Loved with Everlasting Love Part 4

Loved with Everlasting Love Part 4 By Paris Reidhead* Father we are grateful for this privilege today of coming to Thy Word. We ask Thy blessing now on every one present. You know us. You know our needs. No two of us in the same place, no two of us with quite the same spiritual development. You’re dealing with each of us according to Your purpose to make us like Thy Son. Each of us needs something different. How grateful we are that Thou art sufficient for us. Thou art enough that’s Thy Name El Shaddai the God Who is enough and so we are looking to Thy today to fit a blessing to every heart. Every one whose come Father may there be meeting with Thy, not just with other people about Thee, but with Thee. May we see Thy face through the eyes of our heart. May we hear Thy voice and feel Thy touch and somehow sense this is more than time spent together. We ask it in Jesus Name and for His sake. Amen. Now we are talking about the sovereignty of God in Ephesians. And I open this four weeks ago today by saying the Bible does not teach systematic theology. The Bibles teaches responsibility and privilege. And then men will take certain verses of Scripture out of the context and gather them under headings. Well, that’s useful. It’s nice to find out what the Bible has to say about a given subject. Now we did not approach this on the basis of systematic theology. I’m not sure whether Brother James when he talked to me about this was rather hoping I might do that. I think not. Rather as I prayed about it, I felt we should approach it from the stand point of seeing how the Scripture teaches responsibility, how it teaches truth, how it teaches privilege. Now in Ephesians, I suppose this first chapter of Ephesians is one to which those considering or studying the sovereignty of God, will very frequently turn and rightly so because there is much in it that does deal with that subject. Look in verse 4, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” This obviously has to do with someone that’s in charge. You know when I went to the University Minnesota after Bible school in Minneapolis. I encounter some professors that were very, very well anti God. They were not just agnostic, but they were militant in their unbelief because I had come from Bible school because I was a young preacher, they rather had fun with me. And tried to, at least maybe I gave them occasion and they put a lot of pressure on me. And I recall wondering well maybe, just maybe there was something to what they said. These questions about the authority of the Scriptures and so on. Well, I started to read the Bible through again and let it speak for itself. And I started, I got to the first four words and I began to really think about it, “In the beginning God.” (Gen. 1:1) I never read any further than that at that particular exercise. I went further later in other times have previously and since, but in that particular exercise of trying to let the Bible speak for itself. Those four words really were enough. Just think for a moment, Someone who was before the beginning, Someone who thinks, feels and wills, who depends upon no one for His being, who looks to none other as the source of His being. I decided that if intellectually I was capable of accepting the first four words of the Bible, I would never have any problem with anything that followed. The stretch, the strain on the human mind, on the imagination, on the human spirit to accept the fact that one exists before the beginning, had no source other than Himself for His being, depending upon none for His being. One of the professors made quite a lot about Jonah being swallowed by a great fish. Why I concluded if Scripture had said that Jonah had swallowed the whale I’d still being able to accept it. After I had gone through the exercise of grasping and holding and accepting those first four words, “In the beginning God.” Well, now that God Who depends upon no one, Who absolutely needed none for to be complete or whole, He wasn’t sustained by any other this God, “before the foundation of the world” exercised His sovereign prerogatives. He chose for Himself a people, “according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” Now you’re dealing with sovereignty there. You’re deal with Someone Who reigns, Who rules, Who governs, Who chooses and doesn’t ask anyone to council Him or advise Him. I think you get the feeling there that here is Someone that’s able to make that. Then in the fifth verse, “Having predestinated those who He chose unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” (Eph. 1:5) It sounds like sovereignty does it not? I’ll tell you, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.” There’s One Who is in charge and in verse 9, “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.” (Eph. 1:9) You’re talking about sovereignty. He didn’t consult with any committee. He didn’t ask for advice. [Comment by the audience] He’s in charge. That’s what He is saying, He is in charge. And in verse 11, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” (Eph. 1:11) That sounds pretty strong, doesn’t it? It’s amazing. There you’ve got it. That’s what we are talking about. Now having seen that, we have to establish what this is all about. We have to realize that there’s purpose in this, there’s reason, ultimate purpose in this, verse 5, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, to the praise of the glory of his grace,” (Eph. 1:5,6) His sovereignty has an end and the end is “the praise of the glory of his grace.” And again in the next section says that “we are accepted in the beloved.” In other words, verse 4 and 5 tell us that “before the foundation of the world,” the Father planned and His purposed that it should be to “the praise of the glory of his grace.” And in verses 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 and 10 and 11 it says, in the fullness of time the Son provided or accomplished or bought everything that the Father purposed. So God as Father purposed our salvation, God as Son provided our salvation to the praise as we see in verse 12 that we should “be to the praise of His glory.” Now, in the next portion verses 13 and 14 we are talking about God the Holy Spirit and God the Spirit is going to ‘perfect.’ I like to use the alliteration, ‘Perfect’ in us make real in us everything the Father purposed and the Son provided and in the 14th verse, “Unto the praise of his glory.” So now, we are talking sovereignty. You’ve seen it. You’ve felt it. I think it grips your heart. Here is a sovereign upon a throne Who reigns and rules. But I want you to notice that this sovereignty is extended to sinners. If you’ll like to turn to Acts chapter 17 and verse 30 it is a rather interesting thing. Acts 17:30. The Apostle is talking about Mars hill and he is talking with the philosophers. And in that 30th verse, “but now God commandeth all men every where to repent.” (Act 17:30) That’s a sovereign speaking, isn’t it. That’s His message to the sinner. “God commanded all men every where to repent.” Why? Because He as sovereign “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Act 17:31) “God commands men to repent.” And in Luke chapter 13, verses 3 and 5 the Lord Jesus is talking to that group that are questioning Him about certain current events. And asked Him what did He think about the fact that Caesar, Pilate’s soldiers had gone into the temple and had taken someone going in there for sanctuary, a tower had fallen on some and had killed them, and chapter 13, verses 3 and 5, “Verily I say, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3) That’s a sovereign speaking. But notice the change in approach to the sinner “God commandeth all men every where to repent.” What’s His attitude? What’s His approach to the child of God? Turn to Romans chapter 12, verses 1 & 2, you’ll see a tremendous change in the way God speaks. This is the apostle, but the apostle is speaking by the inspiration and behind the apostle is the Lord Jesus. The same apostle who say, “God commandeth all men every where to repent,” might have said God commandeth all of His children to present their bodies, but He didn’t. Notice the change once you’re in the family, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” (Rom. 12:1) To sinners God commandeth! To the saints, He beseechs. Same Sovereign. He’s lost none of His sovereignty, none of His authority. But He is talking to His children. He is talking to those that have been brought out of death into life. Those that have been made partakers of His nature and so now this same Sovereign exercises His sovereignty to change His approach. Does He have a right to do that? Or are we going to be sovereign and say since You’re sovereign You have to do it the way we think a sovereign should do it. But then who is claiming sovereignty in that case? The person who says God has to because God did it this way with sinner He has to do it this way with His children. Who is the sovereign? We are. No, no. We can’t, we can’t. We aren’t sovereign all we are is just disciples, learners, students. We find out how He does it. We don’t tell He how to do it. So when He says that His approach to His children is not going to be one of commanding, but one of entreating and beseeching. Does that mean He is less consider with His children than He was with sinners? Not at all. Does that mean we should take it lightly? Certainly sinners should not take lightly the fact that “God commandeth all men every where to repent.” Should the saints take lightly the fact that His says, “I beseech you...that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,” because He changes? In His sovereign will from commanding to entreating, does that diminish the importance? Only for little minds only for those that can only move by the whip never by the heart. For those who have been born into the Father’s family, when they see the apostle, as it were, standing there pointing to the nail wounds in the hands of the Lord Jesus and he says, “By these mercies in the hands of the Son of God Who died for you, He beseechs you that you present your body.” That becomes extremely important not something to be taken lightly, but something that should be held. Now so in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15, we’ve had these statements of His sovereignty 4,5,9,and 11. Now, in