Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Jude. The book of Jude. Now, before the Lord saved us, we were, we who are the redeemed of the Lord, we were very self-reliant. We relied on ourselves. We relied on the fact that we could, we thought we could do things on our own, and we found out that fact was a lie. And how we found that out is after the Lord saved us. We look at John 15, and John 15 says Christ's own words. He says, without me, you can do nothing. So we are no longer self-reliant, are we, as the born-again, blood-washed people of God. We're trusting in our Redeemer. We're trusting in our King. We're trusting in the one who has saved us.

And, you know, oftentimes I remember In the past, and even now, we talk about holding on to Christ. We talk about our hold on to Christ. Cling to him. And that's true, isn't it? But you know what's more important than that is Christ's grip on us. His grip on us. The fact that he holds us, he keeps us. And we're not just in the Lord Jesus Christ's grip, God the Son, we're in the grip of the Father. We're double gripped, aren't we? Oh yeah. Held by the Father and held by the Son. I'll tell you what, the heavens can't contain our great God. So think of who's got a grip on us. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful.

And we once said, like Paul did, we had, just like Paul, we had confidence in our flesh at one time. We thought, you know, I can take care of myself. I can do this. We had very much confidence in ourselves, but little did we know, little did we know that even at that time before we were saved, the Lord was taking care of us.

He was watching over us because we're His sheep. Isn't that amazing? He was watching over, He was caring for us the whole time when we're still dead in trespasses and sins. Why didn't we destroy ourselves? Because He kept us. because he kept us, beloved. Others around us destroyed themselves, either by drugs or alcohol, and yet he keeps us. We may have fallen into those things. Many of us came out of it, but yet he kept us. He didn't allow us to destroy ourselves.

Praise our great God. He's watching over us as words. Lost sheep, dead in trespasses and sins. But now, for the born-again, blood-washed believer, The one who's trusted the Lord with his soul. The one who said, Lord, Thou art all my hope for salvation. Oh, and we just cry out like, like, like the, I love the reading this week, right? Jesus, Thou Son of... Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

That blind beggar, Bartimaeus. He couldn't see him with his eyes, but he saw him by faith, didn't he? Oh, my. Oh, my. Or that the publican with the Pharisee and the publican couldn't even lift his eyes up and said, Oh, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Oh, has not God been merciful to us, beloved? Has he not been so merciful to us? Oh, my. We don't rest in our own strength anymore, our supposed steadfastness, but we rest in the mighty preserving grace of God in Christ.

Now let's look at Jude. Let's look at Jude. There's two verses I want us to look at in Jude. Jude 24 and 25. Now look at this. Now unto him, verse 24. Now unto him. That's our Savior. 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. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's wonderful.

What a way for Jude to close this epistle. He closes it with this wonderful doxology, lifting the believers, gaze to Christ, lifting our gaze to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is penned by Jude, but it's by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. So the Holy Spirit of God lifts our eyes to Christ off this world. off all the things that can cause us and distract us and cause us to worry. Oh my! And look at this, look at this, look at this statement, to Him, that being God, who is able to keep you from falling.

If the universe can't contain, if the universe can't contain God, Vicki and I were talking about that, and Vicki said, from the sun to Pluto is over three billion miles. Three billion miles, that's just our solar system. And the scripture says the heavens can't contain him. Oh my, to him who the heavens cannot contain.

To Him, God over all. To Him, our Savior. To Him, who is able to keep you from falling. It's not hard for the God who the heavens can't contain to keep a little piece of animated dust like us from falling. But this is glorious to our soul, to Him, to God, who is able to keep you from falling and to present you, sinners saved by grace, sinners saved by grace, to present you before His glorious presence without fault. Look at that, presents you faultless. That means blameless in the Greek, blameless. Before his glory, and think of it, before his glorious presence, angels are falling down and bowing down and worshiping him. Before his glorious presence. And he says he does it with exceeding joy. Oh my, why?

Christ does this because he's redeemed his people. He's redeemed his blood-bought bride. And he's presenting her to the Father, faultless. And that concludes every one of the elect from every one of all the ages of this world, who are born again blood-washed saints.

What great comfort is in these words. Surely, We would fall thousands of times a day because our flesh is weak. But look at this, unto you, unto him that is able to keep you from falling, to keep me from falling. Glory to his name. What confidence, what security God gives us in these words. You know, the flesh is weak, the world's attractive, right?

The devil's deceiving, but he's able to keep us. He's able to keep us from falling, falling away, because he purchased us with his precious blood. You know, if we had to keep ourselves, we'd be like a spider's web, beloved. You know, in the spring you see them spiderwebs on the trees, right?

Beautiful. Oh, the little spider wove that thing all night long. Or all day long. Beautiful. Just absolutely beautiful. But you know the first rough wind that comes, and for us it would be the first trial or temptation if we tried to keep ourselves? Dawn.

