The Antidote For Apostasy

September 11, 2001 changed America, some say forever. It was on that day that the Twin Towers in New York City were struck by terrorists flying airliners into those two buildings. We live with the threat of terrorism today. We know the dangers of terrorism, the death and the destruction that it brings. We live with it daily. When you travel to the airport, you know the hassles you have to go through because of it. What we see today is the whole talk about home-grown terrorism. People who live in America are being radicalized and can actually strike against us, and they live among us. This is a scary, scary thought. How do we defend ourselves against home-grown terrorists or lone-wolf attacks?

In the spiritual realm, I think it is even more frightening and devastating because of the eternal effects it has damning men’s souls. Paul met with the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20. He was meeting with spiritual leaders and pastors from different churches. He said, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,not sparing the flock.” He likened the church unto a flock of sheep, and the wolves will come, and they come in sheep’s clothing, as Jesus warned. But then he made another statement. He said, “I know that there will also arise men from your own midst.” Catch that. Men from your own midst that will lead people astray, and they will get people to follow them. These are home-grown spiritual terrorists.

The book of Jude calls them apostates. The word apostasy means a departing. They come into the church, they profess that they know God, but in reality they are wheat among tares, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They do not have the Spirit, as Jude says in verse 19. They are sensual and they are actually dangerous. We must beware and be ready to defend ourselves. So Jude has shown us their past judgment, verses 5-7, their present characteristics, verses 8-13, and then their future judgement, verses 14-16. But as we come to verse 17 to the end of the book, we turn a corner and take a different direction. We know that by these two phrases, notice verse 17, “But, beloved,” and then notice in verse 20, “But ye, beloved.” So this indicates that he is not actually talking about the apostates, but he is talking to the true believers. “But ye, beloved…” He addresses the Christian, and he is warning them that they need to do certain things to defend themselves. Now, as the saying goes in the sports world, you guys will appreciate this, “The best defense is a good offense.” Your saying, “Go Chargers!” I’d say “Go Lakers,” but I don’t think anything can help them. God have mercy on the Lakers. Back to the sermon. The best defense is a good offense, right? We’re going to see that we need to do something. We need to remember certain things. We need to remain in the Word. We need to reach out in love. We need to rest in the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

There are four things you need to do to defend yourself against these spiritual terrorists in these last days. First, we need to remember the apostles predicted them. It would be foolish on our part to disregard the Word of apostolic authority and not remain vigilant that there are terrorists in the church that would seek to destroy your faith and lead you astray. Follow with me as we read verses 17-19. Jude says, “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ…” So these are words that were spoken by the apostles containing apostolic authority, and by our own Lord Jesus Christ. What did they warn us of? “How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time,” these are the last days that we live in. “…who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves…,” they make schisms, they divide from the true believers of Jesus Christ, “…sensual, having not the Spirit.” Now, Jude reminds his readers that the presence of false teachers in the church was to be expected, and they should not be surprised, they should not be dismayed, and they should not be discouraged. The apostles warned them of it.

I have to confess to you that I have been studying and preaching this now for a whole month here at Revival, and as I delve deeply into the book of Jude part of me wants to be afraid, part of me wants to be discouraged, part of me wants to be filled with despair because I see how widespread and how great the influences of apostates and false teaching are in the confessing Evangelical church. It saddens and grieves me. As a pastor, I am brokenhearted to think of so many who have been led astray into false doctrine and false teaching, and they are not continuing in the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. It saddens me that undiscerning Christians will buy books from people that do not hold sound doctrine. They will go to church where people do not preach sound doctrine. They will follow false apostles, false prophets and false teachers.

Now, this kind of talk is not in vogue or popular in our culture today. We live in a pluralistic society. We live in a world today where there are no absolutes or truth, everything is relative, and we ought to be tolerant of one another. No one should say, “You’re wrong. This is right. That is error. This is truth.” No one should be dogmatic. We should all just get along. We should all just love each other whether or not you believe in Jesus doesn't matter. We should all just join hands and sing Kumbaya together. Now, I know that sounds nice, but it is very dangerous. It’s very dangerous.

