You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It Too- The Sermon, 1 COR 13:8-12

I see a generation rising up to take their place in the southwest rain, in the southwest rain

I see a new ring in my heart, a ring that is free and clean, with what I need, with what I need

Hosana, Hosana, Hosana in the highest

With what I need, with what I need

In my heart and me and me, open up my eyes to the things I see, show me how to love like you have loved me

With my whole heart, with my whole heart, everything I have for the kingdom's cause, as I walk my path into eternity

I love you all from Sunday school, remember as the gods rule and how Jesus came, and set up the sinner free

I know the story inside out, and I can tell you all about the path that led him up to Calvary

But ask me why he loves me, and I don't know what to say, but I'll never be the same, because he changed my life when he became everything to me

He's more than a story, more than words on a page, a history, he's the air that I breathe, the water I touch far, and the ground beneath my feet

He's everything, everything to me

And maybe I'm so right to have one more, I'm not even out of my way, I'm just a pleasure to me

I want to tell the world about the love I've taught my life around, they need to know the things they should see

Now every day you break me, and you're taking my heart away, I want him to see that you're that someone else, I'm free

But ask me why he loves me, and I don't know what to say, but I'll never be the same, because he changed my life when he became everything to me

He's more than a story, more than words on a page, a history, he's the air that I breathe, the water I touch far, and the ground beneath my feet

I want to meet you, save you, oh baby, thank you to me, you're more than a story, more than words on a page, a history, you're the air that I breathe

The water I touch far, and the ground beneath my feet, you're everything

You're everything, you're everything, you're everything

Alright, as you can see that is the sermon title slide from last week, so don't take that into account, but it should very easily tell you where in scripture we are

I should remind you that we have been working through 1st Corinthians 13, so we'll get a little excited about this verse later

Before we do that, we're going to just kind of have a little bit of an object lesson if we can

So I have brought here within this box, there's a little object lesson, let me get up here and see if I can safely do this without making a mess, I think I can

So what I have brought is a cake, look, it's a cake, so this here is, do that for us, without looking at you

So we said vegetable, everybody want to eat this part of the cake? So that one's not so good, this one's not too bad, you could actually probably eat it

This here's the water, it's water, it wouldn't be very filling, so you'll die sooner if you don't have water

Here's the egg, I'm going to give you this because you just caused trouble, but nobody would want to eat the egg exactly like this, right?

So you'd want to break it open, make it hard boiled or...

It's not hard boiled, it's still nice

Wow, you're certain

Oh, it did something, something happened, okay, there it is, okay, let me get this out of the way

He's actually contemplating it, we're going to pass, he's going to cook it

By the way, if you put an egg like that, if you whip it up good, and put it in the microwave, you can make scrambled eggs in no time flat

You didn't know that, there's an egg

And then here is the dried mix, and I've added a little powdered sugar so we can have some really good calories in there, everybody want to eat that?

Okay, so we've got a couple volunteers

So again, not really a cake though, right? But if you put the powdered mix in the bowl like that, I'm told that you do this, and then you put an egg in there like that

That's pretty good, and then some oil, that's pretty good

And some water, like that

Now it's ready to eat, right?

No, just cook it like this, put it in the oven

We'll mix it first, we've got the mixer for that

Okay, wait, so actually, I know why you didn't want to eat it, because you wanted the frosting on there, right?

So if we put some frosting in this bowl, then it's ready to eat, right?

No!

Put the frosting on that

But all the parts are here

So mix it up really good, and then put the frosting on

No

No?

Put it on after

After what? Oh, after it's cooked, okay

So let's see

Hey, will you mix up my baked lemon?

Please, I'll put it in the oven

Just mix it up, I'll take it out

Is that one of your candles on?

Yes

Okay, I'll leave the door unlocked

Leave the door open here

No, sir

I use the oven when you've brought the other cup

However, if all goes well, you might be able to have a piece of cake with frosting on it by the time we're done, possibly

Alright, so needless to say, the parts that form a cake do not inherently form a cake, right?

There is a moment in time

What I want you to see is that there will theoretically eventually be a cake out of this mess, right?

But something else is here, what do we have? What are these?

Empty containers

Empty containers are not quite empty, they're close, they're dirty dishes, right?

And so the dirty dishes are what we would call manifestations of the cake

Does that make sense?

Okay, so because we made a cake, we have these signs that we made a cake left

Now if we have a cake, that would be great, that would be proof, positive, that would be the end of it all, right?

We would for sure have a cake, we would know, yep, there is a cake because there is a cake

and you can eat a piece of cake and you can taste a piece of cake and you can smell it baking and you know it's good

and you can put the little toothpick in or whatever and make sure that it's not damp in the middle, that kind of thing

and you know that you have a cake

But without that cake in your presence, without that cake to be able to see it, to have it in your hands, to eat it or whatever

we could look at this and we could say, this is the best evidence that we have that there was a cake made, right?

These are the manifestations of that cake being made

Are we close?

Okay, you can take this pan right here which is pre-oiled for you

You can take the pan, you can take the pan, there is a second one in the refrigerator

I know she doesn't need help, and if she was going to get help it would be from an adult, not from you

Alright, she bakes doesn't she? Am I ruining my cake? She doesn't bake?

Alright, well whatever, okay

RJ, you're the youth leader, you go check on her

Alright, go be a youth leader

Go check on her, make sure she's not ruining

He's letting her in the kitchen probably, making sure she can get in the kitchen

Okay, alright, you trust Ron, then I trust Ron, that's fine by me

Alright, so now, grab your Bibles, now let's go to the Word and we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 8 and 12

1 Corinthians 13:8

Thank you very much, this is God's Word

From this point on, as we read it, we will see what God would use to affect us

Whether or not you choose to be affected, that will be up to you

You can resist God at every turn, but as we will see by the time we are done, some things will be true, whether you like it or not

And so if you continue to resist it after that point, that's on you

Alright, so it's 1 Corinthians 13 beginning in verse 8, that's how far we've made it

And we're going through verse 12, so as you can see, we're almost done with the chapter by the time we're done today

I'm going to break it down as I go through

1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 8 says, Love never fails

1 Corinthians 13:8

But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will

Hold on, I looked at the switch and lost my spot

They will cease or stop, if there is knowledge, it will be done away

So we have like three things contrasted there, right?

