Romans 8:18-28 – God Works All Things
18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
24. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25. But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28. 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.
1. GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU IS BIGGER THAN YOUR PROBLEM
a. A $75 basketball in my hands is playing a pickup game in the Family Life Center. A $75 basketball in the hands of Michael Jordan is a world championship and an NBA MVP.
b. A $900 set of golf clubs in my hands is spending $25 for a green fee and an afternoon of frustration. A $900 set of golf clubs in the hands of Tiger Woods is over $6,000,000 in annual winnings and a career grand slam.
c. A $50 football in my hands is playing catch in the park. A $50 football in the hands of Dan Marino is a future a Hall of Fame quarterback.
d. A $75 baseball bat in my hands is bunting the ball to my son. A $75 baseball bat in the hands of Barry Bonds is a Home Run champion.
e. A hammer and nails in my hands is a misguided home improvement project. A hammer and nails in the hands of Jesus Christ is the glory of God and the salvation of mankind.
f. It makes a difference whose hands are at work. And according to our text today, for those who love God and place things in his hands, ... things work out for good.
g. This doesn’t mean that all circumstances are good in the Christian life. But it means that even the most difficult of circumstances, when controlled by God, can work out for our good.
i. God has a providential way of making
1. BAD THINGS GOOD,
2. WEAK THINGS STRONG,
3. AND UGLY THINGS BEAUTIFUL.
h. Have you ever had anything good happen to you, & then, perhaps years later, as you looked back on the event, realized that what seemed so good at the time had bad results? Or have you ever had anything bad happen, & then realized later that what appeared to be bad at the time was really good?
i. Sometimes it’s hard, while you’re going through the experience, to know whether the ultimate consequences will be good or bad.
ii. Philippians 1:12 14 "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard & to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously & fearlessly."
1. Paul is saying, "I’m in prison. That’s bad. But the result is that more & more people have heard about Jesus. In fact, the entire palace guard now knows about Him. And the brothers who are sharing with me in the ministry are now more courageous in their preaching, too." Those are amazing words, aren’t they?
iii. Now, it’s not always easy to know whether something is going to have good or bad results when it is happening. For instance:
1. Let’s say that you win the Publishing House sweepstakes, & suddenly start receiving more than $30,000 a month for the rest of your life. That’s good, isn’t it?
2. Or how about this? Let’s suppose you’re a member of a large family & you have several brothers & sisters. But your brothers really don’t like you very much because you are your father’s favorite. At Christmas time he always buys you the best presents. So they’re all jealous of you because of the relationship you have with him. Finally, they get so angry that they get you off alone & beat up on you & throw you in a dry well. Now, that would be bad, wouldn’t it?
3. Again, suppose that in our congregation we have a nice young couple with sparkling eyes & cheery smiles. We enjoy coming to church & being in their company. They’ve been married 3 years, & are expecting their first child. But then one day, while they’re driving home from church, an 18 wheeler suddenly swerves into their lane & knocks their car off the road, & both of them are killed. Well, there’s no question in our minds about this one. We know that would be bad.
iv. Now, all of these incidents are true. We have read stories about people who have won large sums of money, whether through the Sweepstakes or the Lottery or whatever. Yet, when people unexpectedly receive large amounts of money they’re often not sure how best to deal with their new circumstances.
1. Suddenly they’re celebrities, & so many people are calling them asking for handouts or trying to get them to invest in something, that they end up having to get an unlisted telephone number. And other problems arise, too. Oftentimes they discover that after their windfall, they’re less happy than they were before. And what appeared to be so good seems to be turning out bad for them.
2. Or you may have recognized that the second story is a slightly altered & embellished rendition of the story of Joseph in the O.T. Remember, he had 10 older brothers, all very jealous of him. In fact, one day, after he had received a coat of many colors, Joseph’s brothers beat him up & threw him in a well. Then they sold him into slavery, & he was taken to Egypt.