The Bible is clear. There is a spirit of truth and a spirit of error. There is that which is true, and there is that which is false. There is the darkness and there is the light. There is that which is of God, and there is that which is of the devil. There is no ambiguity there. There is no fogginess there. There are no gray areas. God’s Word is true. Amen? I believe not only in the inspiration of the Scriptures, and not only do I believe in the infallibility of the Scriptures, but I believe in what is called the clarity of Scriptures. The Bible is clear. God said what He meant and meant what He said. I mean consult a modern translation if you want. When I first got saved, I grew in the Lord by reading The Living Bible. Now they have the New Living Translation. Great! Read that. It’s very clear. It’s not foggy. God says what is right and what is wrong. We can know the truth, and the Bible says, “The truth will set you free.” You won’t be brought into bondage. This is the antithesis of our culture, which is what Christianity is, by the way, it’s a counterculture. It’s overturning the culture of the world, which is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Now, in this passage, and the point that I want to make, verses 17 and 19, is that Jude says, “You need to remember something.” You know, we’re so forgetful. We need to remember the words of the apostles. Paul the apostle in Acts 20, warned them of wolves in sheep’s clothing and that men would arise in their own midst. In 1Timothy 4:1, the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, apostatize. They will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:3, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning…” “Jesus isn’t coming back. Jesus didn’t really say that. You can rip that out of your Bible. Jesus wouldn’t do that.” I was listening to a debate between a conservative theologian and a liberal apostate, so called theologian. The liberal kept saying, “Well, my Jesus wouldn’t say that.” or “My Jesus wouldn’t do that.” or “My Jesus would…” I thought, “What do you mean, My Jesus? Dude…” I wasn’t in the debate, but I was talking to the screen. “You don’t have a ‘My Jesus,’ thank you very much!” There is no “My Jesus.” There is Jesus of the Bible. If you have your own Jesus, it better be the same Jesus in the Bible. That’s the same Jesus that I’ve got. There is only one Jesus, you either have Him or you don’t have Him. You can’t create and invent your own Jesus. “Well, if I were God..” or “My Jesus is love. My Jesus would never condemn anybody. My Jesus would never send anyone to hell.” Be careful when you hear someone talking about “My Jesus” instead of Jesus Christ the Son of God who is clearly taught in the Word of God. You can’t make up your own Jesus and make Him whatever you want Him to be. You either accept Him or reject Him. Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father…” another way of saying no one gets to heaven, no one is saved, “…except through Me.”

False teachers always want to broaden the road to heaven. Instead of there being a gate that is narrow, there are multiple gates and a broad path all leading to life. Jesus said, “No, the broad road leads to destruction, and many there are that go down thereof. Narrow is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to life.” The Bible says there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved than the name of Jesus Christ. He is the Savior of the world, not a savior among others. So, it’s not “My Jesus.” Be careful, Peter warned us. The apostle John also warned us, 2 John 9, “Anyone who abides not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God, has not the Father.” If you deny the Son, you deny the Father. If you’re wrong about Jesus, you’re wrong about God. If you’re wrong about Jesus, you’re wrong about how we should and can and must be saved. So Paul, Peter, John and Jesus all warned us of apostates.

Now, Jude gets his last shot in here in verses 18 and 19 in describing these apostates. He says, not only do you need to remember, but remember what they said about them. They said there would be mockers that mock the idea that the Bible is the Word of God. They mocked the idea that Jesus was born of a virgin. They mocked the idea that He arose from the dead. They mocked the idea that He is coming back again. They mock what the Bible teaches to be true. Mockers. And they are walking, verse 18, after their own ungodly lusts. They are licentious. They turn the grace of God into a license to sin. Notice verse 19, “…they who separate themselves…” This is a unique word in the Greek, a very strong word. It means that they schism themselves. They make divisions. They make distinctions. “We are intellectual. We are enlightened. We are the modernists. We use our brains. We are highly educated.” I am not opposed to education, but some people are educated beyond their intelligence. Never let your education get in the way of your learning something. A simple person who believes God’s Word is far more wise than the person with all the degrees that knows not the Lord and has not the Spirit of God. Simple babes in our Sunday school, believing God’s Word, know more than a lot of the great intellects of our land today. I praise God for that. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is a reverence for God that brings the wisdom to an individual’s life, and mockers walk after their own lusts. They separate themselves or are those who make factions.

