Well, it is good to see you all
again. I always think when I see these seats getting laid out
in the morning or in the evening, it's a lot of seats, but hey,
look, here we are. We're all here. The family of
the Lord have gathered together to worship him. And it is a real
blessing and a real privilege to be able to share with you
this morning. Thank you once again for your
warm welcome. Thank you for your gracious words.
Thank you for your hospitality and your fellowship in the gospel. and for all the kind things that
you have said and done for us over the past few weeks. It's
a real joy and a thrill for us to come and worship with you.
And you make it sound as if you're indebted to us, but I don't see
it like that at all. I consider myself indebted to
you. Vastly outweighed is your kindness
towards us than anything that we can bring in return. So we
thank you for it. And it is a pleasure for the
Lord's people to meet together to worship Him. And we're going
to read together in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter
6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. And just before we read this
passage, let's take a moment and have a word of prayer. Our gracious God and loving Father,
we approach Thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and
we come unto Thee, seeking Thy help and seeking Thy direction
and guidance this morning as we turn to the Holy Scriptures. For our God we confess that we
are unworthy of these great blessings which thou art pleased to bestow
upon thy people. And while we rejoice as thy church
to see those things which we are heir to and to receive the
kindness and goodness of thy hand, yet in so many ways we
feel inadequate and we feel undeserving. And so it is good and right that
we are reminded once again to look away from ourselves this
morning and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we would ask
that thou wouldst remember us in our feebleness and in our
weaknesses and in our stuttering and stammering abilities and
that thou wouldst lead us into a sweet fellowship one with the
other around the things of the Gospel and the things of Jesus
Christ and the great accomplishments of our Saviour, Redeemer and
Friend, and that these great truths would be a foundation
for our feet, would be a blessing to our heart, would challenge
us in our thoughts, and would thrill us in our souls. We ask
our God that each one here this morning might be quietened from
the anxieties that are a part of our life's experience, might
be encouraged as we are called to serve thee in this world. and might be blessed indeed to
see that fruit for our labours as our relationships develop
with one another and the opportunity to witness to the Lord Jesus
Christ is manifested in our life's experience. We thank Thee for
this little congregation. We thank Thee for the testimony
it bears here in Nowra and in Shoalhaven and in this district.
We thank Thee that its savour has drifted far across oceans,
even to the nostrils of those who love the Lord in far-off
places. And we thank Thee for that sweet
scent that speaks of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the testimony of grace that dwells here. We pray that thou wilt
bind us together in a love and in an affection, in an awareness
of union together in the things of Christ, and that while we
may be parted for a short time, yet that parting will be of blessing
to us both, and that it might be an opportunity to seek thy
face for a restoring of fellowship in a day which is to come. As
we turn to thy word, we pray that thou wilt make it living
bread to our souls. Feed us and nourish us this day
upon holy things. And may the grace of God and
the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Spirit
be ours as we wait upon thee. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Our reading then this morning
from 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and we'll read from verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse
1. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God
in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. giving no offence in anything
that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God in much patience, in afflictions, in
necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings, By pureness, by
knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God,
by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the
left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report,
as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well-known, as
dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed, as
sorrowful yet all way rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing and yet possessing all things. O ye Corinthians,
our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not
straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels.
Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children. Be ye not enlarged. Be ye also
enlarged, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For here the temple of the living
God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore,
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you, and will
be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Amen. May God bless this reading
from His Word. Now, turn over a few pages with
me, please, to the end of 2 Corinthians, to the end of 2 Corinthians,
to chapter 13. And I want to read a few verses
from the end of chapter 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. And reading from verse 11. Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort,
be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace
shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy
kiss, All the saints salute you. 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 have heard it said and we
rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed
to call us brethren. Such is the union, such is the
bond that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ that he calls us
his brethren. He, the firstborn of the Father,
we, his people by adoption, bound together with the Lord Jesus
Christ, And we see in this something of the wonderful humility of
the Lord Jesus, that he should come to our level, that he should
descend to our level. and we see something of his grace
towards us that we should be lifted up to him and made heirs
together with him of God. He stooped to secure our redemption
and he has condescended to win our hearts. As we think about this relationship
that the Lord Jesus Christ has forged amongst us, let us not
take it for granted or think lightly of it. And I trust I
speak respectfully here. But there is a sense in which
perhaps this relationship would not have been necessary to be
revealed to us at all. I mean by that this, when we
think about the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came and joined
himself to our flesh. We see the necessity of that
in a proper understanding of the covenant of grace because
the Lord Jesus Christ became one of us in order to carry our
sins for us. He took upon himself our flesh
in order to suffer for our sins in the flesh, for as it is flesh
that commits the sins, so Christ bore our flesh to bear our sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ went
to the cross and he satisfied everything there that was demanded
of a holy God with respect to the needs of this people of choice. And that might have been it.
