How y'all doing? This morning we're just gonna
work at one verse of scripture for our Bible study and we're
gonna keep it real simple. Turn to Romans 8 28. This is probably a very familiar
passage of scripture to all of you. Most of you can probably
recite it, but let's look at it again. Romans 8 with the 28th
verse. 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. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we
come to you this morning in the name of your son, Jesus Christ.
We ask, Lord, that you'd bless us with your presence here this
morning, that the name of Jesus Christ would be high and lifted
up, and he would be worshipped here today. Pray, Lord, that
you would comfort sinners. Lord, we pray that you would
be with our pastor as he's sick, and we pray, Lord, that you would
restore his health and you would bring him back to us as you see
fit. And Lord, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Romans
828, everybody knows this verse of scripture, right? Everybody's
familiar with it. This is the first verse of scripture
I ever attempted to commit to memory. And there's a story that
goes along with it. And it's a third-party story,
and most of you probably know the story. It's a Henry Mahan story.
It goes like this. I heard Henry say the story in
a message. Henry was a young man, and he
was seated inside a church, and Rolf Barnard, a gospel preacher,
was up there preaching. And if you've ever listened to
Rolf Barnard, he's a very powerful, kind of loud individual. And
during the service, He turns to Henry, says, young man, stand
up. Henry stands up. He says, you recite for me Romans
828. And Henry says, well, and we
know that all things work together for good. And he sits back down.
And Lauren says, don't you know the rest of it? Henry gets up
and he says, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are thee called according
to his purpose. And as Henry just gets that P
out in the word purpose, Rolf Morner shouts out, purpose! And
he scares everybody to death, right? People wake up in the
back row and things like that. And he says something, he says,
young man, if you understand that word purpose, You'll understand
the gospel, because everything the Lord does, he does on purpose. That's a good statement, isn't
it? Now, I try to commit that to memory, just in case Todd
Nyberg ever got some sort of wild inkling, and he called on
me, I might actually get it right, but I probably wouldn't. Here's
what I'm going to do. Like I said this morning, I want
to keep it simple, and I want to look at this verse probably
in four parts, and I want to start with the back side of the
verse, and I want to talk about this word, purpose. And I'm going
to ask you this question, what is the purpose of God? Now, everything
that happens is according to his purpose, right? Every interaction,
every incident, they are all his purposes coming together,
but it's all working towards one ultimate purpose. What is
that purpose? Let's find out. Turn to Ephesians
1 and look at verse 9. What is the purpose of God, his
ultimate purpose? Ephesians 1, and pick up in verse
9. Having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, and his will is a mystery, no doubt,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on the earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will." Now don't miss this, this is the purpose of God right
here. That we should be to the praise of his, what is that word? Glory. Who first trusted in Christ. People walk around and say, what
is this life all about? What's the meaning of life? The good
times, the bad times, the sickness, the sadness, the tears. What
is this all about? What is it all leading up to?
It's about one singular purpose. This is about God getting glory
for himself, particularly in the person of Jesus Christ. That's
what this is all leading up to. Does anybody here have a problem
with that? No, you love that, don't you? He's worthy of that
glory. But what's involved in that purpose? What's involved
here? Look back at verse 12 of Ephesians 1. It says that, We
should be to the praise of his glory. This thing of God glorifying
himself and the salvation of his people, they can't be separated. Through the salvation of his
people, the Lord achieves for himself a greater glory than
he would have otherwise had. Somebody says, explain that.
I can't. I can't. I just simply believe that. Now,
how is this purpose accomplished? Look back at verse 11, Ephesians
1. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being, and what is that word? Predestinated,
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Where do we begin with this?
Where do we begin when we're going to talk about the purpose
of God? The Holy Spirit gives us some
direction here, that word predestination. Now, where do we begin? Where
does the salvation of a sinner begin? It begins with the love
of God, which is seen in predestination and election. Now, somebody says,
give me a scripture here. Show me where that's at. We don't
have to go any further than back to our text. Look back at Romans
8 and pick up in verse 29. Y'all are likely very familiar
with these two verses of scripture. This is known as the chain of
salvation. There's five links to the chain. This is how the
purpose is accomplished. Romans 8, 29, 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. The chain of salvation, and it
begins with this word foreknown. Foreknown, what does that mean?
What is the foreknowledge of God? Is it this? Is the foreknowledge
of God this? The Lord looked through the lens
of time and he saw what men would believe of their own free will
and then he retroactively elected them because he saw that they
would believe. Is that the foreknowledge of God? No, it certainly is not. Now, let's ask a question. Is
the Lord ever reactionary? Does he ever react to men? No,
he doesn't. He is never reactionary. He only
takes action. He is never anxious. He is never
uneasy. He is never worried. He is always
comfortable and he is always easy because his will is always
does. All he has to do is will something and it comes into play.
