Ron Dunn Podcast - Doxology Of The Christian Life

Episode Date: April 7, 2021

Ron Dunn concludes his series "Fighting For Faith"

When I was a young fellow, I spent a great deal of time working for my dad. And there was a truck driver that worked for him that had an unusual idiosyncrasy, a very unusual and amusing little quirk. This particular truck driver could not stand to see a drawer not completely closed. He would come in from a trip, and if there was a desk drawer just open that much, he would walk into the office, and he might be talking to you about something else without even thinking about it. Unconsciously, he would just zero in like a homing pigeon for that drawer and just shut it and then pat it like that. And it was quite amusing.

And I have to confess, you know, they say confession is good for the soul, and it is, but it's also bad for the reputation. But I have to confess that there were times when we got a great deal of fun out of this fellow's little quirk. And so when we would see his truck drive in, we would just deliberately go over and open two or three drawers and then set back to see. And he never failed.

He never missed once. And he would come and, talking about anything else to somebody else, and walk over just unconsciously, like he had radar, and shut that drawer and pat it. And we really made this a science, and we would just that much leave the drawer open, but he never missed,

always coming in and shutting the drawer open, but he never missed, always coming in and shutting the drawer and tapping it. He couldn't stand to leave any drawers without being closed. Now, I have a little idiosyncrasy. It hasn't to do with desk drawers. I leave those open quite often. But I can't stand to leave a passage of Scripture without closing every door and every drawer. I hate to leave things hanging. Last Sunday, I spoke to you out of the book of Jude and had really intended that to be the only messages that

I brought to you from Jude, but there have been some open drawers that have bothered me all week. And so I'm not going to have any rest until I shut them. And there's a drawer I want to shut this morning and there's a drawer I'm going to shut tonight. There are just some portions of this little letter that I can't move away without dealing with, without sharing with you. And so that's what I want to do this morning, and tonight we're going back to that little epistle of Jude. And so if you'll open your Bibles to the next to the last book in the Bible, that's on the

right-hand side of your Bible. In the New Testament, the little letter right before Revelation of only one chapter with 25 verses in it, a tremendous little book often neglected in our reading and in our studying because it is a book that contains severe denunciation. But I want us to look at the last two verses this morning of this little epistle of Jude, verses 24 and 25. With all the severity, with all the denunciation,

with all the blackness that this little letter is filled with, as Jude contemplates the encroaching and accelerating work of the enemy, he ends up on this tremendous doxology. And really, it is more than a doxology. It is a confession of faith. And the Bible has a number of doxologies, and doxologies are not prayers, but they are confessions of faith. And against the black background of all that has been said concerning the last days in which we now find ourselves, he comes out with this tremendous doxology,

this confession of faith. Verses 24 and 25. In your English Bibles, I believe the first word is now, but the Greek translation, the Greek text has but. And that is the way it ought to be translated because it is throwing in stark contrast, you see, this confession of faith with everything that has been said. He has said some very depressing, gloomy things.

And he comes to the end and he says, But unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Several years ago, I was suffering from some form of insomnia. I went for weeks and weeks

without being able to sleep at night. And so finally I went to my doctor and told him I needed to do something, I needed to have something, because it was just dragging on to weeks and even into months without being able to sleep. And this particular doctor was not one who liked to prescribe sleeping pills, and so he said, I want to teach you self-hypnosis so you'll be able just to put yourself to sleep every night, just to absolutely relax and put yourself to sleep. So I said, all right. And I went several times while he taught me self-hypnosis.

Simply, a method by which you concentrate and you talk yourself into going to sleep. Some of you don't need to be talked into going to sleep. It's just natural. But I needed to be talked into going to sleep. Some of you don't need to be talked into going to sleep. It's just natural. But I needed to be talked into going to sleep. The main thrust of his particular method, and there are many methods, but the main thrust of his particular method was this.

I would go and sit in his office, and he would say, Now, I want you to pick out an object on the wall or picture a dark smudge, a nail, anything. Pick out an object on the wall, or picture, dark smudge, nail, anything. Pick out an object on the wall. And I want you to look at that, concentrate on it, concentrate on it. And so I would. Then after a moment or two of concentrating on one particular object, he would say, now I want you to close your eyes.

