and turn with me to Romans chapter
8. I've been studying in this chapter for quite a long time,
but I have received multiple blessings from it. I believe
that this is one of the most comforting passages in all of
Scripture, is Romans chapter 8. And this morning we'll look again
at Romans 8 and verse 28, The Scripture says, And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. The title of the message is this
morning, Who Are We and What Do We Know? Who Are We and What
Do We Know? Now this apostle, the Apostle
Paul, in this chapter, continually, verse after verse, gives great
comfort to those who are believers in Christ who are suffering in
this world. If anyone knew what it was to
believe on Christ and suffer for His namesake, it was truly
the Apostle Paul. He said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake. He said, I'm here, I desire to
go to be with God, which is far better, but I remain for you. He suffered under the gospel
ministry. He suffered for preaching the
gospel. And if you're a believer in Christ,
know this, you'll suffer for believing the gospel. You'll
suffer for believing it. You'll suffer ridicule from men. I tell you, you'll suffer at
your job, you'll suffer in the sacrifice of your time, your
energy, your money, everything. You will suffer for serving Christ
in this world. And the Apostle knowing this
gives great comfort to believers. Because as the Apostle Paul believed
on Christ, even so do we. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I know this, I am not exempt from suffering, and neither are
you. If you are a believer in Christ,
you are not exempt from suffering. And so Paul gives this by the
Holy Spirit, this text especially, as a source of comfort, a source
of repose, something to rest in, something to lean on when
you're weary. Have you ever been weary? Have
you ever needed rest? Doesn't it feel good to have
something firm to lean on? When your legs can no longer
withstand the weight of your own body, you need something
to lean on. And this is spiritually true
for us who are believers as we walk through the wilderness of
this life, the desert of this world. And I'll tell you, this
world is a wilderness. It is a vast wasteland. There's
nothing here that we desire. There's nothing here that lasts.
There's nothing here that gives us any lasting comfort. And so,
as we journey, we become weary. And if you're not weary yet,
just wait. You will be. You will be. There are many people who use
this verse falsely. They say, well, all things work
together for good. Everything's going to work out
for me. Everything's going to be just
fine. Look, God said in his word, everything works together for
good. Many people are hoping and wishing
by some measure of faith in the God of chance, in the cosmic
luck that all things are going to work out for good. But the apostle declares with
great confidence that only a certain group of people have this comfort. He said, we know. We know that all things work
together for good. To who? To everyone? Does it all work out for everyone? Is everything just going to work
out fine for all the people of the world? No. All things work
together for good to them that love God. to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Those alone will receive good. Those alone will receive good.
The Apostle says, we know. Who are the we? The Apostle includes
with himself The Apostle says we, so obviously he's including
himself in this text. These who know this to be true, these are those that are free
from condemnation. The Apostle begins this letter,
there is therefore now no condemnation to who? To them who which are
in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. This is the way. To those whom
God will not impute their iniquities. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not sin. That's a blessed man, isn't it?
To be free from the condemnation of God. To be free from all judgment. To be free from all hell that
we deserve. We've sinned against God. We
deserve justice. But yet, if we are in Christ
Jesus, we are free from condemnation. We by nature were born sinners.
We were born in ignorance and in darkness. And I tell you,
there was no righteousness in us. We couldn't even do good by accident.
We couldn't slip on a banana peel and do good. Just not possible. It wasn't possible. We were born
by nature sinners. The scriptures declare this to
be so. For there is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are altogether become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. No, not one. If we by nature are not good,
and we do know good how then could man who is all together
knows nothing of goodness how then could we know that all things
work together for good if we don't know what it is what's
good? do you know what's good? now we have an idea what we think
is good But remember what that did to the nation of Israel in
the book of Judges. They did that which was right
in their own eyes. And then what happened? They
fell off into sin. They went away from God. You
know what's right in the natural man's eyes? To run from God. That's right in your eyes. That's
right in my eyes. It was not until God came to
us in power of the Holy Spirit and gave us life to see our condition,
and it was then that we knew that whatever we thought was
good, whatever we knew about goodness, we had none of it.
