Series: Contending for the Faith
Title: “Why Hold on if God Won’t Let Go?”
Scripture: Jude 24-25 NIV
Psalm 37:23-24
Psalm 139:23-24
Proverbs 24:16
John 10:27-30
Romans 8:38-39
Ephesians 1:13-14
Hebrews 13:5
1 John 2:19
1 John 5:13
Bottom line: We hold on because he holds us.
INTRODUCTION
CONTEXT
OUTLINE
CONCLUSION
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
NOTES
YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION
MAIN REFERENCES USED
My opening prayer: Lord God, help us grow to be and do like Jesus, while abiding in him and leading others to do the same.
OPENING STORY
"He is able to keep..."
Watch a parent walk a small child along the edge of a busy sidewalk. The child is doing real walking — short, wobbly, determined steps, working as hard as little legs can work. And then she trips. Of course she does; her foot catches the curb and she pitches forward. But she doesn’t hit the pavement. She never even gets close. Her hand is wrapped inside a bigger hand, and the instant she goes, that hand lifts and steadies and sets her back on her feet before the fall can finish. She stumbled — but she did not fall.
Jude has spent his whole letter telling us to walk a dangerous edge: in the midst of false and deceptive teachers, contend, build, keep, rescue — right alongside the place where others have already gone over and not come back.
Now, in the last two verses, he shows us the hand. “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling.” Or as the psalmist said it long before: "Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand" (Psalm 37:24).
The missteps still come. The fatal fall never does — because the grip holding you is not your own.
Said another way, we may find ourselves in the ditch along the narrow way...but he's right there pulling us out of the muck and mire back onto the highway of our God.
Too Busy in this life
A traveler once walked more than 700 miles to see Niagara Falls. As he neared his destination, he heard a distant roar and asked a nearby farmer, “Is that Niagara Falls?”
The farmer replied, “I don’t know. It might be.”
Surprised, the traveler asked, “Do you live here?”
“Born and raised here,” the farmer said.
“And you’ve never gone to see the falls?”
“No, stranger. I’ve been too busy looking after my farm.”
What a tragedy—to live within the sound of one of the world’s greatest wonders and never take the time to see it.
And yet many Christians do something similar. We know heaven is coming. We know we will stand in the presence of God’s glory. We hear about it every week. But we become so busy with the things of this world that we lose our appetite for the world to come.
Jude reminds us that God is keeping us for something far greater: to be presented before His glorious presence, blameless and with great joy.
Poem
"Some want to live within the sound
Of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop
Within a yard of hell."
CONTEXT
The entire letter begins and ends with God’s keeping power:
Jude 1 — “To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.”
Jude 21 — “Keep yourselves in God’s love…”
Jude 24 — “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you…”
Jude 25 — Doxology praising the God who does the keeping.
That creates a beautiful tension:
Kept by God (v.1) → Keep yourselves in God’s love (v.21) → Kept by God (v.24).
The question practically preaches itself:
“If God is holding me, why does Jude tell me to hold on?”
Imagine being swept toward a waterfall.
You know you cannot save yourself.
Then a strong rescuer reaches you and takes hold of your arm.
The question isn’t whether he will hold on.
The question is: Why would you not hold on to him?
That’s the tension in Jude.
God has taken hold of us.
Therefore, we keep ourselves in His love.
Not to earn His rescue.
Not to maintain His rescue.
But because His rescue is already underway.
“Why Hold On If He’s Holding You?”
That raises one of the most important questions in the Christian life:
Is my salvation ultimately dependent on how tightly I hold onto God—or how tightly God holds onto me?
OUTLINE (Help from Shaddix/Akin)
I. God holds/keeps me. (Jude 1, 24) i.e. I am saved and secured by God's power, promise, person, and praise.
A. We are secure because of God’s power
“To him who is able…”
Not merely willing.
Able.
Cross references:
John 10:28-29
Romans 8:38-39
Philippians 1:6
B. We are secure because of God’s promise
If eternal life can be lost, it was never eternal.
Cross references:
John 6:37-40
John 17:12
Hebrews 10:14
C. We are secure because of God’s person
God does not change.
The One who called you is the One who keeps you.
Cross references:
Malachi 3:6
2 Timothy 2:13
Hebrews 13:8
D. We are secure because of God’s praise
Verse 25 is worship.
Jude cannot discuss salvation without ending in doxology.
The doctrine of eternal security is not merely comfort.
It is fuel for worship.
The point is not:
“Look how strong my faith is.”
The point is:
“Look how great my Savior is.”
II. I am to keep hold of God's love. (Jude 21) God keeps me by helping me hold on to him and his love.
Many people have asked:
“If God keeps me, why must I keep myself?”
Answer: Because security is not an excuse for passivity.
Illustrate: A child walking through a crowded airport.
The child holds Dad’s hand.
Dad also holds the child’s hand.
Which grip matters most?
Dad’s.
Yet the child still holds on.
The father may even let go of the child's hand in the airport to give the child a little more freedom and the child may stay close because they know that's where they're secure.
