Jude (Section 259)

Section 259

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to pre sent you faultless before the presence of
his glory with exceeding joy, "To the only wise
God our Saviour, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."
—Jude 1:24-25 We will joyfully praise the Lord with Jude's doxology.

It is well to be called full often to adoring praise, and the specific statement of the reason for praise is helpful to fervor of gratitude. Our great danger is falling and faultiness. Our great safety is divine ability and faithfulness, by which we are kept from stumbling, so as to dishonor our Lord.

I. Let us adore him who can keep us from falling.

1. We need keeping from falling, in the sense of preservation from—

Error of doctrine; which is rife enough in this age.

Error of spirit: such as want of love, or want of discernment, or unbelief, or credulity, or fanaticism, or conceit.

Outward sin. Alas, how low may the best fall!

Neglect of duty: ignorance, idleness, want of thought.

Backsliding. Into this state we may insensibly descend.

2. None but the Lord can keep us from falling.

We cannot keep ourselves without him. No place guarantees security: the church, the closet, the communion-table—all are invaded by temptation. No rules and regulations will secure us from stumbling. Stereotyped habits may only conceal deadly sins. No experience can eradicate evil, or protect us from it.

3. The Lord can do it. He is "able to keep," and he is "the only wise God, our Saviour." His wisdom is part of his ability. By teaching us so that we fall not into sin by ignorance. By warning us: this may be done by our noting the falls of others, or by inward monitions, or by the Word. By providence, affliction, etc., which remove occasions of sinning. By a bitter sense of sin, which makes us dread it as a burnt child dreads the fire. By his Holy Spirit, renewing in us desires after holiness.

4. The Lord will do it. According to the Revised Version he is "The only God our Saviour." He will assuredly save. From final falls, and even from stumblings (see R. V.), his divine power can and will keep us.

II. Let us adore him who will present us in his courts faultless.

1. None can stand in those courts who are covered with fault.

2. None can deliver us from former guilt, or keep us from daily faultiness in the future, but the Saviour himself.

3. He can do it as our Saviour. He is divinely wise to sanctify.

4. He will do it. We should not be exhorted to praise him for an ability which he would not use.

5. He will do it "with exceeding joy," both to himself and to us.

III. Let us adore him with highest ascriptions of praise.

1. Presenting our praise through Jesus, who is himself our Lord. (R. V.) 2. Wishing him glory, majesty, dominion and power.

3. Ascribing these to him as to the past, for he is "before all time." (R.V.) 4. Ascribing them to him "now."

5. Ascribing them to him "for ever."

6. Adding to this adoration, and the adoration of all his saints, our own fervent "Amen." Heartily consenting to all his praise.

Come let us praise our Guardian now, in memory of past upholdings.

Let us praise him in foretaste of what he will do for us.

Let us praise him with "exceeding joy." A Statement and an Instance

We cannot stand a moment longer than God upholdeth us; we are as a staff in the hand of a man; take away the hand, and the staff faileth to the ground: or rather, as a little infant in the nurse's hand (Hosea 11:3); if we are left to our own feet, we shall soon fall. Created grace will never hold out against so many difficulties. One of the fathers bringeth in the flesh, saying, ego deficiam, I shall fail; the world, ego decipiam, I will deceive them; the devil, Ego eripiam, I will sweep them away; but God saith, Ego custodiam, I will keep them, I will never fail them, nor forsake them. There lieth our safety.— Thomas Manton.

Philip Dickerson, an aged Baptist minister, who died October 22nd, 1882, just before his death, said, "Seventy years ago the Lord took me into his service without a character. He gave me a good character, and by his grace I have kept it."