OUR GOOD FOR GOD'S PURPOSES

Introduction

-{Romans 8}

-Back in the day, pharmacists would make and mix the medicines right there in their pharmacy. Whatever you needed, they would take a few bottles off the shelf, mix them together, and make the medicine. In the wrong doses, the chemicals he/she used may be dangerous or even fatal, but when mixed together in proper amounts, they can heal the body.

-It is a crude illustration, but we could say that God works in a similar way. He takes all the circumstances in our lives, some of which are good, some of which are not so good, but He puts them together and produces something wonderful with our souls.

-In a small way, Paul talks about this process in the passage we are looking at today.

Romans 8:28–31 LSB

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. 29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; 30 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

-I want to talk tonight about God’s purposes behind our circumstances for good and His glory. First, we see:

1) God’s promises for our good (v. 28)

Romans 8:28 LSB

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

-This is probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible—but not only that, it can be one of the most misused verses, and is often used at the most inopportune times.

-There was a young man who was a new Christian who had a friend who passed away in an accident. This friend’s dad was an unbeliever. And not knowing what to say, this young Christian quoted this verse, and all it did was make the dad angry at him and angrier at a God he said he did not believe in.

-So let me give a good word of advice here, when tragedy strikes or someone is suffering, don’t just go throwing this verse around willy nilly at every point that you can.

-Because let me first tell you what this verse does not say—this verse does not say that everything that happens is good. Some have taken it that way, but you don’t see that anywhere in here.

-Neither does it say that only good things will happen to Christians—it can’t, becasue if you notice the context talks about sufferings that Christians go through.

-Neither does it say that the good that will happen is physical and earthly; the good it refers to is spiritual goodness from an eternal perspective.

-Neither does it say that all things that happen to us come from God—He is sovereign over it all, so He allows it to happen, but He doesn’t necessarily cause it to happen.

-I will touch on a few more things that it does not say as I talk about what it does say—because this verse means exactly as it says within the context.

-And we notice first that is gives us a confidence because it says WE [CAN] KNOW these things. Right before what we read Paul says that when we are weak and suffering and don’t even know what to pray to God, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf—and that is a great promise of God. And the promise then continues into this verse—we know, we have confidence, we have absolute assurance that the promise given in this verse will come to pass, because Romans 4:21 says that whatever He promises He brings it to pass.

-F. B. Meyer once said that: If any promises of God should fail, the heavens would clothe themselves in sackcloth; the sun, the moon, and the stars would reel from their courses; the universe would rock, and a hollow wind would moan through a ruined creation that God can lie.

-Well, thankfully God cannot lie, so we know that the promise in this verse is true.

-We also notice that there is a completeness here. It says ALL THINGS work together for good. Whatever the circumstance, all things that happen in our life can be used for our good in some way. Again, I remind you that the good is spiritual good from an eternal perspective which is worked out in the next few verses.

-But “all” here means “all”, so whether you consider it good or bad, it is at work in your life. The good things we have in life can work for our spiritual good—be it home, family, health, wealth, salvation, etc., these are blessings from the Lord, and God uses these blessings as a reminder to desire to please Him with our lives---- the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom 2:4)

-But the verse also means that the trials in life work for our spiritual good. This is more of the direct context. While you are in the midst of the storm, you may not see it—it might not be until later in life or even in heaven, but it can be put to work.

-Think of the story of Joseph in Genesis. Sold into slavery by his brothers. Falsely accused of rape and sent to prison. Interpreter of dreams, but forgotten by those he helped. Yet many years later he was lifted out of prison and made the 2nd in command of all of Egypt.

-when his brothers were afraid that he would seek revenge, he assured them he wouldn’t, and said: But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. (Gen 50:20)

-Yes, even bad can be turned around to work for good. And related to that, even the satanic things in life work for our spiritual good. Paul tells a story in 2 Cor. 12 that God sent Him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, and he prayed that God would remove it, but God didn’t in order to teach him that God’s grace is sufficient; God’s strength is made perfect in man’s weakness. So God can even turn a Satanic attack around to grow us spiritually.

-So really all circumstances of life can work for our good. We may not see the good immediately, but we can still take comfort and rejoice in the completeness of God’s promise.

-We also notice in this verse that there is a cause behind the circumstance and then turning it to our good—and that cause is God Himself. It’s not that things will just eventually work out for the believer on their own, by chance or luck. But it is the work of God in our lives. God can take whatever it is and use it to make us more in the image of Jesus Christ. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing One and is able to take control of every situation in life and turn it into something for our ultimate good. God is in your life situation with you every step of the way to use it. I thought about Psalm 23, that verse that say:

Psalm 23:4 LSB

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

-The psalmist didn’t say that God kept him out of the valley of the shadow of death. Thankfully, the psalmist didn’t say either that God said he would meet the psalmist on the other side of the valley. The psalmist said he would fear no evil because God was with Him in the valley and through the valley, and God is using the valley.

-But then we notice a condition to what is promised here. Paul says that is is for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose. The promise given in this verse is for Christians alone. God works things out for the ultimate good for lovers of God—believers in Jesus Christ. God does not work things out for good for everybody, other than maybe using it to push them to seek Him.

-That means, to understand and experience this verse, you first need to be saved. You must come to Him by saving faith in Jesus Christ, trusting in Christ’s finished work on the cross and the empty tomb. You cannot come to God on your own terms, you have to follow His terms, and that is Jesus alone. And if you have, you are part of those called according to his purpose. So, I’ve talked about the promises, now let’s look at:

2) God’s purposes for our good

-God works things out for our good, so that His purposes would be fulfilled in us and through us. We are called according to His purpose. And whatever purposes God has for us, these are for our good as well. What are the good purposes God has for us?

-First is God’s saving work in our lives.

-God’s purposes are to save us to the uttermost—this is a work He wants to do in the life of all people if they would come to Him through Christ. For a moment, Paul takes a step back—the first good God wants to do is save people—once we’re saved he works out the other good in our life—but the first good is to save us from our sin.

-And in these verse Paul kind of goes through a step by step process of salvation—the fancy theological term is ORDO SALUTIS which is Latin for order of salvation. I want to briefly explain the list, and I want to add a few things here that Paul doesn’t list in these verses, but he does in others, to give us an idea of how it goes. I want to use a list that James Boice created

1. Foreknowledge: This does not mean God looks down a corridor of time to see who will believe in Him. God is outside of time and doesn’t need to look ahead. It is foreknowledge from our perspective. God knows who will be saved, and being timeless He has a relational knowledge of all those who will be saved.

2. Predestination: And everyone just gasped when I said it, because that can be a bad word in some circles. But it is word that is in Scripture so we have to deal with it. The word is used twice in our passage, so it’s there and you have to live in the tension of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. Think of it as Adrian Rogers thought of it. There is a door to heaven. On this side of the door (facing us) it says WHOSOEVER WILL; and then on the other side the door says THE ELECT/PREDESTINED.

3. Calling: There is the call to come to Christ.

4. Faith: Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. Repentance: The turning from sin of those who have believed (this is the other side of faith).

6. Regeneration: God’s making alive the spirit of those who believe.

7. Justification: God’s declaring as righteous those who have repented and believed.

8. Adoption: God’s inclusion of the justified in the family of God.

9. Sanctification: God’s work through the Holy Spirit to conform those in the family of God into the image of his Son—which I will talk abt in a minute.

10. Perseverance: God’s insuring that those who are called complete their pilgrimage of faith.

11. Glorification: God’s fulfillment of his purposes—the making of fallen sinners into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ, for eternity.

-A lot of these happen all at once. But this reminds us that the first purpose of God in anyone’s life is the salvation of their souls.

-But then another purpose is not just saving work but also sanctifying work. In saving work we are declared right and holy. In sanctifying work God is working to make us more practically holy. Here is the goal after salvation. Salvation and sanctification are the good He’s working toward. He says in v. 29 we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

-Everything is working in your life to make you more like Christ (if you are cooperating with God). You can be so stubborn and hard-headed and self-centered that you thwart this work. But this is ultimately what God wants for you. And to be like Christ is the ultimate good that could ever happen to anybody.

-Christianity is not about being moral and nice. It’s not about being a better person or a better you. It’s not even about being the best you that you could ever be. GOD WANTS YOU TO BE LIKE CHRIST. Think about it—you and I are all sorts of messed up. Why would He want you to be a better you? He wants you to be like His perfect Son.

-That is a sanctifying work—a work toward the holiness of Christ. That is God’s purpose that He uses all things for. God is working all things together for the good of you becoming like Jesus Christ.

-And there is a wonderful promise that God will finish what He had started. But there was a price to pay to make it possible. Jesus was unjustly condemned, died the most painful death possible in that day. The only truly innocent man on earth, executed like a common criminal. This was the ultimate bad, the ultimate injustice, to ever happen on this earth. Yet God worked out that bad for the good of all those who come to Him in faith.

-Have you believed in Jesus? We want to pray tonight for those who haven’t...