Let me read the whole thing again because I think I skipped a phrase

Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away

If there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge, it will be done away

So there are three things mentioned in here, and we started with it, if you'll recall, we did do chapter 12, it's been five weeks

But we did do chapter 12, and Paul was talking about the spiritual gifts as manifestations of God's presence

So prophecy is a spiritual gift, right?

The gift of tongues, a spiritual gift

Knowledge is a spiritual gift, those things were laid out in chapter 12 and he said what?

Love versus those three things, what did he say? Does anybody remember?

Okay, look at verse 31 of chapter 12, it says

But earnestly desire the greater gifts, and I show you a still more excellent way

So everything we've been talking about in chapter 13 has been a still more excellent way

In other words, when you say something is still more excellent, you're admitting that the first something is very excellent, it's awesome

But this is still more excellent, so we're escalating up one step from prophecy, from tongues, etc.

And it began with, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and do not have love

I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal

I am a gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge

And if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing

And so basically he's saying these three things are very good

Did you get the one out of the fridge and put it in as well?

Yes

Okay, very good, thank you

So it's two separate things, you don't combine them?

Correct, no, two separate things, yep, very good

Thank you, about 25 minutes, somebody needs to check that

Okay

So when he says love never fails but if there are gifts of prophecy, who gives the prophecies?

Who gives the gifts of prophecy?

God, right? His Holy Spirit determines, and elsewhere you could read, that God's Holy Spirit determines exactly what the right gifts are for each individual

So if you have the gift of prophecy, God has determined that you should be able to prophecy, that that's perfect for you and for the people that you're going to encounter and so on

And then he chooses that gift for you and bestows it in you, that's where it comes from

So it is a gift of prophecy and it is a gift of prophecy from God specifically

So then a gift of prophecy is a manifestation of God's presence

My goodness, what could be better than to know that the God of the universe has chosen to live in you?

I would say pretty much nothing, that would be the immediate thing I would say

I can't think of anything that would be better than to know that the God of the universe has chosen to live in me

And prophecy would be evidence or proof of that

And I could go, yes, because I can prophecy, I can know that the God of heaven is living in me, that sounds awesome

So these are the good things that Paul mentions when he talks about spiritual gifts

They are the signs, the manifestations of God's presence

But what is he saying?

He's saying they will be gone at some point, right? They will cease, they will end, they will be done away with

The manifestations of God's presence will be gone or done away with

And that's the verse that we just read, verse 8

He said, love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away

If there are tongues, they will cease, if there is knowledge, it will be done away

But notice, love never fails

It doesn't quit, it doesn't stop, it doesn't run out, it doesn't cease, it doesn't fall down

Love never fails

This is one of the reasons that he's arguing for love to be a still more excellent way

Because it does not fail, verse 9

He says, for we know in part, so that for is because, or this is why we know this to be true

For we know in part and we prophecy in part

And we'll stop there for one second

So, first one's a reference to knowledge

When you say you know something, it means you have knowledge

So God has gifted you with knowledge, you know something about God

You know something about the gospel, you know something about who God is

You know something about what God's going to do, something about what God has done

You know the promises of God and you're able to claim the promises of God because you know them

If you don't know them, you can't claim them

I don't know to say that, I know that God will save everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord

Unless I know that the scripture says that God will save everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord

You have to know them first

And so he says, we know, but what does it say about knowing?

We know in part

I submit to you that there is not a single person in this room

And probably not anywhere under heaven despite their best efforts

Who know even everything that is contained in the word of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation End

We don't even know that, and that is made available to you

You could study this for 18 minutes a day and work the 100 hours principle

And by the end of the year you could know the Bible better than anybody that you know

Me, better than 95% of the people in the world

And yet you would only know in part

You're limited to know based on what your experiences are, what your perceptions are, what your capabilities are

What your background is in learning, etc.

So he says, we know in part

And then he says, we prophecy in part

To prophecy is to speak on behalf of God

A lot of times prophecy looks like telling the future, alright?

Like fortune telling essentially

But it's kind of pure and done with the motivation of love

But prophecy is not only telling the future, right?

The prophets largely were known whether they were prophets or not

The Bible said if they gave a prophecy and that prophecy failed

They were a false prophet and they should be put to death

So they said, God's going to do this

And then God doesn't do it, it doesn't happen

Then it's a false prophet and they should be put to death

So telling the future may be the test of a prophet

But it's not the only thing that prophecy is

Prophecy is also revealing the unknown

So you see people say, I know this about you

Tyler, I know this about you, I know what you're doing

Only you could possibly know

Nobody else knows or maybe you've told a couple of friends

There's no way they told that person

And the Holy Spirit through them has them reveal a truth that there's no other way

And so both of these are references to the former

Notice tongues is not mentioned

He says the gift of prophecy, the gift of knowledge will pass away

In the previous verse and now he says this is true because we know in part and we prophecy in part

He says, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away

In other words, when it's done

When the evidence are no longer necessary because the case is closed

If you went to a court of law and your lawyer made a good argument on your behalf

And they present evidences, right?

And they presented the evidences

Well, once the judge makes his ruling, if there's no appeal, it's done

There's no more evidence to be presented

You can go and argue with your friends, you can talk to your brother or your sister, whatever

And tell them about, oh, I should have said this, I should have said that

I should have presented this evidence, I should have presented that

But once the court case is ruled on and there's no appeal possible, it's done

And that is the place to which we are headed

There is a moment in time at which it's settled

Right now we're living in a place where we know in part and we prophecy in part

But when the perfect comes, when it's complete, when it's done, when it's settled

The partial will be done away

We'll come back and look at that again in the points

Verse 11, he says, when I was a child, I used to speak as a child

Think as a child, reason as a child

When I became a man, I did away with childish things

Now, I will say to you that there's a lot of people who want to take this verse right here

And make a book on it or a whole bunch of sermons out of it, right?

