As the Lord may graciously help
me, I'll turn your prayerful attention once again to the text
that we named this morning in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14. This text that brings together
the three persons in the Godhead and wishes the blessing and presence
of them with us. 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14, the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. Amen. This morning we looked at somewhat
of this doctrine of the Trinity. the fact that there was three
distinct persons, there was an equality in the Godhead, they
were all equally God, they all had the power of God, they all
had that character of God, and yet they had distinct roles,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and in that distinction
they work gloriously together for one great end. and we traced
out this morning the role particularly of God the Father, that he was
the grand instigator of the plan of salvation. It was he that
sent his beloved son into the world. It was he that, as it
were, chose those people in Christ before the world began. And he was seeking that plan
to come to pass. And we pointed out that he, as
the instigator of that great plan of salvation, set his only
begotten son as center stage for the worship. a great, beautiful
thought of God. It is that thought of love, and
each preferring another. And as you look through these
many texts, you see so much the desire of the father to glorify
the son, the son to glorify the father, each seeking the glory
of the other, so opposite to selfishness, so opposite to covetousness. You see, one of the Ten Commandments
is, Thou shalt not covet. But you see, our Lord, He seeks,
He's got a generosity, as it were, in His love. And we see
that in the very Godhead. Well, one of the last texts we
looked at this morning was in John 8. And that was speaking
about the submission. of God the Son to God the Father. The submission, the fact that
he said, this is John 8 verse 28, Then said Jesus unto them,
When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that
I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath
taught me, I speak these things. I do nothing of myself. Now,
this could be seen as bondage. Satan would say that's perfect
bondage. To have to do something, to always
do the things of my father. And yet, if you move down a few
verses in John 8, we come to these verses, this verse 36.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, Ye shall be free indeed. What does freedom mean? The world
will tell you what freedom is. It's to do what you want, when
you want, how you want. It's to be self-independent. But you see, the Lord Jesus has
a totally different view of what if the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. Free to serve. Free to serve
the Father with perfection. Free to serve Him with the last
fibre of our being. To glorify Him, that's a different
freedom. And you see, the Lord's people
are looking forward to that time when they will be able to worship
Him with unsinning hearts. Not to go to heaven to do their
own thing. to do things that please themselves. No, they're
going to glorify God and to be able to worship Him with unsinning
hearts perfectly. They can't do that here below. Sin is mixed with all that we
do. But you see, there's something to look forward to. But you see,
this is, if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall
be free indeed in the freedom is to perfectly serve the will
of him that sent us. It's in the Lord's Prayer, isn't
it? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, honour as it is in heaven. That's the desire of a true child
of God. Thy will be done, not my will.
Not seeking my own way, my own glory, my own ends. No, this
is Let us make man in our image. And when God has truly formed
a Christian and made them right for harvest, they have that desire
to glorify God as we have it here. Let us make man in our
image. Well, if we look at John's Gospel,
chapter 4. John, chapter 4. This is the
account where there was the woman of Samaria. by the well and she
went away and and to get to go to call her friends and in verse
34 we have this so this is john 4 verse 34 jesus said unto them
my meat that's my food is to do the will of him that sent
me and to finish his work. This was the great work of the
Saviour. You might say, surely the Lord
Jesus. I know when I was at one time,
when I was perhaps, I don't know, 20 or something like that, we
had to fill in a form of all that we wanted to do and all
the aspirations that we had in life. And I wasn't sure and I
had the thoughts that I would be in the ministry at some point.
I didn't know how my career would go in a natural sense. And they
made out, well, if you don't have any aspirations, you won't
get very far in life. But these words came very sweetly
in John 6, that was actually, I came not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me. And if the Lord Jesus, you
see, he didn't come to do his own will. And why should we,
as it were, come to this earth? I want to live here. I want to
do that. I want to do the other. Have all these aspirations and
all self-motivated. Oh, we have a desire to do God's
will. And that does not mean to say that we'll be people that
don't do anything. Paul was one who was incredibly
industrious. But it started with this, Lord,
what will thou have me to do? He'd been busy before doing his
own will, hailing men and women to prison. That was his will. And that's the end that there
would have been if it had been left to stay like that. But God had
something better for him to do. But coming to John 4 verse 34,
my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish
his work. So here we're looking at the
submission of God the Son to God the Father. The submission,
the willing submission. Even though there was an equality.
