God’s Love for Sinners
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“Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before
the high God? shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with
calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath
showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy
God?” When Satan comes in to tempt you to give up all hope, point
him to these words. Pray with David: “Remember not the sins of my
youth, nor my transgressions: according to Thy mercy remember Thou
me for Thy goodness’ sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord:
therefore will He teach sinners in the way. The meek will He guide in
judgment: and the meek will He teach His way.”
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye
shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be
devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Here are the promises, plain and definite, rich and full; but they are
all upon conditions. If you comply with the conditions, can you not
trust the Lord to fulfill His word? Let these blessed promises, set in
the framework of faith, be placed in memory’s halls. Not one of them
will fail. All that God hath spoken He will do. “He is faithful that
promised.”
The work which you have to do on your part is plainly set before
you: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from
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before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” “If
the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in
the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he
shall not die.” The Lord declares: “The children of thy people say, The
way of the Lord is not equal.” “Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not My
way equal? are not your ways unequal?” “Have I any pleasure at all
that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God; and not that he should
return from his ways, and live?” “Therefore I will judge you, O house
of Israel, everyone according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent,
and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not
be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby