the change that took place in my heart was that love was shed abroad on my heart. Now, we're not bragging about this, but God knows, I speak honestly this morning, that I really love God's people. There's no place I would rather be than in a little prayer meeting. And to be in company that sounds godly, where the things of God are despised And thrown out, I feel utterly uncomfortable there. But to get among a company of God's people, those that know and love the Lord, I'm absolutely at home.
And that is one reason why I believe that I'm a Christian. We know that we have passed from death unto life, and why? Because we love the brother. And if you see any man with bitter hatred in his heart, instead of love, there's something seriously wrong. Hitred against God and hatred against his people and hatred against his world is what characterized the world ain't. But the thing that great, the great thing that characterizes every true believer is that he really loves the Lord Jesus. He really loves the Word of God and he really loves the people of God. This is a great test of vital Christianity. It's the heart and core of the whole matter.
Do we love or do we not? Now this is the great chapter of love. And first of all, we get it compared with gifts. Now we're not going to go into these gifts that are mentioned here, but the Apostle, he said, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I have become a sounding brass or tinkling symbol, just a great big noise. That is what the word actually means. Nothing but a sounding brass and tinkling symbol, a great big racket, a great big noise. But you know, if I have love in my heart, this is far, far superior to even the gift of tongues. He's been dealing with that. I heard an Irishman say a thing one day, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.
Discussing the gift of tongues, he said, I believe there's a greater gift than the gift of tongues. And he said, I believe that that gift is the gift of being able to hold your tongue. And I think that that is far, far more important. If we're able to hold your tongue at the proper time, it'll do you far more good than having the gift of tongue. Tongues would puff up, but edification, it builds up. So here, love at the commencement here is shown to be superior. It's preeminent. The preeminence of love, and it's compared to five different gifts. There's first of all the orator. And then there's the scholar. And then there's the miracle worker.
And then there's the philanthropist. And finally there's the martyr. And he holds up these men outstanding in their own way. But he says, if they don't have love, it all amounts to nothing. It's superior to all of these tremendous gifts. So here we get the pre-eminence of love. It is superior to gifts. I remember many years ago, an outstanding teacher of the word, a man who was internationally known. I was just a boy at the time, and I was absolutely thrilled by his ministry. And after the meeting was over, I thought I would like to go and show my appreciation to him for the ministry that he had given. And I went to him in the corridor at a conference.
Now, he was a big man, and I was only a boy at the time. But I did want to express my appreciation to him, and I went to talk to him. You know, he brushed me off as if I didn't have an existence. And I came away with my heart just done in my books. And I said to myself, well, after all, I think there's something superior to give. Oh, anybody can talk. Anybody that is a facile tongue and has a well-informed mind and is a bit of an actor, he can talk. But, oh, the important thing is to have love on one's heart. It's superior to any gift that a person can possibly have. The gift must be balanced by love.
But in the balance, I believe that the superior thing is love. Oh, may God help us to have love. And to show that love and to show our appreciation to God's dear people wherever we find us. Now, just a word or two about the properties of love and the fourteen different characteristics, the fourteen... different things that's mentioned here connected with it. And notice that eight of them are negative and six of them are positive. I was talking to some young people the other day and speaking about ministry, they say, we have no use for negative ministry. What we need is positive ministry. On this negative ministry we have no use for it at all.
But you know, we need to be balanced. I understand that last week our dear brother Peter Pell was here, a very good warm friend of my own, many and many a thing I have learned from him. His brother Will is an entirely different type of an individual. And one day in talking to Will Pell, he told me about an experience that he had preaching in the open air. And he said, I had a public address system, and it was run off a six-volt battery. Now, Will, he said, I didn't understand anything at all. He said, about the working of the thing. But he said, we were out preaching in the open air, and I just simply could not get the thing to work.
I'd done everything that I knew, but he said, it wouldn't work. But he said, I have a brother who's an electrician. And he said, I sent for him. And he came and he took one look at it. Why? He said, Brother Will. He said, you have a positive there. But he said, you know, you need a negative. He had it hooked up to the positive side of the battery, but he had admitted to take the clip and to clip it onto the negative side. He said, you know, to make the thing work, he said, you need a negative and a positive. And if you have a negative on the positive, then the thing will work. Do you know that we do need negative ministry sometimes? And you notice here in connection with love that eight of the negative things here are things that love doesn't do.
But then we're told of six lovely things that love does do. Oh, I wish we had a brother that would be able to open up these things. These fourteen qualities of love, just a word or two, about one or two of them. Love suffereth long and is kind. Love envieth not. Love vaunteth not itself. Is not passed up. Doesn't that deal with the condition that we find at the commencement of the epistle? I think about seven times in first Corinthians we read of this word, this graphic word puffed up, puffed up, envy and jealousy and so on. And you know one thing that love never does, it doesn't puff up.
