The Promise of Security, Part 1
Romans 8:28
I want you to open your Bible, if you will, with me to Romans chapter 8 again. I appreciated the song sung earlier, obviously taken from the last part of Romans chapter 8, this great monumental portion of God's Word. One of the early fathers said, "If the whole of Scripture was a feast for the soul, Romans 8 would be the main dish." And that's really true, and particularly verse 28. The wonder of this blessed chapter is summarized in verse 28, and we come to that verse in our ongoing study of Romans. The verse is familiar to all of us. Let me read it to you in a way that maybe a little less familiar, but will bring to you the basic significance of the verse.
"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." That is a monumental statement. I don't exaggerate when I say to you that, without hesitation, I could preach on that one verse probably for three months. You say, "We know, we know."...But it's true; and this glorious verse prepares our hearts for the magnificent benediction that begins in verse 31 and runs to verse 39. That great unequal paean of praise, that hymn of glory that concludes this great chapter. Our hearts are prepared for that by the great significance of verse 28.
Now, remember that Paul has been giving us the truth of salvation, justification by grace through faith, with all of its features. He started really in chapter 3 verse 21, and chapter 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and now 8, and he's still talking about the great truth of salvation. In chapter 8, his major emphasis is on the security of salvation, the justification is eternal, that we are secure in Christ forever; and he gives to us the full facts about that security. He starts out in verse 1, as you know, with a promise of no condemnation. He concludes, as he begins his great hymn of praise in verse 34 by asking the question, "Who is he that condemeth?" And then answering it, "No one." So it is the no condemnation chapter. It is the promise that our salvation is eternal.
Now, what we've learned above all things in the eternality of our salvation is that it is secured to us by the marvelous ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who becomes the agent of our security, for it is He who has sealed us...And so, in another sense, we can say it is the chapter about the Holy Spirit. Combining the two, the chapter deals basically with security in the Spirit. We are secure in Christ. Our justification is forever, because of the marvelous working of the Holy Spirit. Because, first of all, verse 2 says the Holy Spirit "frees us from sin and death." Verse 4 says, "Because He enables us to fulfill the law." Verses 5 to 11, "Because He changes our nature." Verses 12 and 13, "He empowers us for continual victory." Verses 14 to 16, "He confirms our sonship," and verses 27...17 to 27, "He guarantees our glory."
So the Spirit then secures our eternal salvation by freeing us forever from sin and death, by enabling us to fulfill the law, changing our nature, empowering us for victory, confirming our adoption in...in this great, magnificent text of 17 to 27 we've just completed, He guarantees our glory....and we learned last time that the Spirit of God does this in verses 26 and 27 by praying for us, interceding for us in a divine language which knows no utterance; and "He that searches the hearts...that is God...knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to God's will."
And so we're secure because of all that the Spirit of God does for us...And because of that, listen, beloved, because of that, we know...that all things work together for what? For good. Say it. For good. It isn't just because God says so. It's because God said so, and the Spirit of God makes it so...
Now, this great text is a promise. It is the most glorious promise imaginable. I mean it's breathtaking, staggering, and it needs our close and careful attention. It is brief, but it is heavy laden with the gold of divine truth. It is so precious. It is so valuable that its price is absolutely incalculable. This one promise is absolutely unbelievable. You would never believe it to be true; and as we talk about it, you'll stagger your way through a comprehension of its vastness.
Now, I wanna share with you four elements of the promise of security in verse 28. The extent of it, the recipients of it, the source of it, and the certainty of it. Let's talk about the extent of our security. By the way, verse 28, really, in a way, sums up the whole chapter. It boils it down to one incredible promise; and I want you to see the extent of this promise. Now, listen. I'm gonna pull a phrase out. "All things work together for good." That's the extent. That's how far reaching our security is. That is a comforting statement. There could never be, in my mind, a more reassuring statement than that to a believer. There is nothing that I could imagine that could bring more hope and more joy and more trust and more confidence and more happiness and more freedom to a Christian than to know that, no matter what the pain, what the problem, what the trial, what the Tribulation, what the anxiety, it all works together for good.
It's a staggering thought. The extent of this thing is beyond our ability to grasp. It is comprehensive. The context, by the way, puts no limits on the all things. None. There are no confining factors. It doesn't say, "All suffering" or "All trouble" or "All good things" or "All righteousness." It says, "All things." It is unqualified in its comprehension. It's the same all things, for example, of 2 Corinthians 4:15, which says, "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God." It is the same all things in terms of Greek terminology, as 1 Corinthians 3:21. "For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollus or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come -- all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." It's just as unlimited as that.
