Okay, turn with me one final time this evening to the book of Jude. The book of Jude. We'll be considering verses 24 and 25. But of course, before we do that, let me just kind of summarize or bring you up to speed what we've looked at, concerning what we've looked at during our studies of this letter. Since verse four, Jude's primary concern has been with warning his readers about this threat that was posed by certain persons who had crept into the church unnoticed. These were the individuals, he says, who were long beforehand marked out for condemnation. They were ungodly people who had turned the grace of God into licentiousness and denied the lordship of Christ. He then goes on to describe the eventual fate of these individuals, reminding them in very vivid terms of the examples, including unbelievers in Egypt, the fallen angels, and those of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding area, all of whom were judged for their unbelief and the gross immorality that stemmed from that unbelief. These false teachers, Jude says, were like unreasoning animals. They'd gone the way of Cain. They had rushed headlong into the error of Balaam. and they perished in the rebellion of Korah, he says. They were hidden reefs, you'll recall. They were clouds without rain, clouds without water. They were trees without fruit, doubly dead and uprooted. He said they were like the waves of the sea that constantly churn up and spew out all manner of filth. They were also, wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. They were grumblers. They were fault finders. They followed after their own lusts. They were arrogant. They used flattering speech to win people over. for the sake of gaining an advantage. These were the false teachers they'd been warned about, he says, by the apostles. And we certainly added to that, Jesus himself had warned the apostles and his disciples that false teachers would make inroads into the church. And they were certainly doing that by the time Jude writes this letter. but as convincing as these false teachers were, as adept as they might have been in leading others astray. Jude writes that his readers could avoid falling prey to them if they would only build themselves up on their most holy faith, if they would continue to pray in the Holy Spirit and keep themselves in the love of God as they waited anxiously for the return. of the Lord Jesus Christ. As for the weaker among them, those who are plagued with doubt, we're told that we're to show mercy to those individuals. You'll notice again that there's a a sort of ramping up here of the severity of the error into which these people had fallen. First, you have the doubters. We're to show them mercy. Next, you have another category of people, and these are those who have slipped into the proverbial fire. gone beyond mere doubt and had fallen into error. And what are we to do with them? We're to pluck them from the fire, if possible. And then there's that third category of individuals who went beyond even falling in the fire. These are those who had fallen headlong into gross error. And it was the type of error that should instill in us fear. Kind of a twofold fear, if you will. Not only fear for their own souls at having been so deceived, but fear that they also might've reached the point where they themselves were contagious in their error. Again, very serious situation. And on them, we're also to show mercy, but again, with that trepidation or fear. Now, how would this be done? That's really the question. How would the ordinary believer who is himself subject to the same kind of temptations, the same tendencies, the same likelihood, if you will, of falling into error, the same person, same type of people who are trying daily to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, how would Those people, us, how would we stay above it all? How can any of us who, in the words of the hymn writer, are so prone to wander, so prone to leave the God we love, how is it that we ourselves are going to survive when the false teachers make inroads into this place? How will we stand when things start going awry in our midst? Well, Jude answers that in verses 24 and 25. What does he say there? He says, now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. This is often referred to as a benediction. I think I pointed that out to you in an earlier study. It's not a benediction. You know, benedictions are generally given at the close of a message and the purpose of the benediction is to bestow blessing on the people who have heard the word. You've heard, you know, the benediction from Numbers, for example, that says, May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and so on and so forth, right? That's a benediction. What we read here is not a benediction because it's not really designed to promote any blessing to us. What it's designed to do, it's designed to give God glory. And so it's not a benediction, it's called a doxology. It's a doxology. Sometimes we actually sing the doxology, right? You know the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. What Jude represents here is just another type of doxology. He's expressing the same kind of praise Only he's doing it with more specificity. And what's he praising God for? He's praising God for his ability to keep the believer from stumbling and to make