Let me give you, by way of introduction,
my three favorite texts of Holy Scripture. I don't mean to imply
that these texts are more authoritative or more useful than other portions
of Scripture. We recognize that all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
But there are certain portions of Scripture which specifically
minister to our heart's needs, perhaps even at specific times,
as Psalm 86 to you, Gary. And those portions become our
own heart's favorites for various reasons. Now, these three happen
to be my favorites because they set forth the three most precious
delightful, soul-cheering truths of the gospel, which I find myself
constantly in need of knowing, hearing, and reminding myself
of. The first is Psalm 115 and verse
3. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Now that blesses my soul. for
it sets forth the great supremacy and the glorious sovereignty
of the Lord our God. The God I know, love, worship,
and trust is in absolute total control of the universe. He absolutely
rules all things, accomplishing the good pleasure of his will
for the glory of his name." That gives me comfort. That gives
me peace. There are times when I think
perhaps the ark of God is falling. But when I do, it's always because
I'm looking to myself or to other people or to circumstances and
not to the Lord God. God's cause is safe, for it's
God's cause. It's God's cause. He accomplishes
all His will. He does all His pleasure, and
He always does. The second passage of Scripture
is 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. This great God, our sovereign,
holy, righteous God, he hath made him, the Lord Jesus Christ,
his dearly beloved Son, to be sin for us, who knew no That we, nothing but sin. That we, with no ability but
an inclination and ability to sin. That we, the fallen sons
and daughters of Adam. That we, men and women chosen
of God in everlasting love. He made Christ to be sin for
us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, I delight in that passage
of Scripture because, like so many others, it sets forth clearly
and distinctly the blessed gospel truth of effectual substitutionary
redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. It declares
finished, accomplished atonement. The Son of God was made to be
sin by divine imputation. He was made to be sin for all
of God's elect, for all who trust him. And those people he died
under the wrath of God to save, by accomplishing their eternal
redemption, he has declared that they are made the righteousness
of God in him by that same divine imputation. Now you find out
how it is that Christ was made to be sin, and you'll understand
how it is that men and women are made to be righteous. He
was made to be sin without ever committing a sin. He was made
to be sin without ever doing anything evil. In exactly the
same way, you and I, in Christ Jesus, because of the imputation
of His righteousness to us, are made to be righteous without
ever doing one righteous sin. We're made righteous by the deeds,
by the doing and the dying of the Son of God. And then the
third text is my text for this evening. I want you to turn here,
Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. Romans 8, verse 28. I know you can quote it, but
I want you to read it. that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose." Now, here Paul proclaims the good, wise, adorable
providence of the Lord our God. What a blessed theme for meditation. What can be more comforting,
encouraging, and cheering to a believer's heart than the assurance
that our Heavenly Father governs the world for our good? May God give me your heart's
attention and grant me the power of His Spirit to proclaim to
you the blessed good news of divine In this verse of scripture,
the Holy Spirit assures us that our great God so rules and governs
the universe that everything in this universe, everything
created and ruled by God, everything that is, has been, or shall be,
accomplishes good for God's elect. Now, I want you to just keep
your Bibles open right here to Romans 8.28. And I want to answer
three questions that arise that Paul answers here in this verse
of Scripture. The first question is this. Who
are the true people of God? Now, Paul declares a promise
here. He declares a blessed truth to certain people. But those
people are the people of the living God. Who are they? All
religious people claim to be the true people of God. Some
even claim to be the true people of God exclusively. But true
believers, the true children of God, are not to be identified
by their heritage, they're not to be identified by the denominational
name that they wear, they're not even to be identified by
the creed they profess to believe, or even by their habits of life,
language, and dress. But they can be identified. Let
me give you one other text here in this regard over in Philippians
3. Philippians chapter three, let me just read it to you. The
apostle says in verse three, we are the circumcision. That
is, we are the men and women who are born again by God's spirit.