Whatever goodness was, I knew I didn't have any. Has God ever
brought you into that place? Has God ever made you to see
your condition? If God never put you in the dust,
you'll never have any hope. And I don't mean the dust of
circumstances. Every one of us had bad circumstances. Every one of us has a lot of
bad things we can look at in our life and say, well, man,
that's the reason I do this and this is the reason I... The reason
you do bad is because you are a sinner. Sin is not just what we do. It's
who we are. The Scripture says from the sole
of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness. All our righteousnesses are as
menstrual cloths. When the light of the gospel
shines in our hearts, in this darkness of our hearts, it exposes
us. Have you been exposed? That song
we just sang, Rock of Ages, he said, naked come to thee for
dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I too the fountain fly. Touch me, Savior, or I die. Now, that's someone who has some
knowledge. That's someone that the Spirit
of God has given light to. I remember this song by Joseph
Hart. He said, The sinner is a sacred
thing, for the Holy Ghost hath made him one. The Holy Ghost
reveals what we are. The light of this Gospel shines
in, exposes us, and then the Spirit of God arrests us. Arrests us by His sovereign free
grace. You remember when Mephibosheth
was alone in that house of Lodabar, which means no bread. He was
crippled. He could not come to the king.
Neither would he come to the king. He was a child of Saul. He was an enemy of the king. And it wasn't until David sent
and fetched him. that he was brought, arrested,
and brought to the feet of David. And that's exactly how sinners
are saved. They are arrested. They are brought
to the judgment bar of Jesus Christ. They are made to bow
at his feet. Do you know everyone in the Old
Testament Scripture who has seen the Lord Jesus Christ They either
fell down as dead or they wondered why they didn't die. You know
that? If they knew who He was, they
fell at His feet as dead. And some of them were so ignorant
in His presence until after He had ascended. They said, Ah!
We're going to die! We've seen God! Has God ever fetched you? Has
God ever brought you down? To see what you are? Pitiful. Pathetic. Useless. Man, that just don't sound like
this is not a self-esteem class. I'm not here to boost your self-esteem.
I'm here to show you what God sees. I'm here to tell you what
God sees. It doesn't matter about what
I see. It don't matter what you see.
Because you won't be judged by me. You will be judged by God. You will be. I tell you, if God has not exposed
your sin and complete inability, hopelessness, and helplessness
to save yourself, then you don't know what's good. You don't know what's good. You
vainly and foolishly wish that everything's going to work out
all right. But I tell you, if God's not brought you down to
the feet of the Savior to where you believe on Him and trust
Him, you are hopeless. Men think it good that if they
be healthy and happy and wealthy in this world, they think, well,
that's good. Isn't that what you think? How
do I know what you think? Because that's what I think.
That's what we think by nature. We think, hey, I know that healthy
is good. I know that happy is good. And
I know that if you had some wealth, that'd be good. Well, do we really
know that that's good? I've seen a lot of people, wealth's
destroyed. I've seen a lot of people who
had good looks. And I tell you, I coveted my
brother. He had everything. You know,
you have one person in the gene pool that seems to get everything.
Well, my brother had all that. And I coveted it. I wanted it. I didn't have it. He had it!
Destroyed him. So what I thought was good was
really not. Men think they know what's good.
To be happy and healthy, they think that's good. These may
be good for you. They may appeal to your lusts
and your flesh. God says your heart is deceitful
and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it?
These things are often used of Satan to keep his kingdom at
peace. Tell me, you who see these things
as good, Listen to this. What does it profit if you gain
them all and lose your own soul? What does it profit you? Surely we all desire these things, but these things can give us
no foundation or assurance that all things work together for
our good. You can have all these things. You can be healthy, happy,
and wealthy. But that is no assurance for
your soul that all things will work together for good. For we
know that by God's grace that we are sinners and our sense of goodness is
very warped. I know that, don't you? Do you
know that about your sense of goodness? My sense of what's
good and what's right is warped. It's crooked. Proverbs 7 in verses 1 through
6. I'll read it to you. Proverbs 7. Make sure I got the right place. Nope, I got the wrong place. I'm sorry, just a second. Ecclesiastes, I think it's Ecclesiastes
7. Listen to this. A good name is
better than precious ointment. And listen, the day of death
than the day of one's birth. Does that not go against what
you think is good? Do we not celebrate somebody's birth and
mourn someone's death? We got it backwards. God says
the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.
