that song a lot and our mind goes to before we got saved and how the Lord didn't give up and didn't give up but I'd like to say I'm glad he hadn't give up on me since I've been saved amen I've done enough since I've been saved, not proud of it, but I've done enough since I've been saved to be cast into hell, but He never gave up. Amen. I'm glad tonight I am not in charge of keeping my own salvation. I would lose it before daylight if that's the case. I'm glad we are kept by the power of God. Amen. What a Savior tonight. Appreciate the good singing. That's been an encouragement to my heart. If you would, let's turn in the Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter number 13. 1 Corinthians chapter number 13 and we're beginning a new chapter tonight in our study of 1 Corinthians. I was thinking a couple of days ago about what we have left. We've got 13, 14, 15 and the 16th chapter and I thought that we may finish this book before the end of this year but it doesn't look like it and I'm not in a big hurry anyway. I have enjoyed just studying this book verse by verse. It's been a help to me, and I hope that maybe we've come across a few things that we reminded you of. It's been a help to you, I hope. And this is going to be one of those enjoyable chapters right here that I believe the Lord will help us out of tonight in chapter 13. And we want to read tonight just the first three verses of this chapter, and then we'll pray together and we'll bring the message. So if you're able to stand with us tonight, Let's stand together in 1 Corinthians 13 and read the first three verses of the chapter. The Bible said, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Let's go to the Lord in prayer tonight. some kind of horrible problem. And Lord, I'm thankful tonight we still live in the nation of America. I realize tonight, Lord, we're not what we used to be and not what we ought to be. But I pray this evening as the church, Lord, You'd help us just to do everything we can to make this place what it ought to be and our nation to be what it ought to be. God, we pray You'd help us tonight to get a hold of the Word and speak to us out of this great chapter Lord, I believe there's a tremendous thought here this evening. I pray You'd help us to relay it to Your people in the right way. I pray the Holy Ghost would be real in the service tonight. Lord, touch my lips. Help us say exactly what needs to be said. And then, Lord, help each one of us to take it into our heart and put it into action in our life. Lord, we love You. Thank You for first loving us. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. Thank the Lord for the reading of His Word. Now, if you were with us last Wednesday night, we finished up chapter 12, and chapter 12 showed the church as a dysfunctional church in the church of Corinth, and how they were perverting the gifts that was given to the body of Christ, and they were in competition one with another, who may have had the best gift, or who was doing this better than the other. And as the Apostle Paul wound up the chapter in verse 31, On last week, he mentioned this, he said, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show you a more excellent way. And tonight we're going to begin in that chapter of the more excellent way. And the thought for this chapter, chapter 13, is the delinquent church. There was something that they were missing. There's no doubt there were a lot of things. that the church of Corinth was delinquent in. But probably the main thing they were delinquent in, which would have fixed everything else, is what we're going to deal with in the next few services in chapter 13. Chapter 13, the central theme, if you don't know already, is charity. And we're going to find out tonight how important it is to have charity. We're going to see what God has to say about charity in the life of the believer and in the local church. There are a lot of things that we should have. A church ought to be separated. A church ought to be scriptural. A church ought to be soul winning. A church ought to be a shining light. But a church also ought to have charity. Amen? And I fear in this hour, it's easier sometimes to get other things straightened out without having charity where it should be. And I trust this evening God will give us some insight on this and it would be a help to us. Tonight's thought in the first three verses of this chapter is this, on the charity and the charge of charity. We're going to look at three or four different things in this chapter over the next few weeks concerning charity. But the first three verses give us a charge, if you will, concerning charity. If Charity were a person, and we know that it's not, and Charity could speak to us tonight, this is what Charity would say in the first three verses that we read. There are places in the Scripture where men, or God, is charging men through the Scripture. And I believe tonight that these three verses we're going to deal with is a charge to every believer. And a charge is something that we can't just ignore and we can't just bypass. We've got to get a hold of it and let it be effectual in our life. And that's what we're going to look at tonight here just for a few moments. Now, notice