As many and much stuff as you have been through, just surviving in the day and the hour of the time that we're living in, I almost feel somewhat apprehensive about thinking you can do any better. Surviving right now is saying a lot. It is an unusual privilege to be able to pastor people who don't believe they've arrived yet. and believe that we can always do better. It's the greatest privilege that any preacher could ever have is that people are hungry for more. You do more for me than I do for you. If you've gotten anything out of this, it's because of your prayers and your thirst for the word of God that God's kept the fountain open. It has nothing to do with mere abilities. It has to do with God answering your prayers. It should make God real to you. If God gives you something in a message, that's because God heard your prayers and then allows the donkey to talk. And so you don't know. It's a circle. And you do what you're supposed to do, and then I do what I'm supposed to do, and then God blesses it. And if any part of that thing gets broken, then it doesn't come through the way it comes through. So that has to do with the Lord doing that, because the Lord does care about you, and the greatest thing that He can do for you in the day and time in which you live is to give you something that'll sustain you. that'll help you, that'll carry you through in those two and three o'clock in the morning times when you wake up and the thunder's rolling and lightning's flashing in your life, whether it's perfectly clear and it's a full moon outside, but your life is upside down and you're frightened or you're worried or you're concerned about loved ones or other people that are around and you're overwhelmed with that. And then the Lord steps in and says, yeah, but remember what I said. Yeah, but remember what I said. When he shows up with you in the lion's den, when he shows up with you in the fiery furnace, when he shows up with you in the hole of the ship and the ship seems like it's going to go down, when he shows up with you out in the wilderness and even shows up with you when you've messed up. You know, one of the things I love about the Lord, and one of the things that we'll talk about a little bit tonight as far as charity is concerned, is charity is intended to be something that's gived out. You can't love without having charity. The proper kind of charity means I give it away without expecting anything in return. What I love about the Lord is, and being the true friend that he is, is that he knows me and yet he loves me. I've had a few friends like that, that know me and yet they love me. Mess up. You don't really know the kind of friendship you have with somebody until you mess up and you're considered to be human and Then all of a sudden you're all you realize your friendship was based on one mistake as long as you didn't mess up you're good, but unfortunately, I've been very fortunate very fortunate and I I I don't think I'll recognize on this side of eternity not just my dad but having the privilege of being around The old preacher who would take time, and I'm telling you now, had to be very gracious with me, but not to give up on me even when I made some, shall we say faux pas, some mistakes. And not moral mistakes or illegalities or things like that, but some things that I'm positive probably embarrassed him. And nonetheless, he never quit being my friend. And I find that having that relationship with men and even women that are in the church and recognizing that I don't have to be perfect. I just have to try my best to do all I can to have the right relationship with the Lord. And I find that's what the Lord blesses. I'm glad that my wife, in spite of what you may think about her, doesn't expect perfection. She'd have dumped me 20 years ago. She'd have found out after the first three or four years that he's not what he used to be and he's changing. And that's what happens in your Christian life. In life, you begin to change. You're not the same as you used to be. Your own testimony is, is that I've been coming to the church and I've grown. Well, that's because your relationship with him is growing. And you can't put too little of an emphasis on that. It's hugely important for you to understand God wants you to grow. He even starts you off by saying that when you get saved, he said, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. He doesn't want you to stay on milk. He likes to give you a piece of steak every now and then. He wants to feed you well. But he recognizes that at certain ages, that milk's all you can digest. But over a period of time, it's more than just digesting huge and large or bigger than life doctrinal truths like the deeps and different things like that. You begin to learn that the Christian life is dealing with people. The Christian life is dealing with people. It's not just in your head, just a bunch of knowledge. It's down here in your heart. And you recognize all of a sudden everybody's not like you. and everybody doesn't think like you. And now what you have to learn is take the Christianity that you're learning from the Lord and then be able to put an application to it as I think Brother Brad said or somebody said, I even said it this morning, put some shoe leather to it. You have to understand its relation. That's what the Bible refers to as not knowledge and not wisdom, but understanding. Knowledge is to obtain information. Wisdom is, how do I apply that knowledge? But understanding is, is that now how does all this stuff I've been taught apply to him? And everything he's given you is to do two things. One is to increase your relationship with him so that thereby you can increase your relationship with others. And so he uses the thing here as an entranceway, as a foyer for tonight. Come to 1 Corinthians 13, and this is just as good for all of us as it is just for the men here, but we're talking about the aged men ought to teach. Now, let me say this about aged. Somebody's been around a while. I've encouraged you younger men to get around the older men, but you've got to be careful who you get around. I don't want you around a bitter old cantankerous individual that's mad and frustrated with everybody. But we've got a lot of good men here that love the Lord, believe the book, and you