And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.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.And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.
28 sermons cite this verse
… And he mixes it all up. All things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Now, the most important word in that verse that we just looked at on your outline, Romans 8, 28, is the word all. So circle the word all. What does all include? in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. That means all. It literally means all. It means every circumstance you face, every choice you make, every consequence you feel, and every change you experience, including all of the changes we've just had in the last 18 months. All work together for the good of those who love God. You know, some people act as if God caught off guard by COVID-19. Like God goes, wow, I didn't see that coming. I didn't imagine that world global pandemic ever happening, and I had no idea what it was going to do to all my churches. Man, am I in a mess. God is not sweating this pandemic. The church has outlasted everything for 2,000 years. Every dictator, every pandemic, every fire, every flood, every revolution, critic is still here, and none of those things are. Now, the difference between whether you're going to be bitter at the end of this season we're in, a rapid change and relentless change, are you going to be bitter or are you going to be better? The difference is the letter I. …
… I needed that I needed that I needed that and what god can do is take all those pieces And he can work them together. I think that's what romans 8 28 says that all things Can work together for the good. Let me say it this plain. You can be what you didn't have You can be what you didn't see you you can live what you didn't learn i'm telling somebody something right now you you you can portray what you never saw modeled to you because the greater one lives on the inside and you are enough okay so david he's feeling himself right now but he's not feeling himself because of his own abilities. I want you to pay attention to what he said. He started off saying by what he did. He defeated the bear. He defeated the lion. But the end of that statement said, the same God who delivered me from the lion and the bear. My question is, are you enough? And now you started feeling yourself. …
… we know as Christians. God can bring good despite the bad. Now sometimes Christians can be a little fast on the draw with Romans 8.28. And that is a great verse. For we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and are the called according to His purpose. But let's not misunderstand Romans 8.28. It doesn't say we know that all things become good. It says all things work together for good because sometimes there are things that happen in life that are bad. They'll always be bad and they'll never stop being bad. So we don't have to say, well God will make it a good thing. He never promised that. But He promised good can come despite the bad. And I think that's a very important distinction. Because already we've seen some amazing acts of heroism. As we've heard some of these stories on the news of people shielding others with their bodies. Some even dying in the process. I saw Sarah Huckabee doing a briefing for the press at the White House and she quoted the statement of Jesus when He says, greater love has no man than this. And He laid down His life for His friends. By the way, Sarah Huckabee is a Christian. I don't know if you knew that, as is her father, Governor Huckabee. But you know, people laid their lives down for others. So we hear stories of courage. But another thing that happens at a time like this is, well, …
… is preparation for something else. You know, we love to quote Romans 8.28, and so we should. How many of you have memorized Romans 8.28? Oh, six of you, very good. You know, the rest of you should do so, because that is a great go-to verse. I think more of you know it. We know that all things work together for good to those that love God. and are the called according to his purpose. But then verse 29 really helps us understand the whole concept. For whom God did foreknow, who he also did predestined to be conformed into the image of his own dear son. Let's put it together. We know that all things work together for good of those who love God and are the called according to his purpose and whom God foreknew, he predestined them to be conformed into the image of his own dear son. Allow me to paraphrase it. whatever you go through in life is preparing you to be more like Jesus. Right? So that's the big picture. We tend to interpret Romans 8.28 through a narrow lens. Well, this means that good will come out of the bad. And sometimes that happens. In fact, a lot of times, despite the bad, God will do something good. Right? But then there are times, if we're honest, when a bad thing happens to us and we can't see anything good coming out of it and we say, so where's Romans 8.28 now? …
… can take he factored in your mess ups like he took into account that you would disobey and you do your own thing and he says romans 8 28 that all things even your jacked up plan even that wrong relationship they all work together for the good of those who are called and that love i came to encourage somebody today it is not too late to find the pace of grace it's not too late for you to get in the will of God. I know you've been out there wilding. I know you've been doing your own thing. I know you've been texting people and had plans right after service, but God says today I came to interrupt your plans. And I came to give you the opportunity to start striding and get in the pace of grace. And if we're honest, many of us have bought into the lie that bigger is better. like the more we have it equals meaning it equals meaningful that faster is more fruitful but that's a lie because when i look at jesus's life the revelation that came to us in this series as i studied the scripture is that jesus was able to fulfill every messianic prophecy everything that people said about a savior he was able to fulfill all of that in three years and you never hear about Jesus running to his next appointment. He walked. You never hear in haste, the disciples, they quickly went to the next town. Never. You can't find it one place. …
… or this that that listen change your heart perspective on it change change your perspective it didn't work out but then god says in romans 8 28 that all things work together for the good So could this be a part of the plan? And until you get a revelation of that, you will never, ever realize that patience is one of the greatest gifts that God can give you. The Webster dictionary version of patient is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset. Let's just be practical. Most of us don't go through delay without getting mad. God says, I want you to build up endurance. I need endurance to be built in your life. That's why James tells us, James chapter one, verse three, it says, for, you know, that when your faith is tested, how many have people that test your faith? Come on. Y'all know they may be sitting next to you. Just put your hands down. You got people who test your faith. …
The Bible tells us, and we all love this, is Romans 8, 28. For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. So that would mean for us to ask ourselves, do we love God? And the next thing is to those who are called according to his purpose. And that's a very beautiful thing. And then we learned also applying his word in the latter end of verse 3. Applying his will, I should say, to your life. God has his will for your life. And here it is, everybody. Get ready to take this into your heart. God's will is this. He tells you and I, bind them. Bind what? Bind mercy and truth. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. That's very aggressive. In other words, go after it. Remember this, the word bind means to league or to be in league with or together, to conspire, to make stronger. And then the word to write means to etch God's word on your heart, to etch his truth on your heart. And that's done by immersion, folks. That's done by having that Bible embedded in our lives. And then the tablet. Well, according to God, he can write on our hearts. …
… i'm peace i'm at peace how does that happen it only happens as we trust in the providential care of almighty god this is where romans 8 28 where i kind of referenced in our intro earlier romans 8 28 we all know this and it's great we should know it we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Listen, this is only true if Ecclesiastes 3 is true. If God is not sovereign, impossible. But God is sovereign over time, over events, and over seasons. And this is a perspective that is transcendent from this world. This is an eternal perspective, which is actually something, whether you know it or not, God has put in you. Look what it says in verse 11. Also, he has put eternity in their hearts. He has put. He's placed. He's set. It's the same word than in Genesis 1 when it says that God set the lights in the firmament of the heavens. Same word, set. In Genesis 9, when he said, I set my rainbow in the cloud, he says, I have put eternity in the heart of every person. What does that mean, eternity? Well, it means exactly what you would think it means. It means everlasting, forever, an unlimited duration of time with a certainly a direct focus on the future. That God has put eternity in the heart of every person. What does that mean? …
… and we know 828, and we know that all things work together for the good. All things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. All things, all things, all things. Well, I haven't seen that yet. You haven't seen it all yet, but God has, and you don't know what he's doing and even generations down the road. If you'll be faithful to God, all things work together. This storm is gonna work together for the good. Hallelujah, I don't get it, but God gets it, and I trust him. Then he said in verse 31, what shall we say to these things? And then he tells us what to say. If God be for us, who can be against us? And then he said in verse 37, yea, in all of these things, all of these storms, God's perfecting, he's working in all of these things. We're more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, whatever kind of storm comes, nor height, depth, any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. …
… medically performed thousands of abortions or legally permitted millions of abortions god forgives god heals god restores and god redeems he redeems this is so mysterious how god romans 8 28 works all things together for the good of those all things how god takes even the worst things in any one of our paths. And he redeems and he uses even worse things he brings about in the end. He uses for good. So I want to pause there and then pick back up for a reason. I don't want us to think, even in this gathering, that celebrating the Gospel, confession, grace. Oh, that was good. All right. Now, let's move on. What's for dinner? What's for dinner? We got going this week. I want us to realize, okay, what does now, to use language from the book of Acts, what does it look like to show repentance with our deeds? So what is God now calling us to do? What are you going to do based on this word we've looked at tonight? …
