It is so sweet to trust in Jesus
and to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise
and to know, thus says the Lord. I have a simple message today,
just three words. We just sang it then. It's repeated
many times in various ways throughout the scripture, and we were just
briefly going to look at seven of them today. And it's simply
the words, He is able. He, our great God and sovereign,
is right now, always, under any circumstances, forever, The forever
is, is our God. He is able. He is able. That word is the word that we
get our word dynamite from. It's the word that means power. He is able. I think Todd Nyberg
said in one of his bulletin articles, he said, just a brief sentence,
he said, you cannot worship a God who is not absolutely sovereign. He is able. Our God is a God
of omnipotent ability. Omnipotent means that He has
all ability. He has all power. As He says
to Abraham, He says, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for Him? The things that are impossible
with man are possible with God. And he declares in Isaiah 46.10,
he declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done. And then he says, my counsel
shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Our God is able. He is able. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, we thank you for the declarations throughout scripture
of your character, and especially as your character is revealed
in your dear and precious Son, and especially, our Father, as
your character is revealed in the saving of your people. Heavenly Father, I pray that
you would be gracious to us again today, that we might leave our
time of fellowship here meditating on the fact that you are able,
able to do all that you have promised, able to do all the
good that you have promised your people and you're able to do
it for your good pleasure. Your counsel does stand and will
stand forever. Help us, Heavenly Father, again
to have our eyes fixed upon our Lord Jesus, who's both the author
and the perfecter, the finisher of faith. May He be raised up
amongst us. May we see Him as glorious and
sitting on that throne, that right hand of the throne of power,
reigning and ruling over all things for the glory of God and
for the good of His people. Help us to find ourselves at
rest and at peace and just simply trusting His word to us. We pray this in His precious
name. Amen. The power of God. The power of
God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass
whatsoever He pleases. Nothing is too hard for our God. He brings to pass whatsoever
His infinite wisdom decrees and directs. And He brings to pass
whatsoever the infinite purity of His will may resolve." So
says one of our Puritan fathers. Holiness is the beauty of all
God's attributes, so power is that which gives life to all
the perfections of the divine nature. Imagine if God was not
all-powerful. Scripture's saying we might as
well go to the beach or the pub or the brothel, just go and do
as we like, isn't it? If he's not able, his eternal
counsels, that eternal covenant is just vanity, isn't it? If
without his power, if he's not all-powerful, his love is just
a feeble pity, isn't it? A feeble emotion that carries
no weight. If he's not altogether powerful,
his promises are just empty words, like most of the words of most
of the people in this world. They are just vanity. Vanity
means empty. They're just empty. They're empty
of meaning, they're empty of any influence on other things.
So many people cry out for so many things. but just emptiness. What God speaks and God's promises,
they are backed up by the omnipotent, this almighty power of Him, and
His words have weight. What extraordinary words our
Lord Jesus said during His time here on this earth. Just imagine
there you were at the tomb of Martha and Lazarus, and the Lord
Jesus says, Lazarus, come out. And nothing happened. And nothing happened. We wouldn't
be here now, would we? He said to that crippled man,
he said, stretch forth your hand. We are here today because our
God is God. For Him to be God means that
He is powerful. His Word is powerful. He created
this universe by speaking a word. If He's not all-powerful, His
prayers and His intercession are of no benefit. What was the
difference on that last, that fateful night between Judas and
Peter? Both of them sinned wickedly,
and sinned grievously, and sinned openly against God. What was the difference? Peter,
Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. And then what does the
Lord Jesus say? But, but I have prayed for you. And he continues as that great
high priest. He prays and he's praying right
now for every one of his people in all the circumstances of their
life. And his prayers are powerful. If he's not powerful, all of
the warnings, and scripture is full of warnings, people do not
go to hell except by walking past the warnings and the warnings
and the warnings of God upon their lives all of the time.
