Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter 8? I'm going to read a very familiar
passage of scripture. I'd like to read the 28th verse
of Romans chapter 8. As a matter of fact, I've entitled
this message, Romans 8, 28. Paul says, 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. And we know. Well, who is in
this group, we? We know. Who's Paul talking about?
He's talking about every believer. Every single one of God's elect
All who look to Christ, every single one of them. He is speaking
as a spokesman for God's elect. And we know. This is not conjecture. We know. Somebody says, well, I don't.
Well, we do. We do. Know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Now, I would like to introduce
this message by asking five questions concerning this glorious statement
that Paul says every believer knows. Here's the first question. Is this a statement of vague
optimism? Or is it an irrevocable promise
of God? You know, I don't know how many
times I've heard people quote half this verse. Everything works
for good. I just think somehow things are
going to work out. I think there's a reason for everything. Well,
what's your reason for thinking that? Is this a statement of
vague optimism or is this a promise of him who cannot lie? And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. Now, I don't have any
question that this is a promise of God regarding all things. And here's the second question
I'd like to ask. Is this promise for everybody? Can every son of Adam take this
promise to themselves regarding all their situations? Can they
say, and we know that all things work together for good. Everything's
working together for our good. Is this promise for everybody?
You can't get that from the scripture, can you? And we know that all
things work together for good to them who love God. Not everybody. Only to those who love God, to
those who are, and I love the way this sounds, the called according
to His purpose. I love the way they're identified
in verses 29 and 30. These same ones who are the called
according to His purpose. He says, Whom He did foreknow. Notice it doesn't say what He
foreknew. It said whom He did foreknow. People kind of think
of God's foreknowledge as Him being a time traveler. And Him
going about and seeing what's going to happen and basing His
decisions on that. Not at all. When He speaks of
His foreknowledge, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. He's talking about forelove. those He has known as Adam knew
his wife Eve. This is talking about an intimate
relationship of love that never had a beginning. For whom He
did foreknow, is that everybody? He didn't foreknow everybody.
But those He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. For what purpose? to be conformed
to the image of His Son. Now that's what predestination
is all about. God took another look at His
only begotten and well-beloved Son and said, I'm going to have
a bunch more just like Him. That is the destiny of every
single child of God. Perfect conformity to the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. When he said, Lazarus, come forth,
there was one who came forth. Lazarus. If he would have given
some kind of general call at that time, everybody in the grave
would have come out. Does he call everybody like this?
No. Whom He did predestinate, then He also called. And whom
He called, then He also..." Oh, I love this word. "...justified."
Justified. You know what justification means? It means I'm not guilty. It means I don't have any sin
at all. It means when God looks at me,
He sees someone without sin. Without guilt. You see whom he
called, then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also will glorify? Doesn't say that, does it? Then
he also glorified. Past tense. Somebody says, you
don't much look glorified to me. I don't look glorified to
me. Is not faith the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen? I might not see it, but that
doesn't mean I don't believe it. I'm just as glorified now
as I will be in glory in the sense that I'm in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Is this promise for everybody?
No. It's for those described in the
text. Here's my third question. Do I have any problem with this? Do I have any problem with this?
The fact that he doesn't mean everybody. Now, if I do, if I
have any problem with this at all, there's only one reason. I have no understanding of sin
or my own sinfulness. That's the only thing that would
make me have a problem with this. I can talk about all the other
arguments I want, but the only reason is because I have no understanding
of sin and no understanding of my own personal sinfulness. If I did, here's the example. Romans chapter 9 verse 13 says,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's God speaking.
Now, I don't have any problem with Esau, have I? I understand
that. You know why? Because I truly
can understand why God would hate me. God's holy. God's just.
God's righteous. I'm not confounded by his hatred
toward Esau. I mean, Esau didn't care anything
about God. He wouldn't wear the bowl of soup. God wouldn't wear
the bowl of soup to Esau. That's all he cared about. What
I'm amazed by is God's love to Jacob. God's love to me. Here's my fourth question. If
this is true, that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
If this is true, and it is, What does this say about our
God? Let me tell you what it says.
It says he is in absolute sovereign control of everything and everybody. And he's the first cause behind
everything that takes place. Everything? Everything. He controls all events. Amos
chapter 3 verse 6 says, Shall there be evil in the city, and
hath not the Lord done it? He controls all of nature. What
manner of man is this, that even the winds and the seas obey him? He controls the animal world.
Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Heavenly Father.
And He didn't say without your Heavenly Father, knowing it.
but without your heavenly Father. The reason that insignificant
to us sparrow fell to the ground over the other side of the world
is because God willed it to take place. He controls the demonic
world. I love thinking about this. The
devil's on God's chain, and he can't make a move without God.
