To the King
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Genghis Khan is one of the most famous conquerors in world history, with a vast empire that stretched from China’s Pacific coast to the Adriatic Sea in Europe. However, it was not the size of Genghis Khan’s army that led to the conquering of so many lands and peoples, but rather his craftiness as a master tactician.
Before a conquest, he would send spies ahead to spread rumors about the size and brutality of the Mongol army in hopes of forcing surrender. His archers fired speciality arrows that would emit a high pitched whistle when they were fired, giving the illusion of thousands more arrows in flight. He would order spare horses to be ridden far behind the main fighting force, giving the illusion of coming reinforcements. Before one battle, he ordered each of his men to light five fires, striking fear that his army was far larger than it actually was.
All of these are examples of what known as psychological warfare, a means of demoralizing an enemy in the midst of battle, or before it even began. This tactic is as old as time. A means of tricking an enemy into willful surrender by attempting to remove any sense of hope from the situation.
And our enemies, the spiritual forces of darkness and wickedness, are cunning and crafty. They desire nothing more than to demoralize the Church, to remove its hope, so as to see the Church remain apathetic or even surrender. They desire nothing more than to see those who don’t know Christ think their lives are hopeless and that they are too messed up to be loved by anyone.
In the face of such opposition, any good leader recognizes the need to spur his troops to action, the need to give them renewed confidence, and the need to establish the hope for which they fight. It’s those great speeches that you see in movies that send chills down your spine. One of my favorites being Aragorn’s speech as the tired and dwindling army of Gondor stands before the seemingly insurmountable force of Mordor.
This is Jude’s final speech. A call to the remember the King you fight for. A call to remember the King who fights for you. A call to remember the price has already been paid, the battle already won, and the victory already assured. To the King!
To the King, who alone is …
I. Able (v. 24)
I. Able (v. 24)
A. Now to Him
Who’s Him?
The Lord Jesus Christ. It’s all about Him.
17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
If you’re a dad, it’s not about you, it’s about Him.
If you’re a mom, it’s not about you, it’s about Him.
If you’re married, it’s not about your marriage, it’s about Him.
If you have a job, your job isn’t about you, it’s about Him.
If you’re in school, your schooling isn’t about you, it’s about Him.
If you have resources, it’s not about your resources, it’s about Him.
In other words, no matter what area of life you currently find yourself in, you can make that area of your life all about Him.
The problem is, prior to getting saved, in our sinful state it’s not all about Him, it’s about me!
You were dead in your sin, but now by the blood of Jesus Christ you have been given a new identity in His name. You were dead, but now you’re a living child of God. You had a self-centered perspective, but now you have a God-centered perspective.
When I see success in my life, it’s now to Him.
When I see trials and hardships in my life, it’s now to Him.
When I see blessing in my life, it’s now to Him.
Everything is now to Him because He is the only one who is worthy of our honor and our praise.
B. Who is able
Ability - having the power to do something
Giving this final speech, Jude reminds us of God’s ability.
Ability to do what? How able is God?
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I wrote down some verses that speak about God’s ability.
When Paul leaves the Church in Ephesus, he says this:
32 “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
What is God able to do?
Through His Word, He is able to build you up. Both personally in your walk with Him and corporately as the larger Body of Christ.
He is able through His word to sanctify you, to set you apart for His glory and purpose, and to give you the inheritance of eternal life.
In the book of Romans, Paul writes:
22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
What is God able to do?
He is able to graft His unbelieving people, the Jewish people, Israel, back into His branches if they only turn to Him.
Staying in Romans:
25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,
What is God able to do?
He is able to establish us. It means to strengthen us. Where you were once weak, God is able to make you strong.
In the book of Hebrews, we read:
12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
What is God able to do?
Through the proclamation of His Word, He is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Staying in Hebrews:
25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
What is God able to do?
He is able to save you.
For how long?
Forever.
Well, God may be able in those areas, but none of those speak to where I need His ability right now. None of those apply to me.
They do, but just in case you feel that way, let’s look at one last verse from the book of Ephesians:
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
What is God able to do?
Far more than you can ever think or imagine.
There is nothing you can bring before Him, no circumstance you find yourself in, that He is not able to work through and in the midst of.
And Jude adds this, that God is able to make you stand in His presence blameless and with great joy.
