Now if you take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and my text
will be found in verse 28. Very, very, very familiar passage. One we quote to ourselves often. Often. And one you should keep
very near to your heart because it is a precious, precious promise. For we know. We know. that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. And I've entitled this message,
It's All Good. It's all good. It's all good. Now the apostle begins this.
I'd like to go back and preface this. The apostle in chapter
7, The apostle in chapter 7 testifies to us of his own experience in
the flesh. His own experience in the flesh
was a struggle he faced with the old man of sin. He says this
in verse 24 of chapter 7, O wretched man that I am. Not that I was, but that I am. This is a present tense. You
that are believers in Christ, you identify with this because
you and I still carry about this old man of sin. The picture that
Paul is painting here is of the Roman torture where they would
take a rotting corpse and they would sew it on to the man until
it fell off. This is the picture. Every one
of us who are believers in Christ, we feel the weight of the old
man constantly pulling us in the opposite direction the new
man wants to go. That's why he said in Galatians
chapter 5, he said, The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and
the Spirit against the flesh. Listen, these two will never
stop fighting. This warfare is constant. It's perpetual. Sometimes we
have some deliverance. Sometimes we feel as though it's
lighter. At other times, we don't feel
the new nature at all. We are so weighed down. Remember,
David said, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art
thou disquieted within me? Remember, I've taught you what
that means. He's talking about a cast sheep. When a sheep is cast, when a
sheep gets too wooly, he falls over and he can't right himself. No matter how he kicks and bashes,
he can't right himself. He is totally dependent upon
the shepherd to right him or he'll die. Believers, we understand
this. We struggle. Oh, wretched man
that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? But immediately, immediately
in verse 25, He said, there springs up this joy. He said, I thank
God. through Jesus Christ. In other
words, I know that I shall be delivered from the body that
is dead through Jesus Christ. So that with my mind I serve
the law of God and with the flesh the law of sin. He's talking
about the new nature, the holiness of the new nature and the sinfulness
of the old nature. But here is the benefit of being
in Christ. Verse 1. There is therefore now
no condemnation. No condemnation. One day, we
know this, we shall be delivered. One day this flesh, this robe
of flesh, I'll drop and rise and seize the everlasting pride. That's a good thought, isn't
it? But what do you do till then? See, because there's a space
in between. You know, on a tombstone you've got somebody's birth and
you've got somebody's death. It's the dash we're worried about,
isn't it? It's in between right now. So
here's the comfort right now. I know I shall be delivered of
this body of death soon. But as for right now, listen,
here's your comfort. There is therefore, right now,
no condemnation to those who are in Christ. If you are in
union with Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation. All who are
in Christ Jesus are forever free from the condemnation of God.
Forever free. For Jesus Christ, our federal
head, has forever satisfied the justice of the law of God in
our stance. Now look at the next verse. He
says this for the law of the spirit of life in Christ. Jesus
has made me free, free from what the law of sin and death. He's
talking about the law of which we could not obey that law. And then he says this for the
law in verse three, what the law could not do. And it was
weak to the flesh. Is there anything wrong with
the law of God? Anything at all? You read through those five books,
the books of the law, and you will not find a fault in that.
It's perfect. Nothing wrong with the law. What's
the problem? For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh. We're the problem. We're
the problem. God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh. Listen, for sin, condemned sin. condemned sin in the flesh of
the Son of God. You see, God did not just wipe
our sins under the rug. He did not just wink at them. He actually paid for them. They were actually condemned.
Every sin that we have ever committed was literally condemned. in the
flesh of Jesus Christ on Calvary Street. For this purpose, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. See, we're
not trying to fulfill the law, are we? We're not walking after
the law. Why? The law is already fulfilled
in us through Him. It's already fulfilled. I think
somebody said this. You know, if you had a car, the
speed limit's 55, and you got a car that can only go 55, what
would that sign, why would you need that sign? You can only
go that. That's all you can do. When God
gave us a new nature, He gave us the righteousness of Christ,
the righteousness of God. Is there anything more righteous
than the righteousness of God? No, the law is fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In other
words, those who walk by faith in Christ. That's what it is
to walk after the Spirit. It is to walk by faith. That's
the work of the Spirit, isn't it? To give us faith in Christ. You believe on the Son of God
tonight? Guess what? You're walking after the Spirit.
