We Must Always Resort to Christ

"We must gather that to profit much in the holy Scripture we must always resort to our Lord Jesus Christ and cast our eyes upon him, without turning from him at any time.  You will see a number of people who labor very hard indeed at reading the holy Scriptures – they do nothing else but turn over the leaves of it…. And why?  Because they do not have any particular aim in view, they only wander about …. [A]lthough they have gathered together a number of sentences of all sorts, yet nothing of value results from them.  Even so it is with them that labor in reading the Holy Scriptures and do not know which is the point they ought to rest on, namely, the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

  (John Calvin, Sermon on Ephesians 2:19-22, 1559) 

Radiant Promise of Ephesians 2

Ephesians 2:4-8 - "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God"


What a potent injection of the gospel! Straight into the bloodstream!

Our utter depravity--our deadness. Due to our trespass. But! God, rich in mercy and love, creates a means by which he shows us the immeasurable riches of his grace, namely through Christ. Raised us up with him. Seated us with him. And best of all, it is not our doing. God fulfills the covenant through Christ. Really?! because of his great love towards me, through the death of his beloved son, the infinite omnipotent God will show me the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness?

It is the gift of God....I mean I just got a pretty sick authentic throwback Hester jersey...but uh, I'll take Ephesians 2 please.