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e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening welcome back to the house of the Lord uh for the evening service uh please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 46 as we begin worship uh this this evening sorry Psalm 47 I'm looking at the wrong side Psalm 47 Psalm 47 to the chief musician a Psalm of the sons of Kora oh clap your hands all you peoples shout to God with the voice of Triumph for the Lord most high is awesome he is a great king over all the Earth he will subdue the peoples under us and the Nations under our feet he will choose our inheritance for us the Excellence of Jacob whom he loves sayah God has gone up with a sh has gone up with a shout the Lord with the sound of a trumpet sing praises to God sing praises sing praises to our king sing praises for God is the king of all the Earth sing praises with understanding god reigns over the Nations God sits on his holy Throne the princes of the people have gathered together the people of the god of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong to God he is greatly exalted amen well please turn with me in your hym books to hymn number 145d as in David 145 d as in David I'll ask you to please stand [Music] I my confessing ever will I bless by still his and to his trans to shall all th Glory all might and greatest well my great ask the story and might love and mercy ofing meas work of Mercy [Applause] is good to all cre all his good all Lord shall bless shall all of [Music] shall amen please be seated and let's go to God in prayer and ask his Blessing to be upon our meeting time here this evening our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father we come into your holy presence through your son the Lord Jesus Christ this evening father we are grateful for our Lord's day we're grateful for this one day in seven that does punctuate our week that we can come in out of the world and forget uh the week past or the week forward and focus and concentrate upon the worship of the god Eternal the go the the Lord God Almighty and father we pray that you would be pleased to cause our minds not to be distracted this evening we pray that we would have one Focus this evening and that is upon the worship of our great God we praise you father for the gift of our Salvation in the person of your son the Lord Jesus Christ and father truly we are grateful for such a Salvation that does save us from our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness thank you Father you've promised to love us with an eternal love because your love has been set Upon Us by your son the Lord Jesus Christ as you love him you will love him forever and ever you will love those for whom he has died for forever and ever and we thank you Lord for these for this fact and cause us Lord to find great uh great comfort in these things just that that we would meditate and focus upon the love of God for his children father we praise you for this we praise you for the gift of your word as well we pray Lord that in the week coming that you wouldd be pleased to bless that word cause it to be for each and every day that we'd find our comfort we' find our encouragement we would find our our our Direction uh from that word we thank you Lord that you've also blessed us with pastors with teachers and cause your word to uh to be lifted up uh in pulpits all over this world this day we pray Lord once again for your blessing to be upon the word of God as it's preached here in this place and as it's preached uh throughout the Lower Mainland and and all around across across this province of ours later there this evening we pray Lord that your blessing might be upon it that you would send your Holy Spirit to uh to to bless that word we know it's a Living Word father it's not not a it's not an empty word it's not man's words and we pray that you would be pleased to multiply it in the hearts and lives of all uh who will hear it this evening bless uh bless cam as he brings the word father we pray that you would just give to him what he stands in need of and bless him uh with with with a with a large measure of your Holy Spirit and we do pray Lord that you would bless the word as it's preached from this Pulpit Lord we thank you for that uh for for just the the the grandness of the beauty all around us as we consider the another summer season that has come and we are that we are upon father we thank you that you are a faithful God you are God who sends the seasons uh in in due time and father you bless us with the sunshine to to cause uh cause things to grow and uh cause you give us the rain to uh to to give us a p a bounty uh wherewith to to feed ourselves Lord you have blessed this world and we thank you for that as we look around we see the Bounty all around us father we give you our grateful thanks that you've not left us to ourselves but you've provided for us us just as you provide for the birds of the air you provide for your people and we just give you our grateful thanks uh even this day for the physical blessings that we enjoy we thank you Lord for all that we enjoy in Christ Jesus we thank you Lord for your many promises that you promised to build your church and the Gates of Hell will not Prevail against that that growing Church all over this world and we pray for the for the growth and the progress of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray your blessing upon our pastor as he enjoys some more days of vacation time we pray Lord that You' be pleased to bless his time and cause him to uh to be rejuvenated and and uh benefit from from time uh from time apart and we pray Lord that you would just own own these things and uh cause it to be a great blessing in his life that he might come back uh at the end of the month with with renewed Vigor and energy and we just uh praise you for the gift of pastors and teachers you've blessed the church with with these and for that we give you our Greatful thanks we pray Lord that in due time if it would be your will that the cam will be added to the eldership here and that father we would be a fully functioning Church in in every way we pray for the other churches as well for the church in Siri the church in Armstrong and uh in Dryden and other churches throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan that we're familiar with we pray Lord that You' bless each one and cause them to uh to to hold fast to the word of God and preach only the word of God and that that word would be uh unto edification and salvation for those who would sit under your word Lord we thank you for the the blessing of health and strength for safety as many have come and gone in this summer uh for vacations and there are some that are even away now we pray for the Boors as they travel across Canada Lord we just we we we know that we make our plans but it's you that brings them to pass and so we just commit each one into your hands and pray Lord that you'd be pleased to bless with safety and that we'd all be reunited back together uh in in the fall father we ask your blessing to be upon uh upon the uh upon the the growth of your church all AC all across this nation and uh cause us Lord this night uh to to praise you to worship you and we thank you for the blessings that we have in Christ Jesus and we ask these things in Jesus precious name amen well please turn with me in your hym books once again excuse me to hymn number um 421 421 and I'll ask you to once again please stand [Music] over and Mer in worship shall Rend Shall Serve our King Christ shall [Music] he will [Music] Mercy he will surely [Music] save for Liv are in his holy Christ first [Music] forever shall his name [Music] end and in him forever all shall be bless and all of his Christ [Music] to Gody Jo is glorious ever bless his glorious [Applause] his eternal glory through the Earth over land and sea Earth shall his might [Music] amen you may be seated and please turn with me in your Bibles for our Old Testament reading this evening to Joshua Joshua chapter 7 Joshua chapter 7 and just while you're turning uh we can even receive in instruction from the word of God by the grammar by the way which is set up obviously we always start uh a good um a good chapter or a good s a good paragraph with a purpose statement that's really what we find in verse one is the purpose statement of the whole chapter because sometimes we can get caught up with the uh the effect or the symptoms uh of the uh of aen and his sin but the the uh the real cause is found in verse one and so as we read it just pay attention to what what verse one says because based on verse one everything else is a Fallout uh from this uh from from what God sees what's going on in Israel which is stated in the purpose statement of verse one so beginning uh this is God's word chapter 7 verse one but the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things for aen the son of Cari the son of zabdi the son of Zarah of the tribe of Judah took of the accursed things so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel now Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI which is beside Beth Avan on the east side of bethl and spoke to them saying go up and spy out the country so the man went up and spied out Ai and they returned to Joshua and said to himo not let all the people go up but let about two or 3,000 men go up and attack AI do not worry all the people uh do not weary all the people there uh for the people of AI are few so about 3,000 men went up there from the people but they fled before the men of AI and the men of AI struck down about 36 men for they chased them from above the gate as far as shabum and struck them down on on The Descent therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the Earth on his face before the Ark of the Lord until evening he and the Elders of Israel and they put dust on their heads and Joshua said alas Lord God why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to deliver us into the hand of the amorites to destroy us oh that we had been s uh we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan oh Lord what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies for the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear will hear it and surround us and cut off off our name from the earth then what will you do for your great name so the Lord said to Joshua get up why do why do you lie thus on your face Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my Covenant which I commanded them for they have even taken some of the accursed things and have both stolen and deceived and they have also put it among their own stuff therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies but turned their backs before their enemies because they have become doomed to destruction neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed from among you get up sanctify the people and say sanctify yourselves for tomorrow because thus says the Lord God of Israel there is an accursed thing in your midst oh Israel you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you in the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes and it shall be that the tribe which which the Lord takes shall uh shall come according to families and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households and the household which the Lord takes shall come Man by man then it shall be that he who is taken from the accursed thing shall be burned with fire he and all that he has because he has transgressed the Covenant of the Lord and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel so Joshua Rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes and the tribe of Judah was taken he brought the clan of Judah and he took the family of the zahit and he brought the family of the zarit man by man and zabdi was taken then he brought his H uh his household Man by man and achen the son of Cari and the son of Zab and the son of Zarah of the tribe of Judah was taken now Joshua said to achen my son I beg you give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him and tell me now what you have done do not hide it from me and achen answered Joshua and said indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and this is what I have done when I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels I coveted them and took them and they and and there they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with the silver under it so Joshua sent Messengers and they ran to the tent and there it was hidden in his tent with the silver under it and they took them from the midst of the tent brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord then Joshua and all isra Isel with him took achen the son of Zarah the silver the Garment the wedge of gold his sons and daughters his oxen his donkeys his sheep his tent and all that he had and they brought them to the valley of aor and Joshua said why have you troubled us the Lord will trouble you this day so all Israel stoned him with stones and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones and they raised over him a great heap of stones still there to this day so the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of acor to this day very sober passage of scripture let's pray our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father we confess our sins to you father we thank you that you are gracious God a merciful god and so Lord we come to you through your son the Lord Jesus Christ the one who paid the penalty for our sin we pray Lord that you would be pleased uh to be merciful with with us this night we confess our sins of omission particularly to you that you would be merciful to us father even this day forgive us our of our sins father we would not stop a blessing from coming down upon this place this evening we do pray Lord that you would just uh uh cause the word of God to go forth in this place unhindered uh and and uh and unaffected uh by sin this night father we pray that it would be put away from us and that you'd be merciful to us this night that we would hear from you and that you would cause the word of God to be for the edification of Saints and the conversion of Sinners this night we do pray be merciful to us and we thank you that you are a merciful loving God and it's in Jesus precious name we pray amen well please turn with me your hym books for the last hymn before we go