That might have been the extent of what the Lord revealed to
us of what Christ had done. But there's something much more
than that is brought to us as we enter into this relationship
with God. We are made to see that He is
not any longer a God to a subject, but a Father to a child. but he is not any longer a god
to a worshipper. He's not any longer speaking
about servants, but he's speaking about friends, he's speaking
about family, he's speaking about brothers and sisters in him. So that as we enter into an understanding
of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross,
it is as it were a door that opens into something so grand,
so immense, so wonderful, so transcendent. that it speaks
to us of a miraculous thing. The miraculous leads to the miraculous. That God should die is wonderful,
but that he should bring us into such union with him through that
death is a glorious thing indeed. And brothers and sisters in the
Lord, that is our portion this morning. Let us not simply dwell
in the reality of our moments here in this world as if we are
looking forward to something that is going to happen in the
future that is going to reveal these things to us. For certainly
we do look for that city, but that portion is ours right now. We have a relationship with God. We are the brothers of Christ. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling
in us as our comforter. And this is a relationship thing. This is a personal dealing with
God. The Lord Jesus Christ has made
a great statement here when he calls us his brethren. And therefore, we see that the
Apostle Paul and the other apostles regularly and gladly picked up
this theme of the union that we have together, one another
in our fellowship with the Lord. Paul calls the family of God
brethren. Now you ladies don't need to
get offended that we're using a masculine term there, because
in Christ there is neither male nor female, but we are understanding
this as the closeness of the bond that we have together. And here we are called brethren. Brethren in the Lord. Brothers
and sisters in Christ, you to me and me to you. And though
in many ways we're strangers, though some people I've only
met for the first time on this visit, though others I've been
with you more frequently, yet we still learn things about one
another. Like I didn't know that that
Lin Graham was a banana farmer once, And I didn't know that Brad knew
how to do martial arts. And I didn't know so much about
you. And there's probably much about
me that you don't know. And yet we have this affection
one for another. We have this union together. And we learn to love one another. We learn to appreciate one another. We learn to see the hard struggles,
the difficult paths that some of us have had to walk. The trials
and the disappointments and the hardships. And we grow and develop
an empathy for one another. as we are bound together ever
more closely in these bonds of love, because the Lord has made
us one in Christ. We are joined to one another
in Him. Paul is your brother and Peter
is your brother. Abraham and David are our brethren. Mary and Ruth and that great,
so great cloud of witnesses, that people that have gone before
are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. We have such a connection
with them that that which is the closest of relationships
here upon earth, that coming from the one father and the one
mother and sharing that common bond is spoken of as a picture
of the spiritual union into which we have been brought. We are
bound in love, we are bound in faith, we are bound in grace,
and we are all one in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 4, verses 4
to 6 says, there is one body and one spirit, even as ye are
called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all
and in you all. And does not this union, this
relationship deepen our blessedness as we come together to worship? Does not this revelation of the
closeness with which we are connected add something to this activity
of worship? We don't come here as individuals. to worship God. We come as a
congregation. We come as brethren bound together. We come in order to worship our
Father, to stand, as it were, in the presence of the angels
and honour our God. So the fellowship that we have
together is a precious, precious thing. If you go home and you're going
to have a family reunion, and you go in, and there's one, and
there's another, and there's another, and good to see you,
glad you came, glad you made it, we were worried. Where's, hasn't he, isn't she going to,
and we miss those who are absent. We lose in the body when someone
isn't here. And that person obviously will
lose out in that reunion of the family and the reminiscing and
the joy that is to be found when the family gets together to engage
in these common purposes. And so it is in the Lord's work.