And about how men or women, young women, young men, whatever, should grow up

They should mature, they should not be funny anymore

They should not laugh, play, have fun

They shouldn't be distracted, they shouldn't be tempted

Try to make a young man into a man who has no young manness

That's one of the worst things that a person could do

You don't want to take your young manness and get it out of you so you can only be a man

That'd be foolish, you'd be old before your time

What you want to do is take your young manness and you want to refine it and use it

So that it's something that glorifies God

So when a grandpa gets down on the floor and crawls around and plays matchbox cards with his grandkids

Or cowboys and Indians or little plastic miniatures or whatever

And he feels young again, he doesn't feel physically young, he knows he's old

He's still aching in his joints, his back still hurts

He's still in the back of his mind thinking, well, I want to get up from here

I've got to go fix that, do that, make this work happen, pay this bill

He knows all that still got to go on so he doesn't feel like a little kid again

But there is a young part of him that resonates with that young child

He can create stories and play imagination and do things like that

And you shouldn't ever give that up, right?

And because we've repressed that so is one of the reasons why things like social media, TV, books, etc. appeal to us so much

Because when we watch other people do what we'll never do anymore now, we've given it all up

We live vicariously through others

But if you'll keep living all the way until which you die

You keep alive that young person all the way until you die

Then you will have lived a full and abundant life, which I submit to you Christ died for

Back on the text

He said, when I was a child I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child

When I became a man I did away with childish things

And so if this verse is not saying to you that as you become an adult you have to do away with things that have to do with kids

It's not saying to you that you can no longer reason like a child or speak like a child or think like a child because now you're an adult

If it's not saying that then what is it saying?

What it's saying is when the partial becomes full there's no need of the partial anymore

When that cake is done baking we're not going to eat these empty dishes

That would be stupid, right?

Nor will we go pour fresh oil and drink it out of this plastic container

That would be dumb because the cake will be the cake

The things that went into the cake now they're all combined together and they turn out to be the cake

Now we can eat cake and that's the goal

God is moving us toward a point in time at which we will complete this journey

We will be in His presence

I won't talk too much about that just yet

But the bottom line is that's the place that we're going

So to rule out things before their time would be foolish

To realize they don't have a place now that would be foolish

But at the same time to fail or to utilize them to focus on them

He's making an argument would be foolish

So what are the things that He's saying for us not to focus on?

Not to become so excited about, not to be so worried about that we miss the still more excellent thing

He's talking about the spiritual gifts

He's saying that the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of knowledge and all of the other gifts

Which are real and they manifest themselves in people who have the Holy Spirit in them

Those manifestations, we can't get focused on them

Should we use them? Yes

And they have a purpose elsewhere described which is to edify the church

To lift each other up in the church, right?

Should we use them? Yes

But should we get wrapped up in them or so focused on them that we miss the still more excellent way which is love?

No! That's exactly what He's saying

There will come a time if we only have it partial now

Then there will come a time when we have it completely

And when we have it completely, the partial will be done away

That's what He's saying

I'll go from 9

For we know it part and we prophecy in part

But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away

When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child

When I became a man, I did away with childish things

In other words, I was becoming complete and there were things that only fit in my partialness that I did away with

And that's what God is going to do

Other things remain

You can still sometimes reason as a child if you do it regenerated in the Lord

I submit to you when you're born again, you have to start as a baby in Christ

If you were born again and skipped right to the adolescent stage, you're probably not a very good Christian

If you were born again and skipped right to being an adult Christian, you're probably not a very good Christian

Because God wanted to build something up in you

He was creating something and you ran on ahead of Him and now you're missing certain key parts

And it's the same way with a child becoming a man

And yes, you could speak about that, but He's just using it as an analogy to say

We had it only in part, indeed we have it only in part

Eventually we will have it in its perfect completeness and in so doing

We don't have to have it in part anymore when that time comes

Now verse 12, for now we see in a mirror dimly

There's that verse, people quote it a lot, kind of shows up in a lot of different things

For now we see in a mirror dimly

But then face to face

Now I know in part

But then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known

So what is He saying?

At that moment at which you come into God's presence

A few things are true, the first thing is at that point it's pretty much done

You're not going to run in there and go, oh I meant to repent when I was 12

But I really didn't and I've never been saved and now I don't want to go to hell

There's no chance at that point, that's done

The question is what did you do with Jesus Christ who is the Lord and Savior

And Creator of the universe and the Son of God in the flesh

And God in the flesh, what did you do with Him while you were alive?

And if you get to the point where you die and come into His presence, that's too late

Because you chose not to do the right thing

You chose to condemn Him, to ignore Him, to belittle Him

While you were alive, at that point it's too late

And that's what He's saying, so there's a moment of time in which it's going to be done

It's going to be settled and when it's going to be done and it's settled, we're face to face with God

So that now knowing in part, not really a thing anymore

You live your life knowing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

But not calling Him Lord as well as Savior

Not living exactly for Him the best you know how and repenting when you fail

Not doing those things and then when you come into His presence

You will have known for days, months, years, decades

What you might even call your whole life that He was Lord

And He was going to either give you heaven or not based on what you did with Jesus

And then you come in there and knowing that will do you no good whatsoever

It'll be whether or not you have it as Lord and Savior

That's what did you do with the knowledge?

So you know in part, so you can say, well I do know

And I am submitting myself to the Lord

And I am acting on the knowledge that I have

And I am acting on prophecy, like I can figure out what God is going to do in the future

I can see the scripture, I know where it's going to go

And I am acting on prophecy, I am acting, I am speaking tongues

Or I am interpreting tongues, or I am doing both, speaking and interpreting tongues

I am doing all of that

And what would Paul say to the Corinthians?

That's all fine, but let me be very clear to you

There is a still more excellent way

And you may be saved, you may not

Realize Matthew 7, there are those who say I am the Lord

But Lord, we prophesied in Your name, we healed in Your name

Does anybody remember what Jesus said back to them?

How did the Corinthians say it was before the message?

Yeah, actually He said that before that

Then they said that, and then He said

Get away from Me, I never knew you

You see, because they had missed the still more excellent way

Get away from Me, I never knew you

Even though they had said they were prophesying

He didn't say no, you didn't prophesy

Or He didn't say, I know you wish He did because it would make it a lot simpler, I kind of wish He did

He didn't say, yeah, you prophesied, but not in My name

I guess I wish it would be that simple

I'm just, if I'm working for Jesus, getting it mostly right, that's enough

But He said no, get away from Me, I never knew you

He didn't say they didn't prophesy

He didn't say they didn't do it in His name

He didn't say they didn't heal

And He didn't say they didn't do it in His name

He just simply said, okay, you prophesied and you healed

But you missed the still more excellent way

Get away from Me, I never knew you

That brings us then to essentially three points that are coming out of the text today

So the first one, I'm going to give you a little illustration

I was about 10 years old and my parents started taking us out to Raceway Park

Anybody remember Raceway Park? It's gone now

Yeah, Raceway Park, a few of us

So Raceway Park used to have buggy racing

So it was horse racing, they called it horse racing

It was horses pulling buggies, right?

And you have a guy sitting in the back of the buggy with his legs up like that

And around the track, dust flying, dirt flying if it was a kind of wet day

And mud flying if it was a muddy day, right?

And you could bet on which horse would come in first

And my parents considered this to be entertainment

And they did it, my dad was a backslidden Christian

My mom wasn't saved, I wasn't saved, my brother wasn't saved

And they'd take both of us out there

And they'd say by the end of the night, you can bet so much money

$5, $10, $20, whatever it was

So I'm about 10 years old, I'm walking around Raceway Park

And I hear this guy who I had seen him there

I've been there like 3 or 4 times, we always go

I think it was always after 9.30 you could get in for free

And we would go like, it was either Friday or Saturday night

So walking around about 10 o'clock on that weekend night

And I hear this guy telling this other guy that there's a horse in the race

That's running at long odds, like 12 to 1

But he's a sure thing to win

He's going to win for sure

So I'm like, oh, I'm super excited, I got a tip

So I run up to my dad and I say, dad, how much money I got left?

He's like, I got 8 bucks, I'm like 8 bucks times 12, that's $96

This is going to be awesome

I said, dad, I want to bet $8 on number 8 or whatever it was to win

And he's like, that's all the money you got

We're going to be here for a half hour or an hour

If you lose, you're done, right?

So you won't be able to bet anymore for the rest of the night

If you bet all $8

And he said, yeah, I said, dad, but it's a sure thing

I'm going to win this bet for sure

And he's like, how do you know?

And I said, well, I heard this guy over here

And I've seen him, he knows what he's doing

This guy's like an expert at the track

He clearly knows what he's doing

And he told me that number 8 is a sure thing

And my dad told me a couple of important things in that moment

He said, the first thing is, if number 8 was a sure thing

He wouldn't be going off at 12 to 1

Those odds directly represent whether or not that horse is going to win that race

So if you're betting on a horse that's 12-1, odds are he's not going to win

So my dad said, maybe you should bet on him to show

So it's first place, second place, third place, show

And then there's a, you can bet to place, which is first or second place

And show is first, second, third, or fourth

So the fourth place could be included, right? And show, I think that's how it went

But anyway, and I said, but dad, he's like 12-1 to win

He's only like 3-1 to come in fourth or better

So then I would only get like $24 instead of $96

And I said, yeah, but that's a sure thing

That's a sure thing, that's a sure thing

So here's the thing, sure things, there's no such thing

There's no such thing as a sure thing in betting and gambling, in life, in general

Nothing is really sure unless God makes it sure

Here's the sure thing, God will keep His promises

God will do what He said He's going to do

God doesn't back down, God can't be defeated

So if there is anything that's sure, it's God

But everybody's got this idea that they're going to discover this other sure thing

And they're going to invest in it

So like you start prophecy and you're like, man, I can tell the future a little bit

Sometimes when I say things, they come true

Anybody here ever had that happen? That's happened to me

I bet there's others, right? Has that ever happened?

You tell something's going to happen, then it happens, right?

You ever have a dream and it's like deja vu

But you can, before you get to the end of the deja vu, the series of events

Something in the dream was supposed to happen and then you're able to change it

You know what that is?

That's a gift of prophecy, right?

And not only Christians have it

There's a girl in Acts where Paul casts a demon out of her

And she loses her ability to tell the future and they get in big trouble for it

So that can be evil spirits or demons that give that ability, not just God

But the bottom line is, it's pretty cool if I start thinking I can tell the future a little bit

I can get pretty excited about that, I'm telling the future a little bit

And I can start trying harder, I can write my dreams or I can pay close attention

I can even pray, God, please let me tell the future some more, I want to do that

I really like that, I can be focused on my gift, whatever it is

There have been times in my life where as a pastor, as a preacher

Where everything in my life was falling apart

I was begging God, my health was bad or whatever

That's not been all that, that's been pretty recent

And I'm begging, I said, whatever you do, Lord, let me keep preaching

Because I know that's something I'm called to do

And then immediately I repented and I realized, no, that is not right

That is not right

That is not what I'm called to do

You're not called to preach

Spiritual gifts are a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit

There is no sure thing, they're not one thing you can double down on

Or bet all the money that you've got left or put all your efforts into

Except what? You know the answer

What will win? What will remain? What is it?

We're studying it, we've been in here for five weeks

We don't know what the one thing is that will stick to the very end

It's love

I saw a couple people saying love

It's love

Love is the only sure thing

The truth is, I'm what they call a certified leadership life coach

I haven't used it a lot, but I've done it with some folks

And had some reasonably good kind of God help them find clarity and things like that

But as a pastor it's a useful tool, so I got certified to do that

And I learned that men of a certain age want to leave a legacy

They want to leave behind something, when they leave this world

They want to leave behind something that has affected the world

Something that has changed, whether it's in their family, in their kids, their ministry

Where they work, they want to leave behind a legacy

I've left a couple of jobs over the years, so has Sherry

And every time we've ever left we always worked really hard

I could give notice for three weeks and then the last three weeks we work our butts off

To make sure and leave that place better than it was when we started

That's called leaving a legacy, and we want to leave a legacy

Let me tell you what the legacy that you want to leave

What the legacy that I want to leave is

What the legacy is that we were created to leave, it is love

At your funeral, if they say you started a Fortune 500 company

Ain't going to mean squat

In 50 years somebody will be able to Google you if Google still exists and figure that out

But otherwise no one's going to care

And at your funeral, if you gave a lot of money to the church

Somebody might be there, buy big flowers, put up a plaque in your name

A name of room after you, or a building, or a parking lot space or something

But in 50 or 100 years, no one's going to care

No one's going to remember that

You can look back at people now who said important things

100 years ago, 200 years ago

There's a quote by Thomas More later in my sermon that I may or may not say

And you're like, who's Thomas More? My point exactly

Right? But here is what will pay

Here is what will stay the course

It is love

Love is the only sure thing

If you've forgotten the last four weeks of what love is

Read and meditate on 1 Corinthians chapter 13 until you get it

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

Because the legacy you want to lead is a legacy of love

It is what we were made to traffic in

It does not run out

It is a sure thing

It is not a risk or a gamble

It may feel like it at times

Like you're putting yourself out there

And you might even lose your physical life

But if you lose your physical life in love

You gain eternity

That's way better than 12 to 1

Love always wins

The second point then is that

The dessert mix that we talked about

That half-baked dessert mix

When the dessert is mixed and baked, it is complete

The mix is no longer necessary

But even if it were, it's gone

Hear me now

Whatever has blessed you in your life

If it's not of God at the moment of death, it's gone

Your great intelligence, your great strength

Your great capability, your great diligence

Your great wealth, your great relationships

Whatever it is, anything that's blessing you now

Whatever you're having fun with now

At the moment of your death, it will be gone

About eight years or so ago

I watched a movie called My All American

If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it

It's rated PG or rated PG-13

It's about a young man named Freddie

Who had in his mind he was going to be a professional football player

He and his dad worked really hard

His dad was for sure set to be a professional baseball player

But he had a car accident, it hurt his leg

So then he worked with his son to make him a professional football player

He had it set in his mind

To the point that they would go out before school and after school every day

And run up and down this hill

He was strong, he only ate right, he slept right

He put God first

He was a Catholic, but he professed the name of the Lord

And he went to mass every single day

He never missed no matter what

He could do everything else

He could play football, he could work out

He could do all those things

And he never missed being in church

Being with God's people

And so all of that, and then he winds up

He's 5'10", not very big

5'10", and a safety and a punt returner for University of Texas

And they took him

In his sophomore year, he went first string

Which was the second time in 30 years that that had happened

And they went and won the national championship

And then they were set to go to the Cotton Bowl

And during the national championship game leading up to it

His knee began to hurt really bad

And he had a tumor on top of his leg

Now we're ruining that part of the story

But you guys still watch the story, it's really good

The bottom line is

He never became a professional football player

Because they had to amputate his leg at the hip

Because he had cancer in his leg

And so what I'm getting at is

This kid, literally everything in his life

Was geared around this dream

Except for his faith

Serving God, he was serving God in church

He was in church, etc

And when his football dream ran out

And he could no longer play professionally

Even though he was on a number one nationally ranked team

And he was probably the reason that they won

And they even said as much, right?

And even though that was true

His football went away

And guess what he had left?

His faith

His relationship with God

He went through having his leg amputated at the hip

God forbid anybody should ever go through that

And he went through it strong

And he overcame in a matter of less than three weeks

What they told him it would take him six months to do

And he walked on crutches with one leg to the cotton bowl

And saw his team play

When the dessert mix is mixed

That's not the time to eat it

When it's baked

That may or may not be the time to eat it

When it's frosted it starts to look pretty good

When it's complete

That's the time

The culmination of efforts shows itself

Yes, we desire the manifestations of God's presence in us

Yes, it makes sense to desire the manifestations of God's presence

I want God to live in me

I want God to reign in me

I want God to turn me into something that is godly

That is something I want, I desire that

But more than the manifestations of his presence

Are his presence

What will that be like?

Well, it's going to be an encounter with love

And if you have encountered the love of God at the moment of salvation

And yet

Can deny someone you know

Even an enemy

The love of God

Then according to what God says

That's a contradiction

I want you to think for just a moment

About one of the things

Now don't beat yourself up over it

But just think for one of the things that you did as a sinner

As a lost person

Got it?

Now I want you to realize that that thing

Would have put you in hell

For an eternity

That you would have been separated from God forever

And because that's true

And God would not allow it

He came in the flesh as a man

And was crucified to pay for it

But he didn't stay dead

He rose again on the third day

As a permanent lasting testimony

Of the love of God

And the love of God

And the love of God

And the love of God

And the love of God

And the love of God

And the love of God

Is the permanent lasting testimony

Of the love of our God

That's the love that you encountered

The moment that you heard

That if you call upon the name of the Lord

And believe that he is Savior

And believe that he is Lord

That you will be translated

Born again

Moved from the kingdom of Satan

love that you're experiencing with other people that you're encountering or if any other emotion

should replace it.

And love is not an emotion, right?

It goes so far beyond that, but it results in an emotion that feels for the other person,

a compassion, a want, a desire to see them well, right?

