The preaching of the gospel is
specifically, distinctly designed of God to minister comfort to
God's elect in this world. In this world of sin and sorrow,
the Lord God commands his servants to comfort his people. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Now that's my aim as
I endeavor to I expound to you the glorious doctrines of the
gospel as I endeavor to make known to you the glorious character
and gracious operations of our God. I want to comfort your hearts
in the knowledge of God. I realize that in this world,
you and I constantly stand in need of comfort. And with that
in mind, I want to draw your attention once more to my three
favorite texts of Scripture. Now, when I say these are my
favorite, I do not mean to imply and do not believe for a moment
that these are more important, more authoritative, or more inspired
than any other passages. You know better than that. All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All Scripture is profitable
for reproof, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. We understand that. And yet,
at the same time, as we make our pilgrimage through this world,
as we experience God's grace in different ways, there are
specific passages and specific texts themselves which become
personally favorites to us. And these, through these past
30, my soul, 32, 33 years' experience, have become my favorites. The
first is found in Psalm 115. Psalm 115. verse 3. Here the psalmist David,
writing by divine inspiration, declares in the plainest possible
terms the great supremacy and glorious sovereignty of our God. Listen. Our God. Our God. Our God. You might say, I don't
worship God, you do. I know that. Our God. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Now, that includes everything,
at all times, in all places, without exception. Oh, God, how
comforting it is to my heart to know that you rule absolutely. Absolutely. And rule well. All right, look at 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21. You can quote it, I know, but
look at it. Here the Apostle Paul, again,
writing by divine inspiration, declares to us the effectual
substitutionary atonement and sacrificial death of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He, God Himself, holy, just, and true. God who
said, the soul that sinneth it shall die. God of whom it is
written, the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. I got a letter
from someone last night. The email had read something
I'd written. It said, you began your exposition
by saying God saves sinners on the grounds of justice satisfied
and righteousness established according to the law. And you
end it by saying God saves sinners by free grace alone. What do
you believe? I said both. God's holy. He will not save
sinners apart from the satisfaction of justice. He will not have
mercy apart from the fulfillment of righteousness to the letter
exactly. And therefore, he provided his
dear son to be a substitute for chosen sinners. And at the appointed
time of love, he made him by divine imputation. That is, God
gathered all our debt. All our sin. And made it His sons. Made Him
to be sin for us. For who? For the people of His
love. For the people of His choice.
For the people He determined to save. The people for whom
Christ came into the world to save. He made Him to be sin for
us, that. That is, this is the only way
it could happen. This is the reason for it. that
we who are by nature sinners, that we might be made by exactly
the same free imputation, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now listen carefully. Oh, God
help you to hear me. Jesus Christ was made to be sin
without ever committing a sin. without ever feeling an evil
thing, without ever experiencing a wicked thought, without ever
doing anything that could be properly called sin. He was made
to be sin by imputation because God laid on him the iniquity
of us all. He was made to be sin without
doing anything. Now that's the only way you'll
ever be made righteous. It's the only way. You can't
be made righteous by something you do or feel or think. We are
made righteous because God takes that righteousness which is Christ
and puts it to our account and says you're righteous. Now then,
as God dealt with Christ when he made him to be sin on the
grounds of strict justice and forsook him and punished him,
poured out the hell of his wrath for us on his son. Because that's
what justice demanded. So, having made us the righteousness
of God in his Son, on the grounds of strict justice, because justice
demands it, we have obeyed the law in him, satisfied the law
in him, and died in him, and now, God on the grounds of strict
justice bestows upon righteous sinners, made righteous by his
free grace, Every blessing of grace and glory because we deserve
it in Christ the Lord Can you get hold of that? Because we
deserve not in ourselves. Oh, no, but because our master
deserves it. Our Redeemer deserves it All
right. Now look at our text for this
evening Romans chapter 8 and verse 28 Romans 8 28 Here the Apostle declares to
us that that glorious fact of God's holy, wise, adorable, and
good providence. We know. I wonder if we do. I wonder if I do. I've got it
here. I've got it locked away pretty
good here. But do we indeed know? We know. that all things, all
of them, all of them, I wish you could write that word, all
in letters the size of the page, all things, all things work together,
not apart. We look through our microscope
vision at the little details. And all they see is the little,
small, apparently insignificant events of our lives in comparison
with everything else. And you say, how can this be
good? Don't miss the picture by looking at the details. Stand
back and look at the whole thing. All things. All these small things
work together, not alone, not separate, but together for good,
temporal good. Lindsay, whatever God brings
your way today is best for you today. That's exactly right. But more importantly, spiritual
good and ultimately eternal good. All things work together for
good to them that love God. Not to everybody. No, no. This
is not a blanket promise to the human race. This is a blanket
promise to Christ's race. This is a promise to God's elect,
to them that love God. To them who are thee called.
