Will you please turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, the last verse, verse 14?
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
be with you all.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, our hearts are most grateful for Thy love for us in giving us Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How we praise and thank Thee that it is through Him, and in His name, that we are able to gather together this morning.
Lord, we do look unto Thyself. We do know that Thou art here with us. We ask Thee that Thou wilt open our inner ears, our inner eyes, that we may hear Thee and we may see.
We ask Thee, Lord, that Thou wilt, by Thy Holy Spirit, open Thy Word to us, that through Thy Word we may come to know Thee in a real way, that we may worship Thee in spirit and truth. We commit this time into Thy hands. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We do thank the Lord for gathering us together again this year. I believe everybody knows that the theme of this conference is the benediction that we have just read.
In a sense, this benediction is so familiar to God’s people that it seems to have lost its meaning. It is used as the conclusion of a service, and it is pronounced and heard without much thought. It is so familiar that it has lost its significance.
But, brothers and sisters, when the apostle Paul wrote this benediction as the conclusion of his letter, he did not do it as a matter of courtesy, or casually and carelessly. I believe that when he wrote this benediction, it was full of meaning.
We know that the Word of God is pure. As we find in Psalm 119:140, it is said:
Thy word is exceedingly pure.
Or, in some translations, “Thy word is well refined.”
The Holy Spirit is very exact and careful in using His Word. We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So when the Lord speaks, every word is essential, meaningful, and for our spiritual benefit.
Brothers and sisters, especially in portions of Scripture that we are most familiar with, probably we should pay special attention to these words. We need to consider and reconsider these familiar words.
This is the reason why this conference uses this benediction: that together we may really look to the Lord, so that it may not be merely a form or ritual at the end of a service, but may be very meaningful to each one of us.
I was asked to give an introduction to this benediction. Our three brothers—Brother Ernie, Brother Michael, and Brother Dana—will speak on this benediction, and my burden is simply to introduce it to you.
I would like to share with you, dear brothers and sisters, something of the background of this benediction. We know that the second letter to the Corinthians reveals the person and ministry of the apostle Paul.
There he shared with the Corinthian believers what the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit had done in his life. He was what he was because of the grace of the Lord, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.
When you compare it with his first letter to the Corinthians, you find that 1 Corinthians exposes the condition of the Corinthian believers. If you were to put one word over that whole letter, I think that word would be carnality.
These Corinthian believers, though they were believers, were carnal Christians. In other words, they lived according to the flesh. If you were to write one word over 2 Corinthians, that word would be spirituality.
The difference is that the apostle Paul allowed the cross to work so deeply in his life that the life of the Lord Jesus might be manifested in him. The Corinthian believers, though they believed in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, refused to allow the cross to work in their lives. They continued to live in their own lives, and the result was carnality.
In 1 Corinthians, what you see is a man in Adam; but in 2 Corinthians, you see a man in Christ. All the difference is because one had fully received the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, while the other did not accept all that God was doing in their lives.
Or, to put it another way, they abused the grace of the Lord Jesus, despised the love of God, and did not have communion with the Holy Spirit.
When you read these two letters, you realize that their conclusions are very different. If you turn to 1 Corinthians 16, beginning with verse 21, you read:
The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.
If any man loveth not the Lord, let him be anathema. Maranatha.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
We know that probably Paul’s eyes were very poor and that he could not see clearly. Some people think this may have been because of malaria. Usually, when he wrote, he dictated and let somebody else write it down. But at the end of the letter, he would usually write his final words with his own hand, to give authenticity to the letter.
When he wrote those final words to the Corinthian believers, what did he write? “If any man loveth not the Lord, let him be anathema. Maranatha.” In other words, if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The Lord comes.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is a very serious word. It shows that Paul never concluded his letters with something casual. He concluded a letter in view of all its contents. All that he had written was summed up, as it were, in those last words.
The Corinthian believers were really blessed of the Lord. If you read Acts 18, you find that when Paul came to Corinth, he stayed there a year and a half. Many came to the Lord. There was opposition, of course, but the Lord appeared to him and said:
Fear not, but speak and hold not thy peace:
for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee:
for I have much people in this city.
The Corinthians were greatly blessed by the ministry of the apostle Paul. Usually, Paul visited a city for only a few weeks and then passed on, but he stayed with these believers for eighteen months. You can imagine how he laboured among them day and night, and how many tears he must have shed for them.
The grace of God was great upon these Corinthian believers. At the beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul says:
I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
that in everything ye were enriched in Him, in all utterance and all knowledge;
even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
What a beginning! Paul said, “I thank God always concerning you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus.” These Corinthian believers were given much grace of God in Christ Jesus. Think of those eighteen months during which the apostle Paul was with them, and how much grace must have poured forth through that vessel to them.
