Turn to the book of Jude one
more time. And we're gonna start by reading the last two verses
as we've done several times. Verse 24, it says, now unto him
that's 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. And as the last two verses
kind of sum up an awful lot of what Jude has to say, as we've
looked through it over the several weeks, several times, that It is written to those whom God
has sanctified, has set apart, God the Father has set apart.
It said, preserved in Jesus Christ and called, and that's called
by the Holy Spirit. And that indeed is the gospel,
those that are sanctified, have fallen in Adam, he has set aside
a people that he has delivered from that by his righteousness
and his doing. And that true Lamb of God, our
Lord, that offered that, saw some of that last Sunday in the
message. The sacrifice that was truly
an effective and accepted sacrifice and a true sacrifice and not
as the animal sacrifices, but by one that the true lamb that
was indeed perfect and is the one that, as it says here, will
present his church spotless to himself. and with faultless and
no blame attached to them anymore, and only by His doing. And here
in verse 25, It's a statement, a sentence,
a statement of a sight of who our God is, and a sight and a
thought that only God's people have been shown some of these
things about it. And I'd like to start by reading
a couple of passages beforehand, and then we're gonna look into
some thoughts on this in particular. In the book of Revelation, just
right next door here, In the first chapter, a couple of verses
I'd like to read. Starting with verse four, it
says, John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto
you and peace from him which is and which was and which is
to come. And from the seven spirits which
are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of
the kings of the earth. unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. And behold, he cometh with
clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced
him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. In verse 8, I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. And
this speaks several things about him, that he is the Almighty, it says. And the beginning and the ending
of all things, and especially to God's people, of their redemption,
of their salvation, is the beginning, in the beginning, before the
beginning is time, or the creations were that our redemption was
covenanted with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that he would
redeem a people and how it would come about was also settled at
that in time before time, in the eternity past. And it's the
everlasting covenant because it was made in everlasting in
the past to us and to future. But he's that Alpha and Omega
to us. He's the Almighty One. He's the
one, as it says up here, has begotten us and washed us in his own blood. And
that's the one who we are dealing with and who this 25th verse
and the rest of the book of Jude was speaking to. And then also
in chapter one of Revelation, verses 17 and 18. It says, and
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his
right hand upon me, saying to me, fear not, I am the first
and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive evermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and death. And it says, write the things
which I've seen, the things which are, and the things which shall
be hereafter. John, to write these down, it's
speaking of the Lord again, that first and the last, and it says
he fell at his feet as dead. There's a description here of
the Lord. And several times in the book of Revelation, it shows
by picture and by word who he is and about him and that there's
strength and power and might and deliverance to his people
in him and there's no fear of these things and of him to the
church. People have some great terror
when they read the book of Revelation about things that they don't
understand about things they think that it has to say about,
and in times as they perceive it. But to God's people, it's
not a, there's no fear or terror there of him or the last times. And
there's great both things, I think, to God's people. religious people
and unreligious people of the last times and what is made of
some things in the book of Revelation, the book of Daniel and other
places that are speaking of our Lord and those things he's determined
to do. They make them and him into those
things that are not. And as is said here in earlier
in the book of Jude, it speaks about those that have been crept
into the church at large, the church that have perverted those
things that God has said, have perverted who he has said he
is too. They perverted who the Lord is. They perverted and changed what
he says deliverance and salvation is a new heart that he will give
his people into other things and that are not that way. And think back to Genesis 1 when
it says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
and it speaks much as it says here in Revelation. He is, before
all things, he was and is. He uses the same, before Abraham
was, I am, and in all things, he created all things, as it
said, both visible and invisible, heaven and earth, and however
you want to view heaven, as the sky itself or the greater where
the celestial bodies are or even higher yet where God himself
dwells and is and in the earth, the earth, the land or the ground. But as it says, he created those
things. And in Hebrews, where it says,
and in John, where it says that he created all things, by him
he created all things. And that's who the book of Jude
deals with, with his people, and that's what the scriptures
deal from cover to cover. And as the, The Pharisees of
old were proud that they believed in Moses and Abraham, those things.
They said, you'd believe Moses, you'd believe me. Because Moses
was who, Christ was who Moses spoke of. And he said that, and
the Lord said that. In John it says that it is him
who Moses spake of in speaking about the Lord. And then on Jude
in verse 25, Oh, I'm sorry, one more spot
in Colossians. Turn to the book of Colossians
for just a bit here. First chapter of Colossians. First chapter of Colossians,
and I'd like to start with, where do you start? Actually
two places, Colossians chapter 1 and starting with verse 12,
it says, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence." And then in
chapter two, turn the page, into chapter 2, another spot, it speaks about here, starting
in verse 8. and read the rest of it on your
own, but verse eight it says, beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are
complete in him which is the head of all principality and
power. in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. 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. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he hath made a show
of them openly, triumphing over them." And a couple of passages
here in Colossians, as others, that show that he is the one,
as Jude starts out, is the one that has a people is delivering
a people, is keeping a people, and is presenting a people faultless
before himself in glory. And that's the one who, in Jude
here, that's the one, our Savior, who is spoken of in all this passage here, but in
here, a special passage, speaking and acknowledging of our God. And I'd like to read that, and
again, it says, verse 25, to the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. And I'd like to break it down
a little bit. according to a couple of thoughts
that I gleaned from Brother Hawker and a commentator, Adam Clark,
a British Methodist, and he published eight volume commentary that
I don't have that, I've read some excerpts from it, between
1810 and 1825, so it goes back a couple of hundred years to
that, and paraphrasing from several things, what the word says and
what I gleaned from them, it says, and breaking this down
as, to the only wise God. in parentheses, dash, this is
not God's word, this is men's word, who alone can teach, who
alone has declared the truth, the truth in which he now stand.
