Blessed Trinity (2 Corinthians 13:14) - Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Well, we come now to the preaching of God's word,

and we're going to do so from 2 Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 13:14

13 verse 14. Now. For those of you who are here

this morning or may who you may have tuned in

online, but you know that this morning's reading

was quite long. This evening we have a shorter

reading, but we will be. Still in many other

scriptures. So just one verse tonight 2nd Corinthians

13 14 and as I said, we're talking about the

Trinity and so we'll see this within this passage

Hb Charles said of this passage that it's beautifully

stated Theologically rich and spiritually comprehensive

and surely you will agree and so here this reading

of God's inspired word The grace of the Lord

Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship

of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The classic

way of describing the Trinity would be to understand

that there are three persons of one substance

equal in power and glory. You have God the Father,

God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now, I

have heard some preachers and teachers say that

when you preach a sermon, you got to have three

points. And the reason for the three points is

because of the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Spirit. And that always made me laugh because

when you examine the preaching of Jesus or of

Paul or of Peter, they don't have those three

points. Nevertheless, tonight, we will have three

points. based on the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. And so tonight, we're looking at

the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love

of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

And so let's begin with the grace of the Lord

Jesus Christ. And the way in which I want to

begin would be to highlight an error, an error

in thinking about the Trinity. And the error,

I've mentioned this before, the error is called

modalism. You may have heard of this. Modalism

was, is a heresy that says God is not three persons

in one, but rather that God is one person who

changes maybe. You could say hats or masks. He

performs different jobs and he does so as Father,

as Son and Holy Spirit, but he's not eternally

these persons. This is. the way that they would

understand this. A motorist would say, well,

when God needs to redeem people, he puts on his

son hat. And when he wants to come at Pentecost,

he puts on the Holy Spirit hat. And when he creates

the heavens and the earth, he puts on his creator

hat. Right? On and on and on. To combat this

erroneous and heretical teaching, there was a

North African theologian named Tertullian. Tertullian

around the year 200 gave us this very helpful

way to think about the Trinity, that the Trinity

is one in essence, three in person. One essence,

three persons. And this makes sense, because

the word Trinity is from the word triune, to

emphasize the three in one. The word can actually

be broken up into two parts. Trinity can be broken

up into tri, three, and unity. One, although

God has always been triune, there was never a

point in God's existence. He has always existed,

but there's never been a point when he was not

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, Tertullian

is credited with giving us the terminology. Now,

to combat this heresy, we look at passages like

the one we're looking at tonight that are clearly

Trinitarian. And we must recognize this, that

the Trinity is a critical, crucial doctrine.

And yet if you just look at one text here and

one text there, you might find yourself a little

bit confused or not fully understanding the Trinity.

The very fact is that the doctrine of the Trinity

is from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. The doctrine

of the Trinity is underneath every other doctrine

of the Bible. And so we do not need to just jump

around and look for the word Trinity. As many

have mentioned, if you try and look for the English

word Trinity in the Bible, you will not find

it. But you do find the truth of the Trinity

located across all of the pages of Scripture.

And so we ought not read the Bible like a concordance.

A concordance is a useful tool that helps you

locate doctrines and verses. But I don't know

anybody who reads the accordance what we need

to do to develop a fully formed understanding

of the Trinity to read our Bibles Again looking

at this passage you have all three persons listed

there But interestingly enough Paul gives this

benediction that begins with the grace of Christ

Now if you're like me You'd probably think well

Don't you think Paul should begin with the love

of God? Shouldn't it start with God? Why does

he begin with the grace of Jesus Christ? Well,

this is probably speculation, but I think it

makes sense that what Paul is doing here is blessing

the Corinthians with the order of salvation.

This is not the order of God's decrees through

redemptive history, but rather it's a hyper condensed

version of the converted life, the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ. It reminds us that not a single

one of us here or anywhere comes to God upon

our own merits. None of us can earn salvation.

It's completely a gift, isn't it? Well, actually

what we really would earn then would be punishment,

eternal punishment. but for the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, who lived perfectly

without sin, and he lived for us. He lived for

people who have two big sin problems. Here are

two big sin problems. One, original sin inherited

from Adam, who is our representative head. We

have all fallen in sin along with Adam. And so

none of us starts out with a clean slate. None

of us is neutral. We all are conceived in sin.

Further, though, the second part of our big sin

problem is that we struggle with our own sins,

our own personal transgressions. The Confession

says we sin daily in thought, word, and deed.