“In everything ye were enriched in Him.” Paul must have shared many things concerning the Lord Jesus with them. They were enriched in all utterance and all knowledge.
Some translations say, “in all speech” or “in all speaking.” The Corinthians were eloquent people, and they were intelligent people. When the Word of God was spoken to them, they received what they heard and were able to speak about these things.
But the word knowledge there is not experiential knowledge; it is mental knowledge. Apart from the initial and basic truth of the gospel—that they had received Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, had been converted, and had truly been saved out of the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son—much of what they received afterward was received merely in their minds.
They understood with their minds and were even able to speak about what they understood. They were behind no one in gifts. Yet what they sought after were external and impressive things. They were believers, but they were still self-centred.
They received very quickly, but they received in their minds instead of in their spirits and hearts. They sought gifts that they might display themselves. So you find here a people who were really the Lord’s, and yet were very self-centred. They were carnal believers, babes in Christ Jesus. They had much in their minds but very little in their hearts.
They had great potential. The grace of God was open to them, and the truth of God was preached to them. Yet, unfortunately, they did not grow as they should have grown.
Paul said that when he first came to them, he could only feed them with milk. But even now, after several years, they still needed someone to feed them milk and could not take solid food. Why? Because they had not grown as they should.
It is true that they were waiting for the revelation, the appearing, of our Lord Jesus. But they did not really understand what that meant. If the Lord had come in their time, what would have happened to them? They were still babes in Christ.
As far as the grace of God was concerned, there was the possibility of their growing up into maturity and even being unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That day simply means when the Lord shall return for His own people.
Why could they be unreproveable before the Lord Jesus Christ? Because God is faithful. They had been called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. When the gospel is presented to people, they are called into the fellowship, into the sharing, into the common possession, of what the Lord Jesus is.
That is what God has offered to His people. That is our calling. God is faithful, and He is able to bring us into the fullness that is in Christ Jesus. When the grace of God came upon these people, there was such preparation and such possibility that they could grow into maturity and into the fullness that is in Christ Jesus.
But when you read 1 Corinthians, you find that something was very wrong. There were divisions among them. Some said, “I am of Paul”; some said, “I am of Apollos”; some said, “I am of Cephas”; and some said, “I am of Christ.”
When they said, “I am of Paul,” what did it mean? It meant that they looked at Paul the man, instead of seeing Paul as a servant of the Lord. They followed Paul, but they did not follow the Christ whom Paul taught them. They stopped at a name instead of going on to Christ.
Even those who said, “I am of Christ,” discriminated against others: “All that you know is too little. We know much more than you do.” What was behind that? It was self. They were self-centred, not Christ-centred.
They could see only men; they could not see Christ. They stopped at men and did not go through men to Christ. That caused all the divisions in their midst. Brothers and sisters, that has been happening throughout history, and it is still happening among God’s people today.
Even though they were the Lord’s, because they did not go on and abused the grace of God, there was sin in their midst. Instead of repenting, they thought themselves tolerant and open-minded. They allowed sin in their midst without judging it.
They even sued one another in the Gentile courts. They defrauded one another instead of being willing to be defrauded. They loved the world, entertainment, and parties, and went to heathen temples to enjoy feasts.
They reasoned, “We have knowledge. We know that idols are nothing. Therefore, whatever was offered to nothing is nothing to us, and we can enjoy the things offered to idols.” The meat offered to idols and sold in the market was often the best meat and the cheapest. Because they liked to eat and enjoy themselves, they used mental knowledge to rationalise everything. They did not care for weak brothers and sisters; they cared only for themselves.
Even when they came together to remember the Lord at His table, they were self-centred. In the early church, because our Lord Jesus instituted the breaking of bread during the Passover feast, believers had a meal together and, toward its end, observed the Lord’s table.
But in the Corinthian church, the rich brought much food and drink and enjoyed themselves, while the poor had nothing to eat and waited for the breaking of bread. Some even became drunk, and after that they broke bread together. Such things happened in the church.
They even doubted the resurrection. Their conduct was such that they thought, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” They thought themselves clever.
Just think of all these things. With all the grace of the Lord Jesus open to them, with the love of God pouring upon them, and with the communion of the Holy Spirit ready to bring them into maturity, these people remained so self-centred. They abused the grace of the Lord Jesus, despised the love of God, and refused the communion of the Holy Spirit.
Do you think this could happen only to the church in Corinth? Do you think it happened only in the first century? Do we not see the same situation throughout church history, and even in our time? Brothers and sisters, we are not completely out of this.
The basic reason is a matter of love. When the apostle Paul said, “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ,” the word for love is agape—divine love.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. Formerly, before we believed in the Lord Jesus, did we have love? Yes, we had love—but it was human love, human emotion, something inherited from our forefathers. It was selfish love.
We love ourselves more than anything else. We love the world because we love ourselves. We do have such love.
But when we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. God puts His divine love in us, because God is love. He puts His divine life in us.
There is an agape love, a divine love, an unselfish love, a sacrificial love, a pure love, that God has put in us. With that love, we are to love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our strength.
With that love we love the One who loved us so much, so much that He gave Himself for us. Brothers and sisters, we all have that love in us. Yet, unfortunately, the Corinthian believers did not allow that agape love to live out in their lives. They loved themselves too much.
They continued in their selfish love, and the result was that they did not love the Lord Jesus. Why? Because they loved themselves too much.
Do you think we are completely out of that? Are there not times when the Holy Spirit shows us that we love ourselves more than our Lord Jesus? Are there not times when the Holy Spirit shows us that we love the world, so that the love of God is not in us?
How important it is that we pour forth our love to the Lord. What God requires of His people is that we allow His love to constrain us, to be expressed through us, and to become the principle of our lives.
If we allow that love to spring forth within us, we will love the Lord Jesus Christ more than anything else. You remember our Lord Jesus said that if we love father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children, or even our own selves more than Him, we cannot be His disciples.
Do you remember what the Lord Jesus said to Peter? “Do you love Me more than these? Do you really love Me?” What the Lord is really after is love, because He is love. Thank God, He has put that love in us. If we only allow that love to live out through us, and allow the cross to work in our lives to cut off self.
If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, that person may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but not love Him. They believe in the Lord Jesus by receiving all that He can do for them, but they do not love Him because they will not give anything—or give their all—to the Lord.
If this is the condition of God’s people, what can we expect? “Anathema. Maranatha.” Accursed. The Lord comes.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank God we are saved by grace. Thank God His gift of eternal life knows no repentance. Thank God, if you have truly received Him as your Saviour, you are eternally secure.
But, brothers and sisters, that does not mean that you will not be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. If a field has received much rain and, instead of growing useful vegetation, produces thistles and thorns, what will happen?
One day the fire will appear, and all the thorns and thistles will be burned. Thank God the ground cannot be burned, so you are still saved; but your whole life after you believed in the Lord Jesus may be burned.
Yet, in the conclusion of 1 Corinthians, after Paul pronounced that warning, he still said, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” In spite of what had happened, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ was still there. He was still able to restore them, recover them, and bring them into His fullness.
He also said, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.” Paul’s love for the Corinthians was still there. Their unloveliness did not cause Paul to cease loving them. He still loved them with the love of Christ and desired that they would be fully recovered.
So there is hope. If any brothers and sisters are in this terrible and pitiful condition, in any company of God’s people, there is still hope. The grace of the Lord Jesus is still with you, if only you repent and return. The love of God is still there.
That is 1 Corinthians, and that is the way the first letter concluded. Now let us turn to 2 Corinthians. If you read 2 Corinthians, you find how different it is.
After Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he apparently made a short visit to that church. In 2 Corinthians he said that, if he came to them again, it would be the third time. In Acts, you do not find this second visit recorded, but we know that after writing 1 Corinthians he made a short trip there to help them personally.
Unfortunately, he was not received. Most likely, out of that experience, he wrote another letter to them—a strong letter written with many tears—and sent Titus to bring it to the church in Corinth.
Paul loved them so much and was so concerned for their situation. Though he was rejected, he still loved them. Some commentators think that this strong letter was lost, while others think that perhaps part of 2 Corinthians, especially chapters 10 through 13, belongs to that strong letter because the tone is so different. But we will not go into that.
Paul wrote with anguish and tears, and made arrangements to meet Titus in Troas, because he wanted to hear what had happened after the strong letter was delivered. But when he came to Troas, Titus was not there. He did not know what had happened, and this disturbed him greatly.
Even though a door for the gospel in Troas was wide open, he did not have the heart to work there. So he left and went to Macedonia. It was in Macedonia that Titus finally arrived and brought him good news.
The strong letter had been received by the Corinthian believers. They had repented with true repentance, and their hearts had turned toward Paul. When Paul received that news from Titus, he was so happy and joyful that he wrote what we call the second letter to the Corinthians.
In this letter, Paul was able to open his whole heart and pour himself out to them. You cannot pour yourself out to someone who does not understand you or who misunderstands you. But when you find someone who understands you, is sympathetic with you, and is fully open to you, then you can open yourself and pour yourself forth to that person.
Paul poured himself out, exposing himself fully. He told them what the Lord had done and the great things the Lord had done in his life. He told them how his ministry came into being, and he shared all that he had experienced with the Corinthian believers.
