329 - Les Feldick Bible Study Lesson 2 - Part 1 - Book 28 - Eternal Excellence of Love

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 2 * PART 1 * BOOK 28 ETERNAL EXCELLENCE OF LOVE In our last lesson we pretty much finished Chapter 11 of I Corinthians, and in these next four lessons I hope to cover Chapters 12, 13, and 14. We're still studying the questions that Paul had received from these Corinthians. I Corinthians 12:1a Now concerning spiritual gifts,..." It could just as easily have been back in the Book of Romans, or in Ephesians or any one of his other letters, but why did the Holy Spirit inspire the apostle to write the love chapter between these two chapters? I think you will see in just a little bit, as we now take off, that this is the great love chapter of the whole New Testament. I Corinthians 3:1,2 "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. Well the Holy Spirit has prompted him to pen Chapter 13, and now let's look at it in that light. We want to approach the things that are so controversial, even in the Corinthian Church in Chapter 12 and 14, based on the love and the understanding and patience that we see in this chapter. It is imperative that we look at Chapter 13 before I start making any comments on the other two chapters because this was the apostles' attitude as he approached these carnal Corinthians. Now let's look at Chapter 13. I Corinthians 13:1 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, (Now I'm going to stop right there. That does not say that he spoke in the angelic tongue. "If," he said hypothetically, he could speak in the tongues of angels, and all the languages of the world, if that could be the case) and have not charity, (love) I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." Well, without the attitude of love, faith, and understanding they're going to get upset and angry. "I'm coming to you in the spirit of love." I Corinthians 13:2 Mysteries! No love! I Corinthians 13:3 Now understand of course that this term of love is not the erotic kind that Hollywood promotes. This is talking about the agape that is God-centered. In verse 4 he begins to explain all the attributes of this one word "love." I Corinthians 13:4 "Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity (love) envieth not; (and of course the other word for envieth is covet. If you love someone you cannot covet what is theirs. charity (love) vaunteth not itself, (In other words, love doesn't become arrogant, and put pressure on the subjects of your love.) is not puffed up." I Corinthians 13:5 "(Love) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, (Now that doesn't mean it can never be provoked, but it's not easily provoked) thinketh no evil;(True love can think no evil. Now verse 6. I Corinthians 13:6-8a "(Love) Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; (Love) Beareth all things, believeth all things, (Remember faith is the other word for believeth, so our faith is based on love.The whole crux of the work of the Cross was the love of God, that He showered on mankind when He sent the best that heaven had to the Cross of Calvary. So far as Christ is concerned, God's wrath was poured upon Him while He hung there, but as God's wrath was poured on Christ the love of God was shed abroad on the human race.) Then verse 8a: "Love never faileth:...." Love will never let us down. This man, Stanton. A man like Stanton never phased that love. Our love is still going to be a profitable thing. I Corinthians 13:8 "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." So here, while the world was waiting for God's Word to come into print by way of the Four Gospels' account, by way of Luke's writing Acts and by way of Paul's epistles, what did God have to provide to feed those believers? Gifted men! A speakable, reducible to writing, language. Now, the word `tongue' in the singular (and we'll point this out as we go through the coming chapters, especially Chapter 14), when there is no plural, speaks to those non-phonetic sounds, and that's all they were, just sounds, that no one could reduce to writing. So now, he says, that this whole gift of speaking even in known languages, being able to speak in almost any language that would happen to come up, this gift will cease. Paul makes the statement in Chapter 14, verse 18: I Corinthians 14:18 "I thank my God, I speak with tongues (plural) more than ye all:" When we'd finished our tour, the whole group that was with us had fallen in love with the guy. I speak Japanese too." Because God's Sovereign. Now verse 9: I Corinthians 13:9,10 Paul understood that. God starts with the simple, but He is constantly revealing deeper and deeper truths. Hebrews 6:1 "Therefore (Getting off the baby bottle in Chapter 5, and getting into the meat of the Word. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible