I would invite you now to get your Bibles and turn with me to the book of John tonight, to the 14th chapter, to verses 25 through 28. I find I keep saying these things before sermons, but As I've been studying and preaching on the glory of our triune God, I'm just overly impressed each time with how absolutely out of my depth I am in this study. It's been profound for me to think through these matters. And so tonight I might be a little tied to my notes because I want to be careful. I want to say things rightly. But tonight we're going to look at the subject of the Lord's Supper in light of the Trinity together. But for now, let's give our careful hearing to the reading of God's holy and infallible word. John chapter 14, verses 25 through 28. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name. He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard Me say to you, I am going away and I will come to you. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." Please bow with Me briefly in prayer. Our Father, we do ask that You would grant the illuminating work of your spirit to us tonight as we look into your word and we want to hear from you. And so we pray that you might teach us about yourself tonight, that we would know you are God in a more profound and in a very practical way. And so be with us and work by and with your word. and your spirit tonight. Draw us to Christ afresh. We do pray this in his name. Amen. When we came to the Lord's table last month, we considered the theme of real communion with Christ. And as we looked at that theme, we noted that The reason that the ordinances or the sacraments of Jesus are so controverted between professing Christians is not entirely because we are all so sinful. That absolutely is the case, and that is a factor in why we have lots of debates and controversy among ourselves. But it's also the case that we debate these things so vigorously because we are simply very limited in our ability to understand, particularly a God who is so profound and mysterious and who has such profound and mysterious ways that are beyond our comprehension. And therefore, what happens is we tend to swing back and forth with questions about the ordinances or the sacraments, and in fact, we actually debate the terminology, what we should even call them. And we take up our positions against other Christians, often to the detriment of a real and a robust engagement in and receiving of these gifts of Christ to us. That is, we swing against one emphasis and therefore only appreciate one aspect of, say, baptism or the Lord's Supper. For instance, as Presbyterians, we take issue with Baptists who emphasize that Baptism is something of a confession of faith for believers. But then we de-emphasize the real confessional nature of baptism for believers. That is, they say it is our testimony. We say, no, it's God's testimony. And yet, both of those things are really there in baptism. Think of a wedding ring. When I gave the ring that Elka is wearing, when I gave my ring to her, it was me telling her, I love you. And so, when she wears that ring, she has a message from me and a tangible proof that I love her. But yet, when she wears that ring, she is also saying, I love you back to me, in the very wearing of it. Both are there, both are beautifully there. And we are missing something if we neglect either of these important matters of, frankly, of wedding rings and of baptism itself. Baptism is God's word to us, and it is also in response our word about his grace within us. And similarly, when we come to the Lord's Supper, we seem to debate whether things like this, whether does it look back like a memorial or does it look to the future like it's a hope and a promise, or whether it points us to the present reality that Jesus is alive and we have and we must continue in true communion with Him now. And here's the thing that I think is wrong in all of these errant forms of posturing that we can find within the church today, any one of these positions will likely neglect something that is true. And every one of them is maybe not asking the ultimate right question. And therefore, as a way forward, which is not at all original with me. A way forward for thinking about the sacraments, and frankly, really every single doctrine that we find ourselves debating, is to ask the question, how is this Trinitarian? How is this Trinitarian? You see, at the end of the day, there is no doctrine, there is no element of worship that is merely the engagement with or theologizing about a generic God. Everything that we believe and everything that we do must be self-consciously Trinitarian, and everything we do and everything we believe must be able to answer the question How does my conclusion concerning this matter, or how does my engagement in this activity or ordinance take into account the glory of our triune God? How is God's triune nature seen in this? You see, when we take our eyes off of ourselves and off of everyone else's errors, we begin to seek the glory of the Trinity. That is, we begin to see with new eyes and we begin to worship with a greater awe and reverence for our triune God. And this evening I want us to consider briefly the Trinitarian nature of the Lord's Suffering and why we must purposefully participate in it as self-conscious Trinitarians, not self-conscious Presbyterians or Baptists or Lutherans. Why we must participate in it as self-conscious Trinitarians. That is what we must do. These are the questions that we must ask if we are going to actually spiritually benefit from our time at Christ's table. And I want to challenge you in that. If you do not come to the Lord's table self-consciously as a Trinitarian, worshiping God as our triune Lord, you are not benefiting from the table. It's that critical. And so let's consider briefly and frankly, just in a very cursory way, I want to consider each member of the Trinity's place in the Lord's Supper before we come to the table this evening, first turning to the Father. So let's consider the Father in the Lord's Supper. Likely, I think this is a bit odd, but likely the most hidden person of the Trinity in the Lord's Supper is maybe not the hidden helper, the Holy Spirit, but actually the Father. Where is the Father in our celebration of the Lord's Supper? And yet a moment's reflection should enable us to see that the Father's place in the Supper is that He is the one to whom we give thanks. He is the one to whom we give thanks. Why is that important? Well, in each account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then in 1 Corinthians 11, when Paul reiterates the institution of the Lord's Supper, in each of the accounts of the institution of the Lord's Supper, Jesus himself is recorded giving thanks to the Father. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16, Paul speaks of blessing the bread and blessing the cup. The bread which we bless, the cup which we bless. Think about it, to bless a material object is simply another way of giving thanks to God for it. And therefore, since this theme of thanksgiving to the Father is so clearly there in the biblical record, some branches of the Christian church almost exclusively call the Lord's Supper, some of you might know it from different backgrounds you come from, almost exclusively in certain branches of the Christian church, they call the Lord's Supper the Eucharist. Why? What does Eucharist mean? it means the Thanksgiving. That's just what it means. But what, we need to ask, what are we actually giving thanks to the Father for in the Lord's Supper? Is it for, are we giving thanks, like when we eat a common meal, is it for the little bit of bread that we're about to eat? for the little bit of wine that we're going to drink? No, the emphasis and substance of our thanksgiving to the Father is that He sent the Son into the world to redeem us from our sin. And we are saying, thank you, Father. Thank you, O Father, for sending your Son to redeem us and to reconcile us back to you. Thank you for giving your Son for our salvation. And notice that even in the passage here in John 14, Jesus gives the primary credit to the Father for sending both Him and then through Him the Spirit. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, verse 26, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you. And with this verse mentioning each member of the Trinity, and in fact mentioning remembrance, I want us to consider now the Son and the Lord's Supper. Clearly the most visible person of the Trinity in the Lord's Supper is the Lord Jesus himself. Each account of the institution of the Lord's Supper has Jesus absolutely central to it, instituting the sacrament as he says, this is my body, this is my blood, do this in remembrance of me. Paul tells us very clearly in 1 Corinthians 11, 26, that each time we come to the Lord's table, what are we actually doing when we come to the Lord's table? We're proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes again. And so, it's not wrong to focus particularly on Christ, recognizing that He is the most visible member of the Trinity in the sacrament. But as we focus on Christ and the sacrament, and as we listen to the words of scripture concerning the elements, the actions, the words, the actual substance of it, we are struck with, when we start thinking about the Son, and as we hear how he instituted the supper, we're struck with a very odd and hard to understand reality. And that reality is similar to what Jesus says here in verse 28, I am going away and I will come to you. I am going away and I will come to you. In other words, Jesus seems to be saying that he will be both. He will be both absent from us, but also present with us. Indeed, when we talk about, in common Christian experience and discussion, we talk about Jesus having gone to heaven. And yet at the same time, we talk about how Christ dwells in our hearts. Or how he is in our lives, active with us. He's always with us. Well, in the Lord's Supper, Jesus, the God-man, speaks of us remembering Him, but also speaks of the elements as being present and real symbols of His body and blood. So we're remembering Him, and yet there's this almost shocking language of some kind of presence of the Lord. In fact, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 16, it's this vivid and it's this radical. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 16 that this cup that we give thanks for is a real participation in the blood of Christ. and that this bread that we bless is a real communion with the body of Christ. And so we struggle here to know what is being said, what is actually happening and going on when we come to the Lord's table. Well, some things that we have to remember and have to be in our minds and our hearts and have to be our conviction as we come forward and as we come to the table are some absolutely unshakable, unquestionable truths that we know. And once we lay hold of those, I think some of the profundity of what is going on in the Lord's Supper begins to become more clear to us. Some of those things, and let me just kind of walk through those I'm not intending you to write them down unless you're really fast. And this isn't a full list, but we need to be thinking about certain bedrock truths that cannot be shaken, that have to guide how we come, how we participate, how we understand what is actually going on. One of those is that the Father, the first person of the Trinity, sent the Son, The second person of the Trinity, to live and die and rise again in our place. Absolutely, the Son came to live and die and rise again in our place. The first person of the Trinity sends the second person of the Trinity to do this work of salvation for us. The Son willingly came, taking on a real and permanent human nature to his own divine nature, thus becoming the God-man Savior Jesus Christ. That's a permanent thing. He forever will be in our flesh. But since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He is and He will be eternally in a real human body. And that means that He can only be bodily in a specific location at any given time. Because that is part of the limitation in reality of really being human. So, because of that, Christ's actual flesh and blood, in other words, His body, is in heaven