Speaking this morning from the
book of Romans, the 8th chapter, verse 28. Now, this is a verse
of scripture which is quoted often by religious people everywhere,
but so often misquoted and misused and misapplied. I want you to
listen to it. It's a familiar scripture from
Romans, the 8th chapter, verse 28. 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 while people quote this verse
of scripture, they quote it everywhere for any occasion, especially
death or sickness or tragedy. But this is the way they quote
it. We know that all things work together for good. We know that
all things work together for good. Seldom, very seldom, do
we ever hear this verse quoted as it really appears in the Word
of God. They're seldom. Now, unfortunately,
I want you to listen carefully. Unfortunately, this is true of
many scriptures which are quoted by people, but they're only quoted
in part. And when these verses are quoted
only in part, they totally lose their true meaning. Let me give
you some examples. First of all, how many of you
have heard this verse of scripture quoted? Him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. That's what the Bible says. The
Bible says, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. That is not what the Bible says.
In John 6.37 it says, All that the Father giveth to me shall
come to me, And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. This is a part of a sentence. This is a part of a statement
made by our Lord Jesus Christ in the sixth chapter of John.
He said, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me. And him
that cometh, that is those the Father hath given me, I will
in no wise cast out. Here's another. Listen to this
scripture. It's found over in 2 Peter 3, verse 9. Listen to this. You've heard
this. Well, you know, God is not willing that any should perish.
That's not in God's Word. You say, but I know it is. I've
heard that all my life. I beg your pardon. Let me read
it to you from the Scripture. In 2 Peter 3, 9, listen. The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness. But is longsuffering to usward. Peter's talking to the church,
he's talking to believers, he's talking to children of God. God
is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. That's what that scripture says.
It does not say God is not willing. The name of God is in the upper
part of the scripture. There are many words between
God and is willing. God is long-suffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Here's another one. Well, you
know, the Scripture says, whosoever will may come. No, I didn't know
the Scripture said that. In fact, to be honest, the Scripture
does not say that. Not anywhere. Whosoever will
may come, it doesn't say that at all. Now, if a man's willing
to come to Christ, made willing by the Spirit of God, Made willing
by work of grace. The thought is true. The principle
is true. If a man is willing to come to
Christ, come on. But the Bible doesn't say that
in those words. Whosoever will, may come. I know
it's a song. Whosoever will, may come. But
it's not Scripture. That's found in Revelation 22,
17. Listen to it again. And the Spirit and the Bride
say, Come. And let him that heareth Say,
come, give the invitation, crowned of people, to come. And let him
that is a thirst, the thirsty man, the hungry man, the weary
man, the man who has a need, who needs the Redeemer, let him
that heareth say, come, and whosoever, let him that is a thirst come,
and whosoever will, comma, let him take the water of life freely. You see what I'm saying? We have
made religious cliches out of God's Word, and we have made
it fit our convenience, and made it fit what we wanted to believe.
These verses that I quoted to you, I could give you so many
more. You know, you hear people say, well, you know, the Bible
says cleanliness is next to godliness. The Bible does not say that.
Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that. That's a saying
that came out of poor Richard's almanac. And some of the things
that men attribute to the Bible is just not in the Word of God
at all. And the scripture that we're
on this morning, all things work together for good. You cannot
say the Bible says that because the Bible does not say that.
It does not say that at all. It's just not in God's Word.
There are conditions that hedge about this promise and conditions
upon which this promise rests. You've got to quote the whole
scripture. And we know that all things work together for good
to them who love God, to them who are the call according to
His purpose. My friends, you cannot honestly
claim any promise in the Word of God. You cannot claim any
promise in the Scriptures unless to some degree you meet the condition
laid down in that promise. Now, that's so, and any liberal-minded
person will have to admit that. Listen to these examples. Our
Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. Now, rest is the promise. What's
the condition? Well, there are two conditions.
First of all, if you're laboring and heavy laden, if you're weary
and bowed down with sin, and if you're calm. There are two
conditions there. Our Lord certainly has rest,
is willing to give rest, is sufficient, has sufficient rest. But there's
the condition you've got to meet. You've got to have a need, and
you've got to come. Listen to this scripture. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Now, salvation
is the promise. What's the condition? To believe. No man's going to be saved that
does not believe. He that believeth not on the
Son Shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
He that believeth on the Son hath life. Listen to this scripture. Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
to you. Yes, it'll be given, you'll be found, and it'll be
opened. But only if you ask, if you seek,
and if you knock. And the verse of scripture that's
before us is our text in Romans 8.28. is the greatest promise
in all the Word of God. Yes, it is. It's one of the sweetest
promises that is given to the child of God. But it presents
a definite condition that you cannot avoid, that you cannot
get around, and a condition that's so positive you cannot claim
the promise unless you meet the condition. Listen to it again.
