WEBVTT 00:00:00.001 --> 00:00:04.000 Love never ends. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.000 As for prophecies, they will pass away. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.000 As for tongues, they will cease. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.000 As for knowledge, it will pass away. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.000 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:25.000 But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.000 When I was a child, I spoke like a child. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.000 I reasoned like a child. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.000 When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:38.000 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:48.000 Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.000 So now faith, hope, and love abide. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.000 These three, but the greatest of these is love. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:05.000 All of Chapter 13 is trying to tell us the supremacy of love and why love is greater than all the other gifts. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:16.000 The Corinthians were elevating the more showy gifts, the more gifts that brought attention to the one who possessed them. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:47.000 They loved the revelatory gifts, such as speaking in tongues and prophecy and relevatory knowledge, the knowledge that God would give them by the Holy Spirit on the spot where they can share that to the congregation, prophecies where God speaks to them, a word from heaven where they can communicate to the congregation, or speaking in tongues, a known language that they didn't study but could be interpreted by someone else in the congregation. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:52.000 They loved these gifts because the Corinthians were carnal in their thinking. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:02:06.000 Paul told them in Chapter 3, verse 1,"I would love to speak to you as spiritual people, but I can't because you're yet still carnal. You're fleshly." This is one of the reasons they loved Paul's preaching because of his oratory skill. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:11.000 He was a polished speaker, and because of that they were impressed by that. 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:19.000 But Paul, because his speaking skills wasn't up to par, they despised him and they didn't value him. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:34.000 Apparently, the Corinthians, they would overlook sin in their church and they would overlook all kinds of disruption in the services and tolerate a poor policy on the Lord's Supper and all kinds of problems. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:38.000 But they really viewed themselves as spiritual people. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:43.000 They viewed themselves as spiritual, but in reality, Paul says they're carnal. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.000 The point being is because they were still self-focused. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.000 They loved the platform. They loved attention. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:59.000 The showy gifts, the spiritual gifts that brought tension to themselves wasn't about serving others or humbly working behind the scenes. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:02.000 It was attention-seeking. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:06.000 What Christian doesn't want attention? Applause. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:16.000 Think about a lot of the Charismatic churches today where the worship leader and the pastor are up there fighting on who can be the more spiritual worshiper. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.000 I mean, it happens. It happens in our day. It was happening then. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:27.000 And so Paul is saying, listen, love exceeds all of this and it gives two reasons. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.000 One, love is the foundation behind all the other spiritual gifts. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:38.000 I mean, you can have the gift of knowledge and be one who interprets all mysteries, but not have love and you're nothing. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:43.000 You can have all faith and not have love and you're nothing. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:52.000 And if you don't have love, all the other spiritual gifts are not valid because love is the foundation behind all the Christian life. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:04:02.000 And the second reason love, he says in this text, the second reason love is superior, he talks about how it's not self-focused, but others focus. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:12.000 It's not flashy, but it yet is helpful, truly helpful, beneficial. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.000 The second reason is love endures. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.000 Verse 8 tells us it never ceases. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.000 It's eternal. Love is what we're going to have in heaven. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:29.000 Every other gift, essentially, is going to pass away. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:34.000 Even faith and hope doesn't make it into the eternal realm. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.000 But love does. It endures. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:50.000 And so he's encouraging the Corinthians and encourages us to seek love and not to place over importance on the revelatory gifts. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Again, what are the revelatory gifts? 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.000 The revelatory gifts are, he names three of them. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:03.000 They're tongues, the ability to speak in a known language that you hadn't studied, which is a supernatural gifting. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:16.000 Revelatory knowledge, not knowledge that you learned through studying the Scriptures or learn through some type of active effort, but knowledge that you received supernaturally without study. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:29.000 Just like learning a language that you didn't study or knowing a language or speaking a language you didn't study, all of a sudden you would have an infusion of revelation from above that gave you special knowledge that other people didn't have. 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:31.000 Or prophecy, which is the same thing. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:37.000 Some type of prophetic word from the Holy Spirit that came from above. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:42.000 And these revelatory gifts were designed to communicate from above to man. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:52.000 God would communicate through these people, and these people would take their gifts and communicate for the edification of the body. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:06:02.000 But Paul tells us where to seek love because he's going to say these revelatory gifts, tongues, prophecies and knowledge are going to cease. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.000 They're not designed to last forever. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:14.000 And in fact, he gives three reasons why they should expect them to fade away or to go away. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.000 And I believe they went away within that generation. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:21.000 I am a convinced sensationalist. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:29.000 And a sensationalist believes that the revelatory gifts, not all the gifts, not miracles. We still believe in miracles today. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:38.000 So a lot of sensationalists are like, "Well, don't you believe in miracles and healings?" Yes, God can heal and does still heal. That's why we pray. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.000 But does man have the gift of healing? 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.000 No. Peter did. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000 But he does not. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.000 In fact, no one has the gift of healing. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.000 Now you may pray and God hear your prayers and do a miracle in your life. 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.000 We're not denying miracles. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.000 I don't want to deny miracles. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:22.000 And I'm not even denying if you say, "I know someone who went into a tribal community and never studied the language and all of a sudden he spoke to them in a language he never studied and they understood the gospel." If you say you've heard that or know someone to do that, it's like, "Well, that doesn't mean that's a spiritual gift that remains. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:31.000 Maybe it was a miraculous event." But I'm a convinced sensationalist according to this text for three reasons. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:37.000 And there's three positions on this topic. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.000 One, there is the continuationist. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:53.000 Continuationist believes that the revelatory gifts, speaking in tongues, prophecies, and special knowledge or revelatory knowledge still exist today. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:56.000 These are our charismatic friends. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:02.000 Then there is the open but caution, the open but cautious view. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:05.000 That's what I used to be when I was younger. 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:14.000 Practically speaking, I never saw tongues done correctly or biblically, so I was skeptical, never practiced it, never sought to practice it. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:19.000 But from the text, from Scriptures, I couldn't prove that it had ceased. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:25.000 So I would say I'm open to it, but I don't believe what I've seen is real. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:30.000 So I was open but cautious, and there's plenty of people that hold to that position today. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:42.000 But today, and for at least probably 15 years, I'm convinced from Scriptures that these gifts have ceased, utterly ceased. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:47.000 And they ceased at the generation that came after the apostles. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:51.000 And I think we see in this text three reasons why. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:55.000 Three reasons why I'm a sensationalist. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:09:07.000 One, these revelatory gifts, not all the gifts, but these gifts that were designed to communicate divine revelation, were designed to pass away. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:12.000 They weren't designed to last for thousands of years until our day. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.000 They were designed to pass away. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:18.000 They had three temporary purposes. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:24.000 God gave the early church these gifts. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:32.000 But when you study why He gave them, and the purpose of these gifts, you see that these purposes had a temporary objective. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:33.000 Now, think of it this way. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:41.000 You're driving down the road, and you see a road sign that says "bridge ahead." It tells you before you get to the bridge, the bridge is coming. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:47.000 But once you get to the bridge and you pass the road sign, then now you're passing the bridge. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:50.000 The sign no longer has a purpose. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:55.000 You don't expect to see the sign after the bridge, but only before the bridge. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:05.000 You expect to see these revelatory signs, these revelatory gifts before and in the process of their purpose. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:13.000 But once you get past the purpose, and the purpose has been completed, the gifts have no longer a purpose. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:17.000 What are the threefold purposes of revelatory gifts? 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:24.000 One, they were to prove, they were to be supernatural proof of divine revelation. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:30.000 If I came up and said, "Hey folks, we're not going to preach the Bible today. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:49.000 I've received a dream last night, and I'm going to tell you what God gave me in my dream." We need a miracle, don't we? 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:58.000 As I was going to give you my dream, and I would say, you would go,"What in the world do I want to listen to you teach about your dream? 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.000 How would I know if that was from God or not? 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:14.000 How could I be certain?" Well, what you would do in the Old Testament, you would prove that you were a prophet by some miracle. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.000 Moses was given miracles. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:21.000 Only God can do the supernatural, miraculous works. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:26.000 Thus, when he did his signs, it showed that he spoke on behalf of God. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.000 Elijah did the same thing. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:35.000 Even Jesus, when he came, he said, "If you don't believe me for my word's sake, believe me for the miraculous works that I do. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.000 At least look at the works that I do and not know that I don't come from God. 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:45.000 I speak on the Father's behalf." You can verify that by the miraculous miracles. 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:47.000 Well, here comes the apostles. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:56.000 In order to prove that they spoke on behalf of Christ in an apostolic, authoritative manner, he gave them signs. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:59.000 He gave them miraculous gifts. 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:12.000 In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 11, Paul says, "I ought to have been commended by you, for in nothing was I behind in the most intimate apostles, though I am nothing. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:33.000 True, the signs of the apostles were accomplished among you with all perseverance, and signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." You can see that the apostles proved their apostolic position by the miraculous signs and wonders that they did. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:56.000 But one of the signs proving of their apostolic ministry, according to Hebrews 2, was they had the power, and only the apostles had this power, that they could lay their hands upon other disciples, and according to their own will, disposed other gifts upon those whom they laid their hands upon. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:58.000 Hebrews 2, 3 tells us, "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles, and here are some of the signs and wonders and miracles that the apostles did, it says, "and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will." You see, here the apostles could distribute these things, and this is why He told the Romans, "I long to come to you to impart to you spiritual gifts by the laying on of my hands." 2 Timothy 1, 6, "Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands." You know, we ordain people today, but we're acknowledging God's calling on someone, but we are not imparting spiritual gifts on anyone. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.000 None of us have the ability to say, "Hey, you can speak in tongues. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:06.000 Let me give you the gift of prophecy. Let me give you the gift of healing. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:11.000 Let me give you these gifts." We don't have that ability, but the apostles did it. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:20.000 So these signs and wonders were on upon the apostles and whom the apostles chose to lay their hands upon. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:33.000 And if this is the case, after the apostles pass away, we know that the apostles was a temporary office to lay the foundation of the church to give us the Word of God, and they were the foundation of the church. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:39.000 And once the foundation is laid and the faith has been once and delivered, there's no need for the apostolic ministry. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:47.000 Once they passed away and died, then the gift of administering the revelatory gifts have died with them. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:54.000 And so that generation, once that generation passed away, the gifts would pass away with them. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:57.000 This was by design. 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:08.000 The second purpose of the revelatory gifts, which are makes them temporary, was they were designed to communicate to the nation of Israel that God's judgment has come upon them. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:17.000 Now, in Drudur, Othamy, Chapter 28, God prophesied to Israel for their rebellion and unbelief. 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:24.000 He says, "I didn't come to you," speaking on the mountain when he came and gave them the covenant,"I didn't come to you in a foreign language. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.000 I didn't come to you with a language you do not understand. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000 You didn't have to climb up somewhere. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.000 You didn't have to descend nowhere. 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:38.000 I came down to you and spoke to you in a very easy language, in the Hebrew language. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.000 But you did not believe me. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 Therefore, the next time I come to you, I'm not going to speak to you in the Hebrew language. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:16:23.000 I'm going to come to you in a foreign language, in a language that you do not understand, in order to show that you are under judgment, and I will provoke you, if you would, by other nations, and they will speak to you in that foreign language." Well, this is what Isaiah 28, 11 says,"For by people of estranged lips and with foreign tongues, the Lord will speak to this people." Isaiah 33, 19, "You will see me no more, this insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:33.000 That is, the next time I come to you, it won't be in a language you understand." And this is what Paul picks up in Romans 10, verse 19,"Did Israel not understand? 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:48.000 First Moses says, 'I will make you envious by those who are not a nation, and I will make you angry by a nation that you do not understand.'" And this is why, listen, if you've got your Bibles open, turn to chapter 14, verse 21. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.000 Look at 1 Corinthians 14, 21. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:17:04.000 Now, this only makes sense if you understand that these revelatory gifts, such as tongues, was a sign to the nation of Israel that judgment has come upon them and the gospel has gone to another nation. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:18.000 It says, "In the law," speaking about Deuteronomy 28,"it is written, 'By people of estranged tongue and by lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me,' says the Lord. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:36.000 'Thus tongues,' you see, Paul says,"are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers." So Paul is saying, when you see the sign, when you see the bridge is coming, you see the sign, he's talking to the Jews. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:45.000 When you see the signs that God is speaking not in the Hebrew language, but he's speaking in these foreign languages, know that you're under judgment. 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:46.000 That's what he's saying. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:49.000 This is a sign to the unbelieving Jews. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:57.000 Now, since that judgment has come upon Israel, and I believe it happened in the 70-day deal, I think now that sign has passed. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:13.000 It was sufficiently indicating that God has come, has turned from the Jews, and now he's brought the gospel to us Gentiles in order to provoke them to jealousy and hopefully through the gospel coming back to the Jew eventually. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:20.000 Now, there's a third purpose for the revelatory's gifts. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:28.000 They were a provisional, crude method of communication while they waited for the New Testament. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:37.000 So here you have from 33 A.D., 30 A.D., essentially, to the mid-60s. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:40.000 Most of the Bible is written by the time you get to 70 A.D. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:46.000 So you have the first books to be written at the late 40s, maybe the early 50s. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:53.000 The first print is written in 55, and most of the books were written after 55 and literally in the 60s. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:19:01.000 By 65, 67, most of the New Testament, other than the gospel of John and Revelation, is finished. 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:15.000 So what are the church to do, the New Testament church to do, where they have the Old Testament, but now prices come and some more knowledge is needed, but the New Testament is not in their hands yet. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:36.000 Well, God provided the early church in this transitional period between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, a crude form of communication through the revelatory gifts that were, I believe, as we'll see, was to pass away when the more sure word came to them. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:40.000 And look at verse 8 of our text. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:59.000 "As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge," that's talking about revelatory knowledge,"it will pass away." So here we have, at least we can say, without a shadow of doubt, that God told the Corinthians that these things would not last forever. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:01.000 They were designed to pass away. 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:05.000 They weren't meant to be a permanent gift. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Now you have to figure out when did they pass away. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.000 They're going to pass away. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.000 We can be certain of that. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.000 Everybody has to conclude that. 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.000 But when did they pass away? 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:29.000 Well, my second point, the revelatory gifts were designed to be replaced by a better form of communication. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:38.000 Imagine the revelatory gifts as a means of communication, but think of it as two tin cans attached to a string. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:43.000 I mean, it might work, but you get a lot of--it's not very good. 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:49.000 You know, have your practice app kids make these, take a couple cans and put a string between them. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:52.000 Supposedly, I've never got it to work. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:59.000 Supposedly, talking one of them and the vibration goes through the string, and you put the other can up to your ear and you can hear. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:02.000 I mean, you kids can try that. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:05.000 But I never found it to be that effective. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:08.000 But maybe it did work or does work. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:13.000 Well, there are methods of communication, some better than others. 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.000 The revelatory gifts were from the Spirit. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:16.000 They were from God. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:19.000 It was divine communication. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:25.000 But it wasn't the best form of communication for various reasons. 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:31.000 Verse 9 says, "We know one part and prophesy in part." That is, it's just part--it's not complete. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:33.000 It's not a full revelation. 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.000 It's just bits and pieces. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:48.000 Ever been on the phone and you're driving down the road and it's cutting out, the reception's bad, and you're trying to listen, you're trying to listen, but it's choppy, it's cutting in and out, and you're trying to piece the words together. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:22:01.000 You're trying to go, "Okay, I think I know what they're saying, but I only got half of what you said, but if I take the half, I can kind of formulate the context." And you've done this before. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:02.000 I know you have. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:08.000 You pretended like it didn't cut out and you acted like-- you don't want them to go over it again. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:14.000 And so you kind of keep on talking like you heard everything. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:21.000 Well, I mean, it did get something, but it wasn't the best method of communicating to you. 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:27.000 You see, they were partial forms of communication, these revelatory gifts. 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.000 Paul gives two illustrations to explain this. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:37.000 One, he gives the illustration,"It's like a child's reasoning skills compared to a full adult." Look at verse 11. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:41.000 "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I felt like a child, I reasoned like a child. 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:58.000 When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." I mean, I'm not saying I'm a good communicator, but we could get a child up here to preach this sermon, and hopefully I'm doing just a little bit of-- come on. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:22:59.000 Yeah. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:05.000 [speaking gibberish] No, I'm serious. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:06.000 This kid could do better than me. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.000 I've talked to him. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.000 You said that. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.000 There's no joke about that. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:18.000 But you imagine us sitting under the preaching of a young man. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:19.000 I mean, we'd get some truth. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:22.000 It could be beneficial, no doubt about it. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:26.000 But it wouldn't be the same as a seasoned pastor coming up. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.000 Well, that's what Paul is saying. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:31.000 There's--this "Ribletory Gifts" is helpful. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:32.000 We're glad for it. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:36.000 I mean, we don't have the New Testament yet, but we're glad for this. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:39.000 But there's somebody that's going to come that's better than this. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:44.000 And then the second illustration he gives is a dimly lit mirror. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:45.000 Look at verse 12. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.000 "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:58.000 Now I know him, or then I shall know fully, even as been fully known." Now, you have to go back in time 2,000 years ago when they didn't have glass mirrors. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:00.000 They had two forms of seeing their images. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:05.000 One was a kind of a bird bath pool, you know, a shallow pool of water. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:10.000 And if it's perfectly still with the light lighting, you can see your own reflection. 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:18.000 The other way--and this is going back to the Egyptian time-- they would take a piece of brass--actually, it was a piece of bronze. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:22.000 And they would polish the bronze until it shined. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.000 And they could see themselves. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:33.000 But Paul is not even contrasting revelatory knowledge or comparing revelatory knowledge and revelatory prophecies and revelatory tongues. 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:37.000 He's not just comparing it to a finely polished piece of bronze. 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:40.000 He's saying this is a dim lit bronze. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:45.000 The way that these mirrors work--and by the way, only the very wealthy could afford them. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:54.000 But a common person in Palestine and throughout Europe and Asia at that time never had a mirror. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:58.000 So go back in time, how would you know what you look like? 