the last time we were here. It's
an honor and privilege to be here. For our Sunday school lesson
this morning, we're going to do something a little unconventional.
We're going to look at something from the New Testament, and it's just
going to be one verse. It's going to be Romans 8, verse
28. Very familiar passage of scripture.
I'll let you all turn there in your scripture, in your Bible
there, and then we'll have a word of prayer. Lord, our Father in heaven, Lord,
we come to you this day in the high and holy name of your son,
Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, for your blessing on the service
that you would, Lord, you would reveal yourself to us with the
name of Jesus Christ would be high and lifted up. Lord, we've
been able to worship him for just a little while. We ask,
Lord, that you would save us from our many sins. You would
have mercy upon us and you would forgive us. We pray, Lord, you
would call sinners to yourself. Lord, bless our meeting. Bless
the fellowship we'll have this day. We ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
cold according to His purpose. Now everybody knows that passage
of Scripture, right? Most of you probably quote it. This is
the very first passage of scripture I ever committed to memory. And
I'll tell you why. There's a story behind it. And
the story involves Brother Henry Mayhem. And most of you probably
know this story. He's probably told it to you. I heard Henry
tell this story firsthand. And because of this story, I
memorized this passage of scripture. Henry Mahan was a young man a
young man. He was in a church service and
brother Rolf Barnard was preaching And if you know Rolf Barnard
you ever listened to him on sermon audio, he was kind of a harsh individual
He's very pointed very loud and during the course of the message
He looks at brother Henry Mahan who was very young. He says young
man stand up He says recite for me Romans 8 28. I And Mr. Mahan said, well, he got up and
said, well, and we know that all things work together for
good. And he sat back down. And Brother Barnard said, well,
don't you know the rest of it? Brother Mahan got up and he said,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are thee called according to his purpose. And as soon as Henry got that
word purpose out, just the first syllable there, Rolf Barnard
shouted out, purpose! He scared the daylights out of
everybody in the church service. Purpose. Everything the Lord does, he
does on purpose. He said, young man, if you will
ever understand the gospel, you will understand something about
the Lord's purpose. How true is that? And for that
reason, I committed to memory, just in case Todd and I ever
got some sort of wild inkling and he called on me, maybe I'd
get it right. Here's what I want to do. I want to start with the
back side of this verse and work forward. Dissect it and look
at the different things we can learn here. I want to begin with
this word, purpose. What is the ultimate purpose
of the Lord? Now, He is in control of everything.
Everything that happens, every interaction, every incident,
every circumstance is just His purposes coming about. He's ordained
all things. Everything is according to His
purpose and everything is working in harmony together. But it is
all according and leading up to one singular purpose. What is that? What is the purpose
of God? Turn if you would to Ephesians 1 and look at verses
9 through 12. What is the purpose of God? Ephesians
1 and look at verse 9. Having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, and his will 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. Here's the purpose of God. That
we should be to the praise of His, what is that word? Glory. Who first trusted in Christ.
What is this all about? The creation, this existence,
everything that's going on, every purpose that He has purposed
unto the Son. What is this all about? What is it all leading
up to? This is all about God getting glory for His name in
the person of Jesus Christ. That is what this is all about.
Men walk around saying, what's the purpose of life? What are
we doing here? What's this all about? This is about God getting
glory for Himself. Now, what is involved in that
purpose, that ultimate purpose? We are. The scripture says that
we should be to the praise of His glory. You see, the salvation
of His people and the Lord's ultimate purpose of glorifying
Himself, they're intricately linked. They can't be separated.
And I don't so much understand this as I just believe it, but
through the salvation of His people, the Lord gets for Himself
a greater glory than He would have otherwise had. Now somebody
says, how could the Lord get a greater glory for Himself?
I don't know. But He does. Through the salvation of His
people, all the Lord's wonderful attributes and characteristics
are magnified. They're showcased. They're revealed for everyone
to see. Now, how is this purpose accomplished? How do we, where
do we begin in all this? The Holy Spirit actually directs
us as to where to begin with this. If you look back at verse
11 in Romans, or in Ephesians 1. 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
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."
The Lord's purpose of glorifying Himself through the salvation
of His people begins with the love of God, which is seen through
predestination and election. Now let me show you that in the
Scripture. Go back to your text in Romans 8. And I want you to look at the
next verse down, verse 29. This is what's known as the great
chain of salvation. This is how this purpose is accomplished,
the Lord glorifying himself through the salvation of a people. Romans
8 verses 29 through 30 says, 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." How is the purpose accomplished? It's laid out right
there and it begins with this thing of the Lord's foreknowledge.
Now what is that? What is the foreknowledge of
God? Let me ask, is it this? Did the Lord, before time began,
look through the glass of time and see who in time would believe
and then he retroactively elected them before the world began because
he saw of their own free will they would believe in time? Is
that the foreknowledge of God? No. You know better than that.