As we gather together, as we come together, we are blessed
one of another like coals in the fireplace. We are an encouragement
to each other. We warm each other. We energize
and engage one another. And the Lord is blessed as the
people of God gather together. It's a rare and a precious thing
that we possess here. Friends, as we have been granted
this place to come and worship, let us never take it for granted
or imagine it to be a small thing. No angel can claim this relationship
that we have. There is an emphasis, I think,
in the Scriptures, certainly in the apostolic letters, of
the unique favour with which the Church has been blessed in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter 3 verse 26,
the Apostle there says, For ye are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. And that filial bond of faith
and friendship and fellowship is encouraged in all of God's
people. And Paul concludes this letter,
this letter which is full of advice and in doctrine and teaching
and encouragement and admonition to this church at Corinth, a
church that had many problems and difficulties, where terrible
things had happened to them and distasteful things were still
going on and the apostle at times had to be firm and clear and
emphatic. But he concludes his thoughts
here by reminding them of that blessed bond that they share
together in Christ. These were his brothers and sisters
in the Lord. And here we have a parting admonition
from the great apostle. He speaks to these Corinthians
of the unity that they possess, of the mutual comfort that they
enjoy together, and for the rejoicing that is theirs as the people
of God there in that city. And it's a sign of true spiritual
love for the brethren, the family of God, for the apostle to wish for these
brethren those good gifts which he knows that the Lord has for
them. And we do the same. Paul says,
finally, brethren, farewell, and this is what I wish for you.
And as we sometimes part from one another, be that weekly,
as we part to go back into the world, back into our responsibilities,
back into our jobs and the demands of the working week, or when
it's when we part from a brother or sister who must travel away
for some time, we wish for them those good gifts of God. We wish that they will have the
experience of the Lord's presence with them, that even in this
time of separation, there will be the evidences of grace and
love and mercy in their lives. And we wish that for one another. Paul says, farewell, farewell. Be blessed, be blessed in the
Lord. Be joyful in the Lord, because
that's the other way that this word can be used. Experience
the well-being and enjoy. Enter into that state, that knowledge
of well-being that you have in Christ. Farewell. Rejoice in the Lord always. And we say it today, rejoice
in the Lord. I know, I know that you have
got plenty of reasons to be grieving, to be hurt, to be anxious. But these occasions when we come
together, these occasions when we share together in the promises
of God that remind us what we possess in Him, are designed
to encourage us and to cause us to rejoice. Now we come here,
I trust, frequently. Let's say we come every week.
The Lord has established this pattern because He knows that
we can't handle a fortnight without being here. because he wants
to remind us of these promises. He wants to teach us regularly
and frequently. It's like we need a recharge. It's like we need to have a boost.
It's like we need to have that nourishment, that sustenance
delivered into our souls. Just as regularly as we need
our daily food, we need to be sustained in the gospel. People
that think that the gospel's all about taking a message to
the un-evangelised or the heathen, and they say, you don't preach
the gospel because you don't take the message out onto the
highways and the byways, they don't understand what the gospel
is. The gospel is our food. The gospel
is our nourishment. It's what comforts our hearts.
And we would be delighted, delighted to take the message to the world.
We endeavor to do so. That door is open. And we are
here in the middle of this town and the adverts go out and the
invitations go out and we witness and we tell our friends and our
neighbors and our families about the things of the Lord. But this
gospel is our gospel. And it sustains our hearts. We
feed upon Christ as we hear the gospel. We are nourished in our
souls thereby. So we wish for one another that
we will rejoice in these great truths that we have been given. The apostle says in verse 11,
finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect. There you are, be
perfect. Okay, well, How can you be perfect? We're complete in Christ and
our perfection is knowing where our holiness comes from. That's what it is to be perfect. That's what it is to be complete.
And I think, too, there is an aspect here of him saying, brethren,
he's speaking to the church at Corinth, and he's telling them
to be perfect, be complete. As you see this great work that
Christ has done, as you've been taught together as the body of
Christ in this place wherein our joy resides, so come together
to praise his name. Come together to lift him up.
