And we're going to be looking in our Bibles at the little book of Jude once again. In God's providence, we heard the a benediction from 2 Corinthians this morning, and the very end of the book of Jude has been called by some a benediction. I don't think it's exactly a benediction, but it has that flavor. And so we turn to the very end of the book of Jude, to verses 24 and 25. Jude 24 and 25. 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, in 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 again as we come to God's Word. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this text. And thank You that in the end, You desire us to marvel at Your majesty, great God and King of all. And so we pray that as this is Your desire, that You would, by Your grace, work it out in our lives, in and through Your Word, we pray, in the good name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen. The story of the Bible is actually quite simple. It begins with God the Creator, the one who made heaven and earth. And this great God the Creator placed the first man and first woman in the world, Adam and Eve. The world was a wonderful, pristine, beautiful place. But Adam and Eve proceeded shortly to mess it up. And ever since that time, men and women have succeeded more and more, people like us, in fact, you and I, we've succeeded in messing up the world more and more. Just look at the news. That's all you have to do. And so, God sent a Savior, Jesus Christ. And the objective of the Savior was to bring this fallen, dark world back into the light of glory. And the Bible ends then with this note of glory, the splendor in the end of the people of God before the glory and majesty of God in worship around the throne of God. Jude has that similar trajectory. It begins on a rather down note. indicating that there are people in the church who are unbelievers, who reject the Lordship of Christ. And then it ends with these wonderful words that are in our text this evening. And so it brings us from the degradation of sin into the glorious majesty of the great God of heaven. And all of this should cause us to marvel in the end at his majesty. And so that's where we're going this evening with this message. A basic exhortation to marvel at the majesty of the great God of heaven. We start out with this note in verse 25, where Jude speaks of the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is your Savior through Jesus Christ, the Lord. It's quite striking that At least this was the perspective of the old commentators. In all the cases in the Old Testament where God appears to men and women, the old commentators would say, this is an appearance, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. For example, when God walked in the garden, and Adam and Eve heard the voice of the Lord in the garden, the old commentators would say, and I agree with them, that this was a Christophany, that this was a pre-incarnate appearance of the second person of the Trinity. And it appears from Scripture that God has chosen to deal with people like us through the second person of the Trinity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And when the people of God were in the wilderness and they witnessed the Shekinah glory, the pillar of fire by night, and the cloud by day, this was again A Christophany, a pre-incarnate revelation of the second person of the Trinity. And Paul says in I Corinthians chapter 10, he speaks of the rock that followed the people of Israel through the wilderness. And guess what? He says, that rock is Christ. He says Christ was with the people in the wilderness. What a wonderful thing that is. And then, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ entered the world through the Virgin Mary. and he lived a perfect life. You remember the little story of Jesus when he was 12 years old and he was in the temple debating and talking with the scribes and the priests. I remember when I was 12 years old. not nearly capable of speaking about anything that had to do with Scripture, let alone being perfect. What 12-year-old little boy or little girl is perfect and without any sin? Only Jesus Christ. And as the sinless Son of God, He went to the cross to be a sacrifice for the sins of His people. And He thereby became the Savior of His people. And so, God is your Savior through Jesus Christ. And is it not true that you need a Savior? Jude emphasizes this fact. In the fourth verse, again, he speaks about ungodly people who have entered the church unnoticed. Ungodly people. who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality, and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." Well, when you look at the church at large, the visible church at large, you realize this is exactly true in our age, that this is the case. And unfortunately, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America is not exempt from this sort of thing. It's not that many years ago that a pastor in our denomination was relieved of his ministry because he was involved in child pornography. And it's not that many years ago that a pastor that I myself gave his vows of ordination went off into the Eastern Orthodox Church, which has a virile strain of works righteousness. One of our own pastors did this. We're not exempt from this sort of thing. We need to realize that this is the case. And Jude gives the example a little bit later in the text. of the people who came out of Egypt, who were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and came out of Egypt. They were spared from death. And what happened to them? They perished in the wilderness because of a lack of faith. That's what happened. And a little bit later, Jude mentions Cain and Balaam and Korah. Cain who was the first murderer. Cain whose anger led him to murder. Now I know none of you have ever become angry. Why the chuckle? Because you know you've become angry. And this angry is tantamount to murder. You and I need a savior. This is the idea. The error of Balaam. Balaam was an unrighteous man who, for money, for wages prophesied. And the amazing thing is that when you read the Scriptures, this unbeliever had the gift of prophecy. He had the gift of the Holy Spirit. This can take place. It's an amazing thing. And then Korah's rebellion. Korah rebelled against Moses. the pastor and leader of the people of God. I've been in a circumstance where, as a pastor of a church, the people rebelled, and I remember very well standing one Lord's Day morning in the study of the church building, where one of the men who had been elected an elder of the church said to me, Denny, you are an instrument of the devil. That's a great preparation for preaching. But rebellion in the midst, and this is a conservative Bible-believing church. At least I thought that's what it was. You see, we need a Savior. This is what the text is telling us. And thanks be unto God that He is our Savior through Jesus Christ, and He is the One who keeps you and me from stumbling over Christ. Verse 24, Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, to stumble over Christ, is to fail to properly understand him, to fail to properly grasp the significance of his work, to fail to understand who he is and what he has done. Let me give you a couple of examples of stumbling It's possible to stumble over Christ and think, as some have taught, that you can go forward in a meeting and make a decision for Jesus Christ, and then live like the devil. It doesn't matter. You can confess Jesus as Lord later in your life, if you think it's appropriate. But as long as you've, quote, made that decision, you're safe. Far from the truth. What does Paul say in Romans 10, 9? That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. The confession that Jesus is your Lord is absolutely essential. And so don't be misguided and