I invite your attention to Romans
chapter 8, verse 28. The epistle of Paul to the church
in Rome, 8th chapter, 28th verse. And this morning's message is
titled, Do all things work together for good. to you. My text reads in these words,
and we know that all things work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. When someone suffers an unpleasant
event, someone else may say to that
one, in hoping to comfort that one,
that's okay, because Romans 8.28 says, all things work together
for good. You perhaps have heard someone
make such a statement. It may be when someone has suffered
a loss. Perhaps it is in a moment of
bereavement. And someone tries to comfort
the bereaved by saying, that's okay. Because Romans 8.28 says,
all things work together for good. No, that is not what Romans 8.28
says. Now you may say, but preacher,
I just heard you read the text. It says all things work together
for good. And I repeat, no, that is not
what Romans 8.28 says. Rather, that is only a part of
what Romans 8.28 says. And as surely as a part truth
is an untruth, if not a whole lie, then so is a part quote
a misquote. Or rather, as we sometimes hear
a text removed from its context, is a pretext. And we may make
a pretext here when we simply say, all things work together
for good. That is only a part of what Romans
8.28 says. And we cannot remove that part
of the statement from the whole and base a whole doctrine upon
it. It just will not work. Romans 8.28 says, and I repeat, And we know that all things work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to his purpose. Note very well that there is
a promise that all things work together for good, but that promise
is qualified It applies only to certain people. And these
certain people, to whom all things work together for good, are qualified
in this twofold manner. They love God, and second, they
are the called according to his purpose. On the other hand, if
you do not love God, Be assured that this blessing is not for
you. Ample proof of this is found
in the fact that lovers of God are delivered from God's wrath
and received into everlasting bliss in heaven. If you should
go to heaven and ask someone there, do you love
God? Oh yes, I love God. Are you the called according
to his purpose? Oh yes. Have all things worked
together for good to you? Oh yes, all things have worked
together for good to me because I love God and I am the called
according to his purpose. But on the other hand, those
who do not love God are barred from heaven. and consigned to
everlasting punishment in the lake of fire. And if you should
go today to that place called hell and ask someone there, are
all things working together for good to you? That person undoubtedly
would say, well, of course not. Look at this situation that I'm
in. Well, do you love God? Oh, no, I do not love God. That's why all things do not
work together for good to those who love God. This promise that
all things work together for good applies only to those who
love God and to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Now, let us consider this blessing in its various points. We're
hopefully going to answer these questions this morning. What
are all things? And second, in what way do all
things work together for good? Third question, to whom do all
things work together for good? And fifth, why can lovers of
God say we know that all things work together for good to them? Let's consider that first question.
This sect says that all things work together for good to certain
people. So we ask, what are all things? Well, all things are everything. And you may say, when I preach
you, you're being redundant. Well, yes, I am. But this nevertheless
must be said, all things is inclusive of everything. This includes
even things that are contrary to each other. Things that are
contrary to each other are working together for good to certain
people. This means that both gains and
losses are working together for good. Both joys and bereavements
are working together for good. Both promotions and demotions
are working together for good. Both afflictions and recoveries
are working together for good. And even death is working together
for good. To those who love God and are
the called according to his purpose, all things work together for
good. My dear and beloved father is
in heaven at this moment. God called him to glory a few
months ago. If you should ask him regarding
his former life here on this earth, did all things work together
for good to you? He undoubtedly would say, yes,
they did, they did. What about your bereavements?
