Jude 24-25

Intro

There was a popular t.v. show when i was growing up called “Behind the Music”. They dug into the history and drama behind some of the greatest bands and most well known songs from the 60’s all the way through the late 80’s.

Songs and bands most of you would know just after a few sounds gained new depth when you knew all it took for the Monkeys to out sell the Beatles or Fleetwood Mac to survive heartache.

See it is one thing to love a song. To know it from heart. It is a completely different thing to love it because you connect so deeply with its making. when you know what it took to come to your ears. When you know what the song writer was going through when they wrote it.

This passage is an all time greatest hit in church history. It has been sung, spoke, memorized and used every week to conclude a service. Some churches use it every week it is that good. All time top ten hit.

On its own its unmatched in beauty and grace. But behind the music of Judes end is depth we need to cling to in a life of hurt, threat, and temptation to despair.

We are going to mine the depth of this classic looking at 3 things

1. Behind the music

2. The works of God for you - 24

3. The character of God for you - 25

Lets read it and dive in:

24 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, 25 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jud 24–25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

So first to know just how desperately Judes church and our church today need this song we gotta go behind the music.

Behind the music

Who is this guy anyway? Jude is the half brother of Jesus and the gospels tell us that he was not a believer in his brother.

I don’t know about you but if my brother claimed to be God and caused riots i am not sure I would jump in line either.

But he didn’t stay that way. What would make you go from making fun of your brother to making him Lord of your life as the promised Old Testament Messiah, and die for it?

How about watching him die and then three days later having him come in alive through the door with out opening it? I would be in at that point.

Jude is the half brother of Jesus and a brilliant author and loving shepherd of a small messianic jewish community.

His church is in trouble.

He says in verse 3 and 4 that he wanted to write to them and reflect on the Gospel but…the church has been through it.

False teachers have come in and shook them up.

These teachers have told the church “all you have to do is pray a prayer walk an aisle and then you are free to live however you want”

“You have grace to cover anything sleep with who you want, spend your money on what you want”

These people have taught that grace doesn't change how you live.

The members who are left have watched people they love walk away from the faith to follow a lie

So Jude is writing to encourage his people with 2 things

These people wont get away with anything the Old Testament tells what happens to people who keep themselves out side the love of God.

He tells them to get after it. Contend for the faith he says in verse 3. It is an athletic term for exerting yourself to live out your faith especially when it looks like the bad guys are winning.

Get after it he says as a faith family, and as a church on radical mission to save the lost.

how do they get after it?

verse 20 build each other up as a family in the truth, pray first then act, and wait on God to do what he has promised to do. He will never forget you he is always for you.

Especially when we are limping in on Sunday beat up and seeing the wrong team look like they are winning.

No one in this room struggles to see God’s power in the midst of difficulty more than me. i am prone to forget what he can do. So Jude wrote this song for us to remember

So we get to our text with the story of why he wrote it.

Here we see our second point in verse 24

2. The Works of God for Us

24 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,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jud 24). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Maybe you have seen a small kid doing something and thinking they are doing it in their own power but dad is actually holding them up making it happen.

Jude has charged this small but faithful church to keep themselves in the love of God by Contending for the faith in how they live.

But like the child thinking they are reeling in the catfish but dads doing all the work.

keep yourselves with how you live because look at what he is doing to keep you.

Now to Him Who is able to keep you from stumbling

Jude has said to keep yourself by obedience and this is the Wonderful Work of God for you

Brother and sister you can NEVER be lost as His. He will keep you from ever falling so far off your feet he cant save you. you cannot fall off your feet so bad he is ever done with you. You cannot ever fall off your feet so bad he is ashamed to call you HIS.

He will Keep you from falling out of His love an He will never allow the wicked to trip you up.

This first part of the Song is dripping with the Psalms

Psalm 56:13

Christian Standard Bible Psalm 56

13 For you rescued me from death,

even my feet from stumbling,

to walk before God in the light of life.

Psalm 66:9 CSB

He keeps us alive and does not allow our feet to slip.

How is He able? Because there is no one like our God

Psalm 121:3-4

3 He will not allow your foot to slip;

your Protector will not slumber.

4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel

does not slumber or sleep.

We forget him but brother and sister know this. You never run the risk of him not remembering you.

Remember behind the music.

This church has seen first hand what sin and false teachers can do to a church.

It has beat them up and Jude knows this so he lifts there eyes to the one holding it all and reminds them of Gods works for us.

Sin is able to damage so much…but it will never be able to shale our God who alone is Able to Keep His Children

Your church has been through alot. But let this truth sink in He is able and His church will never fail.

This building may Go one day 100 years from now But the Bride of Christ is kept forever.

