Jude 24-25 - Failure?

Father, we remember the gospel and then we forget the gospel.

We trust in the gospel and then we start to trust in ourselves.

We think that you have paid it all and then we think we have to pay it.

Father, we are confused and we need your help.

So Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the gospel.

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would bring the gospel home to us

in a new and powerful way this morning

and that your Holy Spirit would continually bring the gospel home

to the very center of who we are.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So I'm going to confess something to you all.

I'm going to share something as a confession.

And I'm confessing this or sharing this with you

and I don't want you to say anything about it afterwards.

Like I'm not fishing for a compliment.

Like I'm really not fishing for a compliment.

It's a confession.

So last Sunday, I think I preached one of the worst sermons I've preached in years.

That's why I don't want you to say anything about it.

You know, I don't want you to say,

No, George, that wasn't bad or that was good.

I don't want you to say anything about it.

I just want to confess to you what's going on in my mind.

So actually in the sermon last week, I was thinking to myself,

I made a big mistake saying I was going to preach this week.

I was really jet lagged.

I hadn't realized how jet lagged I was.

It felt as if I didn't have a brain, but I had cotton candy between my ears.

And I got my order mixed.

I wasn't able to finish my preparation to the extent I wanted.

And while I was preaching, I lost my place in my notes.

So I was standing up here feeling absolutely terrible,

thinking this is a really bad sermon.

How do I get out of it gracefully?

And even as I was going home, I was just thinking about how bad a sermon it was.

My wife, she is so lovely.

I shared with her later on how bad I thought the sermon was.

And she's so lovely because she could have said,

George, that wasn't your worst sermon.

Gosh, there's been a lot of worse ones that you've said,

preached over the last couple of weeks.

She didn't say anything.

She just listened.

And I said to her, one of the nice things about being jet lagged is,

if I hadn't been jet lagged, I would have been depressed about it.

But because I was jet lagged, I was too tired to be depressed about how bad my sermon was.

But I still felt I'd really done a very, very bad job.

And I did feel bad in my own jet lagged type of way.

And I'm sharing this with you because it has a, it's a very, I mean,

every single one of us struggles with failure.

And I, and one of the hard things sometimes for a minister is that

when I feel like I fail, sometimes I fail in front of people.

Like today, if I fail, it's just in front of 40 or 50 or 60 of you,

but sometimes it's a lot more.

And that can be a hard thing.

It's actually one of the things you can pray for a pastor

and pray for a worship leader as well,

who sometimes can go home afterwards and thinking,

gosh, I wish I could dial that back and do it all over again or whatever.

So, but the scripture text today that we're, it's our memory text for the week.

It's a very, very powerful text for you to memorize for those of us who struggle with failure.

So Andrew, if you could put the text up on the screen, it's at Jude chapter 20, at Jude chapter 24.

There's Jude 24 and 25.

Jude is a short book.

It only has 25 verses.

And that's why there's no chapter in front of it.

They just list the verses.

And here is the text.

And I'd like you to read it with me out loud.

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,

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.

It's a very, very, I have to confess,

I think this is the third week we've been doing these one verse sermons.

And I had a hard time memorizing this because there's lots of bits and pieces to it.

I think I could tell you what it's about, but I don't know if I could memorize it bang on.

But it's a very, very deep text, a very, very beautiful text,

and it's a powerful text for those of us who struggle with failure at different times.

Why don't we just read it together again one more time,

and then we'll look at how it addresses specifically what I was just sharing with you

about how I felt about last week's sermon.

So do you read it out loud with me again, please?

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,

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.

So, you know, if you look at this text, what is this text?

Here's the thing, which one of the many things that really jumps out at me about this text.

It says at the beginning,

Now to him, that's God, who is able to keep you from stumbling,

and the image there is that not only will I not stumble,

but that when I actually stand in the presence of God on the last day,

it won't be that as soon as I get into God's presence,

I'm sort of falling and falling on my face.

It has this image, the stumbling image also has this image that he'll stop you from being ruined.

And God is the one who has the power and the ability,

only God, to make me actually, to make sure that I don't fall into ruination,

I don't fall and damage and hurt myself.

God, and only God is the one who is able to make me actually stand in his presence,

not cower, and that when I stand in his presence,

and when you stand in his presence,

that we'll stand before him blameless,

and we'll be in the presence of his glory,

and there will be great joy.

There will be great joy in me,

there will be great joy amongst the angels,

and I don't just stand before God in his presence,

the presence of his glory all by myself,

but I stand with others who have been redeemed by Jesus,

and we stand in God's presence blameless,

and it's like everybody is just hooping and hollering,

standing ovation, songs of praises.

