Saturday morning, I spent just
a little while with my good friend, Brother Craig Rogers, who has,
for the last three months, been undergoing treatment for leukemia.
He lost a lot of weight. Skinny as a rail. Weak as a whipped
pup. He's laying in his living room
on the sofa, and we just chatted a little bit. And before I left,
I said to him, Craig, I love you, my friend, and if I could,
I would take this sickness from you. But he who loves you infinitely
better than I can has sent the sickness for your good and his
glory. I pray he'll give you grace to
endure it during the time that he's appointed and give you grace
to look to him. Craig responded, Don, I'm much
better off than most. Most people have no place to
worship God, no place to hear the gospel and perish without
it. What a blessed, blessed privilege
we have to meet together again this evening in this place to
hear from our God. I pray that we shall. I direct
your attention one more time to this blessed, blessed text
in Romans 8, 28. May God the Holy Spirit be our
teacher as I try to preach to you about divine providence. And here, particularly, providence
for a designated people. We know. We who are born of God,
who know God, who are redeemed by the blood of God's dear Son,
who have been taught by God the Holy Spirit, we know. We have this confident, firm
persuasion. We know by the revelation of
Holy Scripture, by the teaching of the Spirit of God, and by
the experience of grace and faith. We know that all things. Now, Pastor Shirley Paul doesn't
mean all things. That's exactly what he means.
All things. All things without exception. All beings, created and uncreated,
are employed constantly for the good of God's elect. All three
persons in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
all the angels of God, both the good and the bad, All men, both
the righteous and the wicked, all things in time and eternity,
are sovereignly and constantly manipulated by our God and Heavenly
Father to do us good. Would to God we could get hold
of this. The Lord God has not only chosen to save a people,
Jesus Christ has not only redeemed those people, The Holy Spirit,
we are assured, shall call those people. And God Almighty has
predestined from eternity everything necessary to bring to pass the
calling and salvation of chosen sinners. And so in God's providence,
he works everything. You might say, well, that just
makes us robots. Well, say what you want to about
it. God's in charge. He's in charge. He controls everything. down
to the thoughts of a man's heart. Everything. Everything. All things
are under the constant, manipulative, sovereign power of God Almighty. Now we have no difficulty seeing
the hand of God in all good things. We know that all good things
come from God's hand. Indeed, James tells us plainly
that nothing but good comes from our God. And yet here the apostle
asserts plainly that all things, both bad and good, are sovereignly
ruled and overruled by our God in his wise, adorable, and good
providence for the good of chosen, redeemed sinners. Be sure you
understand the teaching of Scripture. Our holy God is not the author
and cause of sin. We recognize that and assert
that emphatically as the scriptures do in James chapter 1. But our
holy wise God is the absolute ruler and governor of sin as
well as of everything else. Now let's look at a couple of
texts. Hold your hands here in Romans 8 and turn back to Isaiah
chapter 45. Isaiah 45. Here God speaks. And here the
Lord God declares himself to be superior to and infinitely
above and incomparably above all the imaginary gods of the
people. And that includes the gods of
this religious age. The gods of this age that can't
do anything without man's permission. The god of this age that can't
do anything except you let him. Here the Lord God says, I'm God.
And here he describes himself, verse seven. I form the light
and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Now just let her soak in. Just
let her soak in. All things are of God. Look in
Amos chapter three, verse six. Just the last sentence of the
verse. The prophet asked this question,
shall there be evil in a city? And the Lord hasn't done it.
Evil comes to pass, the Lord hasn't done it? Oh yes, oh yes. He said, well, how can you say
that? Because God's in charge of everything. God's in charge
of everything. You remember Abimelech, that
heathen king? When he took Sarah, Abraham's
wife, and would have committed adultery with her, the Lord God
prevented him from committing the evil that was in his heart.