verse 15 notice the change that occurs, “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.” (Eph. 1:15,16) They’ve repented, they’ve been born of the Spirit of God. They have the witness in change life and love to the saints. Evidently, there was a real work, genuinely done. You’d say, well look, Paul, hey we’re saved! If we die we’re going to go to heaven. Isn’t that the big thing to get people out of hell? Isn’t that what this is all about? And Paul says, “When I discovered that you were pardoned, when I found out you were justified, when I was satisfied that you’d been genuinely repented, had genuinely repented and gave evidences that you had been born of God, I put you on my prayer list.” Just about the time you get off of everybody else’s you got onto his. Why? You see God’s purpose wasn’t to save people out of hell. He had another purpose “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” (Eph. 1:4) That’s what the Sovereign decided. And that these children should be like Christ. That’s what He decided. They should grow up in all things like Christ. Not that they should just have a hell insurance policy with the premises paid up in advance. That wasn’t the purpose of it all. But it was the people should be transformed made, remade in the image and likeness of God’s dear Son. So that He set His Sovereignty made a point of saying, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate” What? “To be conformed to the image of his Son,” That’s what He predestinated. (Rom. 8:28,29) That we be like Christ! So he’s telling these people in Ephesus, hey you got to understand God sent His Sovereignty to make you like Christ. He purposed you’d be like Christ. That’s where the Sovereignty of God is sent. “Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world” we should be “holy and without blame before him in love.” Now these people that had worshiped at the statue of Diana in immorality, in bestiality, every kind of dark and evil thing, Ephesian gentiles, they’ve now come to Christ. They’ve been awaken. They’ve been convicted. They’ve repented. They’ve savingly embrace the Son of God, they have the witness of the spirit within and of a changed life without. And Paul said, “I’m praying for you. I’m praying for you.” Whole attitude changes now. The same Sovereign God has sovereignly determined that with His children He is going to entreat, He is going to intercede and pray. Why, in fact, His Son is at the right hand of the Father making intercession for them who come to God by Him, for the redeemed. And He is praying for them and we know what He is praying. That as He is, so will we be in the world, that we will be conformed to image of Christ. That’s what He’s praying. So here the apostle says, John says in the 17th chapter says, I am not praying for the world. I’m praying for them You’ve given me out of the world that they maybe in union even as we are in union they maybe in union. So the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding, for whom? For us, for the believers, for the redeemed. Now this is the beginning here in the 15th verse is the first of the New Testament prayers. The first of the seven prayers of Paul and Paul is echoing the intercessory ministry of Christ at the right hand of the Father. This was written long before John 17 was. In fact, the Gospel of John probably wasn’t written until 85 AD maybe 95 AD. Fifty or sixty years after the accession of Christ and this was written half way. And so Paul, he’s praying for them. But I want you to go to another verse. I want you to go to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3. You see because God changes, oh every one of us all very, very clear in our minds about what Acts 17:30 says, “God commandeth all men every where to repent.” I have no question about that, “because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world.” What about all this sweetness and light? What about all this beseeching and imploring? Are there any teeth in it? Does this sovereign God put teeth into this? He changes after, but is there any teeth in it? [Comment from the audience] Alright. But what about the sin of having the Word and not believing it? What about the sin of knowing truth and not practicing it? What about the sin of having light and not walking in it? What about the sin of indifference? Not the sins that are of the world sins, but “him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it’s sin.” (Jas. 4:17) What about the sin of unconcern? Look what the writer of Hebrews said. You know in the first chapter he said, “God spoke to us in times past by the prophets and now He has spoken unto us by his Son.” (Heb. 1:1,2) And says, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard,—from the Son—for if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.” (Heb. 2:1-3) Now this salvation is not salvation from the penalty of sin. See the word salvation is a very big word in the Scripture. In fact, you could say, I have been saved, I was saved, I am being saved, and I shall be saved. Those are all Scripture expressions. I have been saved from the purpose of sinning I repented. I was saved from the penalty of sin I received Christ as