1 Corinthians 13:4-8 - Homiletics

The immortality of love.

"Charity never faileth," etc. Amongst the many things which Paul predicates in this chapter concerning "charity," or love, is its permanence.

I. It will "never fail" as an ELEMENT OF MORAL POWER . Love is the strongest force in the soul.

1. It is the strongest sustaining power. Our present state is one of trial and sorrow. Burdens press on all, in all grades of society. Godly love is the best sustaining power under all. All Divine promises are made to the loving.

2. It is the strongest resisting power. We have not only burdens to oppress, but enemies to conquer and destroy. If love preoccupies the soul, temptations are powerless.

3. It is the strongest aggressive power. We have not only to bear up with fortitude under trials, and to resist with success temptations, but we have battles to fight and victories to win. Love is at once the inspiration and the qualification for the warfare. There is nothing so aggressive in the moral world as love. Man can stand before anything sooner than love. As a sustaining, resisting, aggressive power, love will "never fail."

II. It will "never fail" as a PRINCIPLE OF SOCIAL UNITY . Deep in the heart of man is the desire for union with his fellow. He wishes to flow with the race as waters with the stream. His ingenuity has been taxed for ages in the invention of schemes for union. Love alone can secure this; love only is the unifying force. We are only one with those we love with the moral affections of our nature. But we can only love the lovable. Love in the moral empire is what attraction is in the material. Love "never faileth" as a principle of social unity.

III. It will "never fail" as a SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL HAPPINESS . Love is joy.

1. It expels from the mind all elements unfavourable to happiness.

2. It generates in the mind all the dements of spiritual joy.