Surely the wrath of man will praise thee, and the remainder
of wrath wilt thou restrain. I recall one time several years
ago, I had a deacon in the church where I was pastoring and lookout,
had behaved in a terribly ungodly manner. Terribly rebellious manner,
and then things come up. He said, well, perhaps the Lord
was in all this after all. I said, he was, but you're still
responsible for your ungodliness. Yes, sir. He's in control of
your deeds. I don't care whether you're talking
about the crucifixion of the Son of God, or the stoning of
his prophets, or the cursing of Shammai, or Shammai cursing
David. God Almighty rules this world. Our father Adam sinned in the
garden. rebelled against God and plunged the human race into
spiritual death and depravity. Was God in control? Oh yes, this
thing was not an accident. The devil didn't sneak up on
God's blind side, pull one over on Him. The fall of Adam made
way for the coming of the second Adam, the last Adam, our Lord
Jesus Christ in dwelling sin. Do you really think the Lord
God could not remove the evil that's in us? Were it his purpose
to do so? Well, certainly he can. He's
going to soon. Well, why? Why are we left with this corrupt
nature? Why does God send us, as he did
the apostle, the messenger, Satan, to beat us in the face, lest
we be exalted above measure? One good reason is just this,
that indwelling sin constantly reminds me of my utter dependence
upon God and His grace in Christ. I'm constantly turned to His
grace, constantly turned away from myself and my righteousness
and my goodness to God's grace in Jesus Christ, who is the Lord
my righteousness. Our faults. Let us never look at them lightly,
let us never Let us never look at them as things about which
we become indifferent. Let us never be hardened to our
own ungodliness. And yet at the same time, our
many falls day by day show us continually the immutable faithfulness
of our great God. And those falls themselves help
to curb the enormous, huge monster called pride that's in us. Listen
to this. Though he fall, He shall not
be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
The Lord God says, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you tricky,
conniving, scheming sons of Jacob are not consumed. Surely, if
even our sins are graciously overruled by God to do us good,
we must see that all the evil things experienced in this life,
as well as the good, all those things are also ruled by our
God in His glorious sovereignty to do us good. Our earthly trials
and afflictions, our sicknesses and pains, our heartaches and
troubles, our sorrows and bereavements, They all are intended by God
to do us good and brought to pass by God to do us good. All
those things that seem to be against us are indeed for us. You remember how Joseph in chapter
50 of Genesis verse 20 speaks to his brethren, they were scared
to death. Joseph finally made himself known to his brethren
and they thought, well, he's gonna kill us now. He's gonna
get even with us now. And Joseph said, don't be afraid.
I'm in the place of God. You meant it for evil. I know
you did, but God meant it for good, to bring it to pass as
it is this day, to save much people alive. All right, look
at our text again, Romans 8, 28. All things work together. Nothing in the universe is isolating
If we look at isolated events And we try to judge the goodness
and wisdom of God's providence by looking at isolated events
We will fail miserably Let's see if I can illustrate what
I'm saying if I were If you had never seen this building before,
and I were going to describe to you what this physical structure
looks like where we meet, and all I did was look at that speaker
hanging on the wall. That's all I looked at. And that's
all I used to describe this building. You'd come away with a real awkward,
unusual, strange sense of the kind of building we met in. And
if all we do is look at isolated events, a death, a sickness,
heartache, fallen son, fallen daughter. All we look at, isolated events,
we come away with a perverted, strange, twisted sense of God's
providence. The only way we will ever be
able to judge God's providence accurately is when we finish
this course and we look back at the whole thing. And we will
testify as the people did in Mark chapter seven, he hath done
all things well. Everything's just right. But
for now, let us ask God to give us grace and faith, to behold
the whole picture and look at all things considered as one,
for providence is one. I've told you many times about
an incident with Carrie Coffey, Bob Coffey's daughter. She was about eight or nine years
old, and she came into the study where Brother Mahan was one day,
her grandfather, and she came in, he said, Carrie, have you
had a good day? And she kindly dejected, and
she said, Paul, Paul, I've had a rotten day, but I've had a
great life. Oh, what an attitude. I've had
some rotten experiences, but man, I've had a good life, haven't
you? I've had some painful, painful trouble, but I've had a great
life, and expect something even greater in the world to come.
Be sure you mark this word work. It's a verb. It is a verb in
the present tense. Paul does not say all things
have worked together. He does not say all things shall
work together. And he certainly doesn't say
everything going to turn out all right. What he says is all
things work together for good. God, give me grace and faith
to believe. It's relatively easy to believe
God for the past. Fairly easy to believe God for
the future. But faith is present. Faith deals
with the present. Faith is always in the present
tense. And it's the present that gives
me trouble. I can always do great things
when there's nothing much to do. I can always believe God
when I don't have any trouble to face. Oh, but to believe God. We sing should earth against
my soul engage or fiery darts be hurled then i can smile at
satan's rage and face a frowning world and then That piece of
china, you know just got one just one one of those strange
things ladies set their hearts on something, you know, they
Well, if I could just get i'd like to have a whole set just
one piece and then it breaks our man I've got his car all
polished up and drive down the parking lot, somebody opens the
door and dings his paint a little bit. And you get a hangnail and
you begin to moan and cry and feel sorry. Oh God, let me die. And that's just about the reality
of the way we live. God forgive us. Now look at the
text. All things work together for
good. sometimes Illustrations are better
than expositions. I'll give you a couple Give you
a couple from the scripture and a couple from experience The
Apostle Paul is Raising his sword using federal government To imprison
and destroy the people of God. He's got papers in his hand He's
going down to Damascus and he's going to get rid of those folks
called Christians. He could not have been in a better
place at exactly the right time. For it was there on that road
where God from eternity had ordained he would meet him and unhorse
him and reveal himself to him. Oh, you mean you blame God for
Paul's persecutions? No, I credit him. Paul is responsible
for his wickedness, just as we are responsible for our wickedness. I do give credit to God for his
absolute providence, governing even the wickedness of that man
and of you and of me. Onesimus, that slave who belongs
to Philemon, steals his master's goods and runs away down to Rome.
And he could not have done a better thing for his soul. That's exactly
right. He didn't know it. He didn't
know it. Hold up. He was living with his fist in
God's face. For that he's responsible. But
God had ordained that Onesimus hear the word from the lips of
Paul while Paul's in prison at Rome. And down yonder he comes. God knows the heavens do. That prodigal son is a wonderful
display of God's providence. I think the first time I heard
this referred to was years ago, but the Lindsay mentioned it
to me one time. He said when the prodigal came home, the fatty
calf was already ready. Everything ready. And there seems
to be an indication that that father sent out one of his servants
to watch over his son and bring back report. For when the son
came home, the father gives report about everything the son had
done. Even as God has sent forth his angels to be ministering
spirits, to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation.
And God in his providence gives you the reins. As Paul read in Psalm 107, to
bring you down. And when he has in his providence
and in his grace brought you down, then he causes you to cry
unto him and he has mercy upon his own. I had been corresponding for
23 years with Brother Tom DeJarnett, black man. He's now in prison,
was in, in Ohio for a long time. He's now up close to Columbus
or I've forgotten exactly where now. I've just written to him
a couple of times at this new place. He's in prison for murder. Second
time. This is what he said to me a
long time ago. If I had not been in prison for murder, I would
never have learned the gospel. I have some dear friends out
in Colorado. This man's been in prison most
of his life. He'd been in and out of jail
since he was 16 years old. He's in federal penitentiary
in Colorado. He met a girl while he was in prison. She was dealing
drugs in the prison, sneaking them in. They got married and
God saved them out of Folsom prison. I was preaching one time,
she was sitting right on the front row. I said, thank God
for spousal presence. She said, thank God. Thank God. God in his providence rules all
things, no matter how bleak, no matter how we may despair
of it, all things work together. God's providence, you see, is
always executed in the wisest manner possible. We are often
unable to see and understand the reasons and the causes, the
whys and the wherefores of specific events in our lives, or in the
lives of others, or in the history of the world. But our lack of
understanding does not prevent us from believing God. We will
bow to His will. which is evident in his providence. Lord, your will be done on the
earth as it is in heaven. And I'll bow to it. You give
me grace, I'll bow to it. All God's works of providence
are executed in perfect righteousness and holiness. Sometimes infidels
and idolaters, when they hear us declare that God rules in
absolute sovereignty everywhere, they say, well, surely, surely
you're not suggesting that God rules even in the disgusting
behaviors of men that becomes the decadence of society. Surely
you're not suggesting that God Almighty sends those tidal waves
and diseases and hurricanes and earthquakes that sweep people
and nations into hell. You're not suggesting that God
takes old folks and babies out of this world. God rules everywhere. Everywhere. And he does everything right. Sometimes men, in their stupidity,
in their ungodly unbelief, set themselves up as judges of God
and say, that's not right. The Lord is righteous, Larry,
in all his ways. Just as righteous today as he
was 24 years ago. In all his ways. He is holy in
all his works. Just as holy in laying your wife,
Bob, on her bed as he was in giving her birth. Holy in all
his works. What God does is right because
God does it. And you don't dare question Him.
