Title: God at work in Your LIfe
Text: Rom 8:28-30
Date: 2-20-08.am
Ro 8:28-30
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; 30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. NASB
Introduction:
Life doesn’t always turn out like we want or expect it to. It is full of ups and downs bumps and bruises, mountains and valleys. Sometimes the other team wins the big game, or the other person gets the job you wanted, or the promotion you expected. The raise you thought you were getting is not going to be there, as a matter of fact the job may not be there; they’re downsizing, or moving on. Just when you thought you were finally getting your head above water financially, the car breaks down. Maybe it’s something worse, the report from the Dr came back and it’s not good, or maybe a loved one has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and it just seems that life is caving in on you.
Those kinds of things happen because we live in a fallen world. We saw last week God’s promise of the Spirit’s intercession in prayer. God gives us another glorious and reassuring promises in Romans 8:28-30. For believers it is the assurance that regardless of what you are going through God is at work, in and through the circumstances of your life.
Who are the called
The order of verse 28 is somewhat reversed in Greek. Roughly translated the verse reads we know that for those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose, God causes all things to work together for good.
Paul is very specific, making sure we understand this is a promise given to believers, those who love Him (Jesus) those who are those who are called according to His purpose.
Believers here are defined here in two ways. They are the first referred to as the ones who love Him and as the ones who are called according to His purpose. According to His purpose modifies both those who are called and all things that work together for good.
Calling refers to the action of the Holy Spirit in calling individuals to repentance and faith by the grace of God. It is an affirmation that the initiative in salvation is always from heaven downward. Lk 19:10 Jesus said I came to seek and to save that which was lost. His call to His disciples was to come follow me. His call in Matt 16:24 is take up your cross and follow Him. To the rich young man in Matt 19:21 He said go sell your possessions and come follow me. In Luke 15 he tells the parable of the lost sheep and in verse 4 says: "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? NASB The idea is that God, through Jesus Christ, reaches out and seeks us. Sometimes when we trust Christ we say I found Jesus, but the truth is we don’t find Him, he finds us and calls us to come to Him. The Bible says 1 Co 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. NASB
The called are those who have responded to His call in faith and accepted God’s offer of grace, and have entered into a saving relationship with God through Christ.
Paul also says those who have come into a relationship with Christ are those who love Him. We have said many times love is more than an emotion. Agape love which is referred to here is relational.
In 1st John, John explains that believers are identified by love. John uses the word love 36 times in those 5 chapters. He explains that those who have faith in God are those who love Him and one another and who out of love are obedient to the Lord’s commands. He then sums up all he has been saying about love by saying 1 Jn 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. NASB
This great promise of verses 28-30 is given to those who belong to God, those who have been called and follow in love.
We know this promise It is Certain
It is revealed knowledge. In other words it is a promise that has been revealed by God to believers. Paul began verse 28 with these words “And we Know” that’s very important. In verse 26 Paul told us we don’t know how to pray as we should, but explained the intercession of God’s Spirit In verse 27 which gave us the certain knowledge or promise that even though I don’t know how to pray as I should, I know that the Holy Spirit will intercede for me in all those times and ways I don’t. With that same kind of confidence, confidence in the certain knowledge of God’s divine care, Paul begins verse 28. It is riot self confidence Paul is talking about, it is confidence based on the certain knowledge that God loves us and cares for us (1 Pet 5 :7).
What does this knowledge apply to? It applies to all circumstances of life.
‘ln all things” Paul writes - in every circumstance of your life God is at work. The word work in this verse is present active. It means God is continually working in every situation in your life, good and the bad. There is a praise hymn that says Our God reigns. God reigns over all creation and He is not limited by nor bound by my circumstances. Rather God is always involved in every situation, and in every circumstance of your life, so that you are never alone.
That promise applies to every single person who has placed their faith in Christ Jesus. God is not confined to a particular place or a particular event or time. He is omnipresent and he is omniscient, and he is omnipotent. That simply mean that God is everywhere at all times. He is all knowing, and he is all powerful. David understood this truth listen what he says in Ps. 139:
Ps 139:1-16
39 O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. 3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, And art intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all. 5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, And laid Thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
7 Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Thy hand will lead me, And Thy right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night," 12 Even the darkness is not dark to Thee, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee. 13 For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. 14 I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Thy works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from Thee, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. 16 Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Thy book they were all written, The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. NASB
God continually works in every circumstance and situation in my life. What does God do in the circumstances of our lives?