That's this picture of God, of what he does.

So if you could put up the first point, Andrew,

here's the thing.

You cannot add or subtract to what Jesus accomplished for you.

You cannot add or subtract to what Jesus has accomplished for you.

You see, on one level, what the gospel says is this,

that God sees my great profound need,

and when he sees my great profound need,

he sends his son,

and his son takes upon himself

all of the demands of justice that people might have about you,

that especially if they knew all of your secrets

and knew everything that you'd ever done in your life,

and if everybody knew every single thing that you'd ever done

and every single thing that you'd ever thought

and everything that you could have done but you didn't do

and everything that you could have thought but you didn't think,

and if people knew that,

there'd be a demand that there'd be some consequence to you.

And the gospel is this good news

that God knows every secret of every heart,

and nothing is hid from its sight,

and he saw our inability to actually pay for that,

to make that right.

The demands of justice would unmake us

because we just literally could not pay

and make restitution for everything that we've done,

and God saw that that was the case,

and he sends his son,

and when Jesus dies upon the cross,

Jesus, in a sense,

not in a very, very real and true sense,

he is saying,

all of the demands of justice, George,

that should fall upon you,

that will unmake you,

I will put your hand in mine

so that I will be your substitute and your representative,

and all of those demands of justice will fall on me.

But that's not all.

The gospel is even more glorious than that.

The reason the gospel is even more glorious than that

is that Jesus came and lived the life

that I was supposed to live

and wasn't able to live

and could never live.

I regularly live my life

in a way that sort of tells God

to forget about me for a while,

to go and do your own thing,

and I have my own plans,

my own desires,

my own attempting to seek God's glory

to be important.

I have my own things I want to do.

I can't live a life

which is in perfect communion

and fellowship and relationship

with God the Father.

And the other wonderful thing about the gospel

is that not only does Jesus

deal with the demands of justice

that would be made against us

if people knew every single thing

there was to know about us,

but Jesus has lived that perfect life

life of communion and fellowship

and oneness with God the Father.

And when Jesus,

hanging on the cross

and then dying and rising from the dead,

when he invites us to put our faith

and our trust in him,

not only are the demands of justice paid,

but a life of perfect righteousness,

a life of perfect communion

with the Father that Jesus lives,

that becomes ours as well.

So what that means

is that I can't subtract.

It isn't as if after I put my hand in Jesus

and trust him to be my savior,

that all of a sudden I can do some stuff

and Jesus says,

whoa, I can only pay up to so much

for what you've done, George,

but now you've gone beyond the pale.

I can't pay for that.

Or it's not the case

that God was looking down at me

and said, well, you know,

I sort of would have let George into heaven

just sort of grudgingly.

But now that I've seen

how good a sermon he preached,

he can come in.

In other words,

as if I have to add to what Jesus has done.

This is what the text is saying

now to him who is able

to keep you from stumbling.

In other words, from falling,

from entering into ruination.

He is the one who keeps me from stumbling

and he presents me blameless

before the presence of his glory

with great joy

to the only God, our savior,

through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So what this means is that

if I preach a sermon

which is so good

that next week

there's a lineup

to get into church,

that doesn't add anything

in terms of how I stand before God.

And if I preach a sermon

which so sucks

that next week

it's only the person paid

to be the worship leader

who's here with me,

it doesn't mean that I lose my place

in God's standing

because Jesus pays it all

and his life covers me all.

That's what the gospel means.

That's what the gospel means.

You see,

when I start to really get down

on myself

after I've done a particular failure

which is a little bit different.

I'm not talking about saying

to the Lord after a sermon,

Lord,

I did some things

which I was inattentive

during the week

and I didn't apply myself

to the week

and I ask your forgiveness

and I ask that you help me

to live a better life.

That's a good thing.

But when I beat myself up,

when my self-worth

and my identity

is troubled

over failing

to achieve my goals,

what I show is

is that my identity

and my justification

and my righteousness

isn't in the gospel

but it is in what I do.

You see,

here's one of the things.