… Now one of the most famous verses in the Bible is Romans eight, verse 28. We keep coming back to this verse, why? Because you keep getting hurt. You have guilt, you have grief, and you have grudges. And so you need to understand that God says, yes, I know that happened, but I can bring good even out of that. Romans eight, 28, one of the greatest promises in the Bible. We know that in all things, circle the word in, that in all things, it doesn't say all things, it says in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. Let me stop right there. This is not a promise for everybody. It's a promise for those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. We know that not everything that happens to you is good. There's a lot of bad things that are happening to you. Decisions that you make that are bad and decisions that other people make that are bad for you. There's diseases, there's all kinds of accidents and things like that. Nobody's saying God is a Pollyanna optimist who say, you know, the sun will come out tomorrow. It doesn't always come out tomorrow. …
… He doesn't need to go take a walk because we're too much. He's always working. He's always moving. He is always working to accomplish his purposes. He is always working all things together for the good of those who love him who are called according to his purpose. That's what God is doing, even when we might not feel it or sense it in the moment. But we do have to understand that God is working on a different timetable than we are. Look at verse two of chapter two. Then the Lord answered me and said, write the vision, make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it because it will surely come. It will not tarry. we might be tempted to think that God is tarrying in fulfilling the promises in our lives. That God is taking his sweet time to fulfill what he said he was gonna do. …
… the places where you see God talking about how we were created to be in his image. Look at Romans chapter 8, verse 28. it's a verse I just quoted a second ago that said we know that in all the things God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose listen to what verse 29 says though 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 and those he predestined he also called those he called he also justified and those he justified he also glorified so basically what Scripture's telling us this from the very beginning, God has predestined for us to look more like Jesus, to be conformed into the image of Christ. Turn over two books to the right to 2 Corinthians. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. What we're seeing is the agenda of the Bible. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. …
… through up until this point, maybe where you're at today, God will not waste this season and he will not waste this time that you're in. Amen? Romans 8 says it like this, that God works all things together for the good. God works all things together for the good of those who love him. God is working your life together. God is shaping you. God is molding you. God hasn't given up on you. God's still walking with you every step of the way. And God is maybe using the things that you've experienced. Maybe they were unfair. Maybe they weren't your fault. But God is using those to tell a story. He's using, he's going to use it to make a difference in people's lives. He's going to use it to first shape you. He's going to mold you. And then he's going to send you out on the mission that he has for you. Maybe this year you're like, man, I don't know why I find myself separated and isolated from people. I used to have a lot of people around me, but this year I've just found myself old friends, family members. I just find myself just coming to church by myself. I don't know why. All of my friends have left. They said, I don't want to go to church anymore, but I still find myself here on Sundays, even if I'm sitting by myself. I find myself burdened to pray. …
… application. What's the best that can happen? How good is it going to get? Things will work out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Y'all don't have that kind of faith in here. Let me say it another way. All things work together for good to those who love here. The late Fred Price said, not making a decision is a decision. That's what Fred Price said. Not making a decision is a decision. We delude ourselves into believing it's not so bad. we have adjusted to our own dysfunction of unhappiness. We just hope that it will organically, magically get better. You've got to do something in order to change it. In the book, Stop Playing It Safe, it shows how neurologically our minds are wired where we overestimate risk and underestimate our ability to handle them. We overestimate risk and underestimate our ability to handle them. Can you imagine the chokehold they were in on the boat? Here's the catch. …
Yeah, Romans chapter 8, verse 18 through 28. When you have it, say amen. Paul says, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to even be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. I could stay there all day. I could just put up a tent and camp out in my backyard and stay on that text all day. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, anybody got some sufferings? The suffering of your present time is not worthy to even be compared. Don't even put it in the same sentence. It's 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. The whole earth is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, for you to peel back your flesh and show who you really are. Come on, talk to me, somebody. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly. …
… becoming more and more and more like Jesus every single day. Romans chapter eight, verse 28, God's working everything together in your life for good. What's that good? So you'll be healthy and wealthy and have all you want in this world and everything works out the way you want? No, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. What is that? For those who are called according to his purpose. What's his purpose? For those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That's our purpose, to look more like Jesus. God's working all things together in our lives so that we will be more conformed to the image of Jesus, knowing that being conformed into his image is the highest good of humanity. Was it Elizabeth the Elliott who said, God will not protect you from anything in your life that keeps you from becoming more like Jesus. This is a high calling, that everything in your life, even things you don't understand, are working together toward. …