with me in verse 1, I'm going to give you three things tonight concerning charity. and what charity is and how it's going to affect the body of Christ and those around them. And in verse number 1, charity is a must to be tolerated. Notice what the Apostle Paul said. He said, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity. You'll see if you haven't already that that little phrase, have not charity, is the tie for those three verses. There's a theme here in these three verses of a church with believers that did not have charity. And he said, though I have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. In verse 1, Paul lets this church know that was delinquent with charity, that if they were going to be tolerated, I believe not only by God, but also by the society around them, they needed to be a church that had charity. Now I realize tonight that society, the world as a whole, has always been anti-God and anti-Bible and anti-truth. And I realize that they don't like our truth, and they don't like our Bible, they don't like our preaching and our singing and our stant. I understand that tonight, and those things, it's okay to not be tolerated in. Matter of fact, if the world thinks highly of us all the time and in everything, then there's something wrong. There ought to be some places that we come in conflict when it comes to us and the worldly system. But I fear tonight that many fundamental churches are not being despised because of their stand on the truth, but they're being despised because they have no charity. And we have a lot of people in these last days that believe that they can just do anything, any old way, and treat people any old way, and as long as they have the Bible, and as long as they're standing on the truth of the doctrine of the book, then they think they're okay. And they leave out this very important element of having charity. Now, I think I mentioned this to you last week. Charity is more than just love. I try not to substitute the word charity for love. I'll give you this. I've given it to you many times. A great saying says, you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. And charity is love giving. It is love in action. It is a love in motion, if you will. Do you know there's a lot of people that will stand around and say, I love the Lord, but there's no action in their life. They don't go to church. They don't read their Bible. They don't pray. They don't listen to Christ-honoring music. There's no evidence in their life that they know the Lord. There are those tonight that would say they love an individual, but they never do anything for them. They never buy them a gift. They never give them a word of encouragement. They never pray for them. But real charity tonight is love in action. And Paul is telling the church of Corinth here that that church was delinquent in their love in action. They were majoring from chapter 12 on the gifts and excited about the fleshly things or the fleshly feelings of having these gifts, but they had no desire to have charity. Now notice in verse 1, Paul lets us know that without charity, it's going to be hard for us to be tolerated. I mentioned to you that the world will not tolerate the Word of God and the things of God. And that's true, and that's understandable. But we should never be guilty of the world not tolerating us because we do not have charity. In all of our standing and in all of our truth, the book of Ephesians tells us, speaking the truth in love, in all of our separation, in all of our doctrine, everything should be saturated with charity. And if we have charity or love in action toward God, then it won't be hard to have charity or love in action toward our fellow man. not only in the local church, but also outside of the church. Now, I believe probably what the Apostle Paul is dealing with here is primarily for the inside walls of this church. I'm sure there was very little charity among the members in dealing with the past chapter and how they love to be exalted with their gifts. They really didn't seem to care one for another. There was no active love in the membership of this church the way it should have been. Now, let me give you a few things here in verse 1 that I noticed. First of all, we see the ability that is mentioned. He said, "...though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels." is an ability. We'll see in chapter 14 some things about it, but we know in these days that we're reading about in the Bible, there was still the transition time and there was still some speaking in tongues in that day. And I want to remind you tonight, it was not a gibberish, it was not some kind of unintelligible language. It was a different language is what he's talking about in the speaking of tongues. You remember the day of Pentecost where all the different nations were represented there and Peter stood up? and he spoke in his language, and all those other representatives understood and heard, that was a miracle of God. That was one of the signs that God had moved in, and that upper room in the church had been birthed into the world. So that's what Paul is talking about here tonight. He's talking about in verse 1 of having ability, and of speaking maybe with another