All Things Work Together For Good

Q: What does the Bible say about all things working together for good?

The Bible teaches in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 states, 'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.' This verse serves as a powerful reminder that everything in the life of a believer, from joys to sorrows, is ultimately orchestrated by God for their good. It assures Christians that their experiences, whether perceived as positive or negative, are woven into a divine tapestry intended for their spiritual growth and ultimate glorification in Christ. The promise is particularly significant for those who love God, highlighting the intimate relationship between the believer and their Creator, who works through all circumstances for their benefit.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

We know God's promises are true because His Word is unchanging and trustworthy. The assurance of God's promises is grounded in the reliability of His Word. The preacher emphasized that our understanding of truth should not rely on fluctuating feelings or human emotions, as these can be deceptive. Instead, we anchor our faith in the unwavering commitment of God, who said, 'I change not.' The consistency of God's nature ensures that His promises will come to fruition. As Martin Luther famously stated, 'My warrant is the Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.' Therefore, believers can rest assured that God's declarations about working all things for their good will undoubtedly come to pass.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to not fear the future?

Christians should not fear the future because God promises to be with them and uphold them. Fear is often a natural human response, but the Bible repeatedly instructs believers to trust in God's promises instead. In Isaiah 41:10, God reassures His people: 'Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God.' This assurance highlights that God's presence is a source of strength and comfort. Furthermore, the faithful promise that God will supply all our needs emphasizes that believers are cared for by their Heavenly Father. Rather than succumbing to anxiety about material needs or future uncertainties, Christians can have confidence in God's sovereignty and providential care over their lives, which liberates them from fear.

Q: What does it mean to love God according to Romans 8:28?

To love God means to have a deep relationship with Him, rooted in His love for us and expressed through our devotion. In Romans 8:28, the promise that all things work together for good is specifically directed towards 'them who love God.' Loving God entails more than mere affection; it requires a profound commitment to understanding and following Him. This love is reciprocated, as believers love God because He first loved them (1 John 4:19). This relationship influences their actions and responses, underscoring that true love for God manifests in obedience, faithfulness, and a desire to align their lives with His will. It is not an abstract notion but a living, dynamic relationship that shapes the believer's life and outlook.

Q: How does God ensure everything works together for good?

God ensures everything works together for good through His sovereign plan and purpose for believers. The certainty that all things work together for good rests in God's sovereign control over the universe and His intentional design for the lives of His children. The preacher notes that there are no accidents in the life of a believer; every event, joy or sorrow, is purposed by God for their ultimate benefit. This divine orchestration extends to all aspects of life—past, present, and future. God's infinite wisdom comprehends the complexities of human experience, ensuring that each moment serves a purpose in furthering the believer's relationship with Him and preparing them for glory. As such, believers can confidently navigate life’s ups and downs, knowing that their loving Father is at work in their lives.

I want you to turn in your Bibles
today to the book of Romans. Now, I've preached from this
passage of Scripture several times, but I'm going to preach
from it again today, Romans 8, verse 28. Now, the title of the
message is, All Things Work Together for Good. I've heard that all
my life. You've heard that all your life.
All things work together for good, especially at funeral services. All things work together for
good. Well, what's this talking about and what does it mean?
Romans 8, 28. Let's read the whole Scripture.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. That's
the whole verse. Can you remember it? Mark it
in your Bible. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose. Now, my message today is directed
primarily to believers, to the sheep of Christ. He calls them
My sheep. To the children of God, He calls
them My brethren. to the people who listen to me
preach Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. I hear from you, many
of you, quite often. And I want to encourage you,
you who know Christ, you who love Christ, you who know the
gospel, I want to encourage you. I want to comfort you today.
I want to assure you of the promises of God which you have in Jesus
Christ our Lord. You know, Isaiah wrote that in
chapter 40. quoting the Lord God. He said
to Isaiah, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak comfortably
to my people and say unto them, Their warfare is over, their
sins are forgiven. They have received of the Lord
double for all their iniquities. So that's what I want to do today.
I want to speak to the people of God, to the sheep of Christ,
to my brethren, And I want to encourage you. You know, we need
not fear. I don't know why we fear. We
do. We have a lot of fears, don't
we? But we shouldn't. We shouldn't fear. We shouldn't
fear because our Lord said to us, fear thou not. Fear thou
not. For I'm with thee. Be not dismayed. I'm your God. and I'll strengthen
you, and I'll help you, and I'll uphold you with the right hand
of my righteousness. So don't be afraid. Don't be
afraid of what men can do. Don't be afraid of what tomorrow
holds. Don't be afraid of the future. Don't be afraid. Fear not. I'm with thee. Fear not. I'm your God." I don't know why we are, but
we are. We're overly anxious and concerned about material
things. You know, our Lord rebuked us
for that. He said, take no anxious thought, saying, what shall we
eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal
shall we be clothed? He said the heathens seek those
things. He said, Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and these things will be added
to you. Your heavenly Father knows you have need of these
things, doesn't He? And did He not say this, did
not Paul declare this in Philippians 4, My God shall supply all your
needs, all your needs, maybe not all my wants, but all my
needs, according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
That's a promise. My God will supply your needs.
David said, I was young and I'm old now, but I've never seen
God's seed begging bread. Never have. And I don't know
why we do, but we do. We have these doubts and fears,
doubts about salvation, doubts about the mercy of God toward
us, doubts about our place in the kingdom of heaven. Why do
we entertain these doubts? Why do we let these birds roost
in our heads? He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life,
and they'll never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father gave them to Me, and
no man can pluck them out of My Father's hand. And He said
this in Philippians also, He that hath begun a good work in
you, he will perfect it. He will perform it. He will finish
it in the day of Jesus Christ. God never left half done anything
He's ever started. No, sir. So we don't need to
entertain these doubts and these fears concerning salvation. He
said, Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the earth.
And then, we don't need to dread death and dying. It just seems
like that nobody wants to die. Everybody's afraid to die. And
yet, the Lord Jesus tells us, precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Death, the death of a believer
is precious. Because to live is Christ and
to die is gain. Didn't Paul say to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord? Then why do we
fear death? To die is gain. And then David
said, I'll be satisfied when I awake with his likeness. Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord. forever. So He says,
then why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why? Hope thou in God. I shall yet
praise Him who's the health of my countenance, who is my God. And then look at my text. Let's
get to this text. And we know that all things,
all things work together for good to them who love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. You know what
I'd like to do? I'd like to just break that verse
down into just words, just words. Let's see, let's see what each,
almost each word says. First of all, he says, we know
something. And we know, and we know, know. don't think, perhaps,
maybe, we know. This is true. This is true. We
know that all things work together for good to them who love God.
How do we know this? We just think it? No, we know
it. How do we know it? We know it because God says so
in His Word. That's how we know it. But we
don't build our hopes on feelings. I'm afraid a lot of today's religion
is just feeling, just emotion, feeling and emotion and excitement
and all this sort of thing. There's no foundation. There's
no rock. There's just a, it's light, it's
a veneer, it's outward, it's emotional, it's feeling, feeling.
The great Martin Luther wrote this, feelings come and feelings
go. and feelings are deceiving. My
warrant is the Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
And though all my heart should feel condemned for want of some
sweet token, I'll trust God's unchanging Word, whose Word cannot
be broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging
Word till soul and body sever, because the words of men will
pass away, but God's Word abides forever. I know all things work
together for good to them who love God. I know that. How do I know that? Because of
feeling? No, sir. Because of His Word. And I don't build my hopes on
my faithfulness. And you better not build your
hopes on your faithfulness. We build our hopes on God's faithfulness. God is faithful to His promises
and to His Word. He said, I am the Lord. I change
not. You can't say that. You can't
say that. And I can't either. I change. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou that changest not." God
said, I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. I know that all things work together
for good to them that love God because of His Word and because
He doesn't change. His Word won't change and He
won't change. And the gifts and calling of
God are without change. Look at that text again. We know,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God. When our God declares all things
work together for good, He means all things, all things, all things. Name it. All things in heaven,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, angels, counsels, covenants,
all things in the universe, The angels, principalities and powers,
all things, all things in time, past, present, future, before
the world, during the world, after the world, eternity, past
and future, all things. God's everlasting counsels and
covenants and purposes, the destruction of the world, the remaking of
a new earth and a new heaven, All things, all things on earth,
in my birth, in my life, in my death, work together for my good
if I'm one who loves God and who has been called according
to His purpose. Be it joy or sorrow, be it success or failure, be
it plenty or poverty, be it sickness or death, be it life or death. There's nothing that takes place
in the life of a believer, nothing, absolutely nothing, that takes
place before he was born, after he is born, during his entire
life, in every life that touches his life and affects his life.
There's nothing that takes place in reference to a believer that's
not purposed by the Father, ordained by the Father, ordered by the
Father for His glory and for our eternal good. You may not
understand that now, but you will someday. I mean all things. There are no exceptions. There
are no accidents in the life of a person who loves God. No
accidents. Everything is on purpose. Every
step of his way is designed and purposed and ordered by God.
The steps of a godly man are ordered by the Lord, who rules
over all. Even the hairs of our heads are
numbered. God reigns in everything. Do you know that? Quit quoting
that verse if you don't believe it. Just stop blaspheming God. Just stop using it. If you can't
believe it, don't claim it. If you can't go all the way with
it, don't start on the journey. And we know that what? Some things, lot of things, nearly
everything, all things. Is that not what it says? All
things without exception. Work together, work together
for good to them that love God. They work. They're not idle. All these things are not idle.
They work. By God, they're set in motion and they actively work
together, together. The bad and the good, poverty,
plenty, success, failure, sickness, health, they work together. They
don't work separately, they work together. If you only look at
one event in your life or one happening, you'd say, boy, this,
I don't understand this. No, you don't. That's just part
of a pattern. part of a pattern. One tree doesn't
make a forest. One grain of sand doesn't make
a beach. One drop of water doesn't make an ocean. And one happening
doesn't make a life. You go to the doctor and something's
wrong with you, and he writes out a prescription, and you take
it to the pharmacist. And the pharmacist, you ever
watch one of them? The pharmacist will take down this and take
down this and take down this, any one of which might kill you. Any one of which might upset
you something awful, but he takes these different ingredients and
he mixes them together Together and they work together To make
you healthy again Anyone taken alone you see and any one happening
in my entire life in my father's life Just that one happening
could have destroyed me or that one happening in my life. You
see, too much joy would intoxicate you and me. Too much misery would
cause us to despair. Too much sorrow would crush us.
Too much suffering would defeat us. Too much pleasure would ruin
us. Too much defeat would discourage
us. Too much success would exalt us and make us proud. So all of these things work together,
together for good. Davidâ€”no, it wasn't David. Solomon
wrote, Lord, keep me from poverty lest I steal, but keep me from
riches lest I forsake Thee. God knows His children. God knows
His children. We discipline our children. We
put certain hedges about them and rules upon them. We think
we know them. We think we know what's best for them. We do what
we think is best. God doesn't think He knows. He
does. God doesn't think He knows what's
best for you. He knows. See what I'm saying? He's the infinite sovereign Father. Well, it says,
all things, and we know that all things work together for
good, good. Now, what does this mean, good? Well, when some people think
of good, they're concerned only for the good, the feeling, the
pleasure of the moment right now, right now, right now. A person may say, I got a terrible,
terrible headache. Is that good? No, right now,
it's not. Not right now, but that's not what he's talking
about, the good of the moment, the good of right now. God doesn't
do things to us and follow us in a great deal of consideration
for right now. There's no time with God. People
think all that, well, who's going to make me happy? Who's going
to fill my mouth or fill my belly? Who's going to cover me with
fine clothes and beautiful jewelry? Who's going to make me strong
and healthy? I'll follow the preacher who promises me health
and wealth and strength and beauty. And who will make me laugh and
never cry? I don't want to ever cry. I want
to be happy all the time, happy all the time. Well, I'll tell
you this, these are temporary things. You don't want that.
If you could even have it, you wouldn't want it. These are all
temporary things. They pass away. Heaven and earth
pass away. The fashion of this world fadeth
away. God's never promised His children
that they, that all things that work together for our present
good, our temporary good, that won't help me. When Paul says that all things,
and I mean in heaven, on earth, All things past, present, and
future, all things in my parents' life, in my life, in the life
of my children, all things in every event or advent that has
anything to do with me or touches my life in any shape, form, or
fashion, outwardly or inwardly, all things are supervised and
ordered and purposed by my Father for my good. What good? My spiritual good, my eternal
good. I'm not just here for a little
while. I'm going to live eternally.
I'm on this earth for a little while. But my time on this earth
