Romans 8.28. Now this is the
first verse of scripture I ever committed to memory. And I'll
tell you the story as to why. Luke will know this story very
well. So this is a story from Henry Mahan. I heard this first
person. But he was a young man and he was in a church and he
was sitting down and Rolf Barnard was preaching. And so in the
middle of the message, Rolf Barnard looks at Henry Mahan and he says,
young man stand up. So Henry stands up and he says, recite
for me Romans 8.28. And Henry says, well, and we
know that all things work together for good. And he sat back down.
Rolf Barnard goes, don't you know the rest of it? Henry gets
back up. And he says, all things, and
we know that all things work together for good to them who
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. And
as he's just getting the first syllable of that word purpose
out, Rolf Barnard shouts out, purpose! scares everybody to
death. It says, young man, everything
the Lord does, he does on purpose. And if we're ever going to understand
the gospel, we're going to have to understand something about
his purpose. Now, what I want to do is I want
to start with this verse of Scripture. I want to start in the back and
work forward and just look at the different parts of it. Just
dissect it and look what the Lord has to say in Romans 828.
And I want to begin with this word, purpose. I'm going to ask
this question, what is the ultimate purpose of God? Now everything
is according to His purpose. Everything is working in harmony.
He rules and He reigns according to His will. Everything is done.
Everything is according to His purpose but it is all leading
up to one final ultimate purpose. What is that? If you would turn
to Ephesians 1 and look at verse 9. What is the Lord's purpose? What
is he doing? What's he done? Ephesians 1 verse 9, having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, and it is a mystery,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Now here it is, don't miss it.
That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. First and foremost, what's his
purpose? What's the Lord doing? What has
he accomplished? This is all about his glory. this creation,
this life, with all its trials and difficulty, but also all
its peace and its comfort. This whole thing, it's all about
one thing. It is about God getting glory
for himself in the person of Jesus Christ. That's what this
is all about. I'm gonna ask you real quick,
how does that sit with you? That's the purpose of God. Now,
what's involved in that purpose? How is this purpose accomplished?
That we should be. We are. We're involved in that
purpose. You see, the purpose of God,
achieving his glory, and the salvation of his people, they
are intricately linked. They can't be separated. And
I don't so much understand this as much as I just believe it.
But through the salvation of his people, the Lord obtains
for himself a greater glory than he would have otherwise had.
Now somebody says, how is that possible? How could God have
greater glory than he otherwise had? I don't know. but this is
how he accomplishes his glory. Through the salvation of his
people, his attributes are made manifest. His person is known,
it's showcased, that every knee's gonna bow, and every tongue's
gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's the purpose of
God, and it's through this thing of saving his people. Now, when
we're gonna deal with this thing of the Lord's purpose, his purpose
in saving his people, where do we begin with this? If you look
back at verse 11 in Ephesians 1, it tells us where we begin. Ephesians 1 verse 11 says, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance being, what's that
word, predestinated according to the purpose of him. Here's
where we begin with the predestination and election of the Lord's people.
That shows us where to begin because through his predestination
and his election of his people, we see the very love of God. And that's where his purpose
begins, the love of God for his people. Let me show you that
from the scriptures. Turn back to your text in Romans
8. We'll look at the next verse, verse 29. Romans 8, verse 29. This is the
chain of salvation. For whom he did foreknow. He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Where do we begin here? We begin
with the foreknowledge of God. Now, what's the foreknowledge
of God? Is it this? Did the Lord look through the
glass of time, before the world began, look through time, and
he saw who would believe, and then he retroactively elected
them because he saw they would believe. Is that the foreknowledge
of God? No. No, it absolutely isn't. Number
one, the Lord never reacts. Never. He doesn't react to men. He doesn't react to circumstances.