If you're walking after the law, listen, you're walking after
the flesh. You're trying to please God by the obedience of the flesh. But we don't walk after the law.
We don't walk after the flesh. Why? Because the flesh is incapable. Isn't that what it said? Look
at verse 7. This is because the carnal mind is enmity against
God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. That old rotten corpse that's hanging about your neck,
did it get any better when you were saved? Of course not. It is still carnally minded. It still cannot and will not
be subject to the law of God. There's nothing you can do to
make it so. That's why Jesus said that which
is born of flesh is what? Flesh. It will live flesh and
it will die flesh. It cannot get better. Surely
it can be mortified, it can be killed, but it can't get any
better. Just can't. So it is. We know this. Behold the grace
of God. We by nature were carnally minded.
We could not be subject to the law of God. Thus the scripture
says, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in
this sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. You see all the law can do? Condemn you. That's it. Can't
do anything else. Can't do anything else but condemn
us. But in grace, in grace, God sent His Son in propitiation
for our sins, condemned our sins in His flesh that the righteousness
of God might be fulfilled in us. Then, by the experience of
grace, the Spirit of God came to us and quickened us and gave
us faith. The Spirit of God came and gave
us life and faith. Therefore, to us who believe,
the Holy Spirit now dwells in us." This is, again, another
comforting thing the Apostle is telling us. He's saying this,
the Spirit of Christ lives in you. It's an amazing thing, isn't
it? He lives in you just as much
as He lives in me. just as much as He lives in our
brethren, wherever they are. He lives in us. And Paul says
this, he said, look, if a man don't have the Spirit of Christ,
he's none of His. Don't give me this, that the
religion, some religions of the world, they'll tell you that
you can believe, you can be saved, and then later get the Spirit.
The text says you don't have the Spirit of Christ, you're
none of His. You're none of His. But we have the Spirit. We believe. Do you believe on the Son of
God? If so, then His Spirit testifies
with your spirit. What does His Spirit testify
of? I'm a sinner and nothing at all. Is that what the Spirit
testifies to you? The Spirit testifies to me of
this, Christ Jesus is my all in all. That's what the Spirit
testifies to in our hearts. And we cry what? Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And listen to
the comfort of this. If children. If children, then
heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are His children. Therefore,
listen to this. What belongs to Christ belongs
to you. What belongs to Christ belongs
to you. If you are a joint heir with
Him, everything He inherited, you inherit. Okay, let me just
ask you, what did He not inherit? Try to narrow it down for you.
What did he miss? Is there anything? Then everything that's his is
yours. Everything that's his is yours. Therefore by grace we continually
live by faith looking always and only to Jesus Christ our
Savior. Now that I've explained the blessings,
I want to also explain this. Paul is going to go now and show
us this. Though there's no condemnation,
Though God has sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,
though the Spirit of God now dwells in us, though we walk
after the Spirit and not after the flesh, though the Spirit
of God dwells in us and we are children of adoption and heirs
of all things, I want you to know this, it does not exempt
us from suffering. Now this is the carnal reasoning,
right? Our carnal reasoning says this,
if I am saved by the grace of God, if I am loved of God, if
I am an heir of all things, then surely God does not want me to
suffer. That is a faulty reasoning. And
we all think it. Because when we get in trouble,
what do we say? Why me? If I'm an heir of God, joined
heir with Christ, then why do I suffer? Why then do we suffer
in this life? Our blessings and benefits do
not exempt us from suffering. Go to 1 Peter. Look over at 1
Peter. And we're going to come back
here and see it's the same thing. But 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 6.
The Apostle Peter here says, wherein you greatly rejoice.
And what he's talking about there is all the benefits. He's talking
about your election. You rejoice in your election?
