The Doxology

Text—these are the very words of God

Jude 24–25 ESV

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.

Introduction

My first ministry job was at Old Powhatan Baptist Church.

I served there while in college.

It was the place where I really learned to love the local church.

One of the things that church did every Sunday was to stand up together after we took up the offering and sing The Doxology.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost

For many of you, that song is what you think of when you hear the word Doxology.

And that makes sense because it is the most famous Doxology.

However, it is not the only doxology.

In truth, the word doxology comes from the Greek words for glory and word.

It is an expression of praise to God.

There are a number that have been famous throughout church history.

But more importantly, there are doxologies throughout the New Testament Scriptures.

Romans 16:25–27 ESV

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

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.

2 Peter 3:18 ESV

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

1. You should praise God who is able to preserve you and present you. (exhortation)

2. You cannot offer up this praise without submission to God. (cannot)

3. You can offer up this praise with confidence in God. (can)

Exhortation

1. You should praise God who is able to preserve you and present you.

The Doxology’s Direction

The Doxology begins with WHO it is addressing.

Now to HIM who is able to keep you from stumbling...

Verse 25 clarifies exactly who we are talking about—

“...to the only God, our Savior...”

Jude’s letter has had so much focus on the false teachers who were lying to the church and infiltrating it.

However, it is ending with the focus on heaven and not earth.

Jude calls the eyes of his audience away from the false teachers and puts them on God.

The Only God

When Jude says “the only God” (v. 25), it is a call back to the most important of Jewish confessions in Deuteronomy 6:4

Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

In a world of pagan polytheism, where the peoples and the cultures around Israel were worshipping many gods that had been dreamed up by the invention of man, God’s people were to be different.

They did not worship many gods, but the one true God.

The One who has existed from all eternity.

The One who is not invented by man, but who reveals Himself to man.

Likewise, the church, in the midst of false teaching that distorts the character of God and the content of God’s Word, is to keep their worship pure by keep its direction distinct.

Christians worship the only God—the Lord our God who is one.

The Savior

But not only this—the only God that believers bow down to is also a Savior.

We may be tempted to think of this as a New Testament title for God that is mainly connected to God the Son, but that is not true.

Savior was actually a common title for God in the Old Testament.

God is a Savior because He rescued His people from slavery in Egypt:

Psalm 106:21 ESV

They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

God is a Savior because He vindicates His people and delivers them from their oppressors:

Isaiah 49:26 ESV

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

And in Isaiah 45, there is a connection between God being the only God and God being a Savior, just like in Jude 25:

Isaiah 45:21 ESV

Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.

However, there is nowhere in the Bible that God’s identity as Savior is more clearly revealed than in Jesus Christ.

Notice that Jude’s praise is offered up to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Without Christ, no soul would have any hope of offering up acceptable praise to God.

But through Christ, there is a way to the throne of the Father.

God created us to praise Him. He created image-bearing humanity for a worshipful relationship with Him.

But humanity rebelled against God in the Garden.

Now, because of sin, we are hindered from doing that which we were made to do.

Psalm 24:3–4 ESV

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

Who among us, apart from a work of God’s grace, can say we have the clean hands and pure heart necessary to ascend the hill of the Lord and offer Him praise?

Who among us can say that they are fit to lift up a doxology to God?

So God sent Jesus to live a perfect life according to the Law—the sort of life we have failed to live.

And He sent innocent Jesus to die on the Cross in our place, condemned by the Law—the sort of death we should have died.

And then Jesus rose from the grave, according to the Scriptures, and He defeated sin and death on the behalf of all who would believe and trust in Him.

He bore our sin and defeated it so that we would bear it no more and have victory.

Christ, who has clean hands and a pure heart, died on the hill of Calvary, so that if you repent of sin and trust in Him, you may be forgiven and ascend the hill of the Lord.

This is what God—the only God, who is a Savior—has done for us.

And by this amazing grace, He makes our souls fit to offer up praise and doxologies to Him.

And we should praise God in this way, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hebrews 13:15 ESV

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Preservation

Going back to v. 24, we are given two reasons in particular that we should ascribe praise to God.

The first that is that God is able to keep us from stumbling—He is able to PRESERVE us.

The Greek word that Jude uses for the phrase “keep you from stumbling” was a horse-riding term in Greek literature.

It was used to describe a sure-footed horse.

And Jude uses it to tell us that God sees to it that His children are sure-footed in the faith.

This is an appropriate illustration since the New Testament calls the Christian life lived by faith a race.

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Many have ran their race before us by faith and now we run our race by faith.

But it is not a race on a clear track.

Throughout the race, there are these weights and sins which want to attach themselves to us and slow us down.

The sins which cling so closely are designed by the enemy to cause us to stumble.

But according to Jude’s doxology, God is able to keep us from such stumbling.

He will preserve our steps and our very souls, all the way to heaven.

It makes me think of one of the most famous horses in horse-racing history—Red Rum.

This horse was a household name in England in the 70’s.

His most famous race is the 1973 Grand National, where he came back from about 20 horse-lengths to win the race in the end.

However, early in the race, Red Rum nearly stumbled and fell and was disqualified.

In the Grand National, the horses and riders jump fences which look like hedges.

When Red Rum went to jump one of the fences, he nearly went to his knees.

But the jockey, Brian Fletcher, was able to keep the horse on its shoes in order to finish the race and ultimately win.

Many people think it was the finest piece of horsemanship in racing history.

This famous moment in racing history is illustrative of how God preserves His children.

As we run our race and sin threatens to bring us to our knees, God is like a master jockey who is able to keep the horse from falling down into the mud and being disqualified from the race.

God keeps us on our shoes.

Psalm 66:8–9 ESV

Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.

From Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:

1 Samuel 2:9 ESV

“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.

Psalm 56:13 ESV

For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

There are times in which we begin to stumble, and God will draw us to repentance.

Most often, He does this through the kindness of His discipline.

He will let us feel the dryness of our own souls as we depart from Him.

He will let us feel the weight of our sin as we disobey Him.

He will let us feel the consequences of our sin to wake us up to how we are drifting from Him.

And these are warnings that the true believer will not ignore.

When they feel the kindness of God pull on the reins, they will repent and seek to stand upright in Him once more.

They will cast off the weight and get back to the race.

Presentation

The second reason that Jude’s audience should praise God is because not only will He preserve us by keeping us from stumbling—He will PRESENT us.

He will present us “blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (v. 24).

Make Us Stand

When Jude says “present” he literally means that God will “make us stand” blameless before the presence of His glory.

In fact the New American Standard Bible translates the verse like this:

Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy,

Jude 24, New American Standard Bible

You can see the turn of phrase.

Praise Him because He won’t let you stumble...

...And Praise Him because He will make you stand...

This business of standing is referring to what will happen after our race has been finished.

Once we finish the race in which God has kept us from stumbling, He will make us stand in His presence.

Jude is speaking of the final day when we will come before God to answer for our lives.

Blameless

And here is the glorious news of v. 24—on THAT day, because of what Christ has done and forgiveness and eternal life that He has provided, we will stand in His presence “blameless.”

We will be without blemish.

This is Old Testament sacrificial language.

This is the sort of offering that the priest was required to bring to God.

Leviticus 1:3 ESV

“If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord.

The picture Jude is painting is that we are like offerings brought before God’s presence by God Himself, which are without blemish.

Not because of any righteousness in us, but because of the righteousness we have received from Christ.

This is what God is doing through Christ.

Paul makes it clear to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Christ had died in the place of the church and laid down His life for her, in order to sanctify her.

He does this be washing her with the water of the Word.

And what is the end goal of Christ’s sanctifying work?

To present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

And what Jude is telling us is that what God sets out to do in Christ, He WILL do in Christ.

God is going to bring to completion the work He has started.

Those whom He has predestined, He has called. Those whom He called, He has justified.

Those whom He has justified, He is sanctifying.

Those whom He sanctifies, He will glorify.

He will present them before His own presence.

In Glory With Great Joy

Commentators and translators have been split on the phrase “with great joy.”

Is it referring to the joy of the Presented or the Presenter?

Is it talking about us or about God?

The ESV is less clear about this, but I think NASB gets it right. Let’s look at it again:

Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy,

Jude 24, New American Standard Bible

It is speaking of the joy of the presented.

On that Day, when God stands us up in midst of His glory, and presents us as an offering that is blameless, our hearts will be flooded with joy unspeakable.

No more imperfections.

No more inconsistencies.

No more entangling sins.

No more weights to be cast aside.

No more sharp edges to sand down.

No more old man to take off.

As we were meant to do before the invasion of sin and death, as offerings of praise presented by God to God, we will be image-bearers of Christ who is God.

And this is who we will be for all of eternity.

The Relief of the Promise

What a relief these opening words of the Doxology must have been to Jude’s audience.

Think about it...

You have gotten this letter.

Though it is short, it is filled with these heavy warnings.

There are false teachers in your midst.

They have crept into the fellowship.

They are teaching things from the pit of Hell.

They are more prideful than demons.

Those who have given into the falsehood are in danger of fire.

Those who are going along with them are in the same danger as Sodom and Korah.

If you heard Jude saying these things, maybe you would feel like someone who just found out that carbon monoxide has been slipping into their home?

How much has gotten in?

How much have I breathed in?

How have I been to death?

It would have been such a relief to hear that the God who is worthy of praise—the only God—our Savior through Christ—is a God who keeps His children from falling and finishes His work in them.

It would have been a relief to know that as one seeks to “keep themselves in the love of God,” that God is helping that soul place one foot in front of the other.

He is guarding them.

He is watching over them.

He will kindly correct the course to keep them from destroying their souls.

And in the end, He will stand them up before Himself as an offering of unblemished praise.

Maybe you needed to hear that today my friends.

Maybe you haven’t felt like you have been running the race very well lately.

Maybe you have felt like you are losing your grip.

Feeling your knees start to buckle.

Wondering if you have what it takes to cross the finish line.

Well in your strength you do not.

You will not independently do anything of eternal meaning.

But in the strength of the Preserver and the Presenter, you are on pace to cross the line without blame.

Be encouraged.

CANNOT

So that is our exhortation this morning.

But what about our “cannot?”

This gives us our 2nd point:

2. You cannot offer up this praise without submission to God.

Jude’s doxology is an expression of praise to be offered up, but there is a catch.

In light of what Jude says about God in v. 25, you aren’t going to be able to offer this praise if you are living a life of rebellion against God.

Let’s look at the words Jude ascribes to God’s character and see why.

Four Words Ascribed to God

There are four words ascribed to God in v. 25:

Glory

Majesty

Dominion

Authority.

In ascribing these words to God, Jude is not saying that he or anyone else can cause God to possess these things.

Instead, his doxology is expressing the desire for all people to recognize and magnify these things about God.

Glory: When Jude speaks of God’s glory in v. 24, he seems to be referring to the visible manifestation of God’s character.

Glory as in the “glory of the Lord,” that passes by Moses as he hides in the crevice of the rock in Exodus 33.

But in v. 25, “glory” seems to refer more to God’s fame.

God’s public reputation.

Since God stands alone as the only God...

Since God is a Savior...

Since God is able to preserve us from falling and present us blameless...

...May He receive all of the glory He is due.

Majesty: The second word is majesty.

Majesty refers to “greatness.”

If you are in England and you meet the King, there are certain things you are supposed to do:

If you are a man, you bow your head from the neck.

If you are a woman, you give a small curtsy.

You don’t initiate conversation, but wait for the King to do so.

If you do speak with him, you keep it brief.

If you are at a meal, you don’t sit until he sits and you don’t eat until he eats and you don’t leave until he leaves.

If you leave an audience with him, you do not turn your back directly to him as you exit.

And of course, you refers to the King as “Your Majesty.”

This is a term that means “Greatness belongs to you.”

Tradition may have us address certain high-ranking people this way upon the earth, but in truth, ultimately, God is the One who greatness belongs to.

He has a preeminent greatness that makes Him uniquely majestic.

JND Kelly goes so far as to say that God’s majesty is His “awful transcendence.”

It is a term that tells us that God is far above and beyond us all.