to the preaching and that would be hymn number 138a 138a as an Adam I'll ask you please stand [Music] heart my I bring before the your praise I sing I bow before your holy place and praise your name for truth and gra for you all howy your name I you my soul with all G of Earth the Lord for and shall sing of God for great GL glory is the all is [Music] with of Andy heart he [Music] and God you will [Music] streng you will the and my for the he Your Love Lord forever for S all the words [Music] 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 1 124 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 uh we thank you uh that it sets forth your glory and uh 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 uh to the word to be tuned to the preaching of it that your spirit would bless us uh 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 the anatomy of a salutation we noted that there are certain parts of Holy scripture when we read Epistles specifically and there certain types of writing that uh 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 uh particular theological subject matter and then at some point there's h a benediction perhaps and a and a doxology they don't always occur at the end but very often they do um here in the book of Jude the Epistle of Jude we do have this doxology a that simply means an ascription of Praise uh 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 uh just simply under three heads tonight but before we do just a very brief introduction to the book of Jude uh 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 uh beforehand he had wanted to write uh a different uh a different letter he says I wanted to uh to write to you he would he wanted to write concerning uh their common salvation beforehand but something necessitated a a different track that he had to take with his audience and that particular track is given in verses four and five uh 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 contest to uh 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 uh from the Old Testament he then goes on to describe them with metaphors concerning certain natural and uh created things uh to uh to a ship in the water uh to certain uh fruitless leaves and these 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 uh 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 this glorious doxology to God and what a wonderful way to close this epistle with the the the wicked men uh affecting the church with these Wicked uh 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 uh our own inability um if it were up to men uh to keep themselves in the love of God if it were up to men uh to preserve themselves if it were up to men to keep themselves in the grip of God then we would be that would be terrible news um we are marked by sin Even in our safe condition with our remaining corruption uh were 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 the idea here is not is not that we won't sin this sort of 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 and grip I hope your your Christian hearts are warmed um 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 and 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 what a glorious passage on the Divine and Majestic keeping strength and power of the Triune God He Keeps Us in his his Sovereign grip by love for his glory for the good of his church he keeps his people in a uh 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 the uh I give them eternal life so we have this gift 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 are one we ought to make a note there as Pastor Butler did while he was preaching when he in his PR 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 a Unity of purpose but a Unity of nature substantial Unity consubstantiality that the son is one with the father father and with the spirit are there three who will we could be drawn to the language of athanasius for a moment just to just a little bit on this the the or not athanasius but the athanasian Creed the athanasian Creed and 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 Almighty 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 uh an Indescribable power Keeps Us unto the day of salvation what a blessed God that we have and you know this 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 in the chapter on perseverance we read this and keep this in mind as keep our verse in mind to him who is able to keep you from stumbling this person 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 uh unchangeable love of God the Father the efficacy and Merit of Jesus Christ and the sealing of the spirit what 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 spurge said something like this with regards to perseverance and it had to do with him dealing with the Armenian view uh or the ultimate um you know the the ultimately The View that we can somehow lose our Salvation 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 and 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 we we should maybe observe here because the language of verse 25 is using the language of to God our savior um that this is a doxology given to the exalted Christ not to the exclusion of father and spirit it's a tri 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 uh 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 is so in a similar reflection as we 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 doxology 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 JW and tit of the law we failed at every JW and tit of the law Christ succeeded victoriously and that in our stead we violated the law of God and then so rightly deserved 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 uh 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 the 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 or at least by contemplation sake um 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 uh but uh when we enter into Glory we should certainly be marked by then an eternal Joy unaffected Ed 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 chap 12 there's a connection I think here uh between what Paul writes in Isaiah 53 where Christ is uh spoken of as one who will see the travail of his soul and be satisfied and notice in Hebrews 12 uh at verse two 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 own exceeding Joy he looked through the shame of the Cross he looked through the violence of the Cross he looked through the the taking upon himself of the curse and the wrath of God 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 instances uh 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 people before Divine Majesty what a wonderful thing our our hearts our 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 sole 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 uh in that grand sense of being the one who is the author of redemption it is only the Son of God who was incarn arated it was only the Son of God who took to himself uh 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 but with reference to Christ or with reference also to the triun 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 a what a what an amazing