Ultimate Outcome - God works for the good
Paul does not say that all of the circumstances of life will be good. We saw that in this chapter Paul shared with us the truth of suffering. Suffering is a reality in this world for the non- believer as well as the believer. If you hear someone preach that by coming to Christ all your troubles are over in this life you should be able to discern that not what the Bible teaches. The word good refers to ultimate good and always looks towards the future. What the Bible teaches is in all of the circumstances of our lives God works in those circumstance to bring about ultimate good in our lives. When something bad happens God uses it to strengthen our faith, teach us a valuable lesson. to build character. The truth is the hard times of our lives are most often the ones that teach us the most important lessons about life and about our faith.
Paul told us the same thing in chapter 5:35 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because tod has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (NIV)
We can’t see the future we can’t know what tomorrow might bring into our lives. But God can and we have His promise that through every situation He is with us, He will never leave nor forsake us.
What is God’s Purpose
What is God’s purpose and our ultimate good? V. 29 gives us that answer: That we might be conformed into the likeness of His Son Jesus.
2 Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. NASB
Col 3:8-10
8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him NASB
What does that mean for us to be conformed to the image of Christ? Paul has been telling us about that process we call sanctification God’s purpose is that we are continually becoming more like Christ.
We share in the divine nature through the new birth (1 Pet 1:4)
We are adopted into God’s family (Eph 1:5)
We have become joint heirs with Jesus (Rom 8:17)
We are separated and being transformed so that we stand before Him holy and blameless (Eph 1:4; 4:24)
We are being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2)
We are being recreated into His image (1 Jn 3:2-3)
What that means is that after we come to Christ in faith we think and act and live and love in ways that are different from the world because we have the Spirit of God within us.
Two words I want to talk about in verse 29 and 30 that cause a lot of concerns, foreknow and predestination.
There are two differing schools of thought that view these words in different ways to define God’s purpose in salvation. I don’t want to confuse you but I don’t want to evade the issue. Calvinism which refers to the teachings of John Calvin and also called Reformed theology says that all men are condemned but that by His sovereign grace God predestined or elected some to receive salvation. Arminism which developed as a reaction to Calvinism differs only slightly saying God’s calling or election is based on His foreknowledge of who will accept His offer of salvation.
For the most part Baptist reject both of those views and believe the Bible teaches that in the matter of salvation it is the way of salvation not the individual that was foreknown and predestined or predetermined by God. That before the foundation of the world God determined that salvation would come by faith in Christ alone to whosoever believed. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NASB While all three of those understandings of the theology of salvation are differet they do all agree that salvation originates with God and not man.
Now having said that, in the present context neither foreknowledge or predestination is concerned with issue of salvation. We are called according to God purpose rather than His foreknowledge in this context, and Paul goes on to explain God has foreordained or purposed that believers, those who love Him and who have responded to His offer of salvation by grace be brought into ‘moral conformity to the likeness of his son.” This means as John explained in 1 John not merely a superficial outward conformity but an inward conformity that results in a change of conduct and lifestyle. God sent His Son in our likeness that by faith we might be conformed to His likeness.
V. 30 summarizes the total of what Paul has been telling us throughout the book of Romans to this point. And it has to also be taken in context with verses 28-29.
30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. NASB
Paul is not developing a doctrine of predestination in which he looks upon God as arbitrarily choosing some and rejecting others. But, salvation is a result of God's predetermined purpose it is completely by God's grace; it did not happen by chance, and it was not something we can earn on our own. God planned that salvation would be by grace through faith in Christ alone in eternity past. He calls us in the present to respond to that offer. Those who respond in faith are then justified or declared righteous in Christ predestined to be conformed to His image which will ultimately lead to our glorification or the consummation of our salvation a a point in the future. That is the full and final redemption of our body when the mortal will put on immortality and the perishable becomes imperishable. And what is interesting and notable in this verse is that while glorification is something that will take place in the future Paul refers to it here in the past tense. It is something that we look forward to but it has already been assured.
Because of the truth of the promise in these verses believers can press on in all of life’s circumstances, saying with Paul Phil 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. NASB
We can living above our worldly situations and circumstances confident that our God is at work in all of them whether we can understand how or why and allowing us to stand firmly on the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ and our hope is built on nothing less.