You're chosen of God. That's something to rejoice about,
isn't it? What about your redemption? You rejoice in the redemption
of Christ? You greatly rejoice in the redemption of Christ.
What about the calling and quickening of the Spirit of God? You greatly
rejoice in those things. You that greatly rejoice in the
salvation of God, though now, for a season, if need be, you
are in heaviness through manifold temptations." The apostle here
is saying, look, if you're in trouble, it's because it's necessary. I tell you what, I'm in trouble,
but I do not understand why it's necessary. I don't know why you're in trouble.
I don't know why it's necessary. But faith sees this. It is only
if needs be. It's only for a season. It's
only if it's necessary. You are through heaviness and
manifold temptation. Why? What's the purpose of this?
That. Here's the purpose. The trial
of your faith. Why do we go through trials?
Why do we go through difficulty? Why do we suffer? The trial of
your faith is necessary. Is there anything more important
to you than to know your faith is real? You remember the apostles when
they heard that someone was going to betray the Lord. What was
their fear? Is it me? Is it me? When I hear that I
know this, that there are pretenders in the church. There are. The tares and the wheat will
grow up together. You know what the greatest fear
of the believer? Am I wheat or am I tare? And because the flesh
is pulling you, because the flesh drags you to the earth, because
you sin, oh, our sin causes us such pain. "'Tis a point I long
to know. Oft it causes anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not?' How do
you know your faith is real? Are you just pretending? Will
you go away also? How do you know? Let me tell you how you know.
Suffering. Suffering. Heaviness and manifold
temptation. That the trial of your faith
being much more precious than gold. To you, your faith is much
more precious than gold, isn't it? Without it, No hope for me. My faith in Christ is not real
God-given faith. It'll vanish. It'll vanish. You know, when God tested Abraham,
He said, Now I know thou fearest God. You think God was looking for
information? You think God was looking at His faith wondering
if He was going to do something? No, it's this, that Abraham should
know that he truly feared God. It was through a great trial,
and so God through trials and troubles tests our faith. And
then when our faith is tested and it's tried, it is found to
the praise and the glory of Jesus Christ at His appearing. I know this, when you come through
a trial and you still believe, who gets the praise? Who gets
the glory when you come through these things? It's always Jesus
Christ, whom having not seen your love, in whom now, though
you see him not yet, what? Believing. Believing you rejoice. Joy unspeakable and full of glory,
the sufferings of the flesh are for the trying and proving of
our faith. The afflictions of the flesh
then move us to love. They move us to love. I'll tell you this, you never
love God more than when you're in the midst of trials. You never
depend on Him more than when you have no strength in yourself.
Isn't that right? When you're brought to the end
of yourself, that's when you see that faith looks only and
always to Christ. Now go back to your text and
see what Paul is saying. He said this, Though you're heirs
of God, look at this. He said, If so, be that we suffer
with Him. When Christ came into the world,
how did they treat Him? He suffered, did he not? What do you expect for us? He said, if you suffer with him, that you may also be glorified
together. And then he says this, for I
reckon, I keep reading that, I think Paul must be southern.
I reckon. I reckon. that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed." Now, what a blessing here the
Apostle is saying, I reckon by faith, not by sight, not by feelings. If we're suffering, we're not
feeling it. All we feel is the pain, all
we feel is the sorrow, all we feel is the heaviness. But in
that time, by faith, we must reckon this, that the suffering
we are facing is not worthy to be compared with the glory that
shall be revealed in us. Believers, always compare your
suffering with the glory to come. That's a good exhortation in
it. Whatever you suffer, compare
that to what's coming. I thought of the man Lazarus
who begged at the rich man's gate. Remember him? His whole
life. We have nothing good about his
life to say. This man begged at that rich
man's gate all his life. Sores covered his body and he
was not delivered. He didn't get deliverance until
he died. Do you suppose right now he thinks
he got a bad deal? He's been there for 2,000 years. 2,000 years enjoying the presence
of Christ, enjoying the glory of God, enjoying the love of
God for 2,000 years without suffering. Did he get a bad deal? Sometimes
we think we get a bad deal. Well, it's because we're not
reckoning. We're not reckoning the suffering with the glory. Think about that rich man. Now,
he had all the pleasure, no trials, no troubles. Compare his pleasure
with what he's receiving now. Maybe the suffer of this life
is not even worthy to be compared. David said this, weeping endures
for night, but joy cometh in the morning. We must see that
we have not suffered in this life. Also, we've not suffered
like we deserve. What do you suppose you deserve?