tongue, or he said the tongues of men and of angels. Now, notice secondly in verse 1, we see there's an absence. And we're going to notice this absence that is common in all three of these verses. Notice the next phrase. He said, "...and have not charity." He said, now I might be able to speak with the tongues of men and of angels. He said, but there's a possibility that I have not charity. So ability is dealt with to begin with. And I really believe the church of Corinth, they were majoring on an outward ability. With those gifts, they were majoring on what they could work up, what they could do. They were very much like the charismatic movement today. They would go to church, and it had to be from one high to another. They'd show up on Sunday morning and have a service, and if they didn't have a better service on Sunday night, they felt like God didn't meet with them. And I say that's in the charismatic realm, but I'm afraid it's in the Baptist realm now. Amen? We are living in a day where many preachers have surrendered their calling to performers, and many singers have surrendered themselves to performers, and they feel like if they don't awe the crowd and woo the crowd, and you know, when you go out the door, if everybody doesn't pat them on the back for a good performance, then God didn't show up. And I want to tell you, that's far from the truth of what this Bible teaches us, amen? If you and I could go back about 250 years, everything I've read about that, or even a little farther back, everything I've read about that great awakening time and the time after that, those men, those leaders were not performers. They were not dynamic personalities. We live in a generation where people have their favorite preacher. And I understand we all have certain preachers we like to listen to more than another. But anybody that is dealing with the Word of God rightly, dividing it, ought to be someone that's worthy of our attention. We live in a time where people have their favorite singers. If their singer is singing or their group is singing, then they'll be there, and if not, they don't want any part of it. I heard a preacher say one time that many church people have become like those safety matches. They only strike on their own box. And that's kind of funny, but that's true, and it shouldn't be that way. There ought to be a love for the entire family of God. There ought to be a charity, a love and action. And Paul said, I may have an ability. He said, but yet there's a possibility of an absence, having not charity. Now look what he said in the last part of verse 1. Then he shows us an aggravation. Notice what he said. He said, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Now I want to give you a little illustration tonight before we go on. I don't do this quite often, but Scott, where are you at? If you come up here and get the piano just a minute. I saw this illustration years ago and it helped me understand verse 1. And I'm going to try to give it to you like I saw it and see if it will help you tonight. Now what Paul is talking about here, He said, I can have all the ability in the world that I want. I can speak with different tongues. Tongues of men, tongues of angels. In the church of Corinth, if that had happened and it did, someone would have sat back and said, wow, look at them, they're in tune with God, they're spiritual. But Paul said, even though I may have that, he said, if I have not charity, here's what I've become. He said, I'm not somebody that people can tolerate. He said, I've now become intolerable. He said, I've now become an aggravation, a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Now Scott, if you will, just play the first line of the chorus of Victory in Jesus. Listen to this. Alright, you heard that. Now listen to this. Let me get there just a minute. Here's the same piano. I'm going to use the same book. He didn't need a book, but if I had a book. And I'm going to do the same thing he did. Let me try it again. I can't get it. Now if I keep doing this, And I don't know how to play the piano. So what am I? I'm a sounding brass. I'm a tinkling cymbal. Now you could sit there and listen to Scott play that all day. You know why you could listen to him play that all day? He has a love in action for that instrument. Now, I love to hear the piano, but I don't love it enough to learn how to play it. I remember Scott, when he was little, probably six, seven years old, getting on that piano, playing it every day. It drove us absolutely insane. But finally, he learned how to play it. Amen? And I did that for a reason tonight. When we are interacting with the world or with the church, and we say we're Christians, and we say we love God, and we say God's called us to do this, and we're this and that, and when we do it with charity in our heart and in our life, then to the world and to those around us, it sounds like it did when Scott played the piano. You could sit there and listen to that. But when we do it without charity, it sounds like what I sounded like. And you're not going to listen to that very long. And I know I probably didn't give that illustration the best way, but I hope that got across to you. Paul said, when we have not charity, we are a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. We're an aggravation. You want to know why sometimes the world doesn't want to hear our message? I know many times it's because they don't believe, but many times I also think it's because we've become a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. We go to them and tell them that they need to get right with God, but they've never seen any love and action in our life. When they were sick, we never went to them. When they were struggling, we never helped them. When they were at the bottom of the barrel, we never reached down with some kind of means that we had and helped them up. And Paul said, listen, if we have not charity, we're not going to be tolerated. And I believe tonight that the church of God, we ought to have charity in everything we do. When I preach a message concerning sin, I still ought to have charity in my heart. When I preach a message to this sodomite crowd, I still ought to have charity in my heart. I do not love their sin. I do not love their lifestyle. I do not like the way they're taking over in our nation. But they have a soul and they need to know that even though they're lost and they're at enmity with God, there is a God in heaven that loves them and wants to save them. When I preach to the church, I need to make sure when I'm dealing with things that need to be dealt with, that I have charity in my life. And that goes not only for the preacher, but for everybody that's in the body of Christ. Our charity must be real or we will not be tolerated. Amen? So he said charity is a must to be tolerated. Notice verse number 2. Now verse number 2 tells us that charity is a must if we're going to teach or if we're going to be teaching. Now in this particular verse, the teaching here I'm talking about is not standing behind a pulpit. or a podium and being in the office of a teacher. I'm talking about the teaching that every believer should be about doing. The Bible tells us, Jesus said in the Great Commission, that we're to go out into the world teaching them and telling them the things of God. Our life as a Christian is teaching somebody. And can I say to you tonight, it's teaching them good or teaching them bad. You know as well as I do that you can learn something wrong. Have you ever been working with somebody and trying to learn something, and they'd correct you and say, now don't learn it that way, because if you learn it that way, you'll be stuck with it the rest of your life. I know a lot of times playing a musical instrument and people will begin to try to develop bad habits and the teacher will say, don't do that, you've got to get it right, don't do that, you've got to learn it the right way or that's the way you'll be stuck with it. And tonight Paul is telling us here that charity is a must if our life and our actions are going to teach anybody else about God. Notice what he said in verse number 2. When we get to verse number 2, we see now an aptitude in the first portion of the verse. He said, "...and though I have the gift of prophecy." And we're going to see these things dealt with more when we get toward the end of the chapter. Paul is referring back to gifts. Remember, the church of Corinth in chapter 12, they were majoring on the diversities of the gifts. They were coveting all the gifts to edify themselves and to make themselves look good. They wanted to come to a church service and make people think they knew more than the brother or sister across the aisle, or make people think they were more spiritual than the brother or sister across the aisle. And Paul said this, he said, I may have an aptitude. He said, the gift of prophecy. which in that day was preaching, not only foretelling, but foretelling. Telling some things that were going to come to pass. He said, I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have all faith. Well, that's a big mouthful right there. Paul said, I may have aptitude, the gift of prophecy, mysteries, and knowledge. He said, I may have a great acquiring in my life. He said, I may even have all faith. Now you look at that tonight. You imagine somebody that is in the situation of verse number 2. You imagine an individual tonight that had the gift of prophecy in this day. You imagine that same individual understanding all mysteries. He didn't say some mysteries, he said all. You imagine that same individual having all knowledge. Now we know tonight that any individual human being will not reach that point. We understand that only God understands everything. We know that not every man has all knowledge, or not any man has all knowledge. We may think we do sometimes, but we don't. There's always somebody that knows more than you do and knows more than I do. But Paul said, Even if I had gotten to that point, to where I had every bit of ability there possibly could be to teach somebody else, and to give somebody else understanding and wisdom and knowledge. Notice what he said. He said, and though I have all faith, that means nothing would shake him, he would not doubt anything. That sounds like a super Christian tonight. He said, "...so that I could remove mountains," notice the phrase again, "...and have not charity." You see what Paul is