Speaker 1: 0:06

I invite you to open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter as it's called, and we have looked thus far. We're looking at this middle section at the moment, verses 4 through 7, and we've seen the two positive aspects of love, that it's patient and kind. And then the Apostle Paul follows that with four things that love is not Talking about the darkness or ugliness that's within us. So it says here it does not envy or boast, it's not arrogant or rude, it does not insist on its own way, it's not irritable or resentful this morning we're going to look at it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. So with that I'm going to actually just lead right into prayer and we'll get right to it. Let's pray.

Speaker 1: 1:01

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us your word. We're grateful that the heavens are not brass, that you speak to us and that you listen to us and that you minister to us through the Holy Spirit and that the Spirit takes what Christ has accomplished for us on our behalf, as our substitute, and saves us and grows us and brings us home. We're thankful. You planned this from all eternity. You have planned to fill us with your love that we may love. Like you, we look forward to the day we get to heaven. As Jonathan Edwards says, it's a world of love. So help us now, god, in our time, in your word, be better lovers, minister, to us, now in Jesus' name, amen. Now In Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 2:08

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. So love doesn't do this, love does that, it doesn't do this, it does that. Wrongdoing can mean injustice, it can mean unrighteousness, it can mean injustice, it can mean unrighteousness, it can mean injure or hurt. So let's think about this. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing in the sense of injustice. Injustice what do I mean by injustice? When people are mistreated, when they're treated unfairly, when they're treated unjustly, whoever that may be. The God who is love is also a God of justice. That's a major problem, I think.

Speaker 1: 2:56

In our modern day, you often hear about the love of God disconnected from the justice of God. But when we look in the Bible, when we look about the love of God disconnected from the justice of God, but when we look in the Bible, when we look at the person of Jesus, when we look at who God is, the two are always joined together, and so love doesn't claim to be love. True love doesn't while throwing justice out the window, and true justice never disconnects itself from love. We hear a lot about social justice in our day. Some of it's biblical, some of it is not. But true social justice, this biblical justice, justice that God has defined for us in His Word, and we see this in many places. It permeates God's Word in so many places.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Read through the Old Testament prophets, the last 17 books of the Old Testament as a good example. And what's one of their main themes? Justice. Amos 5 is a famous passage. The Lord is speaking to His wayward covenant people here. Listen to what he says.

Speaker 1: 4:01

I hate, I despise your feasts. So these are what we would call church going people. I hate, I despise your feasts and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Your burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. God expects our worship and our worship of Him to flow out into the world. I'm getting used to a new mic, so pardon me for adjusting it on my ear. It's kind of giving me a little bit of trouble.

Speaker 1: 4:48

You have the burnt offerings under the old covenant. What do the burnt offerings remind God's people of, or should remind God's people of? They should remind God's people for one thing that God is a God of love, that there is the forgiveness of sins through sacrifice, through faith in the Lord. And so what would you have? You would have bulls and lambs and goats sacrificed, their blood shed under the old covenant. And it wasn't that bulls and lambs and goats could actually forgive sins per se, but those were pictures of the coming Lord, jesus Christ, who was going to shed His blood as the true Lamb of God on the cross in our place.

Speaker 1: 5:27

And so what we see in these sacrifices under the Mosaic Covenant is that God is a God who is love, he's forgiving, but he's also just. He demands payment for those sins. God is a God of love and we cannot have a half of God. The devil is always tempting us to have half a God. He's all justice, and therefore too harsh, or all love, and therefore not just not fair, not right, but in Jesus, his person, these things are never separated. We cannot have half a Christ, half a God.