But when you close your eyes, you will still be able to see that object that you last looked at. And so as I closed my eyes, the image of that object was still there. And he said, now with your eyes closed, you continue to concentrate on that object. And the process was, of course, then you fell asleep. Of course, today, if I had picked today's headlines to concentrate on,

I would never have been able to go to sleep. I would never have been able to rest. And the point that I'm bringing out in this is that you and I see a great many things, but it's those things that we see or feel, it's those things that remain in our vision even after we no longer see them. Those are the things that dominate us. It is the last look that can either bring you rest or restlessness. It is the last look, the image of which remains in your conscious,

in your subconscious, long after the object has passed away. And whatever that image is that you have concentrated on and has embedded itself, that will either give you rest and assurance or will give you restlessness. Now, there are many things that you and I can look at today that are going to cause us to be restless, discouraged, and depressed.

As a matter of fact, I'm thinking seriously of giving up reading newspapers, reading headlines. I haven't read an encouraging headline in I don't know how long. And if it's going to get worse, I'd rather just not read about it. I'll find out about it soon enough. And if a person walks through this world looking only outward, seeing all the problems, seeing all of the dishonesty, seeing all of the disruption of established institutions, he's not going to be able to have any assurance or any rest. And I think one of the greatest missing commodities in present America

is assurance and rest and confidence. I've been reading in magazines lately of polls that have been taken on college campuses and in suburbs from door to door. Do you have any confidence in our president? Do you have any confidence in our legislative leaders? Do you have any confidence in our school teachers? And you know, it's discouraging to see that the majority of the American public today have lost nearly all their confidence in any kind of leader, any kind of leader.

They have been duped so often and disappointed so many times that as they look upon the scene on the outside, everywhere they look, there is nothing there to inspire assurance or confidence. You can look inward and only increase the despair, because when you look inward, you see your responsibility coupled with your weakness, and that makes a great team, responsibility plus weakness, and that can cause you to live without any kind of assurance or confidence. Now, sometimes Christians are accused of being unreal, of living in an ivory tower.

They're accused of not facing reality. But that's not the truth. The truth of the matter is that that man who knows how to walk with God does face reality. He does look at the world around him. He does see the starving multitudes. He does see all the dishonesty and degradation. He does see all of that. But that's not his last look. That's not the image that embeds itself on his subconscious after that's passed. That is never his last look. And the problem with most people today is that what they see on the outside

and what they see on the inside, that's their last look. And no wonder they're discouraged. No wonder there is an absence of assurance. There must always be, not only the outward look and not only the inward look, but there must always be as the last look,

the upward look. And this is what Jude is doing. In this little epistle, and if you've never read it, you ought to read it in several different translations because there's so much in there that is not easy to understand. But in this little epistle, the first 20 verses or so, it's a depressing picture. It's a depressing picture. It's a depressing picture. And I'll be honest with you, if he had closed it off a few verses earlier, I wouldn't want to read it because all it is is denunciation.

All it is are the dangers that are threatening us, that are threatening our Christian life, that are threatening the fellowship of the church, that are threatening society. But Jude is a realist, and he does paint a real picture of the evils and the wastefulness and the sinfulness that's around about him. He doesn't hide his head in the clouds and say it doesn't exist. Just praise the Lord. He sees all of that. He looks inward to see the innate wickedness and weakness that is in every man, but he doesn't stop there. He doesn't stop there, and as he closes this letter, he brings us into the place where there can always be absolute assurance, and he ends it on a note of victory, and he ends it with a doxology.

Now, I want to tell you something. Only a man who really has placed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can walk through this world with all of its problems, with all of its hypocrisies, with all of its dangers, and still end up in a doxology instead of a groan. And I'll just be honest with you this morning. If you are a professing Christian and you cannot walk through this world regardless of how godless this world may be, you cannot walk through it in doxology, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. And so as Jude ends this letter, he gives us the upward

look, the upward look, and he says all of these things are true. Things are bad, and they're going to get worse. Evil men are going to wax worse and worse. I'll tell you this morning, the pornography situation is going to get worse, not better. The wickedness in our government is going to get worse, not better. Jesus predicted this all the way through. The Bible simply states it, that evil men shall wax worse and worse, and the love of many will grow cold, and the longer this world exists, the colder it's going to be, and the more indifferent,

and the more wicked. But it doesn't stop there. And he closes out this tremendous little letter by saying, but, but, don't let this be your last look, but unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to him be the glory and the majesty and the dominion

and the power forever and ever. Amen. Every Christian life ought to be a doxology. And regardless of the situation in which you find yourself, Every Christian life ought to be a doxology. And regardless of the situation in which you find yourself, regardless of the temptation that confronts you today, I want to tell you something. You ought to be able to meet it all with a doxology and with this confession of faith.