Yet there was that, he always did the will of his father. He
didn't say, I've come to do my own will. Now I've done it for
so many years, my father's will, now it's time to do my own will.
And indeed, as we look this morning at that beautiful text in Corinthians
15, right to the end of time, you might say, well, that's in,
you're talking about in his incarnation. When he was here on the earth,
he did that. But when he got back into glory, it was something
different. In Corinthians, let me just quote that again, it's
such a beautiful scripture. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 28. And when all things shall be
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject. unto him that put all things
under him that God that's God the father may be all in all. So you see this is not just as
an authority and submission relationship that just is a temporary it is
from eternity past he was sent by the father and eternity future
he shall be under his father and yet there's perfect love.
You see this relationship between the father and the son is that
relationship of authority and submission but also tremendous
love. Tremendous love. If you look
at that in John 14. John 14 we read and this is verse
30. John 14 verse 30 Hereafter I
will not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh
and has nothing in me the prince of this world the lust the pomp
the pride of life the opposite of Christ but that the world
may know that I love the father look at this that the world may
know that I love the father how is the love of God the son manifest
to God the father he tells us here in this verse. but that
the world may know that I love the Father as the Father gave
me commandment, even so I do." In other words, it's my obedience
to the Father demonstrates to those around me that I love the
Father. You see, we have this thinking
that, well, you know, if you're just obeying commandments, that's
all legal, no love. Well, the Lord Jesus obeyed his
Father's commandments perfectly. in perfect love, in perfect love. As the Father gave me commandment,
even so I do. So you see, there is not this
opposite. It's saying that if there's authority
and submission, that this is, as the critical theory would
say, that that means that this authority needs to be smashed
down. There can be true love and there is true love in the
very Godhead, but there's a continuing authority and submission in the
Father. And that has huge implications
for us. We're all in a position of authority,
rightful authority and submission. depend on which position you
look at. We all have people that, things
that we are, have over us that we need to submit to, and there's
also, we have God-given roles of authority as parents. We are
to bring up our children, the nurture and admonition. We have
a God-given authority, and we're to use that rightly. That's not
being cruel to our children, that's not seeking to oppress
them, but there can be that authority And that lovely submission in
the children to that authority and a perfect love, that is the
ultimate, that is the goal, that is what the Godhead is, that
beautiful bringing together of those things. And in John 15,
We didn't read this in John 15, but if you look in John 15, that's
the chapter that talks about I am the vine, ye are the branches.
Look at this, what it says in verse 9. As the Father hath loved
me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love. even as I have kept my father's
commandments and abide in his love." Isn't that opposite to
what you're sometimes told? If it's all about keeping commandments,
it's legal. There's no love. Well, the very
heart of the Godhead is keeping his commandments. Our pastor
has recently been going through, for more than a year I think
it is, or just over a year or thereabouts, going through Psalm
119. And that's so full of the law and how the psalmist delights
in the law of God. And it's his food and his meditation.
And here, this is not something God's asking us to do that he
doesn't do himself. God the Father, God the Son,
as it were, delights in his Father's commandments. As the Father hath
loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in my love. If ye keep
my commandments, this is John 15 verse 10, ye shall abide in
my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandment and abide
in his love. You might say, but I thought
the love of God was unconditional. Well, in one sense it is. He
loved his own from eternity past. But you think of it as a parent.
If your child is misbehaving and doing everything to upset
you, you still love that child. But your relationship, there
isn't a felt love between the two of you as much, is there?
