May I please the Lord to bless
us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the epistle of
Jude and we'll read the last two verses. Verses 24 and 25.
The epistle of Jude, verses 24 and 25. 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 Saviour. Be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and ever. Amen. It will be a great and a wonderful
blessing if our concern is that whatever the Lord does for us
and the way he leads and directs us, we may have that desire that
they might all be for his glory and majesty, dominion and power
both now and ever. as James concludes his epistle
with these words. And may we be constantly reminded
that our little life, and it is a little life, and it's an
insignificant life really, should have this constant concern that
those things which occur in our lives bring us to this blessed
consideration and desire that the Lord God our Saviour may
be glorified and that his majesty and dominion and power may be
exalted and that it is our desire to set forth the greatness of
our God and the amazing mercy and the amazing love of such
a great and holy God to such unworthy sinners of the earth
and to stand amazed to realize that although our God is so great
and so powerful, yet he graciously and gloriously condescends to
men and women, boys and girls of lowest state to speak to their
souls and to confirm to them that they are part of his blessed
family and that one day by his grace they will be around the
throne of God in heaven. Now that should be our constant
concern and our constant desire. And we should never forget that
these are the great and important issues of our life. And yet,
you see, we live in time and we live in a world, a fallen
world. We live in a world that Satan
rules over in so many ways. He's not of course the ultimate
ruler, the Lord God is, but nonetheless the Lord has allowed him to enter
in and to deceive Adam and Eve and to deceive the whole human
race. And so how we need to be very
aware in our little lives that we're not deceived, although
we are in some things, but to be kept close to our God. And so we have these gracious
words the end of this epistle of Jude where he says, now unto
him that is able, isn't it a wonderful blessing to know we have such
a great God who is able, he's able to do for us far more and
exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or even think. Let us never minimize the greatness
of God. Let us always lift up our God
and let us always realize that He is able to do everything for
us. Never forget the greatness of
God. Sometimes we may limit our God. Sometimes we may fail to pray
to our God. We may fail to come to Him. We
may perhaps be found struggling on ourselves in so many things,
in natural things and spiritual things. But what a blessing it
is when the Holy Spirit directs us to realise this great truth. He is able. He is able. Hymn writer says, He is able.
He is willing. Doubt no more. It's one of the
problems we have, isn't it? the evil heart of unbelief, doubting
our God, doubting Him, even when we come in prayer. And the reality
is, in such a situation, we are not really praying, because we are not praying in
faith. We come in faith doubting nothing,
but believing that we come before an almighty God. So often we
have small views of God, small views, but may we be blessed
with great views to be able to come and commit ourselves into
the hand of our God in every eventuality, knowing that that
which he does for us will be best. The Lord never makes any
failures. It's a wonderful thing to know.
that this is the favour and blessing of Almighty God. You may remember
the familiar account, I hope it's familiar, in the book of
Daniel, where we read of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, those three
godly men, who would not bow down to the image that Nebuchadnezzar
had set up. And when they were told that
if they didn't, they would be thrown into the burning fiery
furnace. And that wasn't just a jest,
that was a real fact. And so, what was the response
of these three godly men? It's always worthwhile reading
the Word of God and taking note of what God's people, how they
acted and how they responded. And this is what they said. Oh
Nebuchadnezzar, he was the king, we are not careful to answer
thee in this matter. Now remember they've been told
that if they didn't bow down to this image they would be cast
into the burning fiery furnace. This is what they say, if it
be so 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.' Now, there was a very clear statement made here by
these three men before this king, and they were, of course, testifying
of their belief in their God. And this is really one of the
great issues that we should always be concerned to testify of our
God. How many times we read of that. In David's case, when he was
before the king to go and fight with Goliath, his
confidence was in his God and he was able to say that he will
deliver me. He's God. how necessary it is
for us to acknowledge that perhaps we fail let's pray we may not
fail when we're in the world when we're amongst the world
to acknowledge this fact that we do believe in the Lord God
and it's through him that we will be delivered it's through
him we will receive help and it's not our own ability it's
not our own skill it's all of grace it's all of his favour
And that's why Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were able to come
and to speak in this way in a humble confidence. It was a humble confidence
when they said, Our God whom we serve, may we be found serving
the Lord. Are we serving the Lord? That's
the great issue, isn't it? Are you and I serving the Lord?
