Well, I doubt I need to remind any of you this morning that today we stand on the threshold of a new year. The hours of today are already dwindling and soon the sun will set on another year. And tomorrow morning when we rise, or if we happen to stay up this evening, we will greet a new year as 2017 enters the history books and we begin again in 2018. And I don't know this morning where this occasion finds you. I don't know if the advent of a new year is something that you are eagerly anticipating, waiting for, excited for. I don't know if the coming of a new year will be a relief to you, or perhaps a regret, remembering the wasted time of this last year, the unimproved days, perhaps even weeks and months, and whether you look back on 2017 with a sense of regret and a troubled heart. I don't know where you are. But I do think that wherever you are, the Spirit has given to us, in the words that we have read, the Spirit has given us here at the end of this letter to the church in Corinth, a good word and even a needed word for the end of our year. The Apostle Paul comes to a conclusion of this glorious letter. And he does so with what is commonly called a benediction. A benediction simply meaning a word of blessing. And in some sense, a benediction serves as a dual aspect. It has two angles. In the first place, it is a closing statement. And in closing, it is intended to cause us to reflect on those things that have been said previously. But another angle of a benediction is that even as we reflect on the past, we look forward to the future and to the things that will be, praying that this very blessing that Paul bestows would be a blessing that is realized in the days and the months ahead. And so as we stand on this threshold, saying goodbye to one year and reflecting upon it, but greeting another year with all that is in store in the weeks and the months ahead, it seems to me very fitting that this morning we come to this benediction. That we come to this Word. And if the Holy Spirit is willing, That as we reflect on the year past and as we think of the year ahead, that we would do so in the fullness of the gospel and the glory of Jesus Christ. And that hope by which we are saved, even that hope which will never disappoint. I want to prolong an introduction this morning only to say that I intend to remark on four things in this 14th verse. For those who like outlines, here's the outline. Our first reflection will be on the need, the need for these words. The second point this morning will be the source. The third point, the blessing. And finally this morning, as the Spirit enables, the confidence that we can have in these words. The need, the source, the blessing, and the confidence. And so, I want to begin this morning with the need for these words. Here the Apostle Paul brings to a conclusion a profoundly wonderful letter. And he brings it to conclusion by writing these words that we've already read, that we will hear again and again. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Period. End of the letter. No more. We come to these final closing words, and I wonder this morning if we're tempted to just skim over them. very seldom in our letters or probably more likely in our emails today, very seldom do we probably focus and concentrate very much on the final farewell. I suppose that if you are young and you are in love, and your boyfriend or your girlfriend, your fiancé writes you a little love note and ends it by saying XOXO or love you lots, that your heart probably goes pitter-patter a little bit. But I highly doubt that when you come to the end of an email and it reads sincerely or best wishes, you give it much more than a cursory glance. You look at that as a mere formality. But we may be tempted, especially when we read the letters of the New Testament, to come to the closing words and think, well, that's great. Thanks, Paul. On to the next one. We may be tempted to think that here this 14th verse is just a mere formality, but what really matters is the content of the letter. What really matters is the body of the letter, all that precedes this, but now we come to the end and Paul's just being polite. He's just doing what you're supposed to do. And maybe we are tempted to read these words the same way we would read the words sincerely, or best wishes. or your friend. And I want you to know this morning that we need to resist that temptation. That this closing farewell, these final words of this letter, are just as much a part of God's Word as anything else that falls between Genesis chapter 1 and Revelation chapter 22. That what we have here is not a mere formality. That what Paul writes in these words, it's not simply an afterthought. But it is a manifestation, a revelation of the very Word of God. And I think Paul very intentionally, let me rephrase that, Paul very intentionally includes this final farewell here at the end of this letter. If you look at Paul's other letters, he often ends on a note similar to this, doesn't he? You can read his letters and he often, in his closing words, will say, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Sometimes he says, may the peace of God dwell in your hearts. Other times he commends them to the mercy of God or the love of God. But what is interesting, and what most commentators note, and quite rightly so, is that as we come to the end of 2 Corinthians, we really have one of the fullest expressions that Paul uses in the closing of any letter. It's one of the fullest expressions. And that is quite intentional. It is quite intentional because what Paul says here is something that is very, very needed. And it is needed as we understand the broader context of this letter. Unlike many of his other letters, 2 Corinthians has been for me long a subject of meditation and it's a fascinating letter because in many ways it's not like the other letters that Paul writes. And one of the distinct features is that Paul in this letter moves very quickly, sometimes in only the space of a period, from being very tender to being very severe. I remember when I was in ninth grade, my dad took my brothers and I fly fishing in Colorado. and we fly fished along some rivers and we put our waders on, but we had to be