Sermons on 1 Corinthians 13:8

… Love always protects, always keeps the faith, always hopes, always endures. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. And where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Because now we know in part. Now we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, what is partial will be put away. You see, when I was a child, I thought like a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I grew up, when I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. For now we see a poor reflection as in a mirror. Then we will see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. So, these three remain. Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. this last week I learned that passage from 1st Corinthians 13 by heart I said it over and over again I said it trusting that this is our destiny each of us who've been baptized into Jesus who've been brought to trust in Jesus we died we were reborn in him to be a small but important part of his body, the church. We are destined to grow into people who love like him. When perfection comes, when Jesus comes, to raise the dead and restore the good work of God's hands, one day this love will come naturally to us. But today, honestly, it still mystifies me. …

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… because it's his Word, and he's holy, and he's amazing, and he deserves it. We give him our full attention. Everyone standing to your feet, listen to the Word of God. Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. Here's the verse I want to read you. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man and got this hair on my chest, when I became a man and got these grays in my beard, when I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. The title of this message is a declaration today. Turn to your neighbor and say, "'I don't know what you're going through,' but the hardest part is behind you.'" I knew it. …

Watch at 6:03 · See full text →

… See, first of all, notice he says, he says, For we know now in part, and we prophesy in part. He's talking about, in verse 8 and 9, he's talking about now versus later. Time versus eternity. He says, now we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfection comes. Now, he uses a word here. Sometimes it's translated the perfect, usually. The perfect or when perfection comes. This is one of those places where it's very important to know the particular Greek word, because there's a number of Greek words that can be translated perfect. And I don't think the word perfect is the best word, though I don't really know what the best English word would be. The Greek word that Paul uses is, he says, when totelion comes. the teleon, the telos is the word that means design, aim, the aim, you see, we even get the idea of a telescope, the aim, the design, and Paul is talking about totelion, not that he's saying when we get to that which we're all aiming for, he's talking about ultimate fulfillment of design, He is saying there's a place where we become all that we should be, all we were meant to be, all we were made to be, all we want to be. …

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Thank you. 1 Corinthians 13, verses 1 to 13. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trusts always hopes always perseveres love never fails but where there are prophecies they will cease where there are tongues they will be stilled where there is knowledge it will pass away for we know in part and we prophesy in part but when perfection comes the imperfect disappears When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. …

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… Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection is in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. now we've been looking for several weeks and we're going to continue to look at this the greatest passage in all of literature probably most famous passage i should certainly say in all literature on love and we saw the first three verses says it doesn't matter if you can do prophecies or miracles love is the most important thing in the world let me quote from and this is an extremely interesting quote from David Koresh. David Koresh was a cult leader who led his followers to a fiery death in Waco a couple years back. And in his teachings, this is what he says. …

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… Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. And where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. And when I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Fortunately, this great passage we're looking at for a number of weeks, and today I really think I only have time to make one more point in our series of looking at this, but it's an extremely important point. …

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… Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish things behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. This is God's word. Now, he said last week that if you read this thing as a standalone passage, not seeing why Paul wrote it, to whom he was writing it, you miss the impact of it, and it's really a bombshell. And let me remind you what that context is, who he was writing to. He was writing to a very young church in Corinth, a new church. And this church was a brilliant church. And if you want to know something about what the church was like, you have to read verses one to three. …

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… Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will cease. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. And when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now we see, but a poor reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part. Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain. faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. This is God's word. Now, all during the winter, we were looking at what's wrong with the human race, and we said what's wrong with the human race is sin. So now the question that we have to face is, how do we lead an anti-sin life? How do we lead a life that is increasingly free from the ruinous power of sin. Now, somebody says an anti-sin life. You mean a good life. Well, the problem with that word is we've been seeing that sin is much more than breaking rules, and therefore, to live a Christian life would mean much more than keeping rules. I mean, I hope that if any of you were here for any of that series, you'll know that one thing you see is that you can keep …

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… of 1 Corinthians, Love never fails. Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. 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, then that which is in part shall be done away." Now, this portion of the text indicates that we are moving in the direction of our final eschatological hope where the fruit of the Spirit will reach its fulfillment point. We are justified as we've considered, and justification is followed by the process of sanctification which has been at center stage in these lectures, but sanctification has an ultimate terminal point in a consuming work of grace which we call what? Glorification. Then all sin will be eradicated from our personality and that we will live lives totally and completely in conformity to the will of God in perfect righteousness. We in our redemption never expect to be deified, but we do expect to be fully and finally sanctified, in this life, but in heaven. The completion of this process will take place when God will purify us. Remember I mentioned early on John's statement in his epistles, Beloved, behold what manner of love is this, that we should be called the children of God. …

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