But the human condition is that we are prone to wander from his grip hurting our fellowship with him. Not that we can get away from him and his security, but that we can wander far enough to impact our fellowship and assurance negatively.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.”
“Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.”
…because relationship requires abiding
John 15.
…because obedience strengthens assurance
Not salvation.
Assurance.
…because spiritual drift is real
The false teachers in Jude prove this.
…because God uses means
Prayer.
Scripture.
Church.
Worship.
Fellowship.
…because the kept become keepers
Verses 22-23.
We rescue others.
…because God’s preserving grace produces perseverance
This is the key theological answer.
The evidence that God is keeping us is that we continue following Him.
God’s sovereignty and human responsibility are friends, not enemies.
You might even summarize:
God’s grip is the cause.
Our grip is the evidence.
CONCLUSION
Bottom line: We hold on because he holds us.
As I've said, we have four daughters. All are married.
As we wait for the music to start--in those few moments where your life flashes before you--before you begin to walk down that aisle before God and all those people--I established a tradition that goes back to the days when selfies were the rage.
It was 2016. Selfies were a new phenomenon. I'm standing there with Samantha and I can tell she's excited, happy, and, well, emotional,m - on the verge of tears.
Now we can't have her makeup running at this moment! So I suggest we do a selfie together as we wait for the thumbs up. It only takes a few seconds. But it gave her a reason to focus on this pic (I'm about to give her away, remember, so I'm emotional too). She leans in with a huge smile and relief and joy swallow us as we take the picture as I miraculously press the right button on the first try. It's an amazing picture.
So, yes, I had the privilege to escort them down the aisle and move their hand from mine to another's. It's a humbling moment.
There’s a moment a father knows well — standing at the back of a sanctuary with his daughter on his arm, about to walk her down the aisle and present her, radiant and whole, to the joy of the whole room. This is a foretaste of the moment when each of us will walk an aisle with our Father and King to meet Jesus in all his glory.
Jude 24 says God will one day “present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” Notice whose joy that is. Not just ours — His.
The God you’ve been contending for, the One who kept you the whole way, doesn’t grit His teeth at the finish line. He delights to present you.
That’s where this series lands: you held on, yes — but only because He was holding you, and He was glad to do it the entire time. To Him be glory, majesty, power, and authority. Amen.
“without fault and with great joy”
Most Christians believe:
“God will tolerate me in heaven.”
Jude says something entirely different.
God will present you:
without fault
before His glorious presence
with great joy
And I would emphasize:
Whose joy?
Certainly ours.
But also His.
God is not reluctantly dragging His children into heaven.
He delights to present them.
There is a moment a father knows well—standing at the back of a wedding venue with his daughter on his arm, about to walk her down the aisle and present her, radiant and whole, to the joy of the whole room.
Jude says something even greater is coming.
One day God Himself will present His children before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.
The God who called you.
The God who saved you.
The God who kept you.
Will be the God who presents you.
And when that day comes, you will finally discover what Jude has been teaching all along:
You were able to hold on only because He never let go of you.
Pray
Questions (Write this down) - grab an index card and pen
What is God saying to you right now?
What are you going to do about it?
Write this down on the index card in the seat pockets.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Discovery Bible Study process: https://www.dbsguide.org/
Read the passage together.
Retell the story in your own words.
Discovery the story
What does this story tell me about God?
What does this story tell me about people?
If this is really true, what should I do?
What is God saying to you right now? (Write this down)
What are you going to do about it? (Write this down)
Who am I going to tell about this?
Find our sermons, podcasts, discussion questions and notes at https://www.gracetoday.net/podcast
NOTES
"William Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army. Booth is often credited with saying,
If I had my way, I would not send my workers to four years of college. If I had my way, I would not put them through three years of seminary. If I had my way, I would put all of my workers in hell for five minutes! That would be the best theological training they would ever receive. (Source unknown)" -Shaddix/Akin
Why hold on to God's love?
It's a reminder to you when you doubt that you're his.
It's evidence to others.
It's a testimony of change in your life.
It's a make of obedience which is a mark of your love for God.
It's how we grow to be more like Jesus in practice.
He calls me to! (V. 21)
It's what faith looks like:
Deny self
Take up your cross
Follow Jesus
Cling to the cross
Rest in his arms
Walk the narrow way
Stand firm
Suit up
YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION
MAIN REFERENCES USED
“Jude" by David Helm, Preaching the Word Commentary, Edited by Kent Hughes
Exalting Jesus in Jude, Shaddix & Daniel Akin
“The Bible Knowledge Commentary” by Walvoord, Zuck (BKC)
“The Bible Exposition Commentary” by Warren Wiersbe (BEC)
Outline Bible, D Willmington (OB)
Willmington’s Bible Handbook, D Willmington (WBH)
NIV Study Bible (NIVSB) https://www.biblica.com/resources/scholar-notes/niv-study-bible/
Chronological Life Application Study Bible (NLT)
ESV Study Bible (ESVSB) https://www.esv.org
The Bible Project https://bibleproject.com
“Look at the Book” by John Piper (LATB)
“The Bible in One Year 2023 with Nicky Gumbel” bible reading plan on YouVersion app (BIOY)
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