What about the loss of family, loved ones? What about the losses
in your life? What about setbacks? What about
catastrophes and travails in your life? Did they work together
for good to you? Yes. All things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. Most people think all things
work together for good to them when all things are good. They
get a promotion and they say, look, all things are working
together for good to me. But few people know that even
bad things work together for good to them. And this is going
to be true if you love God. Even your bereavements, even
your setbacks, even the catastrophes that happen in your life, even
these bad things and even your death will work together for
your good. There are times when all of us
are tempted to say with Jacob in Genesis 42 verse 36, all these
things are against me. And there probably have been
times in your life when you thought that everything that happened
was happening against you. Jacob had a son named Joseph. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. Joseph's brothers hated him, and one day they conspired against
him. They wanted their father to believe
that Joseph was dead. The brothers had sold Joseph
to some slave traders. And they wanted their father
to believe Joseph was dead and therefore he would forget about
Joseph. They took Joseph's coat and saturated
it with blood, carried it home to Jacob. And they said to their
father, we found this coat covered in blood. Is this your son Joseph's
coat? And Jacob says, well, yes, it's
Joseph's coat. Well, father, it looks like some
wild animals has devoured Joseph. And poor Joseph, or poor Jacob,
he was greatly bereaved. He has lost Joseph. Then there came a time when there
was a famine in the land and Jacob sent the rest of his sons
except for Benjamin down to Egypt to purchase some food. Benjamin
had at this time taken the place of Joseph. Joseph was gone and
now the love and affection that Jacob had placed on Joseph was
now placed on Benjamin. So he sent the brothers except
for Benjamin down to Egypt to purchase grain. And there they
purchased grain from the man who was second in command of
all Egypt, the man who was in essence ruling over Egypt. They
were there in the presence of this high-ranking man, purchasing
grain for him to take back to their family in the land of Canaan. And this high-ranking official
in Egypt began to inquire concerning their family, telling me about
your father. And they told this Egyptian ruler
about their father back in Canaan. Then the man in Egypt, the ruler,
said, do you have any other brothers? Pardon me. And they said, yes,
we have one. He's not with us today. He's
the favorite of his father. And his name is Benjamin. And
so the ruler in Egypt said, all right, I'm going to send you
back with food. But I've got some doubts that
you men are telling me the truth about this other brother that
you have. You say you have another brother.
You're going to have to prove it. I'm going to send you back
home with food. but you've got to come back to
Egypt and bring that brother Benjamin with you so that I can
see that you're telling me the truth. And until you return,
I'm taking your brother Simeon and I'm holding him here as my
captive until you return and bring this brother you call Benjamin
back here so that I may see him. So the brothers take the food
that they have purchased back to Canaan and they have to leave
Simeon there in Egypt. They go back to their father
and they report what this ruler in Egypt had told them and poor
Jacob, he is distraught. He's lost And now he is certain that he
has lost Simeon, for he is being held captive there in a faraway
land of Egypt. And then there came a time when
they needed more food because the famine had continued. So
Jacob called his sons and he said, now you go back down to
Egypt and go see that man in Egypt, the ruler, and get more
grain. And the sons said, father, we
dare not go back unless we take Benjamin with us because that
man very straightly told us, I'm holding Simeon here until
you return with Benjamin so that I can see that you were telling
me the truth. And poor Jacob at this moment says, all these
things are against me. Joseph, I've lost him. Simeon, I've lost him. And now I'm about to lose my
favorite son, Benjamin as well. But in the end, Jacob, who said
all these things are against me learned that all things work
together for those who love God to those who are the called according
to his purpose. What Jacob did not know at that
moment was this, that Joseph, the son he had lost, who reportedly
had been slain and devoured by a wild animal, That son Joseph
was now on the throne in Egypt and he was the ruler that had
told his brothers, his own brothers, do not come back unless you bring
Benjamin with you. And I'm holding Simeon till you
return. Jacob did not know this. He did
not know that there were stocks of food there in Egypt that would
be used for the preservation of his own family. and eventually
Jacob has Benjamin brought back home to him and Jacob goes down
to Egypt and there with both Benjamin and Simeon and all the
rest of his family he sees that darling son Joseph Now the ruler
in Egypt, he sees him. He had lost Joseph, now Joseph
is restored. He had lost Simeon, now Simeon
is restored. He thought he was going to lose
Benjamin, but now Benjamin is restored. And Jacob, who undoubtedly
loved God, could say with the promise we read in our text,
that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to his purpose. In the end, everything,
the good and the bad, had worked together for good. Second question
we ask is this, in what way do all things work together for
good? They are like the making of a
tapestry. Portraying someone's life woven
in both warp and woof with threads of many colors by a master weaver. A tapestry is a beautiful thing. Look at that tapestry. All these
different colors woven in. Some are going up and down. Some
are going straight across. But all these colors woven together,
contrasting colors, work together to make a beautiful tapestry. Some colors in this tapestry
indicate all that is good. In the tapestry of our lives
that God is weaving, White might stand for the day of salvation
and cleansing. The day that he washed us from
our sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. Red might stand for rosy
days and we have some of those, do we not? We have some days
and we just, this is a rosy day. That might be the red in the
tapestry of your life. Orange might be for skies at
promising daybreaks. Quite often in the early morning,
I step outside of the apartment and then step back in and say,
honey, you've got to take a look at the daybreak. The sun has
risen and the sky is orange. And it is a beautiful sight,
that orange daybreak. And you cannot help but think
that this orange daybreak must be a sign that we're going to
have a good day. Then later in that day, we find
yellow, representing days of bright sunshine. Then there is
green for times of growth and health. There is blue for days
when the heavens are cloudless. There is indigo and violet for
days ending with pleasant sunsets and peaceful nights. Not only
do my wife and I enjoy the orange of a daybreak. But we occasionally
go out to the west coast just a few miles away to watch the
sunset. What a beautiful thing is the
sunset. The sky begins to darken a bit,
but it is a pretty darkness. It is indigo and it turns to
violet and the sun goes down and Even when the sun goes down,
and it's there beyond the horizon, it is still giving some illumination
to the horizon. And you say, you know what? This
violet and indigo sunset has brought an end to a good day.
