Series
Rev. Jerry Hamstra
The Book of Esther
The Book of Esther
Sermons
Rev. Jerry Hamstra
Introduction to Acts
Introduction to Acts

Sermons

Genesis 15

Read: Genesis 15

“And one of the promises that is most difficult to believe is that how God could ever forgive us for our sins and accept us as his people. Once the grace of God shows us even a little bit of how incredibly evil our sins really are, the thing that will seem to be most impossible of all is how God could ever do anything else but banish us from his presence forever. That God is willing to forgive us and embrace us as his beloved people is perhaps the most impossible thing of all once we understand even a little bit of what our sin must look like to God.
And then the covenant oath becomes very precious. And then our baptism becomes very precious because our baptism is the sign and seal of the covenant for those who have fled to Jesus for refuge.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Believing, Confessing, Preaching and Hearing

“In the formality of setting aside preachers and in the formality of preaching by those officially set apart, the greatness and the power of the king are emphasized as well as the submissive attitude of the hearers. Behind the official preaching of the word is God himself and the message comes with his authority. The congregation is gathered before the king to receive his word. And that is the context in which faith is normally born and grows. Faith is not something that we discover. It is a response to a message from the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And it is a message of good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Christ the End of the Law

Read: Romans 10

“But what Paul is emphasizing here is the fact that one of the key purposes of God’s law is to lead us to Christ and Paul expresses that here by saying that Christ is the end of the law. God’s law shows us how sinful we are so that we will see that we need Christ’s righteousness in order to be saved. And if we understand that clearly and we are trusting in Christ, we can sing, “It is well with my soul.” That is a wonderful practical result of understanding the different ways the law is intended to function in the lives of believers.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

God’s Sovereign Prerogative in Salvation and Damnation

Read: Romans 9

“Our God is a surprising God. He does not conform to our ideas of how a God should act and pursue his purposes. And much of what he does is designed to humble us, to put us in our place and to prick the bubble of our pretentiousness and our pride. The way of salvation that God has designed is offensive to us in many ways. This is by design. The way of salvation through Jesus is designed to be a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.””
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Life in the Spirit, Future Glory and God’s Everlasting Love

Read: Romans 8

“An unsaved person, who is ruled by his sinful nature, sets his mind on the things of the flesh. A saved person, because of the work of the Holy Spirit within him, sets his mind on the things of the Spirit. This is an important self-examination verse. Indeed, this is an important self-examination section because Paul is describing the difference between a person who is not saved – that is still in the flesh – and a person who is saved - who is being changed by the Holy Spirit.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

The Law and the Christian

Read: Romans 7

“Our sinful nature is provoked to sin by the law because we are rebellious at heart. If we see a law, we want to trample it. But that is also the way that God brings us to see how sinful we are. Once we understand how the law provokes us to sin we come to see how profoundly sinful we are, and we realize that we are dead in sin and that we need to be made alive to God which of course is exactly what God does to us through our union with Christ when we believe.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

A Natural Question Profoundly Answered

Read: Romans 6

“The good news is not only that we are forgiven and accepted as righteous by God through faith in Jesus Christ. The good news is just as much that the power of sin over us is broken. A huge part of what is good about the good news is that we are set free from the power of sin in our lives when we believe in Jesus. The problem with sin is not just that it makes us liable to God’s punishment. The problem with sin is also that sin is destructive and dehumanizing and devastating. Sin takes away from our joy and our happiness and our quality of life in the deepest sense. And so, it is a huge part of the good news that believers are released from the slavery to sin and to Satan.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Celebration and Theology (go together)

Read: Romans 5

“Now given the fact that Christ gave his life for us while we were his enemies, we can be all the more confident that he will save us in the end now that we have been reconciled to God. Given the fact that Christ gave his life for us while we were fighting against him, we can be sure that we will be saved by his life. It is wonderfully true that Christ’s life saves us as well as his death. But the point the Paul is emphasizing at this point is since Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us while we were his enemies, we can be absolutely sure that we will be saved in the future.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

The Importance of Faith in Salvation

Read: Romans 4

“A clear understanding of this idea that we are counted righteous on the basis of Christ’s righteousness and not on our own obedience is crucial for our confidence that we are right with God and that God therefore accepts us and is looking upon us in favor. If assurance of God’s favor was based upon our works, we could only have assurance if we were perfect. That means that there can be no assurance if our acceptance with God is based on our works. But if we understand the gospel we can have that assurance because Jesus’ work is perfect, and his perfect righteousness is credited to us.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Sin and Grace

Read: Romans 3

“All that talk about our sin and guilt and our inability to keep the law and to be justified by law-keeping – all that negative stuff paves the way for this message that we can be free from our sin and guilt and in God’s good books by receiving righteousness as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. There is nothing more precious in all the world than being right with God and we can have that without earning it, just by receiving it by faith.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra