All right, people, here we are again. Thank you for joining us here at the Everlasting Truth broadcast, where we give you everlasting truth in an ever-changing world. My name is Caleb Osteen. I am the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, and I am grateful that you're here, that you're listening. For those of you that have been listening, we've had some of you reach out and let us know how the broadcast has been a help to you. That has been a blessing to me, and I do hope that you'll continue to do that. I praise God for allowing me to have this space to where I can share His Word and just try to be a help to people. I'm not the most dynamic person in the world, not the most talented, but I do come to you with an infallible perfect book that Jesus said, if you would build your house upon His Word, if you would hear His Word and do His Word, you'd be like a man who built his house upon a rock, and the winds, the floods, the rain came, and the house did not fall in the midst of all of it because it was founded on a rock. And so, I don't bring you great delivery, but what I do give you is the Word of God, and I hope that that will be a help for you, and if that's not good enough for you, then I have nothing to offer you. But anyways, I think for most of you listening, that's exactly what you're looking for, so thanks for being here and allowing us to do that. Let's go ahead and open our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter number 13, and I want to pick up where we have left off, and this will probably, more than likely, be our last study going through 1 Corinthians. We have been examining what the Bible says about love. mainly examining what the Bible says about love and then paralleling that with our own personal life, I hope you've been doing, and finding out, am I living up to love? And that has been the subject matter we've been examining here is living up to love. Are we living up to these qualifications found in the Word of God? Now, we are way down here in 1 Corinthians 13, verse number 7. We're nearing the end of this list, and so we've only got a couple more characteristics or traits of love, if you will, but basically what I want you to view 1 Corinthians 13 as is from verse number 4 down to verse number 8, I want you to view 1 Corinthians 13 as God's definition of love. Just like you could open up a dictionary and find the word love and see how Noah Webster defined it, or Miriam Webster, or whichever dictionary you want to use, you could find how they define it. You can open up your Bible to 1 Corinthians 13, and you can find out how God defines it. And He literally, line by line, precept upon precept, tells you what love is. And so if you're trying to have a marriage that's built on love, you need to invest some serious time in this chapter and find out what it says about love. And it's going to be a challenge, but you need to try to rise to the challenge and live this thing out and apply it. We wrapped up our last broadcast talking about some of the difficulties with love and how it is hard and it's not easy. But we know that the great example of love, Jesus said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And so Jesus said the preeminent example of love is to give your life for somebody else. And we know that Jesus met that ultimate level of love with perfection as He laid down His life for you and I. And we know that as He did that, it was a challenge. It was not easy. It was hard. The cross was heavy, and our sin debt was heavier. And the guilt and the shame and the condemnation that He bore on Calvary was all a result of love, and it was not fun. It was not a warm and fuzzy feeling as he hung there. If you look at the greatest picture and definition of love there's ever been, it is the cross of Calvary. It is the hill of Golgotha. It is the blood that was shed there. It is the Savior mangled and torn and his body bruised and battered and him martyred there to bring you and I to God. And it is a gruesome scene. It's a gut-wrenching scene. It is a hard scene. It is a harsh image. The Bible said in Isaiah that he was marred so much more than any man. It's a gruesome, detailed image. And sometimes love's like that. Sometimes love feels that way. Sometimes love is sacrifice. We've talked about this already, but it's just a quick recap. But it's sacrifice, for God so loved the world that He did what? That He gave His only begotten Son. That's sacrifice. Romans 5, 8, But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Ephesians 5 25 husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. So there's sacrifice in this love. So no, it's not easy Jesus never claimed it would be God never claimed it would be and I'm not claiming that it will be but it is worth it. He said in Hebrews 12, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. It is for the joy that is set before him, and there will be joy at the end of the journey if you'll commit to love the way God tells us to. And so, with that being said, let us dive into 1 Corinthians chapter number 13, and we are going to begin reading in verse number 4 to get this biblical definition of love, and we're just going to take some time in these last few verses here, Lord willing, and that will be just about it for this subject, living up to love. Verse number 4 of 1 Corinthians 13 says this, Charity suffereth long, and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. Now I read through that list very quickly, but we've spent, this is broadcast number six on it, we've spent some time on it, but I want to slow down. And I want to read verse number 7 to you again, and I want you to think about what that verse just said. And I want you to ask if this stacks up to your idea of love or the world's idea of love. Verse 7 said, Charity beareth all things. It carries the weight. There is no relationship, no marriage too hard and too heavy that charity can't bear. For the Bible said, Charity beareth all things. He said, Charity believeth all things. There is not a marriage or a relationship where trust has been so damaged that love cannot find a way to trust, because charity believeth all things. And then we come to verse number seven, and this is where we are going to pick up for today. Charity hopeth