I don't know where you are

with God

if you're here

and if you're a seeker

and you've come here,

one of the things

which often bothers

non-Christians

about Christians

is that we just sort of,

we're all down on sins,

you know,

all those bad people

who go drinking

all the time,

all those bad people

who vote for the wrong party,

all those bad people

who,

you know,

are sexually naughty,

all those bad people

and for a lot of non-Christians

they look at us

and what they see

isn't grace

but they see self-righteousness

and often they're correct

because you see,

my example

of what I shared

about how I feel,

I felt bad

after failing

to preach the sermon

that I thought

I should be able

to preach

that my identity

and my self-esteem

sort of depended upon

and it shows

that really

at bottom

I still struggle

with self-righteousness

and self-justification

and it's not just sins

like doing naughty things

that keep us far from God,

religion also keeps us far from God

because religion

can just become a means

by which we think

we chalk up enough brownie points

to make ourselves right with God

and the wonderful news

of the gospel

is that nobody can do that

but that,

if that was the case

that nobody could do that

that would only be depressing

but the gospel

is the good news

that Jesus has done it

he has done it

completely and utterly for us

and so

I will stand someday

before God

not because I'm a pastor

not because I'm

I'm a good husband

or a so-so husband

or a great dad

or a so-so dad

or because I'm a Canadian

or I don't stand

I will only stand before God

because God was the one

who sent power

in the person of his son

so that when Jesus died upon

after living a perfect sinless life

in communion with the Father

and dying upon the cross

he has paid the justice

demands of justice

that needed to be paid

and his perfect life

has stood for me

and when I put my faith

and trust in Jesus

accepting that this is

what God has provided

to make me be able

to stand without stumbling

and blameless

in the presence of his glory

with great joy

when I accept that

he has accomplished

and done all of that

in Jesus

and that stands for me

and the rest of my life

I cannot add

to what Jesus has accomplished

nor can I take it away

that is the gospel

and that's what this text

so powerfully reminds us of

now to him who is able

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

to the only God our Savior

through Jesus Christ our Lord

now some of you might say

well

in fact

this happened

just a couple of months ago

when I was trying

to communicate this

to somebody

and they said

well if that's true

they actually said

two things

they said

well actually

George

that explains

a couple of Christians

that I've worked with

as baristas

because you know what

George

some of these guys

like some of your Christians

who work with me

and work with me

in some of these stores

like they just sort of think

oh yeah okay

well I screwed up

or I'm lazy

or you know

I'm gossipy

and if you sort of

somebody challenges them

on doing a shoddy job

you get this sense

that they just sort of think

that they're better

than other people

and now I sort of understand

it they sort of think

that they got this

free pass from God

that no matter what they do

they're going to be right

with God

like George

what on earth

would give any human being

any motivation

to try to live

a good responsible life

if they believed

what the gospel said

that's a really good question

let's read the text

again out loud

and see what the text

says about it

could you read it

with me please

if you could put it

back up Andrew

thank you

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

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

so here's the thing

this text actually

is a

here's

it's very interesting

I didn't think

of saying this

at the time

the last time

I had a conversation

with somebody

about this

and they pointed

this out to me

but in a very

very interesting way

the comment

that who would

ever possibly

live a good life

if the gospel

was true

that's actually

a very very

profound insight

to what we

human beings

are like

because in fact

what we actually

want is a free

pass isn't it

we want to be

like gods

like in a very

very curious

way

because this

person still

might think

that you know

when I

in fact the

person I was

talking to

in fact they

would just say

that when you

die you go

to a better

place

and they

might actually

say that it

is possible

for human

beings to

get better

and better

and better

but this

question

this observation

of the gospel

shows that

at a deeper

level she

actually didn't

believe that

human beings

could get

better and

better and

better because

she sort of

understood that

the heart of

human beings

is this desire

to take advantage

of God

and so if

you could put

up the next

point Andrew

what the gospel

is telling us

what this text

is reminding us

is that when

you receive the

gospel Jesus

becomes your

savior not

your enabler

and Pierre

shared with us

about how he

was an alcoholic

and I use

enabler in the

alcoholic sense

that often what

happens with

alcoholics is

they have somebody

who enables

their alcoholism

they cover up

