If you would turn in your copy of God's Word now to Jude. This evening we plan to finish our study of this very short letter. You should find the verses we'll read on page 1,217 of your pew Bibles right next to the last book of the Bible revelation. This evening we'll be reading the last two verses of Jude 24 and 25. Let's give our attention now to God's very Word. 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. Please be seated. Would you pray with me? Father, now as we come to the end of this letter, to the end of Jude, and we read this doxology, we are struck, Father, struck by the need to praise You. And so we ask now, Father, help us as we seek to open Your Word that You would teach us by Your Spirit what it means for us to give You glory. to praise your most holy name through Christ Jesus. We ask this in his name. Amen. You may have seen it on television at the end of some college football games. We see players gathering together to sing maybe an alma mater. to raise up and recognize their school at the end of that event, at the end of the football game. This evening, as we read in Exodus, we were reading of a song that was being sung by all of the Israelites at the end of an event. at the end of a great victory achieved by the only God as they walked through the Red Sea or the Sea of Reeds on dry ground and as they looked back and they saw the Egyptians had been vanquished by the hand of God as the Red Sea came back and folded over on top of each and every single one of them such that their enemies were defeated and such that God had achieved a great victory for his people, delivering them from their bondage. And if you listened to the words that were sung as Moses leads the Israelites, he they sang to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The Lord is my strength and my song has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him. You see, at the end of that event, As they saw the salvation of God, the whole nation came together to extol the one who had done it. There was nothing left for them to do but to praise the living God. Oh, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? It's much of what's going on as Jude finishes his letter to the entire church that existed at that time, these last two verses of Jude's letter. Jude, if you remember, had been writing to the church. The church, which likely at that point in time was filled with Jewish Christians, his purpose for writing, as we have heard many times before, was to increase their mercy, their peace and love, that it would be multiplied upon them. But Jude knew that there was a problem amongst the members of the church, and so he had called them. He'd called them to contend for the faith. He'd called them to build up their faith. And tonight, he calls them to glorify the one who had done all things. Tonight, we should see that the certain ability of Christ to save the children of God leads to praise. The certain ability of Christ to save the children of God leads to praise. We'll see that in three points, first the reason for the doxology, secondly the recipient of the doxology and finally the result of the doxology. So why is this important for us tonight? The mere fact that Jude includes it, the mere fact that this is at the end of a very important letter for us suggests that this is significant for our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I'd ask you to think upon it that way tonight. This is Jude's significant ending to his significant letter to the entire church. Well, first, the reason for the doxology. We have to remember the problem that Jude had uncovered for the church. That there were certain people that had crept in, already crept in, unnoticed, who had been designated for condemnation, ungodly people, who perverted the grace of God into sensuality and denied our only master, the Lord Jesus Christ. He referred to them as hidden feasts, hidden reefs within your love feasts. They, without fear, were feeding themselves, not the people." And so he's identified the danger that had already existed, that was already in the church, and then he called for an individual and a corporate response to the invasion. First, that they would contend for the faith. Remember that he wanted to write to them about their common salvation. That was on his mind. That was on his heart. That's why he had picked up the pen, so to speak. That's what God had inspired him to do, but God changed the course of his penmanship. And so now he was appealing to them to contend for the faith once delivered to all the saints because of what had happened, because there were these ungodly people who had crept in unnoticed. And then then he told them that it was these people who would cause divisions. And so we see the need for them to contend for the faith. He called for the church then to be not only contending for the faith, but building themselves up in their most holy faith. keeping yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. He called for them also to have mercy upon those who doubt and to save others by snatching them out of the fire. All things that we are called to do today as well. But then at the end, here in the last two verses, Jude uncovers an individual concern, concerns he had for individual believers in the church. Look at verse 24. 24. Now to him who was able to keep you from stumbling. Stumbling was a concern for Jude. He was concerned that individuals within the church, true believers, possibly, if that were even possible, could be led astray by those who had crept in unnoticed, those ungodly people. That was His concern. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. Now stumbling here cannot refer to the commission of sin by the saints. For all the saints, then and now, all the believers to whom Jude was writing, sin. They sinned then, we sin now. All of the saints, all of the chosen in God, all of the elect, all true believers, sin. Paul writes of it in Romans chapter 7. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out." True believers sin, but if faith is sincere, if one is sincerely following the Lord Jesus Christ in their walk, if a heart has truly been changed from stone to flesh, then sin will be followed by confession and repentance, which will be followed by forgiveness. But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. Psalm 130. Jesus Christ tells us that his blood of the covenant was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Stumbling then. Stumbling seems to refer to something with an eternal consequence. For stumbling is here connected to presence in glory, isn't it? 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." Being presented blameless is connected back to being kept from stumbling. These seem to be eternal things that Paul writes, excuse me, that Jude writes of. Present you blameless. That they would be presented blameless before the living God. that each one would be able to ascend the holy hill because of what Christ Jesus has done, keeping them from stumbling. Christ presenting one blameless before God. If they stumbled, if those to whom Jude was writing, if we stumbled or fell into the trap being set by those who had crept in unnoticed, those ungodly people, the trap that they were setting for those who were following Christ, it seemed that there would be no possibility of being presented blameless. They would have been lost, so to speak. In a sense, this whole letter of Jude is all about keeping the saints from stumbling. His warning of those certain people who have entered into the church unnoticed, certain ungodly people, has been a warning for the church as a whole. That's been Jude's concern, so much so that, as we said, he opened the letter wanting to write about their common salvation and shifts, takes a different track as the Spirit has led him. But this matter of these ungodly people who have crept in, was so critical, so important, so timely that he substituted this warning for the message about their common salvation. Now, Jude reveals an individual concern for each member of the church. It was as if he was writing, you still have the old man dwelling within you. You're still subject to temptation. And those who have crept in will attempt to lure you away from Christ. They will attempt to draw you down with them to hell. That's Jude's point. But his confidence was that those who are in Christ cannot fall such that they stumble. That's his confidence. 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." You see the reason for the doxology? The ungodly goal of those who had crept in, those who Jude had issued the warning about, They want the believers to stray from their belief, from their faith. Those who have crept in desire that the true, the truly faithful would fall away and join them in their rebellion. That's why they've crept in. They didn't creep in to worship the living God. They crept in to destroy the church and to destroy individuals, to join them in their eternal grave. Isn't that the true danger? But praise be to God that Jesus Christ will not allow that to happen for a single one of those who are truly in him. Because you've been kept from stumbling, Jude now in a grand and confident way reassures the church, the true church and individuals within the church that you will be kept from stumbling into the grave along with these ungodly, those persons who have been designated for condemnation. But they will not be kept from stumbling in their own strength. And that's the doxology, isn't it? Jude now ascribes to God, through his son, the Lord Jesus, not merely the ability, but the certainty that not a single true believer will stumble. None will fall into this trap, this grave that has been prepared for them by Satan's children. 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. That's the reason for the doxology. That's the reason for ascribing praise to this one. Jesus Christ is the one who can and does keep you from stumbling and will present you before the throne of grace blameless. Praise be to God. Brings us to our second point, the recipient of the doxology. Well, we might want to take a moment to ask that question. What is a doxology? We don't use that word too often. Certainly in the secular world, we don't even hear it. But if you turned open a dictionary, maybe Webster's, it's in Christian worship, a hymn of praise. That's how it's described in Webster's 1828. A hymn of praise of the Almighty. The word doesn't appear in scripture. But the idea certainly does. We see it throughout Scripture. Paul writes a doxology in the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And then as he ends his doctrinal portion of that same letter and shifts now to application of it, he gives glory to God, verse 20 of chapter 3 of his letter to those at Ephesus. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. I think that would be the end of his letter. But now he just goes on to apply that to those who would read it. The same thing he does in Romans. At the end of his doctrinal portion, those statements of truth that he sets forth at the first eleven chapters, at the end of the eleventh chapter, what does he do? He writes a doxology. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given him a gift that he might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever. See, while Scripture doesn't use the word doxology. We see it throughout. all of that song that we read as Moses led the Israelites after the Red Sea was parted and they were delivered, the whole thing was a doxology. Praise to God. The Gloria Patri is a doxology. As we sing it, and we'll sing it tonight, you should be listening to it. Listen to the praise that we are announcing, proclaiming to God. Well, who is the recipient of this praise at the end of Jude? Now to him. Jude uses a pronoun because he knew that his readers would know who he speaks of. 