Many of the mainline denominations in the United States are now split in two. We now have the conservative Methodist Church, we have the liberal Methodist Church. We have conservative Episcopalians and the liberals. The liberal Lutherans and the conservative Lutherans. How I praise God for those in these mainline denominations that stand for truth, that stand for orthodox teaching, and reject the trend of our culture toward liberalism and denying the authority of God’s Word. Pray for them and encourage them. We have nondenominational independent churches, like Revival Christian Fellowship, that have apostatized. So, it doesn’t matter what denomination or affiliation, the question is do you believe the Bible to be the inerrant, infallible, inspired Word of God? Do you believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh, born of a virgin, died a substitutionary death, salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ and that He arose from the dead and is coming back again? This is what the Bible teaches. But today we see wholesale sellout of professing Christians when it comes to clear Bible doctrine and teaching.

So they separate themselves and they are also, verse 19, sensual. We get our word psychology from that which means soulish. It means that they are natural rather than supernatural. He makes it clear in verse 19, “…having not the Spirit.” Mark it, underline it, note it, put a star in the margin of your Bible. They do not have the Holy Spirit. I want to make it as simple and as clear as I can. If you do not have the Spirit, guess what? You are not saved. If you don’t have the Spirit you are not a Christian. If you don’t have the Holy Spirit you are not born again. If you have the Holy Spirit, you are saved, you are a Christian, you are born again, you are going to heaven when you die. The Bible says in Romans 8 that he that has not the Spirit is not of God. In order to be a child of God, you have to have the Spirit of God living inside of you. This is what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3. You have got to be born again, born of the Spirit, born from above. And so there is soulish ministry; they are sensual, they have not the Spirit. It is all orchestrated. It is all a show. It’s not the true work of God. I love what Warren Wiersbe said, “A soulish ministry magnifies man, but the Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ.” When the Spirit is ministering through the Word, there is edification. When the soul is merely manufacturing ministry, there is entertainment.

A lot of people go to church to be entertained. I don’t think preaching should be boring or dull, but I don’t think preaching should be all personality. I think that there should be truth through personality. If you have to opt for one over the other, we want truth. We don’t want personality. Do you go to church on Sunday morning to hear a comedian? You should say no. You’re looking at me, “Yes, I do! You should be a lot more funny, Buckaroo!” Do you come to church to hear me tell stories and jokes to entertain you? Praise God for that because I don’t know how to do that! I listen to some guys preach and I go, “I don’t even know how to do that!” All I know how to do is read the text, explain the text and apply the text. That’s all I know how to do. My prayer is that God would give us a hunger, a thirst and a desire for that. Not to be entertained, not to have our ears tickled, not that we put on a show, but that we are here to be edified and to glorify Jesus Christ.

So, the first step is remember, and the second step is to remain. To defend yourself against apostasy, remain in a close, strong relationship with Jesus Christ. Build a strong Christian life. I have a responsibility to preach and teach the Bible, but that is just an appetizer. My messages on Sunday are appetizers for you to get a hunger for God’s Word and to go home to study and read it for yourself, to dig deeply into it, and to build yourself up on your most holy faith. Now notice the verses that support this point, verses 20-21, he says, “But ye, beloved,” again he turns to the believers. This is what he wants them to do. “…building up yourselves 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.” The injunctions keep going on, but I want to stop here for just a moment.

There are four words I want to give you that help you to remain or build a strong Christian life. The first word is building, notice in verse 20. “Building up yourselves on your most holy faith…” Do you know that you have the responsibility to build yourself up? Now, this is God’s gymnasium. You bodybuilder buffs will love this text. Building up yourselves on your most holy faith. There is nothing wrong with being in shape physically, nothing wrong with developing strong healthy bodies, but it is so sad and tragic because there are a lot of Christians that don’t build themselves up spiritually. I have known men that are in the gym pumping iron, but their spiritual lives were a shamble. The Bible says that if you gain the world and lose your soul, what does it profit you? I mean, great you have a bad bod, but how is your Christian life? Great you have a big business, but how is your Christian life? Great you have all these things, a big house, a wonderful family, but how is your Christian life? You have that responsibility. I have the responsibility to teach God’s Word and to mentor you and encourage you, but you have the responsibility to take it, study it and to grow in the faith and the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Build yourself up.