And if any other emotion would replace that love at any point in time, then I debate whether

or not you have actually experienced what you say you have experienced.

Because love never fails.

It doesn't quit, it doesn't break down, it doesn't run out, there's not enough of it,

it doesn't cost too much.

Desiring the manifestations of God's presence makes perfect sense because don't you want

to go to heaven?

Don't you want the abundant life that Jesus paid for?

That all makes a lot of sense.

But if we have encountered the love that is God, a complete and wonderful thing has already

taken place in us, and it is a testimony to a final and complete and wonderful thing,

the road between here and there must be populated with the love of the Creator God that we have

experienced and will truly experience then.

But you're saying, I don't know for sure that I will be with God for an eternity.

If you don't know for sure that you will be with God for an eternity, then it makes perfect

sense that you would not be loving to the people around you because you're busy meeting

your own needs, dealing with your own desires.

But if you know for certain where you're going, you know where you will be, you know in whom

you have trusted and who you will keep until that day, that which you have entrusted to

him, Paul says.

Right?

If you're willing to do that, if you have done that, and you know for sure where you

will arrive, then the road between here and there is populated with a still more excellent

way.

The first point was, there is no sure thing except love.

The second point was that the manifestations of this, of God in this life are like half-baked

cake, but there is a full experience of God yet to come.

The next one that I want to share with you is that the signs of passage are the signs

of his presence.

Even the signs of his presence will never be as good as the presence itself.

Any hunters in the room?

Have you ever been hunting?

Anybody?

Charlie's not in here today.

She's a hunter.

Okay, there's a couple.

I see some nodding hands, hands up.

Okay.

So let's say for a moment that you went hunting.

And as you're going out hunting and you haven't picked a spot yet where you're going to sit

to wait to bag the deer or whatever it is you're hunting.

And you go out and you see hoof prints on the ground.

Is that a good sign?

Hoof prints.

Since you're hunting a deer, you see deer prints on the sign.

You'd be like, okay.

And you know it rained a few days ago, but there's hoof prints here and they're clear

and crisp.

So you know these hoof prints are less than three days old.

So there's a deer that moves through here and has in the last three days.

And deer like most creatures are creatures of habit.

So I think, well, I see hoof prints.

That is evidence of the presence of a deer.

This is good.

Then you come along and you see a tree.

And the tree bark has been shredded off of the tree.

Let me know what that's from.

From their antlers.

So they're shed and trying to get the fur off their antlers.

So now this is evidence not only the presence of a deer, but presence of a buck.

So now we've got a buck.

So now we've got footprints, means deer.

Now we've got bark rubbed off a tree.

That means a buck and not just a small buck probably.

So this is looking pretty good.

Then you take up your spot overlooking the place where the deer might come through.

You got a good wide open view.

And then you hear some rustling in the bushes.

Now we've got footprints.

You've got bark rubbed off a tree and quite a lot of rustling in a bush.

Rifle comes up, take aim in the site.

We're aiming at the bush.

But though the bush rustles, no deer is seen.

Do you take the shot?

No.

No, you can't take the shot.

Why not?

You don't want to look at humans.

It could be a human.

It could be anything.

And you're hunting deer.

Right?

Then you got a lot of evidence that there's a deer, but no actual deer.

You got footprints.

You got bark rubbed off.

You got rustling in the bushes.

And then after a few seconds, you don't take the shot.

And then you hear the sound of deer moving through several bushes.

Still can't see them moving bushes away from your spot.

Man, there's probably a deer there.

Probably a buck.

Maybe you catch just the hint of the top of some antlers, but no shot.

Never a deer.

The day ends.

And you go back and you're hanging out with your buds, eating some french fries.

You talk about the one that got away.

The signs of passage or even the signs of presence will never be as good as the actual

presence of God.

Ever.

No matter how sure you are.

You look at your son and go, my son is growing up to be a great man and he professes the

name of the Lord.

And you might have everything to believe that he has become a Christian.

But if he has not actually become a Christian, it's not good enough.

Your spouse might be a great servant and seem to love the Lord and whatever.

But when the time comes, no matter what she's done, no matter what he's done, if the presence

of the Lord is not in them, it's not good enough.

See, the knowledge, the prophecy, the tongues, all of it is little more than dirty dishes.

It ain't real cake.

It may taste pretty good.

There may be parts of it like prophecy that you go, oh, I'll eat that powdered sugar just

plain, just the way it is.

Somebody might go, I'll cook up that egg, pop it in the microwave, whip it up a little

bit, pop it in the microwave, whip it up a little bit, make me a scrambled egg, slap

some salt on that bad boy and I'll eat it.

That's 25 calories and tasty too.

You might do that.

But if you do that, you'll never get cake.

Came home one night, it was late, it was probably about one in the morning.

And I had been to the hospital, I'd been there for like five hours and they had had dinner

while I was gone.

And I come in and they had left the dishes from dinner in the sink.

We do that quite frequently actually for one day or whatever while we're getting around

to washing them and the dishes from dinner were in the sink.

And there in the sink was a flat pan and on the flat pan was shiny aluminum foil and on

the aluminum foil were the traced out shapes of cooked barbecue sauce.

It was every bit of evidence for me to know that they had had barbecue ribs for dinner.

Now I hadn't had dinner and I'd had a light lunch and it had been about nine hours since

I ate.

The only other thing I had in that time was hot chocolate.

And so what do you think I did?

Say it again?

I went in the refrigerator to see whether or not there was any leftover ribs.

And guess what?

There was!

And I ate barbecue ribs.

I didn't sleep very well because of it but I ate barbecue ribs about 1.30 in the morning

after I warmed them up and they were quite tasty.

The manifestations of God's presence in other people are meant to lead you to search for

God and you will find Him and realize He was never very far away in the first place and

then you too will have manifestations of His presence and they will lead other people to

search for God.

But let me show you a still more excellent way.

You could theoretically, based on what we're studying today, manifest no Holy Spirit gifts

whatsoever.

