Today I should be able to finish my look at Salvation which as I have stated past is like having a large over size umbrella and under it having serval smaller ones. One of which is redemption the others are no less important as they are sanctification, obedience, justification, righteousness, holiness and godliness. If one reads the small book titled "Pilgrims Promise" within it these things are laid out nicely. Now for Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on GOD's Grace as received when we become One with our ascended LORD. And then I will look at Salvation Only through Christ, with the use of the ESV translation and as always should the LORD provide more light I will add it instantly.
"Still More on God's Ability and His Promises"
"For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2Timothy 1:12)
"A growing appreciation of GOD's ability produces in us an increasing tendency to rely upon GOD's promises. In this present meditation, we will be reminded of how our Relationship with the ascended Lord, Who is the Now LORD as seen in ancient times again restored to His original position is always at the heart of the Christian life. He is no longer the man Jesus and Messiah and Lord of an earthly walk for mans Redemption but is Now the LORD of mans Salvation for those who become His, as being One in unity with His. There by having both the Spirit of GOD and Christ in agreement with John 17.
The setting for Paul's "one verse testimony" was the suffering that he was experiencing. "For this reason I also suffer these things." The reason he suffered was related to his calling to preach the gospel, "to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles" (2Timothy 1:11). When the LORD first called Paul to serve Him with the good news of Grace, his future sufferings were addressed. "I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:16). Suffering is inevitable while serving GOD in an ungodly often hostile world. Jesus Himself was our example. "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps" (1Peter 2:21).
Although Paul suffered, he was not shamed by his suffering. "Nevertheless I am not ashamed. " If our suffering is for godly reasons, we likewise do not need to be ashamed. "If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify GOD in this matter" (1Peter 4:16). Because of faith Paul had to endure sufferings properly came from His growing Relationship with Jesus. "For I know Whom I have believed. " Since he originally believed in the LORD, Paul had become increasingly acquainted with Him. A wonderful consequence of increased intimacy with Christ is that we become increasingly convinced of His ability." This conviction covered every matter that Paul entrusted into the care of His Master. "He is able to keep what I have committed to Him." Also, it covered every day right up until the return of the LORD: "until that Day." Again, Jesus left us a similar example. He committed His daily situations into the hands of His able heavenly Father: "When He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously" (1Peter 2:23).
Salvation Only through Christ,
Luke 1:67-79, 2:25-32 (John the Baptist's) "His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, for He has visited and Redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of Salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the LORD to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our GOD, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
Luke 2:25-32 "There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the LORD's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed GOD and said, "LORD, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel."
The only door,
John 10:1-10 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by (means of, through) Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief (satan, anti-Christ, false prophet) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
The only Savior,
Acts 4:5-12 "The next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom you crucified, Whom GOD raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
His Grace our Sufficiency,
Acts 15:6-11 "The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days GOD made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And GOD, Who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as HE did to us, and HE made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed (purified, as in circumcision of) their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting GOD to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the Grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."
His blood Avails,
Romans 5:6-11 and 1Thessalonians 5:1-11 "While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but GOD shows His Love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified (made innocent, righteous) by His blood, much more shall we be saved (to save, make whole, to heal) by Him from the wrath of GOD. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to GOD by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled (made different by intensity), shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received reconciliation."
1Thessalonians 5:1-11 "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the LORD will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For GOD has not destined us for wrath, but ,to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."
For the Obedient,
Hebrews 5:5-10 "Christ did not exalt Himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by Him Who said to Him, "You are MY Son, today I have begotten You"; as HE says also in another place, "You are a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. Being made perfect, He became the source of Eternal Salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by GOD a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek."
At His coming,
Hebrews 9:23-28 "It was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifice than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of GOD on our behalf. Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the (this Israel only) age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the (satan) sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him."
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