Let us turn again to God's Word
and directing you this evening to words that we find at the
end of Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians. The final
verse in the second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 13 and
verse 14. Familiar words, the great apostolic
benediction. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen. We've been considering
the last number of weeks on Lord's Day evenings that great statement
that we find in Paul's first epistle to, second epistle I
should say, to Timothy in chapter 3 and verse 16. those words that really constitute
a little theological gem concerning the great mystery of godliness,
the mystery of real religion, that God was manifest in the
flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, priests unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world and received up into
glory. that it all centers in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that great mystery of
the Incarnation. And what we have here before
us tonight in this benediction, we call it the Apostolic Benediction,
but it's very much a Trinitarian statement because it says before
us that greatest of all mysteries, which is the doctrine of God
that God is one and yet here we see quite clearly that God
is three and it's a word that I suppose is
more familiar to us than any other part of scripture because
we make use of it repeatedly as a closing benediction at the
end of services we don't have a liturgy as the Church of England
was a time of course when services in the established church would
follow the pattern set forth in the Book of Common Prayer
and so their worship is very liturgical there are certain
things to be done, certain things to be said in the course of divine
worship if it accords with the teachings of the established
Church of England I know that in these days of course the the
Book of Common Prayer is discounted really and they have modern forms
and modern liturgies that fall very far short of that and yet
we do well to remember that the Book of Common Prayer was the
cause of so many of the Puritans being ejected from the parish
churches throughout England, because the Puritans would not
follow the teachings contained in that book, although there
is much that is praiseworthy in the book. The Codex, many
of them of course, being the work of Archbishop Cranmer. There's much good Protestant
Reformation matter in the Book of Common Prayer. But it was
the cause of our spiritual forebears being ejected and leaving the
parishes and so forming dissenting congregations amongst the many
Baptist congregations first came into
being as distinct and separate churches. Well, we don't follow
any liturgy at all really, and yet I suppose this verse is one
that might be said to be liturgical with regards to the way in which
we continually make use of it. And so it's a verse of scripture
that is repeated in our services more than any other. And it is
a significant scripture because, as I said, it states, in the
matter of a few words, the great doctrine of the Trinity. And it's apostolic. It's part of Paul's writing here
to the church at Corinth. And the Old Testament counter
to this is that that we have in Numbers chapter 6 and the
end of that chapter. Remember how the priest of Aaron
were to bless the congregation of Israel. And how were they
to bless the congregation? They were to put the Lord's name
upon the people. And the Lord's name is that that
we also on occasion use as a closing benediction, the Lord bless thee
and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. And again there are three parts
to that Aaronic blessing. It reads, Lords, Lords, Lords,
And here, as we come to the New Testament and this apostolic
benediction, we see how, that in a certain sense, what we have
back in number six is expanded and explains, because we see
who these three Lords are. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, that is the Father, and the communion
of the Holy Ghost, Be with you all. Amen. And here, of course, as we have
the Triune Name, so we do well to remember that this is the
name that is very much put upon us when we make profession of
our faith. We are to believe with the heart
and make confession with the mouth. And what is the formula
that we are to use at Christian baptism? That to be baptized
in the name, it says, of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost. And so just as in the Old Testament,
the divine name, Lord, Lord, Lords, was placed upon the children
of Israel, so in the New Testament this is a name that is placed
upon every true child of God. The Lord Jesus himself gives
that instruction baptizing them in the name, the name singular,
the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Well, let us come and for a little
while tonight look at what we have here in this text. And I
want us to consider each of these clauses and what it tells us
with regards to the doctrine of God. This is that that is
to be with you all, says the Apostle. First of all, we read
of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so the first thing we need
to take account of, of course, is the name, and it's a threefold
name that is given to him. He is Lord, he is Jesus, and
he is Christ, and there is significance in each of the names. Lord, this
is the divine name. there is the Greek translation
of the Old Testament the ancient translation which is called the
Septuagint and it was a translation with which the Lord Jesus himself
would have been familiar and the apostles were familiar with
it and it's interesting because in that ancient Greek translation