don't hear from them a lot. They're not individuals that are out in the limelight. They're in the sunset of their lives and they've had a lot of life but they know more than just how to make a living and what it is to be married. They know how it is to have a relationship with the Lord and how to be long-suffering with other people so that they're able to not let every single thing that happens in life Try to get them out of things. Listen, one of the reasons that some of you have such a difficult time is you don't understand that if this thing was not valuable, there wouldn't be any pressure on you to try to get you out. One of the first things they do at boot camp, at least they do in the Marine Corps, and they did the same thing with how I was trained a back of a jillion years ago, and what they try to do is make that first two weeks so hard you want to quit. You say, why do they do that? Because they want you to show you there's some value to it and it isn't for everybody. Well, the devil would like nothing better than for you to quit. If you see an aged man, you're seeing a miracle that's walking. I'm saying that to lift him up. I'm saying that to exalt him. I'm saying that honor to whom honors do. You have nowadays more than not Older men that are getting out, their wives may still be in church, but the older men are getting out. If you see an aged man that is still trying his best to follow the Lord, make a wide berth for him and give him the proper respect because everything in him along the way has tried to get him to quit. He's a walking miracle. More so than a woman. I'm not downplaying women. We're going to get to you in a little while, maybe not till Wednesday night. But you need to recognize, when the Lord is saying that, an aged man is a form of honor. It is saying, I'm trusting, I'm telling Titus, I want you to have the younger guys trust those aged guys, because the mere fact they're still here says volumes, in and of itself. It speaks of their faithfulness, of their sympathy, of their fidelity, of their willingness in spite of everything that tried to pull them out to stay in. And the Lord said, you know what, you can learn something from that guy. Because he's had to overcome all kind of obstacles in order for him to be sitting where he's sitting. You want to pay attention to somebody that's fought many battles. You don't have to go into the battles, but if you listen to the battles they fought, you might be able to avoid some or survive some that you get into. So he brings us into this thing when he gave us the thing that the aged men are to teach the younger men there, and he brings us to this thing and talks about faith, and then he says about charity, about benevolence, about about wanting to help out something for free of charge, and that kind of a thing. And we left off this morning in verse 4, "...charity suffereth long, is kind, the envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly," we've covered all these, "...seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh No evil. Can I say this about those two things? Number one, that older guy that he says, now you gotta get the context, he says, you older guys, teach these young guys about what charity is. What is charity? You're not easily provoked. You're not ready to fight at the drop of the hat and be the one that drops the hat. not always looking for something to try to prove what a man they are, to be able to have that quiet confidence. You ever been around a man that way? Monroe was that way. He didn't say a whole lot, but there was something about him. A friend of his texted me today and said, Preacher, I was listening, I'm with my mom, his mom's in real bad health and all that stuff. He said, Preacher, I'm listening to you today. He said, I'm still struggling with, he calls him Mr. Monroe. He, listen, listen, he's in his 50s. And he calls him Mr. Monroe. You say, why? Because of the respect that he garnered from what he used to do. He said, there's something about that guy and he doesn't just like get teed off and have to prove he's right all the time. He's not easily provoked. That's an aged man in the Christian life. An aged man in the Christian life doesn't use the church as his battleground to prove his points or to lift himself up or to always be the one in charge. The aged man is just there so you can lean on him when you need him. He's the Aaron in the herd that are back in the herd somewhere, but when they see a need, they step in and hold up an arm, and then they disappear and go back to the house, and baby, where you been all day? I've been out holding up Moses' arm. What in the cat are you doing that for? Well, we were having a big battle down there. I guess you saw it on CNN or Fox tonight, and Moses got tired out there, and so, What in the world did you do? You better not have been out on that battlefield. I know you're always playing them war games and video games back there in your man cave. You better not have been out there on that field." And she starts looking him over, looking for cuts and all, and he goes, leave me alone, I'm alright. I was just holding up an arm. I was just holding up one side. Well, who was on the other one? Erin was, but let me just say this to you, her never was a priest. He wasn't a high priest. He wasn't related to Moses. He was just an old guy who could only do what he could do. But he never looked around saying, hey, you know what? Joshua won the battle down there because if I hadn't held up Moses' arm, he just figured, hey, you know what? We were all in this together. I just did my part. That's an aged man. God gave me an opportunity to step in and it wasn't to sing a song or to preach a sermon, it wasn't to teach a class, it was just to hold up an arm. Just to lift up, just to help out. And when somebody came up to him and said, you know, hey, what do you think you're doing? I'm just trying to help out, man. Not easily provoked. Notice in the same passage here, we're talking about what charity is. It's not only not easily provoked, but notice also, thinketh no evil. An aged man has enough sense to know that when he hears something, there's another side to the story. An aged man doesn't immediately jump to the conclusion because that man already has in his mind, I don't like that