Sometimes we ask ourselves what we will do when we meet Jesus. It reminds of the song, I Can Only Imagine.
If the experiences of the prophets and those who entered into God’s presence mean anything, I can only imagine we’re going to fall at His feet with an overwhelming sense of how sinful we lived, how holy He is, and how unworthy we are to be in His presence.
But what is God able to do?
God is able to make us stand before Him, and not only stand, but to stand blameless and with great joy.
This is such good news, Amen?! Because sometimes we get this idea in our mind that we’ll come before Jesus and He will be disappointed. That we’ll come before Jesus and He’ll make us feel guilty that He had to die for our sin. But when we come before Jesus, we might fall at His feet, or sing His praises, or any number of responses in between, because we can only imagine what we will do, but when we come before Jesus, He will cause us to stand blameless in His sight and with great joy at what He has done for us.
To the King, who alone is …
II. Indescribable (v. 25a)
II. Indescribable (v. 25a)
A. No matter what you think you know about God, or what you have experienced with God, you can never adequately describe Him.
Have you ever had someone ask you why you follow Jesus?
Have you ever had someone ask you why you love Him so much?
Have you ever had someone ask you what He’s done for you?
And if you’ve ever experienced that, it was probably hard to come up with the words to describe Him in that moment. And even if you can put words to it, you probably walked away wondering why you described Jesus like that.
You know why? Because you can’t describe Him.
Ever had someone tell you this:
Hey, you really need to watch this movie, it was awesome!
Or, man, the team really played great this weekend!
Or, you should go to this restaurant, the food is incredible!
We use words like awesome, great, and incredible to describe movies, or sports teams, or food, and then turn around and use the same words to describe the God we serve. But He’s nothing like any of those things.
When we read through many of the prophetic visions in Scripture, whether in Isaiah, or Ezekiel, or Daniel, or Revelation, we often struggle to understand what is being said. That’s because those men standing in the presence of God couldn’t adequately put into words what they were witnessing. If they stood before you today, they would tell you, “Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I did my best, but it doesn’t even come close to what I experienced. I saw things I had never seen before. I felt emotions I had never felt before. I heard sounds I had never heard before. It was complete sensory overload and my brain couldn’t process what I was experiencing!”
So Jude is going to use a few words to describe this King we serve, but he would tell you they don’t even come close.
The Only
This one is pretty simple. There is no one else like King Jesus. He is the only one who can claim the title of God. If someone else could, He wouldn’t be God.
How do you know this? How do you know the God you follow is the one, true God and not some other god that other religions worship?
Because I’ve experienced it. Because I’ve seen the change in my own life. For you, you’ve experienced and seen the change in your life.
The only Savior
He is the only one who saves.
Isn’t that exclusive?
Yes, the Gospel message is exclusive. There is One Way, there is One Truth, and there is One Life and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ.
But the beauty of the Gospel message is that though it is exclusive, it is mutually inclusive in that Jesus died for the sins of all and He wants all to come to a saving knowledge through Him.
Glory
What is glory?
It’s splendor and brightness. It’s magnificence and excellence. It’s the most exalted state.
You just used five words or phrases to define one word.
Yes, because we don’t have enough words to rightly describe God. Glory is a characteristic that only God has. It’s his very nature. It’s who He is.
Majesty
What is majesty?
It is God’s greatness. There’s nothing that compares to Him!
Dominion
What is dominion?
Force, and strength, and power, and might.
Authority
What is authority?
His jurisdiction or His ability to rule.
There is no limit to His jurisdiction or authority.
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Everywhere I go I have authority.
B. But even when we read and say these words, we might say we get it, but we don’t really get it because there are no words that we can use to describe the God we serve.
To the King, who alone is …
III. Eternal (v. 25b)
III. Eternal (v. 25b)
A. The Alpha and the Omega
In Revelation 22, the last chapter of your Bible, Jesus declares He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
In other words, Jude closes here saying, “From eternity past, to presently with you now, to eternity future, Jesus is all these things. He has never changed. He will never change. And you can confidently press forward into battle knowing that God has eternally gone before you.
B. Amen
What does amen mean?
Well, it’s just something that we say when the pastor gets done praying signifying our relief that he finally stopped talking.
Amen means truly. It means surely. It means I agree with this. It this is solid and I agree with it and I’m holding on to it.
Conclusion
Conclusion