my substitute, my Lord and Savior. I am being saved from the power of sin by His life. I shall be saved from the presents of sin. Now the Scripture puts salvation all those different tenses. So when it says here “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;” He’s not talking to sinners. He’s not talking to sinner at all. He’s talking to the saints. He says, “God commandeth all men every where to repent,” because “He hath appointed a day...in which he will judge the world.” But what the writer of Hebrews is saying, “Do you think dear child of God that all of this that the Father purposed before the foundation of the world, that the Son provided and the Holy Spirit is ready to perfect in you of such little importance that you can neglect it and not be have a lost for the neglect?” I remember once, they heard me speaking at a Bible Conference. They said, “You know, Brother, I’m not going to come any more. I’m saved. When I die, I’ll go to heaven. I know my sins are forgiven. And I know that there a lot of people that are eager. They want something else, they want something different, and they want something better. But I believe the Bible teaches that the main work of Christ was to keep people out of hell and I know if I die I won’t go to hell. And I got everything I am interested in Christ to get. So I’m not coming to any of your meetings, you made me up set.” I had to say, “Well, I think that’s smart on your part. If I had that attitude, I’ll do the same thing, because ‘if you know to do good and you don’t to it,’ that’s going to add guilt to you. Of course, if you know what the truth is and you don’t go where you can hear it, that isn’t so good either. That’s your decision not mine.” He was very honest, very straight forward. He said, “There’s a plateau up there where the eager can go. There is something called a deeper life or higher life, or some other.” But he said, “For most of us once we get know that when we die we’re going to go to heaven, that’s what it’s all about. That’s all we’re interested in.” Is that what the whole thing is about? Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from hell and take them to heaven when they die. Is that what the angels say? No. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21) “To know to do good, and do it not, it is a sin.” It’s one of the things that He wants to save us from. In other words, light brings responsibility. These people, they’ve been awaken, they’ve been convicted, they’ve been brought to repentance these people in Ephesians. They had the evidence that they have been born of God and the apostle said, “As I found out all that I started to pray for you.” Hey, that’s important to realize when the apostle became concerned. That’s when he became concerned for them and that’s when he started to pray. “I cease not to make mention of you in prayers.” I’m praying for you, in other words. “I’m going to be concerned enough to just continuously hold you up.” You see this sovereign, this sovereign God we been studying, He may entreat His children to care for that which He purposed and He planned. He may entreat them, but He’s going to hold them responsible. You see, apparently, I understand it at least, when sinners die, they will appear before the Great White Throne, where they’ll discover and they’re not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And “they will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” and go off into that place of eternal estrangement from God. When the saints die at that day, they will appear also, but not at the same tribunal. The Great White Throne is reserved for the ones whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The ones who have been born of God and who have been redeemed are going to appear before someplace else, that’s the Bema, the Judgement Seat of Christ, where everyone maybe receive of the things he’s done in his body whether they be bad or good. And only those whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life only those who have been redeemed will go to the Bema. And the Bema, that place where rewards are given out is the place where we are going to give an account of what we have done with our lives since we came to know Christ. [Tape break] ...It would be in a sense a sin. Certainly it would be rude. It would be unnecessary. It would be, “I don’t have to do it.” There is provision for me not to do it. But I stand here and I mutilate this nice desk. I pound a nail into it. That’s what a Christian does when he sins. He mutilates something that the Lord’s made whole, made complete. “Past sins are gone remembered against us no more forever,” but now having become a child of God, he mutilates it, pounds a nail into it. (Heb. 8:12) Now in repentance and in confession the child of God, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” (I John 1:9) We judge it, we forsake it, and the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sins and we pull the nail out. We pull the nail out. But did we pull the hole out? Ah. The hole is going to be there. Oh, you can plug it with paste and forget about it. You examine that you’ll find that there’s a hole in that wood and at the Bema