To Encourage You

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,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.”

On what or on whom are you entrusting your eternal soul?  If you are not a Christian, are you trusting that you’ll be just fine in the end, for you’re “as good as the next guy”?  And if you call yourself a Christian, are you trusting the security of your faith on much the same thing – your own efforts and goodness?  Well, if you are, you should know that your security is totally insecure, for all of us, every single one of us, are subject to sin and failure. 

I discussed this topic once with an Amish friend who told me that he believed that no one can ever be sure about whether they are going to heaven.  He believed that, in the end, our eternal state will be based on our good works.  Some will make it and some will not, all depending on how good they are.  As I’ve thought about this, it occurs to me that anyone who really believes such things should be terrified.  If you have no way of knowing whether you’ll end up in heaven or hell – because there is no way of objectively knowing how good one has to be to get there – then how can anyone ever really know?  And if you can’t know, then the reality is that you could end up in hell at the end of your earthly life.  It’s like Russian roulette but in an eternal sense!  That’s why Scriptures such as the one above are so wonderful.  That’s why we who know Christ can be so thankful that God has given us the truth about eternal things. 

Jude began his wonderful letter with the following salutation: “To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ . . .”.  Notice Jude’s emphasis is not on the efforts of the believers to whom he wrote.  Rather, it is on what Christ has done and what Christ will do.  He tells them that they have been called by God, beloved in God, and kept for Jesus Christ.  God has done it all – and what He has done, He has done perfectly.  Then in Jude’s wonderful doxology he praises the One Who “is able to keep (us) from stumbling,” and “present (us) blameless before the presence of (God’s) glory with great joy . . .”.  Notice that here again he emphasizes that it is not we who keep ourselves from stumbling (i.e., falling from our secure position as Christians who are loved eternally by God). Rather, it is Christ Who is able to keep us from stumbling. 

You see, if it were up to us – we would fail.  If it were up to us, we should rightfully be hopeless, fearful, doubting, and insecure – for we are weak. But He is strong. In fact, His power is infinite.  But even more wonderful is the fact that He is able to “present (us) blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy.” Think of that! Think of how wonderful it is, despite the sin and failures of our lives, to have the joyful hope that one day Christ will enable us to stand before the thrice holy God as utterly and completely blameless! As the King James version puts it, “faultless.” 

So how is this possible? How can anyone ever hope to stand utterly faultless before the perfectly holy, the perfectly sinless God?  It is all because of Christ. He’s the only One Who is able to make this possible, as the verses above state.  It’s not up to us.  It’s not our work – and good thing, because we’d fail in the effort. 

So, what should be our response?  Should our attitude be – “Well if it’s all up to God, then it doesn’t matter how I live?”.  As stated in Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” The answer? “By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2).  In other words, if we are Christians, if we have been saved from the penalty of our sin through what Christ has done for us on the cross, if we have the confident assurance that He will keep us from stumbling, if we know that He will one day present us faultless before the very throne of God, then our response should be to glorify Him in everything we do. Our response should be to live a life of love motivated by our gratitude for the indescribable work of Christ in our life. 

No, our salvation is not our work, and our security does not spring from our own ability to earn our way.  It’s much more wonderful than that, for it’s all the work of our wonderful God.

May God fill our hearts with gratitude for these wonderful truths, and may our response be a life focused each and every day on glorifying Him.