Before I read the scripture,
I'd like to call attention to some interest that has been stirring. A couple of the Brethren have
mentioned a desire for a special meeting. No date has been suggested,
but we're glad to have this interest. There may be some more interest
along this line. So if there is, we'd be glad
to hear from you about that. And two, it was suggested this
morning that we might think about a midweek service. And there
may be other interest in that direction. If so, why, we'd be
glad to take on a midweek service. Some interest is shown in this
that would justify our coming together. I told the brethren
that at one time I thought perhaps that you just didn't want a midweek
service except just a very, very few. And frankly, I like that
in a way that if you are frank about it, just say you don't
want it and be honest about it, I appreciate that. I appreciate
those who do want the service and those who don't want it,
or if you want a meeting or don't want it. Let's be frank about
that. And one thing, too, I did mention
to you, remember, that it was difficult to get folks together
during the midweek. Somehow or another here, I find that in other places, the
brethren complain about the difficulty of getting folks together. Maybe
we are not the only ones who are singled out for that. So
we try to concentrate upon the Lord's Day services. You're really
commanded to worship on the Lord's Day, you know that. But some
of our brethren like a little extra meetings, and so to feed
the hungry during the middle of the week is not a bad idea. In fact, if you want that, we
shall certainly, Lord willing, prepare for it. and to continue
those services. I'm going to ask you to turn
to the 8th chapter of the Book of Romans, Romans 8. And we'll come to read part of
this great chapter, beginning reading with verse
28. on down to the end of the chapter.
Let me again thank you for all your prayers and your comfort
in these days. I'm still amazed at the way the
Lord has blessed and strengthened and upheld. We're still getting
calls and letters and cards and folks expressing their love for
us. In fact, I got a good letter
from Brother Bajeron, I believe yesterday. and his Church, expressing
their love and concern and prayers, and love for not only us, but
for all of you, too. I wrote a badger on down in Louisiana,
Houma, Louisiana. Some folks call it Louisiana,
but I like to call it Louisiana, it's such a pretty name. 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. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." And
may the Lord bless the reading of his holy word to every heart. Now, I'm sure that the first
sermon I would preach after the passing of my beloved wife, that
all of you knew what text I would use in the service, didn't you?
One of her favorite texts, perhaps the most favorite text of her
heart, verse 28 of this chapter, Romans 8, where the Apostle said,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose." Of
course, there is no greater verse in the Bible than that, and Paul
strikes this pleasant string of consolation here. Every word
of this text is weighty. And no more consolation, of course,
could we derive than that is given in verse 28. No more comfort,
dear friends, we could hope for than is found in that verse of
scripture. You ponder it, dwell upon it,
and take it apart, analyze it. and put it back together, it's
a glorious, wonderful consolation. And I think most of you know
that my wife took that text and tillered her head upon it all
the days of our ministry, and took sweet comfort in it. And
so do I today, and so should you. Now, there are three general
heads in this text that I'd like to call attention to. First,
the Apostle mentions a glorious privilege. He says all things
work together for good, for good to them that love God. And second,
we have the persons that are interested or have an interest
in this privilege, those who love God and who are called according
to his purpose. And then third, the origin. And the rise of this effectual
calling is made known in the words according to his purpose. So those three things. First,
the glorious privilege. God says all things work together
for good. And the persons who have an interest
in this verse of scripture, because everybody, as you well know,
have an interest in it. But there are certain persons
designated here and they are doubly specified as those who
are lovers of God and they are called. And then the final point,
the origin and rise of that call, which of course is an effectual
call of grace, in the words, according to his purpose. The first thing we want to think
about in this text is this glorious privilege mentioned here. We
know that all things work together for good. And we'll take the
first thing under this heading, the glorious privilege. There
is a certainty about this glorious privilege. You notice this? The
Apostle said, We know. Now, I like that expression. We know. that all things work
together for good. So, beloved, it isn't a matter
of waiting and doubting, or just a hope so, or a conjecture, or
a speculation, or a guess, but it is a definite article in our
creed. We know. So a believer doesn't
have to have just a vague opinion about the things that he holds. The Word of God tells us here
that we may have a certainty in what we believe, in what God
has stated, in what we hold to as our faith. So we can say we
have a perfect knowledge or we do not exactly have a perfect
knowledge, but we have a certain knowledge. Paul tells us that
even in our state of grace, that our knowledge is not perfect,
for we see through a glass darkly at this present time, then face
to face. But while our knowledge is not
perfect, beloved, our knowledge is certain. We know, says the
text. So the Spirit of God has implanted
upon the hearts of all the children of God these heavenly truths
as you would write a certainty with the point of a diamond.
A Christian then knows infallibly some things. He knows that in
sin there is an evil and in holiness there is a beauty. And a Christian
knows that he is in a state of grace, for he says, we know that
we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren. Now, a Christian also may know
that he has a home in heaven. You remember the Apostle stated
in 2 Corinthians 5 that if the earth and the house of this tabernacle
were dissolved or be dissolved, we have a house. not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens." So there are a number of things
that a child of God does know by the grace of God. I'm glad
the Lord doesn't leave his people in trouble and leave them in
uncertainties about salvation, but the Apostle said, that all
things work together for good to them that love God. There is in this a holy confidence. It's not just an assurance that
a person takes and says, well, I know these things because I
assure myself that they are so, but it is a confidence born of
the Spirit of God's imprinting these truths upon our hearts. And therefore we know, I think,
these things we can say in three ways. We know these things because
we have the Word of God. We know these things because
we have the Spirit of God to teach us the Word of God. And
we know these things because of our own experience in testing
and trying them and proving them. I come before you this morning
just praising God that we don't have to rest our souls in doubts
and skepticism, but we may know of a certainty of these things
concerning our eternal welfare. So much then for the certainty
of this glorious privilege. Let's look at the glory of it. or the wonder of this glorious
privilege. He says, all things, we know,
that's the certainty of it, but the glory of this privilege is
that all things work together for good to them that love God. So we can take this blessed truth
in the hand of faith by the grace of God and continue on in our
pilgrim journey with joy, and with praises unto him, and finish
our course, and finish it not in grief but in joy." Now, we said that nothing in
the world would comfort us like this text. I believe that. And I think we might ponder it
for just a moment. What can you think of, dear brethren?
that would give you more consolation than this verse of scripture.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God. What else in the world could
make our hearts to be content than this verse of scripture
here? I'm glad it's in the Bible, are you not? All God's providences
whatever God brings to pass as he brings all things to pass
for his glory. Everything that comes to a child
of God is tempered by the mercy and grace of God and sanctified
and made to work together for his good. And you can put everything
in that category, no matter what it may be. And it is to he or
him who loves God and is called according to his purpose, that
person may be absolutely sure, without a doubt, without, as
someone said, a shade of a shadow of a doubt, that anything can
get to him in any way that could be for his harm and not for his
good. So this warms my heart and makes
me to feel as like Jonathan, you remember, when he was so
weary in his journey, and he had the stamp in his hand and
came to the honey, you remember, there in a tree, and he dipped
the end of his stamp in that honey and tasted it. And the
Word of God says, when he tasted it, his eyes were enlightened. Brethren, if we can just get
a taste of this word this morning, this precious scripture that
God has given to his people, will not our eyes and our hearts
and all the faculties of our being be enlightened? So why
should a Christian destroy himself when he has this precious scripture,
that all things work together for his good? Why should, dear
brethren, we kill ourselves with worry and care and overburdening
ourselves when all these things, God says, sweetly concur and
conspire and coalesce. They all work together for our
good. Oh, I wish I could realize it
more. Well, we have a great doctrine in our text here then. The doctrine
in the text is this, that all the many and varied ways that
God deals with his people here in the world is by a special
providence made to turn out to their good. Do you understand
that? All of God's dealings, everything
he brings to pass in time, He makes the work together by a
special dispensation of his providence for his people to work together
for their good. I'm reminded of what David said
in Psalm 25, verse 10. David said, "...all the paths
of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."
Well, beloved, if all the paths of a child of God are mercy and
truth, then all of them are good, whatever they are, whatever takes
place in this world. Well then, I want to go a little
further in the text. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. I'd like to cover two
heads of this now following, since we've taken our first head,
that the very worst things, the most evil things, the saddest,
the most painful, the most bitter things that can come to a child
of God work together for his good. And later on, speak of
that, of course, but taking first of all this subject, the very
best things work together for good. I think we all agree on
this. There are some who have an argument about whether the
worst things can work together for the good of God's people,
but all of them do agree that the best things work together
for the good of his people. And I want to mention this first,
and then perhaps this evening we'll take up. These are bitter
things, these things that we feel are tragic and painful. and that it may be so difficult
to work for our good. Let's take our first point then.
The best things work together for the good of God's people.