We're the men and women whose hearts have been circumcised
by the operation of divine grace, which worship God in spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, if you would know whether
or not you are one of God's true people, You can know so because
God's people are identified by their faith. They're identified
by their faith. They're identified not by what
they wear, not by where they go, not by the way they look,
but they're identified by their faith. You must examine yourselves
then, examine yourselves upon this one point, whether you be
in the faith. If you would know whether you're
truly born of God by His grace and power, then know this. Are
you indeed in the faith? Do you have the faith of God's
elect? In other words, do you truly
worship God in spirit? Worship God without carnal outward
signs? Worship God without physical
exercise, but worship Him in your heart? Worship Him spiritually,
not that we come into this place as though this were some kind
of a sacred place of worship. It is not. This building, this
auditorium, is not a sanctuary, a temple, or even a tabernacle
for God. This happens to be the place
where God's people come to me and hear the Word of God. But
we worship Him in spirit, and we worship Him by the direction
and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God is spirit. and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. You cannot, I repeat, you cannot,
it is not possible to worship the living God by altars and
by priesthood and by sacrifices and by ceremonies and by holy
days and by holy deeds. We worship God in the spirit
based purely upon the merits of Christ Jesus. Do you then
rejoice in, that is, do you trust and rely upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's Word has been written that
you may know that you have eternal life, and that this eternal life
is in His Son, and that you may believe on Him whom God has sent. Do you rely upon Christ alone
for your everlasting acceptance with God? And do you place no
confidence, place no confidence in the flesh? Of the three questions, that's
the hardest answer. That's the hardest answer. But
to answer it, we must. I worship God in spirit. I rejoice
in Christ Jesus. And I place no confidence in
this flesh. No confidence in anything seen
in the flesh, experienced in the flesh, done in the flesh,
tasted in the flesh, performed in the flesh, no confidence in
myself, no confidence in the works of my hands, the feelings
of my heart, the emotions of my soul, no confidence in myself,
but all confidence entirely in Jesus Christ alone. Now, if you
do so worship God, you're in the faith. You're in the faith.
And God's true people, according to Romans 8, 28, can be identified
by their experience of his grace as well. In Philippians 3, Paul
identifies the saints by their faith in Christ. Here in Romans
8, 28, he identifies the saints of God by the grace which they
experience. You see, God's saints are them
that love God and them who are the called according to his purpose. There you have it. Who are the
true people of God? They are those men and women
who are made by grace to love God, those men and women who
are the called according to His grace. These two things distinguish
God's people from all other people in the world. These two things
separate the precious from the vile. These two things discover
who are and who are not the children of God. God's people, then, are
men and women who love God. What is a Christian? Go down
the streets and you can find as many answers to that question
as you can find people to ask you. What is a Christian? You go to work tomorrow, Rex,
and begin asking, I guarantee you'll get as many different
answers as you do people you ask. What is a Christian? In many respects, the believer
and the unbeliever are very much alike. Some people, I told you
about that fella came up to me in a restaurant said you had
that holy prophetic look. I could just tell you were a
man of God because you look like one. Well, I know fellas that
aren't tonight, and I look a lot like them too. In many respects,
God's saints look like anybody else, talk like anybody else,
they work like anybody else, they eat like anybody else, they
drink like anybody else, they marry like anyone else. They
experience the same things in this world that other people
experience. But here is one vital difference. No natural, unconverted,
unsaved man loves God. Paul says here in Romans 8 verse
9, or verse 7 rather, the carnal mind, the carnal heart is enmity
against God. The natural man hates God. And
no man by nature loves God. No man ever has, no man ever
will. It's not within man to love God.
Now man loves a God. Man loves his imagination of
what God ought to be. Man loves his concept of God. He may love Granny's God and
Grandpa's God, but no man by nature loves the living God.
It's not possible that he should, for man's heart by nature is
enmity. That is, man's heart, by nature,
is hatred for God. That's the whole problem of sin.