3. The last story was in Guidepost Magazine a few years ago a story about a young couple in Ft. Worth going home after church one evening. The driver of the truck did not see them, & he pulled over & hit their car, throwing them from the wreckage. The young wife died instantly, & her husband lived only a little while longer. The church where they attended mourned their death. But a few weeks after the accident, a man showed up in church, & at the time of invitation came forward to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord & Savior. When asked why, he said, "I witnessed an accident on the highway a few weeks ago, & I stopped to see if there was anything I could do. I went first to the young lady & it was obvious she was dead. But I could hear sounds from the young man. So I turned to see if there was anything I could do to help him." "As he looked up at me through eyes of terrible pain, he asked me a question, `Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? I’m going to meet Him soon. If you were in my place, would you be going to meet Jesus?’" With tears in his eyes the man went on, "Since that night those words have never left me, & that is why I’m here today, to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior & Lord, too."
2. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO DIRECT & SHAPE US
a. The difficult things we experience in life, big & small, are not random freak accidents or streaks of bad luck. They are allowed - & at times even orchestrated – BY God to direct us - to shape us into the image of Jesus.
i. Picture a large rock in the middle of a barren field. Sitting there by itself, it is ordinary, overlooked, & without much use. But in the hands of a master sculptor, it can become a masterpiece. Your life is a lot like that rock.
ii. Even though you can’t see it right now, God has been busy creating something breathtaking in you. He has. Through everything you’ve endured. Through that confusing situation you’re facing right now.
iii. The problem is that we can’t see what He’s doing while it’s happening. All we see are the chips flying. The chisel’s blow isn’t evidence that God has left us or is angry with us, but rather that God is right in front of us: eyeing our progress, smoothing the rough edges, patiently bringing the image of Jesus out in us.
iv. The Bible says, “Count it pure joy,… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature & complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).
v. “Trials of many kinds.” That’s specifically what we’re talking about – events allowed or orchestrated by God. That’s what God uses to shape us into the image of Jesus. In fact, James says, those things “complete” us.
3. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO PROTECT US
a. Finally, sometimes God uses problems to protect us. And we can see that illustrated in the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. You know his story, don’t you?
b. Joseph was obviously his father’s favorite son. And as a result of this favoritism, his brothers were filled with hatred & bitterness towards him. Then one day their hatred boiled over & they sold him as a slave to a caravan travelling to Egypt.
c. It all happened so quickly. One moment he was the favorite son, getting anything he wanted. And the next, he was in chains & being sold into slavery.
4. GOD USES SUFFERING TO BRING HIS KINGDOM
a. Back in 1921, a missionary couple named David & Svea Flood went with their 2-year-old son from Sweden to the heart of Africa – to what was then called the Belgian Congo.
b. They met up with another Scandinavian couple, the Ericksons, & soon the 4 of them felt led by the Lord to move out of the central mission station & take the gospel to one of the more remote areas of the Congo.
c. At the village of N’dolera they were rebuffed by the chief, who would not let them enter his town for fear of alienating the local gods. So the two couples decided to go half a mile away & build their own huts.
d. They prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, but there was none. Their only contact with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens & eggs twice a week.
e. Svea Flood – a tiny woman only 4 feet, 8 inches tall – decided that if this boy was the only African she could talk to, she would try to lead him to Jesus. And in fact, over a period of time she succeeded.
f. But there were no other encouragements. Meanwhile, malaria struck one member of their little group after another. In time the Ericksons decided they had had enough suffering & left for the relative security of the central mission station.
g. Then, in the middle of this primitive wilderness, Svea found herself pregnant. When the time came for her to give birth, the village chief softened enough to allow a midwife to help her. A little girl was born, whom they named Aina.
h. The delivery, however, was difficult, & Svea was already weak from malaria. The birth process was a heavy blow to her stamina. She lasted only another 17 days
i. Inside David Flood, something snapped. He dug a crude grave, buried his 27-year-old wife, & then took his children back to the central mission station.
