In the newspapers this week, there were a number of headlines for stories which are fairly indicative of the current situation of our world and communities: “Deadly shooting spree on Penn State campus” — “Bodies of local victims of TWA crash still missing” — “Plastic surgeon accused of altering major drug dealer's appearance” — “Perry takes blame over Saudi blast” — “In Mexico, mob justice thrives” — “Robbers kill teen who wouldn't give up jacket” — “Judge throws out evidence in drug case” — “Auto throws girl, grandfather to deaths.” All of these stories have, as a common thread, the evil news about what is happening everywhere. It is enough to make you want to throw up your hands and say, “Who's in charge? Is anyone really in charge?”
Our text says that God is in charge. This passage in Romans reveals that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” And, as Christians, we are asked to believe that. In fact, Romans 8:28 is probably the most indirectly quoted Scripture in all of the Bible. It is generally paraphrased to go something like this: “Everything will work out in the end.” But can you believe that? Look at all that is going on around us. Look at your own situation for a moment. What about the things going on in your life and in the lives of those close to you? What about that child who is in trouble? Is that good? What about that debilitating disease? Is that good? What about that divorce? Is that good? What about that forced termination? Is that good? Are these things good? And does the combined sum-total of all of those things equal something good? Are all things really working together for good? Some things appear about as good as thinking that it was good that you were only run down by a Winnabago rather than a Mack Truck.
It is important to understand that this is NOT what our text says. We will see this as we look into our text. But if you will examine what it does say, you will find one of the most positive statements in all of the Bible about what God is doing in the midst of even the most terrible situations in life. Let's look at several characteristics of God's work in us.
The first thing we need to see is God's sovereign promise to us as believers. Look at verse 28:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
It is important for us to understand that what our text is not saying is that “all things are good,” or that “the sum-total of all things is good.” In the KJV, it says, “All things work together for good.” But, a better rendering of that Scripture is the New American Standard Bible, “God causes all things to work together for good.” And perhaps the best rendering is that of the New International Version where it says that “in all things God works for the good.” All things are not good. And the sum-total of all things is not good. Some things are just evil, perpetrated on Christians and lost humanity by Satan himself, and in no way can be construed as a good thing. What about the parent who loses a child in a tragic accident? How is that good in and of itself? It is not. And that is not what our Scripture says.
What it does say is that “in all things God works for the good” — not that all things are good, but that God causes them to work together for good. In fact, God is at work in all things, whether they are good or evil, to bring about His good purpose in our lives. God is at work! That is the underlying principle of verse 28. God is at work in our lives. God is causing those events to shape our lives for His purpose as we turn to Him in the midst of them.
Notice the condition. It says that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” People who do not know Jesus Christ, who do not know God, who have not entered into a personal relationship with Him, are in a downward spiral of despair. They have no hope. They have no one to turn to. Life seems futile at times, simply not worth living. And how can it be, if all you are is a pawn in some great chess game that you do not even understand? You do not understand why things are happening to you. You do not understand what is going on. You feel helpless.
But for the Christian, we do not have to despair, because there is hope. We are not helpless. We have someone on whom we can unload our problems. We have someone who cares for us. God is there. God is at work to bring about His purpose in your life. The hope for us is not that we will escape all evil. The hope for us is that we have a God who is able, even in the midst of the most trying circumstances we face, to show us the way through and to help us to live victoriously in the midst of hard situations. If we will look to what He is trying to say to us in the midst of those circumstances, we might even find that even the hardest of those circumstances are used by Him to mature us and to bring us to a place of ministry.
The condition is, firstly, that we love God. I am thankful that the condition is not that we have attained a certain intellectual status or a certain theological understanding or a certain level of holiness and perfection in our lives. I am very imperfect, as you probably well know. And so are you. We are all imperfect. I thank God that the condition is not a certain level of sinlessness in our lives, for we would all fail. We must simply love God.
That is what I desire for this church. That is what I am trying to develop among believers — people who love Jesus Christ with all their hearts; not people who are right and know they are right. You can be dead right. I remember Vance Havner saying once, “You can be straight as a gun-barrel theologically and as empty as a gun-barrel spiritually.” What I am after is not simply theological orthodoxy, though it is important. What I am after are people who love the Lord Jesus with all their hearts. Because if you love God passionately, then God can work in your life. If you love God more than you love your life, if you love God more than you love your possessions, if you love God more than you love any other thing, then when God speaks to your heart, you will obey. That is precisely where God wants us. If we love God with all of our hearts, then in the midst of the difficult situation we will turn to Him, and He will lead us through that situation. That is His sovereign promise to us.
Let's also look at His eternal purpose for us as believers. It says in the latter part of verse 28 that we have been “called according to His purpose.” What is that eternal purpose He is working out? In verse 29, it says,
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
God has a plan for your life. Did you know that? It is amazing how many people really do not understand that when they are called into the kingdom, God has a specific plan He wants to implement in their lives. Unfortunately, many people have what I call a “Middle-class Christian commitment.” They come to Christ, they attend a church, they ask Christ to forgive them of their sins, but they do not think muct about what God wants to do in their lives.