him stand in the presence of God forever. Now, don't miss what's implied here. What's implied here, of course, is that you and I are not capable. That's the big takeaway from all of this. You and I are incapable of doing what is necessary in and of ourselves to stand before the glory of God on that day. You can't do it. You can do all the great works you can imagine in this lifetime. You can be almost sinless and still not do enough to present yourself before the throne, blameless and with great joy. This is something that God alone can do. Listen to Spurgeon here. He says, alas, brothers and sisters, we are all liable to fall into errors of doctrine. The best taught man, apart from divine guidance, is capable of becoming the greatest fool possible. There is a strange weakness, which sometimes comes over noble spirits and which makes them infatuated with an erroneous novelty, though they fancy they have discovered some great truth. Men of inquiring and receptive minds are often decoyed from the old paths, the good old ways. And while they think they're pursuing the truth, they're being led into damnable error. He only is kept as to his thoughts and doctrinal views whom God keeps. For there are errors that would, if it were possible, deceive even the very elect." Our standing, not just before God on that day, our standing positionally before a thrice holy God is only possible because God himself has made it possible. The only claim you have to Jesus Christ as your Savior is because of the work that God has first done in you. Spurgeon goes on to say that there are some who would protest saying, oh, I thought you taught us that those who are once saved shall never finally apostatize. He responded saying this, he said, I do believe that doctrine and delight to preach it. Yet it is true that the saved ones would apostatize, every one of them, if the Lord did not keep them. We get the idea sometimes, I think, that once we're saved, we're on autopilot from that point forward. There's a great number of people in the world who believe that. You know, this is one of the Most deplorable aspects about the once saved, always saved are many an understanding of that doctrine. You know, this is the danger associated with having one walk an aisle or say a prayer and then congratulating them on gaining salvation forever. The proof is in how that salvation is demonstrated from that point forward. Will there be fruit? Will there be evidence that a work has been done in them? Or have they simply bought fire insurance and have assured themselves that because of what they did, they're safe and secure for all eternity? That's a big question. That's an important question. And that's the question that Jude actually answers here. Because if you think that anything you did was able to present you faultless before the throne of God, blameless and with great joy, if you think that there's anything that you can do currently to keep yourself in such a status as to make that possible one day, you're mistaken. Your very existence from day to day, even as a Christian is owing to God's favor. Like Spurgeon said, I believe in the doctrine of eternal security. I believe that all who are truly saved will be saved forever. I believe in John chapter six, where Jesus said, all who will come to me, all whom the father has given me will come to me. And those who come to me, I will in no wise cast out. I believe that I believe Romans eight 38 and 39, where we're told that there's nothing in the entire created realm. That's able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. But at the same time, I believe that it's all of God and it's all of grace. and grace leaves tracks, not tracts. Grace leaves marks, indelible marks on the soul that can be seen by a watching world. Again, the only reason you and I will be able to stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment will be because He is able. Because He is able to do what? to allow us to stand. That's another interesting part of this verse that we need to understand. It doesn't say that he's able to allow us to stand. He's able to make us stand. One of the greatest, most comforting, most reassuring of God's titles is the one that Jude uses here, referring to him as him who is able. What's implied here, of course, again, is the exclusivity of God and being the only one who is capable of doing for his children what we could never do for ourselves. Where we are utterly unable, he is able. What we cannot do, he can and will do as a testament to his faithfulness toward us. You might recall that Paul uses the same words in Romans 16, Romans 16, 25 through 27. Some of you say, well, we're not at Romans 16 yet. Well, I hope you've read it before now. It'd be a good thing, wouldn't it? Go ahead, read it, read it. But in Romans 16, 25 through 27, he says, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now as manifested by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of eternal God has been known to all the nations leading to obedience of faith to the only wise God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever, amen. I'll pause while the sidebar discussion continues. Paul uses this title again in Ephesians 3, 20 and 21. That's probably the most famous instance of that phrase. You know that passage. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. There's another great passage where a very similar phrase is used. Second Corinthians nine, eight. Here, Paul says that God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Let me ask you this. When is the last time you went to the Lord? in prayer to do nothing else but thank Him for being able. Again, a lot of the time we don't think in terms of those things. We take those things for granted. Of course He's able. He's God. He's omnipotent. He's able to do whatever He wants. But when is the last time that you went to Him in prayer for the sole purpose of thanking Him for being able? And not only that, for giving you the knowledge, the certain knowledge of His divine ability. Not only is He able to help you navigate life in the here and now, It's only because of his divine enablement that you and I will ever avoid stumbling and stand in his presence. I'm reminded of the first verse of a well-known hymn that we sometimes sing. My faith has found a resting place. not in device or creed. I trust the ever-living one. His wounds for me shall plead." And how does the rest of it go? I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. That's a testament to the ability of God. But wait, it gets even better. Know what Jude goes on to say about how we will stand before Him on that day. Will we stand before the Lord as many suppose? You know, one day, I've even heard Christians say this, you know, on the day of judgment, we're all gonna be shaking in our boots or sandals or whatever we're wearing when we get there, right? But we're all gonna be fearful and full of dread. Is that how we're going to stand before the Lord on the day of judgment? I've even heard Christians say, we'll stand before the judgment seat of God and he'll weigh our works or good works against our bad works. And then he'll determine at that point whether or not we're fit to go into heaven or not. Well, that decision's already been made. What the wonderful thing about what Jude tells us here is when we stand before the Lord on that day, we will do so blameless and with great joy. There's nothing to fear. Yes. And a whole lot of rewards that will then be taken off and cast back at his feet. You ever ask yourself why that will happen? That is the final and supreme acknowledgement that he and he alone is able. You think yourself to be gaining all these rewards? I've said before, you know, some of you, some of you dear brothers and sisters will get to heaven and you'll have this tottering crown of rewards. It'll be so heavy you can barely lift it. Some of us will go in with a sequined stuck right there. But it doesn't matter. It'll all be cast back at the feet of Christ. who is able. That will be the final acknowledgement that we're not able and never were. You know what makes grace so amazing? That's what makes grace so amazing. I'll borrow from Obama here. You didn't do that. He certainly didn't. Okay, we'll get off of here. As Paul said in Romans eight one, there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Can there be anything more joy inducing than that? Listen, if you really know yourself and just how undeserving you are, to receive God's gift of grace and salvation. And if you truly understand just how dreadful the judgment of God will be on those who would not believe. If you truly comprehend that on that day, because of His saving grace alone, you'll be standing where angels themselves have feared to trod If you understand any of this, you'll understand perfectly both the level and the kind of joy that Jude describes here. It's unlike anything you've ever experienced before. As Paul asks his readers, do you not know that one day you'll stand in judgment of angels? Do you not know what it means to be joint heirs with Jesus Christ? Do you not realize that in a way that you can't possibly comprehend, and neither can I, being a son or daughter of the Most High God is the epitome of eternal existence? Yeah, it's joy-inducing. I don't know how else to describe it. I mean, I can come close, I guess, in an earthly sense, but just think if, you know, if tomorrow someone walked up to you, I believe Ed McMahon's dead, so it's not gonna be him, but somebody with a publisher's clearing house, they walk up to your door and they say, guess what? Here's a check, which after taxes and everything, you're gonna have a million dollars a year for the rest of your life. Would that make you happy? Or what if somebody, what if Chris Mills swung by your house and said, look, I'm a realtor now, I can do this. And he took you out to the Dominion, to the most palatial mansion out there, and you stood there just gaga over this mansion and he drops the keys in your hand and says, it's yours, free. Can you imagine the excitement? Would that be joy inducing? Oops, stop it. Stop it with the sanctimony. Yes, you'd be giddy with joy. You'd be calling everybody over to enjoy your palatial mansion, maybe not. Maybe forget you knew anybody, right? What I'm saying though, eye has not seen, nor has ear heard what awaits us in glory. It's going to make the dominion look like the dump. Is that joy inducing? Amen. It's this singular truth that God alone is able to keep us from stumbling and to make us stand in the presence of his glory, blameless and great joy that compels Jude to end his letter with unbridled praise. In other words, you got to connect