Adam in the garden said, no, God! God, get out of the way! God, I don't want you! God, I'm
taking over! Man, by nature, every son of
Adam, says the same thing. Your unbelief, your rebellion,
your sin against God says, God, I hate you and wish you did not
exist to bother me. That's what unbelief is. Unbelief
requires God to be a liar. Unbelief is the revelation of
man's innate hatred for God. In this regard, God's people
are different from all others. In this matter of love to God,
however, Believers and unbelievers, while they are opposites, every
believer, though they differ in many things from their brethren,
though they differ in name, differ in lifestyle, differ in appearance,
differ in their outward religious service, yet all of God's true
people are of one heart and one mind here, every regenerate man. Every person born of God, every
woman who's experienced God's saving grace knows this and declares
this, we love God. We love God. I thought about
that as I was writing today, writing out my notes. Maybe I'll say we love the Lord,
that's how we usually say it. Maybe I'll say we love Christ,
that's how we often say it. But Paul says, them that love
God. And that seems to imply more
than saying we love the Lord, or even more than saying we love
Christ. For many will isolate the Lord, or many will isolate
Christ from God, or isolate certain things about God and His character.
When Paul says, we love God, he's declaring that we love all
that God is, and all that God does, and all that God reveals
about himself. We love God just like he is.
We love all of it, all of it. We love his person, all his character,
all his attributes, all his works. God's saints have no quarrel
with any character or attribute of God. God's saints have no
quarrel with any work of God. God's saints have no quarrel
with His grace, nor with His justice, with His goodness, nor
with His wrath, with His sovereignty, nor with His mercy. God's saints
love God as He is, as He is revealed in Christ Jesus. Now you find
me a man or a woman who objects to or questions God's goodness,
God's sovereignty, God's justice, God's truth, God's righteousness,
God's omnipotence. You find me a man or woman who
questions or objects to those things, I'll find you somebody
who does not know God. God's true people love him as
he is. They love everything about him.
They would not have him change. We love God and all his relations
to us. We love him as our father, and
we love him as our king. We love him as our portion, and
we love him as our savior, and we love him as our everlasting
inheritance. I got to thinking again about
that passage I preached to you from Sunday evening over in Revelation
21, our inheritance. our glorious, eternal inheritance.
What is it? God is with them. Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with them. He will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and God shall be their God. That's the inheritance of God.
That's what we anticipate. We love him as our blessed, everlasting
portion, our inheritance by Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, if I love
God, My love for God will be evident. It will be evident by
my heart's attitude toward Him. If I loved God, I'd desire to
be like Him. I know that there is an infinite
gulf between myself and God by nature. I know that in my flesh
there's no good thing, but if I love God, I desire to be like
him and seek to imitate him. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children." That's Paul's admonition. And God's
children are. They imitate their God. If I
love God, I delight in his presence and take great care not to offend
him. If I love God, I willingly submit
to his word, his ordinances, his way, his providence, and
his rule. And if I love God, I love his
people. If any man loves not his brother, the love of God
is not in him. That's as plain as the scriptures
can make things. If I have not love, I have not God, for God
is love. That's what the book says. And
all who love God recognize that our love for him is caused by
his love for us. We love him because he first
loved us. By this, let every one of us
examine himself. Do I or do I not love God? I do not love my God as I should,
or as I would, or as I hope to. But I love him. I love him. I love him because he first loved
me. My love is the response to his love. My love is the outgrowth
of his love. My love is the result of his
love. God's true people love God. And secondly, God's true people
are those men and women who are the called. Now look at Romans
8, 28 again. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are, now look at what
Paul says, T-H-E, the called. That's how Paul identifies God's
elect. That's how Paul identifies the
people of God. Now let the Arminian, the freewheeler,
the fundamentalist, try as he may to get around Romans 8. Here
it stands. And here it stands to declare
forever the glorious gospel doctrine of God's free, sovereign, irresistible,
effectual grace. This is distinguishing effectual
grace. There's not any other kind. God's
grace is sovereign grace. God's grace is effectual grace.
God's grace is distinguishing grace. Now, I recognize that
there is a general call. I recognize that there is an
outward call that goes forth to all men when the gospel is
preached. I call upon you here tonight,
everyone who hears my voice, I call upon you to believe on
Christ. I call upon you to come to Christ. I call upon you to bow to Christ. I call upon you to fall in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ. I urge you to do so. I press
you into the kingdom of God. But no man has ever been saved
by that outward call alone. If all you hear is my voice,
it'll do you no good to hear. It'll do you no good to him.
That outward call is always disobeyed until it is attended by the almighty,
irresistible, effectual call of God the Holy Spirit. Now if
language has any meaning, Paul is declaring to us that there
are some in this world called of God and others who are not. He is telling us that those who
love God love him because they are the call. Our love for God
is the result of his effectual call by his spirit in regeneration. The hymn writer said, "'Twas
the same grace that spread the feast, that gently forced me
in, else I had still refused to taste, and perished in my
sin.'" The call. The call. What's the difference between
the general call and the effectual call? Between the general call
that goes out in preaching the gospel and that effectual call
that always results in life, it's this difference. It's the
prophet Ezekiel standing over that valley of dry bones and
crying, Oh, dry bones, live! And there they lay. There they
lay. But then he calls for the Spirit
of God to come and blow upon this valley of dry bones. And
he says, dry bones live, and they stand up a mighty army. That's the difference. That's
the difference. I'm calling tonight, O sinner,
live. O sinner, come to Christ. Believe
on Christ. Oh, if God will call. You will live. That's the difference. When God calls, he says, Lazarus,
come forth, and Lazarus comes forth. When God calls, he spreads
his skirt over the dead infant, wallowing in his own pollution,
and says, live, and the infant lives. That's the difference.
When God calls, he comes to the place where Zacchaeus is, and
he looks up and he says, Zacchaeus, come down! And Zacchaeus comes
down. That's God's call. Has the Lord
God by his omnipotent power of grace called you from death to
life, from unbelief to faith? Has the Lord himself called you? If he has, you're one of his
true people. You're born again. And this almighty call of grace
has come to you according to His purpose. I like that. Now hear me and rejoice. If you're
a believer, if this night you love God, if you are one of God's
called ones, your love for Christ is the result of God's gracious
call. And God's call is the result
of His eternal purpose of grace in election. God's true people
are men and women chosen to salvation in eternal election. Turn over
to Romans 9, Romans chapter 9. I wish I could get as much response
on the faces of God's true people when I read this chapter as I
do when I read it in the presence of some Arminian unbeliever.
The Arminian registers his response immediately. Now, children of
God, hear this. This is the word of God. This
is not my word or my opinion. This is God's word. Romans 9,
verse 11. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of work, but
of him that calleth. Now, that should tell you that
works doesn't have a thing on earth to do with election, and
works doesn't have a thing on earth to do with calling. It
was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. thou wilt say then unto me, why
dost he yet find fault? I wish I had a nickel for every
time somebody said that to me. Why does God find fault? If God
has purposed everything, if God's chosen whom he will save and
God's passed by everybody else, why does he find fault? Nay,
but O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made
me thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory? Even us whom he hath called
the called ones, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Now this is what I'm saying. God Almighty, in his everlasting
purpose of grace, has chosen to save a people, and all his
people rejoice in his electing love. The proof of our calling
is our love for God. The proof of our election is
our calling. And the cause of all is the sovereign
will and purpose of God. If you love God, if you're called
according to his purpose, I want so very much for you to see what
Paul declares in this eighth chapter of Romans. We know, we
know, we who love God, we who are the called, we who are among
God's elect, 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 is Paul's description
of divine providence. What is divine providence? What
is it? Divine providence is the daily,
constant, sovereign rule of our God over all things for the accomplishment
of his eternal purpose and predestination. Now hear me well. Nothing in
this world happens by luck, chance, accident or blind faith. Everything that comes to pass
in time comes to pass because God from eternity predestinated
that it must come to pass and because God in his providence
sovereignly brings it to pass. Pastor, do you mean everything?
