Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleSalvation by Our Triune God
Bible Text2 Corinthians 13:11-14
Synopsis Here we are taught that our salvation is by our triune God. Listen.
Date04-Mar-2018
Series 2 Corinthians 2017
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Salvation by Our Triune God (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: Salvation by Our Triune God (128 kbps)
Length 38 min.
 

Series: 2 Corinthians

Title: Salvation by our Triune God

Text: 2 Corinthians 13: 11-14

Date: March 4, 2018

Place: SGBC, New Jersey

 

2 Corinthians 13: 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. 12: Greet one another with an holy kiss. 13: All the saints salute you. 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. « The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, a city of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas. »

 

2 Corinthians 13: 11: Finally, brethren, farewell.

 

“Farewell” means rejoice, be well.  In Christ, every believer has much in which to rejoice.  We rejoice in his person, in whom we are accepted; in his righteousness, by which we are justified; in his blood, by which we are washed; and in his fullness, from which we have received grace for grace.

 

2 Corinthians 13: 11:…Be perfect,…

 

Be restored and be mature. Put away all division. Count your brethren better than yourself and be united with one another in Christ.  Instead of seeking to know more division, seek to grow in Christ: in knowledge of him, in his grace, in love toward him and brethren and in good works.

 

2 Corinthians 13: 11…be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

 

This is the sum of all that went before. Wherever God’s people are comforted in the gospel, of one mind, and living in peace the God of love and peace is with them.  God is the reason for the unity. So Paul says, “be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”   God shall be with you to strengthen you in doing what we ought, to guide you in difficulty, to support you in trial, to comfort you in loneliness, to carry you in death and in judgment to be your Father and Savior

 

2 Corinthians 13: 12: Greet one another with an holy kiss.

 

This, too, sums up all that he just said.  The kiss is not the important part of this verse.  He could have said a handshake, a hug, or some other form of greeting.  The key word is “holy.”  The point is make certain all the above is in your heart by God so that you love one another sincerely from a holy heart.  If they continued to greet each other with a kiss with all the division and malice in their hearts it would be the kiss of Judas, not a kiss from a holy, sanctified heart.

 

2 Corinthians 13: 13: All the saints salute you.

 

It is important when a church is divided and going through troubles—or when an individual brother is—it is important to let them know the church does not regard them any differently in Christ.  All the saints salute all you saints.  We are sinners and are apt to stumble though we be in Christ. So we do not count someone a cast away just because they fall into problems.

 

2 Corinthians 13: 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.

 

This is our text.  Here we are taught that our salvation is by our triune God.

 

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

 

It was the grace of Christ that made him suffer so greatly for his people.

 

2 Corinthians 8:9: For 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 rich.

 

By his grace, he became Surety for his people in the everlasting covenant before the world was made. Christ promised to pay everything his people owed knowing we would not be able to pay due to our fall in Adam.  Christ promised to bear all the wrath of divine justice for his people. Oh, what grace!

 

It was his grace that caused him to assume our nature in his incarnation. Imagine the stoop from eternal glory to human nature. Oh, what grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!

 

Grace caused him to live in obedience to God as our Representative: to present himself spotless then to have all the iniquity of his people laid on him. For him to be found guilty by the kangaroo court of men was nothing. But to be found guilty by the court of God, to be made a curse and bear the condemnation that his people owed, that was great grace toward his people!

 

It was grace that made him bring in everlasting righteousness for his people and call us and clothe us in his righteous robe.  And it is his grace that makes him continue to intercede at God’s right hand for us.

 

It is the grace of Christ that makes him rule all things in heaven and earth to send us forth with this gospel and successfully bring the gospel of Christ to every one of his blood bought children. Oh, what grace to call all his people and save us with his gospel! 

 

Brethren, we do not always feel his grace, do we? Thankfully, his grace does not depend upon our feelings. But when men speak of salvation by our will and our works—by our seeking and finding—this is why we say NOT SO! We say with the Apostle Peter, Acts 15:11: But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

 

THE LOVE OF GOD

 

The love of God” our Father is eternal. It has no beginning and no end.

 

Jeremiah 31:3: The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

 

God’s love is free, underserved, and sovereign. We do not merit God’s love. God sovereignly chooses and loves whom he will.

 

God’s love is effectual. Those he loves he saves.  There will be no one in hell ever that God loved.  God saves those he loves.  If not why speak of God’s love?

 

God’s love is manifested—“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4: 9)

 

God’s love is commended to us—“God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5: 8)

 

God’s love makes us love him—“We love him because he first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19)

 

Therefore, God’s love is everlasting. Nothing can change God’s love, not even our sin.

 

Lamentations 3:22: It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

 

Malachi 3:6: For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 

So God’s love is distinguishing love which is inseparable.  God loves his elect in Christ. God’s love is only in Christ, only for his elect, for no one else. His love chose us, his love gave his Son for us, his love called us, his love keeps us and his love will bring us home conformed to Christ. Therefore, nothing shall separate us from God’s love in Christ.

 

Romans 8: 38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39: 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.

 

“Could we with ink the oceans fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry!
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.”

 

THE COMMUNION OF THE HOLY GHOST

 

God the Holy Spirit is the Holy Ghost.  He gives us a new heart in regeneration.  Then he takes the things of God, things of Christ, and shows them to us.  Through his gifts of love and faith and repentance, he gives us communion with our Father in our blessed Savior, causing us to enjoy sweet communion with one another.

 

All God’s people everywhere, at all points in time, are born of the same Holy Spirit and brought into the same communion through the same gospel of Christ.  The Holy Spirit makes his preacher preach one message: Christ and him crucified. This is how we recognize an imposter—by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit makes his people believe on one Christ with one faith.

 

Ephesians 2:18: For through [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

 

Ephesians 1: 1:…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called 2: With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3: Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4: There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6: One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

 

Brethren, this is why it is so shameful for a body of believers to have those in it that become divided like they were at Corinth.  God’s people are not divided.  It is always two or three who split off and create division. They attempt to draw away disciples after themselves. They cause trouble in the church.  But heresies are needful to manifest them that are approved by God. 

 

1 Corinthians 11:19: For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

 

Sadly, some become deceived by satan’s angels of light and are drawn away. But they only prove they are not approved by God. That is what happened at Corinth.  But the Sovereign Holy Spirit brings his people together even closer in communion in Christ.

 

So be sure to get this, you who believe on Christ. Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit abide upon us and grant us grace to walk and work together in sweet communion with our great, eternal, triune God in Christ and with one another all the days of our lives. Let nothing deprive us of the boundless blessedness of this benediction. Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  The Lord has given us something very special in this church by giving us the unity and love he has given. Guard it!  As blessed as we have been and are in the united mercies of our triune God, let this blessedness evermore be ours. Let it constantly be increasing in our experience of grace. This is our prayer to God, “Lord make us mature and keep us united in love, for the sake of Christ.”

 

Amen!