For Christ also suffered once for sins,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
to bring you to God.
1 PETER 3:18
To bring us to God! Isn’t that the ultimate? The Psalmist longed for that, with single-minded devotion actively seeking to dwell in the house of the Lord, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. PSALM 27:4
Fortunately, it’s not just up to us. The God we worship is continuously looking throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 CHRONICLES 16:9
Jonathan Edwards, as only his mind could do, beautifully articulated several of the benefits we receive in being brought to God through Christ.
The first effect that is produced in the soul, whereby it is carried above what it has or can have by nature, is to cause it to relish or taste the sweetness of the Divine relation.
When the soul is brought to relish the excellency of the Divine nature, then it will naturally, and of course, incline to God every way.
It will incline to be with Him and to enjoy Him.
It will have benevolence (disposition to do good) to God.
It will be glad that He is happy.
It will incline that He should be glorified, and that His will should be done in all things.
So that the first effect of the power of God in the heart in REGENERATION, is to give the heart a Divine taste or sense; to cause it to have a relish of the loveliness and sweetness of the supreme excellency of the Divine nature; and indeed this is all the immediate effect of the Divine Power that there is, this is all the Spirit of God needs to do, in order to a production of all good effects in the soul.
Be praying for Randall Gruendyke as he reminds us of what Christ has done for us….
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.
In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. 1 PETER 3:18-22
Leave a Reply