The demon said, suffer us to go into the herd of swine, and
Jesus gave them leave. They couldn't make a move. without
His divine permission. He controls nations and governments. Daniel said, He doeth according
to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What
doest thou? He's in control of all individuals. Do you know that He is in complete
control of you right now? The King's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it withersoever he wills. Now I like this. He controls
all of the free, uncoerced actions of men. A man's heart deviseth his way,
the wise man said, but the Lord directeth his steps. Now do I
understand how that's so? No. No. Not at all. Do I believe
it? Altogether. Every action going
through my mind and your mind right now, every thought, every
motive, every intent, He's in control of. Either by way of
grace or by way of judgment. But He is in absolute sovereign
control. He controls the sinful acts of
men. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. He controls even the sinful
acts of men. And you know, God has an end
and a design in all that He does. Amen. Now here's my fifth question
to this. How should we respond to this? Number one, worship. You and I will only worship an
absolute sovereign God. There's no such thing as worship
without that. He's God. And you'll only worship
one that you can't control, you can't manipulate, you can't get
Him to do anything. You're in His hand. And He can do with you whatsoever
He's pleased to do. You'll worship only that God. There is no worship without this
knowledge that He speaks of. And we know. How do you know? God revealed it. If God reveals
himself to you, you know, you know. And you want the second
response I think of is confidence and courage. Mortals are immortal
here until their work is done. This is the fuel for fanatical
followers of Christ. I like that. Don't you? I want
to be a fanatical follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't
want to be somebody who's afraid to do anything, always a fear
of failure and to take risks. Not as long as Romans 8, 28 is
true. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
Now, I love the way Paul begins this verse with a, we know. We
know and I have no doubt that he's speaking of every Christian.
He's not talking about some special group that has some knowledge
that the rest of them do not have. And we can say, oh, I know
something you don't know. And I've got power over you.
Nothing like that at all. This is speaking of every believer. We know a Christian is someone
who knows something the rest of the world's population does
not know. Now, we know this because he
has revealed it. And we know this because it fits
the character of God, doesn't it? It just fits the character
of God. Anything else is absurd, isn't
it? Anything He's not in control of? Why, that doesn't even make
sense. This fits the character of Him
who is sovereign, who is holy, who is absolutely just, who is
all-powerful, who is immutable, who is independent. He's in control. It just makes sense. Now, I don't
believe because it makes sense. I believe because the Bible says
it, but it makes sense. I never will forget one time
I was talking to a preacher. I might have said this in this meeting
before, but I'll say it again. I was talking to this preacher,
and we were talking about particular redemption. And he looked at
me, he said, you're just trying to make sense. OK. I don't believe it because
it makes sense, but it sure makes sense, doesn't it? It surely
does. Well, this makes sense. And we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. Now, we're given a twofold description
of those for whom everything is working together for their
good before we consider the actual what that means. The first description,
all things work together for good to them that love God. Now, I don't want you to think about
your love to God right now. I don't want you really to even
be asking yourself, do I love God? Or how much do I love God?
Here's what I want to ask you. Do you love the God who's sovereign? Who controls everything? Do you love the God who is holy,
who hates sin, and is determined to rid it from the universe?
Do you love the God who is just and must punish all sin? Do you love the God who is immutable,
who cannot change? Do you love the God who is utterly
independent, The God who says, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell
you about it. The cattle on a thousand hills
are mine. Do you love the God who is all-powerful,
who has the power to do whatever He wills to do? Do you love the
wisdom of God, all-wise? Not only does He know all things,
He's all wise and He's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. Do you love the character of
God as it's revealed in Scripture? Now you can answer that question
with a yes or no. You may question how much you love Him and feel
bad about how much you love Him and so on. You ought to. I ought
to as well. But I'm asking you this. Do you love the God of
the Bible? Do you love the way He saves
sinners by His grace in a way that gives Christ all the glory?
Do you love that God? He's the only God there is. Now,
the second description of those for whom all things are working
together for the good are them who are the called according
to His purpose. I like that language, don't you?
Them that are the called according to His purpose. God's got a purpose.
His purpose. is the glory of His Son. And His purpose is to have a
bunch more just like Him. That's His purpose in predestination. Them who are the called according
to His purpose. God said, I've spoken it. I will
also do it. I have purposed it. I will bring
it to pass. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. We read in Ephesians 3.11 of
the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. And what is His purpose? Well,
let me give you two scriptures if you want to know what God's
purpose is. Romans chapter 9 verse 11 speaks of the children. Being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, listen,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works, but of Him that calleth." 2 Timothy
1.9 says, He saved us and He called us. Question, what came
first? The saving or the calling? He saved us and then He called
us. With a holy calling. Not according
to our works. There it is again. But according
to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Now that's God's purpose. You
know, I love the simplicity of the Scripture. Romans chapter
4 verse 5 says, To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Now there's what we believe. We believe that we can't be saved
by our works. I believe that. I'm totally dependent
upon Him to save me. To Him that worketh not, but
believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly. Do you believe on
Him who actually justifies the ungodly? The Bible says His faith
is counted for righteousness. Now I want us to consider This
promise. All things. What comes under that umbrella? All things. Not most things,
but all things. Big things. Little things. Exhilarating things. Mundane
things. Seeming failure. Tragedy. Sickness. Sorrow. Suffering. Heartbreak. Heartache. But that's not all there is.