… so instead the gospel is that even in the midst of the hardest and most painful and terrible things we turn to God and God is able as Paul says in Romans 8 28 God is able to force all things to work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose and that's what happened in Wesley's life in an early Methodism and it's what still happens in our lives today and so the question is do we persevere in the faith or do we turn away from God and I want to encourage us today as we wrap up this message to be the kind of people who turn towards God in the midst of tragedy, who find in him our comfort, our strength, and our hope, and who say, God, take even this. I know you didn't cause it, but take this and force something good and beautiful to come from the pain. And he will, and he does. And those are the lessons I think we take from our time here in Epworth today. And so I'd like for us to pray together if you'd bow with me in prayer. Lord, how grateful we are to you for the work that you did in the 18th century through John Wesley, thanks to his mother, Susanna Wesley, and his father, Sam, for the work you did through Charles Wesley and the great hymns that were written by him and the 18th century evangelical awakening or revival that transformed not only the British Isles, but across the sea in America …
… Memorize this verse because it's going to help you through life. Romans 8 28 and we know that all things work together for good to those who've been called I wish I had a praying crowd with me here today through thick and thin he's still worthy through hell and high water it may not look good right now but when I get to the end of the story, all things work together for my good. I may not see it now, but when I get to the end of the story, it will be good. Somebody high five your name and say, when I get to the end, it'll be good. Tell yourself, when I get to the end, it'll be good. Give yourself a high five and say, when I get to the end, when I get to the conclusion, when I get to the end of the story, when the book is finished, when I get to the completion, I will be better. liter charlie So, it's singing and music. …
… Every situation. And we know that all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. Somebody say, count it all joy. Count it all joy. Count it all joy. Count it, count it, count it. Who am I preaching to today? I don't know what you're facing. I don't know what your circumstances are. But this is the posture God wants you to have. Count it all joy. Look at your neighbor and say, don't skip nothing. Look at him on the other side. Don't you skip nothing. don't miss anything it may not the story might not be complete at the moment but God's going to bring completion to the story somebody say I'm in the middle of my trial tell yourself I'm in the middle of my hell right now I'm in the middle of my struggle but here's what I know I know when I get to the end of this story somehow God will get the glory. Hey! Hey! Wow. …
… the events for your benefit. Romans 8.28 says this don't turn there I'm just going to say here's what Romans 8.28 says and we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord to those who are the called according to his purpose and we all live and are functioning under the purposes and the assignment that God has given to us and so it says right here in verse 12 Jehoshaphat says we do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you and so the title of my message is what to do when you don't know what to do Can y'all say amen to that? Yeah. What do I do? What do we do when our circumstances look grim? If I just go by what I see in the natural, what do I do? When I look at it from a natural standpoint, that's part of the problem that some of you are still looking at life from a natural standpoint. …
… a good work in you, now feel my preacher, he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. The Bible says that all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So if it's not good, God's not done. He said, I'll bring you to an expected end. So if his purpose isn't finished yet for this situation, it is not the end. Move it to the middle. I'm talking about the thing that you've been crying about. I'm talking about the thing that you've been gossiping about. I'm talking about the thing that has had you so down, you can't rejoice. I'm talking about the thing that has blurred your vision and fogged your faith. I'm talking about the thing that has beat you into submission, the thing that's got you tied up in knots. You've been treating it like the end, and you need to move it to the middle. So when you're telling this story, it is going to be a chapter and a scene, not a destiny. …
… maybe they will be well i can speak prophetically that it is well we can sing that song with the hope that all things will indeed as romans 8 28 says work together for the good of them who love God and to those who according to his purpose but lean up I need to teach you real quick I need you to embrace this ingredient so you can have a profound reality on what happiness really is you cannot be happy by running from unhappy moments because all of your unhappy moments have come to make the happier moments happier are you feeling me the unhappiness comes to show us and teach us something. Here's how I want to say it tonight. Pain is your professor. Trouble is your teacher. Exhaustion is an educator. How is pain your professor? Because pain always comes to teach us that something needs to change. Trouble always comes to teach us that something has to be different. Exhaustion is an educator. Why am I worn out? Why am I fatigued? Why am I drained? Because I need to be aware of what's draining me. I need to be aware of the trouble. I need to be in tune with why I'm unhappy so now I can work on fixing what it is or embracing what it is or learning from what this is or deleting whatever this is or I need to adjust myself because everything you will not be able to stop or change. …