And we know that all things work together for good. To them who
love God, and only to them, and to no one else. To them who are
be called according to his purpose. Now there are two things that
I want us to consider in this message. First of all, I want
us to consider the conditions. The conditions of the promise.
Those conditions that protect it, those conditions that hedge
it about. The first condition is this.
You see it already, if you've got your Bible open, if you've
followed this message. It says, all things work together
for good to them who love God. To them who love God. Now, here
you have a description of the people to whom the promise applies. Here you have a description of
the people for whom the promise is given. Here you have a description
of the people for whom everything All things, bar nothing, work
together for their good. Those who love God. Those who
love God. Now, my friends, it may come
as a surprise to you. It may come as a shock to you.
But all men do not love God. All men do not love God. In fact,
according to the Scripture, no unsaved, unregenerate Man loves
God, not according to God's Word. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this,
if you're not for me, if you're not for me, and to be for Christ,
you've certainly got to be regenerated, you've certainly got to be a
believer, you've certainly got to be saved. If you're not for
me, He said, you're against me. You're against me. No unregenerate,
unsaved man loves God. Now, he may love the God of his
imagination. I know someone sitting out there
right now saying, Well, I don't hate God. I think I can say I
love God. Which God? Which God are you
claiming to love? Which God are you claiming to
serve? Every man loves his God. The heathen hot and tight in
the heart of the jungle loves his God, but not the true and
living God. You find pagan idolaters love
their God, but not the God of the Bible. An unregenerate man
may love a God of his imagination, He may love the God of his tradition. He may love the God of his religious
superstitions. But according to the Scriptures,
and that's what we're preaching, and that's the foundation of
our faith and practice, according to the Scriptures, he does not
love the eternal, almighty, living God. I'll show you that from
God's Word. First of all, in Romans 8.7.
Romans 8.7 says, the natural mind And that's not the spiritual
mind, that's the natural mind, the flesh, human beings. The natural mind is enmity against
God. Enmity hates God, the natural
mind. It doesn't hate its own God,
its idols and false God, the God of its imaginations or superstitions,
the God that is whittled out with its own penknife, but that
natural mind hates the living God. The sovereign, almighty,
living God. Listen to James 4.4. The friendship
of this world is enmity against God. Whosoever would be the friend
of this world, listen to the scripture, is God's enemy. That's what God's word says.
And then listen to this. In Christ said, the world hateth
me. He said to his disciples, don't
be amazed if the world hates you. The world hated me before
it hated you. And over in the book of Isaiah,
in the promise of the Messiah's coming, God incarnate, Isaiah
wrote, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. Know, my friends, the natural
man, the natural man does not love God. He loves a God, or
some God, or any God, but not the living, almighty, eternal
God. Now God, God is love for who
He is. For who He is, not who we think
He is. God is love for who He is, not who we think He is, and
God is love as He's revealed in His Word, not as He comes
to us in a vision. or in imagination or an idea. Well, this is the way I think
God is. Well, that's all right. That's your business. And you
claim to love that God. But don't claim allegiance to
be true and living God. Because the true and living God
must be loved for who He is, not who you think He is. The
believer loves God. All things work together for
good to them who love God. And the believer truly loves
the living God. He loves God. I'll give you several
ways. First of all, he loves God as
sovereign. When Job went through all of
his trials and difficulties, and through all of these traumatic
experiences, and he was told by his wife to curse God and
die. Why don't you just curse God
and die? And he said, though He slay me, I'll trust Him, I'll
love Him. And he said to another group,
he said, the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all of this, Job did not charge
God with foolishness. He loved God. He loved God. He loved God as sovereign. Whatever
God did, Job loved Him for it. Now that's the true and living
God. He's loved for who He is. If
you can't love God as a sovereign God, then you can't love the
living God because He's sovereign. If you can't love God, who does
as He will, when He will, with whom He will, then you can't
love the God of the Bible. You love a God of your imagination,
but not the God of the Bible. He's got to be loved for who
He is, because He changes not. He's not one thing to one person
and something else to someone else. He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And you love Him for who He is.
