37 lines
4.1 KiB
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37 lines
4.1 KiB
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Day By Day By Grace — Bob Hoekstra</title>
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Day By Day By Grace
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Bob Hoekstra
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June 5
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<h1>God Working in Us unto Obedience</h1>
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<div class="block"><i>Work out your own salvation with <b>fear</b> and <b>trembling</b>; <b>for</b> it is <b>God</b> who <b>works in you both</b> to <b>will</b> and to <b>do</b> for <b>His good pleasure</b>.</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Phl', 2, '12-13');">Philippians 2:12-13</a>)</div>
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<p>We have been considering how God wants us to grow in obedience to His will. The lordship of Jesus makes disobedience unacceptable. <i>"But why do you call Me '<b>Lord</b>, <b>Lord</b>,' and <b>do not do</b> the things which I say?"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Luk', 6, '46-46');">Luke 6:46</a>). Also, our Lord taught His early disciples to instruct all future disciples about obedience: <i>"<b>teaching</b> them to <b>observe all things</b> that I have commanded you"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Mat', 28, '20-20');">Matthew 28:20</a>). Our present passage offers profound insight by describing <b>God working in us unto obedience</b>. <i>"It is <b>God</b> who <b>works in you both</b> to <b>will</b> and to <b>do</b> for <b>His good pleasure</b>."</i></p>
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<p>This subject is introduced by a call to <i>"work <b>out</b> your own salvation."</i> Notice, we are not called to work <b>for</b> our salvation. Salvation is a gift of God's grace, freely received by faith. <i>"For by <b>grace</b> you have been <b>saved</b> through <b>faith</b>, and that <b>not</b> of <b>yourselves</b>; it is the <b>gift</b> of God, <b>not</b> of <b>works</b>, lest anyone should boast"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Eph', 2, '8-9');">Ephesians 2:8-9</a>). Still, this gift of salvation (that now resides within us by grace) is to be worked out (developed outwardly) unto an obedient life, a life that fulfills <i>"<b>His good pleasure</b>."</i></p>
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<p>This calling is to be approached in <i>"<b>fear</b> and <b>trembling</b>."</i> Initially, our approach may be one of unabashed self-confidence. Eventually, we begin to understand that we must respond in <i>"<b>fear</b>"</i> (a reverential awe) and <i>"<b>trembling</b>"</i> (a profound sense of inadequacy). The next phrase explains why we are to engage this responsibility with such unusual attitudes: <i>"<b>for</b> it is <b>God</b> who <b>works in you</b>."</i> If the salvation that God has placed in our inner man is to become a visible walk that pleases Him, it will always be a result of us allowing Him to do an ongoing work deep within us. <i>"I will put My law <b>in their minds</b>, and write it <b>on their hearts</b>…you are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, <b>of the heart</b>"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Jer', 31, '33-33');">Jeremiah 31:33</a> and <a onClick="return mV('2Cr', 3, '3-3');">2 Corinthians 3:3</a>). This is the wonder of true Christian living. It is based upon God working within our hearts.</p>
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<div class="dbdbg_prayer">Dear Lord, I praise You for the precious gift of salvation You have poured into my heart. I earnestly desire that this gift be worked outwardly unto a life that is pleasing to You. Lord, please touch and shape the depths of my heart that I may obey You in all things, in Jesus' name, Amen.</div>
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