There are good things too, aren't there? The joys of life. the blessings of life, what we
would call the good things. All things work together. God working, bringing
His purposes to pass. There are no accidents. God never
responds to anything. Whatever happens, it came to
pass. Why did it come to pass? Because
God willed it, and it came to pass. That's true of every event. It came to pass. God determined
it. It happened. Matter of fact, it happened before
it happened, because as soon as He determined it, it was decreed.
It was fixed. It happened. One of the many things that we
don't understand but just believe. All things work together, not
separately. God is orchestrating it all. I love the words of this hymn. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. When I'm in the dark and my heart
is breaking and troubled, what am I called upon to do? Trust
him. I believe the exposition of Romans
chapter 8 verse 28 is found in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. If you'll
turn there with me, this is what we'll conclude with. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. The wise man said, To everything, there's a season and a time. To every purpose
under heaven. Everything that happens, God
caused it to happen. Everything that takes place according
to His will, His timing, and His purpose. Whatever happens was determined
in eternity and caused to come to pass. Did God know you'd be here tonight? Was there any chance you wouldn't
be? Of course not. Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did He. Now look in verse 2. There's a time to be born. The
day of your birth was determined by God. That's when you were
born. And there's a time to be born again. Whenever God has
determined that if you're born again. Would it please God who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son, and I love this, in me. In me. You know, it won't do me any
good if all he does is reveal his son to me because somehow
I'll lose that. But he revealed his son in me. There's a time
to be born. There's a time to die. The date of my death, the second
of my death has already been fixed. There's nothing I can
do to extend that at all. I don't care what kind of healthy
practices of living that I practice. It won't give me one more second
of life. There is a time to die. There
was a time for Christ to die. At God's appointed time. How
many times did the Lord say my time has not yet come? He said
that a lot, didn't He? But there was a time for Him
to die. And there's a time for me to die In the same way Paul
said that we just read about in Romans chapter 7, when the
commandment came, sin revived, it came alive, and I found out
all I was was sin and I died. Oh, blessed death. There's a time to plant and a
time to pluck up that which is planted. You see, There's a time
to reap and there's a time to sow, both physically, materially
and spiritually. There's a time to plant. There's
a time to pluck up that which was planted. Verse three, there's
a time to kill and there's a time to heal. Now there's a time to
kill, literally. Yeah, there's times to kill.
I don't want to go into what all they are, but there's a time
to kill. You know, I've already said there was a time for Christ
to be put to death. There's a time to kill. Thank
God there's a time to heal. What healing came from the death
of Christ? By whose stripes, listen to the
language real carefully, you were healed. When were you healed? When he
died. There's a time to break down
and there's a time to build up. There's a time to break down
walls and there's a time to build walls. There's a time to break
down the walls of our false notions and prejudices. There's a time
to break down the walls of salvation by works. There's a time to break
down the silly walls that we've raised up where we keep people
away for wrong reasons. There's a time when those walls
need to be broken down. But there is a time to build
walls, too. You know, the Bible is not anti-wall. Not in any
way. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem,
David said. There is a time to build walls
against salvation by works and to build up people instead of
tearing them down. There is a time to build. Verse
4. There is a time to weep. And
there is a time to laugh. There is a time to mourn. And
there's a time to dance for joy. There's a time to weep. God brings
trials in your life, things that are painful, things that are
difficult, things that you wish didn't happen. Cry. Weep. There's a time when it's
right to mourn over your sin. David said, my sin is ever before
me. And there's a time to weep and
there's a time to mourn. But, thank God, there's also
a time to laugh, and there's a time to dance. Doesn't it make you laugh and
dance in your heart to know that all God requires of you, He looks
to His Son for, and He doesn't look for a thing out of you?
Does that make you happy? Does that make you rejoice? That
all that God requires In Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead in a body, and you are complete. That means you don't
lack anything. That's a time to laugh. That's a time to dance.
Verse 5, this is all part of God's good providence. There's
a time to cast away stones, get them out of the way, move the
impediments that keep people from coming to Christ. And there's
a time to gather stones together to build something for the glory
of God. There's a time to embrace. What
a blessed time that is. And there is a time to refrain
from embracing. With such a one, know not to
eat. He says in verse six, there's
a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to
cast away. You know, there's a time to cherish. Cherish memories. Thank God for
them. There's a time to forget. Forget
hurt feelings. Forget past injustices when you've
been done wrong. You know, when you were done
wrong, it's because God told them to do you wrong. He sure
did. He told them to. I love it when
that is it? Shebaz, cursing David. Abshah
says, you want me to go take his head off? He said, no, the
Lord said, curse David. Remember Christ's work. Forget
your own. You know, that's I wish I could
do that, don't you? Remember what he did and forget
everything you've done, good or bad. There really isn't anything
to it anyway. Really. In the grand scheme of things,
there's just not much to it. Remember what He did. Forget
what you've done. Paul said, forgetting those things
that are behind. Verse 7, a time to rend and tear,
and a time to sew and mend. You know, there was a time when
that veil had to be rent, wasn't it? When Christ died, that veil
was rent. from the top to the bottom and
the way into God's presence was fully opened. There's a time to sow, to mend
relationships. Don't let friendships go sour. Don't let them go south. Nurture new ones too. There's
a time to mend. There's a time to keep silence
and a time to speak. I love what our dear departed
friend Jack Sheck said, never miss an opportunity to shut up. That's good advice, isn't it? There's a time to keep silence.
You know, when the Lord speaks, you don't need to be speaking.
You know, what he's got to say to you is a whole lot more important
than what you've got to say to him. When he speaks, keep silence. Let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to rest, slow to pop off regarding what
God has said. But there's a time to speak too. To preach the gospel to him that's
never heard the gospel. To speak a word in season to
him that's weary. To speak up when the gospel's
being denied, there's a time to speak. There's a time to keep
silence. And there's a time to speak.
Verse 8 says that there's a time to love. Well, a lot of time
for that, isn't there? A lot of reasons. There's a time
to love. What a blessing of God's grace. The gift of love. His love to
me makes me loving in return. We love Him because He first
loved us. There's a time to love each other. When's that? All the time. All
the time. There's also a time of war. We
read about that in Romans chapter 7. That passage of scripture
was read. You know, the flesh lusts against the spirit. It's
always a good time to war against flesh, isn't it? There's never
a time to leave the flesh alone and call a truce with the flesh.
There is a time to war. And, bless God, there's a time
of peace. The joy and the peace of belief. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's not rules and regulations
and do and don't. It's righteousness, Christ's
righteousness. I heard somebody say just recently,
my righteousness is based upon Christ's righteousness. I thought
mine's not. Mine is Christ's righteousness.
and what peace there comes from that, and what joy there comes
from that. Now, the wise man says, what
profit hath it that he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
I've seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men
to be exercised in. You know, when it comes right
down to it, this is my experience. I don't know what's going on.
I really don't. Somebody says, what's the Lord
doing in your life? I don't know. I know everything's working together
for my good, but as far as what all's going on, I don't know.
I really don't. I wish I did, but I don't. I
don't. Look what verse 11 says. He hath
made everything beautiful in his time. That's what Romans
8, 28 means. He hath made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he has set the world in
their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. You know what that means? It
means we just don't get it. We just don't get it. I'm OK with
that because he does. He knows exactly what he's doing.
I don't know what he's doing, but he does. Aren't you fine
with that? Verse 12. I know that there's
no good in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in
his life, and also that every man should eat and drink and
enjoy the good of all of his labor, it's the gift of God.
You know, I want that, don't you? Now, let me give you a hint. Don't try to be happy. If you try to be happy, you'll
be miserable and you'll make everybody around you miserable.
Seek by the grace of God to do what's right, and you'll be happy.
That's the way that works. It really is. Verse 14, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear
before him. I love thinking about what the
Lord's done. You know, when Christ said, it is finished, nothing
can be added to what He did. And not a thing can be taken
from it. Verse 15, That which hath been
is now, and that which is to be hath already been, and God
requireth That which is past. Now, how many times has something
happened to you and you thought this is God requiring something
in the past? Something I've done. God's just. God's holy. What goes around
comes around. You thought that. I thought that.
Let me tell you something. God does require one, his past.
But here is the glory of the gospel. We're given a brand new
past. We're given a brand new history. If all God did was make all my
past sins to be gone up to this present moment, you know how
much good that'd do me? None. That's not what the Lord's done.
He's given every believer a new history. And it is all good. And God requires, God's just,
God's holy. He requires that which is past. When I come into glory, I'm not
going to have to come with my head down in shame. I deserve
to be there. That's hard to say. That's hard
to say. Well, am I the righteousness
of God? The Bible says that I deserve
to be there. Still hard to say, but I still
believe. Why? 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.