j. Giving his newborn daughter to the Ericksons, he snarled, “I’m going back to Sweden. I’ve lost my wife, & I obviously can’t take care of this baby. God has ruined my life.” With that, he left, rejecting not only his calling, but God Himself.
k. Eight months later both of the Ericksons were stricken with an illness & died within days of each other. The baby was turned over to some American missionaries, who adjusted her Swedish name to “Aggie” & eventually took her with them back to America.
l. As a young woman, she attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met & married a young man named Dewey Hurst. Years passed. The Hursts enjoyed a fruitful ministry. In time her husband became president of a Christian college in the Seattle area.
m. One day a Swedish religious magazine appeared in her mailbox. She had no idea who had sent it, & she couldn’t read the words. But as she turned the pages, all of a sudden a photo stopped her cold. There, in a primitive setting was a grave with a white cross - & on the cross were the words “Svea Flood.”
n. Aggie jumped in her car & went straight to a college faculty member who, she knew, could translate the article. “What does this say?” she asked.
o. The instructor summarized the story: It was about missionaries who had come to N’dolera long ago … the birth of a white baby … the death of the young mother … the one little African boy who had been led to Christ … & how, after the whites had all left, the boy had grown up & finally persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village.
p. The article said that gradually he won all his students to Christ … & the children led their parents to Christ … even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were 600 Christian believers in that one village alone …
q. All because of the sacrifice of David & Svea Flood. Wow!
r. But that is not the end of the story. Let me continue:
s. For the Hurst’s 25th wedding anniversary, the college presented them with the gift of a vacation to Sweden. There Aggie sought to find her real father. An old man now, David Flood had remarried, fathered 4 more children, & generally dissipated his life with alcohol. He had recently suffered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one rule in his family: “Never mention the name of God because God took everything from me.”
t. After an emotional reunion with her half brothers & half sister, Aggie brought up the subject of seeing her father. The others hesitated. “You can talk to him,” they replied, “even though he’s very ill now. But you need to know that whenever he hears the name of God, he flies into a rage.”
u. Aggie was not to be deterred. She walked into the squalid apartment, with liquor bottles everywhere, & approached the 73-year-old man lying in a rumpled bed.
v. “Papa?” she said tentatively. He turned toward her & began to cry. “Aina,” he said. “I never meant to give you away.” “It’s all right, Papa,” she replied, taking him gently in her arms. “God took care of me.”
w. The man instantly stiffened. The tears stopped. “God forgot all of us. Our lives have been like this because of Him.” He turned his face back to the wall.
x. Aggie stoked his face & then continued, undaunted. “Papa, I have a story to tell you, & it’s a true one. You didn’t go to Africa in vain. Mama didn’t die in vain. The little boy you won to the Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one seed you planted just kept growing & growing. Today there are 600 African people serving the Lord because you were faithful to the call of God in your life ….”
y. “Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you.” The old man turned back to look into his daughter’s eyes. His body relaxed. He began to talk. And by the end of the afternoon, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many decades.
z. A few years later, the Hursts were attending an evangelism conference in London, England, when a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo).
aa. The leader of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospel’s spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterward if he had ever heard of David & Svea Flood.
bb. “Yes, madam,” the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. “It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother’s grave & her memory are honored by all of us.”
cc. He embraced her in a long, sobbing hug. Then he continued, “You must come to Africa to see, because your mother is the most famous person in our history.”
dd. In time that is exactly what Aggie Hurst & her husband did. They were welcomed by cheering throngs of villagers. The most dramatic moment, of course, was when the pastor escorted Aggie to see her mother’s white cross for herself. She knelt in the soil to pray & give thanks.
ee. Later that day, in the church, the pastor read from John 12:24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground & dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” He then followed with Psalm 126:5, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.”