His warnings are real warnings, they are powerful warnings. If
he's not all-powerful, his grace would be what modern religion
makes of it. Just a dead offer, sitting on
a table with no life, helpless, hopeless, unless someone else
exercises some power alongside his power. Thanks, Colin. God, as we read in Psalm 62 verse
11, God has spoken once, twice, I have heard this, that power
belongs to God. All power in all of this universe
belongs to God, and it belongs to God alone. In the beginning,
God. They're great words of grace,
aren't they? In the beginning God. Therefore
everything that comes after that is always going to come and must
come from God. And Paul finishes that amazing
passage in Romans 11 and he says those words, doesn't he? For
from him and through him and to him are all things. Let me read it again. For from
Him everything comes from Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. For from
Him and through Him everything comes to us. Through Him and
to Him all glory rebounds to Him. God's power is like Himself. He is self-existent, in the beginning
God. He is self-sustained. He gives power. He receives none. In fact, His power is almost
as a name for Him. The Lord Jesus said to those
people in that judgment time, He said, You'll see the Son of
Man sitting at the right hand of power. And before Him and
His power we perceive and are made aware of how powerless we
really are. creatures, not the Creator. He sustains, we must be sustained. And we see in this creation,
we see amazing displays of His power and we're awestruck by
how amazing they are. You go down to the tiniest things
that we cannot see, and what do we see? We see amazing complexity,
amazing wisdom, amazing design, and it's just awe-inspiring. And we look to this universe
and they take more and more pictures from these fancy telescopes,
and they are just remarkable. I don't know how much they play
around with the colours and things of them, but the latest pictures
from that Hubble Space Telescope and other things, are just amazing,
aren't they, and how big it all is. How big it all is. Why is it so big? It just has
to be that big, because it is just a faint reflection of how
great and big our God is. Imagine the wisdom and the intelligence
to actually sustain all that and to make it. The biggest star
is so big that if it were sitting where the sun is, we would be
inside it. Imagine putting something together
that big and sustaining its power. What does the scripture say about
our Lord Jesus? He sits at that throne of heaven,
in Hebrews 1, and He sustains all things. The only reason this
universe is hanging together right now, the only reason we
have a building to sit in and an earth to stand upon, He is the express image of His
person and He is upholding, right now, He is upholding all the
things by the word of His power. And when He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high. Creation reveals amazing power
of our God, but there is infinitely more power in the nature of our
God than is expressed in all of His works that we can see. It's beyond limit, isn't it? The power of God, like the wisdom
of God, has no bounds, the intelligence of God. the power of God. God spoke and it was done. He speaks a word and creation
comes into existence. He commanded and it stood fast. His first words in our scriptures
are light be and light was. How much light did he create
with that one word? And I don't know where the physicists
are at these days, but they were struggling just a little while
ago to even understand what light was, and how it sort of functions,
and all the physics behind it. They'll probably never get to
the end of it. He upholds all things. He is that mighty God
of Isaiah 9, and the government is upon His shoulders. The government
of what? The government of absolutely
everything is upon His shoulders. The Lord is the strength of my
life. May He be the strength of our
lives. Of whom shall I be afraid? If
He is my strength and I am held in those arms, those arms of
omnipotent power, I have no reason to be afraid of anything. He
is able Like I said, that word means
power and it means ability. It means might and strength and
force and capability and resources. He is all of those things. Now, great God, as I said, without
His power, all of His promises are just featherweight, aren't
they? They mean nothing, but He has
the power to bring to pass all that is decreed. We love to talk
about that Eternal Covenant. That Eternal Covenant is just
for us words, isn't it? But when it's clothed in His
words and His power, in His Son, revealed in his history, we actually
see and can rejoice and can rest. I can rest, I can find peace
in the midst of a messed up world because He is powerful and He
is faithful. So I was just going to look briefly
at these verses. The first one is in Daniel chapter
4 and the story is one of Nebuchadnezzar and it's a well-known story.
Daniel and his three friends were taken captive to Babylon
and they were raised and trained in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar.