The best things that I can think of, first of all, are the attributes
of God. And of course, if God's attributes
do not work together for the good of his people, nothing else
would work together for their good. Nothing else could. What
are those attributes? I can't mention all of them,
but we'll mention the first one here as God's power. The Word of God tells us that
his power is glorious, and indeed it is. It is all power. God is omnipotent. There is no
power outside of God whatever. And all the powers that men and
angels and creatures and even the demons and the devil and
the powers of darkness have are derived from God. God is almighty
in the absolute sense. But that absolute power, the
almighty power of God, is engaged for the good of his elect, for
the good of his people. How is that? First of all, God's
power is engaged for our good in supporting us in trouble. A few Sundays ago I spoke to
you from what was the 33rd chapter of Deuteronomy, and verse I was using another verse there, but verse 29, yes, where the
Word of God says, this is the verse I spoke to you from, 29,
but I have in mind here verse 27, where he says, "...the eternal
God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall thrust out the enemy
from before thee. and shall say, destroy them."
I call your attention to the everlasting arms being underneath
the child of God. We felt those arms undergirding,
upholding, and supporting in a way never before in my life
that I have spoken to many in these days. God's arms have been
very near, and that support has been so dear to my heart, and
I'm sure you have felt that. But we can think of others. We
think of the children of God of old, when they put Daniel
in the lion's den for his faithfulness to God. What was it that upheld
him? Nothing but the everlasting arms
of God. When they took the three Hebrew
children who were not bowed in Nebuchadnezzar's image, thrust
them into that furnace of fire heated seven times, hot, wherein
not a hair on their head was scorched, nor was there any smell
of smoke upon their clothing, and they came out. Their persecutors
were devoured by the flames. Who upheld those men? None but
the everlasting arms of our great God." And there was Jonah, you
remember, even running from God. Some people sometimes think,
well, if a Christian backslides, if he runs from God, He'll not
be upheld, but here's a servant of God going in an opposite direction
from which God called him and finds himself in the belly of
a fish that God had prepared for him, and upheld there by
the God whom he disobeyed, his almighty arm. Thank God he never
forsakes, never leaves his children, though many of them forsake him
at times. So we see then how a weak Christian,
a helpless child of God, dear friends, not only is able to
endure affliction, but through that, or in that affliction,
to rejoice in it and give God the glory. Because he's upheld
by the arms of the Almighty God. Paul said this, and he knew it
well, do you remember? He recorded what God said to
him. Paul was so weak, so helpless. He was aware of this, and he
acknowledged it before God. But God said to him, My strength
is made perfect in weakness. So we have what is called here
an apparent contradiction. A strong Christian is a weak
Christian, isn't he? Somebody said, here's a strong
Christian, I wish I could be as strong as he. You might turn
that around and say, here's a weak Christian, I wish I could be
as weak as that Christian is. Because it is when we acknowledge
our weakness and our helplessness, and we are aware of it before
God, that God says, my strength is made perfect in weakness. Why then be afraid of being weak,
brethren? Let us thank God that we are
made to know that we are weak, for all are. Well, they know
it or not. So God, in supporting us, uses
his almighty power, and the child of God knows that in the time
of trouble. And then what about our needs?
Is it not the almighty power of God that supplies our every
need? We know that, dear friends, there
are creatures who would help us, but many times creature comforts
fail. But God never fails his dear
little children. All other means fail. You remember he brought food
to Elijah using the ravens. to bring food to him there when
that man of God was hungry and sustained him, assuring that
he will not forsake his children in time of need. God preserved
the oil in the vessel of that widow of Sarepta. God preserved
and multiplied the meal in the barrel, you remember. The Lord
made to go back ten degrees on Ahaz's dial when he would prove
to him his faithfulness. And so that he shows us and teaches
us that when all outward human creature comforts fail, and the
sun seems to be setting in our little lives, that God causes
a revival to take place. And he brings the sun many degrees
backward to show us that he is still our God, he's still concerned. How wonderful. So his power supports
us in trouble. His power supplies our needs,
as everyone can testify here today. And then we thank God
for this, that his power also subdues our corruption. And we
often admit, dear friends, that even in a state of grace we still
realize our corruption, the principles yet remaining in us that God
has left with us. But I read in Micah 7 and verse
19 that God will subdue our iniquities, even subdue that corruption.