It doesn't mean that you cease loving that child, it's still
your child, you still pray for that child, you still seek their
good, but the barrier comes between you, isn't it? This is that what
he's speaking of here, if you keep my commandments, ye shall
abide in my love. You see, Like we sometimes say
when you walk through the waters of believer's baptism, it's the
answer of a good conscience. God has said, if you love me,
keep my commandments. And when we keep his commandments,
we feel that love so much more. It's that same love. It's not
that he didn't love us before, but here there's a love shown
because we have done those things which are pleasing in his sight. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. And we see here then the great
themes. And of course, moving on to John
17, this is a chapter written, the high priestly prayer, just
the night before he was going to Calvary. Right on the eve
of laying down his life for ransom for sinners. Look at what he
says. John 17 these words speak Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour is come
glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. Do you
see the two ways that it's the son's desire is to glorify the
father and it's the father's delight to glorify the son. This
is God like. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given. And this is life eternal, that
they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Verse four, I have glorified
thee on the earth. That's Jesus speaking of his
work here below. He sought to glorify his Father
in heaven. I have glorified, sorry, I have
glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work that
thou hast gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee from before the world was." So this idea
of one glorifying the other and not being jealous of the other
but seeking one another's glory, it's a beautiful God-like thing.
There's two characters in the Bible that are very special.
a special friendship and relationship, and that's between David and
Jonathan. You remember Jonathan was the
son of Saul. He was naturally heir to the
throne, and yet when he saw David and he saw his faith in God,
he saw his abilities on the battlefield, and he felt that David would
be the next king. And he gave his armor, and he
gave his sword, he gave the tokens of being an heir to the kingdom
to David, and he sought David's good at his own expense. Beautiful, beautiful to see the
relationship, the friendship between Jonathan and David. Well,
I would say take that relationship, and there is something of that
in the members of the very Godhead. Seeking to glorify the other,
not seeking mine own glory. You see, Satan is always seeking
his own glory. He's selfish, self-centered. He wanted to be God. But you
see, we have a God, you see, that is not like that. A God
that delights in mercy. A God that has made a way back
to God for those who are rebels, far off from God. And how was
he to do it with this great plan of salvation, formed in the heart,
as it were, in the mind of God the Father. And then there was
an execution of that plan in sending his only begotten son
to be ridiculed, to be hated, to be set at naught. But he set his face toward Jerusalem. I have a baptism to be baptized
with. And how am I straightened? So
we see that great love that there is between the father and the
son. But I must now come on to the third person of the Trinity,
God, the Holy Spirit. What is his work? And how great
his work is also in this plan of salvation. If we go to Isaiah
chapter 11, we're told Isaiah 11 verse 1, and there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Jesse is the father of
David. And a branch shall grow out of
his roots and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall judge not after the sight of his eyes, neither shall
reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness
shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity the meek
of the earth. This is a prophecy, you see,
of the coming of the Saviour. And what was going to be the
great mark that He was the Anointed One, the Christ, is that the
Spirit of the Lord rested upon Him. This third person of the
Trinity was coming to clothe the humanity of Christ and enable
Him to fulfil that work, to always obey His Father. And as we have that, you see,
we have a picture of that for us. You see, how are we going
to ever walk the Christian life? However are we going to glorify
God? It's only as the Spirit rests upon us. And you see, the
Spirit of God, so vital to apply the things of God and to make
the things of God precious unto us. Then in Isaiah 61 is another
precious scripture where it says, the Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. We read of that in Luke chapter 4 when the Lord Jesus
took that, when he was given the book of Isaiah and he found
this exact place and began to read and said, this day are these
things being fulfilled. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me. You might say, but if Jesus is
the second person of the Trinity, why does he need the Holy Spirit
to come upon him? He is God himself. But you see,
in his humanity, he humbled himself. he took on him this need, you
see, of, he humbled himself to need the Spirit, because in a
sense, as God, he had all the qualities of the Spirit, but
he humbled himself, you see, and as he went through baptism,
thus it fulfills, to fulfill all godliness, he went through
that and so he, as it were, humbled himself and made himself in need
of the anointing of the Spirit. This was going to be a mark that
he was the Messiah. He was the anointed one and so
he humbled himself and he then walks in that spirit. And then
there is that those scriptures if we look in Luke's gospel as
we read about the Messiah we see that he grew. He grew up. Luke chapter 2. Luke 2 and verse 40. Luke 2 and verse 40, and the
child grew, this is the Lord Jesus Christ, and waxed strong
in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon
him. You see here we have this humanity
of Christ forming, growing up, increasing in wisdom and knowledge,
but you say he was God, so how can God increase in knowledge? In his humanity. The Holy Spirit,
as it were, was used as his teacher to teach him as the Holy Spirit
needs to teach us the things of God. So he learned, we read,
he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. It doesn't
mean that sometimes he was disobedient and after a little while he became
obedient. He learned obedience. As time went on, there was more
difficult and more difficult things that his father asked
him to do. And as he grew up and became able to bear those
things and to follow his father in these things, of course it
culminated at Calvary, when he came in that garden of Gethsemane.
