Now, last week, I began our lesson
by telling you a story about two days after Jared and I closed
the mortgage on our very first house. I was an infant. Holly was four. I found out the
company I was working for was going bankrupt. Closing the doors. And that Wednesday night, I read
that Henry asked me to read this passage of Scripture to open
our service. And after the service was over, Holly was there playing
with the other children, just four. And mom said, look at her. She's acting like she doesn't
have a care in this world. If we get a hold of this text,
we'll go through this life like we don't have a care in this
world. Our father is going to take care of business. And we'll
go through this life like we do not have a care in this world
if we can get a hold of this text this morning. It begins
in verse 28 of Romans 8. 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. Now this verse begins, we know.
We don't know much. There's so much we do not know.
And the only things that we do really know, we know from God's
word. Everything else is changing because
it's just man's opinion. But this is not a matter of opinion.
The Lord didn't leave this open to interpretation. We know this. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, we
know. Just like we know the only way
we'll ever be redeemed is through the shed blood and the imputed
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that. Every person
in this room would stake their life on it. You know that. With
the same degree of certainty, we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. We know that. We know all things
will work together for good to them who love God. Everything
that's ever happened in God's creation has happened according
to the eternal purpose of God. That's why we know that all these
things work together for good to them who love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. You see, God doesn't
have to take lemons and find a way to make lemonade out of
it. We do that. God doesn't have to do that.
Things somehow don't happen out of His control, and there's an
accident that has to be cleaned up, and then He figures a way
to, okay, well, here's a way I can make this good. No. Everything that happens, the
most minute details of everything that's ever happened in the history
of this world has happened according to God's decree. Every minute
detail has happened according to His will. Our Lord said even
the sparrow doesn't fall out of the sky that your father doesn't
know it. He knows it because He decreed it. It's not just
that He watched it happen. He decreed for it to happen at
that very moment. Well, if the Lord decreed that
for the bird, what did He decree for His people? The Lord has
decreed everything to happen the way it has happened, the
way it is happening, and the way it will happen in the future.
It's according to God's eternal purpose in a word. What that means is God's sovereign. And we can rest in that because
He's sovereign. Look back at Psalm 57. This is what David had to say about
this. God's sovereign. In Psalm 57, verse 2. I will cry unto God most high.
unto God that performeth all things for me." He's going to
work, a sovereign God is going to work together all things for
the good of His people. That includes everything that
ever has happened or ever will happen. It includes everything,
first of all, God has ever done. Everything God has ever done
has worked together for the good of His people. The creation of
this world God sending his son into this world, him sending
us pastors and teachers to point us to Christ, him calling out
his people through the preaching of the gospel. The death of his
sins and the return of Christ, everything you think of God's
ever done, every bit of it is for the good of his people. Second,
everything God has allowed Satan to do has worked together for
the good of his people. I'll give you an example. I know
that seems hard to swallow to the natural man, to the believer
it's not, to the natural man it is, but I'll give you an example.
Satan was at the heart of the crucifixion of our Lord. He moved
those men's hearts to do wicked. But in doing that, he didn't
do away with our Redeemer. In doing that, God used that
event to accomplish the eternal redemption of his people. Yes,
the Roman soldiers and the Jewish rulers, they did what their wicked
hearts desired to do. But in doing what their wicked
hearts desired to do, they accomplished the eternal purpose of God. He
worked that together for the good of his people. It's easy to see how prosperity. Someone gets a job promotion,
or they get a raise, or a healthy child is born. All these positive
events. We can see how well the Lord
did that for my good, for my happiness and enjoyment. But
what about evil things? Sinful things? Things that bring
pain and disappointment. What about them? All things,
even those things, work together for good. To them who love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. You know the
example, Joseph, how he suffered for years and years and years
that man suffered before he finally took the throne in Egypt. And
at the end, he told his brothers, you meant it for evil. And he
suffered because of it, because of the evil that they meant.