saying? Notice what he said in the next phrase. He tells us in the next phrase, this is what he's worth, his amount. He said, "...and I am nothing." Notice that again there in verse 2. He said, I am nothing. I wrote a note in my Bible, worthless to God and men. That's what nothing is. Paul said, I could be the wisest man in the church. He said, I could understand the Bible forward and backwards. I could have all the gifts of prophecy, all the knowledge that could be gathered together in that day. He said, if I have not charity, I'm nothing. You know, tonight, many times our life is not effectual in teaching those around us because we have not charity. I have known some people that knew a whole lot and they wanted you to know they knew a whole lot. Amen? Every time you got around them, they wanted to try to speak out and edify themselves and lift up themselves and try to correct you on everything. You ever been around somebody like that? You couldn't even say a sentence without them correcting you and telling you what needed to be done here and what needed to be said there. That's a know-it-all. And Paul said, I could even be a genuine know-it-all. He said, I could have all this under my belt, in my heart, in my mind. He said, but if I have not charity, I'm going to tell you what I'm worth. He said, I am worth nothing. Now boy, that's pretty sobering tonight, ain't it? That shoots down a lot of the bigwigs in our movement tonight. That shoots down a lot of church members that think they're the stuff. He said, if I do not have charity, He said, I am absolutely nothing. None of that matters without charity. I wonder this evening how many times do we try to go after the outward things, but we never try to develop our charity. We never spend time trying to develop charity in our life. We never spend time trying to love on one another and love those that are hurting and reach out. Now, I want you to understand, this charity does not mean that we look over sin. This charity does not mean that we water down the Word of God. That's not what Paul is saying. This charity does not mean that you just take a blind eye to everything and nothing's right and nothing's wrong. That's not what he's saying. He's talking about that love that when you do step up and you're teaching somebody, or when you do try to get involved with somebody's life to help them, whether it be from a pulpit or one-on-one or in your home, I am convinced tonight, there are a lot of children, I've often wondered this, and I don't know everything about children, I'm still learning, and I'll be learning until Jesus comes. But I'm convinced tonight, a lot of our children in our fundamental churches that go wrong, have you ever noticed that? They'll be in a family that's faithful to church. They'll be in a family that seems like they've got everything together, and then all of a sudden, several of those children will go wrong in a family, and it just seems like things are not right. I am convinced that a lot of that is a lack of charity in that home. I am convinced a lot of that is a lack of that love and action in that home. Yes, we should be the disciplinary. Yes, we should call a spade a spade. We should stand on the Word of God. And I believe in that, and I believe what the Bible says. But we better do it with charity if it's ever going to have the effect that it's got to have. Amen? Hey, when you discipline your children, and you better discipline your children, do it with charity. I believe in the rod of correction, amen? I believe in taking privileges away from them when they're wrong and putting borders and barriers in their life. But you better let them know you're doing that not to hurt them, but to help them. And if you'll have charity in your life, the message will get across, amen? Paul said, listen, that charity's got to be there if we're going to be tolerated. And he said, it's got to be there if our life is going to be a teaching instrument to somebody else. I don't know about you tonight, but I want to help people. I really have a desire to help people. I don't preach tonight just because I like to collect a paycheck. I'll preach if there is no paycheck. I don't preach because I'm scared to death God's going to kill me if I don't. I know that He could, but I don't come and get in the pulpit because I'm scared not to exercise the calling in my life. I come tonight because God birthed something into me over twelve years ago to preach the gospel, amen? And God's given me a desire. When I get into the Bible and I'm studying the Scripture, my mind and my heart is always searching out another message. I'm always looking into the Scripture when I do study, and I'm saying, God, help me, what do we need? What does the church need? What's the situation here? What needs to happen? Why? Because I have a desire to take the Word of God and impart it to somebody and be a help to them. But do you know, if I have all the degrees in the world, and I have all the knowledge that goes with it, it is absolutely no good without charity. So you see, charity is a must to be teaching. Now, let me give you this third thing tonight, and we may be done a little early, but I wanted to get this point across to you if we don't get anything