Speaker 1: 6:09

The Lord says to Moses in Exodus 34, the Lord, the Lord of God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But then comes that word but who will by no means clear the guilty. He's all these things and that seems to get the emphasis, and that seems to get the emphasis, but he also is a God who will by no means clear the guilty. So the God of love will by no means clear the guilty. And so it's important that we understand love from a biblical perspective. The God of love is a God of justice, god is love. John says the apostle, in 1 John 4, 8, god is love. But then he says in that same letter of 1 John, in the first chapter, the fifth verse God is light. So God is love and God is light, same God. There's not one small stain of unrighteousness or sin in the very being of God. He is light, holy, holy. Holy is the Lord, god Almighty, who was and is and is to come. The angels sing around the throne of God. So his love is a holy love. It's not like the love of the world. God's love is holy and he does not delight in wrongdoing, he does not rejoice in wrongdoing. So we have to look at the being of God and his revelation to us to understand what true love is.

Speaker 1: 8:12

In our day, our culture is trying to redefine love for us. In our day, our culture is telling us this. It would go like this you love me when you make me feel good, and if you're not making me feel good, you must not be loving me. You love me when you honor my desires, whatever those desires happen to be. Otherwise, you're a bigot. And you see, what's wrong with that is that's a man-centered definition of love. The fact is, love often does make us feel good. That's one of the things that's so beautiful about it. But love does not always make us feel good.

Speaker 1: 8:58

We can see Jesus many times the rich, young ruler what does it say? And loving him, he sent him away sorrowful. That was a great evangelist, jesus. Sometimes we have to, in love, send people away sorrowful. It's not fun to do that. I'm sure Jesus didn't enjoy it, but that's what love is willing to do at times. And so love is defined by the very character and being of God.

Speaker 1: 9:28

That's a critical thing for us as Christians to understand. We don't define love. God tells us who he is and he is love, and therefore we have to understand who God is through His revealing Himself to us. Where do we see that? We see it most supremely in His Son, jesus Christ. Where do we learn about Jesus Christ? We learn it in the Word of God. How do we learn it? Through the Word of God, by the help of the Holy Spirit. So God, by His grace, teaches us what true love is, and that's a process we learn throughout our Christian life, more and more, what true love is.

Speaker 1: 10:06

There is a Lord, jesus Christ. He came into the world to save sinners. Thank God for that. Amen. Yes, he came into the world to save sinners, but the Bible doesn't stop there. He's coming back again in glory to judge the living and the dead. So today is the day of salvation, but a day of judgment is coming.

Speaker 1: 10:32

God is a God of love. He's slow to anger, he's patient, he's kind, he's forgiving, but he's a God who will by no means clear the guilty. This is why faith in Christ is so important, because on judgment day we need what Christ has done on our behalf for us to be right with God His perfect life of obedience which we have not lived. We need that transferred to our account. We need our sin transferred to Him on the cross, his death. We need His death in our place because otherwise we'll pay the punishment for our sins, which is eternity in hell.

Speaker 1: 11:13

The Scripture says and what's amazing is Christ who came into the world to save sinners? No one. It is an amazing fact of the Scripture. No one speaks more about hell and judgment than Jesus Christ. That is a stunning thing. If there's one thing the modern church in the last hundred and some years has done, it has made Jesus into a ball of mush. Thank God he's gentle and humble and lowly in heart. Thank God he came first riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as a king who will die for His people, but when he comes again in glory he's coming on a war horse and those who are not right with God. Read through Revelation 18 and 19. It will not be a good day and that is a sad thing to think about. And so we see how the cross of Christ is so important In Corinth.

Speaker 1: 12:19

We saw earlier in this letter in Corinth that some of the wealthy Corinthians in that church were not treating those of the middle and lower class properly. They would show up at the Lord's Supper and the love feast that they did together and they just made sure that the other people knew their place. In ancient Roman societies, it was a constant emphasis of social status I'm here, you're there, don't forget it. And that was going on in the church. In other words, when these folks had become Christians, they brought some of the world that's in their hearts into the church, and the apostle Paul had to rebuke them for that and he had to let them know.