Come together to remind yourselves of what Christ has done unto
what the promises of God are to you. And as you come together,
therein is your perfection exemplified. Therein is your completeness
set forth. Therein are you caused to pull
your eyes away from your own troubles, your own inadequacies,
your own failures, your own sins, your own trials and temptations,
and to look to Christ. And we do it frequently. We do
it regularly because we have such bad memories and we are
so easily distracted. And the Lord has given us this
gift of fellowship regularly. Farewell, be perfect is a glorious
statement of Christian assurance that if anybody ever uses be
perfect as a hammer to hit you in the head, then you take that
hammer from them and throw it back at them. Because it's not
meant to bring you down, it's meant to lift you up. It's not
meant to cause you to become introspective and examining as
to whether or not you truly are as perfect as you should be.
But it is to remind you that unworthy as you are, As much
a failure as you are, as much as this old body of flesh is
corrupt and deceived and self-deceiving, yet there is a promise which
is sure and steadfast. Be perfect is the opposite of
works, because we look to Him and we look to Christ's accomplishments
on our behalf. Be perfect. Be of good comfort. Brethren, sisters, be of good
comfort. Be settled. Be assured. Be easy. What a song, wasn't there? Easy
like Sunday morning. And there's a good theological
statement, right? easy like Sunday morning, resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is to be comforted,
comforted, not because we realise that we've let the Lord down,
we haven't done the things that we should have been doing, we
struggle so much at a personal level, we struggle so much at
a family level, there are so many issues going on in our life,
we've got troubles with our health, troubles with our mind, troubles
with the outside world, troubles with what's going on in our own
hearts. But we can put that all together
in one big bag and we can say, now I'm putting that to the side
because I am resting in Christ. And we have comfort in doing
so. Be of one mind, says the apostle. I don't want to be known amongst
you people as the guy that keeps talking about films on the television
or the cinema, but I am reminded of a film that I once saw where,
I think it was called The Last Samurai, and And here, the star
of the film, a man called Tom Cruise, I think was the actor,
and he was learning how to fight with a wooden stick, and he was
fighting with these samurai, and he kept getting beaten up.
He kept getting hammered with this stick and every time he
went in to fight it he would come out with another bruised
head or beaten up shoulder and he really wasn't any good at
the task. And then someone said something
to him. He said, too many minds. Too many minds. One mind. One mind. And of course in the
movie that made all the difference and then he began to Too many
minds. The Apostle, he says, be of one
mind. Be singular. James talks about
the wavering man who is unstable in all his ways because we are
to be clear-minded in our doctrine, clear-minded in our understanding,
not to allow the frivolous things of this world
to crowd in upon us, not to be distracted and diverted by the
foolish notions of religious teachers, but to be single-minded,
to be determined, to realize that this is what the Lord has
taught us, this is what the Lord has given us. These things are
precious and important. And just as we look after those
things that are important to us, physically and naturally,
so we are single-minded in seeking to serve the Lord and uphold
His testimony. This does not deny freedom of
conscience by any means, and we have that in spiritual matters,
and it may well be that you will disagree in some things with
me and me with you. But we have received the truth,
we have this message, we have this gospel, and we have to be
single-minded in it. When we are single-minded, then
we see the blessings that flow to the Lord's people. The prophet
in Amos chapter 3 says, can two walk together except they be
agreed? It's one of the lovely things
about the fellowship of the Lord's people is that we share the right
hand of fellowship. We join together. Physically, we join together.
We share together. We stand shoulder to shoulder.
And we don't let this world encroach in upon us. Philippians 2 verse
3 says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Take that humble attitude, take that humble approach to the certain
contentions that will arise just because of the sheer fact that
we are all different in so many ways. But see that for what it
is, and don't let it become a cause for strife in the body. Don't
let it become an irritant in the fellowship. Put it to one
side, recognising that to be singular-minded is to look to
the Lord and all that he has done, and to regard one another
as better than ourselves. It's the proud, it's the haughty,
it's the person that's too full of self that causes trouble in
a fellowship of the Lord's people. Paul goes on, live in peace.