And may I suggest instead of worrying about what we cannot do, let us put our faith in God who knows exactly what to do all the time and how to do it for our good. For does not Romans 8.28 say, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. So no matter what the hardships and sufferings, no matter what the bitter disappointments, no matter how badly we've been treated by others, the best way to handle any of these situations is to stop worrying and start praying. Prayer changes things and worry changes nothing. have faith in God, that God's will be done in our lives. James, through this epistle, can help us when we find ourselves stressed and suffering, sick and shallow in our faith. He tells us to pray and trust God. He specifically addresses church suffering and sickness, knowing how to treat those who are less fortunate than we are. …
… like, you know what, God? I know you're there. I know you're there. And somehow your word says, you work all these things together for the good of those who love him, who are called according to your purpose. And I know according to your word, somehow I can find joy through this. And this will make me closer to you, more like you. And so God, give me this joy. I can have it. I can have it. I can have this wisdom. Give me wisdom right now, Lord. Pray. Ask for that. You know, we're just going to jump to verse 12 because we're running out of time. He closes this section by saying this, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. So important. You guys, okay, James 1 has been like a staple in my life. I try to just read the verses so that you can go back at any time and read through those verses yourself, because they're not that hard to understand. But this is an interesting sentence at the end. He goes, blessed is the person who remains steadfast under trial. Okay, not the person that says, okay, I'm done. I'm, you know, we're, no, you actually suffer through it. It's, it's, it's, it's to bear up under. It's like having that weight. You ever see those guys that deadlift, and they're holding this weight, …
… oh wait a minute somebody says you call that romantic i thought it doesn't that what the bible says doesn't it say that in romans 8 28 doesn't it say all things work together for good and that love god and are called according to his purpose yeah it does but you see many people read that and immediately jump into a kind of romanticist notion, which isn't biblical at all. It does not say that you will ever see what that good is. It does not say that things will work out in a way that you understand. It doesn't say also that it'll work out along the lines of some kind of a set of understanding of good that you've got. It doesn't say things will certainly turn out for the best according to your agenda. None of that. There's no promise in there that you'll ever find out what the good is. It does say, of course, that from heaven's point of view, when we get to the throne, we're going to look back and everything will make sense, but it doesn't say ever that you're going to get some kind of bulletin in the mail. …
… this person has hurt you this person has hurt you god means it for good look at revelation Romans 8.28, all things work together for good to those who love God. You look at this passage. God has chosen you to be holy and blameless in his sight. He has destined you. He has secured it. He has guaranteed it. He is taking everything and working it together according to the counsel of his will, it says in verse 10 and 11, so that you can eventually be a great and glorious person. now you can either stand up and look at your life on the platform of ephesians 1 11 ephesians 1 8 romans 8 28 genesis 50 20 it's up to you or else you can continue to look at it from the human point of view and say i don't get it i don't get it i don't get it i don't get it there's only one angle that works it's the biblical angle it's the god's perspective Now, we've said up to here that the Bible's talking about redemption from God's perspective, and in verses 3, 4, and 5, we've actually looked at the Father's role in our salvation. …
… It says in everything, because take that verse and marry it with Romans 8, 28, for we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to his purpose. That helps some. But how, how, how, how, I say, can we give thanks for some things? even in some things. The book of Job will help us. How to stand when you don't understand. Well, let's get the background and then we're going to look at this tragedy in three acts. It's not a tragedy really. It's a, it's really a victory, but it begins as a tragedy. It's a, IT'S A, IT'S A DRAMA IN THREE ACTS. NOW FIRST OF ALL I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAS HAPPENED. THERE'S A SCENE IN HEAVEN AND SATAN IS ALLOWED ACC, ACCESS TO HEAVEN AND THE NAME SATAN MEANS SLANDERER. DEVIL IS, UH, ONE WHO IS A SLANDERER AND SATAN MEANS ACCUSER. SO, UH, SATAN WANTS TO SLANDER AND IF YOU EVER SLANDER, YOU'RE DOING THE WORK OF THE DEVIL. IF YOU HAVE AN ACCUSATORY, UH, NATURE ABOUT YOU, YOU'RE VERY MUCH LIKE THE DEVIL. AND SO THE DEVIL IS THERE, AND GOD THE FATHER SAYS TO HIM, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? HE SAID, I'VE BEEN WALKING UP AND DOWN IN THE EARTH. EVIDENTLY HE'S LOOKING FOR SOMEBODY THAT HE CAN CRITICIZE. AND GOD SAYS, HAVE YOU CONSIDERED MY SERVANT JOB? …