In the book of Nehemiah there is a great illustration of this when they were building the walls of Jerusalem. The city had been torn down. When they were building the walls, there were enemies that tried to keep them from building the walls, which are the defense of a city. An ancient city without walls was defenseless. As they were building the walls, the enemy would attack, and guess what would happen? They would have to lay down the trowel and take up the sword. So Nehemiah got to the point where they had a trowel in one hand. I used to work around masons and carry the mud for them and mix it. I used to see these guys with their trowels, they were amazing at what they could do with that mud building block walls. They had a trowel in one hand spreading the mortar and laying the block, building the wall. At the same time, guess what they had in their other hand? A sword. That’s ministry! That’s the Christian life! It’s a trowel and a sword! You have to build and you have to battle. It’s building and battling. A lot of pastors like the building part, I like to build—I like to be positive. I like to teach Bible truths. I like to encourage people in Bible doctrine. But, you also have to take out a sword because there is an enemy of our faith. There are liars out there. There are apostates out there. There are deceivers out there. And, not only me as a pastor, but I think each one of us as Christians, we have to have a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. We have to build and battle and keep that balance in our Christian life.

How do we build up ourself in our most holy faith? The Bible, plain and simple. Study Bible doctrine. If you don’t have it get the book Survey of Bible Doctrine by Charles Caldwell Ryrie. That’s the book that we are encouraging people to get and read. It is basic Bible doctrine. It is what the Bible teaches about God, about Jesus, about the Bible, salvation, Satan, angels, the church, last days, heaven, hell. What does the Bible teach on these important subjects? Know Bible teaching. Know Bible doctrine. Get grounded in the Word. When Paul again left the elders in Ephesus, Acts 20:32, he said, “I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace.” Not only do we build ourselves up in the Word of God to be strong and remain in the Christian life, but we pray in the Holy Spirit. Notice verse 20, “Praying in the Holy Ghost.” Now, each one of these points could be a whole sermon in themselves. What does he mean to be praying in the Spirit? I believe that Jude is saying that the Spirit of God motivates our prayer, energizes our prayer, leads our prayer, guides our prayer and directs our prayer. To pray in the Spirit is praying according to the will of God. To pray in the energy, and in the power, and in the direction of the Holy Spirit. Again, Paul in Romans 8 said there are times when we pray and we don’t even know what to say. Have you ever been there before? I don’t even know what to say when I pray, but the Spirit helps our weaknesses. Sometimes He prays in groanings which cannot be uttered. There are times when you just groan, in Jesus name. And, God the Holy Spirit is speaking to God the Father through God the Son and He hears the will of God. By the way, praying in the Holy Spirit means that you are praying according to the Word of God. Everything comes back to God’s Word. You are built up in God’s Word, you pray according to God’s Word, you plead the promises of God, you pray in alignment with God’s Word. You can’t pray for something that is not the will of God. We have to pray according to the will of God.

The third thing we need to do to build ourselves up and to remain in the faith, we need to keep ourselves in the love of God, verse 21. “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Now what is Jude speaking about here? I thought God loves us, period. Can I do something to make God not love me? Do I have to do something to keep myself being loved by God? No. Jude is not saying keep God loving you, because God will never stop loving you. Write that down, God never stops loving me! God loves me and will always love me. So what does he mean to keep yourself in the love of God? Very simply, I believe he is saying live in such a way that you might experience God’s love. I am thinking of the sunshine. If you go out today after church and look up at the sun, now don’t look into the sun but look up into the sky. The warmth of that sun is such a wonderful thing to feel on your face. Did you know that when the clouds come in the sun in still shining? Do you know on cloudy days, the sun is still shining? All you have to do is get above the clouds, right? Have you ever taken off in an airplane on a cloudy day where you pop through the clouds? “Wow! It’s a sunny day up here!” So, don’t let sin come into your life like clouds that separate you from the love of God. God doesn’t stop shining. God’s love doesn’t stop. The sun is always shining, but sometimes we live in such a way that we cannot experience the warmth of God’s love. If I rebel, if I disobey, if I live according to the flesh, then I’m not experiencing the warmth of God’s love in my life. I love that old hymn Nothing Between My Soul and the Savior, so that His blessed face I can see. I don’t want anything to block the warmth and the sunshine of His love in my life. How I treat my wife, how I think, how I talk, how I act can all block the sunshine of God’s love. It doesn’t stop God from loving me, but I don’t experience His love anymore in my life. If you’re living today without a sense of God’s love, ask yourself, “Have I moved away from obedience and holiness and the sin where clouds have come in and blocked the warmth of God’s love in my life?”

