Turn with me again to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, I'm entitled to this message, The Love of God Shed Abroad. The love of God that shed abroad. Let's begin our reading here in verse 6. He says, For when we were yet without strength, In due time, Christ died for, notice this very specific group of people, the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love, God manifested. Another way to say that, God manifested, God made known His love toward us. He commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then. There's more. You always get those commercials where they say, they give you this, and there's more. Listen, there's much more here. That's great, but there's much more, much more than being now justified by His blood. Listen, we shall be saved. Saved from what? From the wrath, from wrath through Him. For if we, for if when we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life and not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now right now you believe right now right now right now you've received something you've received the reconciliation You've received what his blood has purchased. You have received it by faith, the reconciliation. Now, as we've seen in this book of Romans thus far, we have seen the cause of justification. The cause of justification is not rooted in man. There is nothing good in man. There is no way a man can justify himself. Paul makes that clear. So the root cause of justification is the faith of Jesus Christ. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ. That is the root of our justification. The cause of it. Then we have seen the means by which we receive it is faith in Jesus Christ. which we know is a gift of God, for by grace you are saved through faith, and that faith not of yourselves, it is a gift of God and not of works, lest any man should boast. We were given the grace of faith by the power of the Spirit, but now that we have believed, this is where he is jumping off in chapter, He begins in chapter 3 again. He tells us how the believer is to live now that we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He says the just shall live by faith. He tells us how to live. What's the rule of our life? If it's not the law, what is it, Paul? The just shall live by faith. And you get into chapter 4 and he gives Abraham as the illustration, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Well that wasn't written just for him, that was written for us too. We who believe God, listen, it is imputed unto us to righteousness. And then in chapter 5 we begin to see the blessings of justification. We saw the cause, we saw how it is we received it, we saw how the believer should live, now then we saw an illustration of it, and now Paul testifies in chapter 5 the blessings of being justified. Being justified by faith we have what? Peace with God. You have peace with God. You believe on Christ. You have it now. You have peace with God. You didn't earn it. You didn't merit it. We saw that that's by the blood of Christ that that peace was merited. We saw this. We had access to God. You have access into this grace, Paul said, wherein you stand. You stand in the grace of God. You're saved by the grace of God. You have access. That's wonderful. That wasn't anything like that in the Old Testament. The priests had to go in there for us. Now then, the veil is rent, the way is made known, and you have instant access. Listen, if you don't pray, that's your fault. You have access. You have instant access all the time to God. And thirdly, we saw we have the hope of our salvation, the glory of God. We have hope. He said that in Look at that in verse 2, he says, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The glory of God is our salvation. God placed His name, stamped His name on our salvation. So then if He is to be glorified, you must be saved. Well, we have good hope then, because God will be glorified. Therefore, we will be saved. That's our hope. That's our confidence. And lastly, we saw this Last Lord's Day is that we not only glory in those wonderful positive things, we also glory in something that's very negative. He said we also glory in tribulation. In tribulation. And we glory in tribulation because we saw this, it is necessary. Tribulation is a necessary event. We saw the golden chain that God has made and without tribulation there is no spiritual growth. Everybody wants to grow. Lord, that I might grow in grace and love and faith. Anybody want to grow in faith? I want to trust Him, don't you? I want to trust Him more. I want to believe on Him more. Well, guess where that starts? Tribulation. I want to submit to His will. Guess where that starts? Tribulation. Tribulation worketh what? Patience. Patience. We glory in tribulation, not in tribulation itself, but in what tribulation brings. It brings Submission. Submission. It's natural for us to kick against tribulation, isn't it? That's a first reaction. I had a reaction, we were in the car, I heard something, one of the believers is suffering because of something that the outside world had done, and the first thing I want to do is kick at it. That's our natural instinct to kick at tribulation, but tribulation is necessary because it brings submission. Submission. It causes us to submit. That's what the word patience here, endurance. And like I said, listen to what Solomon said. Solomon said this. He said, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. and lean not to thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Now, what believer doesn't want to do that? How much are you to trust the Lord? I was listening to a message preached a long time ago, is it safe to trust the Lord? Is it safe? to put all your trust in Him, regardless of what you think, what you see, what you feel. Is it safe? The preacher said this, I can