He's right. All God's providential works
are executed with the irresistible power of His omnipotent arm. Everything that comes to pass
in time is brought to pass by God's sovereign providence according
to His eternal purpose which He purposed in Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. All the works of all things are
according to the counsel of His own will, who works all things
after the counsel of His will. Ephesians 1 verse 11. And God's
providence demands and deserves our unceasing praise. Let the redeemed of the Lord
praise Him. Whoso is wise will observe these
things. He shall understand the loving
kindness of the Lord. I've watched some of you go through
so much pain, so much trouble, so much heartache. And I told you then, as you were
facing it, the time would come when you'll look back at this
thing and you'll You'll be so thankful, so thankful. God brought it to pass exactly
as he did. And so it has come to pass. He
does all things well. Let's praise him in the midst
of our tears and sorrows. Worship him in the midst of our
difficulties. Like Job, who lost everything
and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb. Naked shall
I return thither. The Lord gave, the Lord takes
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And he worshiped God. Now then, look at the text one
more time. We know that all things work together for good. Now just
pause right there a second. If we stop right here, if we
stop right there, and say no more, as most people do when
they misquote this verse of scripture, that's a lie. That is not the
truth. It is not true to say all things
work together for good. That simply is not true according
to fact. There are multitudes who shall
find all things working against them for evil. The text says,
all things work together for good to a designated special
people, to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. God's providence in all its details
is designed and accomplished for His elect, those who love
Him and are the called according to His purpose. Now I read that
and I wonder why does Paul put it that way? Why didn't he just
say all things work together for good to those who are God's
elect? Why does he say to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose?
Because you can never know your election of God's grace and your
calling according to his purpose until he has called you, given
you life and called you to love him by his new creative power. Whenever we think about God's
providence, we must never forget that divine providence is for
us distinctly. Us who are God's true people. Now, who are they? Sometimes
people look at people and say, well, he's not a Christian, she's
not a Christian, because they had decided, you know. Somebody
told my wife just recently, kind of a snooty old gal, she said,
you know, you can just tell a Christian. So. How? Well, you know, they dress
a certain way. They talk a certain way. They
walk a certain way. They have a certain creed. They
belong to a certain church. They do things this way or that.
Oh, no. Oh, no. The fact is, you can't
tell tares from sheep, or tares from wheat. You can't tell goats
from sheep. Our Lord tells us plainly. And yet, God's elect
are clearly identified in the Word of God. And they're identified
this way. by their faith. The Apostle Paul
says, we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
That's what it means. That means, Bob Pontius, we are
God's Israel, his covenant people. If we worship God in the spirit,
by his spirit. God's a spirit. They that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. We are God's true
Israel, His covenant people. If we rejoice in Christ, believe
on the Son of God, and Him alone is our Redeemer, our righteousness,
our substitute, our advocate, our Savior. And have no confidence
in this flesh. No confidence. No confidence
in anything we've felt, in anything we've said, anything we've done,
anything we've experienced. What's your hope? Christ the
Lord, that's all. God's saints are identified also
by their love. You see, true believers have
this great distinction between themselves and unbelievers. The
unbeliever hates God. Hates it. I'm talking about the
religious infidel, the religious unbeliever. He loves his ideas
about God, but he hates God. The believer loves it. Loves
it. Not like we ought to. Not like
we hope to. But God's people love it. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned, the Lord's coming. And believers
are identified by their calling. To them who are the called. And let the Arminian, the free
willer, babble all they want to about their idolatrous notions
of free will and men being saved by their free will and their
decision. And babble all they want to about God's general love
and general call and general providence. This text of scripture
asserts emphatically there are some folks who are the called. The called. And there are some
folks who are not. for whom all things work together
for good are thee called. And they are called according
to His purpose. The purpose of God's grace established
before the world began in covenant mercy in Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Thank God for His good purpose.