And Daniel is given by the grace of God the ability to interpret
and to understand Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. And Nebuchadnezzar is
a man of great pride. Even though he had reason to
be humbled He was a man of great pride. And Daniel came with a
word from the Lord from Him in the beginning of chapter 4 about
a dream, about a dream of what would happen to him, what would
happen to him and his kingdom. And it did happen. It came after 12 months in verse
29. He walked in the palace of the
kingdom of Babylon. The king spoke and said, this
is what every king in his flesh says, isn't it? Is not this great
Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the
might of my power and for the honour of my majesty. What wicked words. What wicked
words that came out of his mouth. We've echoed them again and again,
brothers and sisters, haven't we? Our Adam flesh is just being
honest, isn't it, when it says those things. I have built my
might, my power and for the honour of my majesty. In Nebuchadnezzar, according
to the word of God, while that word was in the king's mouth,
verse 37, while he was speaking those very
words. their fellow voice from heaven
saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom
is departed. And they shall drive thee from
men and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
And they shall make thee eat grass like an oxen. Seven times,
seven years shall pass over thee until thou know that the Most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth to whomsoever
he will. He was driven from men and he
became like a beast of the field. His hair was wet with the dew
of heaven. His hairs were grown like eagles'
feathers and his nails like birds' claws. There was this great king
brought down. At the end of these seven years,
Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised
and honoured him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an
everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to
generation. and all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. And He does according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest
thou? At the same time, my reason returned
unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, and mine honour and
brightness returned unto me, and my counsellors and lords
sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent
majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar. Praise
and extol and honour the King of Heaven, whose works are truth
and his ways judgment to those that walk in pride. He is able
to abase. He is able. Our God is a God
who is a King in Heaven. All of his works, everything
he's done, are truth. They are truth. All of them are
done. They are true to His covenant.
They are true to His character. They are true to His word. All of them are true. His words
are true. It is impossible for God to lie,
says Titus 1 verse 2. And all His ways are judgement. All His ways are just. All His
ways are righteous. As the psalmist says in Psalm
119 verse 75, he says, I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments
are right. Everything that God does is right,
and that Thou, in faithfulness, has afflicted me. He is able. First point, He is able. that
those who walk in pride is able to abase, is able to bring them
down. He alone is able to expose pride. He alone is able to bring proud
hearts down to their right and proper place. He alone is able
to take an avenging saw and put him in the dust of his feet. He can do it in many ways, can't
He, our God? He can and He is able to bring
people down. He can do it through His works
of providence. You can read about that in Psalm
107. He can do it by His works of
judgment. Think of His judgments on Egypt
and Pharaoh. He brought them down. He's able
to do it in the hearts of His chosen ones. What a wonderful,
wonderful story we have of the prodigal son. Always a son, always
a son of the Father. Like us, gone off and squandered
the precious things, squandered as we did in our father Adam,
squandered the honor of being his son, and squandered our life
in this world until we are brought by the grace of God, brought
to a place like that prodigal, where we're living among the
pigs and starving. What a good place to be brought
to. You see all those who are sons,
turn quickly to Hebrews 12. I used to say to the students
in Hebron When you're dealing with so many of them and you
knew that they were getting away with far more than you could
ever discover, and you knew that their wickedness was spreading
like a cancer at times through other children, I used to say
to them again and again, the worst possible thing that can
ever happen to you in this world is for you to sin, for you to
sin against God and therefore sin against the people around
you and get away with it. What a great and awesome God
who is able. Verse 6 of chapter 12. For whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourges every son whom
he receives. If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? But if you are without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
the spirits and live? For verily for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure, but He, our great God, for our
profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. No chastening
for the present seems to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards
it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto which them
which are exercised thereby." God brings chastening. Maybe like the providigal, maybe
like the convictions of the Holy Spirit, maybe He'll bring that
chastening as He did to Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 6, if you read
the first five chapters of Isaiah, Isaiah was proclaiming woe upon