Second thing is this. If the Lord did wait around for
a natural man to believe on him before he would do something
for that man, who's going to be saved? Anybody? Nobody. John 644, no man can
come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him.
And John 540, and you will not come to me, that you might have
life. We lack the ability, and we don't
want to by nature, which is even worse. This thing of God's foreknowledge,
it deals with love. So Adam knew his wife Eve. Adam
had an intimate relationship with Eve. It wasn't that he just
knew her. He could identify her. He loved Eve. And this is the
foreknowledge of God. Before time began, before the
foundations of the world were ever created, God loved the people
in Jesus Christ. Now, we're going to ask a question.
It's a very rudimentary question. Does God love all men? Does he
love all men? Let's look at it. Turn to Matthew
7 and look at verse 22. Matthew 7, pick up in verse 22. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
have cast out devils. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. I would draw your attention to
that statement for a second. What is their confession considering
their works? Many and wonderful. And what does the Lord have to
say to a man who that is his confession? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. I didn't know who you were. I
couldn't identify you. I never loved you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. Now we've seen the confession
of a man who has not the love of God. What is the confession
of a man who has the love of God? What is his confession concerning
himself? Turn to Romans 5 and look at
verse 6. Romans 5, pick up in verse 6.
This is the confession of a man who has the love of God. For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. That is our personal confession
in reference to ourself. Two things, without strength
and ungodly. Without strength, I take my place
with Mephibosheth, who was lame on his feet. Mephibosheth couldn't
provide for himself. Everything had to be provided
for him. He couldn't get to David. He had to be fetched, and he
couldn't do anything for David. He was relatively worthless.
That's me. That's my confession before God,
and ungodly. That means that everything he
is, I am in fact the polar opposite by nature. He's merciful. I'm
unmerciful. He's gracious. I'm ungracious.
He's sovereign. I have no control. He's immutable. He never changes. I change with
the wind. He's holy. I'm wicked. Whatever he is, by
nature, I am the polar opposite of that. That is the man. That
is the confession of a man who has the love of God. The second
link in the chain. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. Predestinate. What does that
mean? It means to be predetermined to an exact end. And this is
beautiful. This gives me some confidence
in this life. You know your end. You know how the book ends. You
know how your story ends. And it is the perfect conformity
to the person of Jesus Christ. Every man and woman who is looking
to Christ alone right now, you know your end. You know where
the story ends. And it is with the perfect conformity
to Jesus Christ. Everything he is, you are right
now, and that will be your experience one day. Third link in the chain,
cold. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
he all He also called." Now remember your text, all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. This is the call of irresistible,
invincible grace. It's a call from death unto life. Now we could go to a lot of verses
of scripture that would tell us things about this call, but
I learn best through examples. So I'm going to give you all
an example this morning. One of my favorite biblical characters,
it's Lazarus. Lazarus. There's really two biblical characters
I can identify with real well. The first one is Lot. That was
a man who needed mercy. And I need mercy. There's a second
one, it's Lazarus, because me and Lazarus had the same problem.
Dead. Dead. Born in this world, dead in trespasses
and sins. Lazarus wasn't in a coma, he
didn't have a fatal disease, none of that. He was dead, he
was so dead that his body had begun the process of decay. And
my spiritual abilities, born in this world, were the same
as Lazarus. I could do about the same thing he could. I could
rot and I could stink, and I could fill this place with an obnoxious
odor. That's about it. Now, I'm gonna pose a few hypotheticals
to you. What if the Lord approached Lazarus'
tomb and said, Lazarus, if you're willing, come forth. What's going to happen? Absolutely
nothing, right? Because Lazarus being brought
back from the dead is dependent on Lazarus being able to come
up with the appropriate will. He's dead. He can't. What about this? Lazarus, if
you can just believe that I'm capable of raising you from the
dead, I'll raise you from the dead. Anything? Can a dead man believe
anything or on anyone? Nope, sure can't. Lazarus, if
you'll just cry out for mercy, I'll raise you from the dead. That's preposterous, isn't it?
If Lazarus could cry out for mercy, he had no need of the
Lord. He was alive already. Understand this. If there is
any man who truly ever cries out for mercy, it is for one
reason. It's because he has sovereignly been shown mercy before he ever
knew that he needed it. If today you are crying for mercy,
it's because you've already been shown mercy. But that wasn't the command.