But he said God meant it for good, to bring to pass as it
is this day to save many people alive. Joseph never would have
gone to Egypt and had the wisdom to save all those people alive
if brothers hadn't sent him down there to be a slave first. God
worked that together for good. And you know, this may not always
be for yours and my personal good. It could be that we go
through something horrible, worldly speaking horrible, for the good
of some other person who loves God, for some other person who's
the called according to God's purpose. Look over in Acts 16,
back in Acts 16, and I'll show you an example of this. Acts
16, verse 22. Here Paul and Silas had been
preaching at Philippi. In verse 22 of Acts 16, And the
multitude rose up together against them, and the majesties rent
off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had
laid many strikes upon them, They cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely. Who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison, the worst part of the prison,
and made their feet fast in stocks. Now this is a painful, painful
experience. These men bore those scars of
that beating the rest of their lives. They're beaten, they're
bruised, they're bloody, and they're in stocks. They're in
pain. That wasn't for their personal
good. This didn't happen. Nothing good happened physically
to Paul and Silas because of this event. But you know what
happened after they began to sing songs of praise? Earthquake. Those prison doors
opened, the chains all fell off, and other prisoners left. And
that jailer was going to kill himself. And Paul said, don't
kill yourself now. We're all still here. And look
at verse 29. Then he called for a light. This
old, crusty, hardened jailer. called for a light, and sprang
in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas. And
he brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they
spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in
his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed
their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before
them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." See,
there's the good for God's people. The good wasn't necessary to
Paul and Silas, it was for that jailer. He believed God. Would
he have heard the gospel and believed it if Paul and Silas
hadn't been in prison? I don't know. That's the way
the Lord worked it. And I know this, he did hear and he did
believe. And he benefited, his house benefited,
and that town benefited. As church was raised here in
this town, and I'm confident this jailer is one of the chief
men supporting the gospel there, I'm confident he was always quick
to say, let me tell you what the Lord did for me. Oh, I can
tell you about God's grace. I experienced it. You see, sometimes
we see the good the Lord brings out of a situation. Sometimes
we don't. But even when we don't see it,
I don't have to see it to believe that I know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose. Here's another way, example of
all things, the fall of man. Now, Janet and I were children,
little children. We didn't have a Sunday school
class, so the children met in Henry's study. Charlie Payne
is our Sunday school teacher. During Sunday morning service,
we'd all go back to Henry Studding. Charlie teaches. And Charlie
would always end his lesson by asking if any of us children
had a question. Of course, you know children.
They never did. But about 30 years ago, Janet asked Charlie
a question, 10 years old. She said, God's sovereign. He
can do whatever he wants to do, right? Charlie said, right. And
she said, then why didn't God stop Adam from sinning? He could
have stopped Adam from sinning. Why didn't he? Charlie paused
and he said, I'll get back to you. A couple of weeks later, Charlie
got back to her. He said, I got an answer to your question. The
answer is to glorify his son. That 10 year old child didn't
understand that. He said, you understand? He went on explaining
some things. He said, you understand it? And
she didn't, but she just said, yeah. Well, here's the question. How can that fall of man be good
for me, good for you? That single act of disobedience
caused every bit of pain, heartache, sickness, hatred that's ever
happened in this world. What our brother Andy has gone
through this week and these past months has been because of the
fall of Adam. That's so. Bar's been sick for months. because
of the fall of Adam. Don Fortner is laying in intensive
care because of the fall of Adam. We go through, we see people
come back with a diagnosis of cancer because of the fall of
Adam. You've laid in Mayo Clinic for weeks wondering what in this
world is wrong with me because of the fall of Adam. Pain in
childbirth means hatred and enmity in this world. People dying every
minute because of the fall of Adam. The fall of Adam has brought
nothing but pain and suffering to you and me. How on earth is
that good for us? I'll tell you, if it hadn't been
for the fall of Adam, we never would have known the joy of being
redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. If it hadn't been for the fall
of Adam, we never would have seen the redemptive glory of
God's Son. Oh, we would have had some satisfaction,
I suppose, in having a righteousness that we could lose at any moment.
But we never would have known the joy the amazement of God's
grace that He would impute the righteousness of His very Son
to sinners like you and me, so we'd have a righteousness we
could never lose. We never would have known the
joy of being washed in the blood of Christ if Adam hadn't failed.
If Adam hadn't sinned, we never would have known the joy and
wonder of knowing the love of God which passes all human understanding. We never would have known the
joy of reveling in the amazing grace of God Almighty. We never
would have been able to stand up and sing Newton's song Amazing
Grace that saved a wretch like me if Adam hadn't fallen. If
Adam hadn't fallen, we never would have known the joy of singing
the praises of our God. If it weren't for the heartaches
that we experienced because of Adam's fall, we never would have
known the joy of the presence of Christ that he gives us in
times of darkness and trouble and dislike. It's good. How about indwelling sin, my
sin? All sin can do, my sin, all it
can do is separate me from God. How is that good for me? I hate
it. Well, for the believer, a knowledge
of my sin, indwelling sin, leads me to depend more on Christ.
A knowledge of my sin humbles me, takes that starch out of
me, and drives me to my Lord. Anything that will drive me to
Christ is good for me. And I'm not saying that there's
any excuse for sin, because there never is. But the Lord overrules
even that for the good of his people. Now, there are three
kinds of good that this verse can apply to. Our temporal good,
our spiritual good, and our eternal good. Sometimes, not all the
time, but sometimes, the Lord works things together for our
temporal good. When I was 11 years old, my family
lived in Danville. We moved to Willisburg. I never
thought that I would go through a worse experience than that. I was shy. I couldn't make friends. I couldn't adjust. I was miserable.
I really, honestly prayed I would die. It was horrible. But if
that hadn't happened, I never would have met John. I wouldn't
have Savannah sitting here. As for my good, my good. The Lord works things together,
secondly, for our spiritual good. There are painful, painful trials
that drive us to the Word. We learn more in that crucible
of trial that we learn on a sunny day. We learn so many good things
about our Lord. David said, it's good for me
that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes, that
I might learn thy word. That's good for me. And everything
that our Lord does, he works together for our eternal good.
Ultimately, whatever we go through here in this life will be brought
home to be with our Lord correctly. It's just like the story, the
illustration that Mike read to us of Jack Shanks a week or two
ago. All those ingredients of the cake. The Bible itself tastes
horrible, the shortening, the oil, the baking soda, the flour. But when the baking's done, oh,
it's mighty good. And when the baking's done and
we're home, we'll be amazed at how good our Lord is, what He's
worked together for our good, our eternal good. And we'll be
so thankful for every event. Now, this statement is a statement
made to God's to God's elect. You can't go tell this to everybody
in the whole wide world, everybody you work with and you see on
the street. You can't tell them everything's happening, working
together for their good, because it's not. It's working together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. This applies to God's elect,
those people who God has chosen. The only people who love God
are the people who are God's elect, people that God chose.
We do love Him, but why? Because He first loved us. I
choose Him, but only because He chose me first. This applies
to God's elect. God's elect are the only people
who are called to faith and love in Christ. And we are elect,
called according to the eternal purpose of God Almighty. Our God is a God of purpose. Everything that happens, happens
on purpose. And the purpose of God is to
populate heaven with a people made just like his Son. And our
sovereign God will without a doubt accomplish his purpose. You can bank on it. Now verse
29, 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. Now, for whom he did foreknow.
That word foreknow is not like a fortune teller who can look
into their crystal ball and tell what's going to happen in the
future. You know, people say, well, God looked down through
time and saw who would believe and who wouldn't believe. That
couldn't be more false. God knows the future events because
he's decreed the future events to happen exactly the way they'll
happen. He decreed them from eternity past. That's why he
knows what's going to happen, because he willed them to happen.
Look over 1 Peter 1. The same word, foreknow, is used
in 1 Peter 1, verse 20. It's foreordained. Verse 20,
1 Peter 1. Who verily was foreordained. That foreordained, the same word
is translated foreknow back in Romans 8. Who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world. but was manifest in these
last times for you. Christ was foreordained to be
the Savior of a foreordained people. I was telling John before
the service, my daughter Holly this week had a friend and they
got to talking about Scripture and religious things and Holly
said, tell me what you believe. And the girl was kind of timid,
afraid to tell her, you know, and she finally, Holly said,
well just tell me. And she said, well, nobody believes what my
church believes. She said, we believe in foreordination. Well, that's a good thing, because
that's what Scripture teaches. Foreordained. He is a foreordained
Savior of a foreordained people. Now, I never do this, but I did
this yesterday. I looked this word up and I looked
at the tense of this verb. This is very interesting. Foreordained,
to foreknow. This is a verb that's not in
the present tense, not in the past tense, not in the future
tense. And there's no English equivalent to it. It's just like
it is. And that's what God can do. He
is. He dwells outside of human time. He just is. And that's what he
has done, foreknew, foreordained his people. Now, he knows, you
know, God knows all men. He knows the hearts of all men.
But this is talking about a special knowledge. It means ownership
and love. I know my sheep. I own them. I love them. Look over in 2 Timothy
2. 2 Timothy 2. Verse 19. Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are His." He knows them. He loves them. He knows them
eternally. And it's tied to love. This everlasting
knowledge is tied to everlasting love. I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. An everlasting love because it's
an everlasting knowledge. I've loved you with an everlasting
love Therefore, in time have I drawn you with my love and
kindness. So whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. A natural
man hates the idea of predestination. A natural man will tell you,
well, some people are predestined to heaven and some people are
predestined to hell. Well, that's not what Scripture teaches. That's
what men will make up. That's not what Scripture teaches.
Every time this word is used in the Bible, It's used in reference
to the salvation of God's elect according to God's will. It's
used twice here in Romans 8 and it's used twice in Ephesians
1. Look over at Ephesians 1. In Ephesians 1 verse 5. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. 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."
See, it's according to God's eternal purpose and will that
we be made like Christ. We'd be made children of God,
that we'd be given an inheritance, that we'd be made joint heirs
with Christ. That's what He's predestinated His people to.