the nations around. And then in that year the King
Uzziah died. He was in the temple and he saw
the Lord God. He saw Him high and lifted up. He heard the angels crying, Holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. Then I said, verse 5, Woe is
me, for I am undone. It really means literally, I
am unraveled as a man. Here I am, I look like a man,
I look like a priest of God, I have these robes and I have
all of this position. And I'm unravelled. I'm unravelled. Because I'm a man of unclean
lips and I dwell in the midst of the people of unclean lips,
for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. brings down, abases the pride
of men by the revelation of himself. He does it to get great glory,
doesn't he? Isaiah is now undone. And then one of the seraphs flew
under me and had a live coal in his hand which he had taken
with tongs from off the altar, all of that representative of
our Lord Jesus. And he laid it upon my mouth
and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips and thine iniquity is
taken away. taken away completely and perfectly
and thy sin is purged. Our God, as Nebuchadnezzar said,
is a God who is a King in heaven. He works truth and He's true
to His word and His ways are judgment and He's just and righteous
and He expresses that in His ability to bring us down. What
a great God we have to bring us down to what we really are
and to rebuild us into what we really, really are in the Lord
Jesus. The next verse we're going to
look at is in Romans chapter 4. It's a passage of scripture I read
often to you. I trust it becomes more and more
precious the more times I read it. It's a great description
of Abraham. He believed in hope, didn't he? And his own body was dead. There
was he, an old man, an old, old man, dead. Dead to producing
children. His wife, dead to producing children. But he had something else, didn't
he? Abraham had a word from God. He staggered not, he stumbled
not at the promise of God, verse 20, through unbelief, but was
strong in faith, giving glory to God. If God would grant us
to be sons of Abraham, strong in faith and giving glory to
God. And what was the basis? Being
fully persuaded, verse 21, that what He had promised, He was
able to perform. All of God's promises are yes
and amen in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those covenantal promises that
are repeated again and again in the New Testament, that He
spoke to Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel, He spoke these amazing
words of promise, didn't He? that he was going to make this
eternal covenant. He says, Behold the days come,
says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah. This shall be the covenant
I will make with the house of Israel, says the Lord. After
those days I will put my law in their inward parts and write
it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be
my people. What an amazing promise. He will
work in the hearts of His people and He will call them His. And
they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know
Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the
Lord. Why? Because, for I will forgive their
iniquity. and I will remember their sin
no more." Our God promised. Abraham gave glory to God and
was strengthened in his faith. I want God to get glory from
the things that happen in my life. I want to be strengthened
in faith. I know how weak it is. But at
the end of the day, we have to go to God's Word, and those promises
have to be made real to us. It's that hope, isn't it, Titus
talks about, the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,
promised when? He promised before the world
began. He is able. He's able to make
a promise. He's able to keep a promise. And was He looking? Was He looking
to the ability of Abraham and Sarah in making that promise
or keeping that promise? Where did the ability lie? The
ability lied in Him. Like Paul says to the Corinthians,
he came in weakness of his flesh and he came preaching Jesus Christ
and him crucified, that your faith Stand not in the wisdom
of men, not in the cleverness of preaching, not in the wisdom
of men with all their elocution and all of their learning. Should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. He is able. He is able. The next one we'll just look
at briefly is Philippians 3.21. It's a great, amazing verse,
isn't it? "...who shall change our vile
body, shall change our body of humility, that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." What an
extraordinary mystery resurrection is. What an extraordinary promise
from God. What a remarkable thing. That
as Job said, isn't it, you know, even if He slay me yet will I
trust Him. And then he goes on to say, you know, with these
eyes, with this body of mine, there He was seeing in a scrap
heap. covered in sores, scraping his
sores away with broken bits of pottery, having lost ten children
and all of his possessions and all of his honour. And he says,
I know that my Redeemer lives, and with my eyes I will see Him
on this earth again. What a remarkable promise. What
a remarkable promise fulfilled in the glorious resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does he have now? What a
great description of our Lord. He has, according to these words,
doesn't he? He has a glorious body. How glorious is there? There
is a man in heaven right now with a glorious body. And He is a Creator, isn't He? He's a glorious, powerful Creator. He is able, He can fashion, He
can fashion this body of humility, this vile body, it can be fashioned
by Him like unto His glorious body. The promises are too big,
aren't they? We need a big God to make big
promises. We need a big God to keep big
promises. We need a powerful God. And that's
what it says, doesn't it? He does it, how does he do it?
