Our text tonight is found in
the last verse of Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, 2nd
Corinthians chapter 13 verse 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. Amen. Here is the familiar words
of the Trinitarian benediction in which we have mentioned of
the three persons in the Godhead and the persons of course are
co-eternal and co-equal because the three of one God, the Lord
our God is one Lord. And the name of the one living
and true God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is that Trinitarian
formula that is to be employed in Christian baptism. as we see in the great commission
that we have at the end of Matthew's Gospel, baptizing them, says
the Lord Jesus, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. You don't really need me to tell
you that Spirit, Holy Spirit, and Holy Ghost are of course
referring to the same person. The word spirit is from the Latin
and the word ghost is from Old English, but the reference is
to one and the same, and how these different words are used
repeatedly throughout the scriptures. Sometimes it's the Holy Ghost,
other times, in our authorised version, it's the Holy Spirit. The name of God we see quite
clearly there in the Great Commission with regards to baptism. The name of God is Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. And we see all of this foreshadowed
in some respect in what we find in Numbers 6. At the end of Numbers
6 we have that other Old Testament benediction, Aaronic benediction
that the priests were to put upon the children of Israel. Numbers chapter 6 and verse 22,
the Lord spoke unto Moses saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his
sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel,
saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee, the Lord
make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, the
Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace,
and they shall put my name. Observe what it says, they shall
put my name. upon the children of Israel and
I will bless them again there in that Aaronic benediction the
blessing is a threefold blessing the blessing of Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. And so as we turn now to these
words that we've announced as our text at the end of the second
epistle to the Corinthian I want us to consider each of the persons,
the distinct persons, who are in the undivided Godhead. First of all we have the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And are we not here reminded
of the person and the work of God the Son. We see His person in the name
that is given to Him. It's a threefold name. He is
Lord, He is Jesus, and He is Christ. Lord, of course, is very
much the divine name. It's that name that is given
to God. In fact, in the Greek version
of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, the word Jehovah, which we see
repeatedly in the Old Testament as Lord, in capital letters,
in that Septuagint, the particular Greek word that we have here,
and translated Lord, is always used as a translation of the
name Jehovah. Jesus Christ, then, is Jehovah. He is the Great I Am. The very name Jehovah, of course,
is derived from what God said to Moses there at the burning
bush when he declared himself as I Am, that I Am God speaks,
as we said before, God speaks of Himself. And of course he
speaks in the first person. He is I am and we speak of God
and we are to speak of God in the third person we say He is. And that is the literal meaning
of the name Jehovah. He is. He is God. He is unchanging. He is always
the same. I am the Lord. I change not he said. And Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He is the Lord, He is the I Am.
And we have those statements throughout John's Gospel, of
course. In chapter 8, at the end of that chapter, we see Christ
saying to the Jews, verily, verily, before Abraham was, I Am. and they understood the significance
of what he was saying because in the very next verse we're
told how they took up stones to stone and they would accuse
him of blasphemy that he being a man they would say was making
himself God but he says to them previously there that if they
do not acknowledge him if you know not that I am you shall
perish in your sins, there in John 8 and verse 24, the pronoun
here, as we observe, is in italics, it literally says, I am. If you
believe not that I am, ye shall perish in your sins. He is the
great Jehovah. And throughout John's Gospel,
of course, we have those great I am statements concerning him. I am the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I am the door, by me if any man
come in he shall come in and go out and find pasture. I am the Good Shepherd, he says.
The Good Shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. We could
repeat these great I am statements. And here we have it, you see.
He is the Lord. He bears the divine name, the
name of God. But we also here have that name
that is very much associated with his humanity. We have the
name Jesus, the name that was given to him at his birth when
he became a man. The words of the angel to Joseph
concerning that child conceived miraculously by the Holy Ghost
in the womb of his betrothed, in the womb of Mary. Joseph is
told by the angel concerning that child, thou shalt call his
name Jesus. And why is he to be called Jesus? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Oh, it is the human name. Here
we see him identified with men. Verily he takes not upon him
the nature of angels, but he takes upon him the seed of Abraham. And for as much as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, we read, he likewise took part
of the same. He who was and is the eternal
Son of God, the great Jehovah, God the Son, he became a real
man. as a man he humbled himself who
in the days of his flesh we read when he had offered up prayers
and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death was hurt in that he feared though
he were a son yet learned the obedience by the things that
he suffered he is truly a man and as a man he has human experiences. He is that one who is altogether
identified with his people. He has become us. He suits us. He is touched by the feeling
of all our infirmities, all our sinless infirmities, the infirmities
of our human nature. Oh yes, he is without seeing,
but all the truth of his human nature. Now John is the one who
we see so vehemently contending for the reality of his human
nature in those epistles, the very opening section of the first
epistle, that which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, he says, 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
and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us. Oh John knew the reality of it,
we heard him, we saw him, we handled him he said. Oh the beloved
disciple, he was there leaning upon the Lord's bosom, of course.