very careful because if you've ever been in Colorado, if you've ever seen any kind of river, you know that rivers can change very quickly. Sometimes the river is flowing along at a gentle current. It's a very gentle sweeping of the water, a gentle stream, and yet just the slightest decline or the presence of some rocks can very quickly turned that river from a gentle stream into a raging torrent. And if I can use that illustration, it's a really good description of the letter that Paul has written. More than any of his other letters, The book of 2 Corinthians really puts on display for us the affection, but more than the affection, it puts on display for us Paul's pastoral heart. The spiritual anxiety that he has for the church in Corinth. And that spiritual anxiety is something that in the pages of this letter spills over in a pastoral love, and a pastoral gentleness, and a humility, and a tenderness, and a concern that is unparalleled in the other letters that Paul wrote. And yet, at the same time, And again, sometimes it's just a matter of a period and the beginning of a new sentence. The Apostle Paul in this letter burns with a fierce anger. Because that same pastoral heart that causes him to be tender toward the sheep is a pastoral heart that brings him into conflict with the wolves. The same pastoral heart that motivates a gentleness toward these Christians is the same pastoral heart that rages in anger against false teachers, against those who would come with false teachings. against those who would preach Christ, not in an open statement of the truth, but as peddlers of the Word, obscuring the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus Christ. And in this letter, he spares no words." I think it was Charles Hodge, who said that you get some of Paul's severest rebukes in the 2nd Corinthians, surpassing even those rebukes that we find in the letter of Galatians. And Paul burns with a particular anger. Paul even recognizes, doesn't he, in those words that we read. Paul recognizes this is a severe letter. He says, I'm writing to you now so that when I come to you, your restoration will be complete. That's what I'm praying for and I'm writing and I know that what I'm saying, it's severe, it's hard, it's not easy to hear, but I'm doing it for a purpose because I've got a pastoral heart toward you and I want these things to be set in order. I want to aim for your restoration. I want to aim for your comfort. I want to aim that you would agree with one another and live in peace that the love of God might be manifest in you. Paul, throughout this letter, transitions, you might say, to again make use of that illustration between gentle waters and raging torrents. And yet, as he comes to the end of the letter, as he gets ready to place his final period with his pen on that parchment, Paul would bring these Christians and even us back to gentle waters. He would leave us on a note, not of severity, but to leave us on a note of God's glorious Gospel. That whatever else He has said, our hearts and our minds might be fixed firmly on that bedrock. And I wonder this morning, I wonder if in some way this differentiation between gentle and raging might describe the last year. Many of you perhaps have known days, weeks, months of peace and solitude, comfort and gentleness, But I suspect, more often than not, this last year, for many of us, has been a raging torrent. I suspect that because that is true of the Christian life. The Christian life is not trouble-free. The Christian life is filled with troubles. In this world, Jesus says, you will have troubles. And for some of you, as you stand on the threshold of a new year, perhaps you're looking back and your hearts are overwhelmed this morning by the turbulent waters. Your hearts are broken. The last 365 days, perhaps, you have known pain and grief and sorrow that is nearly inexpressible. Perhaps you look back on this year and you think of the tumultuous waters of temptation and those sins that you were so resolved to see killed in your life. Here you are, 365 days later. And they still seem to have so much sway in your life. Perhaps some of you have lost much this year. Losses that cannot be measured. Losses that will return tears to your eyes, till that day when Jesus Himself will dry them. Maybe your year has known anxiety, conflict, depression. These things happen. And if so, what I want you to hear, if the Spirit is willing, that if that is true of you, that I hope that what you have here is a needed word. That the very last word you will hear in this year are these closing words of the Apostle Paul, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you. And my prayer is that you would hear those words, as the words of God Himself. What a firm foundation. What a happy thing it is, when despite where we find ourselves on this day, we can return to this Word from God. And that really serves as a good place to transition to my second point this morning. As we think about a needed word, secondly, I want you to notice the source of these words. The source. The Apostle Paul says, the grace of... Christ, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." He repeats that little two-letter word, of, and that is a word that indicates to us that these things that Paul is writing of, this grace, this love, this fellowship, these are things of God. They belong to Him. They are possessed by Him. But I want you to notice maybe something a little more, to go a little deeper than simply being content with reading these words as though these blessings are simply possessed by God. And what I mean by that is this. If this morning or if this afternoon as we fellowship together, I came up to you and I said, hey, it's nice to meet you. The President sends his greetings. You would probably look at me like I was from another planet. The president, who are you? Who are you to convey to me, aren't you just a pastor in Winchester, Kansas? Do you work in D.C.? Are you under the president?" And I would say, well, no, I just thought that I'd greet you in his name. And you would have every right to say, that's crazy. You don't have a right to speak for him. You don't have a right to bring greetings in the name of the president. That