Jude's Doxology - Jude 24-25

Today we'll be finishing up the book of Jude

and I'll be reading from verses 24 and 25. 24

and 25. Now to him who is able to keep you from

stumbling and to make you stand in the presence

of his glory, blameless 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. Amen. Let's

pray. Father, I come before you. Lord, I ask

your blessing upon this final sermon in Jude.

Lord, I ask that you would spur us on to worship.

and to adoration of your name, to exalting your

name in our lives. Father, I ask that you would

get great glory from what takes place in our

hearts and our minds because of the preaching

of your word. Father, I ask that your Holy Spirit

would fill me as I preach this. Lord, I ask that

your Holy Spirit would open the hearts and the

minds of the men, women, and children that would

hear your word proclaimed this day. I pray this

in Christ's precious name. Amen. So today, as

we close the book of Jude, we will be looking

at verses 24 and 25. In 24 and 25 of the book

of Jude, a lot of people come to the end of this

book and they think that it is a benediction.

But you get to the end of this book and Jude

actually closes this little epistle of 25 verses

with a doxology. And a doxology is basically,

it is recognizing and giving God a blessing and

giving Him praise and adoration. It is worshiping

Him. A benediction is God blessing people or

pronouncing a blessing upon his people. So doxology

is proclaiming a blessing or worship or praise

or adoration to God. So we get to the end of

this book and Jude closes it with the doxology

wanting us to think of worship, wanting us to

think of adoration of our great God. Wanting

us to think of praising and worshiping this great

God whom we serve and who has saved us. Now,

it's interesting. You look at the book of Jude

and you think, why does he close with a doxology?

Why does he close wanting us to think about worship?

Well, when we look at the book of Jude, we've

had some pretty stiff, some pretty heavy, some

pretty weighty stuff that we've had to deal with.

There's been judgment. There's been condemnation.

There has been deniers of the gospel. There's

been twisters of grace. And whenever this epistle

was sent, it would have been read in one sitting.

So they would have read the church out loud in

one sitting and it takes about four minutes to

read through the book of Jude. So when you read

through the book of Jude in about four to five

minutes and you get all the weighty and all the

heavy stuff and all the judgment and all the

hard stuff and all the challenge to fight and

to contend, he brings it at the end and he says,

don't forget about worshiping your God. Don't

forget. To worship God. So this doxology is for

the purpose of encouraging us as God's people

to worship and adore and praise God who is able

in the midst of any circumstances. Who is able

regardless of what is taking place around us.

So he's saying church, this is Jude saying church,

regardless of the false teachers, regardless

of the division or the flattery or the manipulation,

regardless of the false religion that's taking

place in your church, don't forget God is able

and worship this great God. So in thinking of

adoration, that's what I'm going to refer to

today primarily. And I'm talking about adoration,

I'm talking about worship, I'm talking about

glorifying God by giving Him honor and praise.

So that's primarily what we'll be discussing

today, adoration of God. Now when we think of

adoring God or worshiping God, there are several

things in our lives. that cause us to worship

God, aren't there? I mean, think about your own

life. Think about the things that take place

in your own life. What causes you or what brings

about, what incites worship within your soul,

within your heart, to say, Lord, thank you. I

praise your holy name. Lord, you are so good.

You are worthy of all praise and honor. You know,

just for me, many times I do this when I'm sitting

back either reading or studying or doing something

else and I'm watching my kids play. And I watch

them play and they're getting along. And they're

having fun and they're enjoying themselves. But

no, they're loving. They're loving creation.

They're enjoying themselves. When I sit back

and I watch that and I think, Lord, You are so

good. You are so kind. It just makes my soul

want to worship. There's so many other things.

Think about a brisk 74 degree day and there's

a nice cool breeze blowing through and you're

standing in the shade. Honestly, that incites

my heart to worship. Lord, thank you. You are

so good. You are so gracious. You are so kind.

Because even the cool breeze is from God. There's

so many things in our life that bring about worship.

But Jude gives us two things. He gives us two

causes for adoration in our lives. Two causes

for adoration in our lives. The first is this,

that God is able to keep you from stumbling.

God is... What does it mean that God is able

to keep you from stumbling? We worship a God

who is not weak. We worship a God who is not

impotent. We worship a God who is not restricted,

who is not limited. We worship a God who is not

bound. We worship a God who is almighty, powerful,

creator God that when he speaks, worlds come

into existence. That's the God who we worship.

The God who is so powerful that the seas that

would crush you and me, if we got underneath

the wave, he spoke into existence. The God who

when we go outside at night and we look up into

the sky and there's millions and millions of

stars, He spoke into existence and He put them

exactly where they are to be. He is that mighty,

that powerful, the God who holds the universe

in the palm of His hand and doesn't let the globe

go one inch to the right or one inch to the left.

