Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I am going to be speaking to
you today from the book of Jude. Jude is a very short book. There's only one chapter in this
epistle But this is a wonderful letter And I'd like for us to
look at the last two verses in this book just before Revelation
the book of Jude verse 24 says Now unto him That is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. That's wonderful, isn't
it? Now, this is what I would like
for us to find out. This is what I would like for
us to see. Jude said he is able to keep
you from falling. That's what Jude said. Here's
the question I would like for us to ask. How do we know? How do we know? How do we know
that He is truly able? We're gonna one day go out into
eternity. We're gonna stand before God.
We're gonna be judged. And we put our trust in Him.
We are putting our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we
know? Jude says he is able to keep
you from falling. How do we know? How do we know? How can we be sure? How can we be sure? Turn with me to a few scriptures. The first one is in Daniel chapter
3. Daniel chapter 3. King Nebuchadnezzar
made a golden image. large golden image, and he told
everybody in the kingdom to bow down and worship this image. That was the decree of the king,
the command of the king. He said he wanted everyone to
bow down to this image he had made. But three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, they wouldn't do it. They would not do it. And it says in verse 13, Then
Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Bring them to me. Then they brought
these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said
unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not
you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have
set up? Now, if you be ready that at
what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, if you fall down
and worship the image which I have made, well, it'll go well with
you. But he said, if you worship not,
you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning,
fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands? I'm gonna throw you in the furnace.
And what God is able to deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. This is
not a hard decision for us. If it be so, if you throw us
into that fire, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver
us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of
thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O King. that we will not serve thy gods,
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." They said, our God is able to
deliver us. We are not careful over this
matter. We're not going to fret over this, not at all. Our God,
if you throw us into that furnace, our God is able to deliver us.
If he's willing, He is able to deliver us. Now, here's my question.
How did they know? How did they know? How could
they be so sure? How could they say with such
confidence? No doubt about it. How did they know? It hadn't
happened yet. How did they know? How could
they say it and believe it with such conviction? Well, let me show you another
scripture. 2 Timothy 1. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 12, the
apostle Paul said, for the witch cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day." I'm fully persuaded that he is able
to take care of everything. Take care of everything. I'm
absolutely convinced that he is able to take care of everything
that I've committed unto Him against that day, that great
day of judgment, that great day where I stand before the throne
of God. I've committed everything into the hands of Jesus Christ. I have committed all of my sin.
My sin must be dealt with. I have committed that into the
hands of Jesus Christ. I've committed my life, my salvation,
and I'm fully persuaded that He is able to take care of every
bit of it." What made him so persuaded? What made him so persuaded? Honestly, how did he know? How did he know? Let me give
you one more. Hebrews 11. If you look with
me at Hebrews 11, it says in verse 17, by faith, Abraham,
when he was tried, offered up Isaac. We know this story of
Abraham and Isaac. The Lord told Abraham to take
Isaac up to the top of Mount Moriah and offer him there as
a sacrifice for sin. offer a burnt offering and it
says here in verse 17 by faith Abraham when he was tried offered
up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed
be called he took him up there to kill him knowing that God
said through this boy a great number of people are gonna come.
Verse 18, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed
be called. He did that, verse 19 says, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. From whence also he received
him in a figure. Abraham was going to go ahead
and kill him. That's what he purposed in his
heart to do. He said, I'll take him up. God told me to do this.
I'm going to believe God, obey God, and I'm going to kill my
son because he believed that God was able. He believed this
with all of his heart. All of his heart. He believed
God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. Now, what made him believe that? What made Abraham believe that? How could he know that? How could
he kill his son being absolutely convinced of that in his heart?
As of that moment in time, that had never happened before. No
one had ever been raised from the dead. Abraham had no example
to go on. He couldn't say, well, I've seen
God do this before and so I'll trust he'll do it again. That
had never happened before. How could he know? How did all of these people know
and how can we know? How can we know that he truly
is able to deliver us to take care of everything that we have
committed unto Him, to raise us up. And as Jude says in our
text, keep us from falling. How do we know? How do we know? We have three reasons. I'd like
to give us three reasons. He is able for three reasons. Number one, We know he is able
because of who he is. We know he's able because of
who he is. Who are we talking about? Who
are we talking about? Who is the one that will deliver
us, take care of everything we've committed unto him, raise us
up and keep us from falling. Who are we talking about? Well
look with me back at our text which is Jude chapter 1 verse
25 says, to the only wise God our Savior. We're talking about our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 121 says, call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. He is the one who is able. He is the one who is able. Now,
how do we know he's able? Number one, because of who he
is. Who is he? Verse 25 says, to the only wise
God. To the only wise God, our Savior. He is God. He is God. Jesus Christ is God. God saved us. Have we ever really thought about
that? God saved us. God came down. God came down. Philippians 2 says the Lord Jesus
Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Why would
he think that? Why would he think it was not
robbery to be equal with God? The reason is because John 1
verse 1 says he was God. He is God. God himself. A little baby was born from the
womb of a virgin. A little baby came from the womb
of the virgin. And the angel told both Joseph
and Mary, you call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us. God. God. Isaiah 9 verse 6 says, for
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God. The Mighty God. I heard a man
say one time, I heard a man make this statement. He said, aren't
we so glad God sent Jesus? That's the statement the man
made. He said, and it sounds at face value like a good statement. Aren't we so glad God sent Jesus? Here's the thing about that statement.
