150315 To Him Who is Able

Jude 24-25 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.

We come to the final words of Jude. “Doxology” means to give praise to God. And what a wonderful praise this is! In these two verses Jude gives us reasons to praise and worship our God. We’re going to take it apart and look at each aspect as it unfolds before us. I praise God that he who keeps Israel never slumbers nor sleeps. I praise God that he is always able to keep us. I praise God that he who began a good work in us will complete it. I praise God that he can take our shattered lives and present us blameless before the presence of God. I praise God that he meets all our needs according to his riches in glory. Thank you Lord!

Now to him who is able. Paul used exactly the same words to describe God’s ability. Turn with me to Ephesians 3:20-21. 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, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Jude tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ is able to keep us from stumbling. It is sad to see Christians struggling along trying to maintain their spiritual life in their own strength. Instead we need to focus on the fact that he is able to keep us. In point of fact, Paul tells us, through the Ephesian letter, that he is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.

It is the power of God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead that is at work in us to make us able to be present with him in the glory that is to come. In fact the book of Revelation tells us that we will live continually in the atmosphere of the glory of God in the new Jerusalem! It is not by works of righteousness that we’ve done but instead it is God’s work in us that allows us to have confidence in God’s ability to take care of us.

In fact…

It is beyond our imagination. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— ¹⁰ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

I have a pretty active imagination and yet the Bible assures me that God has prepared blessings beyond my imagination. We have not seen with our eyes nor have we heard with our ears all the blessings that await us. The things God has prepared for us are amazing! The Bible tells us that the new creation will be a holy city where there will be no mourning, nor crying, nor pain, where death will be no more. The city is of immense size and is free from all evil and filled with the glory of God. We will be able to enjoy fellowship with God and all God’s people from all nations and all periods of time. Revelation 21 tells us that “God himself will be with them he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Along the way, we will experience hints of that great future time of blessing. God is able to do more than we can imagine and he is…

Not only able but also willing. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

We are in the process of being made completely holy. Only God is able to do that in our lives. We can’t do it! No matter how hard we struggle we will always fall short. But God is faithful! It is God who began our spiritual life and it is God who will finish it. He is not waiting on us to perform he is willing and able to bring us to a place of complete sanctification.

This is not just a matter of keeping us from stumbling, which he promises to do. It is a matter of being able to present us blameless. He is working in our lives to make us able to be presented in the presence of God.

Everything that comes into our life is designed by God to bring us to the place where we can be brought into the courtyard of heaven. We may suffer hardship and difficulty along the way but we may rejoice and be glad because while we share in his suffering we will certainly share in his glory.

All of this prepares us for presentation. Turn with me to Colossians 1:21-23.  And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

He has reconciled us in his body by his death. As Peter tells us he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. (1 Peter 2:24) You see, when Jesus went to the cross he took us with him.

We are part of the bride of Christ that he gave himself for. He loves the church and will prepare us through all the events of life to be able to be presented to him at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Paul writes about the things that we are passing through in order to be presented to the Lord. He said to Timothy “I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” (2 Timothy 2:10) He was willing to endure everything, including all kinds of hardship and suffering that God’s eternal plans might come about. The fact that he spoke of those people he was serving as “the elect” does not discourage him from doing everything he could on their behalf. We know from the life of Paul that he endured much hardship! He spoke of being imprisoned for the gospel sake. He told about countless beatings. He spoke of often being near death.

The great apostle, who called himself the chief of sinners, endured much hardship in the process of being shaped into the image Jesus Christ. There is no reason why we should not consider that we also will endure hardship.

Jude tells us that we are to give glory to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And we are to do this because he is able to prepare us to be presented…

To God through Jesus. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 2:5-6. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

In order for us to be reconciled to God we needed a mediator to represent us to God who could also represent God to us. There’s only one person who ever filled that requirement and that is the man Christ Jesus. In order to fulfill the role of mediator Jesus had to be fully man as well as fully God.

We are to rejoice in him, Jesus, who is able to keep us from stumbling and present us blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. He is able to and willing to do this because he is the one mediator between God and man.

Sometimes I wonder if we really begin to realize what was involved in Jesus becoming man. Jesus did not come into the world in an adopted human body that he would lay aside after the resurrection.

Jesus had to be fully man and fully God at the same time in order to serve as our Savior and Lord. In becoming man he could represent us before the Father as man without sin. He had to be a man in order to be our representative and obey in our place. He was able to represent us because he paid the penalty that was due to us. You see, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And, the wages of sin is death! Therefore we’re all in trouble when we are born. Jesus became a man because God was concerned with saving men. He had to be made like us in every way in order to satisfy the wrath of Almighty God and present us to him “blameless”. We are able to come before his presence with great joy because we realize that, while we deserve death and hell, we can receive life and heaven by putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

There is only one way that a person can come into the presence of God without fear of destruction and that is through Jesus Christ. As Peter told the Sanhedrin, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”. (Acts 4:12) And he’s clearly talking about Jesus Christ of Nazareth! This Jesus gave up heaven’s glory for Earth’s gloom permanently! He had existed eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He gave that up in order to be born in a human body in a stable and raised the son of a carpenter. He was tempted in every way that we are yet without any sin of his own. (Hebrews 4:15) But just as he became man he also became sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Through Jesus Christ our Lord we are able to be presented blameless. Without Jesus we have no hope in this world or the world to come. And, however we are presented, we must always remember that it is…

To God be the glory. Turn with me to Romans 11:36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Our doxology needs to be to him who is able and willing — the Lord Jesus Christ! He, and only he, can present us to God. Everything in heaven and on earth have as their intended purpose the glory of God.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that the chief end of man is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever. John Piper, in his writings, have change the wording somewhat to: The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever!

The fact that God created us for his own glory tells us that we were created for that very purpose: to glorify him. In fact everything in the material universe was placed into the glory of God. The psalmist cried out, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there’s nothing upon earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26) Fullness of joy is found in knowing God and delighting in him. Just to be in his presence and enjoy fellowship with him is a greater blessing than anything that can be imagined.

The normal attitude of a Christian is rejoicing in the Lord and in the way he instructs us. The Bible tells us that God will rejoice over us in his love. (Isaiah 62:5) When we realize that God created us to glorify him and we begin to act in ways that we fulfill that purpose we experience an intensity of joy in the Lord that we have never known before.

Then we will join with the twenty-four elders before God’s throne in saying, “You are worthy our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. (Revelation 4:11) The infinitely perfect creator deserves all praise. Jesus said that we are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

“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.”

Are you prepared for your presentation? The Bible tells us that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what is done in the body, whether good or evil. The Bible also tells us it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31) I praise God that we are able to come before the judgment seat in the name of Jesus Christ. Our faith in him as lived out in our day-to-day lives gives us confidence to say, “he is able to keep us from stumbling and present us blameless before the presence of his glory.” We should search ourselves to see if we are in the faith. It is not by works of righteousness but “in him” we that have hope that “he who began a good work in (us) will bring it to completion.” If Jesus is Lord in our lives then we have hope of salvation. Have you confessed him as your Lord? Today can be the day that you let the world know that he is your Savior.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.