Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, June 6. If God can change things, why does He allow this situation to continue? If you have this kind of question, today's podcast concludes the study of the book of Jude with the confident proclamation that God is able.
It doesn't really make any difference what kind of circumstance you're in or what your situation may be. There's one thing for certain. We serve a God who is able to deliver you and to keep you and to help you and to strengthen you through any and every circumstance of life. And there's so many people who are facing all kinds of difficulties and heartaches and asking the question, is there any way out?
Is there anybody who's able to help me? Can anyone show me the way? And my friend, I want to assure you there is someone and his name is Jehovah God. And the way you understand and the way you experience His help is through the person of Jesus Christ our Savior. And I want you to turn, if you will, to the little book of Jude next to the last book of the Bible. And the last two verses of the book of Jude is a benediction that is probably the most oft repeated of any in the Bible anywhere. And Jude, who has been talking about false teachers and false doctrine throughout this book, begins in the seventeenth verse of telling us how to prepare ourselves to face that. And then he comes down to verse twenty-four and twenty-five and says, having described all of these false doctrines and false teachers and how they were surrounded by them and oftentimes fearing what might happen to them, he says, Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless 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. Our God is able. Have you ever faced a situation where you wondered if there's any way in the world you could possibly be delivered from it? Yet in your mind you said, Well, now I know God is able. But you know there's something about knowing that He's able with your mind and believing it in your spirit, God will see me through this. And you recall many times in the Bible we are admonished to believe and to understand that God is able no matter what is happening. But if you, my friend, do not understand the ways of God, you will question, If God is able, why doesn't He?
For example, here is a dear loved one who passes away, and we say, Well, if God is able, why did He let that happen? And so we look at situations and we question, Is God really and truly able to do all things, or is He just able to do some things? Are there some areas that God will get involved in, and in some areas He seems to keep His omnipotence out of? Is God really and truly able to do everything, or is He able only to do some things? My friend, if the God whom we serve is only able to do some things, we better fold up this book, close up the doors, and leave the church building because our God isn't big enough for us. God must be able without any limitation whatsoever to do all things to be the God of the Scripture, which is the God He says He is. Our God is able. Now I want you to look at these two verses, if you will. He says, Now to Him who is able, that is the basis of what He has described throughout this one chapter book, and that is contending for the faith because of false teachers and false doctrine. He said, You have no reason to be afraid, because now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling.
The word that He uses here, the word able, is the word that is so often found in the New Testament dunamis, that is, the one who has the power. And so He begins this last refrain by speaking of the supernatural omnipotence of God, that is, God's unlimited power to involve Himself and to exercise that power in your life and mine no matter what's happening. When you think of anything that would wear God out, anything that would tax His strength, anything that would tax the omnipotence of God, because you see it comes from an eternal infinite source. Anything that comes from an eternal infinite source will never run out. Our energy runs out, His never does.
Why? Because He's God. And the thing He's saying in this passage is, Fear not, my friend, our God is able, no matter what's going on, God is able to deliver you whatever it might be. Our God is able. And if you'll recall in Ephesians chapter 1, remember Paul's prayer.
Look there for just a moment. Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 18, he says, I pray, he says, I want you to see something. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saint.
And he says, I want you to know something else. I want you to know by experience what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might. You see, God's power is not only that which is external expressions of His might and His strength.
God is at work within us. Therefore, we are able because God is able. You see, God is willing. God is able. And that's why Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Now, look at this next phrase, because more than likely, you have the same question I did. He says, now to Him who is able. First of all, our God is able. He says, now our God is able to keep us from stumbling. Able to keep us from stumbling. Now, that is the only time that word for stumbling is used in the New Testament. But it means exactly what it says, and that is stumbling, tripping up, getting into sin, getting ourselves into a mess. He says, God is able to keep us from stumbling. You say, well, if He's able, why doesn't He? Why doesn't God keep us from sinning? Why doesn't He keep us from stumbling? And why doesn't He prevent us from getting ourselves in situations and circumstances that we don't want to get into? Why doesn't God intervene in our life? My friend, the truth is He may have tried again, and again, and again, and again, warned you, warned you, warned you, warned you, warned you, through one roadblock in your way after the other. But you kept crawling over the roadblocks.
You argued with yourself, rationalized, and kept moving. Now, my friend, God is able to deliver us from anything and everything. And the truth is, what does He say? He says, there have no temptation taken you, but such is His common demand. But God who is able will provide a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.
Now, God who is able will provide. But you and I must take the step in response to God's powerful provision in any and every given situation. He is able to keep us from falling, but He will not force His will upon us. That is why, my friend, when God sends you a warning in your life, you'd better take heed to that warning because God sends warnings for our protection. God sends warnings, cautions in our life, red lights in our life to warn us of incoming and oncoming doom in a given situation if we don't take His Word. We blame God. God, oh, you could have stopped this.
He could have. And God probably says, yes, and I tried, and you wouldn't listen because that is exactly what He does. He says, God is able to keep you from stumbling. Now, God is involved in this life, listen now, God is involved in this life in the purifying of His saints, building us up, strengthening us, and making us holy in His sight.
But He says something else. God is not only able to keep us from stumbling in this life, but He's able to make it possible for us to stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy. Now, most people don't have any understanding of what in the world that means. How in the world am I going to stand blameless before God after all I've done? What He's simply saying here is this, that in one of these days, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to present us to God the Father as His holy, spotless, unblemished trophies. That means you're going to stand before God absolutely perfected. Now, when is that going to happen?
