Turn to Jude, the book of Jude,
the title of this message. He is able to keep you from falling. He is able to keep you from falling. Now, Jude here was one of the
apostles. And his name is Judas. You reckon he ever got over that
one? There was two of them. One, Judas
Iscariot, and Judas, the brother of James, which he identifies
himself as the brother of James, no doubt to let it be known that
he's not Judas Iscariot. But you know, that he had to think upon the grace of God to him
in Christ. It could have been that Judas,
this Judas instead of the other one. I know a lot of Johns. John's a popular name. And I
know a lot of Johns that do not believe the gospel. I know a
lot of Johns that have absolutely no interest in the gospel. But I know one that does. And
I know, I know that the only difference
is the grace of God. I know that's the only difference. He says here, the servant, and
I'm not going to handle all these verses. I'm really going to handle
the last two verses of the chapter, but I'd like to establish something
here first. He calls himself the servant of Jesus Christ. Glad to be a servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We all are, but the apostles
always styled themselves as the servants of Jesus Christ. Brother
James, and here's who he's writing to. You'll notice that the heading
here says the General Epistle of Jude. He's writing to believers in all ages to come. He's writing
to us. Writing to us as well as the
people in that day. And he says here, to them that
are sanctified, this is who I'm writing to, to them that are
sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ
and called. This is who he's writing to,
those who have been sanctified by God the Father. Those who
have been set apart. Jude says, I'm writing to those
who have been set apart by God the Father and the covenant of
grace before the world was. This is who I'm writing to. Those
who have been set apart for him, whom he has set apart. We were
chosen in Christ. The Word of God is so clear on
this. Someone said to me once, some time ago, a few years ago,
that we made too much out of this matter of election. Not so. Not so. Oh, I love it. I love it. It is a doctrine of praise to
the church. If God hadn't chosen us, not one of us would have an interest
in Him. There is as much difference between God and us as there is
between daylight and absolute darkness. So Jude says, I'm writing to
those who have been sanctified, chosen, set apart by God the
Father, set apart for Himself. He says over in Isaiah, this
people have I formed for Myself. They shall show forth My praise."
I made you. I set you apart. I set you apart
for Myself, for My use, for My glory. One day, we will be displayed
in glory as the trophies of His grace. Set apart for Him. And He set
us apart And the Lord Jesus Christ preserved, kept in Jesus Christ. As we were chosen in Him, we
are preserved in Him. Kept in Him. Protected in Him. Our preservation has always been
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's never been my part and His
part. Our preservation has always been
in Him and it always will be. It always will be. He is our
surety. He's the one who keeps us. He
is our mediator. He is our redeemer. He is the
One in whom we are sanctified. He is the One in whom we were
set apart. Chosen in Him. That's what it
says over there in Ephesians chapter 1. Chosen in Him before
the foundation of the world. And then in time, called. Called. You know, every time the Gospels
preach, there's a general call that goes out. But there is an effectual call
that goes out by the Holy Spirit and arrests God's people and
brings them home and brings them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
over here in 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians, Paul says to the
Thessalonians. In verse 4, knowing brethren,
beloved, knowing your election of God. We don't make too much
out of that now, do we? You can't make too much out of
it. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, in a general
call only. It didn't come to you in a general
call only. but also in power. In power. And in the Holy Ghost. It came
to you in the hands and in the power of the Holy Ghost. It pierced
your heart. And in much assurance, as you
know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes, called
you effectually by the Holy Spirit with the Gospel. You heard the
Gospel. in the power of God's Spirit.
He broke your heart. And He revealed Christ to you. So the ones Jude is writing to,
those that are sanctified, preserved and called, that's who this epistle
is written to. These are the ones he's writing
to. Now he says, when I thought to
write unto you, I gave all diligence. to write unto you the common
salvation, to write unto you of the Lord Jesus Christ and
our hope in Him, our redemption in Him, our righteousness in
Him, all that we have in Him. But it was needful for me to
write unto you and exhort you that you should contend for the
faith which was once delivered to the saints, that you would
contend for it. The gospel is always under attack. Sometimes it's so subtle You
don't realize it. And I think most of the time,
it's so subtle, you don't realize that it's under attack. And he
says, I'm writing to you that you would contend for the faith
which once was delivered to the saints. And the faith he's talking
about here is the gospel. It's the whole scheme of salvation
from Alpha to Omega. Work of the Father. Work of the
Son. Work of the Holy Spirit. Redemption. Righteousness. It's the whole scheme of salvation. He said, you contend for it.
It's always under attack. Be on guard. Be on guard. Because the church has many enemies.
