February 4, 2024
Jude 24-25
“The End of a Glorious Journey”
Here’s a question to ponder:
DO WE MAKE THE CHOICE TO HAVE JESUS SAVE US FROM OUR SINS?
Which is why the Charles Spurgeon quote we concluded with last week makes all the sense in the world:
“No man can keep himself. He’ll surely fail. If left to ourselves, we’ll go to hell. Only Jesus can save us from our sins.”
That affirmation is firmly rooted in verse one:
“To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.”
That is a glorious affirmation upon which to end our series on Jude.
We call this glorious because our salvation is forever. Our salvation is not up to us…our salvation is up to God. Therefore there is permanence to the gift of eternal life in Christ.
One last time, here’s the high note upon which Jude ends his letter:
“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.”
How beautiful is that? We are not in control. We do not control our eternal destiny. Our future hope does not rise or fall on our ability or grit or determination. Our eternal destiny rests in God’s sovereign will. It was God’s sovereign will to choose to save us. Amen?
Make no mistake. Since God chose to save you in Jesus Christ, then God will get you there. It is God who gets you across the finish line. Since God covered you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ – meaning it is Jesus’ sinless life that saves you – and since it is Jesus Christ who paid in full the penalty for your sins – then never ever could any of those sins ever be held against you. In Christ, you are presented as blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. As we celebrated about six weeks ago, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” It is through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that you are signed, sealed, and delivered into the glorious presence of God.
Jude ends with the soaring affirmation that whomever God has chosen to save cannot be lost. We stand in awe over how God works in and through our lives.
During WW II, French mime Marcel Marceau {show picture} used his acting background to rescue Jewish children and get them to safety. He would help smuggle them across the Swiss border, miming to keep them happy while instructing them to stay quiet.
He disguised himself as a Boy Scout leader and lead groups of children on long walks through the countryside to reach the Swiss border. During the journey, he would use his mime skills to keep the children entertained and quiet, so as not to attract attention from German soldiers or collaborators. It is estimated that Marceau’s efforts saved the lives of at least 70 Jewish children.
A woman was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that was cutting off her airway at 20 weeks of pregnancy. The first specialist mentioned abortion. She and her husband had gone through years of infertility to get pregnant. She knew she’d rather die and give birth than abort her baby.
Then she met with another doctor who listed all of the problems the baby would have if she did not terminate. She refused. The doctor said, “That is ok. The baby will probably spontaneously abort anyway.”
She searched and found good doctors who supported her, and she gave birth to a healthy baby at 34 weeks. She will be celebrating 10 years cancer free in May. She has a healthy, beautiful, bright, precious 10-year-old daughter who is a living reminder that doctors do not know everything.
{Show picture}
In 1981, Dr. Michael Shannon worked tirelessly through the night to save a premature baby boy. 30 years later, in 2011, Dr. Shannon was trapped in a burning SUV following a collision with a semi-truck. Miraculously, he was rescued from the blazing vehicle by Chris Trokey, a paramedic with the Orange County Fire Authority. Remarkably, it was revealed that Chris Trokey was the premature baby Dr. Shannon had delivered three decades earlier.
{Show Picture}
{Show Picture} How many of you know who this guy is? On August 8, 1982, a line drive foul ball hit a four-year-old boy in the head at Fenway Park. Jim Rice instantly sprang from the dugout and scooped up the boy. He carefully laid him on the dugout floor, where the Red Sox medical team began treating him.
When the boy arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later, doctors said is was Jim Rice’s quick actions that saved the boy’s life. Rice returned to the game in his blood-stained uniform. After visiting the boy in the hospital, Jim Rice made sure all medical bills be sent to him.
Here’s something you might want to write down:
GOD’S HAND IS EVIDENT FOR ANYONE WILLING TO SEE IT.
Standing with Jude, with great joy, we praise God for His eternal glory, majesty, dominion, and authority. God calms our fears. God fuels our hopes. God has fixed the course of our salvation. And so, Jude’s doxology is our song of joy.
No matter what we face in life…whatever we go through…whatever we experience…we should never draw back in fear. Life is good. Life is great joy, because, as Paul once said, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” It’s all good. Not because we’re good. Not because we’re able. But because our God is able.
Here's something else you might want to write down:
THE PATH TO HEAVEN IS ABSOLUTELY SAFE.
That is beautifully affirmed when Jude writes, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” The Greek word translated, “to keep you” means to guard. It’s a military word. “To guard or watch over.” Even when it feels like we are under attack, God is at His post. He is keeping us in the faith. We cannot be broken…we will not be broken. God keeps our faith permanent. What an astounding affirmation. What God was before creation – before us – is what God is now. Glory…majesty…dominion…authority, from before all time until eternally after the end of time.
Let’s close with one more observation from Charles Spurgeon. As you can tell, he preached extensively from Jude:
“And when I heard it said that the Lord would keep His people right to the end, when I heard it said that Christ said, ‘My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand,’ when I heard that said, I must confess, that the doctrine of final preservation of the saints was the bait that my soul could not resist. It was sort of a life insurance, an insurance of character, an insurance of my soul, an insurance of my eternal destiny.”
“I knew I couldn’t keep myself, but if Christ promised to keep me, then I would be safe forever, and I longed and I prayed to find Christ because I knew that if I found Him, He would not give me a temporary salvation, as some preach, but eternal life, which could never be lost, the living and incorruptible seed, which lives and abides forever, for no one and nothing could ever separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And together, the people of God said, “Amen.”
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