A Word in Season: God Our Savior (Jude 24–25)

Media Gratiae

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Jude is a tough little letter written under tough circumstances in tough times.

00:06

Jude writes to men and women who are going to need to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

00:14

He's got to do that in a context where there is much error and heresy, confusion of all sorts after the very pattern that's been down through the ages of the world that God has made.

00:27

There are people who are deserting them, there are people who are undermining them, there are those who are going to be grumblers and complainers walking according to their own lusts, but these are the people who need to stand.

00:42

These are the ones who are going to have to hold fast. And as he comes toward the end of that letter,

00:48

Jude draws the contrast again, But you, beloved, and you can hear the affection in his words, you remember what you've been told, you remember how you've been warned about this kind of spirit in the world.

01:03

And you, beloved, building yourselves up in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our

01:13

Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And you can imagine perhaps some of those to whom

01:19

Jude was writing, as we ourselves might feel or even say at certain times, but how can we do this when the clouds are sweeping in against us, when the storms are washing over us, when the waves are battering against us?

01:37

You say, but you don't be like that. You, beloved saints, be contrary to everything that is contrary to God in this world.

01:47

When all others are faithless, you remain faithful. When all others are being swept away, you need to stand fast.

01:56

How does Jude conclude this little letter? This tough little note ends with words of phenomenal tenderness.

02:06

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our

02:16

Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.

02:24

That is Jude's closing petition. It is a rich and a sweet little doxology.

02:31

To whom does Jude pray on their behalf? To him who is able, not just willing, but well able to keep you from stumbling.

02:43

When all others are stumbling and falling, there is one who can hold you up and one who can present you faultless, one who can blot out all your transgressions and can hold you fast, that you may hold fast to the end, that you may come faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

03:06

Jude wants these brothers and sisters to know that before long they will stand before God and it will be with joy.

03:15

Doubtless they will rejoice because now they are safe home. Now they are in the very presence of the

03:21

God whom they have loved and whom they have served. But what of the divine joy?

03:26

What of the joy of Jesus Christ when he sees those for whom he shed his blood gathered together and he stands before God, both himself and the children whom

03:37

God has given him? Will there not be this mutual joy, this resounding delight in which the saints rejoice because they are gods and wonder of wonders, the

03:50

God who has loved them, saved them and kept them, he himself rejoices because we are his.

03:57

If that is not grace, then what is? And so says Jude, to God our saviour.

04:04

There is hope and consolation indeed. There is confidence. It is not we who save ourselves.

04:11

It is God our saviour in whom we trust. It is not our understanding upon which we rely.

04:19

It is God who alone is wise. Wise to both craft, to execute, to apply this so great salvation in his beloved son,

04:31

Jesus Christ. To him be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.

04:39

And my friends, that's what we're looking for. That's what we're longing for. That's what we're hoping for.

04:45

That's who we are resting on. It is God who has made himself in Christ to be a saviour for sinners like us.

04:53

It is to him that we go. It is to him that we look as we go. Anticipating that because he is both willing and able, he will save us to the very end.