I mean everything. God does what he does in providence
for the good of his elect and the glory of his own name. Now
let's see if this is the doctrine of Holy Scripture. Hold your
hands here in Romans 8 and turn back to the book of Psalms. Psalm 76. Psalm 76 and verse
10. I want you to read these with
me. I'm saying that everything that comes to pass in time comes
to pass because God predestinated it in eternity. And it comes
to pass because God brings it to pass by His sovereign work
in time. Look here in Psalm 76 and verse
10. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee. What? What? Ahithophel goes and takes counsel
against David? And he goes and becrays David?
Because the hypocrite is looking out for his own hide and hates
Jesus. The wrath of man will praise God. Judas goes in his
hatred for the Son of God, in his covetousness for thirty pieces
of silver, in his selfish desire for himself, and betrays the
Son of God with a kiss to be crucified, and God says the wrath
of man shall praise Him. And if it won't praise him, he
won't let it happen. He won't do it. He won't do it. Child of God, I don't care who
opposes us or who opposes you individually. I don't care what
you experience of man's wrath, of man's deceit, of man's trickery. I don't care what spotting there
is against you. If God will not get praised by
it, it shall not happen. Shemaiah comes out. when David
is fleeing. You remember the story? He's
fleeing back across the book. He's driven. And Shemai, the
son of Saul, comes out. And he called David everything
but a white man. He cussed him for all he was worth. And one
of David's friends said, let me go over and lift his head
up off his shoulders. There have been times I'd like
to have had some friends like that. Let me go over and lift
his head off his shoulders. And David said, leave him alone.
Leave him alone. For he would not be here, except
the Lord had said, Shemai, go cut David. That's what the book
says. Now just read it for yourself.
Just read it for yourself. Shemai came out and did what
he wanted to do. But he did what God from eternity
predestined must be done for the praise of his name and the
good of his servant David. And the remainder of wrath wilt
thou restrain. Well you can't press that too
far. Let's see how far we can press it. Turn over to Proverbs
16. Proverbs chapter 16. You can't go overboard with this
thing. This time somebody went overboard.
Proverbs chapter 16 verse 4. The Lord hath made all things for himself. What on earth does that mean?
What can that mean? It means exactly what it says.
The Lord has made all things for himself, even the wicked
for the day of judgment, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Skip down to verse 9. A man's heart divides up his
ways. When I was a boy, I had things
worked out. I had it all worked out. I was a pretty good football
player. I was going to play football, make a million dollars. I was
going to play football for Appalachian State University in Boone, North
Carolina. Going to get me a scholarship. I had it worked out. I had it
all worked out. And I was good enough to do it.
I was good enough to do it. But that wasn't God's way. That
wasn't God's way. I got myself in a peck of trouble
and messed up everything. I just messed up everything.
And you'd look at it and you'd say, well, he's ruined things.
He's ruined things. And I would have. I would have. But the Lord directed his steps. I wouldn't believe that, Gary.
The Lord directed his steps. I don't care who the man is.
I don't care who God directed his steps. It doesn't matter
who it is. It doesn't matter whether it's
one of God's elect and God's directing his steps to Christ.
Or whether it's one of God's enemies and God's directing his
steps to hell, God directs his steps. It doesn't matter whether
it's your son or daughter and God's directing his steps to
bring him home in peace and joy and happiness to faith in Christ
Jesus, or whether it's your worst enemy and God's directing his
steps to your house. God directs his steps. God directs
his steps. Look in verse 33. How far can
we press this thing? Anybody ever shoot craps? Ever shoot craps? See what that
is, don't you? 7 come 11. Look at this now. The lot is
cast into the land, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. You mean God determines the roll
of the dice? You mean God determines the roll
of the dice? In an ungodly gambling casino?
