AUSTRALIAN BIBLE CHURCH

LOVE IS THE LORD'S

Is it Yours ?

January 18, 2004

I CORINTHIANS 13

WITH GOD THERE IS NO COMPARISON

1. LOVE IS ESSENTIAL - 13:1

2. LOVE IS INCOMPARABLE - 13:1-3

WITH LOVE THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE

3. LOVE'S CHARACTER 13:4-8

WITH LOVE THERE IS NO END

4. DESTINY IN LOVE 13:9-13

Have what you will, give what you want, but without love you might as well drop over a cliff.

You become a human antic, a subject for divine reproof, a divorcee from God, an event without a hallowed heart, a heart without depth.

In fact, you sound, but you give little meaning; you give music, but it has no charm.

Love operates in character

is never a bursting boil, but ever filled with grace

has no scar tissue,

abhors being selfish,

or having self-exhibition

never reacts, only responds,

dwells with hope of others and their ways,

has no time for evil romps,

for evil's successes, statistics and star-gazing,

but abides in closest intimacy

with truth.

In verse 7, we see that it -

is undeterred,

finds nothing irresolvable,

nothing unbearable.

Love never fails, and in this it is

unlike knowledge,

now wonderful already, but at the time of resurrection, complete;

and though tongues can rattle things off, then the light is all-comprehending.

Faith reaches truth, but love shows it;

hope waits for perfection,

but love has it.

In every act, decision, thrust in your life, ask then this question:

Does love motivate it ?

activate it ?

endue it ?

This is possible only if, as an adopted child of God, love is shed abroad, dispersed in your heart

(Romans 5:5, Ephesians 1:3, Romans 8:6-19).