And there are other bright colors as well. All these are woven
into this tapestry to make it bright and beautiful. But then
again, some colors in this tapestry indicate all that is bad. There might be gray for darkening
clouds and devastating storms. There might be black for days
of death and mourning. But when all these colors are
woven together by a master weaver, a beautiful tapestry is made. And in this instance, God is
the master weaver. He is weaving together all that
happens to certain people. And at the end of their lives,
they will look upon the tapestry of their time on earth and exclaim,
surely all things, both good and bad, worked together for
my good. Yes, there were Good days, and
they worked for my good. And there were bad days, and
they also worked for my good. Because all things work together,
the good and the bad, for good to those who love God. Third
question is, to whom do all things work together for good? They
are here identified in a twofold manner. First, They are those
who love God, and second, they are those who are the called
according to his purpose. Now consider first that all things
work together for good to those who love God. Who are those who
love God? They are all who obey the first
and great commandment in God's law, which reads in these words,
You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. That's
from Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, and quoted by Jesus Christ in
Matthew 22, Mark 12. You shall love Jehovah your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength. This commandment requires everyone
to love Jehovah with every fiber of their being. and to love him
more than any other person or thing. And to prove that life,
that love, by reverencing and worshiping him and by walking
and living according to all the rest of his law. I ask you, do
you love God? Do you love God with every fiber
of your being? Do you love God more than any
other person or thing in all the world? Do you walk according
to His commandments and His precepts and His statutes in order to
prove your love? If you are such a person as that,
I can tell you, all things work together for good to you. But if you do not love Jehovah
in this manner, Be assured of this, that all things are working
together for bad to you. And the second qualification
is this, all things work together for good to those who are the
called according to his purpose. These are all who are called
by God to salvation in this present life and to glory in the life
to come. They are called in consequence
of God's foreknowledge and predestination of them before the foundation
of the world. And this truth is set forth in
the following two verses, Romans 8, 29 and 30. We hear read, For
whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image
of his son, Jesus Christ, that he, Jesus Christ, might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom God predestined,
these he also called. Whom he called, these he also
justified. And whom he justified, these
he also glorified. It is God's eternal purpose that
all things will work together for good to all whom he foreknew,
predestined, called, justified, and glorified. That is his purpose
for them. And it is no wonder that they
love him. On the other hand, there are
some who deny God's eternal purpose. There are those in man's free
will religion who do not care for this doctrine of foreknowledge
and election unto salvation and God predestining this chosen
people. They do not love this doctrine. They care not for it. They might
even outright deny it. And if you do, you do not love
God. He has not called you. and all
things are not working together for your good. Now the fourth
and final question is this. Why can lovers of God say we
know that all things work together for good to them? They can say
so because of both scriptural examples and personal experience. Consider first scriptural examples
that prove that all things work together for good to those who
love God. We here will cite two examples.
First, consider the man described in Psalm 119, the 119th Psalm.
He loved God. For he included himself among
those who love your name in verse 132. This is the same as saying,
I love you. If you love God's name, you love
him because his name is himself. This man's love for God is also
expressed in his declarations that I love your law, verse 97. I love your commandments, verse
127. I love your testimonies, verse 119. I love your precepts,
verse 159. This man loved everything that
God required of him. He loved God, he loved his law,
he loved his precepts, he loved his commandments, he loved his
statutes, he loved God's testimonies. He therefore says in verse 71,
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn
your statutes. He says in verse 67, before I
was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. Here is the man who has suffered
some adversity in his life. Some affliction has come upon
him. Some travail has befallen him. But this man says, it was good
for me to have been afflicted because I love God and even my
affliction worked for my good. Here is the man, perhaps you
or me, who can look upon his afflictions and their result
and declare, I know that all things work together for good
to those who love God. I'll give you a second scriptural
example. Consider Jesus Christ preeminently. Surely you know that Jesus Christ
loved God perfectly. And surely you know that Jesus
Christ suffered adversities beyond those suffered by any other man.
He suffered trials of faith beyond those of Job. He suffered hatred
and persecution beyond those of Joseph. He suffered betrayal
by one of his apostles, denial by another apostle, desertion
by the other ten apostles, and rejection by his own countrymen. And worse still, Jesus Christ
was justly forsaken by God. when he died in the place instead
of his people for their sins. Behold Jesus Christ on that cross
as he cries out in his anguish, my God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Jesus here will find out that
it was good that God forsook him. He suffered martyrdom in
such a way as to make him the exemplar for all God's witnesses. But his love to God never flinched. Even when God forsook him on
that cross, Jesus' love for God did not flinch. He loved God
in that moment when God forsook him. As he did when God said at his
baptism, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Jesus'
love for God never flinched despite the adversities that he suffered.
And consequently, all things worked together for good to not
only Jesus, but also to all those for whom he suffered and died.
Jesus was exalted to God's throne, and Jesus was made ruler over
all things. His people were, through his
death, saved from God's wrath, reconciled to God, justified
from their guilt, sanctified from their pollution, and glorified
forever. All this happened Because of
all the adversities that Jesus Christ suffered there in his
passion and in his death on the cross of Calvary. Because Jesus
Christ suffered those things. We, for whom he died, furthermore
will rule and reign with him over everything. Jesus Christ
is the foremost proof that we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. If you want proof of the doctrine
here that I preach to you, look to Jesus Christ and to those
for whom he died. Jesus and those for whom he died
can say, we know that all things work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Now second, Personal experience
proves that all things work together for good to those who love God. Paul refers to this when he introduces
this blessed promise in verse 28 with the phrase, and we know. Notice that phrase at the beginning
of verse 28, and we know. Notice that this verse begins
with a conjunctive, the conjunctive and. And notice that this conjunctive
and connects this text, verse 28, with what precedes it in
verses 1 through 27. Personal experience is set forth
to us in verses 1 through 27. First, we know that there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death, verses 1 through 11. Personal experience proves that
all things work together for good to those who love God. Second,
we know that the Holy Spirit himself bears witness with our
spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, verses 12
through 16. Personal experience proves that
all things work together for good because the Holy Spirit
bears witness of this in our hearts. Third, we know that all
things work together for good to those who love God through
our personal experience because we know that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. Verses 18 through 25. Children of God will gladly suffer
all the sufferings of this life, because our personal experience
has proven to us that what we suffer here is not worthy to
be compared with what we shall have there in glory. And fourth, we know that the
Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Verses 26 and 27.
All things are working together for good to us. There are times
we have burdens on our heart, prayers that we wish to express
and we just do not even know the words to use. In a time like that, all things
work together for good to us because the Spirit himself takes
the burden of our heart that we cannot express and he expresses
it perfectly to God. Because all things work together
for good to those who love God. Surely the experience of all
these things proves to lovers of God that all things work together
for good to them. and according to his purpose
for them. So I ask you, do all things work together for good
to you? They do, if you love God. If you do not love God, they
do not. And if you love God, you are
the called according to his purpose. and all things are working together
for good to you. Oh God, our Father, be pleased,
we pray to bless this word. And may we with joy look upon
the tapestry of our lives when they are complete and see that
you've taken the bright colors and the dark colors, the joys
and bereavements the advancements and the setbacks, all these things,
let us see that they all have worked together for good to us
who love God. To your glory in Jesus' name
we humbly pray. Amen.