tell you this, humanly speaking, I can't tell you it's safe. Using human logic and wisdom, I can't say that it is. It may kill you, trusting the Lord. But we who believe, Luther said, when faith comes, it kicks out human reasoning. Faith comes, it kicks out human reasoning. We trust God implicitly with everything. And how do you trust Him more if you want to trust Him with all thine heart? How does that start? Tribulation. Tribulation brings submission. And submission brings experience. Experience in the power and the grace of God. You want to feel God's presence. You want to know His power. Well, where does that start? Tribulation. Tribulation works the submission, and the submission, at the point of submission, then what? There's experience. God gives us peace within. He may not deliver us from the physical trial that we're in, but He would bring us inner peace. His promises are fulfilled. His power is displayed by experience. And then what does experience bring? Experience brings hope. Confidence. Where does confidence come from? Tribulation. We glory in tribulation. You're not going to have confidence in God without experience. You're not going to have experience without endurance or submission. And you're not going to have submission until you first have tribulation. These are necessary things. These are necessary things. And this brings us hope that makes not ashamed. Makes not ashamed. The experience is proof of God's power and God's grace. And this hope, this confidence, comes by bringing us to the end of ourselves. And it's not going to have that kind of confidence until God brings you to the end of yourself. Remember that I told you about the mariner? If you read Psalm 107, you read about the wanderer, you read about the fool, you read about the mariner, you read about those that sit in darkness. You know what they all had in common? They all had tribulation. Then what? Then you saw them trying to fix it. And when they couldn't, they cried unto God. And then God did what? He delivered them out of their troubles. Then they what? They all praise the Lord. That's exactly how this goes. This is the experience, the constant. I want you to know this. This is the constant experience of the believer. Tribulation, worketh patience. Patience, experience. Experience, hope. Hope maketh not ashamed. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Then what? Tribulation, worketh patience. Patience, experience. Experience, hope. Hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Start over again. This is what it is. Do you think that you could have endured the trials that you're facing now when you were younger in the faith? No. God was so gracious to cause us to grow in endurance so that we are able to stand the trials we're in now. God is so patient and kind in this process. And what I say about this process is this, This is not progressive sanctification. It is progressive growth. But my growth does not make me holier, does not make me more sanctified before God, doesn't make me any more saved than I was before I grew up. But God does cause His children to grow. And as we are caused to grow, I know this in your experience as a believer, the things of earth are growing dim, aren't they? They once were so beautiful and fresh and, you know, the things of earth were so joyful and now as you get older they've lost their taste, they've lost their flavor. Why? Because glory is more in view. So what causes us to grow? And so now then the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. And this love of God that's shed abroad in our hearts, it is our love for God. The Holy Spirit produces it. The Holy Spirit gives us more love for God. But as we look at our love for God, there's really no stability there, is it? I love Him. But I dare not take my eyes off of His love for me. If I ever want to enjoy my love to Him, It has to be with my eyes fixed on His love to me. And that's what the Apostle Paul is doing here in verse 6, is he's saying the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. But what stirs our love for God is His love for us. So that's what Paul's directing us to. He's pointing us back to His love, not yours. He's pointing you to His love. It's surely the view of God's love for us that gives us hope that's not ashamed. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to manifest this love by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so the purpose of the Holy Spirit is by this same old gospel. This same old gospel. to manifest to us the love of God by the death of His Son. The love of God is manifested only by the death of His Son for the ungodly. This gospel, when it is preached When the gospel of God's manifest love by the crucifixion of Christ is preached, it does two things. It breaks the sinner's heart. That's what it does. I had read that Spurgeon was talking to an elderly woman who loved for her children to be saved, and she gave every ounce of her strength to every available resource so that her children might believe. And she would read to them The Alarm to the Unconverted, which was a book that scared the children to death. It was that they were on the cusp of hell, ready to fall off at any moment. You know what she found? She said, the more I did that, the more fearful they became, the more hard-hearted they became. Fear, terror, of hell does not break the heart of sinners. You know what does? Christ dying for the ungodly. Christ's love and willingness to die for his enemies. That breaks the heart of the sinner. And I tell you what other this gospel of Christ's death and God's love does is it It refreshes the soul of the believer. It refreshes me to know this, that my salvation is not dependent on my love for God. It's dependent on His love for me. It's dependent on the success of Jesus Christ's death. And therefore, in verses 6 to 