5. GOD BLESSES HIS PEOPLE THROUGH STRANGE MEANS
a. Genesis 31:4-9
i. So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were.
ii. He said to them, “I see that your father’s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me.
iii. You know that I’ve worked for your father with all my strength,
iv. yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me.
v. If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, ‘The streaked ones will be your wages,’ then all the flocks bore streaked young.
vi. So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.
b. “God causes ALL THINGS to work together”
i. While God permits things to happen which displease Him, He does not allow anything to happen which is contrary to His sovereign purpose.
ii. Taken individually, the events and circumstances God allows may not, in and of themselves, appear to be of any value or good to the Christian. But Paul does not say that each event is good or even that each incident will produce that which is good. He informs us that all of the events, working together, produce what is good.
1. To illustrate, the ingredients which go into a cake are not very tasty when eaten individually. Flour, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt, baking powder, and spices are not something we want to eat one ingredient at a time. But mix all of these together in just the right proportions, and then bake the combined mixture, and you have a delicious treat. Each event in our life is like one ingredient in a cake. It may not seem good, by itself, but when mixed by God with other correct events, it will surely produce what is good.
2. Paul speaks here of God’s sovereignty in terms of His choosing and blending of all of our experiences, in such a way as to produce that which is good. God causes all things to “work together” for good. This means we cannot judge the goodness of God’s work until His program is finished. Have you ever been too hasty in testing the cake batter? Almost always the result is unsatisfactory.
• My life is but a weaving
• Between my Lord and me,
• I cannot choose the colors
• He worketh steadily.
• Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow,
• And I in foolish pride
• Forget He sees the upper,
• And I, the underside.
• Not till the loom is silent
• And the shuttle cease to fly
• Shall God unroll the canvas
• And explain the reason why.
• The dark threads are as needful
• In the Weaver’s skillful hand
• As the threads of gold and silver
• In the pattern He has planned.
6. WHAT DOES “GOOD” MEAN?
a. It is vital that we understand the term “good,” or we will completely reverse the meaning of this verse.
i. Asaph, the psalmist who penned Psalm 73, went through a period of great anguish and anger toward God because he failed to understand the meaning of “good.”
ii. 73:1 A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
1. Asaph began this psalm by affirming that though God is good he almost slipped.
iii. 2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
1. Problem so vexing, so unanswerable
a. Almost lost faith
b. Almost returned to the World,
c. Almost decided wickedness paid,
d. Almost decided you have to be crooked to succeed. Steroids in football. Soap Opera characters who can live loosely seemingly without side effects, no guilt, no harm to others, most problems solved in one episode.
e. Part of the problem is a definition problem (what does “good” mean?). (v. 14, 22)
iv. 3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
v. 4 For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
vi. 5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
vii. 6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
viii. 7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
ix. 8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
x. 9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
xi. 12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
xii. 13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
xiii. 14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
xiv. 15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
xv. 16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
xvi. 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
xvii. 18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
xviii. 19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
xix. 20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
b. His regret
i. 21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
ii. 22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
iii. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
iv. 24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
v. 25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
vi. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
vii. 27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
viii. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. (Psalm 73:1-9, 12-28).
c. Asaph’s first words were “God is good to Israel.” He is also good to those who are pure in heart.
i. But Asaph was wrong in his definition of “good,” for he thought good must be understood in terms of peace, prosperity, and a comfortable life.
ii. He thought of good in terms of pleasure and the absence of pain and more in terms of this present life than of eternity.
iii. Asaph thought this way until (17) he came to the sanctuary of God. There he began to view life from the divine perspective and from the vantage point of eternity rather than in terms of this present age.
iv. From the divine perspective, the “good life” of the wicked was uncertain and incredibly short.
d. He now saw “good” in terms of intimacy with God. He could say, “it is good for me to draw near to God.”
i. He recognized that while his sufferings drew him nearer to God,
ii. The prosperity of the wicked only drew them further from Him.
iii. Asaph’s definition of “good” changed from a warm, fuzzy feeling now to enjoying God’s presence, now and for all eternity.
iv. He saw that if suffering draws one nearer to God, it is not evil but good.
v. He recognized that if prosperity and the absence of pain turns one from God, that is evil.
vi. His definition of “good” made the difference.
