Sometimes I have to kick back and wonder just how many people actually know and understand the transformation that GOD brought about that the book of Acts bears the witness of. From my observations not vary many. Even through some have read their Bible as a book for many many years. Indicating to me one that for them it is just literature or they have not the Spirit or put another way they have not the Bible's author indwelling them. Maybe they lack faith, the very key that unlocks the secret gems and finds the treasure of gold within it's pages. Okay enough, now for Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on Grace and then my subject for today, Salvation GOD's Gift. And has become my norm I will use the ESV translation for my outline with the LORD's help. Before I get into my subject and because of the subject of Pastor Hoekstra's subject matter I am going to add another of his insightful teachings dealing with the Law, in place of my own.
"Reflections on Obedience by God's Grace"
"For (this is satan's) sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under Grace . . . that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 6:14 and 8:4)
"Before we leave this vital subject of obedience, let's reflect upon how it is related to GOD's Grace. Various key passages that we have examined previously can help us accomplish this goal.
Romans 6:14 is such a passage. Herein, we are told how to get out from under the domination of satan's sin. "For sin shall not have dominion over you." Anyone who is ruled by sin is living in disobedience. Sin and disobedience are virtually synonymous, as they are the very nature and character of Satan. Grace is the path of deliverance from disobedience. "For you are not under law but under Grace." Sin is transgression of the law of God. The law can call us to the holy standards of GOD, but the Law of Moses cannot help us to obey those perfect standards. "For the law made nothing perfect" (Hebrews 7:19). Grace is GOD's resource for us to find forgiveness of sin (thus rescuing us from the dominating penalty of satan's sin): "In Him we have Redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace" (Ephesians 1:7). Grace is also GOD's Strength for living daily in victory over sin (thereby rescuing us from dominating influence of satan's sin hold): "Be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2Timothy 2:1).
Romans 8:4 is another passage that indicates the connection between obedience and Grace. The opening words address a primary reason why Christ died on the cross: "that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us." It is GOD's desire that the holy demands of the law be increasingly lived out in our lives. This would amount to a life of obedience. The Law of Moses itself could never produce this. "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, GOD did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of (satan's) sin: He condemned sin in the flesh" (Roman 8:3). Did you catch that, He condemned Satan's sin in mans flesh. What GOD's law could not do (because of man's inability to live up to it), GOD did through His Son. Now, by means of all that Christ has provided for us, obedience is available to us. Who is it that experiences this available obedience? Those who "do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Christians who face each day by the flesh only access the carnal resources of natural man. On the other hand, those who address the daily issues of life in dependency upon the Spirit draw upon the Grace resources of a supernatural GOD."
"God's Children by God's Promises"
"For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise . . . Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise." (Galatians 4:22-23, 28)
"Our GOD is a God of promises. He characteristically works by making and fulfilling promises. We are His children. We are children of promise. We were birthed spiritually into GOD's family through faith in His promises. Two sons of Abraham (Ishmael and Isaac) provide a vivid contrast that attests our sonship by promise.
GOD had promised to make Abraham a mighty nation, through which would come the Messianic seed that would bless all nations. "I will make you a great nation . . . and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-2). Yet, the years passed by, and Abraham was still without a son. Eventually, he implied to God that his servant would have to be the beginning of this promised seed. "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house (Eliezer, his servant) is my heir! " (Genesis 15:3). However, the LORD clarified His promise to give Abraham a true son, sired from his own body. "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir" (Genesis 15:4). As time passed, the aging couple decided that they would have to come up with another alternative for God. "Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children . . . So Sarai said to Abram, 'See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived" (Genesis 16:1-2, 4). Thus, Ishmael was born as the result of Abraham's and Sarah's ingenuity: "he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh."
Thereafter, the LORD reiterated His promise of a son. "My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year" (Genesis 17:21). As GOD promised, so He did. "And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken" (Genesis 21:1). Thus, Isaac was birthed as a result of GOD's promises. This is a picture of the only possible way that we could ever have become GOD's children, by His fulfilling of His promises. "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise."
From this point on from Pastor Hoekstra's writings I will share these as I believe that you get the picture of how we become obedient through GOD's working in us, when we have become Christ centered.
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