He is that mighty. He is that powerful. So God

is able. This God who is able and who is powerful

and who is mighty and who is strong, what is

he able to do in our lives, in the lives of these

believers that Jude is writing to? He is able

to keep you from stumbling. To keep you from

stumbling. The idea is this. He is able to keep

you from being tripped or tripping. Think of

a horse riding down a trail, and he's riding,

they're going down a steep hill, and there's

rocks, and he stumbles, or he fumbles, or he

trips. And that stumble, that fumble, or that

trip for that horse causes the horse and the

rider to go fumbling down the hill. So that's

the idea, that's the picture that he has. It's

the idea of keeping us from sin, keeping us from

error, keeping us from falling away from the

faith. We see that taking place in the New Testament.

People falling away from the faith. He's able

to keep us from that. But it also implies this

idea that God is going to keep us until the end.

He is going to bring us through this life. If

you are born again believing Christian, God will

keep you. How did he open this epistle? He said

to those who are the called, those who are beloved

in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

So God will keep his people. He is able to keep

you. So keep those four things in mind. He can

keep you from sin. He can keep you from error.

He can keep you from falling away. And he can

keep you until the end. This is why it's important.

for these Christians to understand this. Think

about the Christians in this epistle that Jude

is writing to. What's taking place around them?

What's going on? What are they being impacted

by? What's influencing them? He is telling them,

God is able to keep you from stumbling. What

did we look at last week in Jude? What did we

look at last week in Jude? We looked at the fact

that people doubt. We looked at the fact that

some people are in the fire and they're about

to bring destruction into their lives and they

have to be snatched out. We looked at the reality

that there are some people so far in sin that

they are dangerous to other believers. So those

are taking place, not to mention... The fact

that there's people there who are hidden reefs

in their love feasts. I mean, this even talks

about the reality that there were angels who

rebelled. There were angels who fell away. It

talks about how there's division. There's people

that are manipulating and flattering. So it is

important for... the people of this church, and

us as a church to understand and to grasp that

God is able to keep you from falling into false

religion. He is able to keep you from doubt.

He is able to keep you from being in the fire

and bringing destruction into your life. God

is able to keep you from sinking so far down

into sin like we saw last week where you're dangerous

to other believers. God is able to keep you from

rebellion. God is able. He's able to keep us

from ourselves. He's able to keep us from our

own depravity and our own sinfulness. This is

great news. This is wonderful news that this

mighty and powerful God who is able can keep

you. Do you know why it is such wonderful news?

Because we can't do it. I cannot keep myself.

You cannot keep yourself. Just as I cannot call

myself effectually into the faith. Just as I

cannot give myself faith or muster up faith.

Just as I cannot cause myself to be born again

and to become regenerate. Just as I cannot justify

myself. Just as I cannot sanctify myself by myself

without the power of God at work in my life.

Just as I am incapable of doing those things,

I am incapable of keeping myself. I cannot keep

myself from sin without the power of God. I cannot

keep myself from error without the power of God.

I cannot and you cannot keep yourself from falling

away from the faith without the power of God.

We cannot keep ourselves until the end, to the

day when Christ Jesus comes. I can't even face

death by myself without my Savior. I have ultimately

very little control of my life. You have very

little control of your life. We cannot control

what takes place within our soul. in our spiritual

lives without the power of God at work in our

lives. But praise be to the Lord because God

is able. He is able to keep you from stumbling.

We have no stability in and of ourselves without

the power of God at work in our soul. Every single

one of us, apart from God at work within us,

we would fall away from the faith. That is the

depth of our sinfulness. Think about your inclination

to stumble. Think about your inclination to sin

and struggle in life. Think about that. in your

life that you've dealt with for so long that

you cannot beat. Think about the sin that you

in yourself cannot keep yourself from. Those

things in and of ourselves, we can't do them.

We can't defeat them without the power of God

at work in our lives. Some of us Some of us may

think, well, I have extra resolve. Now, whenever

you said that, that we can't keep ourselves,

well, I kind of feel like I can't. I actually

can. I'm a pretty strong person. I'm a pretty

resolved person. stable, persevering individual.