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:04.000 I promise you, your spouse knew your face better than you knew your own face. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.000 I mean, you knew the back of your hands. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.000 You knew what body parts that you could see. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:13.000 But you really didn't know really what you looked like very well. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:17.000 But in this illustration, the mirrors work. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:21.000 These bronze, polished bronze only function by backlight. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:25.000 If you didn't have light, you couldn't see yourself. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:28.000 So he's saying this is a dim. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:30.000 This is not a polished piece of bronze. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:35.000 This is a tarnished piece of bronze in bad lighting conditions. 00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:38.000 Now, that is what you have to see yourself. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:40.000 It's better than nothing. You would take it. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.000 You would look and say, "Do I have anything on me? 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.000 Is there, you know, you'd be trying to shave or whatever you're doing. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:26:02.000 You'd be glad to have that to see yourself." But after, you know, if that was the case, if your wife was there, you would put the bronze, polished metal piece down and you look at your wife and say, "Did I get everything? 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Did I miss anything? Is there anything on my face? 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:11.000 You know, is there anything in my teeth?" You know, you would be asking for help to see yourself. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:19.000 And she, in turn, would be asking you, "How do I look?" That was just the everyday experience two thousand years ago. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:22.000 Now, that's what you've got to keep in mind. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:34.000 And so he's contrasting the revelatory knowledge through this poor form of seeing yourself to the best form of knowledge would be face to face. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:56.000 And that's why you would put the bronze or the bronze piece of metal down and you would turn and look at your spouse and you would be looking at her face to face and be out in the daylight and you go, "Oh, I see clearly now." So this is a contrast, if you would, between a poor form of communication and a more perfect form of communication. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.000 I look at it as it's partial knowledge. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:02.000 You're only getting bits and pieces of truth. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.000 You're not getting lies, but you're not getting the full truth. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:13.000 It's like having a thousand-piece puzzle with only 500 pieces and complete it. 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:16.000 And you're looking at it and it's like, "Well, I think I make out. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:18.000 There's trees and I see there's the sun. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:24.000 This is going to be beautiful, but boy, I'm missing something." It's not quite complete. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.000 It's in part, right? 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.000 It's choppy. It's partial. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:32.000 It's incomplete. It's not yet clear. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:42.000 Well, the reason the Revelatory Gifts were in part is, one, it didn't have the full New Testament canon. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:44.000 It wasn't complete. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.000 It wasn't sufficient yet. 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:54.000 It was also because such Revelatory Gifts had to be verified by the Church. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:01.000 Chapter 14 talks about if someone speaks in tongues, they need to have an interpreter. 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:13.000 If someone prophesies, it says for the Church to listen and to verify the prophecy is indeed incongruence with what they already know to be true in the Scriptures. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:21.000 And therefore, these Revelatory Gifts needed the Church body to verify them and to test them. 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:25.000 So you see, these things were subjective, and they weren't designed to be used in whole by yourself. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:30.000 They were designed to be verified in the local church. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:35.000 In other words, these forms of communication could be easily fabricated. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.000 You can imagine someone coming in and saying,"I've got the gift of tongues," and they don't. 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:42.000 Or someone says, "I have a prophecy," but they're lying. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:45.000 What keeps these Revelatory Gifts? 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:47.000 How can you be certain? 00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:52.000 Well, that's one of the deficiencies of these Revelatory Gifts. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:59.000 None of us have to come up and say, "Is the Word of God the Bible?" But if I was preaching my dreams, you'd be full of questions. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:01.000 You'd be skeptical when you should be skeptical. 00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:04.000 In fact, if I was preaching my dreams, you should have thrown me out. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:14.000 But go back in this time when they had these Revelatory Gifts, you would still have to be really critical of what they're saying and verify everything. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:18.000 See, there weren't a perfect form of communication. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.000 They were just provisional. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:32.000 Until the Bible comes, the New Testament comes,"I'm giving you these." Not perfect, not complete, but it's better than nothing. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:50.000 You see, verse 10, "The Revelatory Gifts were provisional gifts designed to pass away after the perfect form of communication was delivered to them." Look at verse 10, "But when the perfect comes, the partial," that is, the incomplete, "will pass away." Now, what does it mean to be perfect here? 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:56.000 In context, it means complete. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:59.000 This is talking about these are partial. 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:02.000 It's like you're getting bits and pieces of the picture. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:10.000 But when you get the full picture, that which is bits and pieces no longer need it. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:13.000 Now, ask yourself, do we have the full canon? 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:17.000 Do we have the faith once and for all delivered to the saints? 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:19.000 Are we still looking for something new? 