He's never panicked. He's never worried. He's always
comfortable. He's always easy. Just ruling
and reigning with his will always coming to pass. He never reacts. He only acts. Furthermore, if
the Lord did wait, if he said, I'm not going to intervene. I'm
just going to see if any man will believe on me. And that's
who I'll save, naturally. I'm not going to intervene. Just
any man that will believe on me by nature, I'll save him.
You know how many people will be saved? We lack both the ability, you
cannot come to me, and we lack the desire, you will not come
to me, that you might have life. Now this is the Lord's foreknowledge.
This word foreknowledge is the same as Adam knew his wife Eve.
Adam loved Eve. Adam shared an intimate relationship
with Eve. And this is the Lord's foreknowledge
that before the foundations of the world were built, he loved
the people in Christ. He loved them in Christ. That's
where all the Father's love is. It's in Christ, and everybody
in him he loves, and they were chosen in Christ. Now, we have
to ask a question. It's a very important question.
Did he foreknow everyone? Does he love every man? It's
an important question, isn't it? Let's answer it right now.
Turn to Matthew 7, look at verse 22. Matthew 7, verse 22. Did he foreknow
all men? Does he love all men? Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
thy name? And in thy name have we not cast
out devils. And in thy name done many wonderful works. Look at their declaration of
their works. Many and wonderful. It doesn't sound like a sinner
to me. Go back to reading. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. I never loved you. Depart from
me, ye that work in equity. Do you love everybody? Did he
love everybody before the foundations of the world? No. He does not. It is a discriminating love.
And it is only for the elect, those in Christ. Now what accompanies
this love? What's the next thing in the
chain? Predestination. Whom he did foreknow, then he
also did predestinate. What does that mean? What does
predestination mean? Predestination means to be determined
beforehand to a defined end. A known end, determined beforehand,
before the foundations of the world, to a known and defined
end. What is that end? According to
verse 29, whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he may be the
firstborn among many brethren. This is this predestination for
all the elect, to be conformed to the very image of Jesus Christ. Do you want to know what your
future holds, believer? This is it. This is the optimistic
future for all of us that is right now and will be in our
experience. we will all be conformed to the
image of Jesus Christ, just like him. Why is it so important?
Because God is holy, and there's only one person he can have fellowship
with, and that is one who is also holy and unfathomably perfect,
and we have this promise. We will be conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ, one who can have true and utter fellowship
with God. What's the next thing in the
chain? whom he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he may be the
firstborn among many brethren. Then he predestinated, he also
called. Now remember our text at Romans
8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good. to them who love God, to them
who are called, called. That promise is not given to
everyone. That promise is given to a particular
people, those who love God, those who are called, called with the
call of irresistible, invincible grace. So, this is the call. At the Lord's appointed time,
He sends His Spirit into a man's heart, and He withers him and
tears him down, and He exposes him to the person of Jesus Christ,
and He sees him for who he really is. It is the very giving of
a new nature, the Spirit of God Himself. Now, I could tell you
about that, and I could point you to a whole lot of scriptures
that talk about that, but I'd rather give you an illustration,
because I love this illustration. It's probably my favorite one.
Lazarus. Everybody knows the story of
Lazarus, right? What was Lazarus's chief problem?
He was dead. He was dead. That was his problem.
He wasn't in a coma. He wasn't near death. He wasn't
a man that was alive who kind of looked dead. He was dead so
bad that his body was rotting. That's how dead he was. And if
there's any biblical character I can identify with, it's Lazarus,
because his problem and my problem are the same. Dead. Dead in trespasses
and sins. Now we've heard this a thousand
times, people use this example all the time, but it's good to
bring out what can a dead man do? Can a dead man work? Can he keep the law? Can he make
an atonement for his sins? Can he believe the gospel? Can
he muster faith? Can he cry out for mercy? Can he do any of these
things? No, he's dead. He's dead. He can't. He's unable. And that's how we're born in
this world, dead in trespasses and sins. That was my problem.