When you suffer, ask yourself that. Am I suffering as much
as I deserve? No. No. Christ suffered in my
stead what I deserved. So then my suffering in this
life is not intended for my destruction, but rather for my good. Oh, the joy of our hope that
this suffering is only for a little while. It's only for a little
while. Yet, here is something for you
that are suffering. Listen to what he said. He starts
talking about the creation. He said, look at the creation.
Creation is groaning. It's in travail. It's in turmoil.
And look, it didn't put itself there. It's because of man, because
of sin. It's like this. But what this
creation is moving and groaning for is for your glory. It's waiting for the adoption
to be manifest so it can be delivered. And so we too, he says, like
the creation, we groan. We want to go to heaven. We want
to receive what Christ gave us. He said we groan within ourselves. But here is our hope. I mean,
here's our comfort that we have also this matter of prayer. What
a wonderful benefit prayer is. He said, likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray as we ought to know, but the Spirit itself make an intercession
with groanings that cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth the mind of the Spirit. Because ye make intercession
for the saints according to the will of God." You know what?
In the midst of your suffering, there's one thing I know. I do
not know what to pray for. I don't. We don't know what to
pray for. Prayer is a wonderful thing God
has given His saints, but we don't know what to pray for.
Yes, we are. But here's the hope of this.
Even when you pray, the Spirit deletes everything that's not
the will of God. You don't have to worry about
it. Everything that you offer up, if it's not the will of God,
it's put out. And everything that is the will
of God is accepted. He makes intercession for you. Groanings that cannot be
uttered. And we know this, then, in the
midst of our suffering, the will of God is going to be done. Now,
this should comfort you. The will of God is going to be
done. Now, what is the will of God for you? Look at your text. And we know. This is comforting
because we know this. This is the will of God. That
all things work together for our good. All things work together
for our good. Listen, believer, our trials,
our pains, our sorrows, our travails, they're not going to be removed
even because God has ordained them for a purpose, for your
benefit. Listen, it's always incumbent
for us to be honest. It's not going to feel like a
benefit. If you have a sickness, you're
not going to be saying, well gee, thank God for this sickness.
Boy, I tell you, I don't know what I would have done without
this sickness. That's not how you're going to feel. The pain
is not going to be alleviated because you know these things.
Your trials are not going to be just go away because you know
these things. But it settles our hearts. in the midst of these trials.