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:21.000 Do we need a new revelation? 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:28.000 Or is the Word of God, the New Testament, all of Scriptures, are they sufficient? 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:30.000 Are they complete? 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:32.000 Do we need another Word? 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:36.000 No, if we say we need another Word, then we don't have the foundation yet. 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:39.000 But the foundation has been laid. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.000 Do you understand what a foundation does? 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:46.000 You lay a foundation, then you build the house over here. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:52.000 No, the foundation doesn't just hold up the infrastructure of the building. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:57.000 It also sets the parameter of where the building is to be built. 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:00.000 You don't build off of the foundation. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:05.000 Therefore, the faith is built upon the foundation, which is the apostles and the prophets. 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.000 And that foundation has once for all been delivered to us. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:11.000 Now we build off the Word of God. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:12.000 We build on it. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:16.000 It's the perfect Word. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:21.000 You say, well, I'm not convinced by that. 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:26.000 You say, I think this is the other form of interpreting this text. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:28.000 This is the way I used to interpret it. 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:32.000 It was like that, which is perfect speaking about the revelation of Jesus Christ. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:33.000 He's the perfect one. 00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:37.000 And when He comes, we will see Him and we'll be like He is. 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:41.000 And we'll have the perfect revelation because we see in part now. 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.000 But when we see His face, we'll see Him face to face. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:48.000 And when we finally see His face, we'll have complete revelation. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:54.000 And it is true Jesus come, Jesus second coming is a revelation. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:57.000 And it is true Jesus Christ is perfect. 00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:05.000 So maybe Jesus Christ is that which is spoken about here. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:11.000 But let me give you six reasons why I think this is speaking about the New Testament. 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:19.000 One, the Corinthians, when this was given, didn't have the New Testament. 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:22.000 So they would be still looking and waiting for it. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:27.000 Two, the New Testament is perfect. 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:36.000 You know, it is the perfect revelation of the New Covenant. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:43.000 Third, it is complete. The scriptures are sufficient. 00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:53.000 Fourth, remember what Peter says in Second Peter, Chapter one, he says, you know, I saw Jesus transfigured with my own eyes. 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:55.000 I've seen him. 00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:57.000 And I was there. I witnessed. 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:04.000 He says, no, I had this physical, empirical testimony of seeing the seeing Christ transfigured. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.000 Don't you wish you had that? 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:10.000 Well, I would really believe if I could see him with my eyes. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:20.000 And Peter says, however, we have a more sure word. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.000 He says we have the word of prophecy made more sure. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:30.000 Where until you do well that you take heed as a lamp shining in a dark place. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:33.000 He's talking about the scriptures. 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:42.000 He says no scriptures has been given by private interpretation, but been revealed by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:44.000 So this is the objective word of God. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:50.000 And this is not this crude form of communication that had to be verified that could be fabricated. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:59.000 This is the certain word of God. It is complete and sure. 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:06.000 Well, you know, often people say, well, this is talking about the coming of Christ because we see in a glass darkly. 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:09.000 How many times have you said that? Well, we see in glass darkly now. 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:12.000 You know, you got your Bibles open, but you're going. We still see in a glass darkly. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:18.000 But when Christ comes, we'll see face to face and we'll be known even as we are known. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:20.000 Well, that's a misunderstanding of this text. 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:25.000 Now, definitely we are waiting to see Christ in the space and that's going to be glorious. 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.000 No doubt about it, but that's not what this text is saying. 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:44.000 If you'll read closely to it, it gives you the meaning of it because imagine you're holding up this bronze piece of metal in this tarnished and you're in a dark room and you're looking at yourself and you're you're trying to get you got. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:48.000 Did you miss a part spot shaving? Is there something in my tea? 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:51.000 You're looking and you're trying. 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:55.000 And they look to your wife and she's looking at your face face to face. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:02.000 She sees your face without a mirror, without a reflection, without this crude method. 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:05.000 She's and she goes, no, you look good. 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.000 My wife says that to me every morning. 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:25.000 Notice what it says. It doesn't say we'll know God or know Jesus as he knows us. 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:32.000 It says we will know ourselves even as others know us. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:37.000 We will be we will know even as we are known. 00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:39.000 Now that's the key. 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:43.000 Others know you back 2000 years ago. 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:47.000 Get away from the modern mirrors 2000 years ago. 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.000 Others know you better than you know yourself. 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:54.000 This is saying you're going to know yourself as other people know you. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:02.000 You're not going to have a reflective, crude form of knowing yourself, but you're going to know yourself as others know you. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:05.000 And the point is not telling you that you're going to know yourself. 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:16.000 That's just an illustration to show us how much better the perfect form of communication is compared to this rudimentary form of communication. 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000 It's that great of an upgrade. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:29.000 It's that great of an upgrade that is going to bring that much clarity to our knowledge. 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:37.000 Therefore, I believe the New Testament is God's perfect revelation to us. 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:45.000 That brings a complete revelation to us, a sufficient revelation to us. 00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:53.000 And it is the New Testament is more superior than these revelatory gifts ever were. 00:36:53.000 --> 00:37:04.000 And thus the revelatory gifts, I believe, were a provisional method to get the early church by and to the completion of the canon. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.000 Now you say, well, I'm still not convinced. 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:11.000 I mean, like, you're not convinced yet. 00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:24.000 I'll give you one more reason to believe that the New Testament took care and brought an end to the revelatory gifts. 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:36.000 Verse 13, the revelatory gifts were to cease before faith and hope ceased and faith and hope cease at the coming of Christ. 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:44.000 Therefore, the revelatory gifts need to cease before the coming of Christ. 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:46.000 Now, I know that's a lot to take on. 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:47.000 I'll repeat that. 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:48.000 Look at verse 13. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:52.000 It says, now faith, hope and love abide. 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:59.000 Now that is, it's saying faith, hope and love is going to go beyond the revelatory gifts. 00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:05.000 He's saying prophecies, they will fall, cease, they'll be done away with. 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.000 But faith, hope and love abide. 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:14.000 So we know that these three gifts outlast the revelatory gifts. 00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:17.000 The revelatory gifts are temporary. 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:23.000 Faith and hope are temporary, but they're going to outlast the revelatory gifts. 00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:25.000 So here's the major premise. 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:28.000 Faith and hope will end at the Second Coming of Christ. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:29.000 Here's a minor premise. 00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:34.000 The revelatory gifts were to end before faith and hope ended. 00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:44.000 Thus, the conclusion is the revelatory gifts have ended with the end of the Apostolic Era and at the completion of the New Testament. 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:45.000 Look at verse 8. 00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:46.000 We go back. 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:48.000 It says, love never ends. 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:50.000 It's the greatest. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.000 It doesn't say faith and hope never end. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:57.000 It's only love never ends. 00:38:57.000 --> 00:38:58.000 Love never ends. 00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:01.000 Faith and hope will abide. 00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:06.000 It will last longer than the revelatory gifts, but they will come to an end. 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:09.000 But love never does end. 00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:13.000 This is what makes love the greatest of all the gifts. 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:14.000 It's eternal. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:19.000 We'll have love in heaven, but we will not need faith and hope in heaven. 00:39:19.000 --> 00:39:26.000 You see, faith will end at the side of Jesus Christ because faith, one of the elements of faith is believing the unseen. 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:29.000 Faith is not based upon your five senses. 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:31.000 We call those the empirical evidences. 00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:35.000 You don't have to be a scientist to see Jesus Christ. 00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:40.000 In fact, you can't see Jesus Christ because he's the unseen Christ, according to Peter. 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:47.000 Hebrews 11.1 tells us faith is the evidence of the things not seen. 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:51.000 Second Corinthians 5.7, we walk by faith, not by sight. 00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:59.000 That is, we believe Jesus Christ, though we haven't touched him, we haven't seen him, we haven't heard him. 00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:08.000 Remember what Jesus said to Doubting Thomas here, put your hands in my holes, the prints of my hands. 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:13.000 You believe because you see me, but bless her, those who believe without seeing. 00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:24.000 Remember what it says in Hebrews 11 about Noah, that Noah, when he was warned about the judgment to come and the rain to come, not ever seeing rain, not ever seeing this, believed. 00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:30.000 It says by faith, he obeyed, not ever having seen. 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:44.000 And so faith is operating based upon testimony, maybe a good, solid, trustworthy testimony, but it's not operating off of sight. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:51.000 And thus, faith will, when we see Jesus, faith will be no more. 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:54.000 Our faith will be turned to sight. 00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:59.000 Hope is the same way. 00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:15.000 Romans 8 23 tells us, it says, not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. 00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.000 For in this hope we are saved. 00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:25.000 Now, hope that is seen is no hope for who hopes and what he sees. 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:28.000 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with it. 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:30.000 Patience. 00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:33.000 Yesterday, I was hopeful that the Razorbacks would win. 00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:36.000 And as long as the game was going on, I had a little hope. 00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:44.000 But after the game, there was no more hope. 00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:53.000 My friend, David, I'll use his name, one of my pastoral friends, was trying to explain this idea that you don't hope for the things that you see. 