That's what I mean. I mean he controls everything.
Everything according to his purpose. Turn over to Romans 11 now. Romans
chapter 11. I'll skip over these. Romans
chapter 11. Listen to this. Romans 11 and
verse 33. Verse 36. For of him. That means
the source. the source, for of him as to
their original source, and through him," that means the means of
accomplishment, through him, by his decree, by his will, by
his power, through him and to him in their end result. That's
their goal. So that of him and through him
and to him are all things. to whom be glory forever. I'm
going to tell you two things. I can worship that God, and I
can trust that God. I can worship this God. He's
got control of everything, and I can trust Him. What Paul tells
us is that God's providence includes all things. Perhaps you're thinking to yourself,
now, Brother Don, Surely Paul doesn't mean to suggest that
literally everything is totally under the rule of God's providence,
and that everything works together for good to God's elect. That's
exactly what I mean to tell you. All beings, created and uncreated,
are employed for the good of God's elect. The three persons
of the sacred trinity in the eternal Godhead, Father, Son,
and Holy Oh, wonder of wonders, they're employed to do you good,
to do you good. The three persons of the Godhead
employed to do you good. Every angel in heaven, every
angel seated around the throne of God Almighty was created by
God and is employed by God for your good. Everything. Every
fallen angel Every demon of hell, Satan himself, was created by
God, Gary Shepherd, to do you good, and he's going to do you
good. Not intentionally. It won't be his fault. It won't
be his fault. He seeks whom he may devour,
but seeking whom he may devour, he drives God's children into
God's arms. He does nothing but good. Nothing
but good for God's people. Men, all good men, And all wicked
men bring nothing but good to God's children, nothing but good. All things, all things in time
and all things in eternity are sovereignly manipulated by our
God to do us good. Now, we don't have any trouble
seeing how that every good thing is in God's providence. That's
the doctrine of the free willer. That's the doctrine of the Pentecostal.
That's the doctrine of the religious man on the street. First, say
something good, that's God. That's God. You see that hurricane
sweep across the island of Jamaica, that's the devil. No, no, that's
not what the book says. Isaiah 45, verse 7, Behold, I,
the Lord, create light and make darkness. I make peace and create
evil. That's what God says. Read it
for yourself. That's what God says. We know
that good things are good and that good comes from God. And
we know that nothing but good comes from God. But hear me.
Paul is telling us that all things, the evil and the good in this
world, are sovereignly ruled and overruled by the good providence
of our God for the good of God's elect. Now be sure you understand
this. Our holy God is not the author
nor the cause of any evil. That is, not the author nor the
cause of sin. But he is the sovereign ruler
and the sovereign governor of evil and of sin as much as he
is of good and righteous. He is as much the ruler of the
peace and of the storm. He has his way in the whirlwind
as well as in the sweet meadow lanes. He has his way. He has
his way with wicked heart as well as with good heart. He has
his way. God has his way. Shall there
be evil in the city and the Lord has not done it? Amos 3, 7. There was a fellow by the name
of Abimelech, heathen king. an idolater king, a God-hating
king, a king totally ignorant of God. And those heathen kings,
they had total power in their land. They had total power. Abraham
was visiting the Bimelech land one day, and he saw a Bimelech
lusting after Sarah, and he said, Sarah, go home with the man.