You know that. So we ask the question. We know
that our sin is strong. Our corruption seems to overpower
us many times. But there is that almighty power
that can break the head of that serpent. And he does that for
us, to his own praise. And we know that our hearts many
times are hard. As a brother said to me just
a few days ago, oh, he said, I feel that I can't weep, my
heart is so hard. And we feel that so many times. I think our heart is really tender
when we become conscious of the hardness of it. Some of us think
we have soft hearts, when in reality they're hard. Well, on
the other hand, there are those who realize the hardness of their
hearts, and therein they testify, they manifest the fact that they
really have a soft heart and a tender heart before God. But
as we think of that hard heart, we know that God is able to dissolve
it by his power through the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, Job said in chapter 23, verse 16, "...the Almighty
maketh my heart soft." Nobody has a soft heart unless God makes
it soft, you know that. I mean, in the right way. So
when we say, as one of the saints of old said, we have no might
against this great army. against our enemies, against
all our outward enemies and against this inward corruption, then
the Lord goes up with us to fight our battles. So we just stand
still and see the Lord destroy these enemies. He just strikes
off their heads, like David knocked that giant down with a little
stone, took his own sword and whacked off his head. So we see
this. our sins, our lusts, our corruptions. Our enemies, all of them, are
too strong for us, but they're not too strong for God. He's
almighty. So then, the almighty power of
God conquers our enemies. If that were not so, we just
couldn't make it. We would not have the victory.
He stains their pride and breaks the confidence of our adversaries. He fills them with fear. where
Psalm of David chapter 2 and verse 9 says, Thou shalt break
them with a rod of iron. God is the one that does this.
So while the enemy rages and the devil manifests his malice,
God has power. What a comfort. And he says,
All things work together for good to them that love God. And God's power is on our side. Aren't you glad of that? Well,
let's hurry on here because this is a big subject. And the second
thing under this head is that the wisdom of God works for the
good of his people. God's wisdom as well as his power,
these two things. There are a lot of times when
God's people are just there in the dark. They don't know what
to do. They don't know which way to
go. That's been my experience. But when that happens and they
confess it, then God becomes to them light and he says to
them, I will guide thee with mine eye. Isn't that what the
Bible says? It does say that in Psalm 42
in verse 8, and often we sing it, I will guide thee with mine
eye. The eye of God is put for the
wisdom of God. We confess our ignorance, but
God is our wisdom. If any man lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, who give it to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not. And when God gives wisdom, then
we know the way to go, and otherwise we do not. And he's all wise,
he can't make a mistake. We realize if we walk in our
wisdom, We do but stumble in the dark. We do so many fool
things that we think are so smart, so intelligent, so wise, but
we find out at our last resort that only God's wisdom is that
which stands and directs his people. And when God says he
will guide his people with his wisdom, his eye, we know they're
going to make it. And then third, the goodness
of God works all things together for their good. God's goodness
works for good. Now, of course, this is true
because all the goodness of God is the source of all the other
favors of God, all the other blessings of God that come to
a child of God. Nothing comes to a child of God
but out of God's goodness. You know that? Nothing. Why are you a Christian? The
favors you receive is out of his goodness. Paul puts it this
way, lest we should stand up and boast or brag about our state
or our condition or our being better than anybody else. He
said, Who made you to differ? Who made you to be different?
You are. But who made you so? You wouldn't
have been different if God Almighty hadn't made you so. You'd be
just like everybody else. And what hast thou that thou
hast not received? And if thou hast received it,
why dost thou boast as if thou hast not received it? Everything
then we received comes from God's goodness, nothing else. not from any merits of our own.
So the blessed attributes of God work for the good of all the
Saints of God, dear friends. His power upholds. His power supplies our needs. His power subdues our enemies
and our inward corruption. His wisdom works for our good.
His goodness from that pours out all, comes all the blessings
of our holy and gracious God. God is good. You remember we
read a number of times, especially in Ephesians, of the good pleasure
of his will. The good pleasure of his will.
Whatever God does is right, whatever God does is good. Now, if we
did everything according to our will, nothing would be good,
you realize that. Everything would be wrong. But
God, out of his will, does nothing but good. And it pleases him
to do good. And so out of his goodness, Really,
the goodness of God is designed to lead us to repentance. It
does that. The goodness of God pours out
all the other blessings of grace, of redemption, of justification,
effectual calling, regeneration, sanctification, and everything
else. Now let's take this. The promises of God work together
for the good of his people. Let me give you a verse on that.
which you may turn to in 2 Peter, I believe it is, chapter 2, verse
4, where the scripture says, "...whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust." precious
promises given to us, and he says they are all full of virtue,
that we might by these precious promises be made partakers of
the divine nature. So what are you going to do,
dear friends? Somebody said, Well, I feel so guilty. Well,
what about it? Do we not all feel guilty at
times? Aren't we all under the guilt
of sin? There is the promise of God.
God says in Exodus 24, verse 6, "...the Lord merciful and gracious."