There are certain men who crept in unaware. Slipped in. Shaked your hand. How are you
doing this morning? Unaware of their motives. unaware
of the evil that is in the heart, who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness. Enemies, enemies of the church,
false prophets coming in, bringing in damnable heresies. Peter warns
of it over in 2 Peter. He warns of it over there in
chapter 3, verse 3. He warns of these men. And after
reading this, After reading all these verses, you think, oh my, can I be deceived? Can I be duped? Could I have missed it? Well, Jude lets us know that those who believe the gospel,
those whom the Lord those whom the Holy Spirit has revealed
the gospel to. He's come to you in power. That the Lord Jesus Christ is
able to keep you from falling. When you read all of these, I
mean, it's just like my soul. We have enemies on every hand.
Attacked on every hand. But He assures the church of
the living God that He's able that He is able to keep you from
falling. He is able to keep you from falling.
Now unto Him, in verse 24, 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. I know that those who believe
and they know their heart, they understand something about their
sinful nature. They fear this thing of falling. They fear this thing of falling.
This thing of being deceived. They fear this. Paul said, let
him who thinketh he standeth Take heed lest he fall. Take
heed. We know that we are capable of falling. I know we are capable. If the Lord would allow it, if
He would withdraw His hand a little bit, we would be amazed how fast
we would fall. We would be amazed. And we don't want to fall. We
don't want to fall at any time. We don't want to fall. We don't
want to bring reproach on our Lord's name. We don't want to
do that at all. But Jude has a solution here.
He says, now unto Him. He gives encouragement. He gives
comfort here in these two closing verses. Now unto Him. God in the trinity of His person.
deserves all the praise and all the glory that we can give Him. But the one He is speaking of,
I believe, in these last two verses, is the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great God and Savior. I believe that's who He's making
reference to. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great God
and Savior, is able to keep you You have been put into His hands. He's our surety. He's our mediator. We have been put into His hands
to keep. We are His responsibility. Man, does that give me comfort.
If it was my responsibility to keep you, you'd be in trouble. You'd be in trouble. But my soul,
think that He is responsible to bring me home safely. How encouraging is that? How
encouraging is that? There are times that we fall
into temptations. I know. There are times we do
that. There are times that we fall
into error of spirit. We get a bad spirit, a bad attitude. Sometimes we get a little twisted.
Sometimes we fall into error of doctrine. You say, can that
happen? It did to the Galatians. Paul
said, who hath bewitched you? If it can happen to them sitting
under the ministry of the Apostle Paul, it can happen to me too. It can happen to us too. fall in error of judgment. But
thank God, listen, thank Almighty God that through the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is able to keep you and me from falling into apostasy. Yes, we can fall in error of
spirit. Sometimes we can get a little
twisted in doctrine if we're not careful. These men come in. He said they creep in and they
can twist and turn and kind of get you sideways for a minute
or two. It can happen. But thank God, his elect cannot
fall away into apostasy. Can't do it. Can't do it. He'll
not let it happen. He is able to keep is my security. That's my security. He's able
to keep me. He's able to do it. None but
the Lord can keep us. I think that we have lived long
enough to know that we can't keep ourselves. Haven't we lived
long enough to know that? Lord, You keep me. You keep me. No place guarantees my security
from falling. Church, a closet, The ordinances? All of them are invaded by temptation. All of them. A law? There's no law that you can give
me that would keep me from stumbling. But my Lord, my Lord, my Mediator,
my surety, my King is able to keep me from falling. He's able
to keep you from falling away. He's able to do it. He's able
to keep us by His grace. He said to Paul, My grace is
sufficient for you, no matter what the situation is. He's able by His grace to keep
us from falling. He's able by His love. Paul said
this, It's the love of Christ that constrains me. He's able
to do that. He's able by His power. All power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. He's able by His providence. He can cut off the problem. He
can turn the tide. He's able. And not only is He able to keep
you from falling away into apostasy, because we're going to be plagued
by these things. Our Lord gives us this here in
this epistle. In the last days, many scoffers
will come, false prophets will come. But He assures us He's able to
keep us in the midst of all this trouble and apostasy and lying. He said, I'm able to keep you.
Not only am I able to keep you, I'm able to present you faultless. Even in your fallings, even in
your errors, even in your stumblings, I'm able to present you faultless,
spotless, without blemish, with that blemish. Although we fall
a thousand times a day, and we sin far, far more than we'll
ever know, He says He will present us faultless. Faultless. That means He will
present us holy, righteous, as holy and as righteous
as God Almighty Himself. That's amazing. Amazing. He's able to present you, he
said, faultless. You know, first he did this in
eternity. He presented us faultless before the world was created.
Isn't that what it says over here in Romans chapter 8? Is
that not what it means? Over here in Romans 8, it says
in verse 29, And for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
when did He do that? Before the world began. Then
He also called, and whom He called, then He also justified, and whom
He justified, then He also glorified. Before He created the world,
He presented us faultless. He presented us faultless before
the first thing was created. And then He presented us faultless
when He died for our sins and rose again for our justification
and ascended on high. He presented us faultless. And
then in the resurrection, When we are raised from the dead,
He raised these bodies from the dead, in that final resurrection,
He will present us faultless in body, soul, and spirit. Faultless. That's amazing. And He'll do
this before the presence of His glory. That's where it will be
done. In the presence of all His glory. By whatever that all encompasses.