11, the apostle now will show the heart of justification. He showed the cause. He showed how it's received. He showed how the just are to live. He showed the blessings of this justification. Now he's going to show you the heart of this justification. It comes as an act of divine love. Behold, the great cause and grounds of our hope during the manifold tribulations is not our love for God, but rather His love for us." So when you're suffering in these tribulations that are going to come, that are necessary for you, when you're in the tribulation, it is then we are to fix our eyes on the grounds of our acceptance. the love of God, the death of Christ. The love of God is not seen in providence. You look to providence and you're going to assume that God loves the wicked because their providence seems smooth. And the providence of the righteous is rough. You're not going to know God's love because sometimes the providence of the righteous is smooth. I like it when it's smooth. I love smooth waters for a while. I'm thankful for them. But is that a sign of God's love because I have smooth waters? Nope. What if I have troubled waters? Is that a sign of God's hatred? Nope. How do I know that God loves me? The only way I can see that is the death of His Son for the ungodly. Look at that in verse 6. He said, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died. For who? The ungodly. Now, this love that's manifest, this love that is manifest by the death of Christ When did God love us? You that are justified, it's manifest that God loved you because He sent His Son to die for you. Now when did He love you? Notice that, when we were without strength. The love of God for His elect was eternal. It's eternal love. according as he had chosen us in Christ, when? Before the foundation of the world. That's when he loved me. Chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before him. Justified. He said, in love. In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Listen, before there was anything but God, God loved us. You that are justified. Now, I'm speaking only to those who are justified, because that's who Paul's talking to. You, therefore, being justified. That's who he's talking about. You that are justified. Listen, God has set His love on you when you were without being. You had no being, because there was no being but God Himself. That's when God loved us. Before Satan fell and his angels, before Adam fell, before sin entered into the world, God loved His people. He said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, it's no surprise that His love was upon us when we were born without strength. I thought about it when you were born. We say an infant, He has some strength. He can kick and he can move his arms, giggle, cry. He can do a whole bunch of little things. One thing he can't do is he can't take care of himself. He has no strength. He can't feed himself. He can't change himself. He can't carry himself. He can't do anything for himself. He is without strength. But I'll tell you this, this is spiritually speaking, not just physically. When we were born in this world, we didn't have much strength. We had some. We could breathe on our own. God gave us breath, we breathed. But this is speaking spiritually. We were so much without strength, Paul says we were dead. Dead. Now how, how weak is a dead man. How without strength is a dead man? We were spiritually without strength. If I laid a corpse here and I gave him one thing to do for life, he could not do it. Without what? Without strength. He has no strength. You see how useless works religion is? Works salvation is a useless thing. It's the most worthless thing in the world. If I set the cure for the dead man right next to me, that cure would be useless because he couldn't apply it to himself. That's how useless work salvation is. It's worthless. You see the simplicity of the gospel. Think about the simplicity of the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The simplicity of that can't be overstated. It's just simple. Everyone who believes shall be saved. Now, you didn't misunderstand any word in that sentence. It's a very plain and simple language. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. What's the difficulty? The difficulty is Jesus said, no man can believe. That's the difficulty. He has no power to believe. He is what? Without strength. And it's only when God gives him strength that he is able to what? Believe! You then believe? Can you believe? Well, of course you can. Why? You have life! God gave you life! And you believe. The only thing a man by nature can do is sin. Sin. I thought of a dead fish in a stream. You have a dead fish in a stream. Which way is he going to go? Which way can he go? He can only go one way, wherever the stream goes. You know the only way to stop him is if I put a log in the middle of that stream and he just bumps up against the log. Until what? I move the log and then he goes. See, that's how we always sin. You see, God ordained even our sin. We could not even fulfill our sin had God not purposed it. And when God stops us, guess what? We can't go any further. But if He moves His hand, what happens? We're gone. That's all we can do. We're without strength. Tell that fish to go upstream. He can't. He has no ability. That's what we were without strength. Paul says later in Romans 8, 7 that the carnal mind is enmity, hatred, and variance against God, and is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, he says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. And he tells us why. He is condemned. He's condemned. Believer, consider this. Even then, God loved you. You didn't know it. And I'll tell you this, you didn't want it. Did that matter? No, He still loved you. Unknown to anybody but Himself, He loved you. He loved you when you were without