The fourth thing we need to do to remain is looking. Notice verse 21, he says that we need to be “looking for the mercy…” I love that! When Jesus comes He is bringing mercy. “…the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” So, He is bringing mercy and eternal life. This is talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ when He will come again. The Bible also teaches that He will catch up the church in what is called the rapture to meet the Lord in the air and so will we ever be with the Lord. So here is another thing, 1) you build yourself up in the Bible, 2) you pray in the Holy Spirit, 3) you walk in obedience keeping yourself in the love of God, and 4) you live your life daily expecting Jesus Christ to come today. Let me ask you a question, and just answer it honestly in your heart. Do you really believe that Jesus Christ can come today? If so, how is that affecting the way you live? Do you have people that need to hear about Jesus? Are there people you need to witness to? Are there people you need to pray for? Do you have money that will be left behind that can be invested into the kingdom of God? Do you have time on your hands that you can use to serve the Lord and be a blessing to other people? Your time, treasure and your talent should all be used for the glory of God. I don’t think by any means we should be living in expectancy to where we eliminate all of our responsibilities and our duties, put on a white robe and sit on a hill waiting for the rapture. That is being so heavenly minded, you are no earthly good. The problem isn’t that in the church today. The problem is we are so earthly minded that we are of no heavenly good. One of the problems in the church today is we don’t really believe Jesus Christ could come today. Yet, that is what the Bible teaches. I believe the church could be raptured before this sermon is done, and it’s not because I’m going to preach a long time. It is because the Bible says that His coming is imminent. Nothing has to happen before we are caught up to meet the Lord. So we are looking for Jesus to come. Live in that expectation. Titus 2:13, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.”

Now there is a third thing we need to do. First, remember. Second, remain, building yourself up and praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourself in the love of God. Third, we need to reach out. This flows from a statement that the Lord is coming back, so we need to reach out to the confused who need compassion, verses 22-23. “And of some have compassion…” now the fact that he opens verse 22 with and, indicates there is no break between verses 21 and 22. Actually, it should not be a verse break. It should just be one verse where he says, “Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life and of some have compassion, making a difference and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Now this is a classic example of a best defense is a good offense, and the three groups that we need to reach out to. Verse 22, there are those who first of all are confused. Those who have doubts and those who William Barclay says are flirting with falsehood. They are not really committed, they haven’t gone into apostate doctrine. I have encountered people like this so many times. We get them in our church. “Well, I don’t know if Jesus is the only way. I don’t know if I should go to this church or that church. I don’t know if the Bible is the only book that comes from God. I’m also reading the Koran. I’m reading the book of Mormon. I’m open. I’m cool.” A couple of weeks ago, a dear precious person came up to me and was asking questions. They were holding a New World Translation. I couldn’t stay silent. I didn’t want to offend them, but I wanted to tell them the truth. I said, “For starters, you need a new Bible. That Bible you have in your hand is so misinterpreted and so twisted to support false doctrine, it denies the faith of Jesus Christ. It can be a King James, it can be a New King James, an NIV, a Living Translation, a New American Standard version. I don’t care what translation of the Bible you have, but the New World Translation is written by the Kingdom Hall. It is the product of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They deny the deity of Christ. They deny that you are saved by grace through faith, and they have twisted Scriptures and added and put things in there.” So these are the people we want to have compassion on. Smile and say, “Can I swap Bibles with you? Can I give you a different Bible? I hope that you’ll keep coming to hear God’s Word, or go to another church where the Bible is taught, Christ is exalted and the truth is proclaimed, but you need to be grounded.” We need to compassionately reach out to those who are flirting with falsehood.

The second group is in verse 23, those who are convinced. Those whose condition demands aggressive action. This is where we get the phrase, “and some save with fear pulling them out of the fire.” They are on their way to hell and we are going to rescue them. They are in a burning house, and we have to raise a ladder and grab them out of the building before they perish. We need to be more aggressive. When the cultist knocks on my door, I try to be kind—try to be kind, try to be patient. More than once I have had to tell them, “If you follow your doctrine, you will end in hell. Your doctrine is antichrist and it is wrong. It is error and you are headed for destruction.” You say, “Well, that’s not very nice.” It’s true. When you go to the doctor and he diagnoses you with cancer, do you want him to smile and just say, “You’re in good shape.” Or, do you want him to (as hard as it is to say) say, “Look, you’ve got cancer and we need to take some aggressive steps in treating this cancer or you are going to die.” “Yes, Sir, whatever you say.” It’s serious, and he speaks the truth and you appreciate that. You want a proper diagnosis and you want the truth spoken in love. So, there are those people that are not just confused, they are convinced and have embraced that doctrine. When they come to your door, don’t run but reach out to them.