To know this, that all things work together. Notice the language. Not all things individually,
but all things work together. Those that we consider good and
those we consider evil. Those that we consider ill and
those that we want. They all work together. Pain
and sadness, joy and sorrow. Sin and righteousness all work
together. Because God who loved us, who
ordained our salvation, has also ordained everything in between
for your good. Everything. I like this poem. My life is but a weaving between
my Lord and me. I cannot choose the colors he
worketh steadily. Oftentimes he weaveth sorrow,
and I, in foolish pride, see what I get, what I do, what my
weaving of this is? Sin. What is his weaving? I, in foolish pride, forget he
sees the upper, and I the underside. Not till the loom is silent and
the shuttles cease to fly shall God unroll the canvas and explain
the reason why. The dark threads are as needful
in the weaver's skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver
in the pattern he is playing. Do you not see that God is weaving
everything in your life, gold and silver and the dark threads
of providence, weaving it constantly And this is what the eye of faith
should see, that He is weaving it together for good, for your
good. Therefore, you who are in affliction,
you who are suffering, does the sin of your flesh assault
your soul and pierce your heart? Then remember what we know. We
know that all things are ordained of God to work together for our
good. He has ordained them and His
hand moves them. Any joy and peace, any contentment
in the heart, these two are purposed by the
hand of God. And both of them, good and bad,
work together so that we should grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if all things work together,
then there is nothing within the compass of our being that
is not, in one way or another, advantageous. There is nothing that is happening
to us that is not advantageous to us. I like Ezekiel, the wheel within
the wheel, talking about the providence of God. The wheel
within the wheel, the wheel spinning within the wheel. You know, if
you try to trace out the providence of God, each individual providence,
and you try to trace it back to the love and grace of God,
you'll get dizzy. You ever sit and spin a wheel,
and then try to look, try to find one of those folks going
back, you'll get dizzy. You'll be confused. You'll see
your sickness. You'll see your pain. You'll
say, well how in the world is this working to my good? You
ain't gonna see it. You ain't gonna see it. Stop
trying to look for it. You won't find it. What you can
look for and what is comforting is this. The hub of the wheel
doesn't move. Christ doesn't move. His death was success. He paid for all your sins. He loves you with an everlasting
love. And that, my friend, no matter
the province, doesn't change. Doesn't. Whether you feel God
loves you or you don't, does that have anything to do with
Whether you feel that Christ has cleansed you from all your
sin or you don't, what does that have to do with it? Behold, I am the Lord. I change not. So then the providence of God,
I want you to see it, always moves forward and it never turns. It never turns. You know what
turns us? Our plans. Our dreams. Our thoughts. Always trying to move the providence
of God and God runs over. And then you wonder why in the
world did He do that? Because His providence is best.
His providence is best. And listen to this, when you
have a wheel, you know the top becomes the bottom and the bottom
becomes the top. If you're on the bottom of the
day, guess what? You'll be on the top tomorrow. And if you're
on the top, guess where you're going? You're going to the bottom.
The way that works, the providence of God is constantly moving. Even so, I want you to know this,
even sin is not outside the will and providence
of God. Even your sin, consider it, Your
sin. When you sin, do you suppose
God is surprised? As though this was some strange
thing that He did not purpose or plan? I'll give you two instances
of God purposing to use the sin of men, and that's in Joshua.
I'm sorry. You remember, his brother sold
him to slavery, spent all that time in slavery, so he might
deliver Israel, you see? And then he said, God, what you
meant for evil, God meant for good, to save Israel. And the death of Christ, remember
that. Scripture says, being delivered by the determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God. Those evil men did exactly what
they wanted to do, but in doing so, they did exactly what God
determined to do. Did it not work out for our good? It did. It worked out for our
good. Look at this verse with me, and
then I'm going to show you to whom this promise is given. Look
at Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11. Consider the promises of God
and His love towards us when He says this. He says, For I
know the thoughts that I think Towards you. How often do we
suppose to put thoughts into the mind of God? Or suppose that
God is thinking something else? God said, listen, don't tell
me what I'm thinking. I know what I'm thinking. I know what
I'm doing. And this is what my thoughts
are, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace. And not of evil. But Lord, it
feels evil. What does that matter? I know
my thoughts. Don't tell me what I'm thinking.
Don't tell me what I'm trying to do. I have thoughts of you
for peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. I like
that, expected end. You ever read the end of a book
before you read the book? You read the end of the book, you
know, you expect it, don't you? Listen, I've read the end of
this book. I know what to expect, don't you? I expect he will save
me. I expect he will bring me to
himself. Why? Because he knows his thoughts
toward me. Thoughts of peace. Now, who does
this belong to? Now, it doesn't belong to everybody.
Look at your text. I know I'm going to have to go
through this rather quickly, but look at this. To whom does
this belong? This promise. We know that all
things work together for good. You hear this all the time. People
just quote that first part of the Scripture. They just quote
that. Well, we know all things work together for good. It's
just all going to work out. You hear that? Listen, it's not
going to work out for everybody. God is not working all things
together for good for everybody. He specifically gives us marks
of those that this promise is given. Listen, to them that love
God. The characteristic is particular
here only of believers in Christ. But such love is not naturalistic.