Why is that in the word of God? "...but to encourage a poor guilty,
trembling sinner, to approach him and cry for that mercy, because
God says he is merciful and he is gracious. Somebody said, well,
I don't deserve mercy, and of course we know that. But God
doesn't give his mercy because we deserve it. He is merciful,
dear friends, to those who do not deserve it. God gives his
mercy not because we merit it, but God gives his mercy because
he delights to give his mercy. And so sinners may come to a
God who shows mercy. And then there is that defilement
of sin. that all the people of God complain
about, being defiled with sin. Will not God bestow his mercy
and his grace upon a child of God who backslides? What about
that? Of course, we read in Hosea 14,
verse 4, God says, I will heal their backsliding. I'll do that. You may think that backslider
will never return. He from went away from it. He
joined himself to idols and departed from the knowledge of the true
God and all of that, and did many abominable things. But the
sovereign God says, I will heal their backsliding. There is never
a child of God that backslides, but what God will heal his backsliding
sooner or later. And then what about trouble? I'm in trouble, somebody says.
David said, God said, through David, I will be with him in
trouble. That is, the people of God. I'll
be with him in trouble. And as we showed you, God will
support. God doesn't lead his people into
trouble and leave them there. to sweat it out. But God comes,
not only delivers them from that trouble, but God comes to them
in that trouble. As that scripture says, I will
be with him in trouble. He stands by him, according to
Psalms 91 and 15. He keeps us from fainting in
the way. And then of course there is this
need We fear that we're going to suffer need in time, but we
have this scripture to comfort our hearts, that they that seek
the Lord, they that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing. Not they that work themselves
to death and greedy and grasping and always plowing to satisfy
their needs, but they that seek the Lord. shall not want any
good thing. Take that to your heart and be
confident with it. In Exodus 23 and 25, God says
this, I will bless thy bread and thy water. The meaning of
that, of course, is that sometimes the child of God and the good
and wise providence of God is reduced to a little pittance,
to a little substance. But if he doesn't have anything
but bread and water in the providence of God, God says, I'll bless
that. So that when you eat that bread and you drink that water,
it'll be sufficient and you'll be filled with praises and thank
God for it. What it means is that whether
we have much or little, if we have little, God will sweeten
that little with his blessings of mercy and kindness. Well, so then, this wonderful
text, we know that all things work together for good. These
are good things I'm talking about, the attributes of God and the
promises of God. All of these, and then we can
put on top of that the mercies of God, work together for the
good of all his people. The graces of the Spirit of God
that he gives to his people work together as they bear the fruit
of the Spirit. The angels of God are sent to
help those who shall be heirs of salvation. The communion of
the saints of God, their prayers and their fellowship are all
for the good of the people of God. and their prayers, of course,
and then Christ's intercession works for the good of his people.
Now, dear friends, what else could we ask for? All of this. We don't have time to take up
the worst things, but, Lord willing, we may speak about some of those
tonight. how the worst things work together
for the good of the Lord's people, and why all these things do work
together for the good of his people. Why? Let's rejoice in
these that we have, knowing that God is our God. I said Christ's
intercession works together for the good of his dear people.
I will, in regard to that, call attention to the 17th of John,
to three verses here, to show you how the intercessory work
of our Lord that is going on at the present time works together
for the good of his dear people. In verse 15, notice, I pray not
that thou shouldest take them, that is, his chosen, out of the
world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Now there is the intercession
of Christ, which began on the earth and continues in heaven.
This is a pattern he has given us. And he prays that his people
might be kept from evil. So his prayer of intercession
is working for good there. In verse 17, he prays for the
sanctification, for the progress in righteousness of his Saints. Sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth." And then lastly, verse 24, he prays for
the glory of his people. "'Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world.'" Three things, and particularly
here, our Lord Jesus Christ is praying for his people in heaven. One, that they be kept from evil,
from sin. That's why we are kept from sin.
Do you realize that? The Lord Jesus Christ prays for
his people. It's not our strong resolutions. It's not our ability to be kept
from sin. Christ is praying. He kept Peter,
you remember, and his disciples. The reason we are being sanctified,
the reason any child of God makes progress in holiness and righteousness
and in grace, is because the Lord Jesus Christ continues to
pray, Father, sanctify them, and they are going to be sanctified
as they are. And they are all going to get
the glory because he said, Father, I will that they all be with
me whom thou hast given me, that they may behold my face, my glory,
How wonderful then. May the Lord impress these wonderful
truths upon our hearts. And so may we turn to hymn number
266 and stand and sing.