It doesn't make a person self-conceited. And when you see anyone going around as proud as a peacock and as conceited as they can possibly be, self-important is something seriously wrong. There's certainly no love there. And so here, this verse, I think it deals with the condition that we find at the commencement of the epistle. Does not behave itself unseemly. Seeketh not her own. Is not easily provoked. Thinketh no evil. Oh, that word, thinketh no evil. Doesn't that deal with the condition there in connection with purity? The purity of the heart and mind and life?
that the Apostle emphasized again and again at the commencement of the epistle. But notice that little word is not easily provoked. The only other place that I can think of where we find that word is in Acts chapter fifteen. Now I'm not going to go into this in detail or lengthen it up. But you remember the Apostle had a controversy with his brother. That is with Barnabas. And it came out of a very, very trivial matter. You remember John Mark had been with them on the first missionary journey. John Mark was a relative of Barnabas. But to read that John Mark, he left them. He abandoned them. And he went back again to Jerusalem.
And at the second missionary journey, when it was suggested that John Mark go again, Paul, he stood like a rock and he said, no. He said, he's not coming. He left us at the first. He abandoned us. And he said, he's not coming. But Barnabas, he said, well, I think I can hear him say, why not give the young man a chance? Why not let him come? Why not give him a second chance? But Paul, he stood like a rock, and he refused to bow. He refused to allow John Mark to come. And believe these words that the contention was so sharp that the part of the sun were one from the other. Now that word contention, actually the word is paroxone.
paroxone. It means to get so worked up that you're completely out of your senses, that you don't know what you're doing, you lose your self-control, a paroxone. Anyone who's had malaria, don't know what the word means. It actually is a medical word. The first time I ever saw my wife in a malarial rider, she was completely out of her head. We're not going to tell that story, but it was the first time that she ever had malaria. And I went into the little hut where we were living at the time we were alone. And I said, do you know me? Oh, yes, she said, I know you.
I said, well, who am I? Well, she said, there's no need to go in any detail. We were living there in the middle of the bush. She was completely out of her mind. Didn't know what she was doing. It was a malarial rigor and a malarial paroxan. Now, that is the word that's used here. Did you ever see a man like that in a business meeting, getting so out of control that he doesn't know what he's saying? Now, this is a very, very common ailment among God's people. And I believe that the apostle here, he's looking back at that experience with regret. Love is not easily provoked. It doesn't easily get into paroxysm. I believe that the apostle, in writing this word, he possibly has in mind what happened between him and his beloved brother.
Read that Barnabas was a good man. The Apostle was an outstanding man, but they parted company one from the other, and they never were working in double harness again. I think the Apostle must have had regrets about that. He certainly relaxed and he relented in his attitude to John Mark at the latter part of his life. But he said, love is not easily provoked. It doesn't get into a paroxysm. It doesn't lose its self-control. It keeps itself in absolute self-control on us able to approach things in a well-balanced way. Love is not easily provoked. Rejoice is not an iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeeth all things, endureth all things. There's just one other little word I want to mention here. A said word, thinketh no evil. I think it's Phillips. In his translation, he translated, doesn't keep an account book or doesn't keep a ledger. You say, just what is behind the idea. You know, there's some people when they have some difficulty with a brother, they say, well, now I'll forgive you, but. I'll forgive you, but. And you know, they keep an account book. we had a problem over in Angola some years ago between two brethren in the assembly, and both of them were good men.
One man was being disciplined, and the man who had brought the thing to light was a man who too had a very, very fine testimony. But the man who was being disciplined, he went to his house and he got a little jotter, a school jotter. And over a period of twenty-five years, He had written down two or three things in that book against the other man. Now he said, you have brought this charge against me. And he said, I'm being disciplined by the assembly for this, but he said, you know, you're not altogether clear. On things that he had jotted down twenty-five years previously, he had kept quiet about it, but he had made a note of it. And when the thing was being brought out, when the thing was being hammered out there in connection with the discipline of the other man, he brought out his account book.
You know, love doesn't keep account books. And if any dear brother comes to me and says, I'm sorry for what happened. I believe I should wipe it completely out of my mind and wipe it out of the ledger. Wipe it out of the account book and don't hold it grudge. You know, it'll be interesting to read Philip's translation of the whole passage and Moffat's translation. Now, some of these men, I don't agree with them theologically. But as far... of some of the translations that have given her consent, it throws a tremendous floodlight on the meaning of some of these words. The negative side, things that love doesn't do. And then things that love does do. Love suffereth long on this kind.
Oh, I love that. Love suffereth long on this kind. Oh, if we can only be kind one to another, what a wonderful change, what a wonderful difference it could make in our life and testimony here below. So look at these fourteen qualities and examine them and study them. And I believe it would make a tremendous difference to our life and testimony if they were practiced in our lives. Now, at the end of the passage, we get the permanence of love. Our time is about gone. I just want to close with just one or two little suggestions here connected with the end of the passage. The apostle here is drawing a contrast between the things that are nara and the things that shall be.