So all truth, he's saying that all truth that we have, the scripture
we have, is from God. All truth is from him, and alone
has declared the truth. Our Savior. who has by his blood
washed us from our sins and made us kings and priests unto God
the Father. Again, presenting us faultless
by his blood, the robe of righteousness that we have that he sees, and God sees our Savior, and then
he sees us, as it says in the words of the song there, and
be glory. All ascribed light, excellence,
and splendor belong to him. All these things are all light,
excellence, and splendor only to God be glory. Majesty, it
describes all power, authority, and preeminence. And he indeed
is the one that is preeminent and has to be in what the gospel
shows forth. And as we've seen in the books
of Moses that we've been in, that's who is shown forth. The
book of Leviticus that we, some of us, at least at the beginning,
viewed that as one of the flyover states. You didn't spend too
much time in Leviticus because it was talking about those things
and ordinances that we don't have to pay attention to. But
again, Moses wrote of him in those things. And all the preeminence,
authority, and power are displayed there in the scripture. Dominion. all rule and government in the
world, and in the church, in the earth, and in heaven." So
he has dominion over all things, in all areas, in all possible
dimension, in all possible areas. It says all rule and government
in the world. And we've had several places
where In the scripture, it says that he is the one who rules. No one stays his hand and says,
what do you do, and questions that. He has complete dominion
and power, all energy and operation to everything that is wise, good,
great, holy, and excellent. Only power as he told Pharaoh
and others have been told and as Nebuchadnezzar came to that
realization by that. Any power or authority or rule
here that any men have or man has was granted by God and God
alone and not of their own doing and he has revealed that to men both
now that's in the present state of life and all things, would
be now as we see it, and ever, and ever is to the end of all
states, places, dispensations, and worlds, and to a state which
knows no termination, being that eternity in which this glory,
majesty, dominion, and power ineffably and incomprehensibly
dwell. I know what it means, I just
couldn't pronounce it. Incomprehensibly, but the word ineffably, I did
not know exactly what it meant. And it means, ineffably is in
a way that causes, let me lose my place, in a way that causes
so much emotion, especially pleasure that can't be described by men. So that's the, and power, and it says ineffably
or indescribably and incomprehensibly that it can't be understood what
that means by men. And amen, the last word here,
so let it be, so ought it to be, and so it shall be. And so
these words in that one sentence there, verse 25, speak to all
areas of our Lord and Savior, of his, as it says, dominion,
power, and especially to God's people, the control, the power,
the authority, the doing of it, the carrying out, the ability
and power he has and we've seen to deliver his people. And part
of the being incomprehensible to us is that, as it says, presented
faultless before his self in glory. This verse states that
these truth that are taught cover to cover in the scriptures by
our God. These are the same truths that
all through scripture present who he is. He only by his Holy
Spirit can cause his people to know in part what is written
by Jude. And so it's all by revelation,
as the next book says, and that's an apt title for all of scripture. It's by revelation of God. It's not by men's teaching or
by learning. That has a place, but the true
understanding of these things is given by God's revelation. This speaks of the God who alone
is able to redeem his people. There's only one way, there's
only one method, there's only one person, there's only one means and way of redemption and
salvation in God our Savior. Those sanctified by the Father
in eternity past marked out a people individually To be given to the
Son, preserved in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who has purchased
the Church by His own blood and called, can only be made alive,
given new heart by God's Holy Spirit. The blessed position
of all believers by God Almighty. And we have numerous passages
that we've looked at as we've gone through the book of Jude
that show that in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the gospels of the new
heart that is essential, it's a needful thing as he told the
one. You must be born again and that
being born again is that new heart that only only God can
place within his people. We need on that verse and on
the whole book of Jude, we need to reflect on not only did he
write of the heresies that can and will be in the world and
the church and guard against them. And there's the core or
the middle section of this book, it deals with heresies and those
that have been determined to be in that position. They've
been placed in that position and of different heresies of
perverting the word of God. And it speaks of those that do
terrible things in amongst the church and their views and teachings
about and perversions of the Lord himself and of what salvation
is. to guard against them, but we
have to remember what we are made of, and I think it speaks
to all of God's people, not just as beware of this problem and
get rid of this problem. That's one thing that's taught
there, and much is made of it in the book of Jude, but I think
it speaks about what sinners are like and God's people, I
think it's a reflection or a reminder, I guess
it is, that God's people in the church that he is head of are
redeemed sinners and guard and pray, I think we do, God's people
do, that he'll keep us in the true gospel always. It shows a picture of those that
it says, woe unto them that have gone these ways and guard against
them. And I think all of God's people
in their and their prayers are that he keep us from this as
a group, as a church body, as individuals that we do this. We need to always to see in the
scriptures, as it says here at the end and particularly, our
God and Savior and also the light on us and see if there's those
things that need to be taken care of in our lives. And we
know that. We know, as Paul said, that we're in a body of death and
the Lord is the only salvation from that because, as he says,
we have things that we desire not to do that we do and we have
things that we desire to do that we can't seem to get those accomplished. And I think by way of those things,
that keeps our eye on He who is able to keep us from falling,
the one who's able to present us spotless, as it says, and
faultless, perfect in Him. He has made God's people, made
the church the righteousness of God, it says. He alone has
all the honor, majesty, power, glory, dominion, both now and
ever. Amen to that. I've enjoyed the book of Jude. I thought about what else might
be said about it, and I think that Verse 25 is a fitting end
to this book. And with that, I know we've got
a little extra time to visit today, but thank you for your attendance.
And with that, as Mike says, be free.