Dominion: The third word—dominion—speaks to God’s power.

His strength and His might.

When it comes to God these things are unrivaled.

No one is as powerful as He is and it is not even close.

Authority: And not only is He powerful, but He has authority.

If dominion is power, authority speaks to God’s perfect use of His power.

He is right to rule and His rule is right—all the time.

Glorious, majestic, powerful and authoritative.

These are the words that Jude ascribes to God.

These are the attributes of God that Jude wants to magnify and point out to his listeners in this expression of praise to close his letter.

Attributes That Demand Submission

Now here is the question—why does Jude highlight these?

How do they play into the theme of Jude’s letter overall?

To get to the bottom of that, we need to recognize what all four of these words have in common.

They are all attributes and qualities of God that speak to His position as the Ultimate Sovereign and King.

God is worthy of universal fame because He alone is the Creator and Sustainer of all.

God is worthy to be hailed as majestic because He alone has an all-surpassing greatness.

God is worthy of the power He possesses as the self-sufficient, unchanging, Ruler of the Universe.

God is worthy of the authority He possesses as the One who governs with perfection—always bringing about that which will bring His Son the most glory.

All four of the words Jude uses say something about God’s preeminence and position and power.

That He is over all.

And here is what is implied—if He is over all, then all must be under Him.

What is implied is that He is a God that must be submitted to.

His glory, His greatness, His power and His position are all to be recognized by the hearts of men and women by the bowing of knees and the confessing of tongues.

What God deserves is the entire host of creation to say, “Not my will, but yours.”

Of course, we know that isn’t the case.

We know that there are countless throngs of people who are turned against God.

Some are more hardened in their rebellion than others, but the world in general, is opposed to God.

They do not submit to Him.

Inside of the church, it should look differently.

Inside of the church, God should find what He deserves—a submitted people who can join in on Jude’s doxology.

God should find those obeying the command that comes from Jude’s brother, James:

James 4:7 ESV

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

When James says submit, he is literally saying, “Place yourselves under” God.

This is what submission looks like.

The false teachers who has poisoned the church Jude is writing to, were doing the opposite.

They placed themselves above God and said, “We can live how we want AND YOU CAN TOO.”

They were teaching that in light of what God has given (His grace), it doesn’t matter what God has said (His commands).

But Jude’s doxology refutes this mindset.

Yes—God is to be known as a Savior, but He is also to be submitted to as the only God, who is due glory, majesty, dominion and authority.

So then, the doxology that Jude offers up is one that you cannot wholeheartedly utter unless you are submitted to the Lord’s preeminence and power and position.

This is why we say that you cannot offer up this praise to God without submitting to God.

Jude has chosen the words that he is ascribing to God carefully.

He isn’t just stringing together Bible words for the sake of sounding flowery.

He is stringing together words that make clear how God deserves to be related to.

He should be worshipped and submitted to.

And if you don’t do the latter, you aren’t truly doing the former.

If you say “be glory, majesty, dominion and authority,” to God, but you continue to spurn His commands and live however you want, your words and your life don’t match up.

Your worship will be nothing more than that of a hypocrite.

And this is the sort of worship God is not interested in. Just listen to how the New Living Translation renders Isaiah 29:13-14:

And so the Lord says,     “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips,     but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me     is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.[a] 14 Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites     with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away,     and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”

Isaiah 29:13-14, New Living Translation

God wants worship that is done in spirit and in truth.

He wants sincere worship from the heart that is based on the truth of how He has revealed Himself.

Jude’s opponents, without repentance, could not offer up this sort of worship because they were distorting the truth about God and living lies.

Those who followed them would not be able to either.

Jude’s doxology not only directs the heartfelt praises of God’s faithful people—it exposes the insincere religion of those pedaling falsehood.

You cannot offer up Jude’s doxology unless your heart is submissive before God’s glory, majesty, dominion and power.

Can You Join in with Jude?

And so that begs the question my friends—can you join in with Jude?

Is your heart yielded to God’s preeminent position and unparalleled power?

Or have you become stiff-necked toward Him?

Most of us know what it is like to have times where it feels like we are cold toward the Lord.