The command was this. Lazarus, come forth. No conditions, no
prerequisites, just a sovereign and all-powerful God purposing
to raise a dead man and doing exactly what he purposed to do
with no help from that man. That's the call I need. the call
from death unto life, and that's the God I need, the God who can
raise a dead man. The fourth link in the chain,
justified. What does that mean? What does that word mean? It
actually has a different meaning than we see it in our legal system.
Justified in the scriptures is not guilty, not guilty. Now a question, how can that
be the case for me? I'm a sinner, and I have done
nothing but sin. I have done nothing but transgress
against God's holy law. How can I be justified before
a holy God who demands perfection? Is that even possible? Let's find out. Galatians 2,
look at verse 16. How can a man like me be justified? Galatians 2.16, knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. How can a man like me, be justified
before a holy God. How is it? Due to the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ, his faithfulness unto death. Now this is all our
hope. This is the only standing I have.
This is all my hope, that Jesus Christ bore my sins in his body
on that cross. That the punishment that was
reserved for me, which I rightly earned, was poured down upon
him and he suffered it And he paid the debt of those sins.
And those sins are no more. They do not exist anymore. They
are as far as the east is from the west. They're gone. They're
blotted out. And now there really is no reason
for shame. There really is no reason for guilt because the
debt has all been paid and it truly is finished. Period. Done. That's how a man can be
justified before a holy God, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
And the end state, glorified. Now, right now, is Jesus Christ
glorified? Is he altogether pleasing to
his father? Is he absolutely righteous, absolutely holy? And
when the father looks at him, he sees nothing but absolute
perfection. He has perfect fellowship with him. Is that the case for
Jesus Christ right now? It absolutely is. And we are
in him. He is the head, we are the body,
all part of one. And right now, in Christ, we
are glorified. Now, what do we say about that?
That's not my experience. I know that by faith, but right
now that is not my experience. My experience right now is without
strength and ungodly. or Genesis 6-5, God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's
me. I'm glorified in Christ, and
I know it by faith. And one day, that faith is going
to give way to sight, when we wake in the likeness of our Redeemer,
and we spend eternity just worshiping him. That gets you through the
day, won't it? It's a good hope. I'm going to
speed along here. Second part of our text, and
I'm just going to read it to you. And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the cold. Now, we dealt with the calling,
right? The calling from death unto life. Well, what accompanies
that life? Love. Love for God and love for
his people. I don't know when the Lord saved
me. I have no idea. I have no idea when that happened. I think
I was relatively young. I think I was around 13 or 14
years old. But I know this, I spent a good chunk of 10 years rustling
with this idea right here, do I love God? Because love is never
without action, right? You love your family, you take
care of your family. You love your kids, you take care of your kids, you
provide for them. And I have never felt comfortable dealing
with this idea of my love for God. And any message I've ever
heard where I felt the central focal point was the believer's
love for God made me kind of cringe. Why? Because I think
of the love Jesus Christ had for me, that he was willing to
die in my stead. How many people would you die
for right now? Think of a father's love to me. A man was willing
to give his son, his only begotten son, for me. I cringe. How does my love even compare
to that? It scares me. But I've come to this conclusion.
I do love God. I do. I love him as he is revealed
in this book. And that cannot be said for every
man. According to Romans 8, 7, the
carnal mind is enmity against God. Do you know what that means?
It means the natural man hates God. He has made himself the
enemy of God. But you know what's interesting
is most men don't know it. They've never been exposed to
him. They've never been exposed to who he truly is. Now they're
comfortable with the God of their imagination. They love the God
of their imagination. If you were to go door to door
in Lexington, Kentucky this morning and take a poll and say, Hey,
y'all love God. What are they going to say? Of
course we do. Of course we do. They don't know
who he is. And if it was ever revealed to
them, not in the manner to where the Lord reveals himself in a
saving manner, but if they ever just saw it, they would find
that they hate him. How can I know if I love God?
I'm going to name three of his attributes, and we're going to
talk about them for a moment. And I'm going to see if I love God.
The first one is this, the sovereign God. This is the one who is the
first cause behind everything, behind every train wreck, behind
every car wreck, behind every volcanic eruption, good stuff,
bad stuff, and in between. He's the first cause behind everything. And he holds you and me in the
palm of his hand, And he can do whatever he wants with us.
He can save us or he can damn us. And it is right, just, and
fair, whatever it is he does, simply because of who he is,
he's holy. How does that God sit with you?
Daniel 4, 35, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
And he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and amongst the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Do you love that
God? Natural man does not. He hates
that God. He is comfortable. He likes the God of his imagination,
the defeated God who is defeated in his purposes. He paces the
halls of heaven, wringing his hands, waiting for a man to allow
him to have his way. He likes that God, but he hates
this sovereign God. This sovereign God is my only
hope, a God who is all-powerful and in complete and utter control.
