Let's turn in our Bibles today
to Romans. Romans chapter 8. I want to begin my reading today
in verse number 18. Romans 8 and verse 18 and we
will read to the end of the chapter. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation
of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope. because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved in hope,
but hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth, wanteth
he yet hope for. But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, But the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
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 justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? 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 accounted 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. My text this morning is verse
28. For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. There are many promises, many
wonderful promises in the Word of God that God has given to
His children, but there's no promise more comforting than
this promise in our text today. For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Now, my prayer today is that
God the Holy Spirit will bless each and every one of us as we
look at this text. And I want us to look at it in
this way, under five headings. I have a few words to say upon
each one of these headings. The first, A few words about
the word purpose in this text. You notice the last word in the
text, the word purpose, who are called according to his purpose. Let me say a few words about
this word, purpose. The first thing, the main thing
is God is a God of purpose. Only a fool would deny this. Knowing that God is omniscient,
he's omnipresent, he's omnipotent, he changes not. Knowing all of
these wonderful truths, that's just a few of the wonderful truths
that we know about God, how could anyone believe that God is not
a God of purpose? He's declared this about himself. For instance, in Isaiah chapter
14 and verse 24, listen to these words of the Lord. The Lord of
hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall
it stand. God is a God of purpose. God saves sinners on purpose. If you're saved this morning,
God purposed to save you. He purposed your salvation from
before the foundation of the world. Each and every person
who is born again, born into the family of God, are born because
God has purposed their salvation. Men are not saved by chance.
Men are not saved by happenstances. Men are certainly not saved by
luck. There is no such thing. Men and
women, those who are saved, are saved on purpose, God's purpose. I want you to keep your place
here, but look with me in 1 Thessalonians just a moment. And like I said,
I have just a few words on each of these five headings, but 1
Thessalonians chapter 5, and I just remind us before we
begin reading in verse 4, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, beginning with verse
4, that Paul is writing to believers. He's writing to men and women
that God purposed to save. And they've experienced God's
saving grace and conversion. They believed in Christ. And
he's dealing with the subject of our Lord's second return,
because he is going to come again. So with that in mind, beginning
in verse 4, the apostle says, But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day, that is the day of our Lord's return,
His second coming, you're not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in
the night. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an
helmet the hope of salvation. Now notice, for God hath not
appointed us to wrath. There's a day of wrath that is
coming, the day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again.
The scripture says, in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon those
who obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's a day of wrath
coming, but God, now he's writing to believers, God has not appointed
us unto wrath, but he has appointed I just put that in. He has not
appointed those who are saved to wrath, but He has appointed
those who are saved to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us. Now, notice these three things. Those who are saved are appointed
to salvation. In other words, God purposed
their salvation. Those who are saved are saved
by Jesus Christ. There's no other way. There's
no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. And those who are appointed to
be saved by Jesus Christ are saved by His death, by His sacrifice,
by Him paying the sin debt that all of us by nature owe to God,
and yet none of us are able to pay that debt. He sent His Son,
His only begotten Son into this world, who became a man. that
he might bleed and die to satisfy God's justice on behalf of those
he appointed to salvation. Men are saved on purpose. Here's the second heading if
you turn back to our text this morning. A few words about those to whom
the promise pertains. A few words about those to whom
the promise pertains, to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. The promise, this wonderful promise,
it pertains to them who are the called, those who love God and
are called according to His purpose. We live in a day, and it's sad,
but it's true, when there's so much religion in this country,
that scripture verses are just thrown about like garbage paper,
and everybody thinks it applies to them. This promise, this wonderful
promise, for we know that all things work together for good,
to whom? To them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. on the day of Pentecost, the
Apostle Peter preaching. And part of his message, he said,
the promise. Now he's preaching to a large
group of people and he says, the promise is unto you and to
your children and to all that are far off. And that was the
Gentiles. We were far off. His brother
Richardson used to say, how far off were we? We were so far off
we couldn't come back. He had to come get us. We were
far off. Peter says, the promise is unto
you and unto your children and to all that are far off. Now
listen, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, as many as. the Lord our God shall call. Now what promise did he have
reference to when Peter made that statement? Well, he's quoting
from an Old Testament prophet, the prophet Joel. And Joel prophesied
of this day that was coming when God would pour out of his spirit
upon all flesh that whosoever Jew or Gentile Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the promise. To as many as the Lord our God
shall call. Here's the promise. Whosoever. And I love that word, whosoever.