Well, it's not going to happen in this life. When God takes us home and we stand before the judgment seat and we are rewarded, then the Lord Jesus Christ will present us before God the Father at His throne, perfected without blemish and without spot. You say, what about all these folks who've been saved and have sinned against God? Are they going to be presented spotless?
They are. You mean to tell me that if I was saved at the age of 12 and I tried to live a good Christian life till the age of 82, that means for 70 years I tried to live for Jesus and you mean to tell me that God's going to present me spotless? And here's a fellow who at the age of 71 got saved and he had 71 years of vile, wicked sin against God that Jesus Christ is going to present him as spotless as He is me? Absolutely right.
Because if He didn't, you know what that would mean? That your spotlessness was based on your performance and not the blood of Jesus. Now, to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, the only way that you and I can be prepared to stand in the presence of God's righteousness and God's holiness, listen, spotless, without blemish, without tarnish and without fault is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
That is the only way. And apart from the atoning death of Christ, there is no way for us to stand before Him spotless and without blemish. You see, I keep saying to you, the atoning death of Jesus Christ is the line that runs from the first book of the Bible all the way to the last. And any time you begin to tamper with the atoning death of Jesus, I'm going to tell you, you have no hope and you have nothing.
And here's another good example. You cannot see any possible way. There's no way to rationalize your being able to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, stand before God the Father without spot, without blemish, perfected for any other reason than washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it's your performance. So what does that mean?
He performs well, she performs rather good, and He performs great. When they stand before God, what? No, that's not the way it's going to be. Now, I want you to remember something. I didn't say when all of us stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at the judgment of rewards for the believer that everybody's going to receive the same reward.
I didn't say that. The 71-year-old man who's just been saved a year before he dies has very little reward in glory. The 12-year-old girl who was saved and lived her life obediently before God for 70 years or 60 years, however many years it might be, her rewards will be pile upon pile upon multiplied upon multiplication. I didn't say the reward would be the same, but every person who is saved by the grace of God, listen, is washed in the same blood and the blood does the same for a six-year-old boy and a 72-year-old man, and there is no difference in the power of the blood of Jesus. He says, one of these days, we've tripped up and fallen weak and sinned against Him down here in God's forgiveness by His precious blood, that in spite of all of our failures, all of our sins, the eternal, precious blood of the Son of God will have prepared us to be spotless and without blemish forever the child of God. Because what did He say? He says He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
That what? Chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and without blame before Him. Have you ever trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? You don't know how long you have to live. And if you have the foolish mistaken idea that you've got lots of time, that is a very foolish attitude to take about life, about eternity, about judgment, and about God.
A very foolish attitude, because most folks who left this world today didn't have any plans for dying. Now, you will either be presented before God spotless and without blemish because you placed your trust in Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of your sins, or you will stand in the great white throne judgment with every sin, every wrong motive, every wrong attitude, every wrong action in all of your life standing before you as evidence of the condemnation and the judgment and the eternal separation that you will be about to begin. And all the excuses in the world won't make any difference. You see, in that moment you're going to see things as they are.
You're not going to make any excuse. It's all over. How foolish, my friend, to live a life serving Satan who cannot offer you anything with any lasting value when you can have God. And when you've got Him, you've got it all. And so he ends this wonderful little book by saying, Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, make you stand in the presence, listen, the presence of His glory. Listen, you know, sometimes I get so excited when I learn something new about the Scripture and I learn something new about Jesus, I think, oh, God. But I'm still limited in this old physical body and still glued to earth. Can you imagine, and we really can't, standing in the presence, I'm sure I can't, standing in the presence of His glory?
My lost friend, listen, you don't have any idea what I'm talking about. If you get saved, you'll be amazed at what'll happen to the things you love and the things you'll begin to hate. Imagine standing in the presence of the glory of God. He says, now to the one who's able to make all that happen, look at this last part. He says, verse 25, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be what? Be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time began, and now in the midst of time and forever.
Amen. What a beautiful benediction. To God, who's able to keep us from stumbling here and present us faultless there, to Him He says, be glory, majesty, dominion, and as He says, authority forever.
You know what that is? That's Jude getting on his knees and saying, when I think of the being in the presence of the glory of God, all I want to do is to praise Him and to magnify Him. And my friend, you mean to tell me that all you want to do is to get into heaven? You don't know anything about the book. You don't know what Jesus is all about.
You don't know what lies in store for the saints. Do you really love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know how to praise Him? To Him be glory and majesty and dominion and authority forever and ever and ever. Amen.
Why? Because we serve a living God who's chosen to live within us. Our God is able to keep us from stumbling in this life and to present us faultless in the life to come. Father, we thank You for Your wonderful love for us, and how reassuring to know that You're our able God, all powerful. Powerful enough to save us, powerful enough to keep us, powerful enough to present us unto Yourself without blemish and without spot, powerful enough to secure us in this life as Your children. And I pray today for someone who is lost, who has avoided thoughts about the judgment and about death, or someone who's discouraged and distraught and disillusioned and wondering if anyone is able, would You encourage their heart at this very moment to recognize that You're able, and more than just able, You are willing to radically change their life and make it worth living, is my prayer in the Savior's name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Our God is Able. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
