book of Jude. A little book of Jude. I told you I was going to be as close to it as I could possibly come without being in it. I want you to look at verse 24 and verse 25. That will get you just as close to revelations as you can get not being in it. So if I can just keep from crossing the bridge. Now folks out there, God is so good. God is so marvelous. And you know that blessing God promised to those who read and study the book of Revelations? It came last night. I've just been overflowing with God. Walking with Him, talking with Him, having a good time, fellowshipping with my Lord. You know, God is so good to us. There are two things here I want to bear out. Verse 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceedingly joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Let us look at this first thing that John said, or that Jude said. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling. Now, I have had people ask me that many times in my life. Preacher, how do you keep from falling? In all the years that God has used you as a minister of God, and with all the souls through the years that you have had influence over, tell me. How have you kept from falling? Satan must camp on your doorstep. He does. Yeah, I tell you, Satan is a camper on my doorstep, has been and will be until Jesus comes and delivers me from the evils of this life. Yes, you see, my friends, they say, how in the world do you just get up and keep on coming? Well, I had that name when I was living in sin. Somebody, they used to say, don't never bother Benny Hertz because you'll have to fight him every day. Every day of your life from this day on until he finally Whipped you. And that was true. I mean, I didn't take my lumps and go on. If I felt I hadn't fought a good fight, and if I felt I had lost, I'd stop that guy on Gay Street and say, man, you have some unfinished business, brother. I mean, they'd say, don't mess with that guy. He'll fight you every time he sees you, no matter where it is. Yes, I was able to do that. But you see, brother, I want you to know one thing for sure and for certain, that when Satan declares war on me, I fight back. I fight back. You say, preacher, how do you do that? Well, first I put on the helmet of salvation. I make my election and my callings sure. I get on that helmet of salvation. Then I put on the breath plate of righteousness. Then I take the sword of the gospel. And brother, I go out to war. And I go forward, forward in faith and in battle. You see, God gave us the old armor of God. But if you'll notice, it's all for the front. There is no armor on the back. You say, preacher, why didn't God put some armor on the back? God didn't call no cowards. He didn't call anybody that'll turn their back and run. So you see, God's people's always coming face on. They don't run around and talk about you behind your back, say bad things about you, criticize you. If they got anything to say, they face you. Here's something I ain't heard in a long time. Grass growing on the asphalt. But I always did say asphalt is the best fertilizer you can have around your house. It'll grow more grass than dirt. I guarantee you it will sooner or later. You'll find that out. But listen brother, I want you to know that God's people keep going forward. They don't have any armor on their back. So don't ever turn your back and run. If you do, the enemy is going to kill you right then and there. You say, Preacher, how have you survived? Well, let me tell you how I survived. I never turned my back. I never turned my back. I mean, I'm not the only one left in this clan, but I'm going to tell you something right now. When I go in arresting, I've still got that old habit. Let me find a seat where my back will be against the wall. I ain't the only one that belongs to that clan. I mean, these fellas here are almost as old as I am. I mean, I find it difficult on a walk and a rest because I was used to that when I was a young man. When I went into an establishment to sit down, I always put my back against the wall. So I could watch everybody that come in the door, everybody that moved around me, didn't trust anybody. You see friends, I mean we gotta be on the watch. That's what Jude is saying here. Because we are living in the last days. He is saying that in the last days scoffers will come, and they'll sit on the pews of your church scoffing at everything, criticizing everything, disagreeing with everything, and they will stand on the pew and they'll smile at you with big white teeth every Sunday. Glory to God, this may get better for me. Who knows? Well, they'll do that. We're living in the last days. Not the first days, not the middle days, but we're living in the last days of time. Now then, God is able to keep us, Jude said. Let us give praise unto the one who is able to keep you from falling. Hallelujah. I get up every morning and I say thank you Lord God for keeping me and not letting me fall. I go to bed every night, I get on my knees and I say, well Lord, I made it to shore again, and you've kept me from falling. Isn't that good? I mean, brother, you never are to forget who it is that keeps you from falling. It's God. Don't get no bunch of self-righteousness in your little shopping bag this morning, brother. You and me and all of us together are nothing. I am what I am by the grace of God. Nothing more and nothing less. Every time I see a dope addict spaced out, an alcoholic so drunk that they're making a fool out of themselves, I say except for the grace of God, There I am. Friends, we're all in this same thing together. We're all in this same thing together. I wish everybody was in the forgiveness of God together. But not everybody is. Not everybody has ever come to