We're in the book of Jude tonight. Jude is the half-brother of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and he is the full brother of James. He makes an effort to make that
a point in the very beginning of this, and biblical scholars,
historians, they believe the purpose of that was to, you notice
that his name, Jude, is close to Judas. And he was distinguishing
himself saying, I'm not Judas. James is my brother. And, uh,
that's why he would do that just to clarify who he is, but he
makes a few statements here in this short, uh, this short book,
he makes a few statements that's blessed. It's an encouragement
to the Lord's people. It's assurance, assurance, giving
to the Lord's people. So let's read our texts. I just
want to read the last two verses again. Now unto him, 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. As I was reading this,
Book, the words here in verse 24 that and to him that is able
him that is able and that's what I titled the message him that
is able that that jumped out at me if I if you can put it
that way. That's what the Lord's impressed on my heart. We have
an able God. I didn't realize how many times throughout scripture
that that's actually mentioned, that the Lord is able. He's able
to save to the uttermost. We'll read that here in a little
bit. He's able to save them that come to him, to believe that
he is. He's able. And there's only two
kinds of people in the world, those that believe he is able
and those that do not. Those that believe he is and
those that do not. And we know that it's the Lord that maketh
us to differ. Some may say they believe that God is able, but
somehow they always deny him in some way, shape, or form.
They deny his lordship. They deny his sovereignty. They
deny his absoluteness. They deny one of his attributes.
And in doing so, they don't believe he's able. They must do something
or contribute something. A lot of times men will lawmonger
and say you have to live this way or you have to do this in
order to be pleasing unto God, in order to have assurance of
your salvation or to guarantee your salvation. Others would
say you have to accept Jesus as your savior. And this is,
they don't believe God's able. They have to do something. And
that doesn't give me any hope. that I must do something to please
God. I need to know he's able. He's
able to save to the uttermost. He's able to save the sinner.
And the good news of the gospel is, is Christ Jesus came into
the world for that very reason, to save sinners. It would have
done him no good to come into the world to save sinners if
he was not able to do it, would it? If he said, I'm gonna save
sinners, but he couldn't do it unless you let him, he's not
able. But that's not what happened. The announcement, I think I've
quoted this the last three times I've stood, but the announcement
of Christ's birth, call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sin. That's the reason he was born.
He's able, he's able. Most try to water him down some
way. They don't intentionally do it,
but by nature men want to be God. I don't believe in his absolute
sovereignty or his power, but if the Lord's made you a sinner,
if the Lord's shown you your utter inability in your flesh,
your inability to do anything in the sight of God that's pleasing,
to do anything that's good, if the Lord showed you that his
sovereignty and his power and his ability is what you rest
in, that's my only hope is his sovereignty. It's his power,
it's his salvation. My hope is not that I'm doing
something right, My hope that is he did everything right and
that it is finished. My hope isn't I get to stand
before him one day and say, Lord, I've done this in your name and
I've done that in your name and I've and I tried my best with
the most upward sincerity. This is why I deserve heaven.
This is why I deserve salvation. That's not my hope. My hope is
that when I stand before him, I have an advocate that's seated
on my behalf, that Jesus Christ is seated, being the surety of
his people, being the salvation of his people, being him who
intercedes for his people. That's our hope is that he's
seated for us. When we stand before him, he's
seated for us. That's our hope. He reveals that
we're absolutely unable, there's nothing good about it, we'll
glory in nothing else but his ability, but his ability, what
he accomplished on the cross. Because of who he is, announcing
himself to Moses, Moses said, Lord, they're gonna ask who sent
me, who told me to come, what's his name? What's his name? He
said, I am. Because he is the I am, he's
the only one able to save. It's not just a title, it's his
isness. It's who he is as Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end. Being alpha means he's the first
part in salvation, and being the omega means he's the ending
of salvation. And to the Lord's people, he's
everything in between, isn't he? He's everything in life and
in eternity. He's the beginning and the end.
We bow to that. We worship him because of that,
knowing that we have no righteousness in ourself. We have to be able to save to
be able is to have the ability and the willingness. You can
have one without the other. I can be willing to help you
build a house, but if I don't have the ability to help you
build a house, my willingness doesn't do anything, does it?
If God is willing, if God is not willing that any of his people
should perish, but that all should come to repentance, and yet some
of them die and go to hell, then he didn't have the ability, did
he? We see it's simple math. It's not complicated. The gospel
is not complicated. But he's not only willing, he's
able. He's able to save, and he did.
And he did, he said, I will and you shall. I have chosen you,
I have redeemed you, I have bought you, you are mine. That's the
good news of the gospel. He was not only willing, but
his will actually accomplished something. Mine and your will,
I can will tomorrow to do something. What does the scripture tell
us? It warns us of that, James 4, 14. Marvel not what shall
be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor.