person so I'm now ready to propagate whether it is a half-truth or a lie or whatever. I've already made up my mind, lock, stock and barrel, I'm done. The aged man says, you know, I'm not gonna Think that right off the bat, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Let's see how things shake out over time. It's amazing how sometimes the pace of the aged man can keep you out of a lot of trouble. I don't know if you've noticed or not, but aged men don't walk as fast as we do. Part of that is not just because of arthritis. Part of that is, is because they're getting closer to the end of their life, and they recognize that when they try to speed up, they sacrifice accuracy for speed. An aged man slows down and says, okay, well I'm not going to be thinking evil of somebody, and first of all, why would you tell me that? And second of all, I want to hear the other side of the story before you ask me what my opinion is. Charity, the Bible says, and the aged man is to teach that we don't think evil. That's not just evil in the sense of pornographic mindsets. It's evil of other people. We're talking about charity. We're not talking about you. We're talking about your expression of God's love to other people. Many people in the church today, unfortunately, haven't learned to give the way Christ gave. His was all charity. When he gave, the Bible said that he loved you and he died for you, and the Bible said, for God so loved, he gave, but he didn't expect reciprocation. It was all total charity, just complete total charity. Fellow told me one time when I was having some personal work, I was just dealing with him, we were talking, we were sitting in a prison cell, and we're talking about it, and I said, well, wouldn't you like to talk? I was down like this in front of the guy. He's sitting on a bed right there on one of them iron bunks there, those steel bunks, stainless steel, and he's sitting there on that little four-inch mattress, And I got a Bible up there, and I'm talking to him about it like that. And he says, you know, I got just one problem with that whole thing. I said, what's that? He goes, I ain't taking no charity. I just closed the Bible and stood up, and I said, well, you'll never get saved then. I said, because it's completely free, and you can't pay for it if you want to. I said, it literally is 100% charity. He gave everything he had, and it's free for the asking, but you gotta ask. Well, I just ain't taking charity. And I said, well, a proud man will never take charity. And I said, you can also go to hell with that pride. And what you have to understand is, is that when an aged man comes along, that one of those things that becomes important is, is that I'm not thinking of myself and how I'm doing. I'm thinking about how can I extend what God did for me to other people? How can I be as kind to other people as God's been to me? How can I, as the Lord said, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed to the day of redemption and let all bitterness and anger and wrath and malice be put away with you, put away from you, put away for you with all malice, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you? How can I demonstrate how good God's been to me unless I am put in a position that requires me to forgive somebody of a wrong that was done? And I take the wrong. Like Christ took our wrong and say, I'm getting it now, Lord. I'm starting to see it. I don't want to be like the guy in the book of Luke that comes down and he's forgiven of about, you know, $5,000 in debt. And he goes out and pins a guy that owes him a couple of pennies to the wall and says, you owe me. And then get hauled back in front of there and said, Hey, listen, man, I just forgave you a five grand and set you free. And now you're trying to put somebody in prison and owes you a couple of pennies. That's evil thinking. That's not charitable at all. Charity means sometimes it doesn't make sense to give. Charity means sometimes it doesn't make sense to give. I'm not talking about the dollars in the offering plate. I'm talking about your kindness. He teaches you to be kind to people even if they're your enemies. That's a tough thing. But that's what an aging man, you know what you'll learn from that aging man? Life's too short to let those things rob and steal your joy from you. There's just some things you gotta learn in life to let go. Can I say this about that? Sometimes you have to recognize that you can have friends, you can have those that are associates and that are around you, and then you can have Peter, James, and John, and you can do things with Peter, James, and John you can't do with everybody. You say, why? The other people can't handle the Peter, James, and John. They can't handle the man of transfiguration. But sometimes those closest to you, can also be the very ones that wind up when you unsuspectingly get betrayed by the Peter, James, and Johnses. But that's the cost that you may be willing to pay. Because here's the great thing about the Lord, even though Peter betrayed Him. Would you agree with me that Peter did wrong? Are you staying with me? Didn't the Lord predict he was going to betray Him? Didn't Peter say, you're a liar? Not so, Lord, ain't happening. Right? I mean, I just shortened it, but he did say that. Is that true? Okay. Alright, now watch. Peter messed up and he betrayed him. The Lord comes out of the praetorium after being whipped within an inch of his life, and all he does is turn and look at Peter. You say, what? That's two friends. Peter knows him and he knows Peter. And all he does is look at him. I don't know if you've ever been betrayed by a close friend or not, but it stings like a whip on a naked back, boy. But let me show you friendship. Let me show you Jesus. He comes up resurrected from the tomb. He sees Mary there at the tomb and walks with them boys over there on the road to Emmaus and he said, could you do me a favor? Go tell the disciples and Peter. He's still my friend. He had a moment of weakness. He had a bad day. He acted out of character. He meant well, but what an idiot. But would you have done any different? I mean, think about it now. A lot of people don't get into that. Peter's willing to die. I mean, he's drawing his sword. There's nobody else drawing a sword with him. He's drawing a sword. There's a whole legion of army there, along with the chief priest and so on and so forth. And Peter's like, I'll be jumped. Imagine how it must have made Peter feel when the Lord said, put your sword up, Peter. Always making a mess. And people make fun of that. I like his boldness. He's going to defend his friend. He's willing to die for his friend. That's a pretty major thing. And then he's out there around the fire and a couple little old girls come up and, aren't you with him? I don't even know him. See, it's not popular now for Peter to be in there with him because if he associates with him now, I mean, you talk about a disloyal friend. Would you agree? Shouldn't it have been Peter coming to seek the Lord? But he said, go tell the disciples then. Stay with me now, okay? They come into the upper room and Peter's there. And he sees the Lord on two occasions. One there, eight days later again. Thomas wasn't at the first one, he was at the second one. Right? He saw him twice in the upper room. After he's seen the Lord twice after the resurrection, you know what he thinks? I'll never be with the Lord what I was with the Lord and he'll never be able to forgive me. And you know what I just as well do? I'm going fishing. It's not just I'm going fishing to catch a fish. He's like, I'm going back to what I did before because God can never use me because I betrayed him. Right? Can I show you how a friend of Jesus is? Of all the places that Jesus could be walking, after Pete's gone out and gone fished and fished all night long. And the Lord said, I bet I know where my friend is. Knowing him, he probably pretty dejected. Can I say this? It's not popular for the Lord to befriend Peter right now. Nobody would blame him if the Lord said, fine, you're like a Judas, I'll cut your head off. Who would blame him for that? Peter bails out. Peter, do you love me? Well, here's the bigger question. Was it Peter seeking the Lord or was it the Lord seeking Peter? Could I ask you a question? Aged men, who was the one in the wrong? Was it Peter or the Lord? Why was the Lord...he wouldn't be an aged man, would he? He wouldn't be trying to set an example for us, would He? He wouldn't be trying to show you that, hey, can you go to Him like I've come to you? I've messed up before in my Christian life a time or two. I don't know if you have or not, but I'm just being honest with you. I'm not going to tell you what it was. It wasn't something that you'd write the newspaper for or fire me in the ministry, but I know when I've been out of fellowship with the Lord. You know how I know it? Because He comes to me. You know what he says to me? I told you not to do that. And now you know what he tries to do? He says, you love me? He don't say, get away from me. Don't ever come back to me. Do you love me? Well, come on, get back in here. Lord, I can't. I mean, after what I did, Lord knows I might do it again. Yeah, I am the Lord and I do know, and I know you might do it again, but right now, He comes to me. You say, why? He's a real friend. He cares more about my relationship with Him than the mistake I made when I lost my head and did something stupid. You don't know anything about friendship until you've had the opportunity when somebody has stomped on you or somebody you love and care about, and then you go to them and say, look, let's put that behind us and make it right. You say, what is that? That's something old men know about. That's something that young men whose strength is in their leg are like, I ain't ever doing that. I ain't about to do that. I'll cut his head off and feed him to the pigs before I do that. The Lord said, really, that really shows a lot of charity. You're quiet tonight because this is a tough part of Christianity. The tough part of Christianity is forgive others as the Lord forgave you. Well, how does he forgive you? He comes looking for you on the beach, don't he, Peter? You've been out of fellowship before, hadn't you? Don't you have the Lord coming by to see you? You say, well, that's just conviction. Yeah, it's Him coming by to see you. You should be looking for Him. You did Him wrong. I read my Bible this week. Brother White is a strange thing. Not one time did I find Him wrong. I always found me. Yet not one time did he ever not say, come, let us reason together. Though your sins, David, be as scarlet, they shall be white as wool. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. He came and sought me when I was the offender. Sometimes he comes and finds me on a pew. Sometimes in my position, he'll find me on a plane. I'm like, Lord, I can't like go to the altar here. I mean, they're gonna, this'll be, they won't know what I'm doing. He's like, okay, that's fine, right where you are. Step off the plane and I went on without a friend. And I got off with him right there with me. because he sought me at 35,000 feet. And he said, what's wrong between me and you? Let's fix it. Because me having that kind of a relationship with him matters more to him than him just being right. I've been praying lately and saying, Lord, I want to be quicker about being so concerned about my relationship with you. And instead of waiting on you to come run me down. We're talking about aged men. We're talking about teaching. We're talking about not believing or not thinking on evil things. Verse number six, it dovetails with where I'm headed here in charity. It rejoiceth not in iniquity. but rejoices in the truth. Not glad to hear that someone's messed up. Not glad to hear that your enemy got out. Not glad to hear that that preacher preaching false doctrine got caught in an adulterous relationship. Doesn't rejoice in iniquity. in their own or in others. In the sense of charity, it's always about what we're doing with other people. Sometimes we're real interested in telling other people the failures of others. And sometimes there's this glee that comes over us like, well, about time they got it. And you might consider being cautious about that because the Lord might say to you, well, how about if you get it every time that you mess up and how about if I publicize that and you think your enemies are jumping up and down now because you failed? Too often, because of social media and otherwise, we find ourselves, if we're not charitable, we