Now whose sense is crooked? God's or yours? God knows what's
good. It is better to go to the house
of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. Boy, doesn't
that kick against us. We think it's good to be happy,
to be at the house of feasting. That sounds good, doesn't it?
God says that's not better. It's better to go and cry. The rebuke of the wise is better
than the compliments of fool. Boy, doesn't that kick against
us. You may not like my rebuke, but
I tell you, my rebuke is better than you going out and getting
a bunch of fools' opinions. That kicks against what we think
is good, isn't it? Kicks against it. Why? Because we don't know
what's good. We don't know what's good. These
things, such as mourning and death and rebuke, are to the
flesh evil things, hurtful things, things to be avoided. But if
God should by His grace shine the light of His gospel into
your heart, and you should know your sin, you that have the light and life
of God, what do we do? We forsake what we think we know
and bow to God's Word. Who are the we? We are the ones
who bow. We are the ones who submit, who
confess our sins. We are the ones who believe solely
on the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, alone, without
any merit of ourselves. We bow down to God, for He knows
what is good. We know. We seek Him for mercy. And that mercy will not be found
in religious deeds. It won't be found in merited
obedience by the law or church creeds. Mercy is only found at
the mercy seat. Jesus Christ. Listen to the picture
that God gave of that Ark of the Covenant, that box, that
golden box. It was in the Holy of Holies.
That's where God condescended. He came down in His glory and
dwelt in that little room. I imagine that it was no more
than 5 by 10. I think that's how big
the room is in the Ark of the Covenant, 5 by 10. Small room. Box in there. God's glory. And the high priest only entered
into that place once a year, but not without blood. He had
to come with blood. He offered the sacrifice of the
atonement, and He brought the blood into that place, and He
sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. You see, that's the only
place where God will commune with sinners. It's the only place
where God will meet with you, is in Jesus Christ, His Son,
who is the mercy seat. He is the high priest that offered
the sacrifice of Himself, and He has sprinkled the blood He
shed His blood and He brought His blood into the presence of
God and God accepted His blood. How then could you meet with
God? Only by the propitiation of Jesus Christ. This is the
only good thing. Every false religion, you know
this is a bloodless religion. Every sin of man is worthy of
everlasting damnation. Every sin against God is to be
punished and must be punished so that God's justice must be
satisfied. Not human justice, but divine
justice. Which one of you have confidence
in the justice system? Pretty good. But it's not completely
just, is it? No. Divine justice must be satisfied,
and every soul must give an account before God. I tell you, listen
to me very carefully, because you will hear this again. If
not in this life, you'll hear it in the next. You must give
an account before God. And every sin, every sin will be put under the
microscope of God's justice. Therefore, without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. This is the purpose of
the mercy seat. It is to make us acceptable with
God. It is by the blood of Christ
that my sins are paid. You see, I'm not skirting justice. God doesn't take my sins and
sweep them under the rug. God actually redeems me. He actually pays for sin. And therefore, I'm never having
to look over my shoulder. I'm never having to wonder if
God's ever going to come back and take my sins and charge me
with them. Why? Because he was satisfied
in the Redeemer. Do you know that? Do you know
that? And I'm not talking about here,
have you experienced it? When I talk about things like
depravity, I'm not talking about a doctrine that's educated. Everyone
here, I can go through probably the catechism and you could probably
answer all those questions. You've got it up here. Everyone
in this building, you've got it right here. You know it. But
I'm not asking if you just know it. And I'm not even asking if
you assent to it. Is this your experience? Total depravity is my experience. It's not just my doctrine. Absolute, complete redemption
by the blood of Jesus Christ is my experience. That is my
hope. That is my life. He is my all. And I give all for Him. I'll ask you who know me. Do I play church? Or do I live it? I know I don't live it like I
want to. But I tell you, you should follow
my example. Did I not give up all things to come here to preach
the gospel to you? Did I do it begrudgingly? Did
I grit my teeth at it? No. Why? Because I serve a Savior. I serve my Lord. And whatever
He asks, I should gladly give. And so should you. If you know
this, then I tell you this is your experience. It's not just
mine, it's yours. And my experience is I love you.
That's my experience. I love God's saints. And God's
saints love one another. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples, that you have love one for another. We know. We know that Jesus has entered
into the presence of God and all of our sins have been erased. They've been gone. They've been
washed. And we know this because He called us. Have you been called?