Now, if, as I said a moment ago, you cannot live this life and walk through this world with that doxology on your lips and in your heart, it's simply because you have an inadequate conception of God. And Jude, in order to inspire assurance and confidence and rejoicing in the hearts of these people who were living in much worse times than you and I can ever imagine, he points them to God. He gives them a vision of God. He says, let this be your last look. Concentrate on this. Concentrate on this. And as you walk through this world with this vision embedded in your minds and hearts,

you'll be able to rejoice. And so, Jude simply directed his readers to a vision of God. And I don't think there's anything I can do better this morning than try to direct those of you who listen to see God, to see that God who is able regardless of the circumstances in which you find yourself. So let's look at these two verses, verses 24 and 25, and just take a look, a concentrated look at the God who is the source of all assurance, and he is. The only place you're going to find any confidence and assurance in this world today is as your heart is anchored to the living God. This is why in Ephesians chapter 2 describing those who are lost. He says they have no hope and are without God in the world.

Those two things are synonymous. If you're without God, then you have no hope. And the only place you'll ever find hope and assurance and confidence is in the living God. So let's look at these two verses. And the first vision, the first look I want us to take is to see God as a sovereign God. Now this is most essential. It is indispensably essential that you and I,

if we are to live in confidence and calm and poise and peace, we must see our God as a God of sovereignty. Now that word sovereignty is a theological word that a lot of these young boys and girls sitting here on the front rows may not understand. Sovereignty simply means the ability to do anything you want to and to do it right. That's what sovereignty is. The power and the ability to do anything you want to and do it right. And the first and foremost thing that Jude reveals to us about our God in this doxology is that he is a sovereign God, a God of absolute sovereignty. And there are two things that point out this sovereignty, and I want you to notice this. Look at verse 25. He says, to the only wise God. Now, underline that word only.

To the only God. His sovereignty is seen in his aloneness. He is the only God. You say, now, pastor, we all know that. Why are you laboring this point about God being the only God? We all know that. Well, some of you don't live as though you know it. As a matter of fact, a great many Christians that I know

live as though there were two gods or three gods or four gods and they were in mortal combat and there was some doubt as to who would come out victorious. You see, when you think about God, what do you think of? What does the word God mean? What does that word signify? Well, it signifies one who is all-powerful, all-knowing. It signifies one who is in control of every situation. It signifies one who has the last word in any discussion. It signifies one who is able to keep his word and keep his promise and make everything else bow to him in submission. Now, a great many of us live as though there were more gods.

We live sometimes as though circumstances had the last word in our situation. We live as though our own weakness sometimes had the last word in every situation. And I think one of the things you and I really need to be convinced of this morning, that there is only one God. He is the only God. He is the only one who is in absolute control of our lives. He has the last word to say on every subject. And it doesn't matter what circumstances may be enveloping you right now.

It doesn't matter what the enemy does. It doesn't matter at all what the worldly crowd and what the godless world, what they do. It doesn't matter if an atheist gets on television and says there's no God. That doesn't make a bit of difference. There is one God, and he is the only God, and he is the one who is going to have a final say in everything that happens in this life. And to see that is to see him sovereign in his aloneness. There's no other God. There's nobody else he shares his power with. There's no one else he shares his power with. As a matter of fact, I even know of some Christians that have almost made the devil God. He is sovereign.

He is solitary. And in the 45th chapter of Isaiah, the one thing that God is trying to impress upon the people is this, that He is God and besides Him there is none else. All right, so the first thing, we need to see God as a sovereign God. All right? Secondly, we need to see Him as a sovereign God. All right? Secondly, we need to see Him as a saving God.