else. In verse number 3, we find charity is a must to be trusted. Now, I believe tonight, If we're going to reach those in the church and help them, minister to them, if we're going to reach those outside of the church, we've definitely got to have a little bit of toleration about us as far as people being able to tolerate us. got to be able to teach people with our words, with our actions, with our deeds, but then I think tonight we definitely must be able to be trusted. If we're not trusted, we can't help anybody. If you can't be trusted, nobody is going to put any confidence in you. Now, I know the Bible said, the Apostle Paul said, having no confidence in the flesh, and that's exactly right. But if we're walking in the Spirit and exercising charity, then we ought to be a Christian that is able to be trusted in the things of God, and for people to see that in our life and say, I believe in the way they're living, I believe in what they're saying because I see their life, And it's trustworthy. Let me give you a few things in verse 3 here tonight, and we'll finish up. Notice this. In the first part of verse 3, Paul deals with the service. Notice what he said. He's just compounding this thought every verse. He said, "...and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor." and though I give my body to be burned. Now let's look at that first phrase. He said, though I bestow all my goods. He said, I can take everything I've got, every dollar in my pocket, every possession I have, every bit of clothes on my back. And he said, I'll take that and I'll bestow it to feed the poor. He said, that's a good thing. Amen? And would you agree with me tonight? That's a good thing. There's a lot of religious systems that do that, but that's as far as they go. And I believe tonight the church ought to do that. Matter of fact, we were able to do just a little bit of that last week and try to help some people that were in a disaster situation. And I think the church should always have the mindset of reaching out and serving others. I think that's one of the greatest failures of the local church in these last days. I fear that we've drawn in a lot of times inside the four walls, and we don't carry it outside, and we don't reach those around us, and we don't serve our neighbor, and we don't serve our brothers and sisters in Christ. Every one of us tonight ought to have a servant's heart. Every one of us ought to have a desire throughout our life every day to try to prefer others and serve others. That goes against the flesh. That's not a natural desire. The natural desire is to self-serve. The natural desires take care of number one. But as a Christian, we all ought to have a desire to serve. And Paul said, hey, I may do that. He said, though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor. Notice the second thing he deals with here. He deals with the sacrifice. He said, and though I give my body to be burned. Now think about that tonight. We have seen that happen before. I remember years ago I had a book on the Vietnam War, and it showed a Buddhist monk there in Vietnam, and he set himself in a street and poured gas on himself and burned himself up. And I remember reading that when I was a kid in that book I had. And I don't remember everything I thought about it, but I do know that most of the time when we see something like that, in the natural realm we would say, wow, that individual's given all. I mean, that individual is given their life for what they believe. When we hear about these suicide bombers, as wicked and sorry as it is, you have to stop and think, what do they believe to go that far? What do they believe that they would strap a bomb upon themselves and end their own life in taking out a few more people. What kind of mindset does a person have to have? What kind of devotion? Now we know it's demonic, and we know it's ungodly, and we know it's anti-Christian, but looking from the fleshly side of it, what kind of devotion would you have to have? You would say in the fleshly nature, that individual is devoted to their cause. And Paul said, listen, I may have all the service down. Thank God for service. He said, I may have all the sacrificing down. Thank God for sacrifice. I appreciate people that sacrifice. I appreciate people that give. I appreciate people that give time, talent, treasures, anything you can think of. They take their whole life and pour it into the work of God. That's an amazing thing. And you and I would stand back tonight and say, wow, what a Christian they're serving. Wow, what a Christian! They're sacrificing. They have given more than anybody else gives. But look what Paul said. Paul said there can still be a shortcoming. Here's our little phrase again. He said, "...and have not charity." Notice what he said now. Here's the sadness of it. He said, "...it profiteth me nothing." Boy, isn't that something tonight? That these three verses kick the props out of empty religion. These three verses, if you will read them and let them soak into your heart, you will find out how much of a Christian you really are. When I was looking at this this week, I mean, they were chewing me to pieces, amen? I was looking at this and I thought in verse number one, okay, is