all the nail holes are going to be exposed. And that’s going to be rough and that’s going to be rough. And that means there will be, there will be nail holes. Or to take another image it’s like weaving the warp and the woof and the shuttle goes back and forth, but soon it goes empty where the tread breaks. Well, when at the Bema, the life is unrolled the sins will have been forgiven, pardoned, but the break in the weaving will be there. We are going to receive, pardon... [Comment from the audience] Well, certainly yes. You see God’s purpose in grace is to make us like Christ. He realizes we are flesh. He remembers our frame. He knows we are dust. “Therefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all of them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25) A child of God, a true child of God, someone born into the Father’s family may fall into sin, but the Scripture says, “Whosoever is born of God does not keep on practicing sin; because God’s seed remaineth in him: and he can’t continue to practice sin.” (I John 3:9) He’s done it, but he’s judged it, he’s forsaken it, he’s confessed it, and the blood of Jesus has forgiven him. Now he’s going to appear before the Bema and he’s going to receive the deeds done in the body whether they be bad or good. And obviously we are going to be responsible for all the bad we did that we didn’t have to do if we had availed ourselves of His grace. We’re going to be responsible for all the good we did by His grace. We are going to be responsible for all that we could have been if we had availed ourselves of His grace and all we could have done. So the apostle when he’s talking to these people at Ephesus instead of letting them be content. They’re in the vestibule. They’re in the front hall. They have been born of God. They’re in His house and they’re not going to freeze to death in the storm. They’re not going to be destroyed. They’re not outside anymore. What he is saying to them is this, listen, dear, dear children of God, babes in Christ; I want you to realize how much more the Father has than just a vestibule at the front door. Sure, you’re in the house, but He has got all these other rooms of blessing filled with blessing for you. But you’ve got to want those blessings. You see, “God commands sinners to repent.” He entreats the believers to present their bodies and He suggests that if they want the Holy Spirit will open the eyes... “God will give them the Spirit of wisdom revelation and the knowledge of Christ, that the eyes of their understanding maybe open; that they may know” what the Father purposed and the Son provided. (Eph. 1:17,18) Do you see the difference? This is a sovereign God, who Sovereignly decides to do it this way and who are we to say He made an error. And just because He doesn’t scourge us and whip us, because we don’t ask the “Spirit of God be unto us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.” Just because He doesn’t take a club to us because we don’t “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” Just because He doesn’t immediately twist our arms and say, Listen, don’t know that “the eyes of your understanding can be open you can know the things that God has prepared for them that love Him.” Why are you so indifferent? Let go of my arm, don’t twist my arm, Lord. Well, the Lord is not going to twist anybody’s arm. He’s dealing with children. He is dealing with people born into His family. He’s dealing with His own. Now He’s taking that attitude toward the sinners, but not to the saints. He’s dealing with His children. So what he saying to the people at Ephesus is this, I know you’re in the vestibule, I know you are so happy that you’re secure from God’s wrath, you’re so grateful that your forgiven, but God has this marvelous house. He knew everything you were going to need to be everything that He wanted and so He planned everything for you, He purposed everything for you before the foundation of the world. And then in the fullness of time, His Son came along provided everything that the Father purposed and now the God the Holy Spirit is willing to work in you everything that the Father purposed and the Son provided. But now He asked for your heart felt cooperation. He wants you to join with Him. You see the difference? Oh, it is such a difference. Now you say, Why did He do it that way? If He had done it the other way. Boy, I would have really taken it to heart. Let me ask you, You know something true me, true of you, true of all of us, we are just as holy as we want to be today. We are just as Christ like as we want to be. We are just as spiritual as we want to be. We are just as mature as we want to be. We are the sum of our desires up until today. Now let me ask you, Do you feel that the Father is finished with you? See, one day we are going to awaken in the likeness of His Son, Christ. Do you feel He is finished with you? Hey, I don’t. I don’t know you well enough to be able to say about you. I know me well enough to say about me. And I know He has a lot of work to do. I thank God that I am not what I use to be. I’m sorry that I’m not what I want to be by this time and I’ve committed myself to make myself totally and