rejoice when other people fall. It's interesting who it is that they tell when other people fall because it's those people that tend to rejoice when somebody else messes up. Can I say this? When a Christian falls, it doesn't help any of us. I don't care what their doctrine is or anything else. It matters that they're saved and they may be messed up as a soup sandwich, but my response to somebody else falling is a way I can show charity. That's terrible. I'm sorry to hear another marriage broke up. Another child has been conceived out of wedlock. I'm sorry to hear that another kid has gone prodigal. Not the antithesis or the opposite of, well, I've told them they've been raising their kid wrong all the time. You know, my kid never went prodigal. You don't rejoice when somebody else's kid winds up in jail. Just because your kid didn't, he just says, rejoiceth not iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. I have several things listed here about that. I'll not give you all those details now, but that means I rejoice in what the Lord says. I rejoice in what the book says. I rejoice in absolute truth. But we can spin that. Because sometimes we can be so right, we can be wrong. And sometimes we can take the truth and with the skill of a surgeon, can take that scalpel of truth and literally carve the heart out of another Christian and leave them bleeding to death on the floor. Because it's the truth. The Lord gives us a command there if you're thinking not just as a preacher but as a Christian. He said, speak the truth in what? In what? Don't be afraid to say it. The Lord has been merciful to me when He has exposed me to His truth. Let me use that as an illustration. Let me see if I can make this a little more clear to you. Sometimes you can speak the truth and it's necessary to rebuke sharply and so on and so forth in a general sense and that's certainly not what I'm talking about. What I'm speaking about is when you have the absolute truth but you use that truth in an effort to belittle or degrade somebody in a hurtful manner instead of a helpful manner. You happen to be holding an arsenal of truth, a quiver full of arrows that you can shoot into somebody's heart that can literally prevent them from being resurrected and redeemed and wind up recommitting their life to Jesus Christ. But you take that truth and you so wound them with that truth that you wound their weak conscience. And they may even admit, you were right, I was wrong, but I'll never be back there again. And I don't just mean a physical location. But the use of that truth in an improper manner is like handing a butcher a scalpel and telling him to do heart surgery. Both of them use knives, but there's one thing to operate on a dead animal and cut him up into pieces and have the ability and the skill of a heart surgeon to be able to go in and perform a bypass surgery that keeps certain people alive. You swap that out, the truth can do a lot of damage. Oh, but preacher, I love the truth. Okay. How about, do you love that truth? Aged man, do you love the truth about yourself as much as you love knowing the truth on someone else? Do you use the truth the same way in your own life as you do use the truth to manipulate someone else? I'm just making the suggestion. We're talking about charitable actions. We're talking about how we act toward other people. I apologize for my voice. It must be irritating to you. Some of you are wincing when I raise my voice. I don't know what happened, pollen or something, but I'm good. But please bear with me. I really want to help you. Sometimes as Bible believers, we are armed and dangerous. And we forget that in Ephesians 6 he said, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Could I say that again? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness and rulers of darkness and high places. It's funny how those things sometimes can take on the persona of a person in the church, isn't it? Or a family member. somebody we used to call friend. And now they're the devil. Literally, just like that. They're saved, but now they're the devil. They're like Peter, transformed right before our eyes. And now there's once friendship, now just dissension all the time. And I run back to Peter real quickly. When the Lord confronted Peter with the truth, He confronted him with the truth in this manner. Do you love me? Well, you got a funny way of showing it. You stinking jerk. How could you dare betray me, the Son of God? You said you knew who I was, and I told you flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you. I said you're spiritual. I had all these plans for you, Peter. You blew my plans. No. He was charitable. The fact of the matter is, Peter already knew the truth. The Lord confronted him with it, but he did it with love. Do you know why? Now think with me for just a second, okay? I'll be done here in just a minute here, but just bear with me for a second. This is hugely important. Do you know why the Lord went to him in a loving manner to try to restore the relationship It wasn't for our benefit, it was for Peter's. Because he didn't want to see Peter going back to fishing. He's like, okay, you messed up. And you know what, Peter, a lot of people laughed at me because of what you did. And a lot of people, Peter, are going to make fun of you too. But you know what, Peter, matters to me? Where are you going to be later on down the line in eternity? So here's what we're going to do, Pete. I'm going to give you another chance. Now, you can't say that Peter didn't learn his lesson because he never dropped the ball from that day forward. Boy, that's an amazing thing. But here's what the Lord could have done and nobody would have said anything. Peter, you betrayed me. I'm done with you. I'm finished. Get out. You know how you could have done that? Never showing up on the beach. Never going after him. After Peter saw the Lord twice in the upper room and knew about his activities after that, Peter said, I'm leaving you. And in one of the rarest things that the Lord ever does in that Bible, the Lord goes after his disciple as a show of friendship. Peter, I made a commitment to you. Now, if you love me, get back in. But you're going to have to build a bridge, and the longest, hardest bridge to build is the one over