the Septuagint the word for Jehovah in the Old Testament in the Old
Testament that word Jehovah which we have as Lord in capital letters
throughout the Old Testament scriptures well the particular
Greek word that is used in that Greek version of the Old Testament
is the very word that is used here in reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ It's the equivalent then to Jehovah. Jehovah Jesus
Christ. The name that is given to God
in the Old Testament. The great I am that I am. And so, the first thing that
the name reminds us of, of course, is the deity of the Lord Jesus. And remember how he speaks to
the Jews in John chapter 8, and there at the end of that chapter,
how he says, before Abraham was. Verily, verily, before Abraham
was, I am. He declares himself to be the
I am. He declares himself to be the
Lord, to be Jehovah. And again, previously in that
chapter, at verse 24, He says, if ye believe not, speaking to
the Jews, if ye believe not that I am He, or literally, if you
believe not that I am, ye shall perish in your sins. Who He is, the Great Jehovah,
He is the Eternal Son of God. John says, "...we beheld the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." And how it is in these last times, of course,
that God has spoken unto us by His Son. And remember how the
Apostle writes there in the opening verses of Hebrews chapter 1,
there at verses 5 and 6, He says unto which of the angels
said he at any time thou art my son this day have I begotten
thee and again I will be to him a father and he shall be to me
a son and again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the
world he said and let all the angels of God worship him. Oh the Lord Jesus Christ he is
Lord he is God He is to be worshipped by the angels. Here then we have
in the first place that divine name. And then after that we
have the name Jesus. And this is the human name. All
this is the human name. When the Lord Jesus Christ descends
into this earth he descends into the womb of the Virgin Mary and
the angel says to that young woman a pure virgin that she
will be with child and she will be with child of the Holy Ghost
and that Holy Thing conceived in her womb by the Holy Ghost will be called the Son of God
God manifest in the flesh and what was his name to be called
well both Joseph to whom she was betrothed and Mary are told
they shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins his name was to be Jesus the Old Testament
Joshua it simply reminds us that salvation is of the Lord but
it's the human name It's a name that's given to that little boy
that was born to Mary. Oh, verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham. And for as much as the children
were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise took part of the
same, the reality of that human nature that was joined now to
the eternal Son of God, the God-man, the real man, who in the days
of his flesh, when he had offered up prayer and supplication with
strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save him
from death, he was heard, we are told him that he feared.
Oh, he had the fear of God in his heart, as he lived as a man,
he lived the life of faith, though he were a son, yet learned the
obedience by the things that he suffered. And John, we read
portions there in John's epistles. And now John continually asserts
the truth of the human nature. Or to deny the human nature is
the very spirit of Antichrist. That's what John says. He says
that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested and
we have seen it and bear witness. Lord John is so sure, so certain
with regards to this Jesus. He's a real man. He's no phantom
spirit. And here then we have the Lord
Jesus Christ and Christ of course is the official name. Oh it reminds
us of his office. He comes as that one long promised,
the Messiah, the Christ. And remember how
Andrew addresses his brother Simon Peter. Andrew was a disciple
of John the Baptist and there is the Baptist and he's the forerunner
and he directs many, he directs his own disciples to the Lord
Jesus Christ and says, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh
away the sin of the world. And when Andrew goes and finds
his brother Simon, he directs him also to the Lord Jesus. We
have found the Messiah, he says. We found the Christ. Oh, this
is the official name. And as the Christ, of course,
he is the Anointed One. and he is anointed as prophet,
he is anointed as priest, he is anointed as king. He is the
fulfillment of those three offices that we see so clearly in the
Old Testament. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, because God giveth not the Spirit by measure
unto him. Here then we have the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is his name. That is his
name. Lord Jesus Christ. God. Man. Messiah. And then the Word. It is the
grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The law was given by Moses. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. He is the mediator of the new
covenant. The old as waxen old and vanisheth
away. That's what we're told in Hebrews
chapter 8. The law was given by Moses. Grace and truth have come by
Jesus Christ. It's the gift by grace which
Paul says is by one man. Jesus Christ. Oh, friends, we
know it. I trust we know it. Ye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might
be made rich, says the Apostle. How He was rich! All what glories
belonged to Him, and yet all that glory vail. in the days
of his humiliation here upon the earth when he comes to accomplish
that great work of salvation the grace of God to bring us
salvation has appeared with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
and though rich he makes himself poor being in the form of God
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God's that made
himself of no reputation, we're told, and took upon him the form
of a servant. He was in the form of God. He
was God, and yet he's in the form of a servant. He comes to
serve God. He comes as the mediator of the
covenant. He comes to accomplish all that
work that the Father had committed to him in the eternal covenant,
and it's all a display. of the grace of God, or that
unmerited favor, that blessing that comes to sinners, even sinners
of the Gentiles. We've thought of these things
over these past weeks as we've gone through the various clauses
of that great verse there in 1 Timothy 3.16. The Lord Jesus, He has made Him says Paul, to
be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Here then we have at the beginning
of this great benediction the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one eternal Son of
God who was made man. It wasn't the Father nor was
it the Holy Ghost we need to be careful and we need always
to be specific in recognizing who it was it was the eternal
son of God God in the fullness of the time sends forth his son
made of a woman made under the law he becomes the son of man
who is eternally the son of God But then, says Paul, the love
of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God. And here we have to think in
terms of God the Father. In the covenant, the Father is
that one who represents the deity, represents all that God is. And it's the love of God. It's
the love of God. And remember, on two occasions
in that first general epistle from where we were reading, we
didn't read the passages, but two times in that epistle, John
declares God is love. In a sense, we say that love
is one of the attributes of God. We often speak of the attributes.
the grace of God, the mercy of God, the kindness of God, the
compassion of God. These are all attributes. The
holiness of God, the righteousness of God. These all tell us something
about Him. But God in His very essence is
love. God is love, says John. And When we think in terms of
the great mystery of the doctrine that is before us here, the doctrine
of the Trinity, God is love in the inter-trinitarian relationship
between the three divine persons. The Father loves the Son. The
Son loves the Father. The Son and the Father love the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, He loves the
Father and the Son. why we read of the Lord Jesus
Christ as that One who is the Son of the Father in truth and
love. There is an eternal relationship
of love. I was daily... I was always before
Him. Daily is delight, is the language
that the son uses there in Proverbs chapter 8. Always rejoicing in
Him, delighting in the Father, the Father delighting in the
Son. They are one God, of course. Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, we
are told, hath not God either abided in the doctrine of Christ,
he hath both the Father and the Son. The Father and the Son are
together. And then there is the Holy Spirit
also. And the Holy Spirit is He who
proceeds from the Father and from the Son. There's an eternal
procession of Him. When the Comforter is come, says
Christ, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, ye shall testify
of me. Oh, there's such a union of of
relationship between the three persons the father begetting
the son, the son begotten of the father, the Holy Spirit proceeding
from the father and the son and all that relationship bound up
in love without any reference to a thing outside of himself
God is love because there are three persons in that great mystery
the doctrine of God But here, when we read of the
love of God, we're to think of it in terms of this church at
Corinth. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God be with you all. Oh, this is God's love to
his church. This is a benediction at the
end of a letter that's written to a church. but it's part of
the Holy Scriptures. It's words that have been addressed
to all the churches of Jesus Christ, not just the church at
Corinth, but every gospel church. It's there, of course, that God
displays His great love, and how God loves. How God loves
sinners. Here in His love, says John,
not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. How remarkable is that? This is the love of God, you
see. He so loves the sinner that He
sends the Son of His love, the one in whom He delights, and
sends Him to be the propitiation, and all that that means, all
that that word suggests of the wrath of God. God who is angry
with the wicked and how he will pour out his wrath upon that
blessed person of his son manifest in the flesh all the love of
God, God so loved the world we are taught the world that lies
in wickedness all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life or that he's
not of the Father but he's of the world God so loves the world
a sinful world that he gives his only begotten son that whosoever
believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life you
know when we read those words God so loved the world we're
not to imagine that world there simply means every individual
that ever lived on the face of the earth he can't mean that What of all those in the Old
Testament who had died in sin and unbelief and had gone to
their appointed place? Were those included in God's
love? God says, Jacob I loved, he said,
I hate it. No, I understand God's love for
the world in terms of him loving that that is so opposite to all
that is, all that is in the world, all the wickedness, all the sin.