As a saving God. Verse 25 is an unusual expression. You rarely ever find this expression in the New Testament. To the only wise God, our Savior. Now, it's very unusual for God to be called our Savior. Usually, Jesus is called our Savior, but here, speaking of God the Father, he is called our Savior.

Because what Jude is trying to do for us today is to get us to have a full dimensional vision of our God. And we need to see him as the God who is in the saving business. Now what does this word Savior mean? Well, you know that it means a deliverer. It means one who preserves and protects. But there's a very interesting thing about this word.

Back in the days of the New Testament, this word Savior had a very special usage. Let's suppose, for instance, that you were living in a little colony. Now, let's take Philippi, because in Philippians chapter 3, verse 20, you have the same word referred to to Jesus. He says, Our citizenship is not in heaven, but we look to heaven from whom will come our Savior now let's suppose that you are living in a little outpost over here is the empire

over here is the Roman Empire over here is the seat of government over here is where the king dwells and you are an outpost way out yonder on the frontiers, out yonder in the wild and woolly west. You're just a little town, a little village, a little colony, exposed to any marading army, vulnerable to anybody that wants to come and attack you.

Now, many times these little outposts, these little colonies that were by many miles separated from the mother city were attacked by alien armies. And when news of that attack reached the emperor, the emperor would immediately mount up an army and would come to do what? To deliver his little outpost.

And the title they always gave to the king or the emperor in those situations was Savior. A king who comes to the aid of his outpost. And so Paul says, our citizenship is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven. That's our home. But we are an outpost, and we're living in the midst of enemy territory. And there are times when the enemy is exerting tremendous pressure on us to dissuade us and destroy us, to fill us with defeat and despair, but he says we need to recognize that our God is our Savior. He is one who always comes to the aid of those who belong to him. Now, there is something that you need to see

that is not, for some reason, in the King James. I do not know why the King James translators left this out. King James says, To the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. There is a tremendously important phrase just left out. That phrase is, Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Here's the way it reads. To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, what's he saying? He's saying that God is our Savior, but only through Jesus Christ. The only way that God will save you, deliver you, preserve you, is when you are rightly related with Jesus Christ as Lord. God has no other means nor inclination to save anybody apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, you see people every day who say they believe in God and worship God, but they remove Jesus Christ from the agenda of their religious life,

you may as well forget it. God's salvation comes only through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the only way. And if you think that God is going to save you and deliver you and preserve you without your coming and submission to Jesus Christ, then you're sadly mistaken. And it says that he saves us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Somebody came up to me and said,

this emphasis that you make on the Lordship of Christ, why don't you make the emphasis on the Saviorhood of Christ and always preaching on his Lordship? Well, I answered, I make that emphasis because the New Testament makes that emphasis. Jesus is called Savior 20 or 30 times in the New Testament, but he is called Lord over 400 times. As a matter of fact, the only way Jesus can save anybody is as he is Lord. It is his Lordship that enables him to be

Savior. And if a person comes to Jesus and says, I want him to be my Savior, but I'm not interested at all in bowing my knee to him in submission and letting him become my master and own and operate my life, then you may as well forget it, because he cannot save you apart from his lordship. If you're not interested at all in bowing my knee to him in submission and letting him become my master and own and operate my life, then you may as well forget it, because he cannot save you apart from his lordship.

And if men and women come to understand his lordship and bow in submission to his lordship, they will be saved. And so we see him as God, as Savior. Now, one last thing. We need to see him as sufficient, as sufficient. And I'm afraid that a great many of us who say we believe in him have some doubt as to his sufficiency. You could talk for a year on that one phrase

and never exhaust it. Now unto him that is able. He is able. He is able. That simply means, folks, that he is adequate. He is sufficient for every situation that you encounter. Let me just mention two. First of all, he is sufficient for the present.