It's not natural to love God. We by nature were children of
wrath even as others, haters of God. But God who quickened
us from the dead, He gave us life and faith so
that we could see then our nature. We felt our guilt. We felt the
hopelessness of our depraved state. And in the power and love
of God He raised us from the dead for by grace you are saved
through faith and that not of yourselves. You believe? You
believe and that is not of yourself. It's not natural. It's by grace
you are saved through faith, not of yourself. It is a gift
of God, not of works. And it is by spiritual life and
faith in Christ Faith always looks to Christ who reconciled
us to God, that we are able then to love God. Therefore the object of our love
is toward God. Why is it that you love God?
You love God? Why do you love God? You know
why? Because He first loved. The only reason you love God
is He loved you first. Because He chose you. He redeemed you. He called you. He gave you faith. He gave you
love. Therefore, you love Him. You
love Him. John said this, In this is manifest
the love of God toward us. Again, looking at your circumstances,
do you think you can determine whether God loves you or not? If you're feeling good and everything's
going well, is that a sign God loves you? If everything's going
bad and everything is really horrible, and you feel even in
your soul that you are lost, you have no hope, does that prove
that God hates you? No. Solomon said this, and you
can look it up later, Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 1. He said,
you cannot tell the love of God by what you see or feel. You can't. In this, John says, is manifest
the love of God. How do I know God loved me? He
sent His Son to be the propitiation. His only begotten Son into the
world that we might live through Him. Herein is love. Herein is love. Not your love
to God. Not that you love God. That's
not going to be a manifestation of it. Herein is love. You want
to see love? Don't look in the mirror. Don't take your little pathetic
love and put it out here and start looking at it. You'll have
despair. You want assurance. Look at His
love. How long has He loved you? How long has He loved you? How high is His love for you? Can you measure it? Is there an end to His love? Therefore, we love Him. Is there anything else you want
to hear about? Is there anything but Christ you want to see? I've
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. That's all you want to hear. That's all I want to preach.
Because I love Him. And who are these that love Him?
Not everybody loves Him. Why? He didn't love everybody. That's why. If He loved everyone,
everyone would love Him. But we know this. Them that love
Him do so because we are the called according to His purpose. The election is very simple.
Did God save you on accident or on purpose? He saved you on purpose. Whose
purpose? Yours or His? His purpose. Why did He save you? I don't
know. His purpose. No difference between me and
anybody else. His purpose. And His purpose calls everyone
He loves. Everyone Christ died for. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And Him that cometh
to me, I will let know, and I will cast Him out. This is the will of Him that
said that of all He had given me, I should lose nothing. Do
you want to know if all things work together for your good?
Have you been called? Have you been called? What is
this calling? It's an effectual call of the
Spirit to faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Love to Christ. Love to the brethren. is an effectual
call for whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate. Everything that took place in
time was predestinated of God so that you and I should be conformed
to the holy image of His Son. Therefore, we know this. It's all good. to them that love God, to them
that are called according to His purpose. God says this, it's
all going to work to your good. Everything is going to work.
Every minute detail of this life will work to your eternal good. How do you see that? By faith. See how it causes faith
to grow? Because you can't see it any
other way. You're not going to see it any other way. I'm so glad He keeps our eyes
fixed on Christ, don't you? Because sure enough, we'd take
our eyes off if He didn't. I'm so thankful for His grace
and mercy that called us. There's no condemnation. Those
are in Christ. made us righteous, gave us those
benefits of being an heir of God. Prayer, what a wonderful
benefit. Yet though we suffer, we have
this knowledge. We know. You grab a hold of that
and you hang on as tight as you can. We know. I don't care how
I feel. I don't care what the world thinks.
I don't care what the world does. I know that all things work together
for my good. Why? He said so. He said so. I know it's me because
I love him. I believe on him. He called me
according to his purpose. He'll keep me and there's nothing
going to separate me from him. Nothing. It's all good. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.