whom we serve is able to deliver us. Yes, they realised he was
able, but they were also willing to bow before him. And they said,
but if not, then we'll bear that which will
come upon us. You may remember there was a
wonderful outcome. The king was furious. And people
are furious. when we speak about God. He was
furious and therefore he commanded that the furnace should be heated
seven times hotter and these men thrown into the burning fiery
furnace. And so they fell down into the
furnace. But then we're told Nebuchadnezzar
was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said unto
his counsellors, did not we cast three men? bound into the midst
of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt. And the fourth man, the fourth,
is like the Son of God. Now what a wonderful consolation
that was, that the Lord is with them. The Saviour was with them
in that burning fiery furnace. And the result was the fire had
no effect upon them. There was no smell of burning
upon their clothes. There was a complete deliverance. And so what they were able to
commence their speech to the King came to pass. Our God whom
we serve is able to deliver us. How necessary then in our little
lives that we may be able to come and confess before men our
God, our God. He is able. He is able to provide
for us. He is able to deliver us. He
is able to speak to us. He is able to encourage us. This
is the great God. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. This is the God that has not
changed. This is the God that brought the world and the universe
into being. He spoke it into being. This
is the greatness of our God and you see how few people are willing
to believe this great truth and expect to be mocked, expect to
be derided. But what a blessing to have God
on our side so that we can come and testify that we then don't
go in our strength, we go in the strength of the Lord God.
And Paul goes on to say, and to make mention of his righteousness
even of thine only. What a blessing it is if we are
able therefore to testify of whom we believe. whom we believe,
how many today do not want to confess whom they believe, and
yet we don't want the Lord to turn away from us, do we? We
don't want the Lord to say when we come to that great day of
judgement, and the Lord says, I never knew you, depart from
me. No, we want to be acknowledged, and we should only be acknowledged
as we receive that grace from our God. do those things which
are right and well-pleasing in his sight. Now unto him that
is able, and what is this great God able to do? Well Jude gives
us a few points. He is able to keep you from falling. You may remember the Apostle
Peter knew what it was to fall and therefore it's a good necessary
example we have before us in the Word of God, to never think
that you and I possess strength ourselves to stand firm against
the temptations of Satan. We have no strength ourselves.
Don't rely on your natural strength. Only rely upon the strength of
Almighty God, because Peter relied on his strength. He said he would
never deny The Lord, he would never deny. In actual fact, he
would go and die with him. Just a few hours later, he was
denying the Lord with oaths and curses. And don't think you wouldn't
be like Peter. And that's why the apostle Peter
is able to write these words, kept by the power of God. The Lord is able to keep us. He was able to keep Peter. But you see, Peter had to learn
a very painful lesson. It was a very painful lesson.
And my friends, if you and I left to ourselves to deny the Lord
Jesus Christ, it would be a very painful lesson. And it may not
always be in words. It may just be in attitude. And
you may say, well, just explain what that means, what it means
by attitude. Well, I'll tell you what it means.
If perhaps the talk gets round to religion, and you're a bit
worried that they might ask you what you think and what you believe,
and therefore what do you do? Well, you try and change the
conversation. Well, that is not doing that
which is in accordance with the Word of God, is it? No, you are
really denying the Lord God. And you pray then that you might
be kept from doing that. Yes, kept by the power of God. It's only the power of God that
can keep you and me in those situations. As I often say, true
and real religion is always costly. It's never a smooth ride. It
never will be. Because you have that great adversary,
the devil, who's always trying to dislodge you out of the way. and to make you speak that which
is not right. Well, the apostle tells us, therefore,
kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time. Yes, he is able to keep us. And it's good to pray the prayer
that Lord Jesus gave to his disciples when he said, lead us not into
temptation, and deliver us from evil. And the Lord is able to
do that. But my friends, we are told,
the Lord says, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do these things for them. We're often negligent in our
prayers for such things. But may we indeed pray such a
prayer every day that the Lord will deliver us, lead us not
in temptation and deliver us from evil. Because left to ourselves,
we are not able to resist temptation. We're not able to resist it.
But bless God, He is able. He is able to give us that strength. He is able to support us. And it's a wonderful blessing
that when the Lord gives us that strength and that faith to believe
in Him, it's as though the Lord is with us. We're not alone. And what is the effect? We're going in the strength of
the Lord God. Yes, the Lord helps us. He is able. He's able to do for
us that which we thought perhaps we wouldn't be able to do ourselves.
He gives faith. He gives strength. He is able.
Never underestimate the power and the greatness of our God.
And so, Naan Hinda is able to keep you from falling. It's a
very important aspect because we do so easily fall, don't we?
You think of David. There was David, he fell, didn't
he? So sadly into sin. Adultery with
Bathsheba and then murdering her husband. Tragic, isn't it? Well, what a blessing it is to
pray and to know that the Lord is able to keep us from falling. And you see, just to pause for
a moment and think of David. You see, David wasn't doing what
he should have been doing. He should have been out fighting
the enemy. But he was there on his rooftop taking it easy. It's
very dangerous to find that you and I are not using our time
wisely. And if we don't use our time
wisely, you see, we can be open to temptation. That's what David
was, open to temptation. And he easily fell under it and
left to ourselves, you and I will fall under it as well. So remember,
he is able to keep us from falling. What a blessing it is to know
that we do have such a God. But my friends, do pray. that
that may be so. Don't assume that you've got
any strength in yourself. When you think you've got any
strength in yourself, you're about to fall and you're about
to learn a hard lesson. Pray to God. Remember, he will
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do these things for
them. None to him that is able to keep
you from falling. And then as it is, he jumps on,
jumps ahead. to, as it were, the end of our
life. And what a wonderful picture
we have here. This great God is able to keep
us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. These words are really hard for
us to understand. when we look at ourselves and
see how sinful we are. Well, I hope we look at ourselves
and I hope we do see how sinful we are because we are, and each
one of us, are vile and wicked sinners before a holy God. And if we have a right view of
that, it will be so amazing to think that this great God, who
is able to do this for us, unworthy as we are, to take us Individually. Individual sinners. And it is
individually. It's not collectively. We each
have an ever-dying soul. We've each got to either end
up in heaven or hell. And there's no great areas in
the things of God. The Word of God is very plain
and it's very clear. And so may you and I be found
then in the right way and blessed with this wonderful favour of
Almighty God. Because if the Lord keeps us,
then you see we can believe This will be the outcome by His grace
to present you faultless. Well, we should never be faultless
in ourselves because we will be sinners right to the end of
our life. And that because of our old nature,
that nature with which we were born. Born in sin and shapen
in iniquity, the Word of God tells us. And that's because,
of course, of the sin that Adam and Eve committed in in the Garden
of Eden, and that sin passed upon all men, and how sad and
tragic it was. What a day, what a sad day, the
worst day in the history of the world, when Adam and Eve were
taken in by that wicked, evil serpent. And well, all creation
groans through that, and you and I today groan because of
it, because we are sinners indeed. And so it's amazing to think
that here we have this statement to present us faultless. How is that going to happen?
Well, it can't happen, of course, if it relies on ourselves, if
it relies on our own life, our own natural life, because we
will never be faultless. But how are we faultless? We're
only faultless as we are washed in the Pilad of the Lamb. That
means we're only faultless as we're favoured to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ, as we're able to come and to cast all our burden
and all our cares upon him. It's a great blessing to be able
to come to the Lord in that way, casting all your care upon him,
for he careth for us. And that means what it says,
casting all your care, all your sins, all your shortcomings,
all your failures, present them to Almighty God and pray for
that forgiveness. And the Lord tells us, if we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the blessed truth of
the gospel. And what a mercy it is then to
have such words and to realize that through what Christ has
done, we shall stand faultless. We shall be presented faultless.