Secondly, the believer loves God not only as sovereign, but
as Creator. As Creator, John 1 says, in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. No evolutionist
can love God. He may love a god, he may love
an idol, but he can't love the living God, because the living
God, it says, by Him were all things created that are in heaven,
that are on earth, Visible and invisible. He's before all things. By Him all things consist. That's
the living God. And if you can't love Him as
He's revealed in His person, and in His attributes, and in
His true character, then you don't love God. And then thirdly,
the believer loves God as King of Providence. Total King of
Providence. I like Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel
2, verse 6. This is the way Hannah prayed.
She said, The Lord killeth, and the Lord maketh alive. The Lord
bringeth down to the grave, and the Lord bringeth up. The Lord
maketh poor, and the Lord maketh rich. He bringeth low, and he
lifteth up. Praise the Lord. Now that's loving
God for who He is. Whatever He does. Eli said this
when he received the message from God's prophet. that God
would destroy his family. He said, it is the Lord, let
him do what he will. There's a man who loves God because
God's going to do as he will. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants of this earth.
He giveth account to none of his creatures. None can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? You say, that's not
my God, that's my devil. Okay, have it like you will.
That's the God of the Bible. He creates good and evil. He
creates light and darkness. Man's days are numbered. They're
in his hands. A number of his months are with
the Lord. He cannot pass. His bounds are set. That's the
God of the Bible. You say, that God's a monster.
Then get ready to meet a monster at the judgment, because that's
the God of judgment. That's the God of the Bible.
You see, man reveals his hatred when God reveals himself. He
loves his God. He loves what he thinks God's
like. He loves what he wants God to be like. He loves what
his preacher says God's like. He will not bow to what God says
about himself. And therefore he hates God. He
hates God. And listen to this. The scripture
says this, that the believer loves God incarnate in Christ. That's right. Incarnate. Thomas
fell at the feet of Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth.
And he looked up into his face and he said, My Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. Peter said
this, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
I love thee. And the scripture says, If any
man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. And my friends,
I know there are a lot of folks around who say, well, I believe
in God, but I don't believe in Jesus. I believe in God, but
I don't believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in God, but I don't
believe that Jesus Christ is God at all. You can't know God,
you can't love God. No man has seen the Father at
any time save the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him.
And if you don't love the image, Christ is the image of God. The
very image of God. If you don't love Him who reveals
God, then you don't love God, because God revealed in Christ.
Show us the Father, the disciples said. Christ said, He that has
seen me has seen the Father. Do you love Christ? You've got
to love Christ if you love God, because God is in Christ. Now
here's the conditions. All things, we know all things
work together for good. To whom? For whom? To them that
love God. Not a God, some God, or any God,
or an idol God, or a presumed God, or a traditional God, or
a religious God, or a denominational God, or your God, but God. The Lord our God's one God. Better
find out who He is. You may not love Him. Better
find out what He says about Himself. You may be one of those that
says, Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice? That's what Pharaoh
said. The second conditions are these. All things work together for
good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose, called by his Spirit, called by his Word, he
that heareth the Word, and believeth on him that sent me, called by
his Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, called
out of darkness, out of the darkness of unbelief, into the light of
illumination and enlightenment and revelation, Call to repentance
toward God. Call to faith in Jesus Christ. Call with a holy calling. Call
of God. Read the following verses. Now
listen to this. All things work together for
good to them who love God, as He's revealed in His Word in
His Son. And they are be called according
to His purpose. Now listen to the rest of that.
For whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He, Christ, might be the firstborn
among many brethren. And whom He did predestinate,
He called. He called. And whom He called,
He justified, and whom He justified, He glorified. Now, friends, there
is a general call that is heard by all men. Yes, sir, God has
not left Himself without a witness. Every human being born into this
world in some way has an encounter with God. That's right. Every
human being born into this world, he's one with whom we have to
do. And an encounter is there. Here's
the first way. The heavens declare the glory
of God. Their voice is heard in every
language. There isn't any man anywhere except blind people
who haven't seen the sun and the moon and the stars. and the
heavens and the things that are made. That's right. God's glory
is revealed in the heavens. And secondly, God's glory is
revealed in the things that are made. Creation. How wonderfully
David said, I'm made. Everything about us says, God
made this. Oh, it's so amazing and so great
and so wonderful, the things that God has made. And then every
man is born with a conscience. I don't care who he is. The law
of God is written on the conscience of every human being. There isn't
a human being that at some time in his life has not realized
something's wrong. By whose standards? Who gave
him the standard of right and wrong? God did. He wrote it on
his heart. The law of God's written on the
heart. And then the preached word. So the scripture says we
are without excuse. We have not walked in the light
that God's given us, the light of creation. The light of heaven's
glories, the light of conscience, the right light of the law, the
light of the preached word, that's a general call. Heard by all
men and heeded by none. But there is, this scripture's
talking about an effectual. You say, what's that word mean?
It means it gets the job done. Christ said, my sheep will hear
my voice and they will come unto me and they will follow me. Call
of God. Call by power. Call by Spirit. Call by His Word. Call to faith
in Jesus Christ. That's right. We're born of His
Spirit. Paul said, God separated me from
my mother's womb and called me, called me by His grace. He that
heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me. These are
the conditions of the promise. You hear them? And we know that
all things work together for good to them who love God. to them who are the call. Has
he called you through his word? If he has, you've heard, and
you've responded." Now, here's the promise. Quote it. Can you quote it? And we know.
That's the way it starts. And we know. How do we know?
How do we know? Well, here's the way we know
it. That promise is based on the Word of God. We know it because
God said so. We believe it because God Almighty
has declared it. Just like Job said, I know that
my Redeemer liveth. Like Paul said, I know whom I
have believed. John said, we know we've passed
from death unto life. It's something we know. How do
we know it? Did we dream it? Was it just handed down from
father to son? No, sir. We have the authority
of His blessed Word. This is what God has said. What
I've been trying to preach this morning, I've authenticated it
by the Word of God. I've proven it by the Scriptures.
I've made a statement. I said, this is what the Bible
says. And that's the reason we know. What do we know? We know
that all things... What are all things? Well, some say that's
Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Exactly. It is Father, Son, Holy
Spirit. Because God certainly does His
will in all things, and He's the first cause of all things.
Some say, well, this is all things as in the following verses. What
shall we say to these things? God's foreknowledge, God's predestination,
God's election, God's calling, God's justification. Well, that's
true. If God be for us, who can be against us? Some say, well,
that means all things in birth, life, and death, every minute
detail of a believer's life, whether it be good or bad, whether
it be painful or joyful, whether it be sorrow or happiness, whether
it be success or failure, whether it be disease or death, all things,
yes, sir, all things. That means Father, Son, Holy
Spirit. That means all things in heaven and on earth. That
means all things as far as the Scripture is concerned and the
Word of God is concerned, that means all things that happen
in my life from the day I was born till the day I die will
work together. What do you mean work together?
Well, I'm saying this, nothing in God's providence works separately
from God's purpose. All of these things work together.
They don't work separately, they work together. Too much sorrow
would lead me to despair. Too much joy would intoxicate
me. Too much success would exalt me. Too much failure would discourage
me. So all these things in God's
good providence work together. God knows just how much of what
to bring to me for my good. Now the word good. There are
several uses of the word good, but this word here is not material
good, contrary to what most of the TV preachers are telling
you. Some of God's people are poor. They're materially poor.
They don't have much. John Bunyan was one. I could
name you thousands of others. And some of you are listening
to me. And you say, well, I must not have much faith because I
don't have much material possession. Don't pay attention to that foolishness.
That's all it is, a pack of foolishness. And we're not talking about physical
goods. Some of God's people are sick. Some of God's people have
pain. All of God's people will eventually
die. Some of God's people suffer. We're not talking about temporal
goods. We're not in the fashion of this world or pass away. What
would it profit me if I gained the whole world and lose my soul?
We're talking about a two-fold good. All things work together
for good. The spiritual good, growth and
grace, and the eternal good and glory of His people. Everything
that God Almighty does, everything that God purposes, everything
that God in providence brings to pass in my life, past, present
and future, good and bad, everything, because we love God, because
we are called according to His purpose, work together for our
spiritual good, growth and grace, and our eternal good, we're going
to be like Christ. I have two messages on this tape.
That one, just preached, and this one on the righteousness
of God. If you want a tape, you take
a two-dollar donation. You have to have it. That's what
it costs to make them. Two sermons on one tape. Write
to me. We'll mail it to you. Until next
week at 11 o'clock, God bless you, everyone.