Nara undance. Now and then, now and then. Now there is a controversy about the interpretation of the passage. Some would tell me that the now and then is the completion of the canon. That is the canon of Holy Scripture. At the time when the words were written, of course, it wasn't complete. And what the Apostle is thinking about is the completion of the canon. When that which is perfect is come, we are told, is the completion of the canon. Well, that may be partially true. But I believe that the complete fulfillment of these words is only when we see the Lord face to face. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.
Now we know in part, but then shall we know as we have been fully known. I believe that the complete interpretation of the passage is from the see the Lord Jesus face to face. Down here we know in part, we prophesy in part, and so on. But it's only then, when we get into the Lord's presence, I believe it's then that we see face to face, and it's then that we shall know even as we have been fully known. We're not going to go into detail again about this. I know it's controversial, but I personally believe that both these ideas are true. It could be, first of all, the completion of the canon of Holy Scripture.
But the complete fulfillment of the passage, I believe, will only be when life is passed and we're in the Lord's presence and we'll be able to understand things that we don't understand now. You know, very often we make mistakes because our knowledge is partial. Many years ago in Portugal, I came into the meeting and there was a man standing at the door. I was twenty-one years of age at the time. shaking hands with me as it was coming in. He said, I saw something today, he said, that surprised me. I said, what did you see? He said, I saw you walking down the street in Lisbon. They said, you were smoking a cigarette. And I was so shocked, I hardly knew where I was standing.
I said, I said, you what? He said, you were walking along the street, and he said, you were smoking a cigarette. When I got over my surprise, I said, well, brother, I can tell you quite sincerely that I have never smoked a cigarette in my life. I have nothing to brag about, God knows. But I said, as far as smoking is concerned, I said, I've never had a cigarette on my person or in my mouth in my life. I never learned to smoke. Well, he said, it was somebody who looked very like you. Same color of hair, on the same walk, on the same turn of a suit. He said, I could have sworn in a court of law it was you. Well, I said, brother, I can tell you sincerely that it was a case of mistaken identity because I can tell you honestly, but I have never smoked a cigarette in my life.
And when he got over his surprise, he said, I'm glad I didn't tell anybody else. I said, so am I. I'm glad you didn't either. Now he would have been perfectly sincere in going and telling the brethren there or maybe writing home, here's this man going out to Africa. professedly to teach the heathen and to take the gospel to the heathen. And here he is walking down our street, smoking a cigarette like a whirling. He would have been perfectly sincere in saying that. But you know, he would have been perfectly wrong. And you know, now we know in part, and we need to be awfully careful in anything that we do or say. To put it through the three says, first of all, is it true?
And secondly, is it necessary? And thirdly, is it kind? And you know, if you investigate it in your mind, you'll maybe find that it's completely untrue. Although we may be sincere in repeating it. Nor we know in part, but then we shall know even as we have been fully known. Well may God help each one of us here this morning that this lovely, lovely attribute. It's the attribute of God himself. God is love. That this may characterize us. Now just in closing. There's a little book that has been a tremendous blessing to me in recent years, and that is The Life of Mr. Harold Sinjin. If you don't have that book, I'd very, very strongly advise you to get a copy of it.
It's written by his daughter, Patricia. And there's a little story at the end of the book that's well worth the price of the book. Now, Miss Sinjin, she tells of her father, he's dying. He's already in a coma. And the whole family are gathered around the bed. And just before he passes into the presence of the Lord, he opens his eyes. And there's a smile, a radiant smile, comes over his face. And looking at the ceiling, whether he knew the family were there or not, I don't know. But looking at the ceiling, he said this. I have discovered the solution to all our problems. He said, it was love all the time. To me, that's well worth the price of the book.
I have discovered the solution to all our problems. It was love all the time. Oh, beloved brethren, if love, the love of Christ was spread abroad in our hearts, not only love to Christ, but love to one another, all our difficulties would disappear like the morning cloud that would disappear. May God bless his word. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, again we thank thee for the privilege of coming to thee into thy presence. We thank thee for the precious blood, and we thank thee for the mediator. at thy right hand. And our Father, we know that the things we have been speaking about perfectly characterized him when he was here on air.
We thank you that he was the very embodiment of love. We thank you that he came to manifest thy love to man. And our Father, we pray that thou will help us in all our problems and difficulties here below to manifest that love of God in our heart and that it may be spread abroad in the world around. Remember each one of thy dear children here this morning. Help us, we pray, to love one another, and that this love may be manifest in every action and every word that we say. May we commend us to thee again, asking thy blessing upon thy holy word in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.