God and said, Lord, I'm a sinner, I need to be saved. Oh God, I depend upon you to save me. Now, if we're saved, is Christ able to keep us? How do you feel about yourself this morning? How do you feel about your salvation? Do you have a salvation that you believe is secured forever and ever for all eternity? Well, you're at least on the right track. I mean, brother, do you think that you have a salvation that the devil can't make you lose before you get home? You say, preacher, I'm about to lose my salvation. No, you're not. If you've got it, you're not about to lose it. You may be fixing to embarrass it. You may be fixin' to bring a reproach upon it, but you're not about to lose it if you ever had it. Because my dear friends, listen to me, is he able to keep us? As Christians, we are pilgrims and strangers in an unfriendly world. Hallelujah. But we have this promise. I want to share this promise with you, this promise from God. Behold, I am with thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee. Genesis 28 and 15, Paul said, God will finish that good work which he has begun in you. So you see, now in John chapter 17 and verse 11, Jesus prayed for our keeping. Saying, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. I mean, I believe that God answers Jesus' prayer. I mean, if I dare to think, and I do, that God would answer my prayer, I know He would answer Jesus' prayer. And here He just prayed for you and I, and He just said, Father, keep them. And God has answered his prayer. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1 and 12, I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him. What have you committed unto him? I've committed my soul, my heart, my life, my love, my work. I've committed myself. What have you committed unto him? I've committed unto him that my salvation is secure. I don't have to try to keep it. It don't have to try to keep me. I'm already kept. Almighty said, how are you kept? And first Peter, Peter wrote to us about our salvation and says, little children, we are kept by the power of God. Yes. Eternal life, where does it come from? It's to be looked for only through mercy. You can't look to works. You can't look at what you do for salvation. You can't look at what you give for salvation. You can't look at your own suffering in the body for your salvation. It'll never come. It don't come because you have pain and misery and suffering and heartache and sorrow and trouble. That don't necessarily mean you're a Christian. Some of the meanest people I ever knew had all of these things. That don't mean you're a Christian just because you're sick in the morning when you get up and you're sick at night and you go to bed and you're sick and all the time between. It don't mean that because you lose this today, you lose that tomorrow, and this happens to you, and that happens to you. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're a born again child of God. And if you are saved and you're having those things, it certainly doesn't mean that you're not saved. Because God doesn't separate us from these things. They're here. We must deal with them every day. Now eternal life is to be looked for only through mercy. Mercy is my only plea. I don't have any other plea. I can't come before God and say, Lord, look what I've done for you. I've prophesied in your name, Lord. I've preached sermon in your name, Lord. I've told others about Jesus all these many years, and I expect a blessing. No, no, no. The only way I can come before my Maker, my Creator this morning is to ask His mercy. and to cast myself upon his mercy, because I am not worthy to even think about going to heaven, let alone going there on my own merits. It is only to be looked for in mercy, casting ourselves upon the mercy of God our Creator. We must come to God through the mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. See, not only did He have mercy upon us by sending Jesus into the world, but He had mercy on us by sending Jesus Christ to the cross. And Jesus had mercy on us because He was willing to go and die for a sinner like me, ready to take my place upon the cross of Calvary. All we who have hope of heaven must come through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved. There is no other name under heaven. Not only is God able to keep us from falling, but He is able to present us faultlessly before the presence of His glory. He's able to do that. And you know how He's able to do that? Because when He died on the cross, all our sins past, present, and future was nailed to that cross with our Savior. Not only is God able to keep us, but He is able to present us faultless right into the presence of Almighty God. Thank God for the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord will shortly be present. We look upon it as distant, and all too many look upon it as uncertain. They're not certain as to whether Jesus is coming or not, but it will come. No matter what we think about it, no matter what we believe about it, it will come! We view now through a glass dark. Oh yes, everything's kind of fuzzy, everything's kind of hazy. And you ask one this, and he may have a little different opinion than you do, really don't make a lot of difference, but I mean, there's hardly two people in all this world that will agree on everything in the Bible. Well, we don't fall out about that, because we understand the Bible is very difficult. God's going to give me a vision of His Word, but only a limited vision. God's going to give you a vision of His Word, but only a limited vision. You see, I have found that if you want the greatest vision, compare Scripture with Scripture. Don't think about what this man said or what that man said or what this