yourself. And it's a tough bridge to cross, Pete, but you can't swim that channel. You want to get back in? Lord, I ain't been much of a friend." Yeah, but watch what happens. After that, Peter becomes still the apostle to the circumcision before Paul gets called on. Acts chapter number 2, Peter stands up, men and brethren. You know what Peter's basically saying? Let me tell you the greatest experience I ever had and it wasn't just following him, it's accepting his, giving his, getting his forgiveness. You never met somebody like him. He is altogether lovely. Peter gets so outside himself, you know what they say? He's drunk on new wine. Well, if you had experienced the forgiveness and the restoration Peter had, you might have felt the same way. You might have hopped and skipped and jumped and maybe jumped in the aisle and, you know, threw out your leg or get your arm at a perfect 90 degree angle and, you know, however it is that you choose to praise the Lord, But the illustration is, and it's something that plagues our churches, it's not just for men, is that we rejoice in truth but we look at verse 7, but we bear, are you with me still? But we bear, what's it say there chief? Wow. You mean charity? I mean charity is like a mama who is blind to her son's devilment. I mean, I put up with it. Somebody somewhere, good night, somebody somewhere had to put up with me. So now I have to repay that by putting up with somebody that with a fork. But that's the epitome of selfishness. You know, what you're basically saying is, is because they're not like me, I don't want to tolerate them. And yet you come to Jesus and it's like, just as I am. Ain't that what you said? And the Lord's like, okay, well, if I'm willing, I'm not talking about on a doctrinal truth. I'm talking about in the church house. People say a mother's love is blind. It's not as blind as you might think. They just learn to put up with the foolishness of their kids. Sometimes to a fault. I understand that. I get that. And I know you would never do that. If you're gonna be charitable, you know what he says? You have to learn to bear. But look at the last of the verse. Let me finish this part of the passage before we do on Wednesday night. He says, believeth all things. That's the things that are right, but then notice this. Hopeth. Peter, I hope you wanna get fixed up. Peter goes out and preaches. By the time you get to Acts 15, Pete stands up and says, boys, my day in the spotlight's over. It's now about Paul, and we believe as Paul did, and Peter passes off the scene. The next thing you hear about Peter is that he's in a prison cell in Acts chapter number 12 and then he winds up coming out of that prison cell and goes to a prayer meeting and after that prayer meeting he meets with the council that's over there and by that time is over with, unless you read the history book, Peter doesn't even exist in your Bible. You never read about him anymore. He's gone. He's off the scene until his coronation day. They've arrested him now. And now Peter has an opportunity to really show where the rubber meets the road. Last time he failed the test, but can I say this? God gave him another chance. He failed the grade, but he wasn't out of school. He flunked the test, but he had a do-over. And Peter's saying, when he's getting ready to be executed, As legend has it, not in the Bible, they came over to Peter and I think he's muttering under his breath, yes I do. Yes I do. Yes I do. Lord thou knowest I love thee. Lord you know I love thee. Yes Lord I love thee. And the executioner said, what is your problem old man? Oh I'm just overwhelmed with how much I love God. Yeah we're gonna find out. We're gonna crucify you. Could you do me a favor he says. I'm not even worthy to be crucified the way my friend was. Who's your friend? Jesus? Oh, yeah? Yeah. Well, let me tell you about him right quick. He said, would you do me a favor? Turn me upside down. Don't even crucify me the same way. Don't even make a comparison. Because I said I was his friend and I deserted him, but he never deserted And when I deserted him, are you listening? He came after me. And I should have been going after him. So could you do me a favor? The Lord says, hey, Michael, you and Gabriel come here just a minute. Yes, sir, Lord, what's going on? Peter, oh, what did he do now? Hey, boys, he's not the same Peter. He's different. Did you see him down there in Acts 5 when he got in trouble and he got a beating? You know why he got a beating? The last time they mentioned the name of Jesus, he denied it in front of a couple little girls. When they said, you can't speak the name of Jesus, Abba jumped, he went out and spoke the name of Jesus again. And they tied him up, beat the tar out of him. You know what his testimony was? What was it, Lord, that I'm gonna die and this and that and the other? No, wasn't that, that was before. You know what the new Peter said? What a blessing to finally get a whipping for the right reason. He said, you know what they said? What's that, Lord? He said, man, what a privilege it is to get a whipping for speaking up for my friend Jesus. What is going on down there now? They're fixing to crucify him. He's going to be up here with us in a little while, boys. Boy, heaven will never be a quiet place after that, Lord. Oh, I don't know. Notice he sort of toned things down after that. He matured by his failure. Did you ever notice that? We're talking about charity. But you see, what I'm trying to get across to you is Peter is just my illustration tonight to try to explain to you as believers that because that charity had been shown to him, he was then able to demonstrate it to others. The charity didn't go to waste on him. He said, listen, he was charitable to me. He gave me something I did not deserve. Forgiveness and restoration. A reunion. and a recommitment, and he put me right back out and said, now try again. And because of what God had done for him, he was then able to demonstrate it to other people. But generally what happens to us is we think our hurt is on par with or equal to that of the hurt of Jesus Christ. And we think we've been hurt so bad and embarrassed so much that instead of forgiving and going after friends, because, can I say this to you? Having friendship with people is more