my spirit tolerated? How many times have we lost our temper? How many times have we said something ugly to somebody that we shouldn't have said? How many times have we had a bad attitude because we had a bad day? And then we maybe tried to witness or tried to say something for God, and it was of nothing, amen, because we couldn't be tolerated. In the second verse, how many times have people looked at our life and we've wanted to impart some truth? but they've never been able to get a hold of it because our life was not full of charity. They've never been able to learn from us because when they watched us doing the things of God, they couldn't get over the fact that we had no charity. They couldn't get over the fact that we had no love. I mean, sometimes people will go up to people and tell them they're going to hell and act like they're glad they're going there. There's something wrong with that. I've heard preachers do that. I've heard young men do that. Street preaching before. They totally miss what it's all about while they're out there, while they're trying to reach people. Yes, you ought to tell them they're going to hell. But we ought to tell it with tears in our eyes. Yes, we ought to preach the truth of the Word of God. But we ought to have a yearning, burning heart of love, charity for them to get right with God. So you see tonight in all three of these verses, we find a charge from charity. And it's a pretty sobering charge, amen? It's pretty sobering to think about many times that we're not tolerable because of our lack of charity. Many times I have not been able to have the influence on the life of others because I didn't have charity in my life. And you know, many times, maybe somebody's not been able to trust me 100% because I did not have charity in my life. And I want to leave you with this thought tonight. Let's take the charge from charity and put it into action in our life. Let's be the kind of people that, yes, we should have this right. Yes, we should be doing this. Yes, we should stand firm over there. But we better have charity in our life. And again, charity is not bypassing sin. Charity is not winking at sin and looking over it. Charity is having a genuine love for the person you're dealing with and trying to help them. I try to do that as a pastor. I know sometimes as a pastor, I am faced with decisions and every pastor goes through this. Sometimes a pastor will be faced with decisions to make, things in the church that he has to do and get involved in. And sometimes other church members on the outside, they'll look and they'll say, why ain't the preacher dealing with this like this? I remember, I remember when I sat under my pastor, and there was a time or two I thought, well, why ain't my pastor dealing with this like this? You know, if I was a pastor, I'd deal with it this way. You know what it was? I was not the pastor at that time. I didn't have the charity for those people. But my pastor had charity for those people, and he was working with them according to the way God wanted him to work with them. And he was dealing with them through the eyes of charity. And tonight, if you and I could just get a hold of these three verses, if everything we do in our life, Everything we do within the church, everything we do in the name of God, if it can be seasoned with charity, it'll make the difference in our life. It'll make us effectual, amen? Sometimes people we've witnessed to before that we didn't have charity, we might could have won them to the Lord if we'd have had charity. Sometimes that church member that I couldn't help and they ran off down the road, if I'd have had charity, maybe I could have helped them a little bit more, I don't know. But tonight the message is the charge of charity. And I pray tonight God would help us get a hold of what is being said in these three verses. There's so much in here tonight that if we'll get a hold of, I do not want to be a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. I do not want to be nothing in the eyes of my fellow man. There's too much of that now. How many preachers we know tonight that in the eyes of a fellow man they're nothing because they had no charity and because they went off into sin and got involved in the things of the world? How many of us tonight are not able to touch our neighbors because we have not charity? I pray tonight God would burden our hearts as a church that we'd have charity. I want to stand right. I want to be a church when people drive by and say, hey, that church believes the Bible. I want to be the kind of church when people come visit, hey, these people love God. They look like they love God. They act like they love God. But in every bit of that, here's what I'd love to be said about us tonight. That's a church that's got charity. I'll tell you this, and I'm done tonight. There's a pastor down in Winston-Salem, a tremendous pastor at a large church. And a preacher friend of mine was talking to me about him. I don't know him that well. I've met him. But my preacher friend knows him well. And this is what he said. Now, don't take me wrong. He wasn't making a lie to this pastor. He was making a point. He called his name and he said, that dear brother, he said, you