And then look at Romans 8:32, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us...what?...all things?" Same all things. Yeah, all things...Whatever the extent of our life situation, whatever the extremity, whatever the difficulty, whatever... whatever the pain, the problem, the intensity, whatever the overwhelming character of our trouble, whatever, whatever, whatever it is, it all works together for good...
The word work together is an interesting word. It's the word sunargay. We get the word synergism from it. Synergism is to bring all things together for a common goal or purpose, function. Everything in life is brought in a marvelously divine synergism to come together to accomplish an ultimate end.
Thomas Watson, the wonderful Puritan, suggested that the term can refer to medicine; and he likened it to a person who was a pharmacist or an apothecary who would take several poisonous ingredients, put them together, temper by the skill that he had learned, and out of that would come medicine to heal the sick. And so it is that God can take all the various poisons, all the various good and bad things of life, and bring them together in a divine, medicinal synergism, and cause them to be for the ultimate healing and wholeness of the soul...
I love Psalm 25:10. It says, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep His covenant." That's wonderful. No matter what road you're on, no matter what path you take, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant." Now you say, "Are you telling me, John, that all things are in themselves good?" No, it doesn't say that. Doesn't say all things are in themselves good. It says, "All things...what?...work together for good." No, all things in themselves are not good. Many things are bad...but even those work together for good. Boy, that is just, in my heart, the greatest thrill imagined. Doesn't matter what happens. Doesn't matter what happens.
Now, what do we mean by good? What kinda good is this? Well, interestingly enough, it's a very important Greek word, agathon. We get Agatha from it, which is a name. Means goodness. Agathon basically means that which is morally or inherently good. That which is, in and of itself, good qualitatively. The other Greek word most common for good is kallas. Kallas means good on the outside. Nice to look at, and so on the one hand you have outward goodness. On the other, you have that inward goodness, and the word here is agathos, which is to say it is ultimately and intrinsically and morally good, not just superficially good.
In fact, the truth is, it may be superficially bad. On the surface, it may not look good at all; but, ultimately, there will be inherent in it good...So this is the truest kind of goodness. Paul chooses the right term. It is the purest, truest kind of goodness. Now lemme give you a thought. When he says, "All things work together for good," I think he has two things in mind. Good...now follow very carefully my thinking...good here and now, first of all; and good ultimately in glory, second of all.
Now what does that say? It says that no matter what happens in my life now, God will work it together in a divine synergism to produce something immediately, temporally, in this world for my benefit; and, more than that, it'll ultimately work together for my good. Did you grab that one? If every single thing you do in your life ultimately works out for your good, then what could ever cause you to lose your salvation? What? Nothing. Nothing, and that is why he launches off the way he does at the end of the chapter, because he has just been totally devastated in his own mind by the inspiration of the Spirit of God delivering to him such an incredible truth...It's just staggering.
"All things work together for good." God causes that to happen. Good, here and now. Good, ultimately in glory. Deuteronomy 8:16, God reminds the people of Israel of some things. He says, "Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint." Then verse 16, "who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might test thee, to do thee...ready for this?...good at thy latter end."
God dragged Israel through 40 years of destitution, 40 years of deprivation, 40 years of difficulty, 40 years of wandering to do them evil? To do them what? Good. To refine them. Everything ultimately comes together for the good of those who are the children of God. Listen to Jeremiah 24:5. I wanna show you this is not an isolated truth, isolated to Romans. Jeremiah 24:5, "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans...listen to this...for their good.'" For their good.
A refining process again, "For I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them and not pull them down. I will plant them and not pluck them up. I'll give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart." He sent 'em away for their good, for their good. Everything, even those things that appear to be evil, are for the good of the Lord's people.
Second Corinthians 4:15 we read earlier. Let me read it again and follow on with the succeeding verses. It says, "All things are for your sakes. Everything is. So because of this...verse 16 says...we faint not, for though our outward man perish, though we be in great difficulty outwardly, the inward man is renewed...what?...day by day." Now what do you...do you hear what that says? I mean our flesh, our humanness may be perishing. We may be in dire circumstances in our humanness; but inwardly, we are constantly being renewed, which is to say we never grow old. We never drift away. There's a constant renewal, and so we consider, then, that, "Our light affliction, which is only for a moment, is working for us a far greater and exceeding weight...eternal weight of glory."...
