Every honest believer has asked the question, usually in a quiet and frightened moment: Given my sin, given my weakness, given the pull of the world and the power of the enemy, how will I ever make it to glory? Jude closes his letter not with a command, but with a doxology. And embedded in that doxology is an answer that should silence the fear and steady the soul: because God is able to keep you, the child of God will not stumble into hell. He will stand blameless before the glory of God, and the credit belongs entirely to Jesus Christ.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 24–25 (LSB)
Jude has spent most of his letter exposing the apostates, men and women who use Christian language but preach a different gospel entirely. He has named their pattern, their pride, and their terrible end. By the time we reach verse 24, the reader’s heart may be discouraged. We have seen the warnings about false teachers. We have read the command to “keep yourselves in the love of God” in verse 21 and wondered: Who is up to such a task? We have heard the call to “earnestly contend for the faith” in verse 3 and asked: How?
It is against that dark backdrop that Jude turns and writes these final words, and the contrast could not be more striking. The apostates have no one holding them. But the child of God does.
In the final verses of this chapter, we learn that our hope is secure, our future is settled, and none of it is grounded on anything we have done or could do. God preserves His people so that they will both keep and contend for the faith.
The Greek word Jude uses, aptaistos, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, literally, “not stumbling,” as a horse that does not miss its step. Barnes’ Notes renders it as being preserved from falling into sin, from yielding to temptation, from dishonoring the faith. It is God only who, amidst the temptations of the world, can keep us from falling. The ability belongs entirely to Him. The text does not say you are able to keep yourself. It says He is able to keep you.
Picture a father teaching his toddler to walk. The child is determined, arms out and legs pumping, and the father walks just behind, hands hovering, never quite touching. Every time that little one starts to go down, the father’s hands are there. The child never hits the floor. Now ask yourself: who kept that child from falling? Was it the child’s determination? His balance? No. It was the father’s hands. That is the preservation Jude is writing about. You are not holding on for dear life on your own strength. You are being held.
Where does this keeping lead? Jude tells us: to stand in the presence of His glory, blameless, with great joy. The word here rendered “blameless” is the same word used in Colossians 1:22. We are justified now, but we are not yet in our final state. What Jude is pointing to is a future moment when we will be in our glorified bodies, free from sin, sorrow, death, and disease, presented blameless in the presence of our glorious Savior in heaven. When faith becomes sight and heaven is our home.
The natural question is: how can a sinful person be presented blameless before a holy God? Paul answers it in a single verse:
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (LSB)
Think of a man who had accumulated a debt so enormous he could never repay it, not in his lifetime, not in his children’s lifetime. And then someone stepped forward and did something far more remarkable than simply paying the bill. He said: I will become the debt. Put it in my name. Let it be counted as mine. Let every consequence fall on me as though I am the one who owes it. And he bore every penalty to the last cent, not as a co-signer but as the debtor himself.
Here is the wonder of it: every dollar of his perfect credit was transferred to the account of the man who owed everything.
That is 2 Corinthians 5:21. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Jesus did not merely pay what we owed. He became what we were: guilty, condemned, under the full weight of divine wrath, so that we might become what He is: righteous before God. Your sin was not just covered. It was carried. His righteousness is not just credited to you. It is yours. This is the great exchange. This is why you can stand blameless before God. Not because of what you have done. Because of what He has done.
This gospel is the gospel of grace. We are saved not by any work we have done or could ever do, but by His marvelous grace. Titus 3:4–7 declares it plainly: He saved us, not on the basis of deeds done in righteousness, but according to His mercy. If the Lord didn’t save me, I can’t be saved, and if He doesn’t hold me, if He doesn’t preserve me, I am not going to make it.
Jesus Himself sealed this in John 3:16. If you have a salvation where you are saved today and lost tomorrow, that is not eternal life. That is, at best, temporary life. Only a sovereign God can grant eternal life, and that is exactly what we have, thanks to Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary’s Cross.
Jude closes with a doxology, and that is exactly the right response. “To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and forever.” He alone is worthy to be praised. This is what separates the true believer from the apostate: we will persevere, we are preserved, and our faith bows before the God who really is.
You will make it to glory. Not because you are strong enough to hold on. Because He is strong enough to hold you. Rest in that. Worship Him for it.
This article is based on a sermon originally preached for Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. You can listen to the full message on SermonAudio:
▶ Listen: “The Perseverance and Preservation of the Saints” — Pastor David GreenIf you do not have a church home, we would love to have you visit us at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Brunswick, Georgia. You can find our service times and location at sgbcbrunswick.com/services, or contact us with any questions.