And God kept the Bimelech from sinning. The Lord God came down
and he said to Abimelech, he said, I will help you from sinning
against me yourself. Now that's God's sovereignty. And if God can control Abimelech,
he can control anybody and everybody. And he does. So that no evil
is done but that which God permits and that which God sovereignly
superintends and overrules for the good of his elect. The fall of our father Adam,
original sin. It didn't catch God on the blind
side. No, he wasn't taken by surprise. The Lord told Adam, Bob, he said,
in the day you eat thereof. He didn't say if you eat or perhaps
you might eat. He said, when you eat, you're
going to die. He knew exactly what was going
on. Well, how could that possibly bring about good? the entrance
of sin into the world? How can you say that that can
possibly be overruled by God for good? Had there never been
a first Adam to fall, there would never have been a second Adam
to rise. Had there never been a sin, there would never have
been a Savior. Had there never been transgression,
righteousness would never have been established. The Lord God
overruled even the fall of Adam, for by that fall is the necessity
of a substitute and the Savior, Christ Jesus the Lord. And now,
through the fall, through God overruling the fall, we know
God. Right now, we talk about how
Adam knew God. Right now, on this earth, even
before we get to glory, Bobby, we know God, like Adam, could
never have known him in the garden. We know God in a substitute,
in a sin atoning sacrifice. Adam couldn't have, he could
never have known that. What about the sin that dwells
within us? How can you say that works together
for good? I'll give you an example of it.
There's a fellow named Paul. He had a messenger, Satan, who
busted his head. I don't know what the infirmity
was, but it had something to do with pride. It had something
to do with pride of which Paul was conscious. And Paul prayed three times,
Lord, take this messenger's statement from me. Take this affliction
from me. And the Lord said, no, no. God told Paul, he said, now this
is yours for the rest of your days, lest you be exalted above
measure. But my grace is sufficient for
this. What are you saying? Our indwelling
sin constantly reminds us of our utter dependence on Christ.
I've got to have him. I've got to have him." Our outward falls show us the
immutable faithfulness of our God and help to restrain our pride
when our brethren fall. The steps of a good man are ordered
of the Lord, and though he falls seven times in a day, the Lord
lifts him up. One of my favorite texts of Scripture
is Mark 16, verse 7. The Lord is risen from the grave,
and he said to the women, he said, go tell my disciples, I'm
going to meet them like I said, and Peter. Be sure you tell Peter, for though
we believe not, yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny him. And our continual struggle with
sin causes us to realize more fully than we could otherwise
the faithfulness of our God. Surely, if even our sin is so
graciously overruled by our God, we can readily see that all the
evil things of life are also ruled by him in glorious sovereignty
to do us good. our earthly trials and afflictions,
our sorrows and bereavements, our sickness and pain. Old Jacob, he lost Joseph, or
he thought he lost him, and he lost Simeon, and he thought he
lost him, and he was about to lose Benjamin, he thought he
was about to lose him, and he said, all these things are against
me. For he was looking at things
only through these eyes. When he got down to Egypt, he
saw Joseph, and Joseph said, I'm in the place of God. I can
almost hear Jacob say, if God be for us, this'll be a game. Job. Folks give Job a hard time. I'll
tell you what, I hadn't met anybody match for him yet. He went through
the mill. Man, he went through the mill. sons, daughters, friends, health,
wealth, family, influence, strength, everything gone. But God brought good to pass.
God brought good to pass. Job had to take a shulachin from
those three ignorant friends so he could get to know the living
God like he got to know Job had to lose everything, so he cried,
No! My Redeemer lives. This I can't
lose. This I can't lose. All things
work together. That's important. Nothing is
isolated. If we look at isolated events,
I guarantee you we're going to despair. We'll despair. Look
at all things together. and rejoice. All in all, all
things do work together for good to them that love God. I recall some time back, I forgot
what the circumstance was, but I'd had a pretty rough time for
a little while. Somebody asked me how I was doing.
I said, doing good, doing good. I figured you'd probably had
a bad day. Well, I might have had a bad day, but I've had a
good life. What's a day compared to a life? I've had a good life.
Everything God's done has been good. Everything God's done has
been good. Everything. Providence uses all things together,
like so many gears and a piece of machinery, everything together. Every wheel turning another wheel,
every wheel turning another wheel, every wheel turning another wheel,
so that everything works good for God's will. I want you to
notice particularly that word work. It's a verb in the present
tense. Paul does not say all things
have worked together for good, and he does not say all things
shall work together for good. Paul says all things work. Right now, right today. September 13th, 1988, 844 in
the evening. All things right now work together
for good to them that love God. Always. You know, I don't have too much
trouble believing that everything has worked together for good.
