In Romans 28, we're going to
read Romans 8, verse 28, and it says, And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. And that a lot of people
take that verse or parts of that verse and say, we know that all
things work together for good. Well, that's misapplying of what
it's saying, and it's not reading the scripture as it's written
there. And we're going to break that
down and we're going to look at some other passages in parts
of Romans 8 and other places too. But a couple of things I'd
like to point out. We had on Wednesday, we kind
of looked at a thumbnail sketch of what we're going to do. And
that this verse can be broken down into several parts and we're
going to do some of that. And it can be broken down the
first part or a part would be and we know in the second part
that all things third part work together for good in the fifth
part to them that love God and six to them who are the called
according to his purpose there's some qualifiers there that's
not just a It's not just a platitude that we put on the wall that
says that we know that no matter what, all things work together
for good. That's not only simplistic, but it's missing a lot of what
it's saying here. In Jeremiah, turn to Jeremiah
29, a verse in there that is just... Chapter 29, that is... There's the word Jeremiah coming
to those that were carried away captive to
Babylon. This is a word of the Lord through Jeremiah to those
that were carried away captive. We're going to start in verse
4 and reading down a bit. It says, unto the residue of
the elders which were carried away captive. Verse 4, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried
away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem
unto Babylon. Build ye houses, and dwell in
them. Plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Take ye wives,
and beget sons and daughters. And take wives through your sons,
and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters,
that ye may be increased there and not diminished. Seek the
peace of the city, whether I have caused you to be carried away
in captives, and pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace
thereof shalt ye have peace. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, let not your prophets and your diviners that
be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your
dreams which ye have caused to be dreamed. for they prophesy
falsely unto you in my name, I have not sent them, saith the
Lord. For thus, verse 10, for thus saith the Lord, that after
70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform
my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place.
Verse 11, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected
end. That is pretty comforting to
God's people that God is doing those things and has thoughts
towards us to bring us to an expected end. And we're going
to see some of what that expected end is. And if you read in here, and as they
were carried away captive, I'm sure that there were those carried
away captive at the time didn't just say, well, Another great
adventure that were going on, and I'm sure some of them were
down in the mouth a bit when they were carried away captive,
and did not see this as a great adventure that we know we're
going to get our expected end out of it. I think that some
of them probably didn't see it from that point of view. But
here, it's what it says here, that they had an expected end. He, God, knew what that end was
for his people. not just physically in that particular
time, and he says they're coming back from Babylon, but also that,
more importantly, in the eternal meaning and sense of that, we
have an expected end, and that is to be with Him, whom we have
our faith and our trust and our hope in, is in our Lord Himself,
and be with Him where He is and like Him. And that's the expected
and not just hope for someday type in, but expected that God's
people expect that. And that's the end that God is
working all things toward with. I'd like to, by explanation also
of the first of that verse, a couple of thoughts by Henry Mahan in
his Sunday School exposition of Romans. It speaks about this
verse here and some things. It talks about all things where
the verse, as we looked at it, all things, and he breaks that
down into Five different things, categories, that he just says. It says, God the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit all work for good to them that love
him, called according to his purpose. All good angels, ministers,
and rulers work together for good. All evil beings, such as
Satan, works together those things that God determines and has said
will happen and determined will happen. All good events as peace,
prosperity, health, and happiness. Now, those things we can kind
of agree to pretty easily. All those things worked. And
fifth one that he makes a point of, all bad events, that is war,
famine, sorrow, sickness, and death, all work together God
is purposed for the good of them that love him that are called
according to that purpose and the purpose that he has called
his people to is to to glorify him and That these things all
work together for that in everything and that's that's like If is
God sovereign If he's sovereign, he's sovereign in every area
of all things. He's not just partially that.
He's not in the areas where we determine we would like him to
be sovereign. He either is or is not. And the
same way, all things, as he says here, all things work together
for good. We don't often understand that
or see that or are pleased with what situations we are in, but
we still by His Spirit reveals to us and puts that into us that
we believe these things. Just as He is sovereign in all
things, all things, as it says here, work together for good
according to His purpose. They all cooperate under God's
purpose for us. All those pieces fit together
and work and do such marvelous things that the purpose is not
only expected, it's assured for his people. And for good, eternal
good, with Christ, like Christ, being called by his grace, that
we understand and know some of those things and believe those
things. As Job in chapter 19.25 of Job where
he says, I know my Redeemer liveth, and on the earth shall stand,
and I'll see him. And that was not just platitude
or nice things about when Job was going through good times,
because we know Job went through some times that were not very
good, and he still, God revealed to him by His Spirit those things
that are surely believed, and he surely believed those things. Turn to Genesis for just a second
or two. In the second chapter, two places
that we look at. We're going to just look at two
verses as it fits in with what we're speaking of here. Chapter
2 of Genesis. God's commanding Adam in the
garden, verses 16 and 17, and the Lord, God commanded the man
saying, of every tree in the garden thou mayest eat freely.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die. That is a statement of what God
is commanding Adam, what you can do, what you cannot do. But
also it's a prophecy of that in the day that he ate of that,
he was going to die. That wasn't God saying, well,
we'll see what happens. And if you don't eat of it good,
and if you do eat of it bad, God ordained all things for his
honor and glory and for our good and the good of all of those
that are in the Lamb's Book of Life, of His people. This was
a sure prophecy. It was going to happen. It wasn't
we waited until they ate the fruit to find out what was going
to happen. we know that the lamb was slain
long before that time. And that the true sacrifice for
God's people for righteousness was sacrificed long before, excuse
me, Adam ever came along. And then in chapter three, verse
that we go to a lot, not just this verse, but to the passage
here, And it says in verse 315 of Genesis, "...now put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
And that verse, speaking to the serpent, And that one that was
going to accomplish this was that Lamb, was God the Son that
was going to take care of that issue of righteousness for His
people. And that is not just a sure word of prophecy that
we have, but it was a promise to God's people of all time that
that is how it is taken care of, and only that. And these
are not things that God reacts to anything that has ever happened
or will happen, but all things are working together to carry
out those purposes and decrees of God. There's no reaction to
anything. God does not react to anything. God is not sitting back and watching
to see what will happen and will take care of some issues that
come up. It's hard for us. We can't comprehend
it intellectually, but we can believe it because he causes
us to be able to believe those things. And if we could not believe
those things, and it was just how we could understand intellectually,
we would be completely lost. Not just spiritually lost, but
we'd be lost in all areas because we don't have the faculty for
that. We can't not only understand
those things, spiritual things, but we can't Comprehend we can't
believe them. We have no faculties there if
God does not do these things and part of the think of people
often take that verse Romans 8 28 as a physical here and now
type thing it's not a promise that all things good for our
work together for our comfort and our health well-being and
happiness in a physical sense and A lot of times that does
happen, but we know there's a lot of, as it says here, war, famine,
sorrow, sickness, death that comes in life that we have in
our lives and other people's lives, everybody's life. But
those things all are fitting together for the good of God's
people. It's just, and these are not, like I say,
these are not, we'll see if it works out. It may not work out
how we would do it or plan something, but we find out what God's plan
and God's purpose was and how things fit together in our lives
and in lives of others. I would like to turn to 1 Corinthians. Just a minute. Before we get
there, turn to Psalm 17, if you would, please. all the Psalms right through
this particular area, 16, 17, 18, speaking of the Lord our strength
and our salvation and those things He gives to us and is for us.
In Psalm 17 and verse Let's start with verse 14, it
says, 13, Arise, O Lord, verse 13, disappoint him, cast him
down, deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword, from
men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which
have their portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest
with thy hid treasure, they are full of children and leave the
rest of their substance to their babies. As for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness. I will be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness." The expected end that God's people have. And
our life is not a life of physical sorrow always. We have much joy
and much pleasure that God allows us to have, much physical things that we have, how we live,
and much blessed people in many ways that we are physically. But that's not the goal, and
that's not the end in mind. It was like Abraham, who had
his looking for a city whose builder and maker was his God
and not those things built by hands. And not the sadness up
here speaking about those things that satisfy men by nature are
not those things that satisfy God's people and that they are
not looking for those things in and of themselves. And it
says, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I will be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness. And in this world, we're not
going to... There's a lot of things that
we're not pleased with or that appear to go contrary to how
we would have them. But the hope and what we still
are headed towards by God's doing is that we will awake that day
with His likeness, in His presence, and we will see Him as He is,
and we will be like Him, it says. And those are the things that
we are holding to and looking to. And then in the book of 1
Corinthians, in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, And the book of 1 Corinthians,
I for a long time viewed this as you knew by some by different
books what they were kind of for what they were about. And
the book of 1 Corinthians was those Corinthians really had
some issues that need straightened out. And Paul was going to he
was going to straighten those guys out. But we have to as other
portions of scripture, we have to see. what's going on here,
who he's talking to and why he's talking to them. And he does
give some correction and some direction and some issues, but
first he sets her eyes on who and how they stand before God.