for the alcoholic

they make excuses

for the alcoholic

they don't confront

the alcoholic

with tough love

they become

an enabler

and you see

the fact of the

matter is

is that the

human fundamental

human desire

that only the

Christian faith

brings this out

is that the

fundamental human

desire is that

we want to be

like God

and we somehow

or another think

that we can get

away with that

fantasy

despite the fact

that the tiniest

little virus

makes us sick

despite the fact

that we all die

despite the fact

that we were

all born

and the world

was existing

completely and utterly

before we were

born

yet somehow

or another

we want to be

the center

we want to be

like God

we want to get

the glory

we want to have

majesty

we want to have

the dominion

we want to have

the authority

in very small

or large ways

that's how we

live our lives

and so

actually this text

you see

hearing about the

fact that Jesus

does it all for us

in the gospel

in some ways

reveals to us

whether what

we've actually done

is we think

we've pulled

a fast one

on God

God is giving me

the gospel

therefore I can

get away with

everything

you know

and therefore

we can become

you know

lazy

we can become

indifferent to

criticism

and all of that

type of stuff

we just think

that God

that we've

deceived God

about our

true motives

and that God

is now just

enabling us

in our project

of being God

but what does

the text say

I mean

what is it

that the end

is

why is it

that Jesus

redeems us

Jesus doesn't

redeem me

so I can

stand in the

presence of

the kingdom

of George

to receive

glory and

majesty and

dominion and

authority and

power

I am made

right to stand

in God's

presence

and

when

and the text

reminds me

of what it's

like to stand

in God's

presence

that first of

all you can

only stand

in God's

presence

if you're

blameless

you can

only stand

in God's

presence

if he

does

what you

cannot

do

the gospel

becomes

home to us

when we

call out

to God

and say

God

I can't

do this

please

help me

please

rescue me

the Christian

life doesn't

begin when

you necessarily

know all

this theology

the theology

the cross

for me

when I

became a

Christian

it all

came down

to this

basic sense

that there

was a

type of

a life

and a

peace

which I

did not

have

and could

not create

in my

own

and I

just

I

needed

God

I

needed

Jesus

I

needed

the Holy

Spirit

to help

me

and I

couldn't

articulate

that

I didn't

know a

lot of

the Bible

all I

knew

was that

there was

this

incompleteness

and this

out of

whackness

that I

couldn't

fix

and that

Jesus

could

and I

put my

faith and

trust in

him

but then as

you read the

Bible you

learn more and

more and

more and

more and

more about

it

and this

text is

describing how

Jesus redeems

us to stand

in God's

presence

that the

end of the

days there

will be an

end of the

days and

God will

make all

things new

he will

bring things

to their

proper end

and to

say that I

will stand

in God's

presence

blameless

with great

joy

not

grudgingly

on my

part or

with God's

part and I

stand in

God's

presence

and when I

stand in

God's

presence I

will see

and you

will see

his glory

that just

means

he's just

fully revealed

as God

and he's

just the

brightness is

such that it

would blind

us if we

saw him on

this side of

the grave

and majesty

means that we

have this

sense of

God's great

transcendence

it's as if

you were

when I was

in Angola

a year ago

I stood on

this cliff

and on

one hand

it was a

something that

I was a

place of

horror

because up

until a few

years earlier

the government

would throw

dissidents

over the

edge of

this huge

cliff

to their

death

now they

turned it

into a

tourist

attraction

but when

you stood

on this

cliff

you had

this

huge

vista

it just

seemed

as if

the earth

fell away

and it

went on

for distance

and distance

and distance

and it's a

vague image

of what it

would be like

to actually

see God

to have

this sense

of his

largeness

his

greatness

this

vast

depth

that goes

on and

on and

on and

to acknowledge

his dominion

that he

is over

me and

that it's

good and

that he's

authoritative

over me

and it's

good and

so God

in the

gospel

Jesus

becomes my

savior

I abandon

myself to

him he

doesn't become

my enabler

and and

the fact

is is that

when you

now know

that everything

is done

by Jesus

and that

he saves

you to

stand before

God

God

it checks

my desire

for him

to enable

me in

my

God

project

and it

frees me

up to

take risks

it frees

me up

to try

it frees

me up

to know

that I

can actually

look at the

really really

bad things

I've done

in my

life

and I

can look

at them

and I

don't have

to worry

about them

because God

knows all

about it

and it's

been paid

for by

Jesus

that actually

is the

gospel grips

you

it provides

this energy

to try

to take

risks

and to

look at

yourself

in new

ways

because you

have this

profound

security of

what Jesus

has done

for you

on the

cross

but then

some might

say well

George

if God's

just going

to do it

anyway

like why

is he

waiting

like why

doesn't he

just sort

of come

down