And He'll do it with exceeding joy. It will be a happy day. It will
be a happy day when we stand and behold His glory in complete
perfection. We've never known perfection.
Never known perfection. Everything we've ever done in
our lives has a blemish in it. One day we are going to be presented
faultless before the presence of His glory in glory in paradise
with exceeding joy. A joy that cannot be put into
words. A joy you've never really yet
experienced. But you will. You will. To the only wise God our Savior. This is the one who's going to
present us. The only wise God. Christ is
God and He is the only wise God. And He's going to present us
faultless. The only wise God, listen, our
Savior. Our Savior. God. God of creation. You know, when
the prophets of old spoke of God, they always spoke of Him
as the God of creation. The one who created the heavens
and the earth, they always spoke of Him like that. Well, the God
of creation, the God of power, the God of
glory is our Savior. Now, that's no
weak person, is it? That is no weak person. God Almighty, He is the One who
has taken upon Himself to save us from our sins. God has done
this. God has done this. To the only
wise God, our Savior. Now, if God is my Savior, brethren, I'm saved. I'm saved
if God is my Savior. Now, if you add anything to it
or look to anything else, I'm in trouble. But if God only is
my Savior from sin, from death, from judgment, from the curse,
I am saved. And I will be delivered. And
I will be delivered faultless. And I will be delivered into
His presence. And it will be with exceeding joy if God is
my Savior. This ought to beget great confidence
and comfort to the Lord's people. God is my Savior. And he says here, to the only
wise God, our Savior, be glory. Be glory. We don't give Him glory. We cannot give Him glory. Here's
what we do. We ascribe glory to Him. He's glorious without me. What was it David said? My righteousness
extends not to thee. And he's speaking as Christ. Christ came here into this world.
He established righteousness. He brought out a righteousness.
But the Lord is saying there in that psalm, My righteousness
that I have established extends to nothing. It adds nothing to
God. God's holy. He's as righteous and holy as
He'll ever be. It extends to us. It's given
to us. Well, you read that, the gift
of righteousness, back here in the study. It's the gift of righteousness
there in Romans 5. The gift of righteousness is
given to us. He said, My, it doesn't extend
to thee. I don't add anything to Him. He adds everything to
me. He is my glory. Oh, He said, unto Him be glory. All the glory of salvation, let
us ascribe it to Him and no one else. All the glory of grace,
let us ascribe it to Him and no one else. All the glory of
all things, through all eternity. Let's ascribe it to Him and no
one else. No one else. He is to receive all the glory.
All the saints in glory worship Him. Him. None of the saints are worshipped.
All the saints worship Him. And majesty Well, that just has
a ring to it, doesn't it? Your Majesty. Your Majesty. The King's English. This is what
we call Him. Your Majesty. This is describing all greatness to the God of our salvation. None equal to Him. God said over
in Isaiah, to whom will you liken Me? There is none like Thee. All in majesty. King of kings
and Lord of lords. Even now, as He sits on high
and rules the earth and sky, He's the King. Your majesty. All glory. Majesty. And dominion. I'm so glad the Lord rules over
all things. He has our Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, that man right now that sits at God's right hand in the
heavenlies, right now has absolute dominion over all things, over
all souls, over all events, over the universe. He has absolute
dominion. All dominion is His now. He is
the rightful monarch of heaven and earth. And not only does
He have all dominion, He has all power. He would not have
all dominion if He didn't have all power to subdue everything
and bring it to His feet. He wouldn't have it. He has all
power to create. When He spoke, light was given. Creation existed. And when He spoke to your heart,
He had the power to give you life and raise you from the dead,
spiritually, raise you from the dead. He has the power to rule. He has the power to save. He
has the power to keep us. He has the power to deliver us
faultless. He has the power. He's got it. This ought to give us a lot of
comfort on our journey home. This is our God. This is our
God and we will rejoice in Him. And He says here, both now and
ever, both right now, that He receives the glory and the praise
and the honor that's due unto His name right now. from the church and throughout all eternity.
We will never stop and won't want to stop once we get out
of this flesh. We'll not want to stop because
when we're in this flesh, we like to go home. Right? I mean, we can only stay here
for so long. We've got to go home. We've got
to go to work. We've got to go rest. We've got to go to bed. Like
that young man that listened to Paul and fell out the window? But there'll be a day when we
won't need to leave. We won't grow weary or tired
of the worship service because of this flesh. That won't happen. Boys, both now and ever, amen. So be it. So be it.