That was your problem. Now, let me ask you a few questions. What if the Lord approached Lazarus'
tomb and said, Lazarus, if you're willing, come forth. What's going
to happen? He's going to lay there dead,
isn't he? That's a covenant of works. I'll do this for you as
long as you by nature can muster this and do this thing. All you
have to do is muster a willingness and I'll bring you back to life.
Lazarus is going to lay there dead because he can't do it.
He's dead. What if he approached and said,
Lazarus, if you believe that I'm capable of raising you from
the dead, I'll raise you from the dead. He's just going to lay there.
He's just dead. He can't muster faith. He can't
believe God. He lacks all ability. That's
how we're born in this world, unable to believe God, unable
to muster faith. What if he said, Lazarus, if you'll just cry out
for mercy, I'll give you life. I'll bring you back to life.
That's preposterous, isn't it? Because Lazarus can cry out for
mercy. He's alive, which means he doesn't need the Lord in the
first place. Understand this, the only man who ever cries out
for mercy is a man who's already been shown mercy freely and softly. That wasn't the command. This
was the command. Lazarus, come forth. And a heart
that was rotting and hadn't beaten days started beating. And blood
that had coagulated in dead veins started flowing again. And muscles
that had began to rot regained strength. He was given a command
by a sovereign God, and he did the only thing he could do at
that point. He obeyed the command. There was no decision to be made.
Well, I might accept this life. I don't know. Let me kick it
around for a minute. He was dead, and now he's alive. And this
is what the Lord does when he calls a sinner from death unto
life. He is a sovereign God who purposes
to bring a man back to life, and he does exactly what he purposes,
and it has nothing to do with the man. That's it. It's a call
from death unto life. Not a call to reformation, not
a change, but a new man, a new birth, a new creature from death
unto spiritual life, the very nature of God himself. What's the next link in the chain?
Justified. Justified. What does that mean? What does
it mean to be justified? It means not guilty. Not guilty. Is it possible, is it even possible,
that a man like me, men and women like you, can stand not guilty
before God? Because my experience is that
of guilt. Is it not? None of us kept the law. Not
one time, not in our hearts. Can I be justified before God? How is that possible? Let me
give you a scripture here. Turn to Galatians 2, verse 16. Galatians 2, verse 16. Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law. It's not
of works, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed
in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified. Can it be any more clear? It's
not of works. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
not obedience to the law. It is by the faith of Jesus Christ,
his faithfulness unto death. Now, folks, this is my only hope.
You can have it right in a nutshell here. This is all I've got. This
is all I have to cling to. This is it, is that Jesus Christ
bore my sins in his body. that my sins were lifted off
me and they were put in Christ. And he went to that cross and
he bled and he died because he was suffering the punishment
that I was to receive. The punishment that was reserved
for me, for every member of the elect. What we deserve in eternity
of hell times 10,000s and 10,000s and 1,000s and 1,000s. That was
poured down upon him because he bore our sins in his body
and he bled and he died. And when he said it is finished,
they're no more. They're gone. Past tense. Nothing left to do.
The sins of yesterday are gone. The sins of today are gone. The
sins of tomorrow are gone. They are paid for. And that's
my only hope. That's all I've got. So much
so, the father looks at every member of the lek and he says,
he's justified. He's not guilty. That is a true statement about
that individual. He's not guilty because those
sins have been paid for. He's never done anything wrong.
And he has the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. He's only done
that which is right. It's justification, not guilty,
and it's only through the faith of Jesus Christ, his faithfulness
unto death for his people. Where do we end up? What's the
end state? Glorified. Glorified. Let me ask this question. How arrayed in glory is Jesus
Christ right now? How loved by His Father is Jesus
Christ right now? How accepted by His Father is
Jesus Christ right now? Say completely and utterly. We're
in the same boat. We are eternally united to the
Lord Jesus Christ, so we have the same acceptance, we have
the same love, we are arrayed in the same glory as He is right
now. Now, we don't see that by experience.