completely available to Him. To do everything He wants to do to make me what He wants me to be, because I realize He is much more interested in what I am than what I do. He is more interested in the minister than the ministry. [Inaudible] He is more interested in the laborer than the labor. You’re His main concern not what you are doing, but what you are. So, he is saying to these people that he is praying for ... behind him is the Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father and He is praying for you and He is praying for you by name. What’s He asking? “That the eyes of your understanding will be open.” That you will cry, “Father, open the eyes of my understanding that I may know. Give unto me the Spirit of Wisdom and the Spirit of revelation” will show me what the Father planned and purposed and what the Son provided. And as the Spirit of Wisdom He will show me how to appropriate and use what the Father purposed and what the Son provided. So as long as we’re in time, we have a whole new week. It’s that thrilling. God has at least brought us to Sunday. I hope I’ll see you all next Lord’s day, but He has at least brought us to today. You know what that ought to mean that begin today we ought to say, Lord I want this week to be the week of the greatest spiritual progress in my life. “Open the eyes of my understanding.” Lord become unto me blessed Holy Spirit the Spirit of Wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Christ of what the Father purposed and the Son provided. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.” (I Cor. 2:9,10) Oh, blessed Holy Spirit reveal unto me, reveal unto me what you want me to appropriate. What you want me to be. That’s the tenderness of it. There is a sovereign God now who is stooped in His sovereignty to wait for you and wait for me. It’s that marvelous. That this wonderful sovereign that reigns and rules and governs the universe should wait for us to get through with our toys and our games and our silly little pounding of nails here and there, breaking of the tread that mar the fabric to rob Him of the praise and the glory of His grace. He’ll forgive us. He’ll pardon us. I don’t want to go on doing that until my last days, do you? When we were a young couple, our first child, we had a playpen. It was great. I use to think my wife ought to get into it and leave the children outside. We put the kids in it. She needed the protection not them. I always wondered why we gave them vitamins and we took tranquilizers. It ought to be the other way around. But still Paul said in effect, a free translation, “I don’t want to go to my to the Bema dragging a playpen filled with spiritual infants, who have been there for 30, 40 or 50 years. I don’t want to be responsible for having bought into the world and take into heaven a lot of people that were born and then never grew after that. I want you to grow up into Christ in all things so ‘we all come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ unto a mature man.’” (Eph. 4:13) We have everything the Father planned and purposed. One day we’re going to go home. The Father will take us down to the warehouse of His glory that He filled before the foundation of the world. He opens a draw with your name on it. You know something, when He opens mine I’ll like to look into it and find the cupboard is bare. There isn’t one thing that He planned and purposed that I didn’t appropriate in You. Wouldn’t you hate to go there and find shelf, after shelf, after shelf filled with blessings that He prepared to help you through the trip through time and you didn’t care enough to even...It’s like getting a pink sheet from the Post Office parcel. You let them accumulate and you don’t even go to the Post Office to find out what someone is sending you. Well, that’s another aspect, that’s the next cupboard. This was the cupboard, this was the cupboard of blessing and that’s the cupboard of things He has counted and saved for us to lay at His feet. Now we talk about the first...I’ll tell you friend if you don’t empty this first cupboard, you’re probably not have much in the second. It is only as we avail ourselves of the provisions of His grace in our lives can be fruitful to His glory. Well there you go, Sovereign, He reigns, He rules and He decides how to do it and He is just as much sovereign when He beseeches you as when He commands of you. Father, we asked Thy blessing now upon this Thy people. You know us, You see us, You find us where we are and we ask Lord that Thou would be pleased this week to stir our hearts with a new hungry and a new yearning and a new longing to be like Christ. We’ll not be satisfied with ourselves until He is satisfied with us. “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering,” is the cry of our hearts today. (Rev. 5:12) In Jesus Name. Amen. * Reference such as: Delivered at the 4th Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, MD on Sunday Morning, September 5, 1982 by Paris W. Reidhead, Pastor. ©PRBTMI 1982

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Loved with Everlasting Love Part 4

Paris Reidhead

Paris Reidhead (1919 - 1992)

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