Speaker 1: 13:08

You holding some kind of social status over your brother or sister, that is not a loving thing to do and it's also not a right thing to do. Repent of that. In fact, it was so outrageous. God says in 1 Corinthians 11, that's why some of you have gotten sick and some have died. That's a shocking thing to think about, isn't it? Now? This was very scandalous and abusive and ongoing sin. I mean, god's not just sitting there waiting to wrap us upside the head. That's not our God. But they had abused this as a pattern and they were not repenting.

Speaker 1: 13:48

So the cross of Christ sheds so much light on what true love is. What does Jesus do? Our Savior? He comes and the night before he dies he washes the disciples' feet. The Son of God, if there's anyone who could have held their social status. It'd be the King of Heaven. Yet he's washing the disciples' feet. He suffered for us. He died a bloody and horrific death physically and mentally. And if we could have seen somehow some way spiritually into his soul as he drank the wrath of God on our behalf, that was the worst part of it, the part we couldn't even see.

Speaker 1: 14:37

If all of that is true and it is, then some kind of a Christian caste system in the church is not right. Jesus shatters that Authority structures. Yes, social caste system. No, jesus, the Son of God, what is he? He's love incarnate and he is righteousness incarnate. He's both. And so what do we see in Christ? We see that love serves others. It doesn't hold their position over them socially. It suffers for others. Love bleeds for others. Love bleeds for others.

Speaker 1: 15:28

Jesus shows us true love even dies for others. I'm amazed every year around D-Day to think of what those men did. It's a great picture of love. Christian community is one of love. So if we see that in Christ, what should the church be? What should we be? God is growing us downward to be like Christ, to be able to wash one another's feet. That's greatness in the kingdom of God, washing the feet of those in the house was the job not just of a slave but the lowest slave. And yet that's what Christ was doing, the lowest of the low.

Speaker 1: 16:21

And so Westtown is a church. God's calling to die and sacrifice, even suffer, for each other. And we don't always have to die physically, right, most of the time it's dying spiritually to ourself, letting our ego die, letting our pride die, letting our self-centeredness die. So love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, it doesn't rejoice at injustice, but love does not rejoice at unrighteousness. That's also what wrongdoing means Injustice and unrighteousness. When other people sin, when they have moral failings. Love does not rejoice in that, it doesn't rejoice in sin. Love takes no delight in it.

Speaker 1: 17:11

And it's interesting that the Corinthian church they thought of themselves as very tolerant and loving. I can almost hear them talking to one another. Well, I know Barry's in this incestuous relationship. Right, there was an incestuous. You know about that from the earlier chapters of 1 Corinthians. Right, I know Barry's in this incestuous relationship, right, you know about that from the earlier chapters of 1 Corinthians. Right, I know Barry's in this incestuous relationship. But you know, we just don't judge around here. They no doubt were very proud of their non-judgmental spirit, but it was a worldly kind of non-judgmentalism. There's a godly kind and a worldly kind of non-judgmentalism. There's a godly kind and a worldly kind.

Speaker 1: 17:53

Love does not rejoice at sexual immorality. It doesn't rejoice at sexual immorality exposed in the lives of other people, but love sees it for what it is. Love sees that it's wrong. A true love loves what God loves. True love, though gracious, also hates what God hates, and by hates here I mean finds morally repugnant.

Speaker 1: 18:24

I think in our day Christians sometimes feel guilty falsely. We can be judgmental, right, that's part of our sin. But the other side of it is our culture wants to feel guilty for seeing something as morally repugnant which is morally repugnant. And why do we not have to feel guilty about that? Because God hates that. God finds that which is morally repugnant morally repugnant. We don't have to feel guilty about seeing something for what it is. Now, how we respond to that is a different question, now, isn't it? And so in a church or denomination they tolerate unrepentant and scandalous sin.

Speaker 1: 19:11

Love is not in play. That is not loving. That's not loving at all. In fact it's outrageous. To be honest with you, and I'll be blunt here, a lot of the flag-waving that I see. You go back and study Baal worship in the Old Testament. It's just an old dog making another lap. It's the same stuff. And I'm telling you that's not loving. Jesus would not approve of that. He would love whoever it is that's in the sin, but he would not approve of it. He would love whoever it is that's in the sin, but he would not approve of it. He would not celebrate that. Because, why? Because that doesn't honor his father.

