Paul says, “… being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s to know that God is not difficult to get along with. He’s not making it hard for me; He’s not making it hard for you. He today wants you to know that He hasn’t anything against you now. You’ve trusted Christ, know you’re a sinner. The world may point its finger at you, reject you, but He’s accepted you. And He loves you. But may I say? He wants to give you that peace. Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God … those that are called according to his purpose.” How wonderful that is.

Why does a God of love permit cancer, you see? May I say to you, cancer is the consequence of sin. God did not give you cancer. Disease has come to man because of sin. Now the mercy of God, He sees the misery that sin has caused and the mercy of God goes out to men because of the consequence of sin. And God is rich in mercy. So if you come to Him as a sinner, accept His salvation, He’ll save you by grace. And then He’s rich in mercy. He’ll bring you comfort in that time. He’ll comfort your heart. He will help you and you can trust Him at a time like that.

So “God so loved the world,” and He loved the world with a merciful love, a love that had a concern and care for them. And because of that, He gave His only begotten Son. And now God, on the basis of this sinner not presenting anything to Him, but God now on a righteous basis can save him if he’ll come to Him and accept His salvation. And that’s called the grace of God. “By grace are ye saved.” Now you see the grace of God has to do with the sins of man. That is, God has provided a Savior who’s paid the penalty for sins. Now on that basis, God saves and that’s the grace of God.

Now the love of God is that He loves all of mankind. “God so loved the world.” It’s not His will that any should perish. And He today loves every human being, and He has no favorites at all. He made it very clear to Moses that He didn’t even answer His prayer because He was Moses. But God says, “I’ll show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” God says, “I do it because I find the explanation in Myself, I treat all My creatures alike in that sense.” So that God loves you today. And He loves you so much, if you and I today knew how much He loved us, actually, it’d break our hearts, we’d be in tears.

Today God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, they’ve got their eye on you. And if you’re His child today, they’re watching you; they’re taking care of you. And you say, “Well, my, why do all these things happen to me?” Well I ask that question sometimes myself. I don’t have the answer for it. But I do know this: He permits it and He does it for a purpose, though He doesn’t explain it to us now, but He will by and by. That’s going to be one of the wonders of heaven, I think, is that you and I are going to get some answers that we don’t get down here. That’s going to be a great day, friends. (6:07)

“At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all peoples of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.” Oh, this is the day of light that is come. And it will be glorious because God is putting many of us through, many of us, through the furnace, through trials. And I think that one of the glorious things about heaven will not be the golden streets, and it won’t be the fact He’s going to wipe away all tears. The glorious thing in heaven is going to be you and I are going to thank Him for every trial we had and every burden that He put upon us.

God says here, “I intend to take care of the afflicted and the poor.” And if you’ll notice, all the way through Scripture, we called attention to it before, the Lord always mentions the fact that He intends someday to see that the poor get an honest deal. That they will be treated right. And the only one in the world today who has a program for the poor is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you’re poor and needy, He’s the one to go to. He can help you, and He’s the only one that can.

Now even the great day of wrath is a judgment from God, but it has in it the love of God. You see, regardless of what takes place, God is love. It’s like that weathervane that we told you about that Spurgeon saw, the farmer had on his barn. And he had written on that weathervane “God is Love.” And Mr. Spurgeon said, “You mean God’s love is as variable as the weather?” And he said, “No, I don’t mean that. I mean that regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love.” And that, my friend, is true. Even in judgment, God is still a God of love.

Today it’s not what you see in Christ that’s important, it’s what God sees in Christ, and God sees in Him a Savior for this world—a Savior who adequately provided for the salvation of sinners so that He could see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. And God, this morning, is satisfied with what Jesus did. Are you? Are you satisfied with Him today? Oh, He wants you and He wants me to see in Christ all that we need as a Savior today.

What is your future tonight? What’s your hope? Are you living tonight sort of like an earthworm? You can’t even see ahead of you? You do not know what’s going to come to pass, and you’re looking into the future with fear? Not realizing what might happen, and anything could happen to any of us. We’re told “we know not what a day will bring forth.” But every child of God knows tonight that He has a Shepherd, and that he can never be taken out of the hands of his Shepherd, either in time or eternity. And that His Shepherd has a program for the future. I say to you tonight that gives hope to life, that gives purpose to life.