Live in peace one with another. Yes, but founded upon that peace
of the sure reconciliation that we have with God. Listen, if
we have peace with God, that puts every other relationship
that we have into its proper perspective. Everything else
that happens in this world, seen in the light of having peace
with God. The children of God, the children
of the King, princes, princesses, How can we be jeopardised? How
can we be lost in this world when we have such a promise,
when we have such a father, such a king as this? And so, when
others might be offended, we're not going to let that offend
us. We're not going to let that irritate us. We're not going
to let that be an issue. For we have peace. We live in
this peace. This peace characterises the
way in which we deal with one another. For we have tasted the
most sublime peace that is possible in this world. The peace of God. The peace that passeth understanding. What else have I got to worry
about? What else have I got to fear? If we have peace with the divine
persons, why do we worry and why do we fret? Where is our
faith, brethren? We have been given so much. And the peace that we have, it's
not some contrived passivity. It's not a manufactured meekness
in that we're everybody's dog's body. No, we know who we are. We know that we're the child
of the king. But it's a settled contentment
in the face of all our foes. But there is in God a providential
goodness that means that whatever happens to us, God is working
it for our good. The car crash is for our good. The trouble with the family is
for our good. The issues with our health is
for our good. The anxieties of our mind, the
Lord is working all these things. Be at peace, live in peace. And I think that that is the
ground with which we will be useful to those around about
us. It is having that contentment,
it is having that sense of our oneness with God that will give
us a word to say in season to those that we encounter. In Numbers
chapter 10 and verse 29, we've been reflecting upon it a little
bit, Moses is speaking to one of his relatives there, and he
says to him concerning the journey that he is on, he says, we are
journeying unto the place of which the Lord has said, I will
give it you. Now that's what we're doing.
That's what you and I are doing today. We're journeying together.
This isn't about hierarchy. It's not about those that are
the leaders and those that are the followers. It's not about
those that are important and those that are not. This is a
fellowship. This is a family. We are bound
together. We love one another and we are
on a journey together. We are pilgrims in this world. But we have something to say
to the world. And just like Moses and the children
of Israel, we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord
said, I will give it you. Come thou with us and we will
do thee good. For the Lord hath spoken good
concerning Israel, concerning his people. And that's what we
have to share. As we have this peace, as we
have this understanding of union with God and with Christ, as
we are bound together in this love as his people, we have something
to say to the men and women of this world who see us on our
pilgrim journey. Come now with us and we will
do thee good. for the Lord hath promised good
concerning Israel. Paul says, the God of love and
peace shall be with you. My wife has loved me for 40 years. 40 years. My father, My old father back in Scotland,
he has loved me for 59 years. My heavenly father has loved
me for eternity. He's loved me forever, and he
will love me forever. This is the God of love. God
is love. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, he says in Jeremiah 31. And he is the God of peace. We
have that peace from God through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. This is the manifestation of
the love of God to his people. The God of love and peace shall
be with you. What company to have on our pilgrim
journey. It's lovely to have somebody
that loves us in this world. I hope you all find somebody
that loves you in this world. God loves his people with an
everlasting love. Come with us, come with us, and
we will do you good. And here's Paul's instruction.
Verse 12, Paul's instruction for hellos and goodbyes in the
church. Our kisses have to be holy kisses. Our kisses have to be holy kisses. Now, I know that you Australian
friends can be very, very effusive and very animated As a reserved
Britisher, I'm not so keen on all this kissing stuff. But of course, we're not talking
necessarily about the embrace and the kiss, we're talking about
the approach. Whether I shake your hands, or
whether I clasp your shoulder, or whether I give you a little
peck on the side of your cheek, It's the attitude with which
we deal with one another. We deal with one another with
sincerity and with earnestness. We deal with one another as those
that are honest with each other. who deal purely with each other,
who are not devious, not deceptive, not working to an agenda, sensitive
to one another's needs, thoughtful about one another's needs. So
when we've got our problems, we need to be aware that other
people have got problems too, and not heap them all on one
another as if to say, this coming to church on a Sunday morning
is going to be occasion for me to get rid of all my problems
onto someone else's shoulders, but rather to seek to be helpful
to one another, to endeavour to encourage and to comfort and
to bless, to greet one another with a holy kiss, with sensitivity, with gentleness,
with patience, knowing that that person has had a tough week.
That person is having a hard time in their family relationship. That person has got issues with
their relationship in their family or trouble of doubt and uncertainty
in their soul. They're subject to temptation.