is nothing like a drop of water compared to an ocean when you
compare it to eternity. It's like one flake of snow compared
to a blizzard, one grain of sand compared to a desert. I'm just
here for the moment. And these little temporary unpleasantries
and sorrows and tribulations are nothing, not worthy to be
compared with eternity and the glory that shall be ours. So,
my friends, what I want God to do and what you should want God
to do is work things out for my eternal good. I'm almost finished
here. I want to win Christ and be found
in Him. I want to know God and the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to have my sins forgiven.
I want my name written in heaven, don't you? I want a hope of eternal
life. I want to be the means to bless
and help somebody else. I want to finish my course with
joy and faith. I want to be made like Christ.
That's what I'm talking about. And we'll be satisfied when we're
awake in His likeness, and that will be good. And whatever God
is pleased to bring to pass in my life or your life here, so
be it. So be it. Whatever it requires, whatever
it takes to bring me to Christ, then it's worth it. Whatever
it takes to bring me to glory, it's worth it. Whatever it takes,
whatever God has to do to break me or humble me or bring me to
faith and to set His seal upon me, then so be it, because that'll
be good. That'll be good. That which takes
me away from Christ is not good, but whatever brings me to Christ
is good. To whom is this promise given?
And we know that all things work together for good." Well, that
promise is not to everybody. It says to them who love God. This is not a universal promise
to be claimed by all men. You can't just run up and down
the country telling everybody, well, I know that was bad, but
all things work together for good, not for him. If he doesn't
love God, if he doesn't love God, you see, the believer loves
God. He loves the true and living God. He loves his Father. He
loves his Word. He loves Christ. The believer
loves the true and living God who redeemed him by his life
and by his death. The believer loves the true and
living God who ever reigns and rules over his kingdom. The believer
loves God. Why does he love God? Because
God loved him first. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. We love Him because He first
loved us. Do you love God? I don't mean
the God of your imagination. I don't mean the God of the Baptist
or Catholic or Methodist or Presbyterian church or the Nazarene or Pentecostal
church. I mean the living God, the true
and living God. who created all things, whose
glory is accomplished by all things, who gave Himself for
our sin when He died on the cross. Do you love that God? Eternal
life is to know the true and living God. It's not just to
have a God or have a religion. I hear people say all the time,
well, you know, you have your religion and I have mine. There's
only one Lord, one faith, one God, one Father, one baptism,
one body. One hope of His calling. There's
not a half a dozen. And eternal life is to know Him,
the living God. David said, Oh God, oh God. He said, As the thirsty deer
panteth for the water brooks, so panteth my soul for Thee,
the true and living God. The heathen said, Where's your
God, David? Where's your God? David said,
Our God's in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased.
Whatsoever He pleased, that did He in heaven, earth, in the seas,
and in all deep places. God reigns, God rules, and the
believer loves that God. Our Lord set Peter down there
by the fire, you remember, after he rose from the graves. Peter,
He didn't ask him if he promised not to deny Him again. He didn't say, that you'll be
a good boy now." He didn't say, do you promise that you'll do
this? He said, Peter, I want to know one thing. Do you love
me? And Peter said, yea, Lord. I
knowest I love thee. He asked him again a second time,
Peter, do you love me? Well, yea, Lord, you know I love
you and feed my sheep. And he asked him the third time,
Peter, do you love me? And Peter was grieved that the
Lord asked him the third time if he loved him. He said, Lord,
thou knowest all things. I knowest that I love thee, then
feed my sheep. That's what it's based on, all
things. I know this. Work together for
good to them who love God, love God. Now watch this. Same people,
to them who are thee called according to his purpose. What does this
mean, called according to his purpose? Well, it's described
in the next verse. for whom He foreknew." See, we
didn't choose Him, He chose us. Whom He foreknew, He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. Almighty God has
decreed and designed and determined that all whom He chose and all
whom He redeemed will be just like Christ. And whom He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son, He called. One day
by His Word and by His Spirit, He called us. out of darkness
into His marvelous light, out of the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of His Son. And He justified us by His blood. He justified, forgave all our
sins, pardoned us, gave us life eternal, justified us, made us
righteous, and whom He justified, He glorified. Now, what shall
we say to these things? Well, I say, if God be for us,
who can be against us? And we know at all things." Isn't
that a comfort? Work together for good to them
who love God, to them who are the call according to His purpose. That's a sure promise. Now, if
you want this message on a cassette tape, you write and we'll send
it to you. Send $2. The message is, all
things work together for good. And on the other side is a message
entitled, the message of the cross, and we'll send them both
to you for two dollars. Here's the address now on the
screen. Till next week, may the Lord
bless you, everyone.

All Things Work Together For Good

What does the Bible say about all things working together for good?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to not fear the future?

What does it mean to love God according to Romans 8:28?

How does God ensure everything works together for good?

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All Things Work Together For Good

What does the Bible say about all things working together for good?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to not fear the future?

What does it mean to love God according to Romans 8:28?

How does God ensure everything works together for good?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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