He is sufficient for the present. That's where I live. I'm not too interested in the past, and I have only a curious interest in the future. I live in the present. That's where I really need some sufficiency. And too much of preaching of the Christian life deals all with the past and all with the future and leaves the present without any support or sufficiency. But he is sufficient for the present. And this is the thing

that the writer is bearing down on. He says, I know y'all are living in hard times. I know you're surrounded by everything that is contradictory to how you're trying to live. But he said, I want you to know that he is able to keep you from falling. He's sufficient for the present. He is able to keep you from falling. The word keep means to watch over and guard. He is able to watch over you

and to keep you from, the King James says, falling. Literally, the word is stumbling. And you know that's better? Because you have to stumble before you can fall. I mean, if you can't stumble, then you can't fall. It's much better to be kept from stumbling than it is to be kept from falling

interesting thing about this word it was used well it means sure-footed in slippery places if you've ever done much horseback riding you know that if you're riding in mountainous territory, if you're going down a steep mountainside, rocky, slippery, the wise thing for you to do if you don't want to end up under the horse instead of on him is to get off that horse and get hold of that bridle close to his head, pat him gently, put your hand there, and you gently and slowly lead him over those slippery places in order to keep him from stumbling.

That is the picture behind the Word. Now, you know, there are times when God just lets me fly. I'm making great speed, just moving through. And all of a sudden, everything slows down. And I've often wondered, why? Why, Lord? Why has that fever pitch of emotion? Why aren't you just letting me loose and letting me just run as fast as I can? Well, God knows I'm passing over some slippery places, and so he takes me very gently

and very slowly to keep me from stumbling. And you know, to me, that's great encouragement because we all go over slippery ground. We all go over slippery ground, but I want to tell you something. You put your faith in this kind of God,

and I don't care how slippery it is. I don't care how treacherous it is. I don't care how uncertain the future is or how uncertain your present is. If you will just commit yourself to this God, He will keep you from losing your balance. He's sufficient for the present, but he's also sufficient for the future.

Not only is he able to keep us from falling, but also he's able to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. The word present means to stand firm and erect. Now, you know, I was reading over this again this morning and I thought to myself, it might not be too much of a trick for me to stand blameless before you folks here. And I could stand firm and erect before you folks here, because you're not omniscient. I can hide a lot of things from you.

You don't know me, and I don't know you. That's why we have so much respect for each other. And it's really not much of a trick to be able to stand erect without blame before people. But notice he says, you will stand erect without blame before people, but notice he says, you will stand erect without blame before God. Think of that. Just imagine it, being able to stand in the presence of God's glory, all of his glory, the God to whom all things are open, the God who searches the deep things of a man's heart, the God who knows me through and through and who is holy and righteous and will tolerate nothing

of unholiness, to be able to stand in the presence of his glory and be glad about it with exceeding joy. Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ were to come today, and all of us someday in this place, they'd be lost, someday going to stand before God, and some of us won't be able to stand there with joy. But he says he is able to do such a work in your life through the Lord Jesus Christ that one day you'll be able to stand before that piercing, scrutinizing gaze of the glory of God and stand erect, faultless,

without a spot, without blemish, without anything in you that would make you unacceptable, and you do it with great joy. You do it with great joy. He is sufficient for the present. He is sufficient for the present. He's sufficient for the future. Now, you have here a very simple little secret

of how to live in doxology, no matter what. And the pattern is right here in this little letter of Jude. I don't care what you go through. Listen, if you will end every surveillance of life with this confession of faith, you'll be able to live with assurance. You say, I'm going through a hard time financially, materially,

but unto him who is able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, unto him be glory and power and majesty and dominion forever. You see, you ought to climax every evaluation of your present circumstance with that confession of faith. And I promise you this morning that that Christian who walks through this life, I don't care what he sees, how evil it is, I do not care how desperate the situation will be,

if he will end up his daily report of the situation with this confession of faith, but regardless of how bad it is, but unto him, regardless of how trying the temptation is, but unto him, regardless of how agonizing the sorrow is, but unto him be glory and power forever. I want to tell you something. You'll be able to live your life in doxology instead of groaning and moaning and being depressed.

That's the secret and the source of true assurance. So, of course, you have to know him first. Some of you do, and some of you do not. That's one reason we're here this morning. Our primary motive in coming to this place is to worship God, to meet God and have him speak to us. And there are always those in these congregations that are lost, out of fellowship with God, in deep need.

And it just may happen today that God has brought you here to do a work in your heart to meet that need. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Rondon messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Rondon. For more Rondon materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.