Do you know that there are Holy Spirit gifts that are very quiet?

Like faith.

Faith is a Holy Spirit gift.

It's also what you need to be saved.

But there's another kind of faith that's a Holy Spirit gift that believes God even when

it doesn't make any sense.

Believes God for miracles.

Like service that works in the background and isn't waiting for somebody to give them

notice.

Take notice of that, man what a great job they did.

They're happy to be serving.

They know they're manifesting and people see the manifestations of faith and service all

the time without even knowing it.

But then there's love.

You could manifest no Holy Spirit gift whatsoever and yet love be living in a still more excellent

way and bring people to Jesus.

I submit to you that the church is not failing to bring people to Jesus because they don't

manifest the Holy Spirit gifts.

And there are a lot of churches where there are no Holy Spirit gifts because they say

they've ceased or whatever and they tell people.

And even though people have them, they never let it be known that they have them because

they've been told that they can't have them.

I submit to you it's not Holy Spirit gifts that are going to win lost people to Christ.

It's love.

And I wonder then why if love is the supreme expression of God's presence, there isn't

more of that.

Well, the church of our day is somewhere stuck between the dirty dishes and the well cooked

meal.

The well cooked meal comes when God reveals Himself and we go to heaven for eternity.

That's when it's done.

Has someone pulled the cake from the oven by the way?

It is out cooling.

Alright.

Can we get one of them and bring it in here?

For the optic lesson of it.

So this is what the well cooked meal looks like today.

You say, no wait a minute, you said the perfect will come.

We'll get there in the presence of God and we'll experience love.

Yes, but the Bible also says, John says, if you cannot love, you do not know God.

The one who abides in love abides in God.

And so it's right now, today, this is what it looks like.

We love others to Christ.

Lost people, people who profess to be saved, we love them to Christ.

You can buy them birthday presents or Christmas presents, you can pay their bills for them,

but it'll never mean anything unless we love them to Christ.

We love others to Christ.

We do that by exhibiting, that means we're showing it, and sharing the knowledge of the

gospel.

I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of salvation unto all

those who believe, first the Jew and then the Gentile.

So we do it by showing the knowledge of the gospel.

You don't show, you're not showing love if you go and serve somebody and never mention

Jesus, they have no idea you're doing it for Jesus or whatever.

Because you might be doing it for a million other reasons.

But we demonstrate the love of Christ by delivering the gospel of Christ, exhibiting it and sharing

it to all people.

Christ loves them to growth.

Jesus loves them to growth.

Is it still pretty hot?

So there's our cake.

Compliments of Haley's mixing.

I didn't make it full thickness because the other one's in there, right?

Now all it would take would be for me to put the frosting on.

But you can't have any, I don't care if you want some.

You want some?

You can't have any.

I'm serious.

You want some?

You can't have any.

You want some?

You can't have any.

Is there anybody here who doesn't want some?

Raise your hand if you don't want any cake.

Tony, you can have some.

Now how's that feel?

Does that feel very good to know that the cake is right here?

And you're like, man, cake!

Fresh baked cake.

Smells like cake.

I bet it'll taste like cake.

And I've got a whole thing of frosting.

But you can't have any.

That's what the church is doing to the world.

That's what the church is doing to each other.

We're supposed to be loving the way Christ loves.

Sacrificing the way Christ sacrifices.

Working the way Christ works.

We love others to Christ.

Exhibiting and sharing the knowledge of the gospel.

Christ loves them to growth.

And then we love each other.

As Jesus is loving us, we love each other.

And then we're loved by Christ all the way to the moment

at which all the other manifestations end.

And love is seen face to face.

I know that sounds weird.

But love is seen face to face.

I'm asking you.

God is asking me.

And so I'm relaying the message.

That we take a serious look at everything

that's in our lives and figure out

which ones are expressions of love.

Not the worldly love.

If you missed one sermon in this series,

if you missed one point, so what was kindness?

Kindness is being useful.

That's what kindness was.

What was one of the things that makes it not possibly love?

To act unbecomingly.

If you do the wrong thing, that's not love.

If you do a sinful thing or a wicked thing

or a thing that God would not tarry, that's not love.

And if you're seeking your own, you're

loving the person who loves you so that they'll love you back.

Or you're loving them so that you get certain results.

That's not love.

If you're provokable, if you're able to be provoked,

you get angry at the people that you supposedly love.

That's not love.

If you are going around taking into account

or thinking about the wrongs that other people are doing,

that's not love.

But if you can get to the point that you actually love

and are exhibiting the love that God has called us to in the thing

that's in your life that you're examining,

then I would say double down.

And I think you're going to find things that are not loving.

They're things that exclude others.

They're things that tell people no,

any reasonable request probably should receive a yes.

They're things that are unseemly, meaning they lead

to a simple road or they walk away from something

that God wants us to be doing or an investment

that God wants us to be making.

And so now I'm loving this person and this person

is leading me astray or leading me down a place

that I shouldn't go.

That's not love.

You say I love, but you don't love

if you're investing in things in life

that do not exhibit the love of God.

And that's dangerous because you can profess the name of Christ,

receive Holy Spirit gifts,

and miss the more excellent way,

which means it's possible you could not be saved.

Have you experienced the love of Christ firsthand?

Then I challenge you to deliver it into the world,

to deliver it into your family,

deliver it on your job,

deliver it in your church,

deliver it whether they like it or not.

And remember that one of the greatest examples of love

is calls to repentance,

calls to look to God.

And somebody says to you,

well, I'm engaged in this sinful activity.

You don't have to say to them, you have to quit.

You can just say to them, I think you should look to God.

What are you saying? What I'm doing is sin?

Well, the Bible says it's sin, but I'm not saying that.

All I'm saying to you is I want you to look to God.

Well, I am looking to God and God says,

okay, I do it.

I can't help you.

I have one message and it is look to God.

And His word says this,

and you're saying something different

and you're saying you're looking to God.