This is not something where we just strap on

the bootstraps and pull ourselves up. We cannot

keep ourselves by ourselves. We must have the

power of God at work in our lives. The very pride

that rises within our own hearts when we hear

you cannot keep yourselves demonstrates the reality

that you cannot keep yourself. That shows the

depth of our sinfulness and the need for God

to be at work in our life to sustain us and to

hold us up by His grace and by His power. We

should praise God for this. We should praise

God. We should adore our God because He is able

to keep us from stumbling. We should worship

Him greatly that it's not based on me. We should

give Him great honor. We should give Him great

praise. praise and acclamation and adoration

in our lives because it's not you and it's not

me that it's not dependent on us to present ourselves

in the throne room of God in His glory. It's

not us. It's Him. He is able. He is mighty. He

is powerful. And praise Him for the reality that

He will do it. He will keep. He will keep us,

adore him and worship him for that. So the first

reason or cause for adoration to God is the reality

that he can keep us from stumbling, that he is

mighty, he is able. But the second cause or the

second thing which brings about adoration in

our lives and worship, to our God is that He

is able to make you stand in the presence of

His glory blameless with great joy. Just let

that soak in for a minute. He is able to make

you stand in the presence of His glory blameless.

with great joy. Meaning this, He will present

you to Himself after having kept you in this

life in a certain way. He will present you in

a certain manner, in a certain way, as trophies

of grace to Himself in His glory. The text gives

us three descriptors of what it will be like

when we are presented to God himself in his glory.

And we are totally dependent upon God for this

work as well in our life. Think about trying

to go in for a job interview and putting on your

best clothes, your best face, biggest smile,

And you're presenting yourself the best you can.

But think about this. You still have a history.

You still have a past. You still mess up. And

going forward, you're going to mess up and you're

going to sin. And at that time, you're anxious.

You're worrying. You're stressed out. You're

presenting yourself. But you may or may not get

the job. This text teaches us that God Almighty,

can present you to himself standing blameless

and with great joy. He will do it. He is able.

The one who can keep you can also present you.

So the three descriptions in this... Three different

ways that were shown to be presented to him.

The first is standing. Now this is unique in

and of itself. If you think back to, for instance,

Ezekiel chapter 1 and his call and his commission.

Ezekiel 1 · chapter mention

When he saw this vision and this glory of God,

what happened to him? He went straight to the

ground. He dropped. The glory of God forced him

to the ground and he ate the dust. That's just

how it is when you're a sinful person and you

see a holy and a mighty God in all the brightness

of his glory. Think about Moses when he wanted

to see God's glory. He could only see a lesser

part of God's glory and the backside. And he

still had to be shielded and he still had to

be covered by God himself. Because God said,

no man shall see my face and live. No man shall

see my face. He shall not see the fullness of

my glory and all its greatness and all its holiness.

And live. Hold on to that. Isaiah. In Isaiah

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. He saw the throne room of God. He

saw the glory of God. And what did he say? He

said woe unto me. He pronounced a curse on himself.

Because he saw the depth of his own unholiness.

And his own sinfulness. In sight and in view

of a holy and a mighty God. He said, I am undone.

He said, I'm falling apart. I can't handle this

glory. I'm undone. Woe is to me. Think about

Peter, James, and John in the New Testament,

the transfiguration. What happened to them? They

went down. They dropped. They hit the dirt. When

they saw Christ in His glory. Think about John

in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 1, verse

Revelation 1:17

17, I'm just going to read it. Listen to this.

This is what happens when a sinful man with sinful

tendencies and a sinful nature encounters the

glory of this great and mighty God. Listen to

this. When I saw him, I fell at his feet like

a dead man. That's the power, that's the oppressive

and overwhelming power of God's glory on a corrupt

and sinful person. You hit the ground like a

dead man. when you experience that. Yet in our

text today, we find that God is able to present

us to Himself. He can make us not hit the dust,

but He can make us stand in His glory and the

presence of His glory. He doesn't say that we

will be presented to Himself like a dead man,

Down in the dust because of his frightful holiness.

Something dramatic has happened to you when you

are presented to God and you can stand in his

presence, in the presence of his glory. An essential

change has taken place within your nature, within

who you are. And that brings us to our second

point. of being presented blameless. We are presented

blameless before God. Now, this word blameless

should make us think of the blameless sacrifice

or the sacrificial lamb which was sacrificed

to atone for the sins of the people. In the Old

Testament, we see the Ark of the Covenant and

we see on it the mercy seat. Within the Ark of

the Covenant was the Ten Commandments. And this

was where God would meet His people. This is

where His presence was. And eventually, the Ark

of the Covenant and the mercy seat, it would

go into the Holy of Holies where God's presence

would dwell. And once a year, the priests would

go in and they would sprinkle blood on the mercy

seat to atone for the sins of the people. So

why did the sacrifice have to be blameless? And

why did it have to be holy and pure? Because

it had to be holy and pure to atone and to make...

and to bring about atonement for the people of

God. It had to be perfect so that blamelessness

could be imputed to the people in a sense. So

Christ, as the perfect Lamb of God who is blameless,

has atoned for the sins of God's people so that

we can, Stand in his presence blameless. Do you

realize without the blameless, sacrificial lamb

of Jesus Christ, you cannot enter into the presence

of God? You cannot meet with God and his holiness

without the blood of the lamb. this word blameless

and the fact that we will be presented blameless

without a spot, without a speck of dirt or sin.