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:55.000 If something is already given to you, I can't wait. 00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.000 I'm really hopeful I'm going to get something for Christmas. 00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:01.000 But when the gift comes to Christmas, there's no more hope because you've got the gift. 00:42:01.000 --> 00:42:09.000 And he says, when you're single or you're engaged and you're so hopeful for the wedding day, you're just living without hope, and when we get married, I'm going to get married. 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:16.000 And he says, then after you get married, you don't have any hope. 00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:19.000 Didn't come out too well. 00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:21.000 But you understand what I'm saying? 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:23.000 Faith is for now. 00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:25.000 Faith, we need it in this light. 00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:26.000 Hope, we need it now. 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:28.000 We live by hope now. 00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:30.000 But when we get to heaven, the blessed hope will come. 00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:32.000 And we don't need hope in heaven. 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:33.000 We don't need faith in heaven. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:35.000 Love endures forever. 00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:37.000 It's the greatest of all the gifts. 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:41.000 Faith and hope, according to this text, abides. 00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:48.000 That is, it's going to abide to the Second Coming where the Reletory gift will cease. 00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:53.000 So here we're saying even the text is indicating that these things are not going to last forever. 00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:55.000 They're going to cease. 00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:58.000 But faith and hope will still abide. 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:00.000 So Christ comes back. 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:06.000 As one person said, faith will vanish into sight, hope will be ente--into delight. 00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:08.000 Love will shine to the light. 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:27.000 See, the point of this sermon, and I know we're made into about proof for sesationalism, but the point of the sermon is telling the Corinthians, you're putting all your emphasis on these things that are going to pass away. 00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:28.000 These are important. 00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:29.000 They're good. 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:31.000 He says later, I wish you all spoke in tongues. 00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:33.000 You all don't, but I wish you did. 00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:34.000 I speak in tongues. 00:43:34.000 --> 00:43:36.000 It's not that these are not bad gifts. 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:38.000 They were needed and helpful. 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:41.000 But you've got to understand they're not the important things. 00:43:41.000 --> 00:43:45.000 Faith, hope, and love exceed these things. 00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:48.000 And what exceeds faith and hope is love. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:52.000 So what are we to take away from this message in conclusion? 00:43:54.000 --> 00:44:02.000 It's like we're not to desire gifting that brings attention to ourselves. 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:11.000 The more show we give, we should desire that, which causes us to work behind the scenes to serve others. 00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:13.000 We shouldn't want the spotlight on ourselves. 00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:15.000 We should seek to go, how do I bless someone? 00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:16.000 How do I love someone? 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:18.000 How do I care for someone? 00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:21.000 This is the greatest thing we can do. 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.000 In fact, it's the foundation of the Christian light. 00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:38.000 We shouldn't take this sermon, and if we come to the conclusion, if this has helped you come to the conclusion of sensationalism, this is not for us to go beat up everybody that disagrees with us. 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:41.000 This would be denying the text of loving. 00:44:41.000 --> 00:44:44.000 We're not here to say we've got better knowledge than everybody else. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:45.000 We've got superior knowledge. 00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:48.000 No, we need to love one another. 00:44:48.000 --> 00:44:51.000 No, we want to love the truth, speak the truth and love. 00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:56.000 Another application here is that we should treasure our Bibles. 00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:01.000 I mean, we should really go, I have the sufficient Word of God. 00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:03.000 I don't need new revelation. 00:45:03.000 --> 00:45:07.000 I have something that's sufficient for all of life and godliness. 00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:10.000 I'm not waiting for a new revelation. 00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:12.000 I got the end of the story here. 00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:14.000 I know everything I need to know. 00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:16.000 I need to study it. 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.000 I need to seek it. 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:20.000 I need to love the God, the Word of God. 00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:33.000 You see, love is the greatest gift, not only because love is eternal, because I think we see in this text, especially as we looked at last week, love is self-sacrificing, is humble. 00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:36.000 It doesn't promote itself. 00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:41.000 It's gentle, lovely, kind, patient, and so forth. 00:45:41.000 --> 00:45:43.000 May we seek love. 00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:45.000 May we long for it. 00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:47.000 May we love the Bible. 00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:49.000 May we love God and love the saints, Jesus. 00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:51.000 Let's pray. 00:45:51.000 --> 00:46:01.000 Dear Lord, we do thank You for the Word of God, that that perfect revelation has been given to us once for all. 00:46:01.000 --> 00:46:02.000 The faith has been given to us. 00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:14.000 The foundation of our faith, the Holy Scriptures given to us by the prophets and apostles, has been revealed to us and we have it complete, perfect. 00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:17.000 Let us build our lives upon it. 00:46:17.000 --> 00:46:21.000 This we pray in Your Son's name. Amen. 00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:31.000 [BLANK_AUDIO]