Someone recently I heard preaching You know, with computers and
all, you can search things quickly, and he typed his name in to some
search, and lo and behold, there was a whole lot more that had
the same name he had. And that just goes back to emphasize
this word, whosoever. If your name was written here
in the scripture instead of whosoever, then you would say, he cannot
be speaking of me. There's another Joe Blow over
here. No, whosoever, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call upon him in whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? So God has sent Peter on the
day of Pentecost and the other apostles and men down through
the ages to preach the gospel. And as many as the Lord our God
shall call, this promise is unto you. For we know that all things
work together for good to them who love God, to those who are
the called according to his purpose. Peter. You may want to turn to
this verse, back over to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. And again, he's
writing to believers. And he says this to them, 1 Peter
chapter 2 and verse 9. But you are a chosen generation. A royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar, or as it says in the margin, a purchased people
that you should show forth the praises of him who have called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. When we come
into this world, and there's no difference, we all are born
into this world fallen sons and daughters of Adam, we are darkness. We are darkness. We're not only
in the darkness, we are darkness. And we can't see. Our Lord said,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We are called out of darkness
because by nature we cannot see the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. We cannot see how it is that
in the face, in the person of Jesus Christ, we may be saved. For the glory of God, we can't
see that. And all of us are born blind,
and in our blindness, in the darkness, we all come into this
world with this in common. We think there's something we
can do. There's something we can do to
earn God's favor. It may be by joining a church.
It may be by being baptized. It may be by taking a pilgrimage,
walking on your knees, crawling on your knees up to some shrine.
It may be walking on coals of fire. But everyone, when we come into
this world, we are in darkness and we cannot see the glory of
God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can't understand that, how
it is that God may be just and justify the ungodly. We think
surely we've got to do our part. There's something we can do.
But when God calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light,
then we see it's all by grace and grace alone. We don't contribute
anything. And we certainly do not merit
grace. Once anything's merited, it's
earned. It's paid for. What we earn is
death. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ who gave
himself for us. Have you been called out of darkness?
Are you still trying to earn God's favor? Still trying to
do something to merit God's salvation? When God calls a person out of
darkness into his marvelous light, You come to see the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. That a person is complete in
Him, accepted in the Beloved for who He is and for what He's
done. And that's the place of rest,
isn't it? That's the place of rest when
God brings you out of darkness. into His marvelous light. Now back to our text. The third
heading, a few words as to why this promise is needed by those
who love God and are the called according to His purpose. A few words as to why this promise
is needed. Those who love God and are called
according to His purpose have three very real enemies. Three very real enemies. The flesh. The flesh, the world,
and Satan. And these three enemies all conspire
against the child of God. Those who love God and are called
according to His purpose. They all conspire against us,
and they use many devices. They have a number of devices.
And one device, which is often used, is to at least insinuate,
insinuate into your mind, if you really did love God, and
you really were called according to His purpose, you wouldn't
even need this promise. You wouldn't need this promise
because you would not have any problems. You would not have
any trials. You would never have any difficulties
in this life. If you really did love God, how
many, I won't ask for a show of hands, but people used to
say, didn't pay the preacher. People used to think, you know,
if the refrigerator went out on them, you know, didn't pay
the preacher. They had a bad year, their crops went bad and
didn't pay the preacher. In other words, people thought
that if you were saved and living right, you would never have any
trouble. And they always said, pay the
preacher, you know, whatever. But the truth of the matter is,
God's children need this promise because we do We do all experience
the oppression of Satan, tribulation in this world, and we're always
burdened with the lust of our flesh. We need this promise. Think of the many examples of
God's people in the word of God that we are given. I thought
about Jacob. Now Jacob was one of the patriarchs,
grandson of Abraham. Loved of God. And God condescends. Think about this. Jacob, he was
a surplanner. That was his name. He always
had some way to work something to his own benefit, you know.
But God loved him and God saved him. And God even refers to himself,
now think about this, the God of Jacob. Would God ever refer to you the
God of Kenneth Streeter? The God of Bill Parker? He called himself the God of
Jacob. Here, this man, I mean, he was a scoundrel, wasn't he?
Everything we know about him, he was a scoundrel. But God loved
him and God saved him. And yes, he was one to whom this
promise, although it was not given when he was here upon the
earth, but it was true of him, of Jacob. All things work together
for your good, Jacob, you who have been called, you who love
God and have been called according to my purpose. And yet Jacob,
at one time in his life, he came to the place where he said, all
these things are against me. Where the promise says, all things
work together for good, Jacob said, no, all these things are
against me. And what was he talking about?
