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I want you to know that God is able to keep you when you cannot keep yourself. That is the wonderful news of Jude verses 24 and 25.
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What wonderful news that is? God is the one who keeps his people. Welcome to the Thursday edition of Renewing youg Mind. Our guest teacher this week is HB Charles Jr. And you're hearing messages from his series Blessing and Praise. It focuses on short passages of Scripture that exalt God and proclaim beautiful gospel truths. And today, he's considering the reality that we are preserved by God.
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In this talk, I want to turn your attention to Jude verses 24 and 25. A young boy was walking down the street with his dad. He reached up and gripped his daddy's finger as tightly as he could. But as they walked, he stumbled, lost his grip, fell to the ground. Daddy helped him up. They began to walk again, and the little boy again grabbed on as tightly as he could. But again, at some point, he stumbled, lost his grip and slipped and fell. After going through this a few more times, Daddy helps him up. And he looks up and says, daddy, I have a better idea. Instead of me holding your hand, how about you hold my hand? And Daddy clutched his son's little hand in his big grip. He stumbled again, but his father was there to hold him up in a greater, deeper, higher way. I want you to know that God is able to keep you when you cannot keep yourself. That is the wonderful news of Jude, verses 24 and 25. Jude is one of the New Testament letters. It may be called a postcard because it's so brief, consisting of 25 verses and only one chapter. The author of Jude is the half brother of Jesus, but he introduces himself in verse one as Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. There are books of the Bible where you have to dig deep to get the purpose of the book. Then there are books like Jude, where right up front, he tells us what he is trying to communicate. The point of this letter is recorded in verse three. His purpose is this beloved. Although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you, to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude is a call to arms. They must stand firm to defend the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The threat is stated in verse 4. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation. Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. False teachers had infiltrated the church and seduced them with error. Professing believers were straying away from the faith. Verses 5 through 16 Jude warns of divine judgment on these apostates. And in verses 17 through 23 he calls the saints to persevere in the faith. Specifically notice verse 21 where he exhorts, keep yourselves in the love of God. This is a call for the perseverance of the saints. True believers endure to the end Keep yourself in the love of God Keep yourself. Jude says, but what do you do when you cannot keep yourself? We must keep ourselves in the love of God. But what do you do when you cannot keep yourself? Verses 24 and 25 Jude ends this little letter with this glorious doxology. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever a man. This passage declares to us that God is able to keep you when you cannot keep yourself. Edward Pentecost wrote, this is the greatest theme of victory to be sounded. This is the highest note of praise and adoration possible, the greatest assurance of the redeemed. Indeed it is God is able to keep you when you cannot keep yourself. And in the two verses of this doxology, Jude says, first trust the God who is able to keep you. And then he says, praise the God who is able to keep you. First trust the God who is able to keep you. Now to him was able to this is one of three doxologies that praise God for him being able. Ephesians 3, verse 20 says, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that you could ask or think. Romans chapter 16, verse 25 says, now to him who is able to strengthen you, according to my Gospel here in Jude 24, Jude says, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. To say that God is able is to say that he is omnipotent. He has perfect power over all creation. Here the term Abel refers to the ability to get things done. It is not merely one that has good intentions. It is one who is able to accomplish what he intends. This is our God. And would you consider that this is not a remembrance as he looks back at a time when God was able? And this is not a promise of the future when he looks forward to a time where God will be able. This is a real time assurance. It doesn't matter when it is or where you are or what's going on. This assurance abides. God is able. Blind man asked Jesus for help and in Matthew 9:28 Jesus replied to the request for help by asking, do you believe that I am able to do this? Really, all of life gets down to that. This is the bottom line. He is able. The question is not his ability. The question is do we believe? Verse 24 bids us to trust the God who is able to keep you. We're to trust that on one hand God is able to preserve us on earth, and on the other hand he's able to present us in glory. God is able to preserve you on earth. Verse 24 he is able to keep you from