all things. Hopeth all things. You know, the Bible said, hope deferred maketh the soul sick. There are bad physical effects that happen on the body when there's no hope involved. When somebody loses all hope, they spiral into a state of depression and oftentimes their body faces physical effects adversely for that lack of hope. And a marriage and a relationship will do the same thing. When you remove all hope from that, It will decay and crumble in and of itself. Because love by definition hopes all things. It says it hopeth all things. It always is hoping for the best. And so if you have a relationship where all hope has been removed and you say, well, it's too far gone. It cannot be fixed. It cannot be helped. It can't be this and it can't be that. Then you're missing love because love by definition brings hope because love hopeth all things. You say, well, I want some hope for my marriage. Well, start loving them. And you say, well, I can't love. That's the problem. And I would tell you that you need to go back and listen to the previous broadcast because love is something you absolutely do have the ability to control whether you do or do not do. The world talks about love at first sight, and you can't help who you love, and Elvis sang that song, I Can't Help Falling in Love with You, and we have this idea that love is some involuntary force that moves us, and when it's there, it's there, and when it's not, it's not, and there's nothing we can do about it. Then, if that is the case, then why did Jesus Christ command you to love God? Why did He command you to love your neighbor? If love was something you could not help whether or not you were involved in, then how can he command it from you? How can he command the husband to love his wife if love is some floating thing that is here one minute, gone the next? No, love is not that. Love is a choice. Love is a commitment. Charity is something you decide you are going to do, and you can decide to have hope for your marriage. You can decide to have hope for these relationships, and you can make that choice. And when you do, you're acting in love, because love hopeth all things. It hopes for the best. It's not a narrow gloom and doom perception. And just like hope deferred maketh the soul sick, so does hope deferred. It'll make your relationship sick. You need to know that there's, you say, well, you don't know what my marriage, you don't know what my relationship has been through. Not even just marriage relationship, but any other kind of relationship. You don't, you don't know what it's been through. It can't go on. It's, it's hurt too badly. There's too many holes. There's too many wounds. There's too many bruises in this relationship for it to go on. Not if love's involved. Because love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hope with all things. Love endures all things. And we're about to get to that one. Not only that, verse eight, charity never faileth. Love never stops. Love never fails. And so if you've got a relationship that's failing, what you need to do is you need to get invested in some love. And I'm not talking about waiting for Cupid to come and shoot you with his arrow so you have a warm, fuzzy feeling. I'm talking about you need to get committed to the things in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and begin to love that individual that you're striving for a relationship with. Love hopeth all things. It hopes for the best. Not only that, verse number seven goes on, lastly says this, charity endureth all things. What a statement. What a statement. You know, people say that they get divorced because the love in their marriage just ceased. And the love was just gone. You know, love was there at first. It was great. But then the love just up and vanished and disappeared. Nobody knows where it went. It just kind of happened. They don't think it's anybody's fault. Love just left the building. The world's idea of love may have, but not God's idea. God's idea of love, verse seven said, endureth all things. No matter what you throw at true biblical love, this kind of love, this kind of charity will outlast it and endures all things. There is no string of bad times a relationship can go through that love and charity will not outlast because it endures all things. It will keep going on and on and on and on. And you say, well, my marriage and my relationship is in a dark season. It's in a dark place right now. I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel." Well, if you will just commit to love that individual, and they'll commit to love you, it will endure all things, and it will outlast the dark season. It is everlasting. It never fades, it never fails, and it constantly endures. You know what that tells me then? When marriages and relationships fall apart, and they don't last, they weren't built on biblical love. Because biblical love, by definition, endures. It lasts. It keeps going. So when that marriage doesn't, it's because it wasn't built on charity, because charity does keep going, and that is the foundation for the marriage. And this is why I wanted to take time and labor this today. And not today, but the previous broadcast, because I want you to understand, the world has sold generations fake love and told them that love was something it's not. And I've said this over and over and over, but I think it's worth repeating. Love is not a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's not a feel good thing. Sometimes love hurts terribly bad. Sometimes love hurts like nails in your hands and your feet. Sometimes love hurts like a crown of thorns on your head. Sometimes love hurts like a cat of nine tails across the back. Sometimes love hurts like 39 lashes. Sometimes love is painful. It's not this warm, fuzzy feeling. And love is the chief thing, the greatest thing, the chief thing, according to 1 Corinthians 13. Is it no wonder why the devil would not want to redefine that for you? And what he has told people today in marriages and relationships is as soon as it gets hard, well, you know, that's not love and it's not worth living with somebody you don't love. So just move on and go somewhere else. And God says, who are you going to let define love for you? Who are you going to let define