Things, these things. He was talking about God's providence. The things that he experienced
in this life. God's providences. All these
things are against me. And then think about the writer
of the psalm, Psalm 73. He confessed that at one point,
when he wrote the psalm, at one point he said, I was envious
of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. What
he is saying is, I love God, I'm trying to serve God, I'm
trying to live for God and honor God, and I see these people out
here that have no interest in God, no concern for God, God's
honor, and it seems like they are the people who are prospering.
There's no problems in their lives. There's no bans in their
deaths. Look at me. Look at me. I was envious. at the prosperity
of the wicked. And then later in the psalm,
he said, I saw God's people having waters, waters of a full cup
are wrung out to them. And what he meant by that is
when he saw the wicked, it seemed like their cup just had a few
tears in it, a little water in it. But the believers, the saints
of God, their cup was full of tears, of waters. And let me say this, his recovery
came when he went into the sanctuary of God. That's another reason
why we need to be faithful in the services, to come together,
to fellowship, to hear the word of God, to praise God. We just
need to be in the sanctuary among God's people. First thing, when
you come here and you're downcast and your things are going bad,
you look around, you see there's someone over there. Their situation's a whole lot
worse than mine. Here I am feeling sorry for myself. We need this. What I'm saying
is this is a promise that God's children need. Think about Elijah,
that man of God who was used, facing off those false prophets
of Baal. And yet it wasn't long after
that, within just a few hours, I believe it was, a few days
at the most, when he was praying and asking God to take his life. Yes. This is a promise that is
needed by those who love God and who are called according
to his promise. Now fourth, a few words as to
the wideness the wideness of this promise. We are tempted
when we read this to think, well, that can't mean all things. That
can't be all inclusive, that all things work together for
good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. Oh yes, it does mean that. That's
exactly what it means. All things work together for
good to them that love God. There are four things that those
of us who are given this promise need to recognize, need to remember. First of all, I must recognize
that only God knows what will work together for my good. He's the only one who knows.
I don't know. What I might think is good might
be the worst thing that could possibly happen to me. I must
recognize this, that only God who is omniscient, he's the only
one who knows what will work together for my good. No one else does. Children, think
about this, children who are given everything they desire
are usually children no one wants to be around. spoiled, in other
words. God gives children to parents
and parents make decisions, right decisions, the best decisions
that they can because of their love for their children. They
don't allow their children to make the decisions for themselves.
They know what is best for their children. Now, if fallible man
knows that and practices that, how much more God Almighty, who
is omniscient, who knows everything, knows the end from the beginning. I must recognize this, that only
God knows what is best to work together for my good. Number
two, I must recognize that this is true because God says it. That's it. We walk by faith and
not by sight. I don't, I may not know this
by experience. I must recognize this and believe
this because God says it's so. All things work together for
good to them who love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. John Flaval, one of the Puritans,
I believe he lived in the 1600s, but he wrote a book that has
been separated from his volumes and printed as a small volume,
and it's called The Mystery of Providence. And if you've never
read that, if you can get your hands on it, buy it and read
it, it'll be a great blessing to you. But he said, in the life
of Joseph, there's 12 steps to his exaltation. Now I've never
taken the time to read through that and try to figure out the
12 steps. But think of this, Joseph is
born into the family of Jacob and God's purpose is that he
be exalted to the throne of Egypt to sustain the family of the
Israelites, to give them food. And he said, there's 12 steps
along the way. And I thought about some of these
steps and not one of them would I believe that Joseph at the
time thought was good. First of all, he was hated of
his brethren. Nobody likes to be hated. We
all like to be liked, don't we? We really do. He was hated of
his brethren. He was thrown into a pit. No
one likes that. He was sold as a slave. No one likes that. He was bought
by a man and taken into his house and his wife falsely accused
him. No one likes that. He was put
in prison. No one wants to go to prison.