God loves sinners. That's the wonder of it. That's
the great love of God that He loves sinners to such a degree
that He sends His only begotten Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin. Oh, that's the wonder of it,
you see. The great love wherewith God loves the sinner. And the Lord Jesus loves the
sinner. Having loved His own which were
in the world, He loves them unto the end. That's the wonder. And then there's the love of
God demonstrated not only in the gift of the Son, and the
Son in His willingness to give Himself, but there's also the
blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit. All that best of all the donations
of God, the Holy Ghost, all thanks be to God for His unspeakable
gift. All that God gives, He gives
His Son. The Son gives the gift of the
Holy Ghost. The love, the love that springs
ultimately from God, that comes from the Father, through the
Son and by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And as God is a
sovereign God, because simply to call Him God is to recognize
His sovereignty. He is not sovereign. if he doesn't
do according to his will among the armies of heaven and the
inhabitants of the earth and not able to stay his hand or
say to him what doest thou if he cannot do all of those things
he's no God at all God is a sovereign God and so too is the love of
God and we see it don't we quite clearly in what he said concerning
the children of of Israel back in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and
the reason the reason why God had chosen them to be his own
peculiar people, his own special people Deuteronomy 7, 7 the Lord
did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were
more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all
people Why then did the Lord love them and choose them and
redeem them out of Egypt? Well, we're told in the following
8th verse, but because the Lord loved you. The reason is in himself, God
is love. Because the Lord loved you, and
because he would keep the oath which you had sworn unto your
fathers that the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and
redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh
king of Egypt here is the great cause it all flows from the love
of God and it's sovereign love it's sovereign love he is free
to love whom he will as it is written Jacob have I loved but
he saw have I hated there's no cause of God loving one and passing
over another one no cause in the creature the reason is to
be found only in himself and the sovereignty of his love and
as his love is sovereign so it is an everlasting love It reaches
from eternity to eternity. And we see that, don't we, in
the great golden chain of Romans
8. It begins with his foreknowledge,
whom he foreknows, he predestinates. And that foreknowing, of course,
it's not just God foreseeing certain things and on the basis
of what the creature has done, making his choice. Know that
foreknowledge is the intimacy of knowledge. It's the love of
God that lies behind His choice. And it all ends, doesn't it,
with glorification. The ones He justifies, ultimately
He glorifies. You read the Golden Chain, whom
He did foreknow. And it ends with them He also
glorified. It reaches from eternity to eternity. Yea, I have loved thee, he says,
with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. Oh, there's the love of God and
all stems, all flows from that sovereign, that eternal love
of the Father at work in time when the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to accomplish salvation and then How that salvation is to come
into the souls of men and women by the blessed gift and work
of the Holy Spirit. Because in the third place we
read of the communion of the Holy Ghost. Or the communion
of the Holy Ghost. The fellowship. It's the same
word really, the fellowship. Now we need to know the Spirit's
fellowship. Where are we? And what are we
by nature? We're those who are in that state
of alienation, enemies of God, by wicked works, conceived in
sin, shapen in iniquity. That's true of every one of us
here tonight. That's where we come from. We
are the children of Adam and Eve. And when Adam sinned, we
sinned in Adam. and from Adam and Eve we have
derived our very natures and our carnal mind our natural mind
is enmity against God and it is not subject to the law of
God neither indeed can be what can be done? and we need the
communion of the Holy Ghost the sinner must be born again born of the Holy Spirit born
of the Holy Spirit Verily, verily, says the Lord Jesus Christ, ye
must be born again. A man cannot see the Kingdom
of God without that new birth. Ye must be born again, born from
above. It says in the margin. He comes
from above. it's a blessed work of the Holy
Spirit how He works how He works so
effectually in the souls of sinners the sinner born again you see
receiving a new nature God hath revealed them unto us by His
Spirit says the Apostle the Spirit searcheth all things yea the
deep things of God what man knoweth the things of man sayeth the
spirit of man that is within him even so the things of God
knoweth no man but by the Spirit of God we must have the Spirit
of God we must know communion with the Spirit the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God they are foolishness
to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned oh thanks be to God for that unspeakable gift, that
best of all the donations that there is the ministry of the
Spirit. And what do we learn concerning
the Spirit? What is this communion, this
fellowship with the Spirit? Well, He is a Sovereign Spirit.