So that can only be true if you and God

have a special understanding

that is outside what the Bible says

and outside my understanding of God's at that point,

I can't help you.

But if ever you want somebody to call you to repent

and turn to God, you come to me.

In the meantime, I'm gonna continue to love you

the way Jesus loved me.

That's what Paul was calling us to

in 1 Corinthians 13, 8-12.

So I ask the praise team to come forward at this time.

And we're gonna have the final song

that's your opportunity to make it to the table.

I will frost the cake immediately following service

and cut it up and it will be in the cafeteria

for anybody who actually wants a piece.

And I hope it will come to you

and taste a little bit like love today.

And I didn't make it thick,

so you won't be eating this massive amounts of calories.

Plus it'll be planted around.

Stand with me and sing this song and then as we sing

and the Lord is speaking to you about something in your life

or some loving that needs to go.

Or He's speaking to you about a person in your life

that you need to love them despite how challenging

it sometimes is or whatever.

Then you repent, turn to God,

and commit yourself to just that.

I'm gonna work with this.

I'm gonna work with this.

Go on to Jesus.

I surrender.

I surrender all.

To Him I plead.

I plead again.

I will never stop.

And trust Him in His presence.

And His will be done.

I surrender all.

I'm taking all the things that I've been blessed with.

I surrender all.

All to Him I plead.

I surrender all.

Oh Jesus I surrender all.

Let me be saved, your holy light.

Let me feel thy holy spirit.

Truly know that thou art mine.

I surrender all.

I surrender all.

All to thee my master, Savior, I surrender all.

I'm gonna stop singing at this time.

I want to share with you very briefly,

one big step, a few minutes, a couple minutes something.

This is something that has somewhat, in my lifetime,

the question has re-inserted me a number of times.

I just want to tell you that in studying this passage of Scripture,

I figured it out.

And then maybe it'll make a connection for you too.

Matthew 6 19, Jesus says this, He says,

Do not lay up for yourself treasures upon earth,

where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break and steal,

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves not break and steal.

But where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The lamp of the body is the eye, and if therefore your eye is clear,

the whole body will be full of light.

If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness,

how great is the darkness.

Many times, we've been in conversation, we've been debating, thinking about it,

people asking questions I thought about it, whatever,

you can say, well, how do you store up treasures for yourself in heaven?

And I'm gonna tell you that a lot of pastors, thank God,

I don't believe ever me, okay?

But a lot of pastors have preached the way you store up treasures for yourself in heaven.

Bless you, sir.

Instead of spending your money on your earthly pleasures,

you invest it thinking of work.

So you give more financial, more tithes and offerings,

more service ministry, those kinds of things.

There ain't anything wrong with that.

I think there is our scripture that supports our giving and giving very heartily.

But this doesn't have anything to do with that.

So now based on what we learned today, I'm gonna ask a question.

If we're investing in treasures that will be present in heaven,

what does that mean or what does that look like?

Could you work harder on earth and would that do it?

Could you use your spiritual gifts, would that do it?

Could you self-sacrifice, would that do it?

Because I've seen that, people say, well, he self-sacrificed,

and so God is clearly gonna reward him in heaven, right?

Does that make sense?

Based on what we saw today, only that which is perfect and complete goes beyond.

And so that brings us to just one thing.

There is just one way that you can make sure that anything that you do on earth

results in treasure in heaven and what is it?

What is it?

I'm done.

One more.

Okay, that's good but that's not the answer.

That is good to do that but that's not the answer.

Love.

Love.

So everything you do that is for sure done in the love of Christ,

as we have talked about, translates to treasures in heaven.

And everything that you do for any other motivation, even diligence or duty,

all of those things are good, honor, all good, peace, good, war when necessary,

all good, all of those things, but they do not translate to treasures in heaven

unless they are done in love because only love never fails.

Only love is eternal.

That make sense?

Like the light bulb went on for me and I went, oh, now I get it.

I understand what he was talking about.

Jesus was calling us to do what we do in love.

Sometimes that may mean we have to go back to the beginning

and say, we made it in the end.

The only true expression, absolutely knowing it for sure that I have known

is the love of God is when I got saved.

So how do I make the traces that I'm making like that, Jules?

Maybe you just always check it back.

We'll just use that.

That's the clip.

That's the mold.

That's the instructions.

How do I make it like that?

If you make it like that, then it will last forever.

If you make it like anything else, it will be done away when the partial is done away.

The scary thing is if you've not experienced that love in salvation,

then you will be done away with when the partial is done away with.

But if you have experience and get through salvation and can walk in it,

then you will be with God in heaven for eternity.

Pretty cool stuff.

We're going to close the prayer this time and we will be through.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, it's been a challenging chapter.

I've been stretched, pushed.

At the same time, I've been encouraged.

I've been blessed.

As we've looked at the words that, I mean, I know there are people who can recite this chapter,

but I wonder whether the meaning is clear, especially like where it says kindness,

and we would have known without digging into it the word kindness,

that it means it's about being useful for someone.

Or where it says love covers a multitude of sins in Scripture and here,

and that that word bears all things, means covers.

We realize now that we're covering for others and others are covering for us,

and that's part of what it means to be loving.

And so, Lord, grow us, transform us, and change us.

And if we miss this step along the way, if we jumped to a later step

without learning to love like Jesus loved, without learning to love like we're supposed to,

if we've not been transformed from the inside out,

but rather just been going through the motions on the outside so it looks like we're loving it,

Lord, turn us again.

Turn us to You.

Empower us.

Make us able.

Make us able to see the manifestations of Your presence, yes,

but more importantly, to have Your presence in us every day.

Thank you, Lord, that this way is a still more excellent way, so much more excellent,

that something as awesome as spiritual gifts can look like dirty dishes or cracks in the mud compared to love.

Father, help us be Your loving people with presence in Jesus' name.

Thank you very much.

The cake is on its way already to the cafeteria.

For those of you who want a piece of sample cake made during the sermon,

probably the only time you'll ever get that.