We could say amen right there....

But theres so much more in our wonder working Gods activity for His children

24 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,

He keeps you from stumbling to present you blameless before His Glory and His Son?

Are you serious? This is fantastic

In 1899 a man named Alfred Plummer wrote a 500 page commentary on this book.

now before you think i read that please don’t i didn’t read it it was really boring about 2 pages in.

But he had a gem in those 500 dull pages most of which went unread

“It is those who know their own frailty and ability to sin, who know the countless temptations which surround them and the terrible attractiveness which many sins present themselves who know the grievous falls that are possible it is those who best understand the weight of Gods activity in this passage.”

A day should never go by that we are not in absolute awe that we are a christian. those who grasp even a glimpse of Gods wondrous works in saving sinners can do nothing but stand in awe.

The fact that i am a Christian should floor me. That i am kept by Him despite my heart prone to wander? are you serious? that his general disposition to us is Love? Despite what we do to him hourly? Brother and sister do not ever lose sight of the miracle of your salvation.

Plummer again says so well “Out of sinful man to make a saint is more than to make a world out of nothing and to keep sinful man from stumbling is more than to keep stars in their courses”

I know me. I know my horrible rebellion. And I am going to be presented to the Lamb of God as blameless?

What kind of love like that doesnt deserve radical obedience love mission and awe

This is the Final Judgement he is talking about.

The prophet Malachi saw this day coming and asks

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach., 3 He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver.

Who of us will stand on that day not fully aware of how short we have fallen daily to Love the lord with all of our heart soul mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.

And in the final analysis when we should be found wanting…we are pronounced clean …if we are his

In the Old Testament any offering had to be without blemish, a bull, goat, dove, whatever.

David knew in the Psalms that each man themselves must be faultless…and in knowing our selves we see the chasm between us and God

Jesus changes everything Church he died in out place as the spotless lamb without any sin or defect so we can say with the writer of

Hebrews 9:13-14

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!’

One Commentator says here so beautifully:

God is able to make us stand, though in ourselves we should shrink from his presence. God sets us before him and what deeper conception of bliss could there be than for the redeemed to be face to face with their God?

Contend for the faith get after it in how you live as a light to those around you.

Jude is saying i know you have seen these leaders fall. it may seem that if a leader can fall what can i do?

You stand in awe of the God who keeps you. You remain obedient to the God who saved you because if you are His you will be presented blameless on that great day.

What is more is that it will be His Joy to do it.

Not just presented blameless but it is His Joy to show up for His children and hold you up as an example of His grace, power, wonder working acts, ability to save so that for eternity we will sing WORTHY IS THE LAMB WHO WAS SLAIN...

Worthy because He alone can save and it is his joy to love you

These brothers and sisters are His acts for you right now.

Jude transitions to verse 25 to remind us of the character of the God who acts for us.

This is our third point today.

3. The Character of God for us

When suffering or difficulty or trial hit me i am not prone to immediately turn to God for His presence.

We are saved and given a new heart that is able to but we still start to turn left even when our new house is to the right.

I forget that He alone is ABLE to Keep me. To save me. To fight for me.

Our God is the God who has revealed Himself to us so we can know who our father is at heart.

25 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.

He is the only God.

I run to my own activity to help myself, technology to numb me, affluence to ignore my desperate dependance and in it all when they all fail i see...

He alone is God. There is no other.

God alone is God. He is not in a power struggle with sin and satan. He is God alone and all enemies of His are defeated.

His reign is unchallengable for eternity no matter how it looks to us in the moment.

He is the Only God and He alone saves

Our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord

Isaiah 45:15 gives God the title of Savior of Israel. His covenant peopel who we as the church are the fullifllment of

Michael Green says here:

“Christ is sixteen times called Saviour in the New Testament, compared with eight times for the Father. In the Old Testament God delivers his people Israel if and when they call upon him. In the New Testament he delivers those who have no claim on him whatever, Gentiles on the road to perdition.”

Remember the Behind the Music of this anthem…these false teachers tore up the church leading people to believe you can get the grace of a get out of hell free card and still be the Lord of your own life...

Jude goes scorched earth on that lie

Four times in this letter Jude makes sure to let them Know Jesus is Lord. 4, 17, 21, and here in verse 25.

This is a deeply Jewish and very book smart family of Christians. They would be familiar with Jesus the Messiah. He was the promised one from the old testament.

Implied in the name Messiah was his authority. Jude doesn’t want to leave anything implied.

He makes sure the church through the ages knows explicitly and emphatically that our Jesus is Lord.

Jude saw his brother DIe. he had to hold his mom at the execution of her son and his brother. he lived the grief and pain....then he saw Him rise three days later

This is the only Lord. Why would we kneel to another?