He knew that they would understand and receive. He wanted them to be partakers of all that the Lord had given to him. He wanted them to have it all. Brothers and sisters, that is love.
When you read the beginning of the second letter to the Corinthians, you find these words:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
who comforteth us in all our affliction,
that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction,
through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us,
even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ.
But whether we be afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation;
or whether we be comforted, it is for your comfort,
which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer:
and our hope for you is stedfast;
knowing that, as ye are partakers of the sufferings,
so also are ye of the comfort.
Brothers and sisters, what a difference. Paul said, “We went through much suffering, but through those sufferings we came to know the God of compassion, the Father of compassion, the God of encouragement. We know Him.”
And you are going through tribulation and suffering too. Together, we share the compassion of God the Father and the encouragement of God. Paul had full assurance toward the Corinthian believers because they had already shown signs of recovery. They had repented.
They began to understand why Paul had not visited them as he had promised. He had said that he would visit them twice—going to them, leaving them, and coming again—but he did not do that because of their condition and because of his love for them. He was waiting for them to repent.
Paul was then able to tell them all that the grace of the Lord Jesus had done for him. He told them about a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven, and a man in Christ who was caught up to paradise.
He told them of a man with a thorn in his flesh, and of the Lord’s word:
My grace is sufficient for thee:
for My power is made perfect in weakness.
Paul was able to tell them all that he had known of God, of the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit. He shared everything with the Corinthian believers, knowing that they were able to be partakers of all that God had given to him.
In the conclusion of that letter, in 2 Corinthians 13:11, Paul says:
Finally, brethren, farewell.
Be perfected; be comforted; be of the same mind; live in peace:
and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
Here you find there was reason to rejoice. “Be perfected”—that is, be mature, be grown up. “Be encouraged. Be of one mind.” Most of the people had repented, though there were still some who had not. Yet Paul encouraged them to be of one mind and to live in peace.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
be with you all.
Brothers and sisters, this benediction is not vain words. It is real. It is living. It is both the cause and the effect of the whole situation.
How we need this benediction. It is not merely certain words pronounced over a congregation. It is something that we need to take to heart.
The brothers say I can go a little over time. Now, when I read this, it reminds me of something in the Old Testament. Will you please turn to Numbers 6?
The Book of Numbers begins with the numbering of the people of God at the foot of Mount Sinai. God brought them out of Egypt, brought them to Sinai, and made covenant with them. God numbered them; in a sense, God organised them.
They camped around the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the centre of the camp, and three tribes were on each side. They were centred upon the tabernacle. In other words, they were a people centred upon God—a God-centred people.
The Levites were also numbered. God was not only the centre of their nation and their arrangement; He was the One whom they served. They served God through the Levites.
God’s original design for these people was that they should be a nation of priests. Everyone was to live for God and serve God. But because of what happened in Exodus, when they worshipped the golden calf while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, they were disqualified, and only the tribe of Levi was taken as a substitute.
Yet, in spite of this, God still opened a door for anyone who desired to devote himself or herself to the service of the Lord. Not only Levites, but people from other tribes could serve Him. Anyone who desired to serve could make the vow of a Nazirite.
Whatever tribe you were from, man or woman, anybody who loved God and wanted to serve God could do that. During the time of the Nazirite vow, you lived for God and served God.
Then, in Numbers 6:22, we read:
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying,
On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel; ye shall say unto them,
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
Brothers and sisters, this benediction to the children of Israel is the same in principle as that which you find in 2 Corinthians 13:14.
In the Old Testament time, because Christ had not yet come to earth, the benediction begins with, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.” This refers to the love of God.
It was the love of God that brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. It was the Lord God who promised them the promised land—not because of themselves, but because of the love of God. It was the love of God that kept them through the wilderness and brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey.
“The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.” This is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament times, you remember Moses had a prayer. Moses had found favour before God, and he prayed, “Lord, show me Thy glory.”
The Lord said, “No man can see My face and live. But I will allow you to see My back.” In Exodus 33 and Exodus 34, the Lord passed by, and His hand covered Moses. After He passed by, Moses heard the voice:
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
In the Old Testament times, the Lord made His face shine upon them, but they could not really see His face. They could only hear His name and see His back.
But thank God, now we see the face of the glory of God. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We see God’s face, and how gracious He is to us.
Finally, “The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” Through the Holy Spirit, through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we receive the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus, and there is peace with God and peace with one another.
So the name of the Lord be upon you. The Lord bless you. Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, our prayer is that this benediction may become meaningful to us, living to us, and real to us. We want to know Thee—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We want to experience Thy love, Thy grace, and Thy communion.
Lord, bless us. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.