valuable than you can possibly imagine. Knowing somebody will be there if you need them, that you can pick up the phone and say, hey, I'm hurting, and they're like, well, what'd you do now? Well, the chainsaw bumped out on me and I about cut my stinking hand off. In the meantime, would you stop not, you know, blistering my hind end with your mouth and take me to the hospital? That's not a friend. It's, how can I stop the bleeding? This will hurt just a little bit unless you want to see him get out just so you can be proven wrong. Right. And what good is that to the body of Christ? Because the day's going to come where you're going to need somebody. And they're going to treat you the same way you've treated them because you reap what you sow. Everybody's not a Peter, James, and John. But you need everybody. But if you're not charitable, don't expect that charity to come back in your direction. What'll happen to you is, is you'll become bitter. And you'll become angry. And you'll become like a persimmon. You'll be bitter to everybody around you and everything around you. And everything you hear will be bitter and everything you say will be bitter. And when you hear about the Peter in your life, it's gonna be like, he left me when I needed him. The Lord's looking at him up there. You know what he's saying? He's just in school. He's just learning. He doesn't know everything yet. He's not perfect. He's trying. You know what he's saying when he's hanging on the cross, when he's saying, Father, forgive him? You know where Peter is? He's out weeping bitterly over what he did. There's remorse for what he felt, not because he got caught like Judas. Peter's heartbroken. Peter extradites himself, excommunicates himself from serving the Lord because he's like, hey, I know what I would do to somebody that did that to me, so I just guess that's what Jesus would do. And lo and behold, children, have you any meat? You got no cotton picking meat. What do you mean you have any meat? You got no meat? You probably know you threw a drone over us out here. You know we don't have no meat in the boat. You know there ain't nothing going on, nobody catching nothing out there. What do you mean we have any meat? Peter is so out of fellowship that when the Lord asked him the same thing that he had asked him before, back before that, he doesn't even recognize his name. He doesn't recognize the voice of the one calling his name. The one whom Jesus loved laid on His breast. He said, Peter, what? It's the Lord. You know what Peter didn't expect? He didn't expect Jesus would ever come looking for him. Can I say this to you and I'm going to close? Jesus is the epitome of, the pinnacle of, the poster child for what charity is. Because if you read on down in that passage, believeth all things, hopeth all things, it beareth all things. If I'm correct, the last one is, it endureth. Is that right? That means if I have a friendship with somebody, that if it's a true friendship, it'll endure whatever pressure gets put on it. And if I have that kind of a relationship with the Lord and He's allowed me to have eternal security, the epitome of enduring friendship, should I be any less charitable toward others? That's a pretty meaty message. Got a call to your mind. this morning just for a moment. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Therefore, if you love the world, you're God's. Is it right in the passage? So would you agree that there have been times, practically, that we've become His enemy? In it, He preaches at us. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. He sends the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, convict us. He comes after us, doesn't He, Peter? Don't He come after you? Weren't you His enemy? Still saved, but He's... And then He says, There's a situation there with your friends. You said you were friends, but something got cattywampus. But be careful how you use that word friend. Because there's the Judas friend and there's the Peter friend. He saw something in Judas that he didn't see in Peter. He saw something in Peter he didn't see in Judas. This is it and I'm done. What was the difference? It's a simple answer. It's personage. He saw the devil in Judas, and he saw hope in Peter. You mean an unforgiving spirit, a lack of charity, is like Judas? You mean there's something in me that's more like him than... I'm just saying, if the shoe fits. How quick we are as Christians to not smoke and drink. Don't go to movies. Don't play the rock and roll. Dress right, look right, spit white. But when it comes to a manifestation of charity, people that have been your friends for years are no longer your friend because they just ain't lining up with you no more. You can't just bear it, endure it, Think right about it. Or do you just want them to get out? I'm tired of seeing the body of Christ with holes in it. Another one got out. What does that mean for you? What does that mean? You didn't get out, so you get a medal or a chest to pin it on. I mean, what does that mean when you shoot your own? That you're tough, you survived the war and they didn't? Only by God's grace. that we all talk about so often. Yet, when I have that opportunity, here's a good illustration. I keep trying to park, but it just keeps pipes open. Not often, but every now and then. And I know you like her a lot, Miss Dreena sometimes. She does stuff that's not always spot on. Nothing bad. And the Lord's like, let it go. And I'm like, nah. I think I might have a chance to kind of put her in her place. The Lord's like, OK, you go ahead and use that power and abuse that power, and I'm going to abuse and abuse my power over you. You think you can just let it go? And something will start to happen. And inside me, I'm like, I think I'm going to just bring it to her attention and then let her know I'm letting it go. But I want her to know I'm being charitable. I know what you did, but I'm going to let it go. That's where they got the name for that moon. I know what you did last summer. I'm like, Lord, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna hold it against her. I just want her to know I'm being charitable. And the Lord's like, boy, you got a problem. That's how he talks to me. I'm like, he's reaching over there in the woodpile for a four by four. He's