stumble, you see. And the text says, and the text is correct, it's the Word of God, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. And how does God keep you from stumbling? The Lord keeps you from stumbling by your gathering together and your regularly listening to the Word of God, and the warnings of the Word of God and the teachings of the Word of God, and giving you the gift of the Holy Spirit so that you properly embrace Jesus Christ by faith. Here's another one. It's very popular in the world that when people are asked this question, why should God let you into his heaven, that people answer, well, I've been fine, I've lived a perfectly good life, I'm okay. And what that means is, I'm trusting in my works. I'm trusting in what I've done in my life to get me to heaven. And of course, that's an absolute falsehood as far as the truth of the way to salvation. That's the way to perdition. It's not the way to heaven. Dependence upon your own works is a way to perdition, to hell itself. And so, you and I must not stumble over those kinds of blasphemous teachings. but trust in Jesus Christ. He is able to keep you from stumbling. And as you read the Scriptures, and you understand the true way of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, you see, God keeps you from stumbling. And He will not only keep you from stumbling, as your Savior, but as the text tells us, He will present you blameless before His glory. Verse 24 again, 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. Think about this now. Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, was raised again, He ascended into heaven bodily, He sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and from that position, having received the gift of the Holy Spirit, He pours out His Spirit, upon the likes of you and me, giving to us the gift of faith. And we know from the Bible, then, that this same Jesus will come a second time in glory. And when He comes a second time in glory, the dead will be raised incorruptible. And we shall be changed. And this mortal will put on immortality. I'm not going to need this titanium hip anymore. And likewise, things that you have experienced in this life, You won't experience any more. There'll be no more pain. When you get up in the morning and that body is stiff and you have to work out the kinks, no more. No more. No more crying or pain. Most of us know who have children that we agonize over our children. And when they're hurt, or when they do something stupid, we agonize over them. And we never quit being parents. We continue to agonize over our kids when they're older. No more when Christ comes a second time in glory. All that disappears. And Jesus Christ will assemble His people before Him, and He will assemble all those who disbelieve in him before him, and the sheep he will put on his right hand, and the goats on his left hand. I remember a fellow in College Hill who used to joke with me. He's about 10 years older than I am. And he used to say to me, how are you doing this morning, young man? And so I decided one morning I would joke with him. And so I said to him, I'm doing great, you old goat. Ooh, that was the wrong thing to say. I had to apologize to him because he thought I was calling him a goat, an unbeliever. That's what he thought. Big mistake on my part. At any rate, what does Jesus Christ say to those who disbelieve in him? Depart from me, you wicked, into the fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And to his people, Jesus Christ turns and says, come, you who are blessed of my Father. Enter now into the joy of your Lord. Notice the text again. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before his glory with great joy. You and I have the privilege of experiencing the joy of the Lord. And the joy of the Lord in saying, come to me, come to me. It's a joy for me to have you in my presence. And then, Jesus Christ will turn to his Father, and he will say something like this, Father, all of these people, you have been pleased to give to me. And I promised you that I would pay the penalty due to them for their sins. And I've accomplished that work now, Father. And I say to you, here they are. Your people. Think about that. Being presented by Jesus Christ the Lord to God the Father. Mission accomplished. The goal has now been reached. And it's your privilege and your pleasure to marvel at the majesty and the greatness and the goodness of the work of God. 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, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority. Bowing before the splendor and the majesty of the great God of heaven. The appearance of Jesus in the transfiguration will pale in insignificance in the face of the glory and majesty of the great God of heaven. And the fact of His dominion, His kingship, His rule will dawn even further as you are in His presence. Oh yes, you have an idea of the sovereignty of God, but only an inkling. Only a grain of the sand of that great doctrine of sovereignty is yours and mine at this point. And to be in the presence of the great God of heaven is to understand His sovereign rule over all, over all the stars of heaven, over every molecule in the universe, over every grain of sand on the seashore, over every germ and bacteria in the universe. Such splendor, such majesty and authority. Authority over all. And notice that enjoying the majesty of God is a prospect that you will have for eternity. Notice the end of the text. To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now, and forever. Forever. It won't be boring, folks. It won't be boring. Because you and I are finite creatures. We're not very big at all. We're little germs in the universe. And God is infinitely great. And you and I We'll spend eternity learning more and more about the greatness of God and we will never be able to penetrate all that He is and the wonders and the marvels of what He has done. And so, We have to look forward to a great time sitting under the tutelage of a schoolmaster that will teach us everything we are capable of understanding about him. And as that is the case, you and I will be able more and more to marvel at his majesty as to what he has done for us and what he is in his own ineffable being. So, here's the path we have struck this evening. God is your Savior through Jesus Christ. And you need God as your Savior. So trust Him. This God keeps you from stumbling. He keeps you from stumbling over Christ. He keeps you on the proper track with Jesus Christ. And He not only keeps you from stumbling, He will present you blameless. blameless, without any spot or wrinkle before His own glory in the end. And what that will issue in is your marveling at who God is and what He has done. This is His plan for you. And since this is His plan for you, it's time for you and for me to begin marveling at His majesty. And that's of course why we come together. Again, before all time and now and forever, The now is, we hear about the good things of God, and as we participate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper this evening, and eat the bread, and drink of the cup, we have an opportunity to think about the good things that Jesus Christ has done for us, individually and corporately. and to say, thank you, Lord, for who you are, and to marvel at his majesty. And so the future begins now, does it not? And we give praise to God as opportunity is given to us to marvel at his majesty. Let's pray. Father, good you are in every respect. Thank you. Bless us as we contemplate you and bow before your greatness and glory and majesty. Bless us as we have heard your word, and bless us and come to us as we participate in the sacrament. And cause us now, even now, to reflect on your greatness and your majesty. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.