Called by grace. You cannot lay claim to the promise
until you experience the call. And you're made to love God by
the power of His grace. to them who are thee called,
look at it now, according to his purpose. Yes, there's a people
foreknown, predestinated, called, justified, and glorified in the
purpose of God before the world began. And those people are those
whom he has purposed to save from eternity. And that's what
God is doing in time in providence, fulfilling his purpose. That's
exactly it. He turns the pages of the book
of his decree, and as he does, he fulfills exactly that which
he purposed from eternity, the saving of his people. What is
God doing? What's he doing? We, a few years
ago, saw the Iron Curtain come down, we saw the Soviet Union
break up, and we saw God open doors, and the Gospel just was
given opportunity to go quickly into that which used to be the
Soviet Union. Looks like now they're quickly closing up again.
What's God doing? He's saving His people. That's
what He's doing. What's God doing with the turmoil
and the topsy-turvy, upside-down mess that I want things to be
in? He's saving His people. What's God doing in all the troubles
and heartaches and trials of your day-by-day existence? He's
saving His people. That's what He's doing. He's
saving His people. He's not only accomplishing good
for you, my brother and my sister, he's accomplishing good for all
his people according to his purpose of grace. Now, as I prepared
this message, my own heart has been smitten. I pray that God, the Holy Spirit,
will let me share with you some of the barbed arrows that I find
right now in my heart. Turn with me to Isaiah 41 and verse 10. Here's the first point. We, you and me, we who profess faith
in our Redeemer, we have entirely Too many fears. For a people
to whom the Lord God has said, you got it there verse 10? Fear
not. Fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Why can't we just believe God? I struggle with lots of things,
lots of difficulties, lots of sin, but nothing like unbelief. Why can't I just believe God?
David did. David heard God promise His grace
and His mercy and His goodness and His protection, and he believed
Him. He said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death. And he's talking about right
now. That valley of the shadow of death is not walking through
death, it's walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
That's this world. And we walk through this deep
valley with the shadows of death all around us. But a shadow can't
hurt you. He says, Yea, though I walk.
Not though I'm pushed, not though I'm drugged, not though I run,
but I walk. I walk with peace, with confidence,
and with purpose. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, your rod
of correction and your staff of protection, thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me. He said, I will both lay me down
in peace and sleep. David, Absalom, he's after you,
I know it, but God's after me too. And I will lay me down in
peace and sleep because the Lord my God only maketh me to dwell
in safety. The psalmist said, I believe
it was Bobby who read this one day last week, when my father
and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take Hasn't God proved his faithfulness
yet? He's faithful. He's faithful. Oh, God, give me grace to trust
you. Secondly, look at Matthew 6.
Matthew 6, verse 28. We have far too much anxiety,
far too much worry about earthly, material things. What do you
mean earthly material things? I mean everything that's temporary.
Everything. Every possession, every relationship,
every experience. Earthly temporal things. We have
far too much anxiety about the things of this world for a people
to whom the Son of God has said, why take ye thought for your
raiment? Why do you... worry about whether
or not you're going to have to run around naked. Why take thought
for your clothes? The statement is not, why do
you take time to iron your clothes and wash them? That's not what
he's talking about. Why do you take time to put your
clothes together so they match and look fairly reasonable? That's
not what he's talking about. He's saying, why do you worry
about whether or not you're going to have something to wear tomorrow?
Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, neither
do they spend. Yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like unto one of
these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which
today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you? Now, Bobby and Judaeus, he's
talking to you and me. Oh, ye of little faith. It is written, my God shall supply
all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That passage is found in Philippians
4, verse 19, where Paul is giving thanks to the saints at Philippi
because they had, out of their poverty, provided for him while
he was imprisoned. And he wrote to them, giving
thanks to those to whom thanks is due. They had acted in generosity,
just generosity that overwhelmed him. And Paul is saying to them,
now, I'm humbled by the fact that you so care for me. But
I know that as you take of your necessity and give to those whom
God has called, you give to the cause of Christ and to the benefit
of his people, then God will supply your need. Notice the
words, according to, not out of, but according to. according
to his abundance or his riches in glory. I heard someone describe
that one time like this. He said, for someone to give
you something, say you got Rockefeller and he says he's going to give
you something out of his riches. Well, now he might reach in his
pocket and give you 50 cents. Now that's out of his riches.
But if he gives you according to his riches, he doesn't give
50 cents. Oh no, He's got plenty and He gives abundantly to show
you His bountiful, bountiful, bountiful care for you. And our
God shall supply your need and mine. All our needs. All of them. Temporal and eternal. carnal and spiritual. My God
shall supply all your need according to His infinite eternal riches
in glory by Jesus Christ. That ought to teach us to trust
Him. Why should I worry, fret, and pace the floor by day and
by night? when God, my Savior, has promised
me that His Father and my Father will, for His sake, provide me
with everything I need in this world. Why should I concern myself
about that which God, who cannot lie, has promised to me? Look
at Matthew 6 again, if you're still there, verse 31. Therefore, since the Lord God
clothed the lilies and has promised to clothe you, therefore, take
no thought Take no, don't fret, take no anxious thought saying
what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall
we be clothed. Don't fret about that. God's
not going to let you go hungry and naked either one. For after
all these things do the Gentiles seek. That's what everybody in
the world lives for. That's what they live for. See into it that they can master
themselves security to provide for their clothing and their
shelter and their food from now until the day they die when they're
100 years old. That's all they've got to seek
after. Forget it now. Your Heavenly Father knows that
you have need of these things. Sammy's sitting back there with
his two babies and his wife. I suspect that he expects those
kids just to know, if I know you've got a need, your need's
as good as taken care of. If I know you've got a need,
and I'm able to take it, it's as good as taken care of. Children
of God, your father. My soul, my Father knows what
I have need of. Why can't I just trust Him to
take care of it? It's baseless. It's groundless. It's excuseless. But seek ye first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness. Seek this. first and foremost
to the exclusion of all other things, the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow. The morrow shall
take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof. I recall some time back, my mother
saying, well, if something happened to us, we wouldn't have enough
money to bury us. And I said, you don't need to
worry about that. I promise you, after three or four days, we'll
figure a way to get you in the ground. You just don't have to worry
about that. Why take thought for tomorrow? Tomorrow will take
care of itself. Set now to set your face to seek
the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now look at John 6, verse 37. We have far too many doubts concerning
God's mercy, love, and grace. For a people to whom the Lord
Jesus said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to And him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He said to
you, my brother, my sister, I give unto you eternal life, and you
shall never perish. I've preached about this so many
times. But I know that many of you have trouble right here,
and I acknowledge that I do. But I'm not going to attempt
to justify or excuse my baseless, inexcusable doubts. Upon what
grounds dare we call into question the mercy, love, and grace of
God? On what grounds? Mr. Spurgeon said, the scripture
says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. I
believe the Son, I have life. What's wrong with that? I believe
the Son of God. I have life. Oh, what about your
unfaithfulness? I'm not going to let that bother
me concerning his faithfulness. What about your sin? My sin's
got nothing to do with His grace except that qualifies me for
it. What about your unbelief? My unbelief's got nothing to
do with His mercy except that He abides faithful and He's merciful
forever. Who shall separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord? I know whom I
have believed. Not what I have believed, that
won't do you much good. You try to snuggle up to what
I had believed and you'll snuggle up to cold, empty, deadness. But I tell you what, you can
flat snuggle up to whom you had believed. I know whom I had believed. And he's able. And he who is
able to keep what I've committed to him will keep what I've committed
to him. Fourthly, look in John chapter 16, verse 33. We spend entirely too much time
grumbling and complaining about our trials and troubles in this
world. For a people to whom the Lord Jesus said here in verse
33, in the world you shall have tribulation. I don't know why
we're so shocked when it comes. While we live in this world,
we live in a world of sin and sorrow, of trial and trouble. And while we live here, we're
going to have trouble. We're going to have tribulation. We
ought to be shocked when it don't come. Now when it does come,
in the world you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. Brother Mahan once said, every
ounce of gold that's ever been perfected and made valuable has
been refined by fire. And if God puts the gold of His
grace in us, He'll make us pass through the fire. You can count
on it. He said, I have chosen thee in
the furnace of affliction. That's why I chose you. He said,
I'll meet you in the deep waters. I'll hold your hand while you
pass through the fire. And I'll hold your hand and uphold
you with the right hand of my righteousness when you pass through
the waters. Trouble is not a strange thing.
It's just a common lot of God's saints. So Peter says, they cannot
strain concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though
some strange thing had happened to you. This is just a lot of
God's elect, and it's a good lot. The hymn writer said, God
in Israel sows the seeds of affliction, pain and toil. These spring up
and choke the weeds that would else or spread the soil. Now
then, look at Hebrews chapter 11. We have entirely too much attachment
to this world and to this present life for a people who are looking
for a city whose builder and maker is God. In verse 8 we read,
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went
out, not knowing whether he went. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and with Jacob. How come tabernacles? Because
he was a sojourner. It's hard to carry a house with
you. He was sojourning in this world. The heirs with him of
the same promise. For he looked for a city. Abraham, what are you looking
for? I'm looking for a city. A city, God promised me. Where is it?
It's Adjanda. Adjanda, where I'm going. Well,
tell me about that city. This builder and maker is God. Nothing else much matters. Nothing
else much matters. We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and
house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. We know that
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
We who believe have a desire to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better. And yet it's so difficult to
turn loose of this present existence called life. I don't understand
that. I can't explain that, but I know
it's so. I long to be with Him, and I
keep holding on to this. I long to depart and be with
Christ, which is I know far better, and yet we keep holding on to
everything we've got in this world. I know this too. The only way for us to be delivered
from these carnal principles, the only way we'll ever be delivered
from the cares of this world, The only way we will ever be
saved from our fears, concerns, doubts, grumblings, and attachments
in this world is to find something better. And that something better
is Jesus Christ and His righteousness and His promise to us in this
blessed, blessed text of Scripture. We know, we who belong to Christ,
we know that all things work together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Amen.