stumbling. The word there keep is military language. It pictures God as the divine warrior. God is able to keep you. He is the God who is on guard and he is able to keep you from stumbling. The translation I grew up with of this passage when I was a boy said, he's able to keep you from falling. Indeed he is. But the word used here is more emphatic. He is able to keep you from stumbling. Thank God for that. Stumbling precedes falling. He's not able only to pick you up again. He is able to keep you on your feet. He is able to prevent you from stumbling. It is the picture of a sure footed horse that rides confidently through rugged terrain. God is able to keep you from stumbling. Oh friends, we're not able to do this for ourselves. God is able to keep you. He's able to keep you from error. He's able to keep you from sin. He's able to keep you in the midst of temptation. First Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 12 and 13 says, no temptation has overtaken you except that which is common to man. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able and along with the temptation will provide a way to escape so that you might bear up under it. He is able to keep you from error. He's able to keep you from sin. He's able to keep you from temptation. But I think more emphatically what Jude is saying here is that he is able to keep you from falling away from the faith. He is able to keep you from falling away from the faith. There has been the rise of the nuns these days. Those who when acts their religious affiliation mark none of the above. Many pastors and churches and denominations are in a panic about people leaving the church and all kinds of explanations are given for it. One of the explanations given right in Scripture is rarely mentioned. First, John, chapter 2, verse 19. John says, they departed from us because they were not truly of us. True believers persevere in the faith to the end because God is able to keep you from stumbling and falling away from the faith. Have you ever experienced a miracle personally? Well, if you are in Christ Jesus, if you have been born again, if you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, you have experienced two miracles. First, friends, it's a miracle that you are saved. Ephesians 2, verse 1 says, we were dead in trespasses and sin. The metaphor of death means separation from God, and it means inability. Dead people can't try harder. Dead people can't turn over a new leaf. Dead people can't do better. Dead people don't need rules and ritual and regulation. Dead people need resurrection that can only take place by the transforming grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a miracle that you are saved. If you have been saved, you have experienced two miracles. It's a miracle that you are saved. And secondly, it's a miracle that you are still saved. If you could lose your salvation, you would have lost it already. You are still in the faith because God is able to keep you. Indeed, the true believer perseveres until the end. But hear me, the steadfast perseverance of the saints is enabled by the sovereign preservation of God. God keeps us when we cannot keep ourselves. He is able to preserve us on earth, but he is also able to present us in heaven. Verse 24. Now, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. This is a great verse to be friends with because it encompasses the entire Christian journey from earth to glory. In fact, there's a play on words here. The term here present means to make you stand. The God who keeps you from stumbling on earth will make you stand in glory. He will present you two ways, blamelessly and joyfully. And again we are reminded we cannot do this. We cannot keep ourselves on earth from stumbling. We cannot do that of ourselves. And we most definitely cannot present ourselves in glory blamelessly before God without divine help. Our doom is stated in Psalm 1, right? The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous. We cannot present ourselves before God, but He is able to present us before Himself. He is able to present us before his glory. His glory here is a euphemism for God Himself. We will be trophies of his amazing grace. He will keep us on earth and present us before his own glory. Notice the two ways he will do so. He will present us blamelessly. Here is a reminder of our neediness, our absolute neediness. And here is a reminder of the total sufficiency of Jesus Christ. We can only stand blameless before God as we are covered in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. First Peter, chapter one, verses 18 and 19 says, you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. He presents us in Christ blameless. We can't do that. Left to our own devices. There is plenty to blame us with plenty of blame. Guilt weighs us down, but he has chosen us in Christ, says Ephesians 1, before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and blameless before Him. But not only will he present us blamelessly, he will present us joyfully. He will present us blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. Literally with much leaping. Adam and Eve enjoyed the manifest presence of God in the Garden of Eden when they fell into sin. This sense of God's presence wrought guilt and fear and shame because of their sin. We have inherited this from Adam and Eve as a result of the fall. But in Christ Jesus we don't have to fear that day when we will meet God. He shall present us before his glory with great joy. Psalm 16, verse 11 says, you will show me the way of life. In your presence is the fullness of joy, and at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. This is the hope of the believer when he shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. He will present us before the presence of his glory with great joy. Matthew Henry comments here that where there is no sin, there will be no sorrow, and where there is perfection of holiness, there will be perfection of joy. He will present us before his presence with great joy. And I might add, I don't think that is merely the joy of the presented. I believe it's also the joy of the presenter. Hebrews 12, verse 2, describing Christ says, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and despised the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God the father. So verse 24 bids us to trust the God who is able to keep you. And then verse 25 says, Praise the God who is able to keep you. Verse 24 is filled with assurances of what God will do for you. Now verse 25, before the doxology and benediction ends, Jude wants to be real clear. What God does for you is not about you, it's all about Him. And to trust the God who is able to keep you is to praise the God who is able to keep you. Verse 25 declares that God is worthy of exclusive praise, Highest praise, unending praise praise. The God who is able to keep us is worthy of exclusive praise. Notice the parallel language. To him who is able. Verse 24 begins verse 25. To the only God. God is worthy of exclusive praise because he is the only God. Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord, the Lord, your God is one. In First Timothy chapter 2, verse 5 declares that there is only one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for us all. There is only one God. And this one God is worthy exclusively of praise because this one God is our Savior. Savior is used some 24 times in the New Testament and it is usually a reference to Christ, but here it pictures God as our Savior. This is important because it is saying that Jesus didn't come as a Savior to protect us from God the Judge. What Christ did, God did. Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 21. He, God made him Christ who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. God is our Creator. God is our ruler. God is our judge. But he is more than that to those who are in Christ. He is our Savior. And as such he is worthy of exclusive praise. And this God who is worthy of exclusive praise is also worthy of highest praise to the only God, our Savior. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion and power and authority. That is, praise God for His glory and then praise God for His majesty. Term majesty is used in Hebrews 1, verse 3 and Hebrews 8, verse 1 as a euphemism for God. Here it is ascribing praise to God. It is his awesome presence. His majestic power is his dominion. Praise God for His dominion. Dominion again means that God's power is not just theoretical or ceremonial. God is a God of manifested power. His power is at work in the world. Praise God for His authority. It is the fuel of the Great Commission. The Great Commission is recorded in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20. But the commission is just verses 19 and 20. Verse 18 of Matthew 28 is no commission, it's a claim. But if verse 18 is not true, verses 19 and 20 are meaningless. Before he tells us to go into the world and make disciples, Jesus first, declares Paul, all authority in heaven and on earth belong to me. God is worthy of exclusive praise. God is worthy of highest praise, and God is worthy of unending praise. To this God be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before time and now and forever. A.T. robinson says, this is the most comprehensive statement of eternity that tongue can use. Eternity past history, eternity future. God is worthy of praise. Hebrews 13, verse 8 says it this way. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever before time and now and forever. We praise the God who is able to keep us and to present us before the presence of his glory with great joy. Amen.
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Amen. And don't we look forward to that day that was H.P. charles Jr. On this Thursday edition of Renewing youg Mind. I'm glad you've joined us. The messages from Dr. Charles this week have pointed us to God, lifting our eyes from the cares and worries of this life, so I do hope you'll take the time to watch the entire series. When you request your copy@renewingyourmind.org simply give a donation in support of Renewing youg Mind and we will send you the entire series on dvd and we'll unlock the messages and the study guide in the free Ligonier app. Your support keeps this program freely available to Christians around the world every day. So visit renewingyourmind.org or call us at 800-435-4343 to give your generous gift. Thank you. HP Charles Jr. Will be back tomorrow to conclude this series with a message on the presence of God, so make plans to join us Friday here on Renewing youg Mind.
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Sam.