The devil has been having a go at that person. So let us come
into the Lord's company. Let us come into the company
of the Lord's people with such thoughts of carefulness and gentleness
in our minds for one another. Genuine affection. Love one another
as I have loved you. How will the Lord know? How will the world know that
we are the Lord's people? Because he will see that there
is a care for one another in this body. The saints, says Paul
in verse 13, all the saints salute you. The churches of Christ salute
thee. And it's lovely to be able to
travel distance and to meet new people. And I know that your
own pastor does that and he takes your greetings far away and he
brings the greetings of others to you. And the Apostle Paul
was in the privileged position of being able to say that all
the churches salute you. Because again, the Lord's people,
the saints, those that have been set apart for His purpose, those
that have been sanctified in Christ, these people are bound
together in this union. And while we have a local fellowship,
we are part in our local fellowship of a much grander, broader fellowship
of those around the world who share these same truths with
us and who love the Lord in this way. So don't become too parochial. Don't become too introspective. Remember that there are those
with you. Now, as Australians, you start
your worship first. And back in the UK, they're sleeping. Probably in the United States,
they haven't even gone to bed yet. So they've still to get
up and go to worship on a Sunday morning. But you can pray for
them that when they meet, that the Lord will be with them, because
they'll be praying for you that the Lord will be with you. And so we salute one another
as those who are the Lord's people. There's a mutual interest in
the advancement of our fellowship and the glory of the Lord. We
have been united in one Lord. We are saved with the same blood. We are his people upon the same
grounds of the sacrifice that Jesus has made. And we are looking
for the same mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And then there's this verse 14.
What a conclusion to the apostles' final farewell. What a blessing
to be able to leave such a statement in the heart and mind of our
brethren. What comforting testimony of
faith and confidence. 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 whether in person or
by letter, it is the most sublime benediction. And it's Paul's
final parting to his friends at Corinth. And I could not attest
a better word of parting to you today. So it's mine to you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. That's a confession of the triune
God. We believe in God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit. And
the order is interesting here, because it's the Son who's mentioned
first, which shows us that this order is not definitive. There
is no priority or hierarchy, even amongst the persons of the
Godhead. And nor are the graces that are
expressed here necessarily limited to the one person of the Godhead,
and nor another. For the Lord Jesus Christ loves
us just as much as the Father loves us, and the Holy Spirit
loves us. And the graces of all three flow
to his people, and the communion of all three are our possession
and inheritance. The Lord thy God is one God. And yet these are ours, they're
yours and they're mine. Take them, hold them, enjoy the
holy blessings that flow to us from the triune God. Whether
personally in your own hearts or collectively as a congregation
of His people, the grace of God, the love of God, the fellowship
of the Spirit is ours. Child of God, this is your right,
your privilege, your inheritance from God. The grace, love and
communion comes to us by His mercy. The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ opens the door of experience to every good and
perfect gift. John chapter 1 verse 16 says,
of his fullness have we, have all we received. And grace for
grace, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has opened the door
of access for us. into all the good gifts of the
Triune God for His people. He has called us into this relationship,
this experience, by His blood, by His death on the cross, by
everything that He gave, He has given us everything. We can testify with Peter. We
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved. Paul, speaking in 2 Corinthians
a little bit earlier in the book, says, My grace is sufficient
for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest on me. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, the love of the Father, the effectual,
the electing, the enduring, the unconditional love of God. God commendeth his love towards
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I am persuaded, says Paul, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. That communion
speaks of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us and speaks
of the fellowship that he has for us, the conversation and
the blessings that he leads us into, the gifts which he grants,
the guidance that he gives, the leading, the comfort, the illumination
and the light in this dark world. I think there's something precious
in this phrase of the apostles concerning the Spirit's communion. The beloved apostle was taking
his leave of these Corinthians. In a sense, it was the end of
his letter. but for some it may have been
the last time that they were ever in communication with the