And in prison he was forgotten. by someone he helped. All of
these steps, working by themselves, not so good, but all of them
working together for good to fulfill God's purpose, Joseph,
Prime Minister of Egypt. We must recognize that, that
we walk by faith and not by sight. And when you see what God has
predestinated, I said, Joseph born into the family, he's predestinated. He's predestinated to be the
ruler of Egypt. You're born into this world and
you, if you're one of his children, were predestinated to be made
conformed to the image of Christ. And there's many steps along
the way, no doubt. God's providence, they're all
working together for good. I must believe that because God
declares it. Number three, I must recognize
that God the Holy Spirit makes intercession for me according
to His will. Have you ever noticed, I just
noticed this recently, that's one of the wonderful things about
the Word of God, it's as old The youngest part of it's, what,
2,000 years old, but I tell you, it's fresh every day. It's new and it speaks. And I
just realized the verse before this wonderful promise, look
what Paul says in verse 27. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he that is God
the Holy Spirit, he makes intercession for the saints, and according
to the will of God, and we know. Have you ever noticed that? How
that God, the Holy Spirit, we've noticed He makes intercession
for us as God the Son does at the Father's right hand. But
the Holy Spirit, He makes intercession for us, Paul says, according
to the will of God. Well. And 1 John, we're told,
we have this confidence that if we ask anything according
to His will, He heareth us. And if He heareth us, we know
that we have it. Well, if God hears us, when we
ask according to His will, He hears God the Holy Spirit. If
I can use that terminology, I know they're one. But He makes intercession
for us according to the will of God. His will, it will be
accomplished because He's God, and it will be for the good of
His people. And fourth, I must recognize
that God has already proven His love to me in such a way that
I can never question it. Verse 32, I can never question
it. He that spared not his own son. This is Father's Day, and I just
thought of this, but there's not a father in here who would
spare one of your children. for anyone, but especially for
men and women that God gave his son to save. Sinners. He's already proven his love
to me. I cannot question that. How shall
he not also? How shall he not with him also
freely? I like that word freely. That's just another word for
grace. Grace. Freedom. When they both had nothing
to pay, He frankly forgave them both. One owed 50 pence, one
owed 500 pence in our Lord's parable. Didn't matter great
difference, but they didn't have anything to pay, either one of
them. He frankly, He freely forgave them all. He freely shall give
us all things. And here's the fifth, the last
thing, a few words as to the Christian's duty in light of
this promise. Number one, we must be careful
not to forget God's tender and gracious care thus far. Some of us here today are past
that time. I don't know why people think
70 years, God's promised you 70 years. That's not true. The
Bible never says that. He hadn't promised anybody another
day. But some of us in here today
have gone on past 70, getting closer to 80. Some have even
gone over that. But all of our life, God has
provided for us, all of our lives. I've been on several diets in
my life, always to lose weight, never to gain weight. God has
always provided, always. We must not forget that. And
we must not, number two, forget, as he has done in the past, so
shall he do in the future. I used to have a pastor friend.
He made a statement something like this. He said, God would
sooner starve the angel Gabriel than starve one of his children.
That's true. He will provide for us. And number three. Be careful. We must learn to be careful not
to murmur or complain when new afflictions come upon us. It's
just something in God's order that will work together for our
good. We must learn not to murmur.
You know, murmuring is a wicked sin. You know, most of us, we're
just trained to think of certain categories of sin as being the
most wicked. And when you read the Word of
God, you find the ones that most people think nothing about are
some of the most wicked sins men commit. And murmuring and
complaining is one of them. It got the children of Israel
in a lot of trouble when they were coming out of Egypt. Always
murmuring, always complaining. And lastly, be careful not to
neglect prayer. After all, this is part, prayer
is part of the all things that work together for good to those
who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Well, I just see I missed something.
What about sin? All things, what about sin? Well, this promise, I said, is
all-inclusive. All things. So, will anyone then
say, let us do evil, let us sin, that good may come? Paul answered
that question, didn't he? When he said, God forbid. The thief, one of the thieves
that our Lord saved that day who was being crucified, you
remember our Lord said, to him today. Now he started off like
the other thief, both of them were blaspheming, both of them
were accusing Christ and God had mercy on one and Christ said
to him, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Would anyone
think that that man who heard that, who said, well praise God
today, I'm going to be in paradise. I'm going to be in glory with
the Lord. Now I'll just take my field of
blaspheming Christ again. Spend what little time I have
left sinning against Christ. Oh no, no. Along with his forgiveness
goes that sanctifying spirit, doesn't it? He didn't desire
to blaspheme anymore. No, sin is included here. But let me say this, sin is natural
to man. To make it work for good is the
supernatural power of God. I can't explain it, wouldn't
try to. I hear an advertisement on the
television quite often for a product that is supposed to help your
memory, a memory loss product. And the thing that's caught my
attention is it's made from something extracted from a jellyfish. And I think to myself, if puny
man, have you ever seen a jellyfish? If puny man can get something
out of a jellyfish and figure out how he can mix that with
whatever else he puts in there and it's going to help a man's
memory, if a man can do that, I know God can make all things
work together for good to them who love him and are called according
to his purpose. I pray God to bless this word.