God didn't send Jesus. God sent himself. God sent Himself. To say that God sent Jesus is
to imply that Jesus works for God. That's what it sounds like. He's on an errand for God. God
sent someone on an errand for Him. It sounds like He is the
faithful servant of God, but that's not who He is. That's
not who He is. He is not just God's servant. He is God Himself. God Himself. The very God. The Son of God
the Trinity. And this is important to understand. This is so important to understand.
Men and women think of the Trinity as in a vertical line. God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. That's not how it
is. These three are one, equally one. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Spirit. These three are God. The Father of God, the Son of
God, the Spirit of God. God. God Himself. If He was just a man like you
and me, just a good, fine, moral man, knowing even that he was
a better man than you and me. Knowing that, we still couldn't
put our trust in him. We still could not. I have yet
to meet a man that I can fully put my trust in, and you have
too. You have yet to meet just a mortal
man that you can completely put your trust in. If he was just
an angel, If God sent an angel, we still could not put our trust
in him. Jude tells us in the chapter
there that a third of the host of the angels fell. They fell from heaven. They fell
from their standing with God. They fell into sin. And they're
being reserved unto the day of judgment in chains, it says.
But that's not who he is. If that's all he was, we could
not put our trust in him, but that's not who he is. He is not
just a man of God. He is not just an angel of God. He is the very God himself. The
very God himself. Over in 1 Timothy chapter 3,
it says in verse 16, this is a wonderful verse of scripture.
It says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God, it was God himself who came
down. And then it says, God was justified
in the Spirit. Justified in the Spirit. The
Spirit said, the Holy Spirit said, yes, He's God. He descended
on Him like a dove. This is the One. This is God
manifest in the flesh. And then it says, He was seen
of angels. And every angel that saw Him
said, yes, He's God. He's God. And it says he was
preached unto the Gentiles. I'm a Gentile. And I would imagine
I'm preaching to many other Gentiles. Preached unto the Gentiles. This
is God. This is God. And then it says
he was believed on in the world. Right now, through the preaching
of the gospel, I'm so thankful someone preached me the gospel,
told the truth to me. God sent a man to tell me the
truth, and I believe this is God. I believe this is God. And verse 16 says God Almighty
was received up into glory. Received back up into glory.
He's able because of who He is. Number one, because of who He
is. He is God. Number two, The second
reason we know he's able is because of what he did. What he did. Now, what did he do? Well, Philippians
chapter 2 says, he made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant. The form of a servant. And was
made in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. He humbled himself. No man humbled
him. He humbled himself. No man forced
him to go to that cross. He went on that cross himself. He said, I laid down my life. He humbled himself. and he became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." What does
that mean to say Christ died on the cross? He humbled himself
and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross?
Everyone knows he died on the cross, but What is that saying
he accomplished? To say it's because of what he
did. Yes, he went to the cross. But
what did he do? What did he accomplish? What
does that mean? Hebrews 1 says, that means he
by himself purged our sins. By himself. We don't purge our
sins through our own doing. We don't purge our sins by trying
to obey the deeds of the law. He, by himself, with his own
blood, purged our sins. If a sinner is going to be saved,
there's one way. Through the blood that Christ
shed on that cross. He, by himself, purged our sins. What the law could not do. That's what Romans 8 says. Obedience to this law, what it
could not do. And what the blood of bulls and
goats could not do. That's what Hebrews 10 says.
This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down. He sat down. Why did he sit down? Because it was finished. It was
finished. The work was over. Somebody will
say, well, I'm pretty sure I'm following you. I'm trying to
follow you and I think I understand what you're saying, but just
so I can be clear, what exactly was finished? To say it is finished. What was finished? What exactly
did he do? Well, turn with me to Colossians
2. If you have your Bible, you'll
want to see this. Colossians 2, verse 13. It says, and you,
me and you, and you being dead in your sins. That's where we
all are by nature. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, Hath he quickened together
with him? God quickened us together with
Christ. Having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us. We had so many
judgments against us. You've broken this law, you've
broken this law. It was all recorded, all written
down in verse 14 says, blotting out. with blood, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. He took every ordinance that
the law had against us, and he nailed it to his cross. And then
he willingly hung himself on that cross. And he suffered the
punishment of the law. He suffered the judgment of God
in our place. Because of the blood he shed
on that cross, all of our trespasses are now blotted out, forgiven. We are forgiven. It's done. It's
done. The first reason he is able is
because of who he is. He's God Almighty. The second
reason he is able is because of what he did. He paid the price
of our redemption to the last cent. Every bit of it. He paid
it all the way to the end. Suffered all the wrath, left
nothing undone. Now the third reason we know
he is able is because of where he is right now. Where is he? Philippians 2 says, God the Father
is well pleased with him and has highly exalted him. Highly exalted him. Hebrews 1
says, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake
in time past unto us by the fathers and the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son. whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being in
the brightness of his glory, in the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high. Our God is seated in the heavens
on the right hand of the majesty on high. Thy throne, O God, is
forever." That's what God the Father said to God the Son. He
wears the crown of sovereignty as the King of kings and Lord
of lords. Peter said we were eyewitnesses
of His majesty. We saw the King. We saw the King. He is right now the eternally
reigning King of all heaven and earth. and he does whatever he
pleases to do. Whatever he pleases to do. That
is the reason he is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. Three reasons. May God reveal
them to us and bless them to our hearts. Till next week, may
the Lord bless his word. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.