And the older I get and the older that you get, you know that that's
true. Your life's a vapor, isn't it? Peereth for a little time,
then vanisheth away. In Proverbs, he said the same thing. Marvel
not what shall be on the morrow, for thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth. It's of the Lord. We can try to plan, we
can try to, but I can't will tomorrow to happen. I don't have
that power. I can't will a cold away, neither
can you. Some of you were talking to me
about being sick, and we have family that are, church brethren
that are out because they're sick. They would love to will
away the sickness that they have, and we would love to will away
infirmities in our body, wouldn't we? We don't have that power,
do we? What makes a man or a woman think for a second that they
can will salvation? That they can will salvation? They can't. They don't have the
power. If I can't do something physically in my body, will it
to happen? What makes myself think I could do something spiritually
in my body to make it happen? Being born dead and trespasses
and in sin. Understand that sin passed from
Adam. It was bestowed. It wasn't something
we chose. It was something inherited. It
was something that was given. It's not that we can wheel it
away. We have a sin condition that
he has to put away. And the good news of the gospel
is, is not one sheep's gonna perish because he was able to
put them away. He was able to put that sin away.
He said, everyone given of the Father will come to me. You know
why? Because he spoke it. And he's
the one that's able to cause us to come to him. He's able
to put away our sin. He wills it and it happens. He's God, he's able in all things. You and I are not able to come.
We're not able to come to him. He told us why. He said, you
will not come to me that you may have life. It's an inability,
spiritually speaking. And we emphasize being born dead,
but we can't enter into that because we're breathing right
now. We don't understand unless the Lord gives us faith and repentance,
we can't see that what dead really means is complete inability to
move, complete inability to choose, complete inability to breathe
or to see or to hear dead. Guess who's able to cause you
to live and cause you to see, to cause you to be born? The
Lord Jesus Christ is able. That's our hope, isn't it? Lord,
say unto these dead bones, live. You can do it. You're able. You're
able. Most do not believe the truth
of sin in that regard. Henry Mahan used to say, if you're
wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it all, and that's so true.
The truth of sin is simple. Original sin means imputed guilt. Guilt has been imputed unto us
because of the original sin of Adam. Scripture says, whereas
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Because of this, they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. Cannot please God. That means
I can do nothing to please him. Nothing. Not one thing to please
him. The flesh don't like hearing
that. But it's the truth, isn't it? It's the truth. And you know
what the Lord gives by faith? The ability for you and I to
say truth, Lord, I can't do anything right. Not when it comes to your
law. Not when it comes to salvation. Not when it comes to righteousness.
I can't do anything that would please you. But I know one that's
able. I know one that's able, I know
one that put away the sin of his people, I know the one who is
the very righteousness of God, and his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. We must be holy to approach him,
but original sin means that it's imputed guilt before God. We're
not holy, we're not sinless, we're not righteous before him. Having that guilt imputed We
are guilty before his law, and his justice demands death. There's
sufficient evidence of sin in us. There's witnesses to this
sin that we are. You're a witness against yourself
if the Lord calls you to see him truth, Lord. I'm siding with
you against me. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. That's
what repentance is, is to see the Lord as truth and us as false. Our Lord, the great judge of
the earth, will not acquit that guilt. Not if you're guilty.
And we are unable to get rid of one sin. We can't get rid
of one sin. What about the mountain of sin
that we have and are? What about that? The good news
is, is verse 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 to present you faultless. Faultless. What hope? To be faultless before the very
glory of God? To be faultless before the very
throne of God? To be faultless before his holy
law? To be made the righteousness of God in him, to be found perfect,
to be found holy. How can these things be? He is
able. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, according to his
grace, he's able. He's able. He's the one that
did this. He's the one that did this. Lord Jesus Christ took the sin
of his people and made them spotless before the law, before the very
throne of God. Romans 5 19 says, for as by one
man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. We had guilt imputed unto us
because of sin, but because of what Christ has done, he took
away the guilt of what the law demanded. He took away the guilt
of our sin, having put it away, and now righteousness has been
imputed. Our substitute took our sin unto
himself, and now righteousness has been imputed to his people.
By his obedience unto death, he is able to present his people
faultless, faultless before the throne of God, having put away
every sin that he bore upon the cross, He alone is able. You remember in the book of Revelation
chapter five when John saw the Lord seated, well turn there
with me if you will. We're just a few pages from there.
Revelation chapter five. One was looked for to see who
was worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof. It's
the Lamb's book of life. And none was found worthy. Let's
read the first five verses of chapter five. And I saw in the
right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within
and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open
the book and loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven
nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book,
neither to look thereon. And I wept much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. But look at this part, and one of the elders saith
unto me, weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the
root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose
the seven seals thereof. No man was found able. but one, and it was the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was found able, able to loose
the seals, able to endure the wrath of God, able to put away
the sin of his people. He alone is able to present his
people faultless. He secured redemption for his
people on the cross of Calvary as the Lamb of God. The thought of standing before
the Lord causes us to shudder if we've seen His holiness, if
we've seen just a glimpse of it in our inability, our sin. I had a family member pass recently
and they had the obituary written up and it talked about his righteousness
and the things that he did. And he's gonna stand before God
with that righteousness, his life of devoting himself to his
religion and the things that he believed in and that he had
as a righteous. But when we stand before the
Lord, Our only hope is to be faultless, not because of our
dedication to God, but because of the Lord's ability on the
cross of Calvary. That's our hope. Our hope is
not in what we have done or in what we are doing or in what
we are going to do. It's not about us accepting him.
It's that he has made us accepted in the beloved. It's not that
we've let him into our heart. It's that he's taken out the
heart of stone and given us the heart of flesh. It's not that we say,
Lord, I've done all these wonderful things in your name. It's that
when he sees us, he sees the blood of Christ that was able
to wash away every sin. That's what's needed. That when
we stand before him, we have one that is seated. on our behalf,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he did when he put
away the sin of his people. When he was resurrected, you
know the verse where he's now seated on the right hand of the
Father, making intercession for his people. What does that mean?
The work's finished. It's done. He was able and he
successfully redeemed. There's our hope. Not in what
we do, but in what he has done. And one thing the Lord's people
have in common is they know he's able. You know that, don't you?
You know he's able. And you know you're not. I'm
not able. We're not able, are we? Not to
have a righteousness in and of ourself, but the Lord's people
know that he is able to make us the righteousness of God in
him. From Genesis to Revelation, it's all about him being able
and saving his people. And his people just believe that.
I believe that this is his book. I believe that he wrote it. I
believe that he became a man. It's all about him. I believe
he was successful because he was able. He wasn't only willing,
he was able to redeem. You remember the common thing
I'm mentioning is as Lord's people know that he's able, do you remember
the statue that Nebuchadnezzar made in the book of Daniel? And
he told the three Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and he told everybody, when you hear the music and you bow down
and you worship this statue, it was a 60 foot of himself is
what it was. It was all about self-worship.
And that's what men do in all religion. Look at me. Look at
what I've done. Worship me. And they affirm each other. That's
what this is, is false worship. And you and I, we don't look
at each other's abilities, do we? Not as hope. We don't measure
each other on each other's scales. No, we look at the scale of God
and we see, I've been found wanting. I have no hope in myself. Well,
what did the three Hebrew men do? Well, they didn't bow, did
they? And it made the king exceedingly angry. And he says to them, I'm
going to throw you in the fiery furnace. He heated it up seven
times. He said, I'm going to throw you in the fiery furnace. And
I want you to hear these men's words, what they said. If it
be so, our God whom we serve is able, he's able to deliver
us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of
thy hand, O king. What happened? Well, that furnace
didn't touch him, did it? No, as a matter of fact, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself was in the fire with them. They didn't
even smell like smoke. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
endured the wrath of God on the cross of Calvary for his people.
You and I don't even smell like smoke. Matter of fact, we smell
like the sinless son of God. That's what he's given us. That's
what he's imputed to us, imputing his righteousness unto us. The
fire couldn't touch him because the Lord took that fiery wrath
away. He was able to deliver them from the fire. Well, in
a few chapters later, Daniel got into a situation too, falsely
accused or not falsely accused. He was guilty of the law of the
king, but they had set up that law in order to try to trick
him. He prayed into his God and they went to Darius and said,
we caught Daniel praying. And you said, if anybody for
the month prays or worships any other, any other God, Or king
besides you, he's going to be thrown in the den of lions and
the king had to honor his word. And what happened? Well, Daniel
was thrown in the den of lions. They sealed the door and the
king stayed up all night concerned about Daniel. And when the first
light came, his word had been acknowledged. His word had been
kept. The law had been kept. The law
that was given had been fulfilled. The payment due was paid. Therefore the king could go and
roll the stone away and say unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of
the living God, is thy God whom thou service continually able,
able to deliver you from the den of lions? And what did Daniel
say? King live forever. The Lord is
able. The Lord sent his angel to shut
up the mouths of the lions. My God's able. So the lions couldn't
touch Daniel and the fire couldn't touch the other three Hebrew
men. Why? Because God is able. Men use these examples as in
a physical manner of life. And yes, it's true. But for the
child of God, I want to hear about the spiritual side of it,
how he put away our sin, how he endured the wrath of God.
And he shut the the mouths of the lions. The law can't say
anything to the child of God anymore. Justice has been satisfied.
The Lord Jesus Christ, he was sufficient on the cross of Calvary,
enduring that wrath, satisfying the law's demands. Because of
this, the Lord, we know that the Lord is satisfied. He resurrected
him. He resurrected him. There's no accusation anymore.
Death has no claim on the child of God because of what the Lord
Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary. And the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one, the only one that was able to do that.
The only one that was able to do that. He was able to do all the saving.
And after we're saved, does he just leave us to ourself? No,
he's able to do all the keeping. Look what he says here back in
Jude chapter, but it's only got one chapter. Look at verse 24.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. Lord, you saved me and you're
gonna have to keep me. He's able to do that too. He's
able to do that too, and he does, doesn't he? He keeps his people.
I find such comfort in that. I find such comfort in the fact
I can't mess up salvation. We can't mess it up. We look
unto the Lord to order and provide, and he keeps his people. He keeps
us looking to him. He keeps us glorying in him alone
for our salvation. He keeps his people. Why do we
not fall? Because we're kept by the power
of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. He keeps us. He's able. Adam was sinless. Adam couldn't keep his self,
could he? Think about that. You and I are not sinless, and
we can't keep our self either, but how much more so, if you
want to put it that way. He was sinless, and still couldn't keep
him. We need somebody to keep us,
don't we? There's good news. He's able. He's able to keep
his people. What was the difference in Judas
and Peter? I prayed for you, Peter. I kept
you, Peter. You didn't keep yourself. But
your faith didn't fail. That's what I prayed. It's not
gonna happen. I prayed it. It can't happen. Your faith will
not fail. Did you know he's prayed the same thing for every single
one that he died for? That your faith not fail. Why?
It's the imputed faith of Jesus Christ. It's given to his people. It won't fail because it's his.
Nothing he does can fail. He's able. He said, my sheep,
hear my voice. And I know them and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them from my hand. My father which
gave them me is greater than all. And listen to this, no man
is able. to pluck them from my father's
hand. No man's able, but he given to his sheep eternal life. Why?
Because he was able. So nobody can pluck us from his
hand. You know the verse that Paul was talking about, who shall
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus?
Nothing or no one can. Why? They're not able to, because
he is able to keep his people. He's able to keep his sheep.
How can it be that his people have eternal life and oneness
with him? How can we be saved? Saved from ourself? Saved from
our sin? How can that which is unclean
be made clean? How can the leper be made clean
again after crying out for so long, unclean, unclean? Because
he is able. How is it that after we come
to the knowledge of the truth, we don't just fall back into
ourself and fall back into unbelief? Is it because of what we do?
No, he is able to keep us. Hebrews 7.25, wherefore he is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He's able to save to
the uttermost, and he's able to keep those that come to him. He's able to keep them. He's
able to redeem. He did, and he's able to intercede,
and he does for his elect. His grace is more than sufficient.
His grace is more than sufficient for his people. It says in 2
Corinthians 9, 8, and God is able to make all grace abound
towards you. Not some of the grace. I love
that. Our God is able to make all grace. How can that be? Because grace
is found in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have him,
you have all grace. You have all the grace found
in him. God is able to make all grace
abound towards you that ye always having all sufficiency in all
things may abound in every good work. He's the God of all grace. And thanks be to God, he is able
to give us all the grace needed. In time, we have everything we
need. And in eternity, we have everything
we need. How is that? By grace. His grace
is sufficient, and he is able. Him giving us this grace is none
other than shutting us up to the Lord Jesus Christ. None other
than making Christ unto us. All our wisdom, all our righteousness,
all our sanctification, and all our redemption. How can he be
all those things? Because he's able. Because he's able to. He's the only wise God and Savior.
He alone is able to give needed grace to his people. He alone
was able to redeem his people, and he did. And he did. He's
the only one, not only was he the only one worthy, not only
was he the only one willing, Even if we would have been, Willie
wouldn't have done no good. But he was the only one able, and
he did. He was the only one found worthy,
and he was the only one able to do it. What grace there is
in that. Ephesians 3.20, now unto him
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Exceeding abundantly, I like
Paul's word in that, don't you? How can the Lord do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think? He's able, he's
God. He's able to do it. What do we
ask for? All that we ask or think, what
do we ask for? We ask for him that is able, don't we? We ask
for him that is able. Let's read that one more time
in closing. 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, he's the only one, the only wise God, our Savior,
Be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Thank God he is able. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Cause us not
to ever rest in our ability, but cause us to rest in the glorious
truth that you are able, in Christ's name, amen. Closing, let's turn to number
129.