Because we are clean. We're clean. And what a cost
it has been to produce that cleanness. This is where the Gospel is so
wonderfully glorious, isn't it? To think that you and I, hell-deserving
sinners, with no hope in ourself, no hope in ourself at all, and
if you have, you have to get rid of it. because there's nothing
good in our flesh. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit convinces us of it and shows us His glorious grace in
granting us the wonderful favour of the new birth and giving to
us that new heart, giving to us that new life, giving us the
wonderful favour of Almighty God. Well, when the Holy Spirit
comes and gives us these blessings, what are we? We're a new creature. You're a new creature. Is that
true? Do you know that? A new creature. You're a new
person. You've still got your old nature. But there's a new
nature. Oh, bless God. And the new nature
seeks after the things of God. The new nature seeks after union
with Christ. The new nature seeks that you
may know personally the blessed application of the truth of God
and the blessed application of the blood of Jesus Christ which
cleanses from all sin. All sin. And don't forget, all
sins need to be washed away. No sinner with any sin will enter
into glory because glory is a holy place. There's no sin in heaven,
no sin at all. And so it is so important that
the Lord has died to take away our sin. And the plan of salvation,
the plan of salvation which was agreed in eternity past between
the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit was this, that because
of man's fallen nature, fallen situation, he was unable to save
himself, he was unable to redeem himself. And therefore the only
begotten Son of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, willingly
came into this sinful world in order that he might redeem his
church, redeem his people. And that's the great important
issue that all of us need to know, that we are redeemed. We are redeemed. We do possess
the wonderful blessing of the shed blood of the Saviour upon
us so that we are clean, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
The glorious theme of redemption flows right through the Word
of God. And my friend, has it come into our hearts, flowed
there into our hearts, the glorious truth of redemption. Do you praise
God for it tonight? Do you bless God for the Saviour? Do you bless God for that finished
work? The work completed upon Calvary's
cross to present you faultless. We won't be presented faultless
unless we are those whom the Lord Jesus Christ has died for. A number that no man can number,
But the important thing is, am I one? Am I one of those? It
becomes very personal, doesn't it? You and I have got to spend
eternity somewhere. And are we going to spend it
in glory? We will only spend it in glory if we are faultless.
And we can't spend it and we can't be faultless unless the
Lord has taken away our sins because we've got so many faults. They're numerous, aren't they?
And they grow. They get less. So think of this. This is the Word of God. Oh,
my friends, what a blessing. Now unto him that is able to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory. The
presence of his glory. You know that will be such an
amazing day, won't it? I say a day, it will be the end
of time. It will be the last day of the when time is no more,
when everyone will come and have to stand before that judgment
seat of Christ. Eternity will be continuing. We've no idea how long the judgment
will take. But what we do know is that everyone
will stand there. You will stand there. I will
stand there. No one to help us. Naturally,
no one to hold your hand. No one to give you the words
to speak. will all be in that same condition. And if we are
not amongst those who are faultless, we shall be speechless. We will
not be able to justify ourselves. We will be unjust, unrighteous. But if we are amongst those who
are faultless, it will be because we are amongst those whom the
Lord has chosen eternity past and as the Lord said when he
wrote when he spoke in the upper room you have not chosen me we
never would do don't think you would you have not chosen me
but I have chosen you individually and ordained you for what purpose
that you should go and bring forth fruit for the honor and
glory of God and that your fruit should remain, there should be
the evidence of it. And so to present you faultless, isn't
it a great truth to think that the Lord Jesus will present us
faultless before his throne? One of those whom he has come
specifically into this world for, and to live that perfect
life, in order that you and I might reign with him eternally in glory,
faultless before the presence of his glory. And to think then
the Lord speaks these wonderful words with exceeding joy, exceeding
joy to present us before that throne, exceeding joy. It's hard to believe, isn't it?
