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Good evening to everyone. You 
can turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Jude, second 
last book of the New Testament. I'm going to read Jude 24 and 
25. Those aren't two chapters, those 
are two verses. There's only one chapter in the book of Jude. 
So Jude 1, 24, and 25. 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 Savior, who alone 
is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now 
and forever. Amen. Well, let's pray. Heavenly 
Father, we thank you for your word. We rejoice in its revelation 
to us. We thank you that it sets forth 
your glory. that your people should glory 
in you and ascribe majesty and praise and honor. And we do pray 
that you'd help us now in this time of preaching to be tuned 
to the word, to be tuned to the preaching of it, that your spirit 
would bless us with his presence, that we might be illuminated 
by what you have for us in your holy word. And we pray in the 
name of Jesus Christ, our savior. Amen. Well, last Lord's Day evening, 
we looked at the anatomy of a salutation. We noted that there are certain 
parts of Holy Scripture when we read epistles specifically, 
and there are certain types of writing that obtain within particular 
epistles. There's usually a greeting and 
a salutation, there's a purpose statement sometimes, sometimes 
not, sometimes there's a launching into a particular theological 
subject matter, and then at some point there's a benediction, 
perhaps, and a doxology. They don't always occur at the 
end, but very often they do. Here in the book of Jude, the 
epistle of Jude, we do have this doxology. That simply means an 
ascription of praise to God, a word of praise given to God. And we see here Jude closing 
his epistle with one of those. So we're going to look at this 
particular doxology just simply under three heads tonight. But 
before we do, just a very brief introduction to the book of Jude. 
Jude here is not writing to a particular church, but he's writing to Saints 
it's a it's a what's called a Catholic or a universal epistle of sorts 
to those who are called sanctified by God the Father and preserved 
in Jesus Christ and he notes that he had wanted to write to 
them for Beforehand he had wanted to write a different a different 
letter He says I wanted to to write to you. He would he wanted 
to write concerning their common salvation beforehand, but something 
necessitated a different track that he had to take with his 
audience. And that particular track is 
given in verses 4 and 5. These men had crept in unnoticed, 
ungodly men who were seeking to turn the grace of God into 
lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jude finds it necessary 
to write to his audience to exhort them to contend earnestly for 
the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. 
And then he describes these men, and without reading the entirety 
of the epistle, he describes them and compares them to wicked 
men and angels from the Old Testament. He then goes on to describe them 
with metaphors concerning certain natural and created things, to 
a ship in the water, to certain fruitless leaves, sorts of things 
and so he he he describes their blackness their wickedness and 
their evil and then he turns he turns the corner if you will 
at verse 20 and uses this term, but you beloved and He wants 
them not to be like these false Teachers like these false Christians 
like these ungodly men and that word in fact is repeated Much 
in this letter these ungodly men in the in the space of sometimes 
just a single Sentence we see it used three or four times and 
he turns and he says but you beloved building yourselves up 
on your most Holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourselves 
in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ 
unto eternal life and he closes with with this glorious doxology 
to God. And what a wonderful way to close 
this epistle with the wicked men affecting the church, with 
these wicked persons perverting the gospel of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. With this extensive description 
of their evil and of their malice and of their wickedness, he closes 
and he draws their attention. He wants their Christian hearts 
to rise to a contemplation of the God of heaven and earth. 
And I think that's a wonderful place for any Christian to finish 
when they're contemplating anything, to finish by exalting our hearts 
or lifting up our hearts to observe and acknowledge the Exalted One 
who is exalted even above the heavens. And so let's have a 
look at this doxology. And we want to note first the 
omnipotent, preserving God. Notice this first statement at 
verse 24. Now to him who is able to keep 
you from stumbling. Praise God that we have an omnipotent, 
preserving God. And you know, this language, 
among other things, is set directly against our own inability. If it were up to men to keep 
themselves in the love of God, if it were up to men to preserve 
themselves, if it were up to men to keep themselves in the 
grip of God, then that would be terrible news. We are marked 
by sin even in our safe condition with our remaining corruption. 
We're of course marked by sin. We're marked by a measure of 
inability when compared to the power and the majesty of the 
Lord God Almighty. And so Jude draws their attention 
to the one who, in the context, in the face of error, in the 
face of violent opposers to the Church, in the face of these 
ungodly men, he draws their attention to the one who is able to keep 
them away from that apostasy. The idea here is not that we 
won't sin. This isn't some sort of generic 
stumbling, but rather it refers to apostasy, a falling away from 
the faith entirely. Now, to him who is able, to keep 
you from stumbling. We have great divine power in 
our God. He is able to keep us from stumbling. He's not a weak God. He's not 
a weak deity, but rather the one and only living and true 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who keeps us in His sovereign 
grip. I hope your Christian hearts are warmed as much as anyone 
else's when they reflect upon certain passages in Holy Scripture 
that speak to this. And I only want to go to one, 
because if a passage sums up the preserving the sovereign 
and preserving power of Father, Son and Holy Spirit of the mediator, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's in John 10. And you can turn there 
with me. We're speaking of the one who is able to keep us from 
stumbling. And what does that look like? 
We have we have a description from Christ's own lips here in 
John 10. At verse 25, speaking to these 
unbelieving Jews, John 10, 25, Jesus answered them. I told you 
and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name. 
They bear witness of me, but you do not believe because you 
are not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear 
my voice and I know them. they follow me and I give them 
eternal life that they shall never perish neither shall anyone 
snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to 
me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out 
of my father's hand I and my father are one what a glorious 
passage on the divine and majestic keeping strength and power of 
the triune God he keeps us in his sovereign grip By love for 
his glory, for the good of his church, he keeps his people in 
a in a impenetrable sovereign grip. What a blessed thing to 
warm our Christian hearts. If we reflect, of course, on 
our own power and on our own weakness, we ought to immediately 
be drawn to the power and the strength of God who keeps us. This blessed language of Christ. 
that I give them eternal life. So we have this gifting of salvation, 
this gifting of eternal life, and they shall never perish. 
This language of the permanence of the everlasting life which 
Christ gives to us, they will never perish. Neither shall anyone 
snatch them out of my hand. And he repeats the same language 
with respect to the father. And then he closes with, I and 
my father are one. We ought to make a note there 
as Pastor Butler did while he was preaching when he in his 
preaching in the gospel of John is that language of I and my 
father are one speak not to simply a unity of purpose, though. Of course, the three persons 
have a unity of persons because they are one in nature, one in 
essence, one in being one in eternity and power. And it speaks 
exactly to that, not simply a unity of purpose, but a unity of nature. substantial unity, consubstantiality, 
that the Son is one with the Father and with the Spirit. Are there three who will? We 
could be drawn to the language of Athanasius for a moment, just 
a little bit on this. Or not Athanasius, but the Athanasian 
Creed. The Athanasian Creed, in speaking 
about certain things like this, would say, or does say, the Father 
is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God, yet not three 
gods, but one God. The Father is almighty, the Son 
is almighty, the Spirit is almighty, yet not three almighties, but 
one almighty. The Father is eternal, the Son 
is eternal, the Spirit is eternal, yet not three eternals, but one 
eternal. With regards to the language 
of John chapter 10, the Father wills, the Son wills, the Spirit 
wills, yet not three wills, but one will. And this God of unity 
of will because of unity of substance is the one who by an indescribable 
power keeps us unto the day of salvation. What a blessed God 
that we have. You know, this keeping of us, 
this preserving of us, this design preservation is grounded in and 
is founded upon some glorious things. And I just want to read 
a brief portion of our confession before we move on to further 
considerations. In the chapter on perseverance, 
we read this, and keep this in mind, keep our verse in mind, 
to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. This perseverance 
of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon 
the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the 
free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy 
of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with 
him, the oath of God, the abiding of his spirit, and the seed of 
God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace from 
all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof." Our 
preservation is a triune preservation by the immutability of the decree 
of election flowing from the unchangeable love of God the 
Father, the efficacy and merit of Jesus Christ, and the sealing 
of the Spirit. What a wonderful thing we have 
in divine preservation. One of the speaking with regards 
to this merit and intercession of Jesus Christ because we'll 
get to in verse 25 the language of to God our Savior Spurgeon 
said something like this with regards to perseverance and it 
had to do with him dealing with the Arminian view or the ultimate, 
you know, the ultimately the view that we can somehow lose 
our salvation and And he says something connecting it to the 
work of Christ, that if we believe that view, if we hold to that 
view, redemption becomes contingent. The cross quakes, the blood falls 
powerless to the ground, and redemption is a matter of perhaps. 
That's not the God that we have. That's not the salvation that 
we have. We have the God who keeps us in his sovereign grip. In our voices, our tongues ought 
to lift up to the one who is able to keep us from stumbling. Secondly, so that's the omnipotent 
preserving God, praise God for his divine preservation. Secondly, the faithful God as 
the one who presents us faultless to God. Notice, 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. It's wonderful 
language of God, and we should maybe observe here, because the 
language of verse 25 is using the language of, to God our Savior, 
that this is a doxology given to the exalted Christ, not to 
the exclusion of Father and Spirit. It's a triune doxology, but through 
and by virtue of the glory of Christ the mediator. But this 
language then back to, and to present you faultless. This certainly 
does not have the idea of our own personal Christian sanctification 
in view, does it? What does it mean for God or 
for Christ to present us faultless before the presence of glory? 
We ought to immediately have our minds fly to the imputed 
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand faultless before 
the triune God of heaven and earth not by virtue of any deeds 
of righteousness which we have done, but solely and alone because 
of the perfection of the righteousness of Christ." You know, as Jude 
would be here and as his audience would be reflecting upon these 
ungodly men, as they would be reflecting upon their sins, their 
wickedness, and their evil, and perhaps no doubt as well, reflecting 
upon their own careers before grace met them, and their own 
remaining corruption as they go about their lower sojourn 
as Christians, their hearts would well up to read that this glorious 
one would present his people, will present his people faultless 
before the throne of the majesty. What a glorious thing. So, in 
a similar reflection, as we draw our minds to our own careers 
as sinners, as we reflect upon the fact that we were once the 
sons and the daughters of Adam, that we were once marked by original 
sin, and from that wicked vantage point, all other sins did proceed 
in violation of the law of God and in violence against our own 
people. We can then move very quickly 
as Christians, this side of victorious grace, to sing with the doxologist, 
this one presents us faultless before the presence of his glory, 
and not because of our so-called perfection or sanctification, 
but because of the perfection of Christ's own work. His active 
obedience unto the whole law and his passive obedience in 
his death. At every jot and tittle of the 
law we failed, at every jot and tittle of the law Christ succeeded 
victoriously in that in our stead. We violated the law of God and 
then so rightly deserve the wrath of God to be poured out upon 
us for our sins, yet Christ went in our place to bear the wrath, 
to bear the curse, and to pay the penalty that was due our 
sin. What a wonderful thing we have in the one who presents 
us faultless before the presence of his own glory. with exceeding 
joy. Isn't this wonderful? We have 
this presentation that Jesus Christ engages in with regards 
to his precious saints based upon the perfection of his work. 
Not only is he the one offering up, if you will, not in this 
sacrificial manner, but presenting those before the glory of God, 
but as well, he, being God, is the one before whose presence 
we stand robed in his very own righteousness. What a glorious 
thing we have. in our Savior. He presents us 
faultless before the presence of His glory, and notice, with 
exceeding joy. Now, no doubt this could and should 
refer, at least by contemplation's sake, refer to saints who are 
presented before the glory of God. We no doubt ought to be 
marked by joy in simply not only a reflection now before that 
eschatological hope But in uh, but uh when we enter into glory 
We should certainly be marked by then an eternal joy unaffected 
by sin in this lower world All of that to come back to this 
we should be joyful exceedingly in being set before the presence 
of god robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and 
cleansed in his precious blood. I think this may specifically 
have a reference to the exceeding joy of Christ in presenting his 
people before the Father. You can back up with me in Revelation 
here, not in the book of Revelation, but in special Revelation, to 
the book of Hebrews. Because remember, the Son of 
God incarnated, reflected upon the joy that he would have. And Paul rehearses that in Hebrews 
chapter 12. There's a connection, I think, 
here between what Paul writes in Isaiah 53, where Christ is 
spoken of as one who will see the travail of his soul and be 
satisfied. And notice in Hebrews 12 at verse 
2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who 
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising 
the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne 
of God. The joy that was set before Christ, 
I think, is what we're seeing here in the book of Jude as we 
read of this exceeding joy. This one who is able to keep 
us from stumbling is the one who presents us faultless before 
the presence of his own glory with his own exceeding joy. He looked through the shame of 
the cross. He looked through the violence 
of the cross. He looked through the taking 
upon himself of the curse and the wrath of God. He looked forward 
and through that to the joy that he would see in perfecting the 
will of his father and in bringing many sons and brethren to glory 
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. And this 
is another instance as there are instances all along this 
particular quest this evening where our hearts ought to lift 
to magnify the name of the Lord for the fact that the Savior 
is joyful in presenting his people before divine majesty. What a 
wonderful thing. Our hearts ought to arise to 
high thoughts of God and his Christ for such a blessed reality. We're presented faultless before 
the glory of God, and Christ takes great joy, great delight 
in that. Notice as we close then thirdly 
with this God of wisdom, this wise God, the one who deserves 
all glory." Notice this first statement with regards to the 
soul and unrivaled sovereignty of God, to God, our Savior, who 
alone is wise. And we have a reference here. We ought to reflect upon the 
fact that, of course, God, as God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
is our Savior in that In that grand sense of being the one 
who is the author of redemption It is only the Son of God who 
was incarnated. It was only the Son of God who 
took to himself man's nature for man's redemption and recovery 
so he in a very special and peculiar way is Savior no doubt we can 
speak of God as Savior the blessed author of creation providence 
and redemption in this particular case With reference to Christ 
or with reference also to the triune God, we have a God who 
is the savior of his people. We bless the name of God as we'll 
see in a moment. This one who is able to keep 
us from stumbling is to receive glory and majesty. We bless the 
name of God for his grand creating activity. What an amazing thing 
it is to cast our eyes upon a majestic creation. You know, the stars, 
as the psalmist would rehearse, the heavens declare the glory 
of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. We look upon the 
glory of creation just to glory in the smallest thing, like a 
flower. The most amazing thing, like 
a hummingbird actually exists. To reflect upon God's amazing 
creation if you just stop to look around it You know the the 
flowers the trees the mountains to you know to get your head 
up from out of your coffee Which is also a blessed thing that 
God gave us and to look around God's creation What an amazing 
thing we have in our God who didn't you know, we don't just 
have this You know this boring black and white creation to look 
upon but a multitude of colors that God's creatures can, in 
the image of God, cast their eyes upon and have themselves 
arise to a recognition of the one who did bring these things 
into being, into existence. We can move to Providence and 
we can see what a glorious thing we have, that the one who created 
all things upholds and sustains all things by the word of his 
power, and he governs all things in his own sovereignty and according 
to his own purposes. Doesn't that also warm the heart 
that we're not just cast into some sort of chaos where anything 
can happen to us? Outside of the governance of 
one who has set these things not simply in motion, but governs 
them Whatever comes upon us providentially whether it's smiling or frowning 
Providence we can bless the name of God and we can rest in the 
confidence that he is the one who has brought us into these 
things and We might not know the reason why we're going through 
these things, but we can rest assured that God has purpose, 
that God has will, that God has a plan in these things, and he 
is the one who can bring us through these things by his grace and 
for his glory. Then to move to redemption, that 
this God of creation, that this God of providence stooped down 
to bring us from out of the mire and the pit of sin. He saves 
us and that creation and that providence Aren't simply things 
that should be set aside Set beside redemption sort of in 
this in this threefold equal work But creation and providence 
serves the purposes of redemption in bringing many sons to glory 
through the perfect work of the lord jesus christ that we might 
be a multitude who give glory and majesty and ascribe dominion 
and power to the triune God of heaven and earth. We have God, 
our Savior, God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who effected 
the work of salvation, who through Christ, who in Christ, perfected 
salvation by the assumption of our humanity and the perfection 
of his substitutionary work. What a glorious thing we have 
wrapped up in the language of God, our Savior. And we have 
this interesting language of who alone is wise. At first, 
it should be obvious because we, you know, can we speak of 
man as being wise? Yeah. But for comparison's sake 
or in comparison, because of the vast difference that there 
is between the wisdom in God and the wisdom of man, we would 
want to say, and we do say with Jude, God alone is wise. You know, there is this reality, 
though, that we, you know, we can speak of man as having wisdom 
and God being the giver of wisdom. So what does it mean when when 
we read here that God alone is wise. I think what we're to see 
here, yes, is that comparison, the reality that God is so majestically 
exalted above humanity and his creation that we can really only 
and truly speak of God as wise. Because men in their sin, men 
in their depravity, men even with remaining corruption, are 
not so wise, at least not all the time. There is a distinction 
between the being of God and the nature of man here. We get our wisdom by derivation 
from God. We derive wisdom from God. He 
reveals to us, he creates us, he upholds us, and he imparts 
wisdom to us. We learn things and we gain a 
wisdom in that particular manner. We don't have wisdom as something 
that is really original to us. We don't have wisdom in any degree 
to any measure of perfection, yet with God, as Gil might say, 
he has it originally, efficiently, and underivatively. God doesn't learn things. God 
doesn't come across wisdom. Nothing ever occurred to God. 
God doesn't land upon a proposition, take it in, and then go, aha. 
God is wisdom. God is perfect, infinite, eternal, 
and unchangeable in his wisdom. He truly alone is wise because, 
and again, he has it originally, efficiently, and underivatively, 
we have it unoriginally, and we have it by derivation. And 
the doctrine of being, or the ontological gap between God and 
we men on this lower plane, is so grand that we can only speak 
of God as one who alone is wise. And I think this is targeted 
against such who, in the context of the early church, and here 
in Jude's context, are thinking themselves wise. in their perversion 
of the gospel, in their whatever they were teaching, which some 
have thought may have been a sort of an incipient anti-law Gnosticism, 
this kind of ethereal approach. to to God and gods and man's 
own so-called spirituality that Basically set aside the physical 
or counted because the physical is Wicked it's only the spirit 
that we have to deal with. So whatever we do with our bodies 
physically That's okay, because it doesn't really matter in the 
grand scheme of things only the spirit But anyway, to get back 
to the larger point that God alone is wise and these ones 
aren't wise. They might prop themselves as 
those who have wisdom, prop themselves up as those who have wisdom, 
prop themselves up. as those who have knowledge, 
but it truly is only God who is wise. And if we are to avail 
of any knowledge, if we are to be able to be wise as men under 
the governance of God, men and women under the governance of 
God, then we don't go to these. We don't go to the heretics. 
We don't go to the errorists. We go to God within the safe 
and holy confines of his own established church. and not to 
those who seek to pervert the grace of God. But God alone is 
wise. He is highly exalted in the perfection 
of his own wisdom, far above and transcendently above anyone 
else who would claim to be wise or to have wisdom so-called. 
And we have this wonderful closing ascription of praise to God, 
ascription of divine glory. this description of divine glory 
to God, our Savior, who alone is wise. Note, be glory and majesty, 
dominion and power. This is sort of a fourfold thing 
that we see in the scriptures, and we see it with some variations, 
sometimes including other words, sometimes excluding a word, or 
sometimes including a synonymous word. But we have this fourfold 
ascription to God, and we are to. The pleading of the doxologist 
is that those rendering doxology, those rendering worship, are 
to ascribe glory to God. I think what we should see here 
whenever we see a scribe glory to God. we should see that first 
in that is that the worshiper, the participant in worship, is 
to recognize in his humility the exalted intrinsic glory of 
God and his extrinsic glory, as the theologians would say. 
His intrinsic glory, what does that mean? That he is, as we 
often say, infinite, eternal, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable 
in all of his glorious perfections. He is without body parts and 
passions. He is immortal. He is alone wise. He is invisible. He is immutable. He is impassable. He is most 
loving. He is most holy. He is most absolute. An ascription of glory to God 
is recognizing the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable glories 
and perfections of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is also the 
recognition of His extrinsic glory that is His glory manifested 
upon His creation. And nothing displays that glory 
more than the Son of God incarnated doing the perfect work of redemption 
in this lower world. That glory exemplified when He 
came in the fullness of the times, born of a woman, born under the 
law, to redeem those under the law, that he might bring glory 
to God in the demonstration of those things that are infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable in the blessed divine essence. Be 
glory. And notice, be majesty. I think 
we ought to see with majesty this exaltedness that God has 
above his creation, and specifically man. We are to ascribe majesty 
to God. He's not like one of us. He's 
not altogether like one of his own creations. He's infinitely 
exalted above his creation. And in the Holy Scriptures, we 
get to, in some cases, sort of peer behind a particular veil 
to see the glory of God in that majesty. And one of those places 
that might come to mind or that should come to mind is that Isaiah 
6 revelation of God. Remember in the year that King 
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. The train of his 
robe filled the temple. The angels were flying and singing, 
holy, holy, holy. They covered their eyes. They 
covered their feet. And with the other two wings, 
they flew and they were singing day and night, praise and glory 
and majesty to God. as I've noted before, when we 
read that the train of his robe filled the temple, some translators 
see that not as a vision wholly of a monarch in a temple where 
the vision is given of a sort of an anthropomorphic picture 
of a regal king with a crown and a head and a body, that sort 
of a thing, but rather that God is so glorious, in this case, 
God is so majestic and infinitely exalted that only the hem of 
a portion of the robe filled the temple for his divinely exalted 
majesty and his power. That the glory of God is so glorious 
that the majesty of God is so majestic that only a hem of the 
robe, only a portion of the robe, only the train of the robe could 
fill the temple. God is majestic, infinitely exalted 
above his creation. And we, though we don't have 
six wings and we don't have six arms, we should, though, join 
in with those angels, singing holy, holy, holy to the Lord 
of hosts. The whole world is full of his 
glory. And we see this ascription of 
dominion. We just sang about this. I think 
it was our last hymn. Christ shall have dominion. It's 
a wonderful hymn to sing, especially when we think about the world 
that we live in. The world that is marked by sin, the world where 
God's people are besieged on all sides by wickedness and evil 
and opposition and utter madness. To know, though, that the nations 
of this world are the nations of our God and of his Christ. 