Speaker 1: 20:03

Some of you have read or seen the movie the Chronicles of Narnia. Remember Edmund, don't you love Edmund? He's kind of like the Peter of the Chronicles of Narnia. Remember Edmund, don't you love Edmund? He's kind of like the Peter of the Chronicles of Narnia. Right, you can see he's doing wrong, but then you're like there, I am right. God bless Edmund.

Speaker 1: 20:21

Well, one day you remember the scene. They looked around, where's Edmund? His siblings didn't see him. Where is he? Where's Edmund? Where'd he go?

Speaker 1: 20:34

Well, edmund, like a drug addict, sought out something called Turkish delight. I tried it. It wasn't that great. I can see some of you shaking your head now. Stick with the Krispy Kreme donuts, think of that. But what was Turkish delight? Symbolic of sin, right, the lure of sin, the sick sweetness of sin. So gossip is probably one of the most common ways we as Christians participate in Turkish delight, because gossip is often even if it's painful to admit is often rejoicing in wrongdoing and we get a sick delight out of telling somebody else about it and that's not loving. Hey, did you hear Johnny got caught with some pornography. Pray for him.

Speaker 1: 21:36

I, as a pastor, sometimes do have to talk about things with other people or other leaders, but we need to ask God for wisdom. Do I really need to say this? And if you're like me, there's probably been many times in your life you thought afterwards I probably didn't need to say that, or at least like that or give that much detail. Hey, did you know this is Mary's second marriage? Were you aware of that? Well, pray for healing. Did I need to say that? Turkish delight? It's very deceptive, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 22:17

Some of you remember the National Enquirer. Do they still sell that piece of trash? Is that at Publix? I don't know. You used to get assaulted by it every time you tried to check out at the grocery store. Some of you younger people aren't going to get that wonderful privilege, but there are many versions of the National Enquirer today aren't there? There's a thousand versions of it. It's everywhere. We almost, like, live in a data deluge of the National Enquirer, don't we? It's all over. It's really a national sickness and it's not just Americans, it's human nature. We like gossip. We want to find out the trash.

Speaker 1: 23:08

What news program ever starts out? Hey and a Boy Scout helped the old lady cross the street up on 7th and 5th today. No, that's not what people want to hear. They don't want to hear. You know, it's always. You know some piece of garbage Now. Some of it you need to know. Sometimes we got to hear hard things, but I think you know what I'm saying. If the news program wants to get ratings, how do they do that? They get you all hyped up, they get you worked up. They have to make it an emotional experience for you.

Speaker 1: 23:44

A lot of news is just relational garbage. Remember the Jerry Springer show? You probably didn't think you were going to come to church and have that picture in your mind this morning, did you? You can see it Some of you younger but if you've ever been on X, it's the Jerry Springer show today. It's just. I mean, do we need to know financial problems of Britney Spears or the relational problems of Taylor Swift. How does that even affect our life?

Speaker 1: 24:18

A lot of stuff, a lot of unrighteous gossip, is covered as news. It's not news, it's garbage. But they've taught us that it's news and of course it's mixed in with some news, so it becomes very confusing. Was that news or what was that Political discourse today? How does our political discourse training us? It's training us to rejoice in the wrongdoing of the other. And you see, this is why it's not enough as us, as Christians, to be convinced that we have a right position in a particular area. We may have the right position, but do we have the right attitude toward those that we think are wrong? And, if we're honest, they're training you to point the finger. They're the problem with our society. Well, it may be a problem, but is it the problem? Are we not part of the problem? Have we not failed? Just be careful, guard your hearts. A lot of those guys on the radio say you know, we're just asking for three hours a day, but think about what you're being trained attitudinally, not just positionally.

Speaker 1: 25:40

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing because it doesn't rejoice at unrighteousness. It does not rejoice or enjoy hearing about the sins and moral failings of other people, but the fact is sometimes we do and we need to repent of that. We need to acknowledge it before God. You know what, god? My heart is still not perfect like Christ. It's a long ways away. I have a lot to grow in here. Help me not rejoice in these things.

Speaker 1: 26:06

And love is not complacent, is not indifferent to sin. Love even hates sin. Love finds sin morally repugnant. How do we know that? Because God is love and he hates certain things. He hates unrighteousness, but love nevertheless, when we see it in Christ, overlooks much sin and covers much sin in love. Christ overlooks much sin and covers much sin in love. We can see it for what it is and still be loving to the person who's failing, just like God has been loving to us in our failures.

Speaker 1: 26:44

You might think you know I've never committed physical adultery. Great, I'm glad for that. If that's you, amen. But have you ever watched a movie and you find yourself cheering for an adulterous character in a movie? Have you ever just been watching a movie and all of a sudden it just hits you, I am cheering for the wrong person? And then you say but it's Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise, and her husband's a dud and he's kind of cute and very nice, right. And all of a sudden you realize what is the world doing. It's pulling your affections to justify almost delighting. He got the girl, but the whole thing was unrighteous and if you're not careful watching movies, you'll find yourself cheering for things that God finds wrong and sinful. We just need to be aware of it.

Speaker 1: 27:51

I'm not saying don't watch movies. I'm just saying think about what you're watching. Be aware of how movies are shaping the world. Wants to squeeze you into its mold and the devil is very deceptive. Be careful. What about the vigilante thing that's so popular in movies? You know the guy that's going to bring justice back to the world all by himself. You know, with 250 cows, right, yeah, but it's Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's the Rock, it's Bruce Willis. For some of you, you remember Clint Eastwood. Go ahead, make my day, make his day, man, I want to see it. He's going to bring justice back to the world all by himself, with a little bit of ammo. Be careful, think about what you're watching. See it for what it is. Talk to your kids. My kids would be in PKs. We know, dad, we know. Just let us watch the movie, but there is times to talk to your kids about what they're watching. Train them to see it. Train them to see it.

Speaker 1: 29:06

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. It doesn't have a censorious spirit. What do I mean by that? Have you ever taken pleasure in your heart pointing out the sin or moral failures, failures of another person? Right, and you think, well, it's what they get, they deserve it. They did such and such. You know we need to, as Christians, just admit that that's wrong.

Speaker 1: 29:35

The Germans have a word for this Schadenfreude. I had to look it up Schadenfreude Malicious joy. Can you see the Grinch, his eyes with the big smile slowly going? That's it. It's a malicious joy. But sometimes we have that garbage in our own hearts.

Speaker 1: 30:02

What's the issue? The issue is who is God? That is always the issue. Who is God and who are we? What has he created us to be? Why has he saved us? Who is he growing us in to be as Christians? What will we one day be in glory? How can we speed that along? To prepare for glory? A world of love. God is love. He's patient, kind, tenderhearted, always Forgiving. Slow to anger, bounding in steadfast love, forgiving to transgression, iniquity, sin, even in the face of our daily sin. Amen. Does Jesus rejoice at wrongdoing in the lives of others ever? Does Jesus ever rejoice or delight in unrighteousness in our lives or the lives of other people? And we know the answer just by asking it.

Speaker 1: 31:12

Think about the adulterous woman in John, chapter 8. Remember that scene, the self-righteous Pharisees. Somehow the guy got a free pass. I don't know what happened to him, but they got the lady out there ready to stone her. And Jesus remember. He says let him who's without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. And they all walked away.