Two things. Number one, the Lord never reacts. He is never reactionary. He only
acts. He's never worried. He's never
stressed. He's never trying to make His
will come about. He is always easy. He is always
comfortable. And whatever He wills, it's just
coming about. He is never reactionary. He never
reacts to men. He only takes action. Furthermore,
second thing, if the Lord waited around for a natural man to believe
on Him, how many people do you think would be saved? None. If that's the foreknowledge
of God, we are all in a world of hurt because that means nobody
is going to be saved. Because the natural man lacks both the
will, the desire, and the ability to believe. That's not the foreknowledge
of God. This word known, foreknown, it
speaks of love. Adam knew his wife Eve. Adam
shared an intimate relationship with Eve. Adam loved Eve. And
this is the foreknowledge of God. That before the foundations
of the world were formed, he loved a people in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is the foreknowledge of
God. He loved a particular people
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we have to ask this question. Does he love all men? Did He
love all men before the foundation of the world? Are all men eternally
united to the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's ask that question. Let's
get it out of the way. Turn, if you would, to Matthew 7. Look
at verses 22 through 23. Does He love all men? Matthew
7, pick up in verse 22. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
have cast out devils. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. Look at their profession concerning
their works. Many and wonderful. That doesn't sound like a sinner
to me. Pick up reading. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. I never loved you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. Here's the thing about the foreknowledge
of God, the love of God, it is a discriminating love. And it
is for the elect, those chosen in Jesus Christ before the foundations
of the world. Now what's the next link in the
chain? Whom he did foreknow, them he
also did predestinate. Predestinate, what does that
mean? It means It needs to be determined beforehand to an exact
end. And we know what that end is.
The perfect conformity of every member of the elect to the person
of Jesus Christ. That's what we have to look forward
to. And that's what we are right now in Christ. Any man looking
to Christ alone right now, he's been conformed to the image of
Jesus Christ. We are just like him in the eyes of the Father.
And that's also what we have to look forward to in time. Now
why is that so important? Why is that so important? Because
the Father is holy and He cannot have fellowship or communion
or friendship with anyone who is not just like Himself. And
that's why every believer must be conformed to the image of
Jesus Christ. We know our end and it is a hopeful
end that we'll be just like Him. The next link in the chain, called,
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 And those he called. Called. A call of irresistible,
invincible grace. Now I could give you a lot of
scriptures on this. I could show you a lot of things from in here,
but I would rather just use an illustration. Use a story. And
it's the story of Lazarus. Everybody knows the story of
Lazarus. What was Lazarus's problem? He was dead. He wasn't in a deep
coma. He wasn't near death. He wasn't
very sick. That man was dead, and he was
so dead that he stunk. His body had already begun to
rot. And if there is a biblical character that I can identify
with, out of all of them, it's this man, Lazarus, because our
problem was the same. Dead. Born in this world, dead
in trespasses and sins. And you've heard this illustration
time and time again, but I'm going to give it to you again. What can a dead
man do? Think about the abilities of a dead man. Can a dead man
work? Can he provide for himself? He can't. He's dead. Can dead
men believe anything? Can he muster faith in any way?
No, he's dead. Can he desire anything? Let me
ask you this. Does a dead man even comprehend
that he's dead? No, he does not. And that is
probably the worst part of the natural man's deadness is we
don't even know that we're dead. Let me ask you this. Let me pose
a few scenarios to you. What if the Lord approached Lazarus'
tomb He said, Lazarus, if you're willing, come forth. But that call done Lazarus any
good whatsoever. He's dead. Can't muster a will
in any way, shape, or form. And this free will preaching
in our day is completely bunk. There's nothing to it. We're
dead. What could a dead man will? The Lord bringing Lazarus back
to life is in any way conditional on Lazarus mustering a will to
come back to life. He's done. He's done. It debunks
any type of meritorious salvation in any way, shape, or form. He's
dead. What if the Lord said to Lazarus, Lazarus, if you can
just believe that I'm able to bring you back from the dead,
I'll bring you back from the dead. What good is that going
to do Lazarus? Nothing. He's dead. He can't
believe a thing. What if he said, Lazarus, if you'll just cry out
for mercy, I'll raise you from the dead. What good is that going
to do Lazarus? If Lazarus could cry out for
mercy, that would prove that he wasn't dead, he was alive,
and he would have no need of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
first place. Understand this, folks. Any man who ever truly
does cry out from the depths of his heart for mercy, it is
only for one reason. It's because that man has already
been shown mercy, sovereignly, before he ever anticipated that
he needed it. But that wasn't the call. The call was this,
Lazarus, come forth. No prerequisite, no conditions,
just a sovereign and all-powerful God purposing to raise a dead
man back to life and doing exactly what he purposed to do. And it
was a call from death unto life. Lazarus was dead. And a call
was issued, the call of irresistible, invincible grace. And he was
given life. And he obeyed that command and
he came forth. That's the call of irresistible, invincible grace.
What's the next link in the chain? Justified. Justified. What does
that mean? What does that word justified
mean? It means not guilty. Not guilty. Now let me ask this
question. How is that even possible? Guilty sinners. Wicked, evil
men and women like you and me. How is it even possible that
we would be not guilty before God? How could we be justified?
Turn if you would to Galatians 2 and look at verse 16. Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, 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 works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh
be justified. How can a sinner be justified
before God? It's not by works. It's by the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ, His faithfulness unto death. That's how a man can be just
before God. And folks, this is all my hope,
and this is the hope of every believer. This is all I have,
all I can hang my hat on. Jesus Christ became my sin. That
power that the Lord has to take my sin off of me and put it in
Christ throughout my union with him, that he bore my sins on
that cross. And that fiery wrath, the Father
poured down upon him. It was a wrath that was reserved
for every member of the elect, the wrath that was reserved for
me. And he poured it down upon him and he forsook his own son
because he was guilty, because he became my sin. And the sacrifice
swallowed up the fire. This man endured that punishment,
which is the equivalent of an eternity in hell for every member
of the elect. Times 10,000s and 10,000s and
1,000s and 1,000s, and he swallowed up that wrath and he put it away.
And three days later, he rose up. He was brought back from
the dead. Why? Because it wouldn't have
been just for him to remain in that tomb anymore. Because the
sin payment had been made. That means those sins are no
more. They have been put away. And
because of that work, that work of justification on that cross,
we bear our sins no more. Every member of the elect is
justified before God. We are not guilty because those
sins have been paid for. And he will not punish sin twice.
He is a just God. That's how a sinner can be just
before God, through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, his faithfulness
unto death. And what is the end state of
the chain? Glorified. Glorified. Let me ask this question. Jesus Christ right now, how pleasing
is he to his Father? How lovely is he to his father?
How accepted is he by his father? We say absolutely, absolutely
and utterly. That is how pleasing, and that's
how accepted, and that is how lovely each member of the elect
is to the father right now because in the person of Jesus Christ,
we are glorified. As he is, so are we in this world. Can't see that, can we? We know
it by faith. We can't see it, but it's absolutely true. Now,
remember our text. I'll try to hurry. And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called. Now, we talked about the calling,
the call from death unto life. What accompanies that life? Love. Love for God and love for His
people. Now, I'm going to confess something to you. Any message
I have ever heard where the focal point was the believer's love
for God has left me feeling nothing but shame. I have wrestled for
years with the idea, do I actually love God? I look at His love
for me, His love for sinners, that He would give His only begotten
Son, that He would give up His child, that one He loved for
us, for sinners, people who warred against Him. I don't know love
like that. Do I love God? Well, I've come
to this conclusion that yes. Yes, I do love God. I love Him
as He is revealed in this book. And that cannot be said of every
man. According to Romans 8.7 it says the carnal mind is enmity
against God. That means by nature we have
made ourselves the enemy of God. In short, the natural man hates
God. I was listening to Henry Mahan
preach on this topic and he said if you ever make that statement
that the natural man hates God, you better spend some time explaining
it because you'll sound like a lunatic if you don't. And I
understood what he meant. Because here's the thing, if
you were to go every door-to-door in Spring Lake, North Carolina,
and knock on the door, and ask people, say, do you all love
God? What are they going to say? Yeah! They're going to say, we
love God. Of course we do. Absolutely we
love God. Go door-to-door, 99% of people,
you'll get some atheists in there somewhere, 99% of people are
going to say, yeah, we love God. The thing of it is, they just
don't know who He is. They don't know the God of this
Bible, and if they ever knew who He was, they would find that
they absolutely and utterly hate Him. I'll tell you what, we can
know right now if we love the God of this Bible. We can know.
I'm going to give you three of His attributes. Just three. Three
things about Him. I want to see how you react to
it. And first, how do you react to the Sovereign God? I am talking
about the one who holds you and me in the palm of his hand, having
the power to save us or to damn us, and it is right, just, and
fair, whatever it is that he does. How do you react to that
God? A natural man hates that God.
Because it takes away his thought of choice. He says, I'm not in
control in this thing. I have no choice in this thing.
I'm not in the driver's seat. No, you're not. We are in the
hands of a sovereign God and he can do whatever he wills with
us. And it's right, just, and fair
anyway. How do you react to him? Now the natural man, he hates
that God. He's comfortable with a God he's made up in his own
mind. This feeble, weak God who's pacing the halls of heaven and
bringing his hand and just hoping that a man will allow him to
have his way. He's comfortable with that God. He loves that
God that he has made up in his own mind. But this sovereign
God, this one who rules and reigns and is in ultimate authority,
they hate that God. What do you think about him? Daniel 4.35, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What
doest thou? What about that God? What about
the holy God? I'm talking about the one who
is unfathomably perfect and will accept absolutely nothing but
unfathomable perfection. How do you feel about him? The
natural man says he's too strict. The bar is too high. I can't
meet the standard. And they hate that God because
the natural man seeks to be justified by his own works. And in the
light of the holiness of God, man's works are exposed for what
they are. They are dead works. They are filthy rags. And they
cannot produce life. And the natural man hates that
God. I tell you what, every believer loves the holiness of God. I
love the fact that in this world that makes exceptions for everything,
and including myself, I'll make an exception for myself any day
of the week. I'll defend myself to the end of my days. There
is one who's going to have things perfect and right and righteous
every single time, and there's going to be absolutely no exceptions. I love that about him. I absolutely
love it. I tell you what, folks, we don't
fear his standard. I don't fear that standard of perfection.
And I'll tell you why. Because everything he demands
of me... He freely provides in the person
of Jesus Christ. Now somebody says, make good
on that to me. Make good on that. Listen to this, Colossians 1
verse 21 says, And you that were sometime alienated and 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. We don't fear that
standard, believer. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is that standard and he represents us. What about the God of election?
The God who chooses to save some and chooses to pass by others.
How does he sit with you? Natural man says, that's not
fair. How could a loving God choose to save some and pass
by others? That's not fair. I tell you folks,
if we start talking about fair, it is a denial of total depravity
and total inability. We see nothing of our own sinfulness.
If that's our reaction to election, that's not fair. Here's why the
natural man hates election because it tells the truth about man.
That election is absolutely necessary because the natural man will
not seek God and he will not choose him by nature. He must
choose us. He must come to us first. He
must act because we will not. Our text, and we know, that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the cold, according to His purpose. All things work
together. Like a car. The engine with the
transmission, the transmission with the fuel pump. So on and
so forth. All parts working in harmony to get you where you
need to go. All things. And somebody says, what about
the hurtful things? And the painful things. And the
things that seem to be so devastating. The things that seem to be a
thorn in my flesh. All things. All things. Now, I had recently experienced
a great disappointment. And I'm not even going to tell
you what it is because it really doesn't matter. It really doesn't.
But during this disappointment, there's a verse of scripture
that came to my mind and I want to share it with you. Perhaps
if someone's going through something right now that is a disappointment
or is very troubling, it may be an encouragement to you. Turn
to 1 Thessalonians 5 and look at verse 14. 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in
verse 14, Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are
unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient
toward all men. See that none render evil for
evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among
yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore, pray without
ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Folks, we don't know what we
really need. I don't know what I really need and I don't know
what's best for me. But I know this, everything that happens
to us and around us, every interaction, everything that's going on, all
things, is ordained by our Father. That one who is too kind to be
cruel and He is too wise to err. Is He not worthy of our trust?
He absolutely is. I'll wrap it up. Look at the
first words of Romans 8.28. Paul says, and we know. Concentrate on that middle word
there, we. The Lord only deals with two types of people. He
deals with we, and he deals with them. The we. Those eternally
united to the Lord Jesus Christ that love God. And the them.
Those who hate God. Am I a we? Or am I a them? Because if I'm a we, I can take
this scripture home with me. This is talking about me. This
promise is made to me. It means there's nothing to fear
and there's nothing to worry about. Everything that's going
on, it is for my good. Everything works together for
good to them that love God to them who are the cold According
to his purpose if I'm a we I've got nothing to worry about ever.
How can I know if I'm a we? Pulses and we know that means
everything that follows after that is collective knowledge.
It's what every believer knows, but the word no love It's also
what every believer loves I'm ask you a few things Do you love
his purpose? His purpose of Him glorifying
Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, that being His ultimate.
Do you find Him worthy of that glory? Do you love it that He
glorifies Himself? Understand, if you're to be saved,
there will be no glory that's going to go to you. You will
simply be a trophy of His power and His grace, and the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to get all the glory. How does that sit with
you? Every believer says, Amen. He's
worthy of that glory. What about how he saves sinners?
By grace? Not in any way by the merits
of a man? Through his foreknowledge? Through his predestination, his
election, calling, justification, and glorification of his people?
How does that sit with you? And not in works at all? Not
according to what any man does? Do you love him as he's revealed?
That great sovereign who holds all of us in the palm of his
hand, doing whatever he wills with us? the King, the Lords
of the Lords, just as He's revealed in this book. Do you love Him
as He is revealed? If you do, you can take this
promise home. All things are working together
for good. You that love God, you who have been cold according
to His purpose. I'll stop there.