What a blessed thing we have in that knowledge, that we're 
not cast off to chaos. We're not left here to fumble 
and bumble for ourselves. But we have a God in high heaven 
who does whatever he pleases in the heavens and on the earth, 
and that he has set his king on his holy hill of Zion. And 
he will dash those wicked pots, those wicked vessels to pieces. 
in his judgment, in his holiness, and in his righteousness. And 
that as the world spins along, he's even doing that. If we can 
think about that language of Christ having dominion, in that 
sort of, you know, geographical sense, there was only a small, 
you know, a small portion of believers 2,000 years ago in, 
you know, Judea, Samaria, and Asia Minor. And now, 2,000 years 
later, by the preserving power of a triune God, by the preserving 
power of the ascended Christ, by the preserving power and the 
enabling power of the Holy Spirit, 2,000 years later, there are 
a ragtag bunch of Christians gathered together in Chilliwack, 
BC. And there's Christians throughout North America, in Mexico, Central 
America, South America, in Europe, Africa. Asia, Australia, Christians 
throughout the world. Christ does have dominion from 
sea to shining sea, and we are to ascribe to our blessed one 
dominion, and we're to ascribe to him power. And that, and all 
of these things, both now and forever. Amen. Hopefully, as you read this on 
your own time, you kind of see it almost as a crescendo building 
to the amen at the end. The author has written these 
things regarding these heretics, exhorting people to contend for 
the faith. And he ends this letter with 
this blessed doxology that builds up to this recognition that the 
Lord, our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be the recipient 
of glory, is the one marked by an unrivaled majesty, will have 
and does have dominion and power, and that is both now and forever. As we noted this morning, kingdoms 
rise and fall, but the kingdom of the triune God and the kingdom 
of his Christ rides on, rolls on, continues forever. It is 
here now, it was here before us, and it will be forever. And 
what a glorious thing it'll be at the end of days to enter into 
the blessed presence of God, not dressed in our own righteousness, 
which is an impossibility, but dressed in the righteousness 
of even God, our Savior, the Son of God, that one who came 
into the world, sinners to save. Saints rejoice in him. Sinners 
believe in him. And might this Christ, might 
our triune God receive all glory, majesty, and be the king of dominion 
and power now and forever. Amen. Well, let us pray. Heavenly 
Father, we thank you for your word. We rejoice in its goodness 
to us as it discloses your glory, your majesty. We rejoice in the 
fact that you do have dominion and power. As we look upon this 
lower world, we see a world marked much by chaos, by wickedness, 
by sin. Yet we know that the nations 
of this world are the nations of our God and of his Christ, 
and we rejoice in your glory and in your majesty we pray that 
day after day that lord's day after lord's day you would bring 
a multitude of newly redeemed tongues to sing your praises 
to have their hearts mounted up to high thoughts of their 
god we pray that you would do mighty acts of salvation in this 
lower world bringing multitude of sinners to faith in christ 
we pray lord god that though We rejoice Lord God that that 
we might not see always a temporal judgment upon those who oppose 
you Though we do pray for it and pray that your will would 
be done Nevertheless, we know that that that justice delayed 
is not justice denied and on that great and final day the 
one marked by glory the one marked by majesty, dominion, and power, 
will be vindicated. We pray that you would go with 
us into this week, help us to live for your glory's sake, knowing 
it's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who have saved us from first 
to last, midst and throughout, without a helper. Do go with 
us now and help us to bless your name. We pray in the name of 
Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. Well, we have our final 
hymn this evening, which is not a final hymn because I don't 
have one listed there. So we'll have a time of prayer 
and meditation Let's pray. Let's bring our thoughts to God. 
Let's Contemplate that doxology as we go now in prayer and give 
glory and majesty and ascribe dominion and power to our great 
triune God Let's go to prayer when the pianos finished you're 
dismissed