the two halves of Jude 24 and 25, because what he describes in 24 causes him to just burst at the seams with the praise that we find in verse 25. What does he say? What's not said there, which again, if you connect the two, what he's saying is in light of this wonderful truth that we will be presented before God blameless and with great joy. There's only one thing that can be said to the only God, our savior. Through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. And then amen, what's that mean? Let it be so. Let's just take a few minutes and break this down a bit. I mean, it's simple enough the way it stands, but we can learn some things here that we might not have known before. First of all, you'll notice that Jude seems to be referring to God the Father as Savior. There's an interesting thing. This shouldn't really be a cause for alarm because God the Father is referred to in this way at least eight times in the New Testament. Jesus is referred to as Savior about 15 or so times in the New Testament. What Jude is doing is actually similar to what Jesus himself taught in John 3 16. Remember what he says there? Of course you do. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. In other words, your salvation and mine was planned and purposed by God the Father in eternity past. We know that very well, namely through our studies of Paul's letter to the Romans, right? We went through a long series there on chapter nine, where the chapter eight and nine really, where salvation is discussed at length. And we know that Those of us who were saved, for example, were foreloved in eternity past by God the Father, who at that time had purposed that Christ would secure that salvation for us. This is why Jude says that all praise is due to the only God, our Savior. And how is this praise to be conveyed? Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, if you're reading the King James, you're not going to see this particular prepositional phrase because, once again, we have a case where it didn't really appear in the majority of the manuscripts that were available when the Textus Receptus was formed by Erasmus. It just wasn't available. And that doesn't really matter because the meaning is essentially the same. Listen to the KJV. KJV simply reads as follows, to the only wise God, our savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, amen. And why doesn't it matter that this phrase through Jesus Christ, our Lord is missing? Why is that not such a big deal? Number one, because it's taught elsewhere in clarity, right? We have examples elsewhere where this is the case. Number two, both God the Father and Christ the Son can be referred to as Savior, so there's no problem there. And the main reason is that the prepositional phrase, through Jesus Christ our Lord, really just clarifies that salvation is of God the Father through the mediatorial work of Christ. Again, scriptures replete with examples of how this is true. As theologians have observed, salvation was purposed and planned by who? The Father, secured by the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit. That's the Trinitarian understanding of your salvation and mine. God purposed it, planned it, in accordance with His perfect will, the Son, in the course of due time, secured that salvation for us on Calvary. The Holy Spirit came and applied that to us the moment we were converted, brought from death unto life. That's just the standard way that salvation is understood in that Trinitarian way. And which member of the Trinity Looking at it that way, which member of the Trinity is more deserving of our praise? Is it God the Father? Does He deserve the most praise because He planned it? Or is it God the Son because He secured it for us? Or is it the Holy Spirit because He applies it to us? Oh, you're so well taught. The answer is yes. To the one God and three persons, Jude writes, to Him. Be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Now, let me just say something that should be obvious. Well, let me rephrase that. I've promised I'm not going to use that kind of language anymore. Let me tell you something that might not be as clear to you as it needs to be. We don't understand here that Jude is suggesting that God needs to be given glory, majesty, dominion, and authority. When we praise God, it's important for us to understand this because we're living in a world in which praise is seen as our giving God something that He previously doesn't possess. So when we come and we praise God, we're not really giving Him anything that He doesn't already possess. What we're doing when we come to God in praise is we're acknowledging certain truths about Him. Jude is simply reminding us that God alone is worthy of all glory, all majesty, all dominion, and all authority. Now, what do these words mean? Well, the word glory is the word doxa. It's where we get the word doxology from, right? Doxa, it refers to that which is, now get this, it refers to that which is of intrinsic or inherent worth. Now why is that important? Because again, it's worth is not determined on the value we place on it. It's worth is determined intrinsically. It's worth is determined by virtue of what it's worth. Right? It's very important that we understand that. We need to understand that God is not worthy of our worship because we or anyone else have deemed him to be so. He's inherently worthy. He's not worthy because others have said he's worthy. He's worthy. I know that kind of rubs us the wrong way mentally. We just, we can't imagine anything that's of inherent worth. You know, you watch like the antiques roadshow. watching that one night and there's they brought in this it's an Indian artifact and it's like a peace pipe and it's like half broken and I'm like who cares I mean it's just it's ugly you know it doesn't look what's it worth to Tim Goad not a lot what's it worth to the owner well according to the appraisal it's worth $100,000 that's not intrinsic worth That's what it's worth to the appraiser, to someone who would pay that amount of money for it. When we talk about intrinsic worth, we're not talking about worth that's ascribed to something, we're talking about God possesses intrinsic value. How much? What's he worth? Everything. Why? Because he created it all. He's also megalosune. which is what the word majesty translates as, or is translated from. And megalosune means he is inexpressibly great. So here you have something of intrinsic or inherent worth, we can't even understand that concept really, because we place value on things. And in addition to that, we've got someone in God who is inexpressibly great. Say all the good things about him you will, he's greater still. Think of him in as large a terms as you can, in terms of that intrinsic worth, and he's greater still. You get the concept? It's where these words, I mean, words mean things. The same thing applies to his right to dominion. And again, dominion is a very particular word that It's selected among many other words in the Greek language, but it means something very important. Dominion here is translated from a word that means inherent power to rule all that is. We talk about this a great deal when we talk about the lordship controversy, don't we? People say, well, you know, you can have Jesus as your savior. And then at some point later, when you decide to be obedient to him, you make him Lord. No, no, no, no. He is Lord. Well, he's not my Lord. Yes, he is. Paul said to the Philippians, there's coming a day, one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. And that's every knee and every tongue in heaven and on earth will acknowledge him for who he is intrinsically. Not who they say he is, who he is. Again, these are difficult concepts for our minds to adjust to, especially in a postmodern world where people are like, well, you know, that man in the White House is not my president. I mean, even that you could say, okay, that's debatable. Cause I mean, you could move tomorrow. You could be like one of these stars who promised to move, which by the way, none of them have. Wait, wait, I think Miley Cyrus moved to England. That's good. It's good for the whole world. But, but I suppose you could say, well, you know, he's not my president and live for the next four to eight years and live in that fantasy world. Nobody is any the worse. You can't do that with God. Jesus Christ is Lord. There's no escape, right? There's nowhere you can go where he's not. That's the point I'm trying to make. You can go become a Mexican citizen tomorrow, and guess what? Trump's not your president anymore. I don't know who is, but if Freddie were here, he could tell us. But in addition to this glory, majesty, dominion, there's another word, and it's really meant to add emphasis to the word dominion, it's the word authority. What does the word authority mean? Dominion. What's the word dominion mean? Authority. What kind of authority? Inherent authority, absolute authority. Now, how long does this authority last? What does Jude tell us there? You know, we read in that Philippians passage that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Is that the day he becomes Lord? No. He's always been. That's what Jude tells us. He was worthy before time began. He's worthy now. And he will be worthy forever. I think I've shared this with you before, but the Puritans refused to refer to God's essential qualities as attributes. They were so concerned with being misunderstood that they would not call them attributes because to call something an attribute implies that it's something that we attribute to something else. They said, no, he doesn't have attributes. He has perfections. Perfections. That means whether you acknowledge them or not, they're still true. It means that you can't say anything greater about him. You can't say anything that will make him any less. God's qualities are essentially and inherently perfect. Well, I think you can see now why that ending is so important to the letter that it's attached to. If we would avoid falling prey to false teachers, If we would be those who are building ourselves up on our most holy faith, if we would be those who are consumed with glorifying God, if we would be those who, having been saved, will stand before the Lord on that day, blameless and with great joy, it will only be because He's able. Able to do what? Able to make us stand. where we could not stand on our own. And for that alone, God is deserving of every bit of our praise. Every bit of our praise. Jude just uses a few things to describe his inherent worth. I pray that in the coming days, as you grow in your understanding of the word of God, you'll find thousands more.