According to the working. According to his working. In all of time, in all of history,
there is a working of God. He is able. He can fashion that
body out of our vile body. He can fashion a glorious body
like His body because He is able even to subdue all things to
Himself. He rules over all things. He's able to subdue all things
to himself. Satan is his devil. He rules, not Satan. It's not a competition. He subdues all things. He subdues chosen sinners to
himself. He subdues this world. He is ruling over this world. And it seems so often, doesn't
it, in these troubled times, and there have been troubled
times since we've walked out of the garden, that we have these
particularly troubling events going on around us in this world,
where in so much of the Western world now, even coffee shops
and not places of safety any longer. People are becoming more
and more troubled, and as this world winds its way to God's
purposes, the promise of God is that it will get worse. This
is from Abraham Booth who wrote in the 19th century, he said
the next century, he said it's going to be a religion, he's
talking about what Christianity will be like, he said it will
be a religion without the Holy Spirit, it will be Christianity
without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without
regeneration, without being born again. Politics without God. Heaven without Hell. It's a remarkably apt and accurate
description of this world that we live in. And the people of
this world will run around and get busier and busier and busier,
and it'll get worse and worse. And God, we must, brothers and
sisters, we must take these words as he states them. He is able,
he's able to subdue all things unto himself. It's never out
of control. It's a mess from our perspective.
It's never from his. He is perfectly in absolute sovereign
control of the bullets of these Muslims and their bombs, of the
thoughts of even the kings of this world. He has their heart. He steers the king's heart like
he steers a river. He is absolutely sovereign. He
is able. If he can rise from the dead
and he can change this fire body, sorting out Al-Qaeda, sorting
out the United States, sorting out the mess of Australia is
not a big problem for him. He made it that way. He made
it that way that we would find no place here where we can say
this is home. We will find no place here where
we can build our nest. He will subdue all things. to
himself. He promises that it will get
worse. The religion of this world is
going to get worse. The Christianity it's so called
is going to be more and more deceptive of more and more people.
It says, Paul as he's dying warns him, he says, shame, profane
and vain babblings. Empty babblings. for they will
increase unto more ungodliness." It will grow on, but our God
is sovereign and His purpose is to change these vile bodies. Why does He subdue everything
else? He subdues it for the glory of His name and for the glory
of His people in giving them glorious bodies. What great love
the Father has loved us with. What great love. Behold, he says,
look at it. Look at the law, behold what
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. That we should
be called sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now we are the sons
of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is." Resurrection. He is able. He is able. 2 Timothy is a verse that we've
looked at many times, and it's just a remarkable passage of
scripture, and it bears more meditation and study than we
have time for today, and I just wanted to briefly look at it
with you. We sing the song so often, doesn't
he? He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him. He's
able to guard that, and the word committed is to be like a deposit.
I've put my soul, all of my eternity, I've put it in the bank of heaven.
I've deposited it. He's able to guard it and to
keep it. These are remarkable statements,
aren't they? If you read around the verse you will find that
so much of this is reference to the power of God that we will
suffer, be partakers, verse 8, of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God. God's children are going to suffer,
but they're not going to suffer outside of the power of God,
they're going to suffer according to the power of God. And then we have this amazing
description of our God, isn't it? He's saved us. And He's called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace. And this grace is a grace that
was given, and it was given to us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. And then again and again He brings
these words out, the word manifest is now made manifest. It means
to be brought to light by the appearing That appearing is to
be brought to light again. Paul is talking again and again
about light, who has abolished death. Abolished death, brothers and
sisters, and has brought life and immortality to light through
the Gospel. Paul is appointed. He didn't
make himself a preacher, he didn't make himself an apostle, he didn't
make himself a teacher. He was appointed by God and he
suffers these things, he suffers the afflictions. And then he
says these great words, this great confession, great believer's
confession, isn't it? I know whom I have believed."