Usually, when there is a draft of frigid spiritual air upon our souls, it means that somewhere we left open a door of the house of our hearts.

There is some area where we have not been totally obedient to God.

There is some part of our lives where we have slowly been trying to wrestle back control.

There is some section of our souls where we have started to believe wrong things about God.

And with that door left open, Satan takes the opportunity to sneak in and wreak his havoc.

Doubts.

Discouragement.

Disobedience.

And when that cold air blows long enough and hard enough, we may find ourselves feeling that we cannot offer up Jude’s praise because we are not in the right position.

Somehow, some way—we are not submitted to God.

James 4:7 gives us the remedy for such times.

Search your heart and place all parts of it under the authority of God again.

Then the devil flees.

Then our intimacy with God returns.

Heartfelt praise abounds.

CAN

And now we close this morning with our final point. We have seen the cannot. But we end with a positive. Something we CAN do.

3. You can offer up this praise with confidence in God.

On one hand, the attributes ascribed to God by Jude keep us from offering up praise from a rebellious, non-submitted heart.

However, they also enable us to offer up praise from a sincere, submitted heart, with the utmost confidence in the Lord.

We started this morning with a focus on how God will keep us from stumbling.

He will preserve us.

And then on the last Day, He will present us a a joyful offering to Himself.

God Has a Resume

For the church that Jude wrote to—if they were feeling uneasy about the infiltration of false teaching that had taken place, their unease could find rest in the reality of who God is.

The God that is to be praised for His ability to preserve us and present us has a resume.

He is glorious.

He is great and majestic.

He has all power.

And He uses that power rightly at all times.

For these reasons, we can trust that God will do what He says He will do.

Jude 21 has a real command for the believer to keep themselves in the love of God.

They do this by building themselves up in the most holy faith.

They do this by praying in the Spirit.

They do this by waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus.

And yet, if this command was not in the context of who God is, we would feel hopeless.

What man can keep himself in the love of God?

What man can muster up enough strength to build their faith on their own?

What man is so spiritual that they could pray in the Spirit, without the help of God, who is Spirit?

What man is patient enough to wait on the mercy of Christ without taking the matters of life into their own feeble hands?

These are rhetorical questions because we know better than to put too much stock and confidence in ourselves.

These are rhetorical questions because know we need help.

What v. 25 does, apart from giving God the praise He is due—is to remind those doing the praising that God can be trusted.

He is the glorious God whose fame spread throughout the world as all of the ancient nations heard of how He dispatched Pharaoh.

He is the majestic King of Creation, to whom everyone owes life and breath.

He is the powerful One who changes the times and the seasons.

He is the authoritative One whose decree determines the course of all things.

He is the Preserver of the planets and the stars.

Can’t He preserve your soul?

He will present the nations as an inheritance to His Son.

Can’t He present you to Himself—blameless and joyful?

My Washington Nationals just hired a new manager.

I have no confidence in this man.

Why? Because he is a 33 year old with no big league resume.

Until he proves otherwise, my hopes are not high.

The God who keeps us is not unproven.

He is the One who gave His only Son for the redemption of your souls.

And He is the One who will preserve your soul as you run your race.

He is the One who will present your soul after you cross the finish line.

And as you come before His throne, lifting up a heart of praise, you can be confident that He will keep every promise He has made to you in Jesus Christ.

Eternal in Nature

And finally this morning, you can be confident as you praise God because He did not just become glorious or majestic.

He did not come into His power and position in the last election cycle.

This is who He has been BEFORE ALL TIME.

In eternity past, God was perfect in glory, majesty, dominion and authority.

This is who He is NOW.

At this moment, God continues to be perfect in glory, majesty, dominion and authority.

And this is Who HE WILL ALWAYS BE.

Billions upon billions of days will pass in eternity future, and God will be just as glorious, majestic and powerful then as He is now.

He will not grow in these things because He doesn’t need to.

He will not decrease in these things because He cannot.

Join in with Jude

So then church—with hearts yielded to the truth—let us join in with Jude.

Let’s say this all together:

Jude 24–25 ESV

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.