person or that person said, but compare scripture with scripture. Then you will get the fullest understanding, but you'll never know it out. But you'll know enough to keep you happy, keep you rejoicing, keep you winning souls, keep you fighting the good battle of faith, keep you in there for God, you will know that. Many look upon Jesus' coming as uncertain, and when He comes, every eye shall see Him. Now, I want to say this. I wish that every believer here this day could vision in your mind the brightness and glory that our Lord shall have when He comes for us. Hey, listen. Sinners are going to be partially blinded by His coming. I mean, brother, it's going to knock a few eyeballs out. The brightness of His glory! Think of the brightness of lightning! I mean, have you ever had lightning come close to you? I have. I've had lightning just come real close to me. In fact, even a few times I thought I was hit by it, it came too close. But of course I wasn't. But now I had to leave you blinded for a few seconds as a passage close to your binding. And the Bible said in Matthew 24 and 27, for the lightness coming out of the east and shiniest even under the west, so shall also the coming of the sun remain like a streak of lightning, blinding light. You see, when Paul saw this light on the road to Damascus, it left him blind for three days and nights. It blinded him. Do you see the glory that Jesus is coming back in? Paul said in Titus, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I wish that every Christian here this morning could do one thing. I wish you could vision this. Every eye shall see Him. I wish you could just vision the brightness of our Lord Jesus Christ when He comes back on the cloud in His glory. I wish you could. The unsaved will see Him. Did you know that? You say, preacher, I thought he was coming as a thief. Oh, he is at the close of the tribulation period. Nobody's going to be expecting him. But now there's some people here looking for him, brother. I mean, I'm looking for him. The Bible says it is appointed unto man to die, and after this the judgment. I'm glad it just said man. Because there's going to be a lot of men that don't have to die. Because when Jesus comes, brother, if He comes, while I'm still alive, I'm not going to die. You're not going to die. There's going to be thousands of men, brother, that's going to heaven with Jesus and never die! So it is appointed unto man who wants to die. Not men. There's going to be a lot of men who go to heaven without dying when Jesus comes. I guarantee you that. And brother, if I'm still around, I'm going to be one of them. The unsaved will see Him. They will see His people rise to meet Him and leaving with Him. Yes sir, if you're sitting here this morning, God is offering you salvation by faith through grace. and you reject this gospel, this opportunity that you may have this morning to be saved, if you reject it. And if Jesus comes today, you'll actually see God's people leaving. Oh, it may leave such an impression upon you that you won't really know what's happened for two or three days like Paul was. But let me tell you something, brother. Two or three days you're going to realize God's people are gone. That brother I used to work with who was a Christian, he's not here. That sister I worked with who witnessed to me about Jesus, he's not here. And then you will get the picture. Jesus has come, they've gone with Him, and I am left behind. Oh, what a fearful day that's gonna be. They'll know that they have been left behind to face the horrors of the Great Tribulation. and the judgments of God, then the torments of hell in the midst of the bottomless pit. My friends, I'm talking serious business to you. I'm talking about being saved or going to hell. There is no middle ground. I'm talking about getting saved, getting right with God, and being a born again child of God, or dying and going to hell. There is no middle ground. It's either one or the other. It's either heaven or hell. It's saved or lost. And you know what the situation is this morning. It's all up to you. Not up to me. Not up to anybody else. It's not up to God even. It's not up to Jesus even. Let me tell you this, folks. Jesus has done all He can do and all He's going to do for you anyway. He's died for your sins, shed His blood, divorced the sins away, He said, right now, God's ready, right now, He's gonna set it for you. A minute to your welcome, come forward and say, God has mercy on me, let's have it. He's not gonna do any more. He said, first I'm going to do something to douse you a little bit, glad. If it causes you to get doused, there ain't nothing else I can do. I mean, if you swear to be conscious of the road, you don't want to listen to that anymore. Other than that little voice used to speak to you. You used to be able to hear it, and you didn't want to do something wrong. And you'd hear that little voice, and you'd say, well, I learned how to do that. And I kept that little voice stuck on the road. It spoke to me a few times, and just kept on going, and going, and saying, oh, thank you. I don't speak to you anymore. What's it done? It's give you another rope to hang your sacrifice. Do not speak to me of failure. Let the rope go around your neck the other way, and you're looking down, and you'll be avenged. See? I bring you from the depths. Come out and fetch me my containment. And you've done all in your power to destroy your conscience about what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong. You know who you are? Those who are used to loneliness rather allow you to the facts. The lifestyle you're living is going to cost you your life being here. If you don't believe me, you wouldn't believe that one will.