strength. And yet consider, in your sin, in your ungodly, rebellious state, God's love was manifest in this way. In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. In due time. That denotes purpose. When something is in due time, obviously you purposed it beforehand. God purposed the death of His Son. Peter says it like this, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. Now who delivered who? Could they have crucified him had God not delivered him? No, God before purposed to deliver him, therefore Paul is saying this, at the appointed time, at the appointed time, the whole Old Testament testifies of his coming death, you know that? In the Old Testament, go to Isaiah, Isaiah 53. It's just the clearest one. I think it's the clearest one. There are many short verses that are very clear about concerning his death, but this whole chapter is clear, isn't it? The whole thing. You know, there's a lot of people that try to make this chapter, they say it was written after the death of Christ. It couldn't be written before the death of Christ. Why? Because it perfectly describes it, doesn't it? He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, that hath no form or commonness, and we shall see him. There shall be no beauty that we shall desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. He is despised, and we esteemed him not." Is that not exactly how men treated him when he came into the world? You couldn't have written that more perfectly. That was a perfect description. How many people in today's world say, well, if Jesus was here, if Jesus was here, you'd try to crucify him again. You'd treat him just like they treated him. Why? Because that's our nature. We're without strength to treat him any other way. But notice why he came. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his stripes we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." You see why he came? He came to bear our iniquities, our sins, The sins of who? The sins of those that rejected him, those that despised him. Notice Isaiah said, we hid, as it were. He didn't say they hid their faces. He said, we did. We, like sheep, have gone astray, including himself. And notice this. He was oppressed and afflicted. He opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughters of sheep before his shears as dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Isn't that exactly how he acted when he came before them? He sat there in silence as they mocked him and they ridiculed him. He didn't open his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. Isn't that exactly right? They put him in prison and they took him to Pilate. From prison to judgment, they did that. who shall declare his generation, for he was cut off out of the land of living. He's going to die. Notice why. For the transgression of my people was he stricken. It tells him where he's going to be laid in the grave. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. That man who made that tomb, that rich man who had a tomb, He did it for himself. He had no intention to fulfill this scripture. God did. He put him in a borrowed tomb of a rich man because he had no violence, neither had deceit in his mouth, yet what happened? Even the success of this is determined, isn't it? His coming, his dying, what he's dying for, who he's dying for, and now he says, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. To put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Do you see that? The Lord Jesus Christ's death was in due time, at the appointed time. God appointed him to die. He appointed the Son of God to this shameful crucifixion. And notice who He came to die for. He came to die for a very specific group of people. The ungodly. The ungodly. This kind of love is absolutely unheard of in human history. Absolutely unheard of in human history. In verses 6 and 7, the apostle now is going to set the love of Christ in dying for the ungodly against the best love a man could come up with. Look at this in verse 6 and 7 of your text. Go back there. Romans 5. He said, Verse 7, he says, "...scarcely for a righteous man would one dare to die." You have a righteous man, here he is. He's innocent, and now he's brought before a judge. And the judge condemns him to death, a king. A king condemns this righteous man to death. to anyone with any sense, that's absurd, isn't it? I object. We would object to such a thing. How could that man call himself a judge or a just king if he would sentence a righteous man to death? And we would have outrage. There would be outrage. There is. When innocent men are put behind bars, we're outraged. When innocent men are put to death, we're outraged. But notice what Paul said, will you give your life for him? Will you take his place? Now you'd be outraged. You'd probably start a GoFundMe page for him. You'd probably give some of your money to get some legal fees for him. Will you take his place? Paul said, scarcely would that ever happen. You'd be hard pressed to find an example of that. But notice what he says more. He said, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. That word means beloved man. You take a man who's loved. He's loved by his family. He's loved by his community. He's loved by his children. Everyone loves this man. He is a good man and he loves the people and they see him being put to death. He said you might find somebody to take his place. Why? Because he's loved. He's loved. I read a story in one of Spurgeon's messages about a minister who was, he preached the gospel and the ruling party hated, despised him, wanted to kill him. So they sent their goon squad after him. And they came to this house where they thought he was And inside was a young woman, and she knew where he was. She knew where the minister had hid himself. And they threatened to kill her if she did not tell them