apostle. And not only so, but the apostolic
age itself was coming to an end. The apostles were dying out. There was no more going to be
that apostolic leadership, that apostolic foundation. evident
thereto to the eyes and the ears of men and women. And yet here the grace of Christ
and the love of God comes to the minds of the Lord's people
as the real and active engagement of God the Holy Spirit opens
those graces to us and allows them to be our personal and collective
experience. This is God the Holy Spirit leading
us into truth. This is Him showing us all things. This is Him guiding us following
that apostolic age. John 16 verse 13 says, How be
it when he, the Spirit of truth, is come? He will guide you into
all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
shall hear. That shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. Friends, I encourage you to seek
that fellowship of the Spirit as you gather here week by week. Let that be the prayer in your
heart, let that be the thought in your mind, that the Holy Spirit
will come and illuminate you through the preaching of the
Word. and in your daily challenges, in your fleshy temptations, in
the spiritual trials that you face, that the Holy Spirit will
minister daily to your needs. Hereby know we that we dwell
in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. And the Spirit speaks to those
who have ears to hear. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Be with you all. Someday your eyes will fail and
you will be unable to read God's word. And someday your hearing
will fail. and you will be unable to hear
God's word. And someday your legs will fail,
and you will be unable to go to the place where the Lord's
word is preached. And someday your mind will fail,
and you will be unable to remember or understand anything about
what you hear and see in this fleshy body. But the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion
of the Holy Spirit will be with you. It will be your portion. It will be the Lord with you. When you no longer have the faculties
to be with him, he will be with you. with you all, from the greatest
to the least, from the oldest to the youngest, for none of
the Lord's people will be left out. None of his sheep will go
hungry. None of us will be denied our
inheritance or our portion. The Apostle Paul ends his letter
with an Amen. That means, let it be. So shall we, therefore. We shall end with an Amen. It means yes. It means yes. Amen. And it calls upon the Lord
to confirm these truths and to fulfil His promises to us. First Chronicles 16 verse 36
says, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever. And all the people said, Amen,
and praised the Lord. Amen. Let's have a wee word of prayer
and then we'll come together and share communion. Our loving
Father, we thank Thee for the blessed privileges that we possess
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for Thy goodness.
We thank Thee for Thy grace. We thank Thee for Thy mercies.
We thank Thee for Thy love. We thank Thee for all the promises
that flow to us and our yea and amen in Christ Jesus. And we
pray that Thou will give us the wherewithal, the single-mindedness,
the insight and understanding to rejoice in these great promises. and to see that it is indeed
a blessed privilege that we possess. We thank thee for one another.
We thank thee for the unity that we have as brothers and sisters
in the Lord. We thank thee for the testimony
of Christ amongst us. We pray that as our thoughts
now turn to this communion service, as we focus upon the bread and
the wine, and as we allow our minds to go beyond the mere elements
to reflect upon the great work of redemption that was accomplished
at the cross at Calvary, we pray that thou wilt nourish our souls
as these elements nourish our bodies. cause us to reflect upon
the great privileges we possess in Christ, and we pray that we
will lift up our eyes, that we will not be distracted by this
world, that we will not be embroiled in our own weakness and failure,
but we will look to that One who has done all things well,
and He will thrill our hearts, for He is a wonderful Saviour. May it be so for Thy name's sake.
Amen. Let's sing hymn number 52. Hymn
number 52. We rest on thee, our shield and
our defender. We go not forth alone against
the foe. Strong in thy strength, safe
in thy keeping tender. We rest on thee, and in thy name
we go. We rest on thee, our shield and
our defender We go not forth alone against the foe Strong
in thy strength, safe in thy keeping tender We rest on thee,
and in thy name we go Strong in thy strength, safe in thy
keeping tender, we rest on thee, and in thy name we go. Yes, in thy name, O Captain of
Salvation. In thy dear name, O Father in
Sodom. Jesus, our righteousness, our
joy, our salvation, our Prince of Glory and our King of Love. We go in faith, the hope reigns
in this feeling. And needing more each day Thy
ways to go. Yet for our hearts, a song of
triumph we yielding, We rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go. Yet from our hearts a song of
triumphing We rest on thee, and in thy name we go We rest on
thee, our shield and our defender Thine is the power ? So one shall
be the praise ? ? When passing through the gates of heaven's
splendor ? ? Victors be raised with hymns of endless praise
? ? When passing through the gates of heaven's splendor ?
Victors we've asked, with each good and the strange