And so what we need is the grace of Jesus Christ

to come and provide us with His righteousness.

You see, the entire Trinity is at work in our

salvation. And the Trinity is grace, but grace

works through Christ so that those who merit

eternal punishment are given His righteousness

and eternal blessedness. And Paul loves to Benedict

in this way, if I can use that as a verb. Paul

loves to conclude his letters with the grace

of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's there in 1 Thessalonians

chapter five. It's there in Galatians chapter

six. It's there in 1 Corinthians 16 and it's

there in Romans 16. Paul loves to speak of the

grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's our

good starting point for us. We start with the

grace of the Lord Jesus Christ before we move

into the love of God. Because you cannot experience

the love of God if you've not experienced the

grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are regenerated

at this point, we really experience God's love.

Now it is true there is such a thing as common

grace, theologians like to talk about common

grace, that the rain falls on the just. and the

unjust. But the unjust do not experience the

love of being in relationship with God the Father.

The unjust do not experience the Father's love.

As sons and daughters of him, 1 John 3 .1 says

it the best. See what kind of love the Father

has given to us that we should be called children

of God. And so we are. The love of God does this.

Or what about this scripture? And this is love.

not that we have loved God, but that He loved

us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for

our sins. When He has poured out His love on

such a child, nothing at all can separate the

believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

This is communicated in Romans 8. I was in Romans

8 this morning. Let's go back there now for one

of the most glorious pictures of God's love,

Romans 8. I'll read 38 and 39. For I am sure

that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor

rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything

else in all creation will be able to separate

us from what? The love of God in Christ Jesus

our Lord. Isn't that amazing? You are loved by

the one true God. You are loved by the God who

created all that is. He pours his love out on

you. All of us have this deep need to be loved,

right? You are loved by the one who personifies

love. And God doesn't love you because you are

lovable. God loves you because he is loved. That's

what 1 John 4 8 says, God is love. And so he

loves you perfectly. So you are saved by Christ.

God pours out his love upon you. And then you

get the incredible result of these things. You

get fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy

Spirit is the glue that binds all of this together.

us together with God and one with another. And

the Holy Spirit is just as real as the Father

and the Son. The Holy Spirit is no it. The Holy

Spirit is a person, equal in power and glory,

just as there is only one Son who saves by His

grace and one Father who pours out His Son and

His Spirit. So there is one Holy Spirit indwelling

in all who believe in Jesus, who are elect in

God. With his indwelling with this fellowship.

We are united to one another into the entirety

of the Godhead I don't remember who said it but

but somebody said recently the fellowship with

the Holy Spirit is fellowship with heaven And

so you see what the Holy Spirit does he binds

us to God The entire Trinity then is involved

in your salvation such that you don't get what

you deserve, but you get God, Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit. And as we highlight the three members

of the Trinity, we must see there's perfect unity

in the Trinity. This is shown in several scriptures,

like when Jesus says, if you've seen me, you've

seen the Father. In other words, you do not have

the Son without the Father, and you do not have

the Father without the Son, and it's the same

for the Spirit. 1 John chapter 4. Again, by this

1 John 4 · chapter mention

we know that we abide in Him and He in us because

He has given us of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit

seals us into salvation and consequently fellowship

with God. These things and so many more verses

show us that the Trinity is perfectly united

and that the members of the Trinity do perform

unique tasks And yet the confession says they

are co -eternal. So there is no hierarchy Within

the Godhead Father Son and Holy Spirit are equally

divine, but not everybody has believed this if

you know your church history you know this has

been a thing throughout the centuries, especially

going back to the first ecumenical council, Nicaea,

in 325. There was a group of so -called Christians

called Aryans, and they were causing quite a

stir within the church. They denied the divinity

of Jesus, saying he was a lesser god than the

father. And what the Aryans would do, is that

they would antagonize the Christians, the Trinitarians,

and they would do so in song. The Aryans loved

to make up songs to pastor the Christians, but

the Christians came up with their own song, too.

And I think you know the song because we sang

it this morning. The Gloria Patri, glory be to

the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost

as it was in the beginning. is now and ever shall

be world without end. Amen. This was the fight

song of the Christians against the Aryans. They

were fighting for the truthfulness of the Trinity

presented in the scriptures. It's their fight

song. And so remember, the next time you sing

that song, just sing it like a fight song. Sing

it with great gusto. Now, sadly, it's not just

that the Trinity was attacked centuries ago,

but the Trinity is still under attack today.