If it be possible, let this cut pass from me. But the Holy Spirit,
you see, enabled him to say, not my will, but thine be done. Submission to his Father. Willing,
he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. And so we see
the anointing of the Spirit was so vital for the Lord Jesus to
perform his work here below. the anointing of the Spirit.
Though he was equal with God, he emptied himself, he humbled
himself, and he was in need of the Spirit to enable him to do
this. A great mystery. But you see,
he knew the Lord's blessing and was able to do that great work. If you look in Matthew's Gospel,
chapter 12, We have another thing. This is just an evidence to show
that the Lord Jesus acknowledged that he needed the spirit to
do these things. Matthew 12 verse 28. This was
a time when he was casting out devils and they said you're casting
out devils because you are by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
And Jesus answers in Matthew 12 verse 28. But if I cast out
devils by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God rested upon
him without measure we're told, then the Kingdom of God is come
unto you. You see the anointing of the Spirit and so we have
the Spirit at that third person, the Trinity, anoints the Lord
Jesus and enables him to do this great work. The Father sent his
beloved Son but he sent the Spirit to anoint his beloved Son so
that he could work this great work of salvation, this great
plan of salvation out. So the Holy Spirit, and you see,
that is the great, one of the great works of the sending, the
sending of the Spirit and the Lord Jesus received that Spirit
and needed that Spirit and acknowledged that he didn't cast out devils
by his own power, but by the Spirit of God that rested upon
him. But then when we come to the
end, of Jesus' ministry, as we read in John's Gospel, we see
that there's a change in roles. That now instead of the Lord
Jesus, as it were, the Spirit helping the Lord Jesus to do
his great work, now we have the Spirit being commanded by the
Lord Jesus to do that great work, as what we sung of that lovely
hymn about the Comforter, John 15. John 15 verse 26 but when the
comforter is come unto you sorry but this is John 15 verse 26
but when the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from
the father let's listen to the language so the comforter the
Holy Spirit Jesus is saying I the second person in the Trinity
will send the comforter the third person in the Trinity whom I
will send unto you from the Father, so that the Spirit proceedeth
from the Father, but is sent by the Son. There's an order
again. But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. Here we have another wonder,
don't we? this showing of the seeking one
another's good, seeketh not her own. The great work of the Holy
Spirit, really in a sense the Holy Spirit seems the least prominent,
the least, if you like, glorified, receives the least praise. But
this is the way that God has appointed it. But you see his
great work is is to glorify the Son. And the Lord Jesus then
says, so here we have when Jesus was ending his earthly ministry,
he says that he's going to send the company. He's going to, as
it were, be in control of the Spirit. Though the Spirit had
enabled him to do his great work, now Jesus was going to control
him. And so we see the change of the
roles in his incarnation and then in his exaltation. And then
as we read in John 16, they were very sad because Jesus was going
to leave them. But in verse 7 he says of chapter
16 of John, Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient
for me that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. See here we have the clear message
that it's not a force that the Holy Spirit is not some force
it's a person but if I depart I will send him unto you the
Holy Spirit the third person in the Trinity and when he is
come see it's a person not a force and when he is come he will reprove
the world of sin So the great work of the Holy Spirit is to
convince people of their sin, that the fact that they're far
off from God. And you might say, well, if there's a great conviction
of sin in our day, what are there going to be the great sins that
the Holy Spirit is going to convict people of? Oh, we could think
of a list of the great sins of our day. Verse 9 tells us the cardinal
sin of sin. because they believe not on me."