kind of like, man, I am fixing to knock you in the head. And then here's what I got, Brother Larry. Do you know how many things I know about you, David, that instead of just bringing it to your attention and grinding you to powder, I just let it go? Now you want to know what that's like? Let it go. It ain't that big a deal. She burned the bacon, but she burned the bacon. I'm gonna overlook it. We're gonna make some more, but... See how gracious I'm being, baby? All this smoke in this house, that's Shekinah glory of Jesus coming down here. You know I'm telling the truth. That's why you're laughing, you're like, I've been there. And the Lord's like, can you let it go? Can you just be charitable? Did you ever think that maybe she has something else on her mind right now? Did you ever think that inside her little heart's as tender as a hummingbird's wing? She's heartbroken about some stuff going on in our lives right now. Could you just make this not about you for a change, David? Because that's all you're doing. You're not making this about her fault or failure. You're making this about you. Lord, I just want you to know why you're so interested in pointing it out. It's because you want to show how charitable you are. You say, where did you get that message? Through what I just told you. It's an object lesson that he taught me. That he said, if you want to demonstrate my personality, boy, you got to learn some things about charity. And you got to recognize that people are human. And they make mistakes. And during microcosms of their lives, they say and do stupid things and even hurtful things. But if they're your real friend, can you give them room to fail? I hope that makes sense to you. I hope maybe that you might take these things as did Mary and ponder them in your heart and think, you know something, that'd give me something to work on. That'd give me something worth passing on to other people. Now let me give you the last thing. And this is the warning that's on the label in the fine print. Sometimes you're going to be here for the benefit of other people. and they're going to crucify you. Are you listening? You're gonna do everything you can to try to help them and they're going to crucify you. But it is still right to do right. Because for every one of those pinheads there will be multitudes of people that recognize the value of a true friend and a display of charity. Multitudes. But there's going to be a few. You say, what do you do? You live for the multitudes. That's the risk that you take when you do right. Some people They wouldn't wet on you if you were on fire. Because they're, like, I got you down. Okay. Okay. But some people are going to be, I know they'll be right there if I need something. My friend Jim used to say this. He said, I love pee. That's what he called me. He said, I love pee. He said it in a sermon one time. I was getting a little embarrassed. He don't usually say frilly things. He said, I love Pea. And then he said, I love Brother Peacock. Everybody's like, oh, you know. And then he said, do you know why? Because he knows me. And he still loves me. What did you know about him? I would never tell you. It's a friendship. It's a confidence. But you know what it did? It knitted our hearts together. You know that big old bull that sat in that corner back there? Forty-five years. The first ten of those forty-five were almost every day. doing something, whether it be training, or hunting, or playing ball, or working together, almost every day for 10 years. But you know what? You may not know about him. He knew me, but he loved me. And he realized that what I was in the late 70s and into the 80s and the 90s was a transition period of what I was. When I became his pastor, he didn't go, oh. Remember when we used to? Do you understand what I just said? Yes, sir. Yes. You know what Jesus saw in a seven-year-old boy? Diddly. And what he saw in a 14-year-old boy and a 20-year-old, 21-year-old man, a lot of mistakes. You know what he does now? He looks at a 65-year-old man and he looks down and he goes, well, you're getting a little better. Not as much as the little boy, but you're getting a little better. My friendship with Him has been long-term. You know why? He knows me. But He has yet to give up on me. You know what He says? Get back in the game. Lord, I messed up. There's been days I have left. You'll say, what's the matter? I'm done. That's the biggest egg any chicken's ever laid. Peacock otherwise. I said, that's it. I'm done. I'm through. Somebody said, somebody did, it don't matter. I'm making a mess. I go deal with the Lord. I say, okay, you can have it. Jeremiah in the pit. The Lord says, well, that's just part of class. See you Sunday. No, Lord, you don't understand, I'm done. The Lord said, I know, I said, I'll see you Sunday. You say, why? Because he's my friend. Well, Lord, I failed you. Okay, see you Sunday. Then the only asterisk is, make sure you're as kind to other people as I am to you. Because it's not over yet. Don't try to get somebody out before the judgment seat. Give them a chance. They'll have eternal regrets. Don't be the cause of that. Okay, Lord, I get it. I thought about this. I've had some opportunities to do some weddings and things like that. I thought about starting to include not just in counseling but as part of the marriage vows First Corinthians 13. To say that as a married couple, you have to learn that who you marry right now is going to change over the years. And that if you don't learn to be charitable with each other, no matter how close you think you are to Jesus, your marriage won't last. Your relationship with the Lord will always be there as far as your salvation is concerned. But if you don't learn the lesson on charity, you're gonna have a hard time with other people. You say, why? Because people are as messed up as you are. I hope that helps you. I hope it gives you pause for thought. Just make you think. The testimonies are what just rang my bell. Man, I mean, listen to the, God's been good to me. That was the theme. God's been good to me. God's been good to me. You know what, you're not hearing said out loud, Yeah, He came on the seashore more than once when I went on out there to do my stuff. And there He was. Let's stand together. We'll be dismissed.