I have no answer but i know i am prone to bow to other lords unable to save… but he never gives up His throne no matter how we respond..or how bad we are beat up as a church dealing with sin

He is Lord and the Lord who saves

Jude is blasting the worthless cheap grace sold by false teachers with the unmatched beauty of the Truth.

Look at what God has done for you

Look at who he is for you

If that doesn’t make you want to get a little Pentecostal in here in don’t know what will.

Jude cant help himself he rolls off more character of our God

25: glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

The Message of 2 Peter and Jude 3. Hallelujah! What a Saviour! (25)

He wants us to respond with praise to a God whose magnificent dominion is unchallengeable for ever. It cannot be challenged because he has glory, majesty, power and authority.

Our God alone has Glory

Glory: the visible, public, mountain shaking presence of God. The God of mount Sinai and the visible Glory of Jesus face seen by the disciples

Majesty: The power of a King unlike any other. A super power greater than every earthly kingdom combined and multiplied exponentially. A kingdom without end. A court unmatched in Regal and pure dominion. (My wife loves any time anything Royal Family is on t.v. we will see a royal majesty infinity better than William and Kates wedding)

Power: He spoke this into being. Us you and me and all we see. I labor to make pancakes. He spoke and out of nothing life, time, space, seen and unseen realms burst forth. Power to trample our greatest enemies sin and death and satan. Power Jesus references in Mark 3

English Standard Version Chapter 3

27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Satan was too powerful for us. So the only one stronger came and tied hm up and took back what was rightfully His.

We are the plunder of Satans house Jesus came to reclaim and was able to because of His unmatched power.

Authority: Total sovereignty. He alone works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes.

Not might be able too…but is working them together for good. That doesn’t mean in the moment of suffering you say he will make this one event make sense in 1 year. it means that the masterpiece of your life can be looked back upon at the end and see the perfection of every brushstroke even those painted with tears in the moment. He alone can write our stories because he alone is God over them.

Jude adds one more character trait to the praise …the immeasurable agelessness of our God.

We need to know this because His love His power His disposition to Act has always been so we can know it always will be.

False teachers will come and go. we will see some fall away. Buildings will come and go. He is timeless and we can anchor in that.

My hero in pastoring says:

“Jude’s timescale is breathtaking too, for he spins us back before the creation of our universe and says that God had this unimaginable power before all ages; despite the apparent godlessness of our world, he has it now, and nothing will ever replace him for evermore.”

When you get a glimpse of all God has done for you and all He is for you…you can only respond as the saints through history have done...

Jude is awestruck like David was when he saw His glorious GOd....

Listen to David in 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

English Standard Version Chapter 29

10 Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

David sang this and he only saw a shadow on the horizon....

Jude saw it burst into history in flesh and blood

All of this praise is offered THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD

The Message of 2 Peter and Jude 3. Hallelujah! What a Saviour! (25)

‘words could hardly express more clearly Jude’s belief in the pre-existence and eternity of Christ

Jesus was the one the Exodus pointed too, God’s saving from exile pointed too, the Temple pointed too, the sacrifices pointed too.

We can say with the apostles looking into the face of Christ ...

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth

We saw Behind the Music how these believers were going through it. I have personally been going through it and i got a week full of it already next week. I know your church has been going through it.

We need this anchor today and tomorrow and every hour of every day. i do desperately.

I end our time with where Jude started...

To Him who is able to keep you....

There is something i have seen with my sons.

If they fall sometimes and arent hurt they wait to look at me and see what i will do.

When they look they know they want to know 2 simple things.

Dad Knows and Dad cares because they know daddy is big enough to take a bike off of them dust them off and give them a push to get back on the bike.

They need to know dad knows and cares and can keep them. how bad they are hurt doesnt matter if they know that.

We need to know what Jude is saying. The only all powerful God of the universe knows , he cares, he has acted to do something about your sin and pain and he is unchanging in his character toward you.

He knows He cares and He will Keep you

I offer this God to you this morning.

If you are in a storm and cant see remember He is able to keep you and present you blameless at the end of time

If you are tired he is the one able to keep you

If you are like Judes church and it looks like the bad guys are winning the the church is under attack. he alone is able to keep you

If you are here today and you've tried all the religion activities and still have no peace lay it down and run to the one who alone can keep you

If you don’t know this God come and ask me and i will tell you how you can be kept and made pure and know Him as Lord

We anchor ourselves in this great song and emerge not weak or frail or hiding. we walk out with new resolve to contend for the faith in how we live in obedience and mission.

we can contend because we know we cannot lose

Let me close by letting the words of this great praise wash over us.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

24 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, 25 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.