Him That Is Able

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 1st September service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Jud 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Jud 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

 Him That Is Able

It is an especial delight for a gospel preacher to preach from a passage so full of the Lord Jesus Christ as are these two verses.

Jude brings his little epistle to an end in a doxology that beautifully elevates the glory of Christ and must surely be amongst the highest examples of earthly worship known to man. He is magnifying our Saviour who is able and willing to save His people from their sins, preserve them holy, in time, and present them faultless in glory with great joy. It is fully consistent with Jude’s strong sovereign grace emphasis in this epistle that at its end He who is all-wise and all-powerful should be thus worshipped.

Worthy of praise

It is to Christ that Jude directs our attention. He raises our eyes to the sovereign Lord Jesus. As fallen men and women we are a mass of inabilities. We cannot save ourselves, we cannot keep or present ourselves faultless. We need a champion and as he has done from the start Jude sets before us his Friend and Master, Jesus. It is Christ alone who has accomplished and fulfils every stage in His people’s deliverance and salvation.

Four strong walls

The Saviour is to be praised for His glory, majesty, dominion and power. Jude is clearly acknowledging the divinity of the man Christ Jesus whose servant he is. These attributes had been scorned by ungodly men during Christ’s earthly ministry and now are again denied by the ungodly men against whom Jude has been writing. The apostle is careful to remind the church that Jesus Christ the Godman is on His throne; arrayed in glory, majesty, dominion and power. He was sovereign then and He is sovereign now!

Blessings of grace

Jude concludes his epistle with a summary of salvation’s wonderful benefits. Despite the trouble we face from persecutors without and deceivers within, Christ’s Bride shall be preserved and we shall be made glad. The Lord Jesus keeps His people from being totally and finally lost by doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Such knowledge excites and warrants exceeding great joy. Our complete redemption, atonement, reconciliation and deliverance from the power and dominion of sin is a cause for praise and a reason for joy.

Joy now and then

These comforting facts are our present possession. We are being encouraged by Jude to reckon the blessings of our salvation to be as sure and certain now, in time, as we believe them to be for eternity. Because Christ has entered into His glory, maintains dominion and exercises power with perfect wisdom our spiritual blessings are secure and our final victory is already a reality. Salvation is not simply a future hope. It is a present possession to be experienced and enjoyed. It begins in time and endures to eternity.

Set apart in Jesus Christ

Jude’s epistle from first to last has clearly testified to the distinction between those who are God’s elect and those who are not. Some are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and called. They are under covenant care and distinguished from those who are not. They have faith in the finished work of the Saviour and having the Spirit are spiritual, while others are not.

Two races

These two races, or peoples, are distinguished according to the Lord’s sovereign purpose. Some are predestined to everlasting life, others ‘before of old ordained to this condemnation’. Divine blessing flows or is withheld by God’s all-wise grace and praise and glory must be and shall be credited to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The apostle’s final amen therefore concludes his short epistle on a note of victory and assurance.

Amen and amen

Amen is not only a word used to strengthen assertions with the stamp of truth. It is also one of the distinguishing names of the Lord Jesus, as in Revelation 3:14. In writing to the church Jude has been a faithful and true witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, for which we thank him. In setting before us the success of the Saviour he has shown us that Christ Himself is the faithful and true witness, the great Amen to His church and people.

Amen

Our hymns are below.

Hymn 1

Gadsby selection 421

Praise for Preserving Grace. Jude 24, 25; Rom. 16. 27

I. Watts            S.M.

1
To God the only wise,
Our Saviour and our King,
Let all the saints below the skies
Their humble praises bring.

2
’Tis his almighty love,
His counsel and his care,
Preserves us safe from sin and death,
And every hurtful snare.

3
He will present our souls
Unblemished and complete
Before the glory of his face,
With joys divinely great.

4
Then all the chosen seed
Shall meet around the throne;
Shall bless the conduct of his grace,
And make his wonders known.

5
To our Redeemer, God,
Wisdom and power belongs;
Immortal crowns of majesty,
And everlasting songs.

Hymn 2

Gadsby selection 1106

“It fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.” Matt. 7. 25

E. Mote   L.M.

1
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

2
When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
In every rough and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

3
His oath, his covenant, and his blood,
Support me in the whelming flood,
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

4
I trust his righteous character,
His counsel, promise, and his power.
His honour and his name’s at stake,
To save me from the burning lake.

5
When I shall launch in worlds unseen,
O may I then be found in him,
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is all-wise, all-knowing and all-powerful. To Him, Jude says, is due all glory and majesty, dominion and power. Such is the sovereign God we worship and the Saviour in whom we trust. He is able to keep us from falling, keep us holy, keep us fit for glory and keep us happy. He is the great Amen!