marriage for you? Me or the world? And let me just say, the world doesn't have a good track record for marriages working out. They don't know what they're talking about. But God does. God said, if you're going to love somebody, then you're going to have to endure. You have to stick it out. So my marriage is in a rocky place right now. I don't know if I can keep on. You don't know what I'm dealing with. No, I don't. But I do know that love will endure it. All you have to do is make up the decision. Am I going to love or not? At the end of the day, we all have to make that decision. And he goes on, and we are about to wrap this thing up, in verse number eight, not only does love endure all things, but verse number eight, he said, charity never faileth. Never faileth. If a marriage is built on charity, if a marriage is built on love, it does not have to fail. Because charity never fails. It never quits. You say, well, I don't want my marriage to fall. I don't want my marriage to quit. I don't want to fail. Well, get some charity. Look at what 1 Corinthians 13, 4 through 8 describes as charity. Get some of it. And the Bible says it won't fail because charity never faileth. It will accomplish the goal that it sets out to do. Charity never faileth. 100% success rate. No, it may not feel good, but it's what God calls us to. Now, we have taken some time going through this. We've slowly worked through it, and we could be slower, but we've slowly worked through it, and we've looked at what charity actually is and what love actually is. Now, I want to answer a brief question. Who are we supposed to love like this? This descriptor of love in verse 4 of chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, down through verse number 8, who do we love with that kind of love? That kind of charity, that kind of agape? Well, let's look at Matthew chapter 5 and verse number 43, and I want to give you this very quickly. You have heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies." And that word love is the Greek word agape. And it's the same Greek word behind charity in 1 Corinthians 13. It's literally the same thing. So that definition of charity that we pulled from 1 Corinthians 13, 4 through 8, you can take and slap right on verse 44 of Matthew 5, where he said, love your enemies. That means that with your enemies, here's what you need to do. You need to not envy. You need to not vaunt yourself. You need to not be puffed up. You need to not behave yourself unseemly. You need to seek not your own. You need to not be easily provoked. You need to think no evil. You need to rejoice not in iniquity. You need to rejoice in truth. You need to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things when it comes to your enemy. What a challenge. What a challenge. We're commanded to love our enemies. Not only that, we're commanded to love our neighbor. We're commanded to love our neighbor. Look at Matthew chapter number 22. Matthew chapter 22, verse number 37, Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The description of first Corinthians 13, four through eight should be applied to your neighbor. And that includes the unsaved, by the way. Remember there was that man and he came and he said, okay, Lord, who's my neighbor though? And Jesus gave the parable of the good Samaritan. And Jesus said, which one of these do you think was neighbor to the man? You had the priest, you had the Levite. Those would represent Christian folk in our context. And then you had the Samaritan. That was. That was the outcast. And he said, which one of these do you think was neighbor to him? He said, the Samaritan. Jesus said, yeah, you got it right. So we're to have that kind of love, even for the Samaritans, even the unsaved, even those that we would distance ourselves from culturally. We're commanded to love our neighbor. Not only that, we're commanded to love the brethren. Look at John 13. John chapter number 13 and verse 34. We're nearing our end today. We're about to wrap up. What a study this has been. What a challenge. There has been no greater challenge, at least in this year, that I have studied in the scriptures than this passage. 1 Corinthians 13 has truly been a challenge, and I hope it's challenged you. If not, you need to go back and spend some time in it. John chapter 13, verse number 34, Jesus speaking, he said, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another. Who's he talking to? He's talking to the disciples. He's talking to his people. And he says, you need to love one another. One disciple needs to love another disciple. As I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples, if you have love one to another. And so we're commanded to love our enemies. We're commanded to love our neighbor. We're commanded to love the brethren. While these are the commands, I'd like to ask you, are they really being lived up to in your life? Surely you've fallen short somewhere. Surely you've not carried all of the command of 1 Corinthians 13 verse 4 down through verse number 8 to everybody around you, your brethren, your neighbor, and your enemies. Surely you have failed there somewhere. And doesn't this just magnify the nature of our sin? Because loving other people is supposed to be the simplest, greatest commandment and the primary commandment Jesus gave. That same passage, Matthew 22. He said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these hang all the law and the prophets. The most primary important commandment that God ever gave, the chief commandment, is love. And isn't it amazing that it's the most challenging commandment to you and I that we have not kept? that we have failed at. What a need we have for grace. We make it sound simple and we say, oh, all we got to do is just love people. What a challenge that is sometimes. But may I remind you what a challenge it was to love you and what a challenge it was to love me. But Jesus Christ tackled it anyways, didn't he? And so, if your patience is wearing thin with somebody in your life that you love, remember, love endureth all things. Remember, charity is kind. Charity is long-suffering. And let's try to live up to love. Thank you for your time. God bless you, friends. Join us next week, and we'll dive into the Word of God together again.