Groups that call themselves Christians who deny

the Trinity. Unitarians and universalists do

this, as well as some cults. So you see Christian

theology, Trinitarianism has always been at the

forefront of Christian thought, and there's good

reason for this. Because Christianity is the

Trinity. Christianity is the Trinity. just as

no other world religion has God taking on flesh

to dwell with people. No other world religion

has the Trinity, the three in one. It's simply

too wonderful and it's too high to conceive on

our own, which is why I think that illustrations

to convey the Trinity always fall short. They

usually fall into heresy. Perhaps you've heard

of some of the analogies that people have used

to communicate the Trinity. Anyone ever heard

of the Trinity described like the states of water,

liquid, solid, and gas? What's wrong with that?

Well, because the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy

Spirit are always Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

They don't morph into other states. They are

all co -eternal. the illustration that uses a

person that would say, well, I'm a father, I'm

a son, and I'm a husband, and therefore three

in one. Well, that's just putting on those different

hats. That's just modalism. Or since we just

had St. Patrick's Day, what about the three -leaf

clover? Have you heard that one? What's wrong

with that? Well, it makes God into parts, right?

But God is not made up of parts. God is made

up of persons. And so we should believe in the

Trinity not because of some silly illustration.

And we should believe in the Trinity not just

because Tertullian, Athanasius, Augustine, Luther,

Calvin, Owen, B .B. Warfield, Edwards, or anybody

else said it. We should believe in the Trinity

because the Trinity is true. God is three in

one, Father, Son. Holy Spirit. Take our verse

for this evening. It's the last verse in 2nd

Corinthians, isn't it? Now this is really interesting,

because if you were to comb through 1st and 2nd

Corinthians, you will not find a fully formed

doctrine of the Trinity in those two books. You

won't. Other doctrines are fully formed within

these two letters of Paul, such as the Lord's

Supper. Paul treats that in 1 Corinthians 11.

You can really see that, but not so with the

Trinity. And so why does Paul end this letter

with a Trinitarian statement when he's not been

speaking about the Trinity as much throughout?

I think the reason is this, because it's presupposed.

It's pre -supposed. The church at Corinth has

its issues. They had a lot of issues. But they

knew of the triunity of the God, of God. This

is why he's able to conclude this letter in this

Trinitarian way. Because they already knew of

the Trinity. And you'll find that throughout

the New Testament. That the Trinity is spoken

of as if people already know about this. They

already know about this because it's true. They

know, they know that Jesus, at his baptism, had

God say, this is my beloved son in whom I am

well pleased, and they knew that the Holy Spirit

descended like a dove and rested upon Jesus.

They knew that Jesus sent out his disciples on

the Great Commission, including the words of

a Trinitarian baptism. The earliest Christians

knew of God's triunity, and so my question for

you tonight is do you? Do you know the Father,

the Son, and the Holy Spirit? This is for you.

Look at the last words of the verse. The last

words in the English are you all. The Trinity

is for you all. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

and love of God and the fellowship of the Holy

Spirit be with you all. A blessing upon everyone

who is in Christ loved by God and indwelt by

the Holy Spirit. This is a benediction for you

from the triune God. Now let me not move on from

this without speaking about what a benediction

is. We have a benediction in every worship service

so we should know what it is. A benediction is

not a prayer, but a benediction is a pronouncement

of God's blessing, founded in truths by God.

And this one here is a favorite because it's

a blessing of the entire Godhead upon believers.

It's a good word placed upon believers. And in

this case, it's a good word about the entire

Trinity. And so with our remaining time considering

the Trinity, Let's think for a moment. How can

we further appreciate and know the triune God?

How can we know him better? It's key to know

that the Bible is Trinitarian, so just kind of

three points of application. We need to read

the Bible Trinitarianly. We need to see Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit all the way from the beginning

cover to the end cover. The doctrine of the Trinity

is underneath every other doctrine within Scripture,

and so we need to read the Bible Trinitarianly.

We also need to pray Trinitarianly, and by that

I mean we need to recognize that all of God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are involved in

prayer. We pray to God, but do we not also know

that Jesus lives to intercede for us? Of course

we do. We also know that the Holy Spirit helps

our prayers on the way up with those groanings

too deep for words. And so yes, all of the Godhead

is involved in prayer. And then lastly, we know

the triune God as we worship him. We must worship

trinitarianly. When the first commandment says,

you shall have no other gods before me, we must

remember positively. that the one that we worship

is triune and therefore all of our praise goes

to Father, to Son, and to Holy Spirit.