That is how we will be presented to God himself

because of the blessed work of Christ Jesus.

Even in that day, even in that day, His sacrifice

is what will make us blameless. Our sin nature

will be no longer, and we will be made like Adam,

where he could walk in the cool of the day in

the presence of God. Is that not amazing? The

reality that God will present you to himself.

And we will even be able to experience his glory

more than Adam did because of Christ. Because

of our new head, which is Christ. So what's the

third description that he gives us? With great

joy. Not only... Are we standing and blameless,

but we will be presented with great joy to our

great God. This has to do with our eternal state

of happiness in our soul. If I had to describe

what joy is, it's a constant and a consistent

happiness within our soul. And on that day, it

will be because we are praising and rejoicing

in the reality of what Jesus Christ has done

for His people to present them to God. And we

will have joy, not just in that moment, but we

will have joy inexpressible and great joy for

all eternity rejoicing in what Christ has done

for His people. Resting in that sacrifice. Rejoicing

in what Christ has done. Does the reality that

God can keep you from stumbling and He can make

you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless,

with great joy, does it stir your soul? Does

it bring about worship? And adoration and praise

from within you. Does it do something? Does it

cause you to look up at God and say, Father,

thank you for the work that Christ has done.

Thank you for the reality that it's not dependent

on me. I praise your name. You are mighty. You

are good. You are gracious. Why have you done

this for a sinner like me? This should stir adoration

and it should stir worship from our hearts to

our God. Now I think it's very important that

when we talk about things that cause us to worship,

things that bring about worship in our lives,

that we don't just and only worship God because...

of what He has done and because of what He can

do and because of what He will do for me. We

have to be very careful that we don't just worship

God because of what He can do for us. We always

have to be cautious. Ultimately, if we only worship

God because of what He... can do for me, then

who are we really worshiping? We have to move

beyond the reality of simply worshiping God either

because it's encouraging to me, it feels good,

it lifts me up, it challenges me, It spurs me

on. We have to move. That is good. That's healthy.

We need that. But you can't solely and singularly

worship God because of what He does for you.

You have to worship God because of who He is.

And because, very simply put, He is worthy and

due worship. because of how great and because

of how mighty he is. This is why the object of

our worship is so important. The object of our

adoration. What is it that we worship? What is

it that we adore? It is God. Our text says, To

the only God our Savior. To the only God our

Savior. I think a good principle to live by in

regards to worship and having a right view of

God and a right view of us in regards to worship

is that the object which we adore will always

be the primary cause of the adoration which is

inside of us. So that which we set our affections

on, that which we love deeply, that which we

care about deeply, that which we adore and worship

and praise is what will be the primary cause

of what stirs our affections and our worship

and our praise and our honor to whatever it is.

So the object of what it is we worship and adore

is very, very important. It must be the only

God, the true and the mighty God who is able

to the only God, our Savior. God must be the

sole recipient of our adoration and our worship

and our worship. and our worship in our lives

and in our souls. He says, to the only God. Now,

when the Bible speaks of God being the only God,

it's not saying there's other gods that shouldn't

be worshipped. It's saying that God is the one

true living God and He is worthy of your worship.

There are no other gods. God is the only God.

There are no other gods. Go ahead and turn with

me to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. In

Exodus 20 · chapter mention Exodus 20 · chapter mention

Exodus chapter 20, we learn a little bit about

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

worshiping God and how it is we are to worship

the only God. In Exodus chapter 20, I'm going

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

to start reading in verse 1. We read, Then God

spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord

your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery. You shall have no

other gods before me. You shall not make for

yourself an idol. or any likeness of what is

in heaven above or in earth beneath or in the

water under the earth, you shall not worship

them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God,

am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the

fathers on the children, on the third and fourth

generations of those who hate me, but showing

loving kindness to thousands to those who love

me and keep my commandments. You shall not take

the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the

Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes

his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to

keep it holy. So in those first four commandments,

God speaks of worship of himself. How he is...

calling himself the only true God worthy of worship.

And here's how you ought to worship me. First,

he says that he is the only God. Don't worship

anything else. Don't make idols. Don't adore.