And each issue that he deals with, he puts them back in the
same place. It's not just a way to beat them
down or something, but it's a way to correct, but to put their
eyes on who they stand in and what what purpose is at work
in their life and in God's people's, all God's people's life. In the
first chapter of 1 Corinthians, starting with verse 1, Paul,
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and
Sosthenes, our brother, under the church of God which is at
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse 5, it says, that
in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in
all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. was confirmed in you, so that,
verse 7, you come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall also confirm you unto
the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ? God is faithful by whom ye were
called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
It's to God's people is who this is directed to. All of the scripture
is directed to God's people. It's not for general use of all
mankind. It's the word of God to God's
people. It addresses men of all standing,
both his people and the sheep before they are called in, what
condition they are in by nature. And it's not for the masses as
a whole. The gospel is given out to every
man. It only applies to those who are called according to God's
purpose. And that's the purpose of the
scriptures being given. And then skip down to the same
chapter. Verses 29-31, the end there,
it says, that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of
him, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And
here, by God, those things that we are in desperate need of as
fallen sinners. the Lord, the Lamb slain, is
the only one that can provide them and is those things to His
people. It said that He is made unto
us those things, and those things that are necessary spiritually
speaking, and those things as God deals with each of his people
work together for that good. They'll work together for physical
good too. We have many, like I said, many
physical blessings and things that we are glad to have and
thankful to have. But those things can fade away
in a moment. Health, riches, whatever can
fade away in a moment. Peace can turn to war and those
type of things. But those are not what the eternal
standing of God's people are based on, but they're all working
together to the end that all of God's sheep will be called
in. And all of those things work together for that purpose. And they work together for the good
of all of God's sheep, not just some of them or partially, And
that's a hard, it's hard to wrap our mind around, but it's something
that we have to be given the faith and the spiritual mind
to believe those things. And we do. It's just, if God
is not in control of all things, we're in a tough spot. If he's
not sovereign over all things, we are in a tough spot. We will
not come to God by faith of our own doing. It cannot and will
not happen in it only by God doing those things. And all those
things that we're aware of, many things we're not aware of, are
working to not only to feed and to encourage and nourish the
sheep, but those to bring the sheep into the fold. Go to 2 Timothy, if you would,
please, with me. 2 Timothy in the first chapter
to start with. 2 Timothy 1, starting with verse
7. For God hath not given us the
spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. Be thou a partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God,
who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles. For the witch cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." Verse 13, "'Hold fast the form
of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus.'" And we're going to get to verse 12
in just a minute, but up here in verse 8, Verse nine, it says, who saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And again, that
in particularly, according to his own purpose and grace, before
the foundation of the world, that found that purpose and grace
was given to us. We had a purpose. And we had
a purpose and grace was given us, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. This isn't God seeing some people
will be better than others and we'll take care of that before
the world began. And of the two, it speaks about
the twins several times. It says before they were ever
born, before they ever did any good or evil, Much longer before
that, before their parents were born, grandparents were born,
Adam was born, this world created. Before then, there was a purpose
and grace given to God's people through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then down here, In verse 11, he says he's appointed
a preacher and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which
cause I'll suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
for I know I'm believed and persuaded, and he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. And a lot of times,
half of this verse is taken. to this, but based on those other
things, and not just based on the words of them that says that
we were given purpose and grace in Him, not just the written word we have, but
the Spirit revealing those things to us, to Him, that we can say
that. I've been losing my voice. Hopefully,
it will last a little longer. But those things in the purpose
and the carrying out of those is where this verse 28 of Romans
we've looked at. How all things from eternity
past to The last sheep being brought in, all those things
are working together to carry out His purpose, which is the
good of His people and for His honor and for His glory. And we can say, as he said in
here, Paul said in here, I know and I believe, because He has
given that to us, not just because we can read the words of it and
say, yeah, that's a pretty good statement, we like that. There
are a lot of Scriptures that we truly appreciate that are
a blessing to us, but it's not just because they were, as the
words of them are written, right or how pleasant to us, but because
of what they truly mean and what the intent and the purpose behind
them was to God's people. In Ephesians, a couple of places,
but in the first chapter of Ephesians, turn with Ephesians 1, And starting with verse 1 and
down a ways, familiar passages and ones we love a lot because
of not just, like I say, how the words roll off the tongue
or they sound in the ear, but what that portrays and shows
us of our standing in our Lord. Ephesians 1, verse 1, it says,
Paul, an apostle of Christ, Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as he had
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will 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." Pardon me. Verse 11. 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,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ." And you notice in this first dozen verses of Ephesians,
of the standing that God's people have, because of those things
that He has done. There's nothing in here that
says that we did anything along the way. It didn't say you acknowledged
the greatness. It shows nothing of this. It speaks about that we have
those things in heavenly places, that He chose us before the foundation
of the world, that He, according to the good pleasure of His will,
these things were done. we were accepted in the Beloved
is how we were accepted, not of ourself, that he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known in verse 9
that unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
which he hath purposed in himself, that he would gather all things
together in Christ. This shows and speaks of all,
and very well supports, and if you want to look at that way
of supporting and explanation and putting forth of all those
things that worked together for the good of God's people to them.
that love him, that are called according to his purpose. And
here it speaks about not just called according to his purpose,
and then there you go, and then we take the ball and run with
it. Start to finish of God's purpose and of his doing. And God's people have no problem
with that. It's just, there's no burden
put upon God's people of a doing or of a, how is it taken care
of, that it's all of Him. And it says after you have believed,
and that believing, we know it, we go on in a couple other places
that say it's completely of God. And in chapter 3 of Ephesians,
while we're here, chapter 3 of Ephesians, starting with verse 6, chapter
3, verse 6. It said, God's purpose before was revealed
by his Holy Spirit unto the prophets by the Spirit. And then in verse
6 it says, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of
the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the
gospel. whereof I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. and to make
all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things
by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which
He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness
and access with confidence by the faith of Him. Wherefore I
desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is
your glory. For this cause I bow my knees
unto the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ. But all these things
as it speaks up here, and the grace that was given to him by
the effectual working of God, and in verse 11, according to
the eternal purpose, what he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. All these things are purpose. There's not a contingency plan. There's not a, and we often have
contingency plans. We were going to go up into Upper
Canada on a nice vacation this year. It was burning up in Canada. We had a contingency plan. These
things that we're seeing on the scriptures here, of those things
working together for good, doesn't mean if this way doesn't work,
another one will. all things that God has purposed
to work for God's people, for their good, eternal good, and
His glory. And this, just a couple of thoughts, I'm
closing in this part of it. Two of them, one in, we're not
gonna turn to it, but Genesis chapter 45, there's quite a lengthy
reading about Joseph going down to Egypt and all the different
things that took place there. And you remember what, when he
talked to his brothers and they realized who it was, he said,
you meant these things for evil to me, but God meant it for good
to save much people alive. I'm sure that when Joseph was
in the bottom of the pit and a few things and carried away
slavery and stuff, that he was not, first thing that didn't
come to mind was, ah, this is good. I know where this is going.
I'm sure that he did not, was not the first thing that came
to his mind. It was not. He could see that, this end of
it, and many times after the fact we can see too, but how
things were. And then in the book of Esther
where he'd been, wonderful book of Esther. how things work together for
the good of God's people, that book is right up there. It's a wonderful book. God's
name is not mentioned in it. And that is often, I think, where
some people might stop and not pursue it any farther. But in
that situation, it shows things working together for good that is going to save those people
alive. And it's a good story, but it's showing
God's working, how those many things in that instance come
about for the good of His people. With that, we may look at a little
more in verse 28 at a later time, Romans chapter 8. But for now,
that should be comfort to God's people that we know that those
things are not just, it's not just a saying, but all things
to bring us to an expected end, as it says. With that, thank
you for being here today. As Mike says, be free.