is not something that has been given to you. What I want you to see, So when Paul writes these words, he is doing so as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. That when Paul writes, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. He is not writing, if I can put it this way this morning, he's not writing merely as Paul. He is writing as Paul the Apostle. He is writing as Paul the Apostle, who, as he says in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 1, was set apart by the will of God to be an apostle. He is not merely writing as Paul, He is writing as Paul the Apostle, who was commissioned by the once dead and buried, but now resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus. Commissioned by Him to bear witness to Him, to speak authoritatively on His behalf. He is not writing merely as Paul. He is writing as Paul the Apostle, who is equipped by the Holy Spirit, so that these words, these very words that he writes with his pen, are the very words of God. They are God's breathing out. They are God's speech. They are God's voice. They are God's breath. Young people, as we've been looking at this weekend, that the Scriptures are the very words of God Himself. And when you understand that, it becomes fascinating. That Paul isn't simply signing off on this letter. Paul isn't simply sharing the sentiments of his heart. Paul isn't simply commending them to God on his own, his own person, and his own authority. But God Himself is speaking to His people. God Himself is speaking to us. He is speaking to you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. God is saying, my grace, my love, my fellowship be with my people. And you cannot escape noticing this this morning, I hope. I hope it doesn't escape your attention. That as Paul writes this, he invokes the Triune God. That as Paul writes these words as one inspired by the Spirit, Here we enter into the doctrine of the Trinity. Here we enter into that ineffable mystery of God 3 in 1. Here we enter into the high point of all Christian thinking, of all Christian devotion, of all Christian worship, God, who is three in one. One in substance, one in essence, but three in person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, but these three are one, and they are equal in power, and they are equal in glory. And I know that's a lot. I know that's a lot to try to wrap your minds around, to try to wrap your hearts around. When we come face to face with the glory of who God is in His triune existence, as we come face to face with the God who is three in one, it is so, so, so easy to ascend to heights where it becomes hard to breathe for lack of oxygen. that Paul is writing, and God is speaking through him, that He, God, our Triune God, is the One who is the Source of all blessing. You know, the truth of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Trinity as we often call it, it's not simply some high-flying point of theology to speculate on. A truth that never touches the ground in our everyday lives. Remember when I was in sixth grade, my parents took us to a vacation to Washington D.C. and we got to go see all the museums there. Fascinating. Have you ever been to a museum? You know the exhibits are usually behind some kind of thick glass. And the ones that aren't have signs hanging all over the museum that say what? Do not handle. Do not touch the exhibit. And I'm afraid sometimes that in the contemporary church, I'm afraid sometimes in my own heart, that I often think of the Trinity in that way. Here is a truth that is really nice to look at. I don't understand it. I can stand back at a distance and I can see it. But this isn't something that touches down in my everyday life. I'm afraid that many people who have been baptized into the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, see this as something disconnected from everyday life. And yet, friends, it's the foundation of our faith, because God is the foundation of our faith, and God is Triune. And it might be somewhat tangential this morning. It might be a little bit of a tangent. But I wonder if you've ever noticed in the Gospel of John, as Jesus is preparing for the cross, as He meets with His disciples in the upper room, as they share their most intimate moments and their years of ministry together, As Jesus faces Calvary and knows that His disciples' worlds will be shattered and overturned, and they will be cast into distress and into confusion, in John chapter 13 through 17, on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus speaks the most clearly the most fully and the most in-depth on the inter-Trinitarian relations. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And He does that to a room full of men whose worlds are about to come undone. And if that doesn't convince you of the practicality of what we confess when we confess God three in one, I'm not sure what will. Maybe not so tangential, but we see it here as well. That the source of all blessing, the source of all blessing that comes to us, comes in the Triune God. And it's sad that many of us are so ill-acquainted so unfamiliar, so easily dismiss this glorious truth. But here Paul says, God in His tri-unity is the source of all blessing. The Father is not against the Son, the Son is not against the Spirit, the Spirit is not against the Father. but in perfect harmony, in unbroken unity, in the singleness of the will of God. The Triune God is the fount of every blessing, inseparably. And yet, there's a note of distinction, isn't there? Which brings us to the third point this morning, and that is the blessing. the need, the source, and the blessing. We read in these words, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you all. We read in these words that our triune God gives what we might call threefold blessings. Grace, love, fellowship. And when you understand those three, and you understand the heart of Paul here as he closes this letter, that really comprehends the whole gospel. That's what Paul's doing. He's ending this letter on a note of the gospel. He is saying, whatever is coming your way, whatever has come your way, here's where I want you. I want you rooted in gospel truths. And here's the blessings that come. The first is grace. And that blessing, the blessing of grace, is by the Apostle Paul here, especially attributed to Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that shouldn't surprise us when we think about who Jesus is, should it? The Apostle John, in opening his Gospel, tells us in John 1, verse 14, that that Word who was made flesh, that Word who was God, that's John's language. Jesus is God, the Son is God, the One who is God has come in human flesh. And in John 1, verse 14, the Apostle writes, he came full of grace. He came full of grace and He came full of truth. And in verse 16 of that same chapter, He says, and it is from His fullness, from the fullness of Jesus, that we have received grace upon grace. Romans chapter 5, verses 15 through 17, the Apostle Paul tells us that the free gift of grace comes by the one man, Jesus Christ. He says that grace reigned through the one man. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 4, the Apostle Paul says, I thank, I am thankful that God's grace has been given to you in Jesus Christ. The grace of Christ. The grace of Jesus Christ. And when Paul writes that little word, That five letter word. Oh brothers and sisters, how comprehensive it is. The grace of God. His free, His undeserved favor. The grace of God. What a comprehensive word. Because that free and undeserved favor of God, that grace is the backbone of every blessing. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15.10, I am what I am by the grace of God. Whatever I am, whoever I am, I am so, he says, by the grace of God. It is that grace that calls us. Galatians 1.15, He called me according to His grace. It is that grace that raises us from the grave of our sins and of our iniquities for the scriptures tell us that we are dead in our trespasses. But what does Paul write in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 5? Even when we were dead, he made us alive together with Christ. And before he can finish that statement, what does he have to do? He has to scribble the words, for by grace you have been saved. It is that grace that is at work in raising us with Jesus Christ and seating us even now in the heavenly places with Him. It is grace that works faith in our hearts. For you have been saved by grace through faith. You can never separate those two. Faith is dependent, belief is dependent upon the very grace of God in Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 3 verse 24, Paul tells us, we have been justified by His grace. In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. Brothers and sisters, the riches of His grace. Has it ever struck you that the riches of God are not measured in gold and silver? But He measures them out in grace. The storehouses of the riches of God are measured in His free and undeserved favor. It is grace that breaks the power of sin. Romans 6.14, Therefore offer your bodies, offer the members of your bodies as instruments of righteousness. Why? Because you're no longer under the law. You are under grace. It is grace that makes us sufficient for all things. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 8, In my weakness His strength is sufficient. His grace is sufficient for me. And it is grace that fuels our worship. Ephesians 1 verse 6, To the praise of His glorious grace. And Paul writes, Let grace, let that grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, let that be with you. All that it is and all that it does, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The second blessing we have in these words is love. He adds, and the love of God. The love of God, and that is a blessing that is especially, by Paul here, attributed to the Father. Oftentimes, many times, not exclusively, but most of the time in the New Testament, when we read the word God, it is a reference to the Father. And the New Testament presents to us in a very specific way that it is the Father who is the fountain of love, that as we receive grace in Jesus, so we receive love in the Father. John 3.16, For God so loved the world that what? He gave His only begotten Son. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. John 14 verse 28, Jesus says, whoever loves Me is loved by the Father. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1, the Apostle John who strained the depths of human language to try to describe and understand the love of God. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1, behold, behold what manner of love is this that we should be called children of God. Behold what manner of love. 1 John chapter 4 verse 8, God is love. Now that's something, friends, that is often abused and misused in our day. But never, never, never, never let the abuse of the world upon the love of God rob you of this wonderful truth. He is love. God is love. And that love is invincible. Remember the Apostle Paul, writing in Romans 8? One of the greatest of all the chapters in Scripture. coming with assurance upon assurance upon assurance that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And why is it? And Paul goes on and on for 39 verses of why it is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. As Paul pinnacles in that wonderful chapter, as he comes to the heights of Christian assurance, as he comes to pastorally minister, not only to the church in Rome, but as he, by the Spirit, ministers to us in that, what is the highest note of our assurance as Christians? It is this, God's love, the love of the Father, is invincible. Paul asks in Romans chapter 8 verse 35, what then shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? And Paul could have answered simply, nothing. But what does he do in this rhetorically masterful statement? He is not content by simply saying nothing. But what he does say is, I am confident of this, that neither height nor depth nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor anything in all of creation, in all of creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And Paul writes here, Paul says here, not only may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you, but may the love of the Father That invincible love. May the love of the Father be with you. The third blessing here is fellowship. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And again, as grace was especially attributed to Jesus, and love to the Father, so Paul, in a special way, attributes fellowship to the Spirit. Well, why does He do that? Well, it's very fitting when we understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 14, verses 16 and 17, as Jesus is ministering to His disciples, He tells them that He's going to go away. He says, but when I do go away, I will ask the Father to give you another helper. Or the word that we sometimes hear there, another paraclete. A helper, a paraclete, is one who comes alongside of. bears the burden with. And Jesus says, when I go, I will ask the Father and He will give to you another Helper, even the Spirit of Truth. He will dwell with you and be with you. In 2 John 1, verse 2, the Apostle reminds us, that this Spirit is the one who abides in us and will be with us forever. In Titus chapter 3 verse 6, Paul writes that God has poured out His Holy Spirit on us richly. There's little drops here and there, but richly He has poured out the Spirit. And what does all of that mean? Well, it means just this, that by the Spirit, we are brought into communion with the Father. That by the Spirit, we are brought into fellowship with the Son. That by the Holy Spirit, we are brought into communion and fellowship with the love of the Father and the grace of Jesus. Romans 5.5, God's love is poured into our hearts, Paul writes, through the Holy Spirit. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 14, it is the Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance in Jesus Christ. Do you see? That's the blessing. That's the blessing that is being spoken. not material possessions, not temporal nice things, not even virtues. But the blessing is a real, living, vital union with God Triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All that He is, all that He offers, The blessing is nothing less than God Himself. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes, be with you all. Every one of you. Every man, every woman, every child. There's the blessing. Grace, love and fellowship. Finally, in just a few brief moments, the final point this morning, and that is the confidence. Confidence. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. I want to ask you a question. How do you think the church in Corinth read those words? As they came to the end of this letter that Paul had sat down and he had written to them and he had sent to them, how do you think they read those closing words? Did they look at these closing words as an academic pursuit? Here's something to fill up a little more of our systematic theology. Did they look at these closing words and in a sense let their eyes skip over them? Did they look at these and read these words and did their hearts refuse it? By saying perhaps, no, we're not worthy for that. Or that might be true of him over there, that might be true of her over there, but that certainly Paul cannot be true of me. Or is there a chance that maybe as they read it, they derailed it a little bit and they said, well, I sure wish John could hear this. I sure wish Susie could hear this. Do you think they cast their eyes upon it? And perhaps had bitterness swell in their hearts? Don't you know, Paul, what I've been through? Don't you know what I'm struggling with? Don't you know what I need? And this is the blessing you speak? This is the blessing that you give? This isn't going to help pay the bills on Monday morning. How do you think they read it? Did they read it with thankless ingratitude? Did they scoff at it? Did they read it with sleepy eyes? Well, perhaps this morning's speculation won't serve us in the least, so let me actually turn the question in another direction. How do you read it? When you hear these words, how do you read it? How do you understand it? How far into your mind, into your heart does it go? Or do you read it by skipping over it, perhaps by refusing it, perhaps with a tinge of bitterness, refusing it, scoffing at it, ungrateful? Do you read it with closed eyes? Because here's how it's intended. Here's how it is intended, brothers and sisters, to be read by the children of God, by those who by faith have laid hold of the promises of Jesus Christ. It is intended to give us confidence that whatever comes our way, Whatever may happen, whatever losses we may experience, whatever temptations may swell against us, whatever crosses we bear, whatever difficulties we endure, whatever pain we experience, friends, I don't know what's going to happen in the next 365 days. I don't know if a year from now, Pastor Eshelman will be standing here and some of you will have your faith transformed into sight, I don't know what your losses are going to be in this coming year. And I don't know what your trials and your difficulties and your heartbreak is going to be. But here is a word to welcome the new year. Here is a word to plant your feet upon when the world around you seems like quicksand. Here is a confidence. Here is a note of enduring confidence to the people of God that whatever comes and whatever happens, Here is God's Word to His children. My grace in Jesus, be with you. My love as the Father, be with you. The fellowship of me, the Holy Spirit, be with you. This blessing is intended to give us an unshakable, unswerving confidence that God triune. desires, is pleased, and rejoices in blessing His people. And my prayer at the end of 2018, my prayer for myself, my prayer for you, is that you might be able to look back on the last 365 days, when we come to this place next year and say with joy and thankfulness, there was more. There was more grace. There was more love. There was more fellowship. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit. And that, if you can say that, it will be proof of a good year. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for Your Word. I thank You that You have spoken, that You have not left us without witness and without testimony, for that You have given Your people an unshakable confidence in a world filled with troubles. Lord, may You bless Your people. May Your name be upon us, today, into this new year, and into all eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.