But look at these wonderful words. The Lord Jesus Christ assuredly upholds his people by his omnipotent power. And he is faithful to always do that. Glory to his name. And we see here in this wonderful text that we're not barely kept. No, we're not barely kept. We're perfectly and fully kept, beloved. God doesn't merely preserve us in a state of struggle. and guilt limping into heaven. No, he presents us faultless. He presents us blameless. He keeps us.

Oh, my. Oh, look at these wonderful words. Christ will present us without fault, blameless in his sight. Why? Because we're clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. My, every stain, every sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ. Oh, it's beautiful, I'll tell you what. Oh, and not only are we joyful for his salvation, but he presents us joyfully to the Father. My, he has begun a good work in us. We'll complete it, won't he? Here, finish it. Here, finish it, beloved. Oh, oh, he'll carry that work to completion, won't he?

Absolutely. We're redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, so let us marvel. as the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, promises us that he will give... Not only has he given us eternal life, but he'll keep us and present us faultless before the Father's throne with exceeding joy. It's amazing. I'll tell you why. And you know what this tells us? That none of those for whom Christ died for shall ever perish. Not one of them. Let's marvel at these words. Oh.

You know, he's all along preserved us. before we were saved, and even after. He's preserved us. He's preserved His church. Oh my, He keeps her from falling. God Himself keeps His people from falling. Left to ourselves, again, we fall thousands of times a day. But He keeps us, beloved.

It's glorious. I'll tell you what, this is something to get excited about. My, do you know it's the special and personal office of Christ to take care of His sheep? to bring him home? Yes, it is. Yeah. And he will present his church all blameless one day. All the elect of all the ages. A glorious church washed in the blood of Christ and only glorious because of the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. My oh my. And it's God's own Son, the Word of God, who is the only mediator between God and man, the only one.

And he will bring his church home as a bride adorned for her husband and present her to himself. Oh, it's glorious. Oh, it's glorious. Listen to this beautiful description given to the church by Paul. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Isn't that glorious?

All by the blood and righteousness of Christ. Now, I'll tell you what, Jesus alone is worthy of all praise. He's worthy of all praise. He's worthy of all glory because when he came to redeem his people, he emptied himself, beloved. He emptied himself of all glory and took upon him the form of a servant.

We were talking about this before we got here, Vicki and I. Think of this, the heavens can't contain him. And he becomes a little piece of dust. Because that's all we are. Spurgeon called us animated dust. He becomes a little piece of dust. He becomes one of us. Bone of our bone. Flesh of our flesh. Why? To redeem us. To save his people from their sins. And he did it by the shedding of his blood, beloved. Living the perfect life in our room and place. And he said about salvation, it is finished. It's finished.

Glory be to God. And He took upon Him the form of a servant, even though His majesty was His... His inherent right was the majesty of God. And yet He takes upon Himself the form of a servant. We're going to look at that this week. Oh, yeah, we're going to look at it this week, but the King of Glory is risen. My, my. When He was on this earth, He hid not His face from shame and spitting. But you know what?

Dominion belongs to the Lord, doesn't it? All dominion belongs to the Lord, as he is the eternal monarch of this world and of the universe and everything seen and unseen. He is the eternal monarch. He is the eternal king. And he became a man to save his people from their sins. My, he is king over all.

You know, when he was on this earth, he had nowhere to lay his head. Nowhere to lay his head. He was mocked with insult. When he was on the cross, his enemies shouted, he saved others, himself he cannot save. And at that time, he's saving all the elect of all the ages. And they had no clue at all. My. Behold. Behold our glorious Savior. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Behold Him, the only Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only wise God in the flesh.

And we who are the church praise and glorify Him for saving our eternal souls, don't we? By the grace and mercy of God, all through His blood and righteousness, beloved. Oh, it's beautiful. And we, you know what? We are going to be eternally grateful. The saints are grateful in glory, aren't they?

They're praising Him. They're saying, worthy is the Lamb. And the saints on earth are saying, they're praising Him. Worthy is the Lamb. It's wonderful. My, and here's what we're going to sing in eternity. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. to receive all glory and honor and power and might. For thou wast slain, oh, he died for us, and redeemed us. He shed his blood. His blood paid the price, the ransom price for our eternal souls, and has redeemed us to God, all mine, who we sinned against, by thy blood. He gave his life for us.

Oh, and Jude reminds us that all glory, all majesty, all power, all authority belongs to our great God. My. Not only in eternity, all glory to Him. Not only in the present, all glory to Him. But for eternity, all of eternity, glory be to God. Glory be to God. Beloved, we're bound for glory. We're bound for glory. And God himself will bring us. The security of the believer is not in our grip on him, but on his grip on us. Oh, amen and amen.