I don't have much trouble with that. And I don't have too much
trouble believing that everything shall work together for good.
But I got some trouble here. I got some trouble here. We sing,
we sang it Sunday evening, I believe. Should earth against my soul
engage and fiery darts be hurled, then I can smile at Satan's rage
and face a frowning world. Then some kid comes along, visits
in the house, knocks over a plate. And you're all out of order. But we believe everything works
together for good. Or Satan comes and throws a little
trouble in your face. And you hang your head to your
knees and you cry, Oh Lord, let me die. Let me, everything's
against me. God, let me die. I don't want
to live any longer. I know I'm getting pretty close
because I'm getting where I live. I know what I'm talking about.
I know what I'm talking about. I can always do great things
when there's nothing great to do. And I can always believe
great things when there's nothing around that seems to stand in
my way. But this is where the rubber
hits the road. All things, right now, right now, right now, whatever
the thing is that troubles your heart, whatever the thing is
that crushes your soul, whatever the thing is that agitates your
mind, whatever the thing is that causes you to toss on your bed
at night, whatever the thing is that keeps you walking the
floors, whatever it is, that's going on now! It's doing good
right now. Right now. That's what it says,
Gary. Right now, it's doing good. Oh, God gives me faith to believe
that. All things work together for good. Good. Did you catch that? Good. Good. For good to them that love God,
to them who are the called, according to his purpose. All things work together for
spiritual good. And all things work together
for collective good, good for the whole body of believers.
And if it's good for the whole body, that's good enough. All
things work together for your personal good. All things work
together for eternal good. But I got to think that while
I was preparing this message this morning. I think we're missing something. All things work together for
your temporal good. If you love God, Rex, and you're
called of God, the best possible shape and condition you can possibly
be in is what you're in right now. That's right. That's right. Say, well, I've
got some Things need some improvement. It's working for good. I guarantee
it's working for good. Everything that comes to pass,
everything, everything I'm experiencing right now in my soul, everything
I see, everything I can't see, is working together to bring
to pass the best possible good for my immortal soul even in
this world for the glory of God. Good, good. Now you just take, stretch that
as far out as you want to stretch it. Just as far out as your experience
carries you. Just as deep as your valley is,
just as high as your mountain is, you stretch it out. All things
work together for good to them that love God. to them who are
the call according to his purpose." Well, how do we know these things?
I like what Paul said. He doesn't say, I'm persuaded.
That'd been good. He doesn't say, I have this hope.
That would have been good. He doesn't say, I think. He says,
we know. We know. He says, this is a matter
of faith. I have God's word for it. I know it. Sometimes, sometimes
it's It's a bitter pill he sends to
swallow. Sometimes it's a hard affliction he sends to bear.
And I don't, I don't want us to pretend like, you know, this
kind of giddy religion these silly Pentecostal folks have.
Everybody comes out loud, too pretty, like apostles eating
briars, you know. They're faking it. They're faking it. I'm not
faking anything. I live in a real world. I live
in a real world with real troubles and real heartaches and real
disappointments. With real tears and real pain. I live right where
you do. And we don't bury our head in
the sand and act like things aren't like they are. What we
do is we face the frowning world with confidence in our God that
he is doing good. We know it by God's word of promise,
he said it. We know it by the inner witness
of the spirit. And we know it by the testimony of our own experience. 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 having said that, listen
to this hymn and maybe hear it like you never heard it before. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footstep in your
sea and rides upon your storm. Deep and unfathomable mind of
never failing skill. He treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessing on your head.
So judge not the Lord by feeble sense. but trust him for his
grace. Behind the frowning providence
he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and
he will make it one. Amen.