know, as far as preachers are concerned and as far as what people would judge preachers from, he said, that dear brother is not a tremendous preacher. I mean, he's not got great messages plastered out everywhere that everybody says, wow, I remember when he preached that. He said, but I'm going to tell you why that preacher's got the work he's got. He said, because he loves people. Amen? He said, because he cares seriously about the needs of people. And I'm telling you tonight, whether it be preacher, whether it be church member, whoever it is tonight, if there ought to be charity anywhere, it ought to be down at the house of God. If there ought to be charity anywhere, it ought to be among God's people. If there's bad things going on at work, one of God's people ought to step up and show some charity. Amen. Charity tonight, I believe, is the glue that holds this thing together. And I pray tonight God would help you and I to look into ourselves tonight and see whether we have charity or not. If we don't have charity, it doesn't matter what else you've got. If we don't have charity, it doesn't matter what else you claim to be. It's nothing in the eyes of this world, and I'm convinced tonight it's nothing in the eyes of God. When we get to heaven one of these days, some of the people we think are going to get the most crowns are going to have to stand back. And there's going to be some people that nobody ever knew their name, and they never had the big fanfare, and they never had the light shining on them, they never made a big splash, so to speak, but they had charity, and God used them, and one of these days God's going to honor that. Amen? You have the message tonight. I know it's been a little scattered, but I hope it'll be a help to you. Let's stand. Heads bowed a moment. Sister Regina, if you'd come to the piano tonight. God spoke to your heart tonight about this thought of charity. I want to ask you just to do business with the Lord. Charity is not something that is produced in our flesh. Charity is not something that you're just going to wake up with every day and have it in your life. It's something we're going to have to strive to have. I believe that charity is a product of the Spirit of God living in us, but not just living in us, but having free ride away in us. For the past twenty-five plus years, almost twenty-six years, the Spirit of God's lived in my heart. But can I say to you tonight, in those twenty-six years, there's been a lot of times charity has not come out of my life. Why was that? I was hindering the work of the Spirit of God in my life. If the Lord spoke to you tonight concerning charity, you come. and you pray tonight and ask God to help us, we'd be a people with charity. While she plays this evening, let the Lord deal with your heart tonight. You know who you are. You know how you are. When I don't have charity, I know right away I don't have charity. When I'm dealing with an issue and my anger overrides my care, I don't have charity. God help us tonight to have charity. I do not want to be a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. You know, I read somewhere in one of the commentaries, I read that in the society of the church of Corinth, that many times they would use a banging gong to do idol worship. It was a very idolatrous society. And we've read about it and seen about those things, those witchcraft tribes and stuff in Africa would beat on the drum and make that noise to worship those evil spirits. Could it be tonight I thought about this, and I didn't mention it in the message, but I thought about this studying it today. Could it be our work without charity is glorifying the devil more than it is God? It's a thought, isn't it? I thought about that. Could it be what I do without charity hinders the work of Christ more than it helps? I believe that's true tonight. I hope the Lord will help us. I hope and pray tonight God will put this thing in our hearts and we'll get a hold of it like it is. Amen. Thank you for your good attention tonight. Trust the Word of God. Find its place. That's three sobering verses in the Word of God. If you'll study them out, I challenge you, go home this week and study these three verses out. Let them sink in. Put yourself in the position here. Ask yourself, am I this way or do I have not charity? And I'm telling you, it's a sobering thought, but I'm glad God will help us tonight. And especially in these last days. If you think you're frustrated at where our nation's at, think where lost people are at tonight. They're frustrated. They don't know. We know the Lord's coming back. I know as bad as this thing gets, I'm going to heaven one of these days. They don't know that tonight. They don't know that. And now's the time. You've heard the saying before, the darker the night, the brighter the light. I'll get it out. The darker the night, the brighter the light. That's what we need to be tonight. We need to be a burning and a shining light. That's what was said about John the Baptist. A burning and a shining light. John came in a time where there had been no open word of God for 400 years. And they said he was a burning and a shining light. Man, what a man. I'd like to be just a little bit of that tonight.