Whatever else happens in this life, and it'll be a lot of different
things, the novel of your life may be thick or it may be thin,
but I'm going to tell you the ending. The ending is the same
for every one of God's children. You'll be conformed to the image
of Christ. That's what He's predestinated
you to. And God's purpose is for the good of his people and
certainly is for the glory of his son. See here at the end
of the verse, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. God's purpose is for Christ to
have the preeminence. He's the firstborn. In the scripture,
the firstborn has to do with the inheritance, being the head
of the family, being the spiritual leader of the family, being the
one that the rest of the family depends on. It also has to do
with kingship. And that's Christ. He's the King.
He's the head of this family. He's the spiritual leader. He's
the spiritual life giver of the family. And the whole family
of God depends on Him, rests in Him. He's the firstborn. And
one day, many brethren are going to be made just like Him. Many
brethren. It may not look like it now,
But you wait until you see when God gathers them all together.
There'll be many because He's the Lord of hosts. And we're
brethren. Scripture always talks about
believers in family terms. We're brethren. Brothers and
sisters. Part of a large, loving family. You think the Waltons were a
large, loving family. What about God's family? And
we ought to act like it. There's nothing more I detest
than seeing a family fuss and fight and feud with one another.
I see it, my soul, at work. They won't talk to one another.
They will not eat with one another. They will not be in the same
room with one another. It's all because one of them
said something to them, offhand comment to their mother, or one
of them got something, or one of them is going to get something
and one of them is not going to get it, and they haven't even
got it yet. It might be destroyed by fire and they're fighting
over nothing. They're all they've got. In this world, they are
all they've got. In this world, we are all we
got. Love one another. Be brethren. Besides that, let's not bring
shame on the family of God. God forbid we bring shame on
our family. Well, verse 30. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Matthew Henry says this is the
golden chain which cannot be broken. The golden chain with
four links. Predestination. God's calling. Justification and glorification.
The golden chain which cannot be broken. Everyone God's predestinated. Everyone He elected, He called
with the irresistible call of grace. You see, election and
calling always go hand in hand. Where there's election, there's
always calling. Look over 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the were unto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Calling and election always go together. Now this calling is
a whole lot more than just hearing with these ears. Hearing the
gospel preached or hearing the word read or reading the word.
It's a special call of grace. It's not the preacher's voice,
it's God's voice. speaking to the heart. You hear
with the heart, with the ear of faith. Many are called, many
hear, but few are chosen. And those chosen always hear. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. When He calls, the sheep come
running. And everyone that God calls,
He justifies. God's already forgiven their
sin. That's why He calls them. Their sin's been blotted out
under the blood of Christ. God justifies His elect, makes
us holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight by imputing the
perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ to us. We're justified
because when God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of
Christ as our righteousness. Because it is our righteousness.
God gave it to us. He imputed it to us. Because
He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Whom God chooses,
He calls. Whom He calls, He justifies.
And whom He justifies, He glorifies. Glorifies with the eternal glory
of Christ. With Christ. Glory we can't even
imagine. But taking possession of that
glory taking possession of it. Even though it's ours right now,
taking possession of it is a future event. None of us has taken hold
of that yet. We're not in possession of that
yet. It's something we look forward to. It's our expectation. But
scripture talks about it in the past tense even though it's a
future event for you and me. The purpose of God is so sure
that God talks about future events like they're past events, in
the past tense. That's how sure salvation in
Christ is. You can't be more sure. And you
notice everything that's done here is done by the Lord. He predestinated. He called. He justified. He glorified. Salvation is of the Lord from
beginning to end. It's of the Lord. There's no
way you and me can mess it up. It's of the Lord from beginning
to end. Now, what shall we then say to
these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? What else can be done? What can
be added to what the Lord's done? Not a thing. You're complete
in Him. What are we going to say about
the difficulties of this life? Well, if God's for us, who can
be against us? If God's for us, what are these
things compared to God? What can prevail against us if
the Lord is for us? The law can't prevail against
us. Christ kept it, honored it. Justice can't prevail against
us. It's Christ that died. Justice is satisfied. Justice
has no claim on you anymore because it punished our substitute. Satan
can't prevail against us. Our Lord's crushed his head.
Principalities and powers can't prevail against us. Christ has
spoiled them and made a triumph of them openly. The world can't
prevail against us. It's under the control of our
sovereign Savior. We've just seen that. Suffering
can't prevail against us. Suffering is not going to drive
us from the Savior. We will suffer, but it will bring
us closer to Him. We'll have the comfort of His
presence while we suffer. And afterward, we'll be glorified
together. If so be, we read that last week
in verse 17, that you suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. And here's comfort. God's not
only reconciled to us. He's not just not angry with
us anymore. It's not like two countries go to war, one country
conquers the other one, takes the spoils and they just go their
separate ways and they don't talk to each other anymore. God's
for his people. All the attributes of God Almighty
are engaged together for the good of His people. And that's
our conference. All right. Well, I hope the Lord
bless you.