God makes everything good. Now, it isn't automatic. Go back to Romans 8. It is not automatic, doesn't just happen because God says so. It happens because the Holy Spirit is working it out. It happens because the Holy Spirit is constantly interceding on our behalf. Because the Son of God is constantly interceding as Hebrews says. Romans 8 deals with the Holy Spirit's intercession, and Hebrews 7 and other places deals with the intercession of the Son of God. It doesn't just happen because of the decree of God. That's where it's initiated, but it's carried out by the intercessory work of both the Holy Spirit and the Son Himself.
So through the yearning of the Holy Spirit in unutterable groaning, says he, carries our case, as it were, before the throne of the Father, as He comes in intercession on our behalf. Through His work, we are...put into the position where no matter what happens in our life, everything works together for good. And, beloved, that truth is so powerful. If everything works together for good, then nothing can work for our bad. Nothing can ultimately harm us. There can never be any condemnation. There can never be any loss of salvation, or that verse is a lie. You can't says all things, but that's what it says.
Now, what are we looking at in these all things? Just give you some simple thoughts, and you might wanna jot some of these down if you can. You might need to get the tape, 'cause they're gonna come pretty fast...Basically, first of all, just to touch base with this, good things work together for good. Good things work together for our good. We don't wanna miss that. There are good things working for our good...
What are those good things? Well, first of all, God, God. God works for our good. You think about His attributes, for example. God's power supports us in our trouble, doesn't it? The Bible says in Psalm...rather in Deuteronomy 33, "Underneath are the everlasting arms." And we know that Daniel, Jonah, three Hebrew children were supported by the power of God. We know the Apostle Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 12, I think it's verse 9, "My...strength is made perfect in...weakness." in other words, God does good to us. He infuses us with power. In Acts 1:8, He says, "You shall receive...what?...power after the Spirit has come upon you."
So good things like God's attributes. His wisdom is at our disposal. God's wonderful goodness. In...in Romans 2, we read where it said, "The goodness of God leads thee to repentance." So good things work out for our good. The good leading of God, the good wisdom of God, the good power of God on our behalf.
We can talk about the promises of God. They're good things. When guilt comes to us, we are reminded of the promise that the Lord is merciful and gracious. When disobedience comes, we remind ourselves of Hosea 14:4, where God says, "I will heal their backsliding." Or Micah 7:18, which says, "Who is a pardoning God like Thee...who passes by transgressions?" When trouble comes, we remember Psalm 91:15, "I will be with thee in trouble." When deprivation comes or want, we remember Philippians 4:19, "My God shall...what?...supply all your needs." Or Psalm 37:25, "I have not seen God's people, the righteous, forsaken or His Seed begging bread." So we can count on God's attributes. We can count on God's promises. Those are good things that work for our good.
Another thing is the Word of God. The Bible works for our good. It's part of the all things in its comprehensive sense. Acts 20:32 says, "Paul commended the Ephesian elders to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified." The Word of God is a source of goodness. Prayer is also a source of goodness. Prayer is a good thing that works for our good. As we pray, God's power is released in our lives.
Angels, angels work for our good. Hebrews 1:14 says they're, "Sent forth as ministering spirits to minister to the saints." And other Christians work for our good. I love 2 Corinthians 1:24, Paul writes, "We are helpers of your joy. We mutually work for each other. We stimulate one another to love in good works," it says in Hebrews 10:24. So I just wanted to get sorta that covered and put it aside. There are good things that work for our good. God, the Word, angels, other believers, prayer. They work for our good, but I don't think that's the real thrust of the passage, though those, in fact, are true.
The real thrust of the passage is to go beyond that, because that's obvious. We know God is working for our good, and we know that prayer works for our good, and angels work for our good. That is holy ones, and other believers are committed to working for our good. We know that, but what we sometimes lose sight of is the second point I wanna emphasize, and that is that bad things work for our good. That's the issue. Bad things work for our good...
Now, get it straight. This is not to say that bad things are good, because bad things are bad. That's why they're called bad. We don't...we don't wanna redefine them. We don't wanna invent a new theology. Bad things are bad. Sin is sin, and evil is evil, and it isn't gonna change. So bad things are not good, but they are used by God to work for our good, and that is marvelous, because that is to say that God is so absolutely sovereign and so totally in control that the worst of things, the vilest of things, the most evil of things, the most heinous of things, He can overrule and work to our good; and that's what it means to be in the family of God, to have this amazing confidence that no matter what comes into your life, be it good or evil, it will, by God, be overruled, put together in a divine synergism, ultimately come to your own good here and now and in glory forever. Amazing thought.