thing it is to cast Our Eyes Upon A a majestic creation you know the uh the stars as the psalmist would would rehearse the the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handy work we we we look upon the glory of creation just to to glory in the smallest thing like a flower the most amazing thing like a hummingbird actually exists to uh to reflect upon God's Amazing Creation if you just stop to look around at you know the 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 uh 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 into existence we can move to Providence and we can see what a glorious thing we have that the one who created all things uh 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 and 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 go 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 we might not know the reason why we're going through these things but we can rest assure that God has purpose that God has will that God has a plan in these things and he is the one who can bring it bring us through these things by his grace and and for 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 Meer and the pit of of sin he saves us and that creation and that Providence uh aren't simply things that should be set aside set beside Redemption sort of in this in this three-fold 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 affected the work of Salvation uh 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 of God our savior and we have this interesting language of who alone is wise um at first it should I mean at first it should be obvious because we you know it can we speak of men as being wise yeah but for compar comparison sake or in comparison um because of the vast difference that there is between the wisdom and God and the wisdom of man we would want to say and we do say with Jude God Alone is wise you know there there is this reality though that we you know we can speak of men as having wisdom and God being The Giver of wisdom so what does it mean when uh when we read here that God Alone is wise I 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 a distinction between the being of God and the the the the nature of man here we we get our wisdom um by derivation from God we derive wisdom from God he reveals to us he creates us he uh he upholds us and he imparts wisdom to we we learn things and we gain a wisdom in that particular manner we don't have wisdom as something that is really original to uh original to us uh we don't have uh 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 without uh and UND derivatively God does 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 uh efficiently and UND derivatively we have it un originally and we have it by derivation and the the the 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 judee's context are thinking themselves wise in their perversion of the gospel and their whatever they were teaching which some have thought may have been a sort of an an incipient anti-law nostic ISM this kind of ethereal approach um to uh to God and God's and man's own so-called spirituality that basically set aside the physical or counted because the physical um is wicked um it's only the spirit that we have to deal with so whatever we do with our bodies physically that 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 um uh um 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 he is highly exalted in the Perfection of his own wisdom far above and transcend ly above anyone else who would claim to be wise or to have wisdom soall and we have this wonderful closing ascription of praise to God ascription of divine Glory this ascription of divine glory to God our savior who alone is wise note be glory and Majesty dominion and power this is sort of a it's a four-fold thing that we see in the scriptures and we see it it with some variations sometimes in uh including other words sometimes excluding a word or sometimes uh including a a synonymous word but we have this fourfold ascription to God and we are to the the pleading of the doxology is that those rendering doxology those rendering worship are to ascribe glory to God and I think what we should see here whenever we see ascribe glory to God we should see that first in that is that the worshipper 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 uh 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 impassible he is most loving he is most holy he is most absolute and a scription 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 glor 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 all together like one of his own Creations he's infinitely exalted above his creation and in the Holy scriptures we get to some in some cases sort of peer behind a particular Veil to to to see the glory of God in that majesty and one of those places that uh might come to mind or that should come to mind is that Isaiah 6 Revelation uh of God you remember in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord high and lifted up the train of his robe filled the temple um 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 holy of a monarch in a temple where the vision is given of a sort of an anthropomorphic picture of a of a of a Regal King with a you know crown and a head and a you know 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 though we don't have six wings and we don't have six arms we 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 wonderful hymn to sing especially when we think about the world that we live in the 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 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 to C chos we're not left here to 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 uh 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 our the that language of Christ having Dominion I in that sort of you know GE or geographical sense there was only a small you know a small portion of Believers 2,000 years ago in 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 uh the en enabling power of the Holy Spirit 2,000 years later there are you know a ragtag bunch of Christians gathered together in chilak BC and there's Christians throughout North America in Mexico Central America South America in Europe Africa uh 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 hopefully as you read this on your own time you you kind of see it almost as a crescendo building to the amen at the end the 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 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 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 uh a world uh marked much by 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 uh 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 uh we Rejoice Lord God that though 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 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 in 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 uh well we have our final hymn uh this evening which is uh not a final hymn because I don't have one listed there um so we'll have a time of prayer and meditation uh let's um uh 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 piano is finished you're dismissed e for