What does God have for me to do in His kingdom? God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, and it is not to retire. He has a ministry for every one of us. You all know that you are ministers, don't you? Every Christian is a minister. You are not all called to be pastors, or teachers, or evangelists, but you are all called into ministry. You are all called with God's purpose in mind.
So you must ask yourself how you should be serving right here in the local expression of Christ's Church? God has something for you. He has a plan for your life, which will serve to advance the eternal purposes for which God has called His Church into existence. You are a part of it — a valuable part.
But not only does God have an individual plan for each of us, He has an ultimate plan which is the same for all of us. In verse 29 we are told that we are “predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” God's calling for every Christian is that they would become conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. In other words, God is about the business of making us like Christ. In our nature, we are to be like Christ. In our character, we are to be like Christ. In our work, we are to be like Christ. In our attitudes, we are to be like Christ. In our responses to the environment around us, we are to be like Christ. In our priorities, we are to be like Christ. God is calling a people to be like His Son, Jesus Christ. And He is calling every Christian with that calling. That is the ultimate purpose for every Christian. That is what God is doing in your life.
If you wonder what the buffetings you encounter are serving to produce in you, it is found here in verse 29 — conformity to Christ. God is molding you. He is changing you. He is working in your life. And then you look back over your shoulder at that hard place that you could not understand when you were going through it, and you see that God used that hard place to build in you the character of Christ. Then and only then can you rejoice that you went through the hard times.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (8:30)
There is a providential process that He is taking us through as believers. Five undeniable affirmations are made in these verses. Look at what they are.
The first is that God foreknew us. It is not my intention to get into some kind of dry theological discussion about predestination. Foreknowledge does not have so much to do with predestination as it has to do with God knowing about our existence in the universe, and knowing us individually by name. Before the foundation of this world, God knew that you were to be. Before time began, God had you in His heart.
It says, “those God foreknew he also predestined.” God predestined us. Predestination, in this passage of Scripture, does not have so much to do with God's sovereign choosing of an elect people as is has to do with God's purpose in choosing them. He predestined us, not simply to heaven or to hell, He predestined us to become conformed to the likeness of His Son. This predestination has in view what God is going to do in our lives, not simply our destination. He predestined every one of us that we might be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, that our natures might be changed, and that we might become spiritual men and women.
He foreknew us, He predestined us, and then God called us. Perhaps, right now, that sovereign call is going forth to some of you. Perhaps you have never heard or responded to that call. Some of you may have been in church all of your life but never heard or responded to the call of God to commit your lives to Jesus Christ. That call may be issued to you before this message is over. In fact, it may be going forth, even as I speak, for you to make a commitment today to give your life to Christ. You have the privilege of responding to that call.
There was a man who gave a testimony in one of D. L. Moody's meetings, about God's sovereign call in his life, and how God had done all the work. God had pursued him, God had called him, God had brought him into the family. He gave a glowing testimony of God's salvation in his life and how it was all God's work. After he stepped down, one doctrinally oriented person came to him rather concerned that he had never said anything about man's responsibility in responding to the call of Christ. He said, “Brother, you have shared a wonderful testimony, but you forgot to tell about man's responsibility, your action, and how you were involved in this process.” He said, “Oh, I'm sorry, brother, my part was running away and God's part was running after me.”
That is really the truth. I find that though I thought I had decided for Christ, in fact, Christ had decided for me. Though I thought I accepted His sovereign call, after I really accepted it, I found that He had set me up along the way — that He had actually manipulated my circumstances to bring me to Christ. When you find that all is said and done, you will see that God has found you. God pursued you. God called you. God saved you. God is at work in our lives.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified. God justified us. That, of course, is what we have been talking about through the book of Romans; about how God, because of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross, has justified every one of us who come to Him. We are now free from the guilt of sin, the penalty of sin, and even the power of sin in our lives, through the great work of Christ.
Then he speaks of the future as if it were the past. He says, “those he justified, he also glorified.” God glorified us. He speaks of it as a past occurrence, when, in fact, it is yet to be. That is exciting to me because I know if God sees it already done, He is going to be faithful to make sure it happens in my life. God's salvation is dependent upon Him. He who called us, who justified us, will glorify us. He will not let us fall from His hand. He will make sure that we are glorified in heaven. It is God's work, not ours. This is what our passage unmistakably says. If we are struggling in the hard times, God knows our struggle and He is working in those hard times to bring us to maturity in Christ. All we need to do is yield to His working, trust in His sovereign hand, and He will see to it that we are brought into that perfect plan He has for us.
You haven't caught God by surprise in any of your circumstances in life. God knows where you are, and He knows what you need. You might be surprised by just how much you are precisely where He wants you to be in this process of becoming like Christ. Yield to Him. Trust in His sovereign hand. Trust that He, who created all that we see, knows how to deal with your life. Let Him do it. He is in charge. No matter what the newspapers say, no matter what the circumstances are, He is in charge. God is at His best when things are at their worst. You can trust in Him.
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