Speaker 1: 31:38

And then Jesus, the only one there without sin, is the one who forgives the sin. You see, he acknowledged it, he forgave it. And look at what it cost Jesus to forgive her sin. Not mere words, not a mere declaration death on the cross. He was willing to suffer and absorb her sin and die for her sin in love, but he never made light of it. That's why he died for her sin. But he forgives this adulterous woman. And then what does he say? Oh, it's no big deal. No, he said go and sin no more, don't live like that anymore. He knew she wouldn't be perfect, but he's saying no, that's not okay. Don't live that way. I forgive you. Go, strive for holiness.

Speaker 1: 32:26

Now the world rejoices at the sins and failures of others and they are trying to train you and me to do the same thing. Reject it. It steals your joy. It keeps us from loving other people as we should. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, with injustice or unrighteousness, but love does rejoice with the truth. It rejoices with the truth. Love actively participates in rejoicing with others. Love joyfully celebrates with a certain intensity when it sees that people are in the truth, that they acknowledge the truth, they're committed to the truth, they receive the truth, they love the truth. So love rejoices with the truth itself. It erupts with rejoicing when it sees truth accepted and lived out in the lives of other people.

Speaker 1: 33:27

Remember the father of the prodigal son? The son had no record to give the one who lived the wild life. But when he came back, the father celebrated Through a party. Why Not? Because the son had a record. He had no record. The only thing he had to offer his father was sin and seeking his forgiveness and apology. But what did the father do? He celebrated why? Because the son is now acknowledging the truth about himself and the truth that he did in fact need his father.

Speaker 1: 34:05

Our God is a great God. When we're busy trying to establish our own righteousness, to justify ourselves, rather than living by God's grace alone, what happens? Well, then life becomes a competition with other people. The grace we see extending the lives of others sometimes can then be in our mind well, that's unfair. I was doing the right thing, but they're getting, they seem to be getting a pass. That's the older brother of the prodigal son, and this is why the gospel is important.

Speaker 1: 34:43

We need the gospel Because if we're not secure in our relationship with God, if we don't know God has forgiven us of all of our sins, if we don't know that we are truly secure, now and forever, in his love, because we're spiritually united to Christ by faith, with a bond and a seal made by the Holy Spirit which can never be broken, if we're not secure in that, then we're going to be defensive in our relationships. And you see, just because we've received the gospel of Christ and we say amen, I'm a Christian, I believe in the gospel, it doesn't mean the gospel yet runs through our veins like it should. It doesn't mean it's like have you ever seen a strong downpour and a lot of it just rolls off the top. Yeah, it does wet the grass, but a lot of it rolls off. The gospel can be like that in our life. We need the gospel to sink down into the roots of our hearts so that we actually function according to the gospel, so that we function according to the gospel and not just believe the gospel. When we're insecure in our relationships with God, we're just too defensive. But when we remember that we have a God that rejoices over us with singing because we're in Christ, then we can rejoice with other people, whether they're above us, beside us or below us, when God blesses them.

Speaker 1: 36:18

Love rejoices in the truth because it rejoices in Jesus, who is the truth. This is the heart of worship. Why do we come and worship? Because we rejoice in the truth. Truth is ultimately just like love it's actually a person. It's not just a concept, it's actually a person. So we come and we worship. And what's love rejoices in the truth. What's the converse of that? It weeps too.

Speaker 1: 36:48

The true prophets had broken hearts when they looked out and they saw God not only dishonored, but they saw the judgment that was coming upon unrepentant people. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Why? Because he rejoiced in the truth, and that means sometimes that we will be repenting or be weeping. Rather because we know the judgment is coming, because God's committed to the truth, he's committed to righteousness. Love wants to see other people be saved and grow and prosper, and so will we weep. Do we ever weep over Tampa? Do we ever think about the multitudes that are lost, knowing the judgment's coming? Do we want them to prosper in this life and the next? Aren't you glad that God doesn't stop rejoicing when we do well? Aren't you glad God rejoices? That's our God. Let me just end with this to live in the truth, to be committed to the truth, to live in love and to be committed to love, you have to be committed to Christ by faith. That's how you know God's love and then that's how you then can extend it to other people.