So he says there, later in chapter 4 and verse 3, every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God. All those who deny his humanity,
they are not of God. This is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof you have heard that he should come and even there already
is it in the world. We have then here, in this benediction,
the divine name and the human name. And also we have here the
official name, the Christ. It's the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the promised
one. the one that those who were the
true spiritual Israel at that day were looking for and waiting
for. Andrew, speaking to his brother
Simon Peter, says, we have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted
the Christ. And who is he speaking of? Why,
Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. Had not John the Baptist been
told when he received his commission that the one upon whom the Spirit
of God descended and remained upon him, this was the Christ?
And so it was. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, we read. For God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him that is Christ. The Spirit is not given by measure.
Oh, what an enduing of the Spirit! How Christ is anointed! He's
the Anointed One, He's the Messiah. He's the Christ. He is the Lord
Jesus Christ. His threefold name. He is divine,
He is human. He is the promised Messiah. And
then also we have mentioned of His work, it's the grace, the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Here is the difference,
the difference between law and grace, the difference between
law and gospel. What do we have here in the New
Testament? Why do we have the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ? Paul, when he writes in Romans
chapter 1, speaks of the gift by grace which is by one man,
Jesus Christ. I like that expression, the gift
by grace. What is grace? It's a free gift.
In a sense, you might say, well, there's some tautology there.
He's speaking of the gift, the gift by the gift, the gift by
grace. But it's not tautology, it's
the word of God. It's that emphasis that is being
placed upon the freeness of that salvation that has been wrought
by the Lord Jesus Christ. The difference between law and
gospel. But the law says do. Or that's what the law constantly
is saying to the sinner, there is something to be done. Do and
live. But how different is that voice
that comes to us in the gospel. It speaks of the free gift of
salvation. And yet though that salvation
be so frail, how it cost the Lord Jesus Christ so dear, how
He must accomplish all righteousness, how He must be obedient to His
Father's will, obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. This is the work that the Father
has given him to do. This is the work that he accomplishes
and executes in order that there might be that free grace salvation
for sinners. Or are we not directed then to
all that Christ is and all that Christ has done? You know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is poor. And what is that 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. That is the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. God has made Him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God, Here is the first branch then of this Trinitarian blessing. It is the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then we have this, and the
love of God. And the love of God. The reference
here is to God the Father. Often when we have the three
persons mentioned, It is, in this fashion, it's God, it's
Christ, it's the Holy Spirit. But in Colossians chapter 2 and
verse 2 we read of the mystery of God and of the Father and
of Christ. And some suggest that there it
is the Holy Spirit who is spoken of as God. The mystery of God,
and of the Father and of Christ. You see the people are co-equal,
the persons are co-equal. The Holy Spirit is as much God
as the Father. The Son is as much God as the
Father. But I say again that usually
the formula is as we find it in the text tonight. It is the
Father who is spoken of as God. and it's the love of God. Again
John in his first epistle in chapter 4 verses 8 and 16 tells
us that God is love. God is love. God in the fullness of his triune
being is love, is he not? Is there not a relationship between
the persons in the Godhead, the relationship between the Father
and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Doesn't the Father love the Son? Doesn't the Son love the Father?
Do not the Father and the Son love the Holy Spirit? If there
were no other object outside of Himself to love, It still
holds true that God is love because there is a loving relationship
between the three divine persons. And we read there in that second
epistle of John at the end of verse 3 of the Lord Jesus Christ
who is spoken of as the Son of the Father in truth and love. He is the Son of the Father in
love. And John goes on to speak of the
importance of recognizing that as there is an eternal Father
in the Godhead, so there must also be an eternal Son. If one denies the eternal Sonship
of Christ, there can be no eternal Father. Whosoever transgresses
and abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God, He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. This is a truth
that John emphasises so much, we have it again in that other
portion that we read in the second chapter of the first epistle.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But
he that acknowledgeth the Son, he hath the Father also. Or there is a relationship, you
see, between each of the persons. The Father eternally begetting
the Son, the Son eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit
who proceeds from the Father and proceeds from the Son, The
Lord Jesus Christ, in the course of his preaching there in John
15, when the Comforter is come, he says, whom I will send unto
you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds
from the Father. I will send him. He will proceed
from me. He also proceeds from the Father.