Don't set your hearts. Don't put your affections

on other things, but put them singularly and

solely on me. You shall have no other gods before

me. Then he says, you shall not make for yourself

an idol or any likeness. of what is in heaven.

God is invisible, and we ought to seek him in

a spiritual way. You must worship me in spirit

and in truth, as we read in the Gospel of John.

Then he says, You shall not take the name of

the Lord your God in vain. We must worship God

reverently. He is an awesome God. He is a great

and a mighty and a holy God. And we must worship

Him reverently as this text teaches. And also,

we read that we must remember the Sabbath day

to keep it holy. The Lord's Day. Sunday. Not

only has God told us who we are to worship singularly,

Him, Himself, how reverently, He's told us when?

On Sundays. So one of the special things about

Grace Fellowship Church is the way you worship

and the way you worship God. You worship the

only true God. You should revel in that. And

the reality that you worship God and you worship

Him in a way that is joyful, sincere, and honoring

to the Lord. That's why worship is worship because

you hear from God and you speak to God and you

sing to God. It's about God. He is the only one

that is to be worshiped. We are to worship because

He is the only God and the only one worthy of

worship. Next we see that He is God our Savior.

Now whenever you hear this, you think of Jesus

as our Savior. This is referred to as God in

about eight times in the New Testament. You know,

we hear Jesus as Savior quite a bit in the New

Testament. But God, generically, as Savior, we

don't hear as much. about that. But God is a

saving God. And one of the reasons that we should

worship Him alone is because He is a saving God.

He is a God of redemption, redeeming His people.

So in Ephesians chapter 1, we learn of how God

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

is a saving God. We learn that The plan of salvation

and the union we have with Christ comes from

the kindness of God's good intention and His

good will. It comes from within Himself. We know

in Ephesians 1 that it says, Blessed be the God

and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has

blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the

heavenly places in Christ. In Christ. Just as

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the

world that we would be holy and blameless before

Him. That's what we just studied and just read

in Jude. Before the foundation of the world,

that was His plan, to present to Himself a people

holy and blameless. In love, he predestined us

to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, get

this, to himself. It has always been God's plan

as a saving God to bring a redeemed people and

to present them to himself. We read a little

later that it says, to the praise of the glory

of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us

in love. the beloved. It's all because of Christ.

The saving nature and the beautiful saving reality

of who our God is is perfectly expressed and

perfectly manifested in the person and the work

of His Son. God is a saving God and He alone

should get our worship. and our adoration. Let

us set our affections on Him alone. Next, we

see that God is worthy of our worship. He's always

been worthy of our worship. And He always will

be worthy of our worship. He always has been,

always will be, and He is right now. We read,

To the only God our Savior, Be glory, majesty,

dominion, and authority before all time, now

and forever. Our worshiping God or our not worshiping

God does not add to or take away from God's gloriousness.

Our worshiping God or our not worshiping God

does not take away from or add to the fact that

He is great and He is majestic and that He is

powerful and He has all authority and He has

all dominion. God is who He is and He has always

been who He is. But because He's a saving God,

He rescued, prepared and planned and apply the

salvation to a people. God always has been and

always will be a God worthy and he alone worthy

of our worship. We must give him, direct to him,

aim at him. Our adoration set upon him, our adoration,

our praise, our affections, our heart, our lives,

because he is worthy of it. You are to worship

God because of who he is and because this great

God has done so much for you. So let us worship

him because he is worthy Because He is great

and He is mighty. And finally, we see the mediator

of our worship. The mediator of our worship.

We read in the last verse in Jude, to the only

God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

be glory, majesty, dominion, authority before

all time now and forever. Amen. We've spoken

a lot of adoration and worship and praising God

and thanking God for who He is and what He's

done. There is an absolute need for every single

person to have a mediator so that Your adoration,

your worship, your praise makes it to the courts

of heaven. The most desperate prayer from a desperate

man, woman, or child. The strongest and most

fervent praise from the sweetest voice must...

have a mediator, must have a go -between. It

must be through the Lord Jesus Christ. There

is no other way to worship our great and mighty

God other than through the mediator Christ Jesus.

to adore our God, if you want to adore what he's

done and who he is, and if you want to thank

him, if you want to speak to him, you must go

through Jesus. Jesus said that I am the way,

the truth, and the life. No man comes to the

Father but by Me. We could say in that same truth,

no adoration, no worship, no praise, no honor

goes or gets to heaven but through Him. So my

plea for everybody, especially for the young

people today, is think about your worship. Think

about how do your prayers get to God? How does

your worship and your adoration get to God? It

has to go through Jesus Christ. You must have

a mediator. So we all need to trust in our mediator,

Jesus. Every single one of us.