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." To God. The One who has the power. That's really the word in the Greek. If we opened up a Greek dictionary, we'd read about that word, to possess capability for doing something. That's what Jude is saying to this one, this only, only one who can do this to keep you from stumbling, because that's our inclination. That's how we are in Adam. Stumblers. And without God keeping us from that, we would be damned to hell. To the one who made all things out of nothing, to the one who knit you together in your mother's womb, to this one, the one who has the capability, the ability, the power to keep you from stumbling, and he does it, through His Son, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Only God has the power. And in that power which He uses, He uses it in and through His only eternally begotten Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. It's a simple statement, but it's so powerful and it's so full. This doxology is so full of praise to God, the Father, who has the power and exercises that power through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. It's so full, each one of those words, if we were to take time and think through them and meditate upon them, which is something we should be doing. We could spend an afternoon just giving praise as we think about each one of these items. The one who has the power has chosen to exercise that power through his son, the God-man, Jesus Christ. And he exercises it with great desire, wanting each one of his children to come to repentance, as we read last week in 2 Peter. You see, not only does he have the power, he has the desire that you would be kept from stumbling, so much so that you would be presented blameless. How can Jude be sure? How can he be so sure that he would be inspired to write this ending to this letter? How can he be so sure that Jesus is the one who will keep you from stumbling, that he will be the one to present you blameless in glory? How can Jude write that? Because it calls for us to think about Christ, doesn't it? It calls for us to meditate upon who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. This doxology calls us to consider the power given to Jesus Christ by his father, because that's exactly what Jude writes. He's able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless for the for the presence of his glory. through his son, through Jesus Christ. So it must be that God has given his son the authority to do so. And I think that's what Jude is calling us to meditate upon tonight. Every single reader of this letter is to consider the authority and thus the power of Christ. And so we should be doing that tonight. So first we think of that That verse that Matthew gives us as Christ is about to ascend in glory, Matthew 28, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority. We could stop there. I'd rather not. It's all been given to Jesus. All authority. And so if you ever doubt if he's able to keep you from stumbling, just go back to Matthew 28. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Is he able to keep you from stumbling? Yes. All authority has been given to him. This is the one who had authority over his own life. No other man has that authority. He is the God man. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down. Jesus Christ has the authority over his own life. And he has authority over death and sin. Thanks be to God that you were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." He has authority over death and sin. He can break your chain to it, and He has if you're trusting in Christ tonight. And He has authority over death as well. You see, while you might die, even tonight, and the power of Christ will be raised from that grave to live with him forever. And he has the power and the authority to reconcile. You see, you were at war with God. You were born an enemy of God in Adam. And Jesus Christ has the authority to reconcile you to him, to the one true living God. For while we were enemies, if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Do you see what Paul is saying? That you were reconciled by Jesus's death. He has authority to reconcile and he has the authority to give life. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. You see, you see why Jude can write what he wrote certainly was by the inspiration of the spirit. But behind that lies all of this truth, the authority of Jesus Christ, and then secondly, the power, the power of his righteousness. Yes, Jesus has authority, all authority. But think of the power of his righteousness as well. As Mary comes to the tomb, The angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. For he is risen. The only reason why Jesus Christ rose from the day gray grave was because of his righteousness. His righteousness means that he couldn't be kept down in the grave for our sake. He made him to be sin who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Do you see the power of Christ's righteousness? And how that leads Jude to write that he is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless. And then the power is blood. Brothers and sisters, I don't think we meditate enough on the blood of Christ. David did. As he wrote Psalm 51, as he had sinned grievously against God, with Bathsheba and sending Uriah the Hittite off to his death. He writes, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. You see, he might not have known Jesus's name, but he knew that there would be blood to cover him. And so he asks for that forgiveness which is only present in the blood of Christ. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with ashes of heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more would the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works? See all these things, the authority, the righteousness of Christ, The power of His pure blood. That's how Jude is able to ascribe to this one Jesus the power to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless. We should be meditating upon that all year. Brings us to our third point, the result of the doxology. Well there are at least two results. The first, the first is that this doxology causes you to look away from yourself. Beakey and Smalley in their Reform Systematic Theology write this, locating any part of our righteousness before God in anything in ourselves or what we do brings the grave danger that we will grasp hold of some of the glory that belongs to God alone. But if the only reason why we are deemed worthy of