This is eternal life, says the Lord Jesus, that you know God
the Father and you know the Son. I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded, I trust, I'm convinced, I'm persuaded that He is able. He is able to keep that which
I've committed, my immortal soul. He's able to keep me. He's able
to keep me from temptation. He's able to keep me in temptation. He's able to keep me when I fall. He's able to keep our faith. He's able to keep us faithful. He's able to keep us looking
to Him. in the times of affliction Paul
is talking about. He's able to guard, he jealously
and zealously guards everything about his own. He's able to guard
all that we have committed to him. And briefly we'll look at
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 18, another great description of his ability
and a great description of his character. for in that he himself has suffered
being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted."
That word succour is an amazing word. In the original it means
to cry, to run to a cry is what it means. What a great description
of our God, our Saviour. He's able to run to a cry. He's able to run to that cry
and to help and to aid and to comfort. The people called out
in the New Testament, didn't they? They said, Lord, help me. Lord, said the leper, if you
will, you can make me clean. And the Lord Jesus responds in
the most amazing way in His incarnation to the requests of people. What
does it say about Him? He became a man. He became a
man, He became one like us to be one with us. He became a man
to suffer and to suffer temptation. He was touched with the feeling
of our infirmity, our infirmities. There is nothing that ever befalls
any child of God that the Lord Jesus hasn't experienced with
a greater degree of intensity and understanding and feeling.
That's why He understands what it is to cry. He cried. He cried to His Father. to aid and to comfort, to run
to with comfort, because He knows what it is to be touched with
these feelings. He knows what it is to live in
this flesh. He was without sin, perfect and
holy, but He does understand. We cannot say He doesn't understand
and He doesn't know. He is able. He is able, He is
powerful to care for, to comfort. Hebrews 7.25 is in a great verse,
isn't it? Wherefore He is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He
ever lives to make intercession for them. Here we have a great
description of effectual atonement and infallible grace. How on earth, other than with
the greatest contrivance of men, could you possibly go to these
scriptures and come away thinking that the Lord Jesus somehow died
for people and somehow intercedes for people and somehow those
people could be lost? that He might love them and lose
them, that He might die for them and then them be punished again
in hell. Our God, as we read in Daniel
4.37, His works are truth and His ways are judgment. His ways
are righteous. He's able to save. He's able
to save to the uttermost. He's able to save completely
and perfectly and fully. He is. He's able to do it because
He now lives. He liveth. He lives and lives
and lives. And He makes intercession for
whom? He makes intercession for them.
Isn't that amazing? Our God, our Saviour, is now
living and is now making intercession. He's able to save. He is able to save. By Him we have access to the
Father, to the throne of grace. And He brings them, doesn't He?
He brings His own. He carries them on His heart.
He carries them on His shoulder and He brings them in to the
Holy of Holies and He intercedes His blood, His righteousness
before the throne of grace and He makes intercession for them. Just like we said earlier about
Peter, He says, I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you
that your faith fail not. I have prayed. Powerful praise
of a great God. And finally the one that we sing
so appropriately at the end of our services in Jude 24. Now
unto him that is able to keep you from falling and
present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy." He's able. He is powerful. He's able to
keep and He's able to present. And it's not as if this is a
burdensome thing for Him, is it? It's for the joy set before
Him. He endured the cross. He does
it with exceeding joy, brothers and sisters. Exceeding joy. Exceeding joy. He is able. He is able to bring the proud down. He is able to honour His promises. He's
able to change these bodies to be like His glorious body. He's
able to subdue all things. He's able to keep what I have
committed to Him. He's able to come and run and
comfort when we are tempted. He's able to save completely
and He's able to keep. He's able to keep and He's able
to present and He's able to do it all with exceeding joy. That's why Jude finishes, doesn't
he? For the only wise God, our Saviour. Be glory and majesty
and dominion and power for now and forever. May God grant us
the grace that His words, His able, might fall from our lips
and fall into our thoughts again and again, no matter what the
circumstances. May they cause us to look to
Him again and again and again, to trust Him for His grace and
to trust Him in His providence. Let's pray.