Now, I...I tried to think of how to divide up bad things; and I found basically three categories. Three areas where bad things work for our good. First one is suffering, suffering. Now, in and of itself, suffering is a bad thing. I mean it is a result of the curse, right? If there had never been sin, there would never be suffering. There would never be pain and death and sorrow and crying and all that. So we must attach that to evil; although, in itself, the suffering may not be evil, it is a result of an evil world, a fallen world. So the first bad thing that works for our good is suffering.
Ruth 1:21, you remember what it says there? "The Almighty has afflicted me." God actually brought an affliction. Do you remember what Job said? "The Lord gave and the Lord...what?... has taken away." Jeremiah 24:5, I read to you earlier. God says, "I'm gonna take you captive. I'm gonna take you to the land of Chaldeans. You're gonna suffer there. It's for your good." Our suffering can be for our good. God is in our suffering, working out of that evil thing tied to our fallenness and our cursed world a good purpose.
Now, lemme just say this. Sometimes our suffering is brought on because we're being chastened by sin. Sometimes it's not. Every time you suffer, it isn't because you've been sinning, and you're getting chastened. Sometimes you're just suffering so He can refine you in general. I mean it may not necessarily be dealing with some specific sin. It's just that He's refining you in general. He's testing you. He's building your strength. He's proving you, so you'll come out after you've been tried, like gold. So some...some suffering is directly due to the fact that you're sinning. Some is directly due to the fact that God is refining...is refining...
But we know that all suffering basically exists because of sin...Now, some suffering...some suffering may be God's way of simply opening you up to Himself, turning your attention, turning your focus. Suffering has many purposes...many purposes; but through it all, God works a good result. You can read James 1, and you'll find it there. I'm not gonna go into all of the Scriptures. They're myriad. Where it says, "Counted all joy when you fall into various trials," and so forth and so on; and we're gonna talk more about that in a moment. Because you're being tested.
First Peter 5:10 says, "After you've suffered a while, the Lord make you perfect." It's part of the perfecting process. You see, it's through suffering that we learn kindness and sympathy and compassion and patience and gentleness; and we learn to look on God and trust Him with faith and depend on His power and need His grace and rejoice in His mercy and all of that. See, those are all things we learn through suffering; and so suffering can turn to our good.
Many Biblical instances of that can be pointed out. For example, Joseph, perhaps a classic illustration. His brothers threw him in a pit. His brothers sold him. He was thrown into prison, but the end of the story of Joseph is it all worked out for good. I mean if Joseph had never come to Egypt, if Joseph had ever got thrown into the prison, if Joseph had never interpreted the dreams, then Joseph never would've been in...been there to tell those people there was a famine that they could've prepared for, and their civilization would've been wiped out. And if Joseph had never been put in the pit and sold into slavery and gone down there and gone through that and been made prime minister, when the famine did come and his brothers came down there and wanted to get some grain, they never would've been able to get it had he not been the prime minister. Their own brother who sympathetically gave them everything they needed. You see, God took all those evil things, all that suffering that He went through, and worked it ultimately to His own good and the good of people around Him.
Manasseh, the king, was chained, and in 2 Chronicles 33:11 and 12, it was for his own good, obviously, because it says, "When he was in affliction, he sought the Lord and humbled himself greatly, and the Lord responded to him." So suffering can draw us to God, and that's good. Suffering can purge out sin in our lives, and that's good. Suffering can teach us what other people are going through, and so we can be compassionate, and that's good. See?
Job lost everything. I mean the guy lost everything. Just an absolutely unbelievable set of circumstances. Lost everything. Only thing that stayed was his wife; and, as things went along, he may have wished that she had gone and everything else had stayed. She made some dumb suggestions; but he lost everything. He received ulcers. He had boils all over his body. He was involved in catastrophe without parallel. His barns were destroyed. His cattle was stolen. His children were murdered, and through it all, all...all it came to in the end was that he said, "Lord, I thought I knew who You were, but now I see You. I had heard of You with the hearing of mine ear, now mine eyes seeth Thee, and I repent in dust and ashes. O, God, for the first time, I see You...he said...I see You." And it cost him everything; and through that, of course God gave him back more than he ever lost.
The Apostle Paul, you know, was burdened by his thorn in the flesh, 2 Corinthians, and he pours out his heart for God to deliver that thorn in the flesh; but it was through the thorn in the flesh that he saw more perfectly the power of God made manifest through his weakness. Even in his blindness on the Damascus road, he was drawn to Christ. So suffering is good. Suffering rather can be worked for our good. Suffering in itself, being bad, can be overruled to bring about good, can be