glory lies in Christ Jesus, then we will spend all eternity glorifying him. Do you see? As we give glory to God, even as Jude has written this doxology, the first thing we are doing in essence is removing our eyes, our hearts from ourselves. That's our inborn Adamic nature, to set our focus, our eyes upon ourselves, isn't it? That's what Eve was doing as she looked upon the forbidden fruit. She was actually considering herself So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, that the tree was desire to make one wise, she took of its fruit. And that's what we've inherited from Adam. The desire, the inclination, not merely to look at ourselves, not merely to consider ourselves first, but to go a few steps beyond that and then to seek glory for ourselves. We are a glory seeking people. We desire to receive honor and praise for ourselves from men and from God. Some would call this pride. And this is a particular form of pride in which we seek to take that which solely belongs to God. But we have no legitimate reason to receive glory or honor from others, and especially not from God. And so this doxology, in particular, and all doxologies in general, first take our eyes off of ourselves. even the first few words, now to Him. Now to Him. It stays so very clearly that it is not we who deserve the honor and glory and worship and praise, but the one who has done all things and done all things well. God alone is worthy of glory and honor and praise. Moses puts it that way in Deuteronomy chapter 10, He is your praise. He is your praise. It's such a simple statement, but it's such a powerful statement. He, God, is your praise. So that's the first that this doxology does for us. Every time we read it, every time we set our eyes upon it, He's telling us, the Spirit is telling us, remove your eyes from yourself. Now to Him. And most obviously, and obviously following the first, this doxology in particular, and again all doxologies in general cause us to do that which is good, right and pleasing in the eyes of God and that is worship Him. That is to ascribe all glory and honor and praise to Him. To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. be glory, majesty, dominion, authority before all time and now and forever. Psalmist in Psalm 18 writes, the Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. He is the only one who is worthy to be praised. That's exactly what we read in Revelation, the end of the Bible. Then I looked, I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads. The idea is that thousands upon thousands. are there saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb. Who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing, there is no other. Worthy is the lamb. Jesus Christ. Oh, brothers and sisters, this is exactly what you were made for. Every time we engage in singing doxology, every time we read a doxology like this in Jude, every time we engage in singing a Gloria Patri, every time we read these exaltations of praise to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are doing exactly that which God has made us to do. To praise Him. You're made for worship. We were all made for worship. Every single man, woman and child that ever was, is or will be is made for worship, not merely Christians. That's how God made us. We either worship God or ourselves. There are no others. We were made to worship and Jude recognized that truth. You see how he ends this? To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now, and forever. Did you catch that point about before all time? Before all time, God destined us, He intended us, He purposed us, He created us to worship Him. And that didn't stop at the fall. Jude wrote this a few years after the fall. I'm being a bit silly. Thousands of years after the fall, before all time, and now, and forever, every single human being that ever has been, ever is, and ever will be, is made to worship the living God. We may have different doxologies. And they all ascribe a different nuance to the praise that we are to give to the living God. But tonight's call is to set your heart and mind upon the living triune God, to ascribe to him that glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, which is only due to him. This is your purpose, this is your praise, and this is why you exist. And brothers and sisters, This is your greatest good and blessing. Did you see again? Those words now to him who was able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory. With great joy. Now, you might be saying, well, that's the angels in heaven there. They're rejoicing because there's another sinner who's been brought into glory, blameless to stand before God. And that's true. But it's also your joy. It's your great joy in heaven, having ascended the holy hill, having entered into that eternal kingdom to gaze upon the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ to see his loveliness. That's your joy. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. They go together. Praise be to God. The certain ability of Christ to save the children of God leads to praise. Moses, Moses saw the salvation of God. The whole Israelite nation saw the salvation of God and they could not stop from praising Him. Brothers and sisters, this year let us meditate upon the loveliness of Christ. All His authority, His righteousness, and His precious blood. And that will lead us to praise the one living and true God. Amen. Father in heaven, this is almost too much for us tonight. You're so good to us. Lord God, we thank you. for this reminder, for this confidence, for this assurance that you've given us that the Lord Jesus Christ even now is working to keep us from stumbling, that He will present each one who trusts in Him blameless in glory. Father, we look forward to that day, but we know that even now you are preparing us for that. And so we ask, Help us to meditate upon Christ, upon His authority, upon His righteousness, upon the purity of His blood. Father, to rest assured in His ability to keep us even now from stumbling, that we might give You all the praise. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.