I love God. Who are we? We are those that
love God. We are those that are called. Have you been called? I'll tell you, if you've never
been called by God, you surely don't love God. I don't care
how much you think you do. You don't. But when you're called, you will love. You will love Him, and you will
serve Him, and you will believe on Him alone. Is this your experience? then we know that all things
work together for good for us. This is not a sentimental wish. This is a rock-solid fact. All things all things, all things,
all things work together for your good. How do I know? Because God has
made a covenant with me. With you who believe, God has
made a covenant. And it's not an agreement. It's
not a two-sided agreement. We make contracts. That's the
closest thing we've got, is contracts. And we say, well, this is my
part of the contract, and I'll fulfill this part if you'll fulfill
that part. That's not a covenant. We're
not coveting with God as equals. God made a covenant as a supreme
being and he said, I will be your God and you shall be my
people. This is it. This is the covenant
that he's made with me. He said, I know my thoughts of
you, thoughts of peace and not of evil. Well, I'm dying. That's not evil. That's good. My son died. My mother died. If you're in Christ, that's not
evil. That's good. That's good. How do I know it's good? It don't
feel good. It's good because God says it's good. I've told you this story. I'll
tell it again. I'll close with this. King, young prince, grew up with
this young fellow. They grew up as friends, very
close friends. And the king, the prince, finally
ascended to the throne. And he brought his friend with
him as a counselor, his friend. But his friend was a believer
in Christ. And he had this saying. He had
this saying. He did it all the time. He said,
no matter what it is, he said, that's good. That's good. One
day they were hunting. And all of a sudden his friend
shot at a bird and the king got in the way and he shot off his
thumb. And his friend said, well, that's
good. And the king, being enraged,
took his friend and he cast him into the dungeon. He cast him
away from him. I don't want to see you. How
could this be good? You shot off my thumb. How is
that good? Cast him in the dungeon. One
day the king was out in his entourage hunting in Africa and they got
captured by a tribe. cannibalistic tribe. And after
they had eaten all of his entourage, they came to the king, ready
to feast on him. But they noticed something. He
was missing a thumb. And it was the religion of the
tribe not to eat someone who wasn't whole. And they let him
go. And he comes back, and he gets
to his friend, and he gets his friend out of the dungeon. He
said, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. How could I not
trust you? It did work for good. They didn't
eat me because you shot off my thumb. If you hadn't have done
that, then I would have been eaten. I'm so sorry I put you
in the dungeon. And his friend said, no, that's
good. I'm glad you put me here. And
he said, how could you say that? I was so cruel to you. And he
said, if I wasn't in here, I would have been out there with you,
and I would have been eaten, too. Oh, friends, if you're a believer
in Christ, if you're in Him, listen to me, there's no condemnation.
God is not forgiving you with His teeth clenched together.
Is that not what we think sometimes God's forgiving us? Man, I've
got to forgive Him again. He freely forgives. Why? It's already been paid. It's already been paid. Isn't it awesome to know that
God is just and cannot demand twice payment? Isn't that something? He can't
demand payment at my surety's hands and then demand payment
at mine. That's unjust. So how then do
I know? I know this for sure, all things
work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
the called according to His purpose. Now if you don't love God, if
you're not called, you have no such comfort. All things work for your ill. all things work together for
the damnation of the wicked. Praise God that I've been delivered
from such condemnation." How? By the Lord Jesus Christ. I wrote this in the bulletin,
you read it later, but this struck me. Thy blood, dear Lord, has bought
my peace and paid the heavy debt, and has given a fair and full
release, and I am in prison yet. Justly, unjustly now these foes
of mine their devilish hate pursue. They made my surety pay the fine
and yet plagued the prisoner too. What right can my tormentors
plead that I should not be free. Here is an amazing change indeed. Justice is now for me." Did you
get that? Justice is not against me, it's
for me. You know what justice says? Let
him go. I found a ransom. God found a ransom. God found
a ransom. And He offered it. And I'm free. Therefore, we know all things work together for
good. We who believe in Christ, that's
who we are. What do we know? All things work together for
good, those who are in Christ. Are you in Christ? Forsake your
thoughts and return unto the Lord, and he will abundantly
pardon. May God have mercy and bless
this message to your heart. We'll stand and be dismissed
in prayer.