right now. It is not here on earth. And that means that these elements are not and do not and cannot become the actual flesh and blood of Jesus. Since that would take Him and His body away from the right hand of the Father, actually bring Him out of heaven. But, but Jesus very clearly promises some kind of real presence of Himself with us. I will be with you, even to the end of the age. I am going away and I will come to you." So Jesus promises a real presence of Himself with us even though He is really absent from us. I am going away and I will come to you. So somehow, somehow Jesus goes away from us and Jesus comes to us. And this could only be the case, this could only happen, this could only work, this could only be possible if there is an actual third person of the Godhead who could minister to us in a spiritual, not carnal way, the real presence of Jesus Christ while He is away. And that, in fact, is exactly what the case is. And that brings us then to consider the Holy Spirit and the Lord's Supper. In a word, The Holy Spirit brings the real presence of Jesus Christ to us and enables us to receive Him, the bodily risen Lord Jesus, by faith. So we really spiritually commune with Him. He is the Helper. He is the Holy Spirit who the Father sins in Jesus name and And think of it this way just as it is the case that if we have seen Jesus We have seen the father That's what Jesus tells us I've been with you this long and you still ask show us the father if you have seen me You have seen the father in the same way that if we have seen Jesus We've seen the father if we have the Holy Spirit We have Christ because God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. You see, the Holy Spirit ministers to us the peace of God, the actual peace of God, shalom, bringing to remembrance Jesus Christ, who is our peace. If it were not for the work and the reality of the Holy Spirit, our hearts would be troubled. Our hearts would be afraid. Without the Spirit, Christ would be far from us. We would have been left alone in this world as He went to be with the Father. But the glory of being the children of the triune God is that because of who our God is, because He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we can have real communion with Him now. And that is why the Spirit was sent. Whenever a church gathers to break this bread, and to drink this cup, Jesus Christ is really, although spiritually, present by His Spirit. The Father sends the Spirit in the name of the Son so that we can remember Him, so that we can be nourished by Him, so that we can have actual communion with Him, so that we can be at peace with God in Him. The Spirit literally and really, and I can't explain it more than that, but the Spirit literally and really communicates the very life of Jesus Christ to us. As we eat this bread and we drink this wine by faith, the Spirit really does give life. So how is the Lord's Supper Trinitarian? How is God's triune nature seen in it? Well, maybe we should be asking the question, how can we miss it? How can we miss the Trinitarian nature of the Lord's Supper if we are actually following the very institution of Jesus? Indeed, if God was not triune, there could be no communion with Him and the Lord's Supper would be nothing more than just something like a mere memorial, like looking at a statue, hoping that it invokes a memory. But the Lord's Supper is not simply that. Rather, it is a Trinitarian blessing upon us as we come and we rest in our peace with God. We remember our place in God's family and we gain nourishment and spiritual life as we really commune with Christ our Savior. In other words, the Lord's Supper is pure Trinitarian enjoyment, pure Trinitarian ministry to us. We give thanks to the Father through the Spirit for sending the Son for our salvation. We remember and we rest in and we commune with the Son, the real God-Man, Jesus Christ, who is flesh and blood, that we do this by the Spirit whom the Father has sent in His name to us. And we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to really, to spiritually receive the Son who is really absent so that He can be really present by His Spirit. to each of us. Let's pray together. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. O God, your very being is something beyond our comprehension a great mystery, how you are one living and true God, yet somehow internally, plural, dwelling in three persons, fully God, co-equal, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Father, we thank you for the coming of the Son. We thank you that he took on our flesh, that he walked this earth, lived, died, rose again, and ascended back to your right hand where he remains forever, our great high priest praying for us, working all things according to his will for sake of his bride, the Church, And Father, we thank you for sending the Son and the Spirit of the Son. We thank you for sending the Spirit in Christ's name to be here to minister Jesus Christ to us. When the good news is preached, the Spirit makes it real and then applies Jesus Christ to the sinner When we lay hold of him by faith as he's offered to us in the gospel, we thank you for the spirit's work. Without it, we would be apart from Christ. We could not believe we could not have Christ if you did not send your spirit to minister him to us. And as we come to the table, what a great mystery What an amazing thing that you spiritually, through the Spirit, minister the very life of Christ to us as we come by faith and we eat this bread and we drink this wine together. These things are too wonderful for us, Lord. I don't know how you do these and what to ultimately think as you call us to the table. And yet you give us the very life of your son so that we might live. We thank you as we prepare to come that we have been crucified with Christ. That it's no longer we who live, that Christ lives in us. And the life that we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. Give us the eyes and the mouths and the hands of faith tonight to lay hold of Christ again as our life and our nourishment and our peace with you. We pray all of this in his name, amen.