He is a Sovereign Spirit. He is God. And as I've said,
sovereignty is clearly the mark of God. Let God be God. Remember how the Lord likens
his his quickenings there in in Romans 3 to the wind and the
circuits of the wind the wind bloweth where it listeth where
it will says Christ and thou hearest a sound thereof but canst
not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every
one that is born of the Spirit and there in the opening chapter
of Ecclesiastes we're told aren't we of the circuits of the wind
Ecclesiastes 1.6 the wind goeth toward the south and turneth
about onto the north it whirleth about continually and the wind
returneth according to his circuits all the mysterious circuits of
the wind Christ says that it's like the sovereign working of
the Spirit and our man can receive nothing, you see, except it comes from above, it comes
from the Spirit and he works sovereignly and he works graciously
in the hearts of sinners and he communicates new life And
that sinner who is born again is a new creation, a new creature
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All things have now passed away,
all things are become new. And all by this blessed communion
of the Holy Ghost. He is a Sovereign Spirit. He
is repeatedly spoken of as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Why? Is He not the one who was
inspired this blessed book, the Bible. We call it the Holy Bible. Now, we know it's written by
men, a multitude of different authors of the books that make
up our Bibles. But we're told, aren't we, concerning
those men, those holy men, it says, they spake as they were
moved by the Spirit of God. So it's not so much their writings,
it's the Spirit's writing. The doctrine of the inspiration
of Scripture. Holy men of God, they spake as
they were moved by the Spirit. And you know, I've mentioned
it many a time, the significance of the verb that he is using
there, Peter, writing there in 2 Peter 1.21, move. moved by the spirits of God,
it says. It's such a strong verb. And
it's the same verb that's used with regards to Paul's experience
in Acts 27. We've been reading at home those
closing chapters in Acts where Paul is at Jerusalem and the
Jews are bent on his destruction. They're continually planning
to kill him. and eventually, well he's taken first of all
to Caesarea but he appeals to Caesar and so he must go to Rome. He can stand before the Caesar
because he's a free-born Roman citizen. He has every right then
to make that appeal when the Jews will make all these false
charges against him. and we have the record in chapter
27 of the journey that he makes and remember how there's a terrible
storm, you're occident and the sailing vessel is in great danger,
in fact ultimately it's broken up but what do the mariners do? we're told how time and again
they let the vessel drive, Acts 27 and verses 15 and 17. That's the word, that's the verb
they choose. They let the vessel drive. In
other words, they have no control but the vessel is left to the
elements, to the winds and to the waves and is driven by the
storm. And ultimately there's a dreadful
shipwreck and yet not one on board is lost. because the Lord
God is in all of these things and Paul must testify before
the Caesar and Paul must be in Rome of course and write all
those prison epistles as we call them but it's such a strong verb
you see the vessel simply left to the elements this is how those
holy men of God spake they're in the hand of the Spirit It's his words really. So what
do we have here? We have the Word of God. It's the Holy Bible. Because
the Spirit is a Holy Spirit. He is repeatedly called that. And he is the one who has not
only given us the Word, he is the one who must also interpret
the Word to us and apply the Word to us. Remember we were
looking at those words in the end of Luke just a few weeks
ago, how in that upper room the Lord opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And I remarked how
that in his commentary Calvin says that the equivalent statement
in John's account, that's Luke's account, he opened their understanding,
that's the Lord Jesus, He opens the understanding of the disciples
that they might understand the Scriptures. Calvin says the equivalent
verse in John's account is, He breathed on them and said, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost. It was the Spirit who opened
their understanding. The Spirit who first breathes
the Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Literally all Scripture is the
breathings of God. When those holy men spake, how
was it that they were able to speak words? It was by the Spirit. And the same Spirit must breathe
that Word into our souls. He must open to us the Scriptures.
And then all our believers come to love the Word of God. Do we
love the Word of God? Do we love the Word of God? David
says, Oh how I love thy Lord, it is my meditation all the day. How we can test ourselves, and
we need to do that, to examine ourselves, to prove ourselves,
to know ourselves, that Jesus Christ is in us, except we be
reprobate, and there are tests that we can apply. And it's very
certain, isn't it, when we... when we come and test ourselves
by God's Word, David says, oh how I love thy
law, it is my meditation all the day. And I say, well, can
I come up to that mark? Is that true of me? Do I meditate
in God's Word all the day? Alas, alas, I fall so very far
short. Sometimes one has to wonder if
you know anything of the grace of God. Oh yes, I love the Word
of God. I love the promises. exceeding great and precious
promises. And all those promises, why they
are yea and they are amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has
not only given His word of promise, God has confirmed it by an oath. He has sworn by Himself. And
He's not only done that in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He has sealed it all with precious blood. all the promises. But are we not at times so guilty
of partiality? We're not to be partial. Can
we say that we love the precepts? We love the precepts. We want
to obey every commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't
want to fall short anywhere. We want to live the life that
the Lord himself speaks of. or that we might be those who
do indeed love the Word because the Spirit has breathed the truth
of it into our souls the communion, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit you remember how the Lord Jesus
prays in his great prayer there in John 17 when he says to the
Father sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth or
do we want to know that blessed sanctifying ministry of the spirit
as he brings the word to us and brings us to the word informs
us after the fashion of the word and makes us what we should be
how we are so dependent upon the Holy Spirit ultimately of
course he is that one who doesn't only apply the word of scripture
He is the one who reveals the Incarnate Word. He is the one
who comes to reveal the Saviour. You know those words in the 16th
of John. Verse 13, 13, 13, 14, 15, 16,
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 59, 60, 60, 61, 62, 63, 63, 62, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, 63, But whatsoever he shall hear
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto
you, all things that the Father hath of mine. Therefore said
I that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. What a ministry is this! How
the Spirit of Truth so loves God the Son! What a love the
Spirit has! He is God! but you see in the
outworking of the gospel and the application of the blessed
gospel he doesn't come to speak of himself says Christ no he
shall glorify me he shall receive of mine and show it unto you
when the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the
Father Christ said he shall testify of me or we continually reveals Christ to us he is the
Spirit of Christ as well as being the Holy Spirit and then also
finally he is he is set before us as that one who is the Spirit
of grace and of supplications the promise back in Zechariah
12 10 in that day I will pour upon
the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn." Well, that's the
meaning of the spirit. But he's the spirit of grace,
he's the spirit of supplications. He helps us, doesn't he? In all
our infirmities, we know not what to pray for as we ought.
Abu Dawi helps. When we can't find the words,
he helps, he makes intercession, there's groanings that cannot
be uttered. And yet he knows the mind of the Father and he makes intercession
according to the will of God. That's the wonderful thing with
the Spirit, how we need the Spirit. how we need that blessed communion
of the Spirit and here is Paul uttering his final prayer for
the Corinthians the end of his second epistle it was a church
so gifted in so many ways and yet full of problems and one
in which there was much opposition to Paul and much despising of
the Apostle and following of false teachers And yet, as he
comes to conclude this, his final epistle to them, he utters the
words of this great benediction. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen. And might it be a word
to us to this church, or that we might know these blessed truths,
the grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, that remarkable
love of God the Father, and found from there every blessing flows,
and then all that blessed fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Oh the Lord
grant that we might enter in some measure then into all that
is contained here in the Apostles prayer and be able to say with
him our Amen. The Lord bless to us his word.