There is, in the mystery of the Godhead, evidently a relationship
between each of the persons. The Father is the one who begets,
the Son is the one who is begotten, the Holy Spirit is the one who
proceeds, and there is a loving relationship between each of
these persons. There is love then, in the very
doctrine of the Trinity. But here, when we read of the
love of God, or we see it in association with the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the communion of the Holy Ghost. This is that love of God as it
is manifested towards sinners. The love of God to sinners. Not
the love of God that we see between the persons in the garden, but
that love that has been demonstrated in what God has done for fallen
men. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. That is, whoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. All what moved God to give His
only begotten Son It was that love that he bore to sinners. He sent his love, his sovereign
love, upon sinners of mankind. That's the amazing thing. Again,
John in his first epistle, chapter 4 and verse 10 says, herein is
love. Now mark what he says, herein
is love. This is love. Not the will of God, Or there
is everything lovely in God. God is good. God does all that
is good. God is lovely. There is nothing
remarkable then that anyone should love a God so good as He is. But in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son. to be the propitiation
for our sins, that God should love sinners, that God should
love those who are so opposite to himself, those who are in
a state of rebellion against him, those who are alienated
from him by wicked works, those who are only deserving of his
wrath, those who are the transgressors of that law of God, that law
which is good and that commandment which is holy and just and good, or that God should love such
transgressors and such sinners, so as to give His only begotten
Son and to give Him as the propitiation for the sins of those that He
has sent His love upon. And all that that entails, you
see, He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. His Son to bear that punishment
that was the sinner's desert. That God should pour His wrath
upon His only begotten, His well-beloved Son. And do it because of the
love that He has to sinners. All the love of the Father to
the sinner. It is amazing, is it not? A sovereign love, because God
is a sovereign God. What does he say to Israel of
all? Remember, Israel, the ethnic
Israel in the Old Testament, a typical people, a type of the
true Israel, the spiritual Israel, a type of the church. You see
what God says to Israel in Deuteronomy 7, And verse 7, the Lord did not
set His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in
number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people,
but because the Lord loved you. It's as simple as that. Why has
God set His love upon His people? This is a typical people being
spoken of here. Israel in the Old Testament,
a type of the church, Why did God set his love upon his people? Because the Lord loved you. And
he goes on, of course, to speak of his oath, how he had sworn
the references to his covenant. He's the great God of the covenant. He's faithful, he's true to his
word. He says, Jacob have I loved,
he so have I hated. This is the wonder, is it not,
that God passes by one and sets his love on another. The children not being yet born,
neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. It was said unto her, unto Rebekah,
the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, thee so have I hated. This is the love of God. It is
a sovereign love. And it's love to the unloved. It's love to those who in their
very natures are dead in trespasses and in sins, in that state of
enmity against God. And he loves them. What does
he say through Jeremiah? I have loved them with an everlasting
love, therefore in loving kindness have I drawn to them. You see,
those whom God as love, God will bring them to himself. He will draw them to himself.
He sent his love upon them. He sent his son to purchase their
redemption. The son has come, made of a woman,
made under the law. He's paid the ransom price that
the law demands. Why the law says this all, that
sinners shall die. And Christ made his soul an offering
for sin. And as the Lord has been satisfied,
what does God do now? He draws the sinner. He brings
the sinner to himself. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. So we come in the third place
to the Holy Ghost and the communion. or the fellowship, the words
are one and the same, just as Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost are one
and the same, so the word communion or fellowship and the communion
of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. Well, there must be that gracious
working of the Spirit to know the fellowship of the Spirit.
The sinner must be born again. The sinner must be born from
above. He must be born of the Spirit. The Lord Jesus in John chapter
3, that great chapter of course that speaks of the necessity
of the new birth, that great chapter on the whole doctrine
of regeneration, When Christ is speaking to a man most religious,
Nicodemus, he was a teacher of the Jews, a religious man, and
he comes to Jesus by night, does he not? And he acknowledges that
this man Jesus is a teacher sent from God. No man can do those
miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Thou the Lord
speak to this man. of the importance and necessity
of the new birth. Verily, verily, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, says Christ, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God. He must be born of the Spirit. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, says Christ. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. He must be born again. And why so? Because the natural man never
receives the things of the Spirit of God. Those words that we find in the
previous epistle to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 10 following, God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God, the natural man. receive us not the things of
the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither
can he know them because they are spiritually discerned and
necessary that we know this ministry, this fellowship of the Holy Spirit
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God and what of the blessed work of the Holy Ghost as we have
it here. Well, the Spirit, He is a Sovereign
Spirit. He is a Sovereign Spirit. He
is God. And God, as I said, is Sovereign.
He is Sovereign in every aspect of His work. He is Sovereign
in creation. He is Sovereign in providence.
He is Sovereign in salvation. And in all the parts of salvation,
the eternal purpose of the Father, the great work accomplished by
the Son, His sacrifice is a voluntary sacrifice. No man is able to
take his life from Him. He has authority to lay his life
down. He has authority to take it again.
He dies sovereignly. He gives himself. and so too
the Holy Spirit is also sovereign in His Word and the Lord says
as much does He not there in John chapter 3 He speaks of the
wind and the words for wind and spirit are really the same word
the wind says Christ blow us where it is to and thou hearest
the sounds thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor
whither it goeth so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. It's a sovereign work of the
Spirit. And Christ likens it to the wind and the circuits
of the wind. Remember the words of the preacher
in Ecclesiastes 1.6, he says, The wind goeth toward the south,
and turneth about unto the north, it whirleth about continually.
And the wind returneth again according to his servants. And so is every man that is born
of the Spirit. It is a sovereign work. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. The Spirit must come from heaven
and he must work. He is the Sovereign Spirit. He
is the Holy Spirit. This is what we have here in
the text, is it not? The communion of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost. And He is the
one, of course, who has inspired the Holy Scriptures. This book, what do we call it? We call it the Holy Bible. Holy men of God. spake as they
were moved by the Spirit of God. And again, the verb there, to
move, reminds us of the sovereignty of the Spirit. It's a very strong
verb. It's the same word that is used
in Acts chapter 27 in verses 15 and 17 where we see Paul on
board ship in the Mediterranean and that
great storm, Euroclidan, suddenly blows up and the mariners have
no control of the ship and we're told in those verses, Acts 27,
15 and 17, they simply commit the vessel to the elements, they
let the ship drive. It's driven along by the wind
and the waves. And that is the same word that's
used with regard to those holy men of God. They spoke as they
were moved, as they were born along by the Spirit of God. What are they speaking then?
They are speaking the words of God. This is why it is the Holy
Scriptures or the Holy Bible. And it is the same Spirit who
inspired the book who must apply the Word of God to the soul of
the sinner. And we need to know the fellowship,
the communion of the Holy Ghost, taking of these things and making
them blessed realities in our souls, so that we are able to
feed upon the Word of God. And what happens? Why the believer
comes to this? He loves the Word of God. Oh,
he loves it. He delights in it. Wasn't that
David's experience, as he says in that 119th Psalm, oh how I
love thy law. It is my meditation, he says,
all the day. He loves the Word of God. Loves
the promises of it, and the doctrines of it, and the precepts of it,
and the commandments of it. This Word of God that time and
again finds David out as a sinner, yet he loves it. Oh, friends,
I am with those who love the Word of God. Do we bear that
mark that we're born again of the Spirit, the Spirit who gave
the world? It's His Word. Do we love His Word? How the
believer experiences this blessed, sanctifying effect of the Word
of God. Remember how the Lord Jesus prays
for His church in John 17, sanctified them? This is his prayer to the
Father, sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. Oh, it's the Holy Spirit, it's
the Holy Word of God and the effect, why? It sanctifies. There's holy living in those
who embrace it, who desire to walk in obedience to it. The
Spirit is the one who applies the Word. And that's what it
means for it to be applied. It's not just a question of us
assenting with our minds. Oh no, it's something that we
feel in our souls, we love it. And as we love it and experience
it, we'll want to practice the Word of God. We'll want to live
our lives in accordance with all its holy precepts. The Spirit,
I say, applies the Holy Scriptures. And the Spirit, of course, is
the one who reveals another word to the sinner. Does He not reveal
Him who is the incarnate Word? That's the amazing thing. That
as the Spirit bears testimony to the truth of the Scripture
that He has inspired, so He bears testimony to Him who was conceived
by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He bears
witness to the incarnate work. This is his ministry. He is equal
with the Son. He is equal with the Father. And yet his ministry is in a
sense to hide himself. He doesn't draw attention to
himself, the Blessed Spirit of God. It is such a self-effacing
ministry that he exercises. As we read here in John 16.13,
O be it when he in the spirit of truth is calm, he will guide
you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, though
he be God. He shall not speak of himself,
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 are mine. Therefore said I, that he that
is the Spirit shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. 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, says
Christ. He is the Spirit of Christ. He
comes to reveal Christ. He conceals himself, hides himself,
points the sinner to Christ. Oh, what do we know, friends,
of that blessed communion of God? the Holy Ghost. And here is Paul's prayer, his
desire, be with you all. All he wants is God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit to be with the Corinthians. The grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion
of the Holy Ghost be with you all. All that we ourselves might
know what it is to know this God, and to know Him as our God,
and to say with Paul our own Amen. That's the note on which
he concludes, is it not, Amen. Truly, this is the true God and
eternal life. Amen. So be it, God granting
that we might know Some think of the glories of the triune
Jehovah and that this God be our God forever. Amen.