where he was. And so they put a gun to her head and said, if you do not tell us, we'll kill you. And they pulled the trigger, but it didn't have any shell in it. It didn't have any powder in it. And yet, out of love for that man, as a man of God, she would not tell them. She would not tell them. Upon the threat of death, and she would have laid down her life for that man because he was a beloved minister. They loved him. They loved the message he preached. And when he heard the shots, he was nearby and he came and ran. to the place and said, please spare her, take me. So you have instances of people who love each other giving themselves for each other. What you don't have instances of is dying for your enemy. Let us consider the unspeakable and unheard of love of God tonight, He who is the Creator of all things. Consider His glory before He came. Consider His station before He came. He was the Creator of all things, praised by His angels and His saints. And in due time, at the specific time, the Lord of Glory stood up and condescended to become a man. I cannot imagine the awe of the angels who had desire to look into these things. I cannot imagine their awe at this. that He would take and the Holy Spirit should fashion Him a body that He should be born of a virgin's womb and come into the world hated." Hated. Despised. And yet our Lord did. He condescended to be made flesh, to be made under the law, to suffer the hatred and infirmities of the flesh and the hatred of men, and soon he would die under the hatred and violence of men. And he did this not for a people who loved him. He did this for a people who hated him. He did this for those who opposed his rule, who opposed his law, who despised him. I often think when I consider his dying for the ungodly, I think of the Roman soldier. You remember that Roman soldier who was converted after his death? But before his death, what did he do? He mocked the Lord of Glory. You remember they had beaten him. How much anger and hatred has there to be to mutilate a man who's done nothing wrong? And yet you can see the violence in their heart. Why pluck out the hair from his beard? He's going to die. And yet they do. They're so angry that they pull the hair from his beard. They take a crown of thorns and they push it on his head. He's mutilated beyond recognition, and they take a purple robe and throw it over him, a reed in his hand, and say, Hail, King of the Jews, mocking him as he's about to die. Why? What purpose does it serve other than their hatred against him? He has to carry his own cross as they torture him along the way, mocking as he steps. They take the nails and pierce His hands and His feet. They lift the cross in anger and they push it into the hole, dislocating His arms. As He lay, as He's there, suffering in anguish, it's not enough. The hatred is so much it's not enough. They had to pierce His side with a spear. You remember after He said it was finished and the sun was dark and the earth quaked. Remember what that Roman soldier said? He said, oh surely this is the Son of God. He was dying. the man who pierced his hands and his feet. He was dying for the man that mocked him and smote him. He was dying for the man who hated him. What's true about him is true about us. By nature we hate the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen, if you don't believe in Christ because you hate Him, don't pretend you love Him. You don't believe in Him, you hate Him. You despise the Lord of glory and you say this in your heart, I will not have that man to rule over me. That's what you're saying when you don't believe. Don't tell me you love Christ and no belief. You're a liar. I don't know because that was Therefore, sinner, behold the love of God that is manifested, the love of God that is witnessed only by the cross of Christ, not for those that loved him, but those that despised him. Are there any ungodly sinners here? Are there any so vile as not to be able to lift up their heads? Is there any sinner here who could not justify himself before God? That's who you die for. He died for sinners. What is Joseph Hart saying in his hymn, a sinner is a sacred thing for the Holy Spirit hath made him one. We as sinners have no righteousness, have no offering, but by faith we look to Jesus Christ and we see this, that He alone by His death forever satisfied God. He bore the guilt of our sin. He didn't sit and die like any other man. He died bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. He died under the guilt and the wrath of God. When Paul says this, that we are delivered from wrath through Him, why are you delivered from wrath? How is it that you, ungodly as you are, are now delivered from wrath? Because He in love endured the wrath of God for you. by Himself, alone, in love, in love for you. And notice in verse 9 He says this, now, much more than, now being justified. Now look, when you were without strength, He loved you, He died for you, He justified you when He died for you. But now, you that believe, listen, there's much more to this. Now, you being justified by His blood, here's your hope in your tribulation that's necessary, your trials that are necessary, here is your hope, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. I am so glad there is no cooperative effort in this. I am going to be saved through Him. That's it. There is no Him and me. It's just Him. I'm going to be saved through Him. From what? The wrath of God. I often think about when I think about being saved from the wrath of God, I think about the Israelites when they walked through the Red Sea. And the walls of water on each side, standing on each side as they walked through, could not touch them. Nothing, not one drop of water fell on their heads. They walked straight through. What happened when Pharaoh tried to do the same thing? The walls