That's the God I need. What about the holy God? The God who is
absolutely holy. Absolutely perfect. I can't give
you a good definition of holiness. And he will accept nothing but
perfect and utter perfection. Holiness. How do you feel about
that, God? Natural man says he's too strict.
The bar is too high. I can't meet it. Natural man
hates the holiness of God for this reason. In the light of
the holiness of the Lord, when a man stands in it, his works
are revealed for what they are. They're filthy rags, they're
dead works, and they cannot produce life. and the natural man seeks
to be justified by his own works to the tune of his own glory.
I'll tell you what, I love the holiness of God. I love the fact
that in this world where I will make an exception for myself
every time, and I'll make an excuse for myself every time,
and the rules are always wavering, and the bar's always lowered
or adjusted, depends on the circumstances, there is a standard, and that
standard is absolute and utter perfection. And I have no fear
of that standard. because everything he demands
of me and everything he demands of every believer, he freely
provides. Now somebody says, give me a
scripture on that one. Colossians 121, you don't have
to turn there, I'll read it to you. And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.
That's right now. I have no fear of that standard.
I've met that standard in Christ. What about the God of election?
The God that chooses to save some and he passes by others. Do you love that God? Natural
man hates that God. How could a loving God choose
to save some and pass by others? Why, that's unfair. If that is
our response, we don't know ourselves. Because if we ever get a glimpse
of who and what we are by nature, we would know, fair for us, and
I don't want to say this flippantly, fair for us is to go to hell.
That's fair. That's what's right. A believer
loves election for this reason. Number one, it fully shows the
character of God. Election, as Todd has said before,
is God being God. He's choosing. He's making the
decisions. Election also, though, the necessity
of election, shows the character of man. It's the dirty little
secret of mankind, of human nature, that we don't want let out. And
it's this. It's that we will not choose God. That if left
to ourselves, we will reject Him. That's why election is absolutely
so necessary. Because if He did not first choose
us, we never would have chose Him. The God of election. Do you love that God? Do you
love Him? Somebody says, I do. I love that
God. I'll tell you what, it's for one reason. It's because
he first loved you. You have the very love of God,
and that is never without effect. All right. Going back to Romans
8, 28, I'll read it to you again. There's another part. And we
know that all things work together for good. Now, what's the promise
here? What's being expressed? This
is what's being expressed, is that everything that happens
between our birth and our death, everything is working together
for your good. Somebody says, what about the
hurtful things, the things that cause us so much pain? What about
the tears? What about the things that cause us so much suffering?
All things are working together, not separately. There's not any
random twist of events. Everything is working together,
kind of like a car. What good is the engine without the transmission?
What good are the tires without the steering wheel? All the parts
of the car are necessary to get you to your final destination.
All things are working together for good. I'm going to give you
a scripture, and I want you to read it with me. And I'm not even
going to comment on it. It was a blessing to me when I read
it, and I want to give it to you. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. Look at verse
14. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 14. Now we exhort you, brethren,
warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the
weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for
evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among
yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore, pray without
ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. I don't know what I need, I don't.
There's a lot of stuff I want, but I don't know what my needs
are, but my father does. And he is too wise to err, and
he's too kind to be cruel. Is he not worthy of our trust?
Yeah, he absolutely is. All right. Going back to Romans 828, the
first three words there are, and we know. And I want you to
focus on that word, we. The Lord deals with two different
types of people. He deals with the we, and he deals with the
them. The we that have the love of
God, who've been elected and predestinated, have been called,
justified, and glorified. And there's the them. Those who
are left to themselves and they hate God. How can I know if I'm
a we? Because if I'm a we, according
to this, I really have nothing to worry about. Everything really
is working for my good. How can I know if I'm a we? Paul
says, and we know. That means that everything after
that is collective knowledge. It's what every believer knows, but
it's also whatever believer loves. So I'm going to ask this question.
Do you love his purpose? What's the purpose? glorifying
himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Do you love that? Is
he worthy of that glory? Is he worthy of that purpose?
Yeah, I love that. You love the way he saves sinners,
completely and utterly by grace, having nothing to do with a man's
works. Do you love that? You know who loves that as sinners?
People who need grace love that. And people who hate that are
people who want to be justified by their own works. Do you love him as he's revealed?
Absolutely sovereign, completely holy, king of kings and lord
and lords, the one who does the choosing? Say yes. And you know that all things
work together for your good, you who love God, you who have
been called according to his purpose. I'm going to leave you
with that.