We don't know that. Our experience is nothing but
sin. That's my experience. I'm a wretched, wicked man, and
that's my experience. My experience is not righteousness. But one
day we're going to wake in his likeness, truly glorified. We're
not even going to have an experience of sin anymore. We're not going
to know what it's like. We only remember what it's like. All
we're going to see is this man with the nail prints in his hands
and his feet and the spear mark in his side. And we're going
to know that the only reason we're there is because of what he did. And
all praise and all glory belongs to him. I long for that day.
That's going to be a good day. Now remember our text, and we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose. This promise
is not made to every man. This promise is made to a particular
group of people, them who love God and who are called. Now we
talked about the calling before. It is a calling from death unto
life. Lazarus was dead and now he is alive. It is a call from
death unto life. What accompanies that life? Love,
real love for God, real love for his people. Now I'm going
to confess something to you. Any message I have ever heard
that's centered around the believer's love for God has caused me to
do nothing but hang my head in shame. I do not feel good about
my love for God, especially looking at it in the light of his love
for me, that he would die for me. My love just pales in comparison. I don't feel good about my love,
and no believer does. Should always be more, should always
be greater. But I do love God. I do love God. I've wrestled
with that for years, but I do love God. I love him as he is revealed
in this book, in his scriptures. And I'll tell you what, not every
man can say that. In fact, most men can't say that.
Romans 8, 7 says, the carnal mind is enmity against God. You know what that means? It
means the natural man, the fleshly man, He hates God. Doesn't dislike him. Hates him.
Absolutely hates him. Now, the interesting thing about
that is a natural man doesn't know that he hates God. If you
were to go door to door around here and pull people and say,
hey, do y'all love God? What are they going to say? Of
course. Of course we love God. We're
a God-loving people in this house. The thing of it is, they don't
know who he is. They have absolutely no idea who he is. And if they
were confronted with a true and living God, what would they find
is they hate him. I absolutely do. I'll tell you what, we can
know right now if we can take this promise to ourselves. Because
we can know whether we love God. I'm going to give you three of
his attributes. And I want to see how it sits
with you. Just ask yourself about it. First one is the sovereign
God. The one who rules and reigns and is in absolute and utter
control of everything and everyone. Everything that happens, the
first cause of that is the Lord's will. He has a will, it's a holy
will, and he has the power to make his will come to pass. And
he holds you and I in the palms of his hands, and he can do what
he wants with us. He can save us or he can damn
us, and it is right, just, and fair, no matter what he does. What about that guy? Natural
man's gonna fight with that guy. He doesn't like him. He's comfortable
and he loves the God of his imagination. The feeble God, the God that
can't make a move until the man will allow him to have his way.
The God that says, well, I'm knocking on your heart's door.
Won't you just open to me? Won't you allow me to be the
savior of your life? The natural man's comfortable
with that God. He's happy with that God and he loves him. But
this God that kicks down the door and rules and reigns in
a man's heart just because he wills to, he don't like that
God. He'll have nothing to do with him. What about this? What about the Holy God? The
God that is absolutely and utterly and unfathomably perfect and
His standard is absolute and utter perfection. How does a
natural man react to Him? That's the standard. Make no
mistake. It is absolute perfection. Never done anything wrong and
always done that which is right. That's the standard. How does
a natural man react to Him? He's too strict. He's too strict. I can't meet the mark. He wars
against that God for one reason. Natural man seeks to be justified
by his what? By his works. By his works. And when he stands in the light
of the holiness of God, his works are exposed for what they are.
They're filthy rags. And they are dead works and they
cannot produce life. And he will war against that
holy God all day long. I'll tell you what the believer
we love. I love, excuse me, I love the fact that his standard does
not change. That he has a holy and a perfect
standard. You know, I'll make exceptions
for myself all day long. I might even make an exception
for another person, you know. But he has a standard that is
holy and perfect and it will not change. He's gonna have everything
just holy and perfect and that's the way it's gonna be. And I
love that about him. And I don't fear his standard. I don't. That
standard of holiness, I don't fear it because everything he
requires of me, he also freely provides. Somebody says, make
good on that. Make good on that. Let me just
read this to you for the sake of time. Colossians 1 verse 21, and you
that were sometime alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Yet now. Isn't that good news? There's no fear of his standard.
We are the standard. He's made us holy, unblameable,
unapprovable in Christ. Love that. All right, final one. What about the God of election?
The God of election. Before the foundation of the
world, he chose to save some and he chose to pass by others.
How does that God sit with you? Natural man hates him. He says
he's unfair. He's absolutely unfair. How could a loving God
choose to save some and choose to pass by others? The natural
man will hate election because election exposes the true state
of the natural man. He will not choose God by nature. That's why election is so necessary
because we, the natural man, would not by nature choose God.
We would only make war with him. An election is necessary because
if in time we will ever choose him it is first because he first
chose us in eternal election. But they hate that God of election. Do you love that God? Do you
love him? Would you change him in any way
if you could? Folks, I flat out love him. I absolutely love him.
I love the sovereignty of God. I love his holiness. I love the
electing God. I love that God that just does
what he wants. And whatever he wants is right. Whatever he does
is right. I absolutely love him. And I'll tell you what, if you
do love that God, that means you've been called. You've been
called from death unto life. And according to this promise,
you know what that means? That means all things are working
together for your good. All things, not separately, not
independently, but all things together in harmony are working
for your good. Somebody says, all things? Yes,
even the hurtful things. Even the painful things, even
the sad things, even the things that seem to strike us down like
we feel like we're never going to get up, they are all working
together for your good. It's like a car. Transmission,
the engine, the fuel pump, they all work in harmony to get you
to the final ending state. That's what this world is all
about, this life is all about. Everything, all things, working
together for your good. And I want to close by asking
this question. Can I take this promise home
to myself? Is this promise to me? Because
if this promise is for me and for you, what do we have to worry
about, honestly? What is there to fear? What is
there to worry about? We should have boldness walking around every
day if this promise is for me and you. Let's find out. What
are the first words that are spoken here? Paul says, and we
know. Focus on the middle word, we.
The Lord deals with two different sets of people. He deals with
the weak, those of us who are eternally united to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he deals with them, those who hate God. Those
are just the two categories you can fall into. So let me ask
you this. Not only do we know, as in a
knowledge-based thing, we understand that all these things that Paul
says after that word we, we know them to be true, we love them
that way. We wouldn't have them any other
way. So I'm just going to ask you a few questions. And we know. His purpose. His purpose of glorifying
himself. Do you love that? Do you love
the fact that this is all about him getting glory for himself?
And understand, believer, what we're going to be. We're going
to be trophies of his power and his grace. All glory in this
thing of salvation is going to go to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the one who's going to wear the crown. He's the one who's
going to get the glory. And we're going to spend eternity singing
his praises. How does that sit with you? Folks, it sits just
fine with me. He's worthy of that glory. I
love him getting that glory. I want him to get all that glory.
I know that to be true. Do you love the way he saves
sinners? He accomplishes his purpose through the salvation
of his people through his foreknowledge. He loves them for the foundation
of the world in Christ. He predestinates them and elects
them to be conformed to the image of his son. He justifies them. He calls them. He glorifies them.
Do you love the way he saves his people all by grace and not
by works at all? You know who loves that? Sinners. That's who loves that. I love it. Do you love him in
the way he's revealed? Truly the way he's revealed in
this book, the sovereign, ruling and reigning, that holy one who
will accept nothing but holiness, the one who chooses. Do you love
him? Folks, if you do, I tell you,
you take this promise home that all things are working together
for your good, you who love God, who have been called from death
unto life according to his purpose. I'm gonna stop there.