of water destroyed them. The wrath of God shall not touch you. You that are justified, wrath of God shall not touch you. Ever. Ever. You are justified by His blood. Now that Christ has died for your sins in love, He has now made you to receive this justification. So the question is this. What then, if God loved me when I was without strength, if God loved me even when I hated Him, even when I sinned against Him, God had set His love on me and sent His Son to die for me, now, much more now, being justified, shall I then be lost? Will He now abandon me? That's what it feels like. Don't your trials feel like that? Your tribulations? They feel as though He's abandoned you. It hurts. It's painful. He promised peace and joy and love, and yet our experience in His life is full of pain and sorrow and grief. And what happens is the flesh rises up. And I'm not talking about the inner man. The inner man believes. But the flesh rises up. How many times did David ask that question? Have you forsaken me? Have you cast me off forever? Well, no. I loved you even before I justified, before you received this justification. I loved you when you were ungodly. Now by grace I have justified you and given you my spirit. I have put my new nature in you. How then shall I ever abandon you? What then could you do to move God from His love? I can understand if He loved you after you did something. If He loved you because of something you did, then I can see Him hating you because of something you did. But He loved you not because of anything you did. Therefore, He will never reject you based on anything you do. Isn't this astounding? It's the most wonderful message of love. Paul's going to talk about this in Romans 8. When he says this, if God justified me and Christ has removed all condemnation, who's going to separate me from the love of God? I know I'm going too far, but I want you to see this because it's vitally important that you see this. Some believers even get stuck in this chain, this golden chain of our experience. Tribulation works with patience. Some believers even get stuck between tribulation and patience. Some believers die in this place. I knew a man who was hurt by another believer. He was seriously, emotionally hurt by this other believer. And yet, It was torture to him. This man, he loved the gospel. He loved Christ. He believed on Christ. And yet he could not get over this pain that this man caused him. He could not forgive this man. And therefore, I watched him. He was stuck. And he couldn't get past it. Tribulation was working submission. He never got there. As a matter of fact, he died. He died with that. Does that mean that God stopped loving him? No. Remember, God's love didn't have anything to do with what he was doing and what he didn't do. And I got reference for that in scripture in 2 Chronicles, I think chapter 15, 16, somewhere in there. King Asa. King Asa was offended by what the prophet told him. He went and hired this foreign army to invade Israel and God said you shouldn't have done that and the king got pouty, got mad. And he threw the prophet in prison. You know, God gave him gout in his feet. And you know what? He never asked God to heal him. Now this was a man after God's own heart. This was a man, the scripture says he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. And yet, what do we find? We find Him stuck between tribulation and patience, and He died there. Now listen, He did experience deliverance, didn't He? When He died? When He died, He was delivered from all that. And sometimes, believers, we look at our sin and the guilt of our sin and we say, how in the world could God continue to love me? Well, it's not based on what you do. God's love is based on what Christ did. If you want to know how much God loved you, Look at the cross. He sent His own Son. That's what the Apostle testifies of. He said, for if we were enemies, we were reconciled. And I want you to see this. God didn't reconcile you. God didn't save you to make you a slave. Now, that would have been good. Take an ungodly, rebellious man. He's even killed the son of the king, and he comes before the king, and the king says, I love you. I'll make you a servant. Wouldn't that be gracious? But how much more gracious would it be if he took that rebel and made him a son? It's exactly what he did. When he said he reconciled you to God, he means just that. You are reconciled to God eternally by Jesus Christ. You're made a son. Son. How much more love can be displayed than taking a rebel and making a son? Is there any greater love than this? So when he talks about the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts, what is he talking about? He's talking about the death of Jesus Christ. That's what moves us to love. And so believer, let us therefore glory in tribulation because we who are redeemed, we who are justified, we are loved. In your tribulation, you may know this, you're loved. God loved you before. He brought you to himself. And now having been brought to him, will he ever cast you out? Now what Paul says, if He had given us His Son, how shall He not with Him freely give us all of that? The love of God shed abroad in the heart of the troubled believer is the cross of Jesus Christ. That's how God's love manifests. Don't look at the world. Don't look at your circumstance. You won't find the love of God there. Look to the cross. and see that God loved you even before He called you. Why will He not then keep you? I pray God will comfort you with this. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Our Father, dismiss us with Your blessing, please, and pour out Your Spirit upon us. Teach us. Instruct us in the things of Christ. Let us see the glory of His death and the beauty of His resurrection. He is our hope. I pray that you would do this for your own glory, in Jesus' name.