say okay

I've had

enough

I'm going

to come

down right

now

and I'm

going to

take

Ottawa

I'm

going to

take

Canada

and I'm

going to

take

the

Middle

East

I'm

going to

take

Iran

I'm

just

going

to

go

to

a

better

place

right

now

just

like

that

and get

it

over

with

why

are we

why

is

like

just

we'll

all

go to

a

better

place

right

now

if

God's

just

going

to

do

it

why

did

he

do

that

well

if

you

Andrew

could

you

put

up

the

text

let's

read

the

text

to

you

know

one of

the

things

about

the

Canadian

view

which

is

what

the

Canadian

view

is

when

we

die

we

all

go

to

a

better

place

and

it

sounds

superficially

as if

it's

really

superior

to

the

Christian

way

but

I

mean

the

question

we

have

to

ask

is

really

okay

really

like

I'm

going

to

die

and

against

my

will

God

is

going

to

put

me

in

a

better

place

like

who's

better

place

like

is

it

going

to

be

the

better

place

for

the

Ayatollah

is

it

going

to

be

the

better

place

for

Putin

is

it

going

to

be

the

better

place

for

Stalin

is

going

to

be

my

better

place

like

who

gets

to

determine

that

and

he's

going

to

do

it

against

my

will

like

what's

up

with

that

like

the

Canadian

view

is

really

a type

of

cheap

grace

and

it

really

if

you

think

about

it

if

people

actually

thought

about

it

for

more

than

a

few

seconds

there

would

be

all

sorts

of

people

who

would

say

that

I

mean

there's

a

t-shirt

that I

saw

just

the

other

day

about

how

I'm

not

going

to

heaven

I'm

going

to

hell

where

all

my

best

partying

friends

will

be

or

something

to

that

effect

and

the

fact

of

the

matter

is

the

Canadian

view

is

just

as if

God

is

going

to

overwhelm

our

freedom

and

you

know

what

if

God

overwhelms

our

freedom

we're

not

going

to

be

there

as

if

it's

a

happy

place

I

mean

a

couple

of

years

ago

I

had

this

really

pushy

guy

I

didn't

realize

how

pushy

he

was

and

it

was

only

as

I

got

to

know

him

we

ended

up

being

put

on

this

team

together

this

sort

of

cross

denominational

team

of

putting

on

an

activity

and

I

didn't

realize

how

pushy

he

was

until

I

started

to

work

with

him

but

he

was

really

pushy

and

so

one

day

without

any

warning

he

comes

to

the

service

and

he

basically

pushes

me

and

pushes

me

that

after

the

service

rather

than

doing

what

I

want

to

do

okay

fallen

George

after

the

service

chat

with

you

folks

I

go

to

Starbucks

I

buy

a

dark

roast

coffee

I

go

home

I

eat

maybe

I

have

a

nap

I

get

some

downtime

I

feed

my

introverted

soul

because

I'm

introverted

no

no

I

had

to

go

out

for

lunch

with

him

and

meet

all

these

other

people

and

it

just

went

on

and

on

and

on

and

on

and

on

and

on

I

was

not

happy

so

what

would

happen

if

God

just

came

and

said

I'm

going

to

make

all

of

you

go

to

heaven

and

you're

going

to

be

in

my

presence

and

you're

going

to

hear

everybody

saying

that

all

the

majesty

no

if

you

put

up

the

next

point

Andrew

see

what

this

powerful

scripture

teaches

us

is

this

the

God

grounds

your

freedom

to

reject

or

receive

the

gospel

because

it

is

for

freedom

that

Christ

has

set

you

free

God

grounds

your

freedom

to

reject

or

receive

the

gospel

because

it

is

for

freedom

that

Christ

has

set

you

free

I

mean

that's

the

wonderful

thing

that's

why

when

we

get

stand

before

God

those

who've

accepted

the

gospel

and

those

who've

rejected

it

nobody

will

be able

to

have

an

excuse

God

will

show

them

how

he

has

given

them

sufficient

freedom

to

accept

or

reject

the

gospel

and

why

is

it

that

God

grounds

our

ability

to

be

free

why

because

freedom

is

central

to

love

it's

central

God

does

me

the

perfect

life

that

I

cannot

attain

he

takes

my

doom

upon

him

and

he

gives

me

his

destiny

it's

all

offered

freely

all

with

grace

out

of

love

and

it's

all

to

further

and

deepen

us

being

free

to

finally

stand

before

God

and

I've

told

you

this

before

but

what

it

will

be

is

we

come

in

to

heaven

and

it

will

be

all

bent

and

broken

and

stuff

like

right

all

bent

and

broken

and

we

finally

appear

before

God

face

to

face

clothed

in

the

righteousness

of

Jesus

and

I

can

sort

of

see

that

there

might

be

some

pain

as

we

stand

and

we

start

to

become

straight

but

whatever

pain

there

is

in

that

will

be

beyond

the

greatest

joy

and

greatest

pleasure

of

anything

we've

ever

experienced

on

earth

and

the

cry

of

our

heart

the

Holy

Spirit

ministry

in

our

heart

we

will

say

free

at

last

free

at

last

thank

God

almighty

I

am

free

at

last

because

the

gospel

works

to

make

us

free

it

is

a

picture

of

freedom

to

stand

in

God's

presence

with

great

joy

and

hear

and

join

the

cry

of

all

of

the

created

order

and

all

of

the

angels

and

all

of

humanity

saying

God

your

name

is

savior

you've

saved

us

through

Jesus

you

are

the

only