Homiletic Magazine Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love… I. THE LOVE OF GOD TOWARDS US. "From everlasting to everlasting" is the love, like the existence, of the living God. Simple, childlike faith in this grand truth is an essential element in all personal religion (1 John 4:16). The life of the newborn soul may be said to begin with the uprising of this knowledge, this faith. II. THE PRACTICAL EXPRESSION OF GOD'S LOVE. 1. An external revelation (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9). Open your heart to the influence of the Cross of Calvary, comprehend in some measure the sacred sorrow of Him who there took the burden of our sins upon Him that He might bear them all away, and you can never doubt the "everlasting love" wherewith the Father loves you. 2. An internal force. Even in his Divine relations man is not a being to be compelled by resistless force to move in any path chosen for him, but one who is endowed with the wondrous power of yielding in response to persuasive influence a free and willing service (Hosea 11:4). That is the noblest kind of persuasive influence which appeals not so much to our fears as our desires, which awakens not terror but love. (Homiletic Magazine.) Parallel Verses KJV: The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. |
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