That's the ultimate sin, the sin of unbelief, the only saviour
to reject and to turn away from the only way of salvation. Reprove the world of sin because
they believe not on me. But then he says in verse 13,
how be it when he the spirit of truth is come, he will guide
you into all truth so the spirit will guide us into the truth
and his people and he but look at this at for he shall not speak
of himself you see here again a display of tremendous humility
he will not speak of himself he's there to glorify the lord
jesus Whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will
show you things to come. He shall glorify Me. The Lord
Jesus saying that when the Holy Spirit comes, He's going to glorify
the Son. This is by God's appointment.
And you see, there's not a rift in the Godhead. There's not a
problem with this. And so here you see this beautiful
Godhead is working together with all of the members, with their
different offices, all working together in perfect love and
harmony, in knowing their place, knowing that authority and that
submission. he shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, he shall take of mine
and show it. Unto you it's the work of the
Spirit you see and that's so much what we need today when
we have our meetings together We pray that the Spirit might
be with us to teach us of the things of God to take of the
Word of God and apply it with power to our hearts to make us
truly convicted of our sins to make us realize that we're the
Just like David did when he had sinned against Bathsheba and
Nathan came to him pointed the finger at him said thou art the
man And that's what the Holy Spirit does to each one of us.
Thou art the person. You are the one that has fallen
short of God's glory. You need repentance. You need
forgiveness. You need to be made right with
God. He shall convince of sin. And then if we look in Acts,
then we have, you see, the beginning of the time after the Lord Jesus
had died and then risen again. And then there's the sending
forth of the Spirit. Acts chapter 1 and verse 8. But
ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea
and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. How are God's
servants, how are we to speak of the things of God? It is as
we have the anointing of the Spirit. the spirit in us and
the spirit working in the hearts of those we speak to, so that
they may not think that we're speaking foolish things, but
they may realize that the words that we're speaking are true.
You see, that was that on the day of Pentecost, wasn't it?
They said, men and brethren, what must we do? They didn't
say, well, it was that person over there that did it, it wasn't
me. Men and brethren, what must we do? They each became guilty
before God. And there was that great work
of redemption. of salvation for his people.
Acts 2 and verse 32 we have these words. Acts 2 verse 32, then
this Jesus hath God raised up whereof we are all witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exhorted, this is
the Lord Jesus, And having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. So here we can see that now that
the Lord Jesus is in a position at the right hand of the Father,
the Lord Jesus sends forth His Holy Spirit, that Holy Spirit
that sustained Him on this earth to do that great work. is in
control of that Holy Spirit, as it were, and gives him commands.
You see, sometimes the Spirit was, as it were, helping Jesus,
and now Jesus is commanding him. There's a change in roles. And
yet there's no change in love. There's a perfect love. And it's
a wonderful thing when we can, as churches, as a church family,
walk together in that love. each esteeming others better
than themselves, seeking, you see, for the glory of God. The
glory of God. That's the great end that the
Lord has in view. So if we look at the scriptures
that we have before us, In 2 Peter 1 and verse 21 it says, for the
prophecy came not of old in ill time by the will of man, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So we see here that the Holy
Ghost is involved or so greatly involved in the writing of the
Bible as we know it. it's spirit breathed holy men
of God as they were moved by the spirit so the spirit moved
those men of God to record that the Son of God that would be
glorified and you see so this great work of this great trinity
of love, where each is seeking the good of the other. And this
beautiful analogy of Jonathan and David, not the selfishness
and the self-seeking that is so much us by nature since the
fall, but a trinity of love, working. And we never read that
the spirit is upset, because he says, well, when am I going
to get the glory? No, he's willing, as it were,
to glorify the Father, and glorify the Son, and point others to
glorify the Saviour for what he has done. And so, as we see
this great plan of salvation formed in the heart of the Father,
sent forth, he sends his beloved Son, he sends the Spirit to anoint
his beloved Son. That beloved son is anointed
then and is able to fulfill that perfect righteousness. If you
like, a perfect human being that was anointed with the spirit
to be able to perfectly keep his father's law. I always delight
to do my father's will. And as we have the spirit, then
we can enter into something of that. As we delight to do our
father's will. not in a slavish way. And you
see, this is what can be so misrepresented that all commandments are slavish. Oh, we don't want commands, we
just want love. How did Jesus show his love to
his father? By keeping his commandments.
That's how he showed his love. How we can know the love of God
in our hearts? By keeping his commandments, not by despising
them. And you see how he ever delighted
to do his father's will. And so we see that this has such
an important aspect in that the Lord has said, let us make man
in our image. How are we to act on this earth?
We are to, as it were, look at that image of the Godhead and
see something of that. And when we feel that we're busy
doing this thing, but we're not getting very noticed for it.
Or that we may think of the Holy Spirit that is busy shining the
spotlight on Christ and doesn't seem to get much glory as it
were himself for it. And yet there's no schism in
the Godhead. There's perfect love. They delight
in one another. And so may we in our lives realise
that the error and the terrible lies that are going forth with
these theories of critical theory where smashing down all authority
and seeking that all these things should be opposite to what the
word of God says. You see God is love, perfect
love in the Godhead. He loved his He sent his only
begotten son, so that whosoever believeth on him should not perish,
but should have eternal life. And why could they have it? because
he laid their sin, their shortcomings upon his only begotten son. And
his son willingly took it. I ever delight to do my father's
will. He showed in Gethsemane it was
a very difficult thing to do, like Abraham. We had that before
us on Tuesday, how Abraham, the greatest trial of Abraham was
to offer up his son Isaac. And really the greatest trial
of the Lord Jesus was to go to Calvary. Surely there must have
been a time that when he was being led by the Spirit and growing
up, he would have come, the Lord Jesus, you see, was ever, if
we look in Psalm chapter 1, this describes the Lord Jesus,
blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in
his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season. His leaf shall also not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. That was a description
ultimately of a godly person, but ultimately of the Lord Jesus,
who was the godly one, who delighted in his Father's will. Surely
there was a time when the Lord Jesus would have come to Psalm
22. In his reading of the Bible,
he would have come to Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? And from the words of my roaring.
You think of the Lord Jesus Christ must have read that at some time
for the first time. as he read the law of God. And
there was a realisation, as the Spirit would have shown him,
that yes, this is talking about you. You are the one that is
going to go through this way. This is the experience that the
Lord has appointed for you. And so, as we consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
we be wearied and faint in our minds that we might be those
who realise something of the enormous blessing, to come back
to what we've named as a text, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, applying
the things of God to our hearts, that the word of God is not just
a dry letter of the word, but it's a living word. We love his
commandments because we love the God of the commandments.
not to gain salvation, but is a demonstration of our love.
Jesus demonstrated his love to his father by keeping his father's
commandments. And those who are true Christians
in their right mind, they demonstrate their love by keeping his commandments,
not by going the opposite direction. And they know then the love of
God. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and
the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. What could we do more than that?
To have those three glorious persons of the Trinity all with
us, seeking to bring us back to God from the Red Sea, from
the dark paths of sin because of the Adam fall. yet to be restored,
that we may be like Him, that all things work together for
good to them that love God, that we may be conformed to the image
of His dear Son, that we may be like Him, that we may be able
to glorify Him and be taken up with a subject of glorifying
the Lamb. Let's just finish with that great,
beautiful word in Revelation. Revelation 5 verse 9 and they
sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to
open the seals for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by
the by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests and
shall reign on the earth. The Lord, the Lamb is the centrepiece
of glory. God the Father has appointed
it so. God the Holy Spirit has drawn people, men and women,
boys and girls, lost and ruined in the fall, to come and rejoice
in these things, to be part of that number that no man can number.
Singing worthy is the Lamb. Amen.