The third group, a very interesting group, I do believe there are three groups here, some see only two. The end of verse 23, it’s those whose pollution requires personal caution. Notice at the end of verse 23 he says, “Hating.” Isn’t that amazing that the word hating is in the Bible and he’s speaking to Christians? Hating something. We hate even the garments that are spotted by the flesh. Now again, I don’t want to go too deep and be too graphic, but there is a time to hate the things that God hates. God hates apostasy and He hates false doctrine and He will judge it. Jude uses a word image picture here of garments that have been spotted or polluted by the flesh. In the Greek, there are two different words for garment, one means an outer garment or tunic and the other indicates underwear. They basically had two things on, they had a coat with their underwear. If they threw off their outer coat, they had this inner tunic which was considered underwear. He is using very crude and graphic imagery, he says hating even the underwear that has been spotted by the flesh. I don’t need to say anything more. These are bad news underwear. I’ll stop. It’s nasty. This is the image. Do your own homework, check it out. Your just, “I ain’t gonna touch that!” You know, throw them in an incinerator, burn those suckers. If someone had leprosy, their garments were spotted by their flesh. You couldn’t touch them without being contaminated. So, these are people, be careful and please listen to me, these are people you need to use great caution when you’re with them and when you’re around them. Be very, very careful. Don’t listen to them, don’t believe them, don’t buy into them. Be very cautious. Hate even the garments spotted by their flesh. Sometimes people will hang out with cultists. You better be careful! Sometimes people will get involved with cultists or study with cultists or people who are apostate. Be very, very careful! So on those who are confused, show compassion. Those who are committed, get aggressive and pull them out of the fire. Those that are convinced, be very cautious. Be very careful, but reach out.

There is a fourth and last thing to do, in closing. First of all we need to remember. Secondly, we need to remain. Thirdly, we need to reach out, and fourth rest. These are my favorite verses in the book of Jude. Rest, verses 24-25, they are closing doxology. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless…” Who is the “you?” The beloved, verses 17 and 19. “…before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” This is a verily or so be it! What a grand crescendo he ends this little epistle of warning with. Now unto Him! I love the focus upon God. We have been looking at apostates for four weeks, and if you’re like me, you’re tired of talking about them, tired of hearing about them. Now what do we do? Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling. The only wise God, our Savior. Who’s that? Jesus Christ. Do you know in this apostate world, this dark world, this dangerous world, this world full of spiritual terrorism. Do you know what you can do? Trust Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Fix your eyes on Jesus Christ! He will never lead you astray. Follow Him, love Him, serve Him, live for Him. If you love Jesus with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind, you are going to be fine. You know that He is able to keep you from falling. I love that concept, that what begins with grace will end in glory. That He is able to keep you from falling, He will present you faultless—How? Because we are standing in the righteousness of Christ— with exceeding joy. Did you know that when you get to heaven it is going to be joyful? I just thought I’d let you know. I have actually met people that say, “I don’t know if I want to go to heaven, sit around on a cloud and play a harp? You sure it’s gonna be fun? What are we going to do up there? I don’t know if I wanna go to heaven because I don’t know if my dog will be there.” Praise God your dog won’t be there. That’s me talking, not him. “I don’t know if I really want to go to heaven.” There will be exceeding joy in heaven! In His presence there is fullness of joy and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore! Heaven is a wonderful place! Jesus is there, and we will see Him. We will be with Him forever. There will be joy, peace, love, no more Satan, no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more suffering. Amen? What a glorious place heaven will be, and if you are a child of God, you are going to go there. That’s your destiny. So, you don’t need to be afraid. He will keep you from falling. He will present you faultless before the throne, and there will be exceeding joy. He is the only wise God, our Savior, to Him be glory, majesty, dominion and power forever and ever. Amen, amen and amen!