To think that we as such sinners of the earth should
ever be found in such a glorious condition and situation as this. And yet, the truth of the Gospel
is that the plan of salvation was to redeem his people, his
church, so that they would be faultless and they would spend
eternity with him in glory. And of course in that situation
there would be that continual praise unto our God. Now this
again becomes a separating position because the true Church of God
realized by the grace of God what a debt they owe a debt they
will never be able to repay, a debt which was taken away and
paid for by the Saviour. The ransom price of their salvation
was His precious blood, His death upon the cross at Calvary. And
they will therefore be there around that throne of God in
heaven, praising God. But you see, those who have not
received this, they would not find glory attractive. They would not find spending
eternity in praising God attractive. Well, it's a question, isn't
it, to answer. Would you tonight, would you
be so blessed to be found praising God eternally for the great salvation
he's brought to you and the wonderful cost it was the amazing cost,
and would you be so glad to have the opportunity to praise God
eternally? When I was young, I remember
very clearly, I was in a situation where I did not want to go to
hell, and I did not want to go to heaven. Neither of those places were
attracted to me. I had no desire for hell. I had
no desire for heaven. So you might say, well, so what
happened? Well, I remember, I think I heard
somebody preach or read to pray to God for a desire for a desire for heavenly things. Now that's a good position and
it's good if you and I are honest before God and honest to ourselves
and don't go on in life making the assumption, well I'm going
to heaven. You won't go to heaven unless you desire to go to heaven
and you won't desire to go to heaven unless you desire to praise
and honour the Saviour. And that means If you don't view
Jesus Christ as precious, there's no value. There's no reality. Your life is empty. You're destitute
of the vital need that you have to receive to be found in glory. And that of course is the love
of the Saviour, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. shed abroad
in your hearts, which moves our hearts to love Him. We would
never love God ourselves, as I mentioned in prayer. Not that
we loved God, but that He loved us. And so if we are to be presented
faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding
joy, it will be because of His wonderful love to such an unworthy
sinner. and how amazed we will be, and
how our love, it may feel to be very poor and very weak, but
there will be love, love in your heart to such a saviour who is
condescended to look upon you, look upon you amidst the vast
multitude of mankind and call you, as we read in the opening
verse this epistle when James tells us to them that are sanctified
by God the Father preserved in Jesus Christ and called all of
God's people are called by his grace let's be quite clear about
that no one gets to heaven without being called by his grace and
those are they who will come to this position and be like
this, will be presented faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. It's hard for us to realise something
of the glory of God. It's so hard to realise, but
I often refer to it, as you well know, and it's a beautiful text
in the 2nd of Chronicles. In the fourth chapter, the sixth
verse, and I'll repeat, it's so easy to remember, isn't it? 2-4-6, remember it, don't forget
it. And this is what it says. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. It's a very wonderful statement,
very succinct, the word of God is, very clear. And may we have
the wonderful evidence that this light has shone into our heart,
into that darkness, and it's given us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Fought less before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy now the wonderful
truth is he is able to do this You may think well, I don't know
this. Well, he is able friend He is able To do this he is able to come
Unto us and to bring us into this position where we are faultless
and not in ourselves, but through what Christ has done. And the
concern was then of Jude, as he says, to the only wise God,
our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now
and forever. Surely this is the song of the
redeemed, is it not? Is it not that which will be
the song of the redeemed in glory? They will come with these words,
surely, unto our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Be glory and
majesty. He is the King of Kings and the
Lord of Lords. He's the Great King. He's the
Almighty God. Glory, majesty, dominion and
power. Yes, He reigns over all things
and He is the all-powerful God and what a blessing it is that
power belongeth unto God. And we're thankful to know The
power of God converts. The power of God brings us to
realise our condition before a holy God and brings us to plead
to the Saviour for mercy, for forgiveness and that we may come
to the light and that we may praise and bless God. for his
great salvation, to the only wise God. There's only one wise
God. Only one wise God. There's many
so-called gods in this earth. There's only one wise God, and
he is our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we view the Saviour? Do we view him as the only wise
God? Do we view him as the God who
is high and lifted up? And yet do we view Him as that
glorious friend of sinners? The friend of sinners? That's
why you see the Church of God is encouraged to come to Him. We can think of the line of that
hymn, what a friend we have in Jesus. Isn't it humbling to think
of that? As the bride of Christ spoke
in the Song of Solomon, when she was asked, what was her beloved
more than another beloved? And she gives a glorious account
and comes down to the end and says, this is my friend. This is my friend. Oh, you daughters
of Jerusalem, the church of God, this is my friend. And what do
we describe Jesus as tonight? Is he our friend? Is he your
friend? Is he my friend? Or is he your
enemy? Is he the great judge who will
send you to hell? Or is he that great one who's
died to atone for your sins? Is he there for your friend tonight? Now unto him that is able. Oh,
what a God we have. Able to do great things. And remember what the Apostle
Paul said when he wrote to the Hebrews and in the seventh chapter
He spoke these words and they're very beautiful words. And he
tells us, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost. What does that mean? It means
there's no one too bad. He is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him. seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. And he goes on, of course, about
the glorious high priest. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. Well, what a blessing it is that
we have such a high priest to be able to come to. And may we
bless God tonight for the truth of the gospel. and be thankful
that we have such a word as this. And may it be so in our life,
and realise now, now, tonight, 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 Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen.