“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.”
If this is not the most frequently misquoted verse of scripture it must be close to the top of the list. You’ll hear people say on occasion that money is the root of all evil. If you read your Bible you know how ‘off’ that is, so I won’t go into it now. If you don’t read your Bible enough to know then you need to read your Bible.
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. Well, taken out of context those words are in that order, but they are grossly misapplied; especially in movies of the Old West.
Then there are other things said that simply aren’t in the Bible, but many people think they are. “God helps them that helps themselves”. Bunk. Not only is it not in the Bible, the very thought contradicts everything the Bible says about God.
Well, here in Romans 8:28 is one that is said a number of different ways and applied to any number of contexts, most of which are wrong and/or incomplete.
One of my Bible College instructors said that he once spoke to a Pastor’s seminar, and before beginning his sermon he asked everyone in the audience to take out a piece of paper and write Romans 8:28 on it from memory.
The answers he got back were both astounding and a little discouraging, considering the profession of most of the people in the room. He said the wording of the verse, done from memory, varied from paper to paper. But the one thing that was common to all of them was that none of them included the first three words of the verse, “And we know”.
Well, I am years too late for that conference, and I’ll probably never know any of those pastors in that auditorium.
But in memory of that fine instructor who is now gone to be with the Lord and was always careful to stay faithful to the text, I will endeavor here to do some justice to those three words as we enter into the study of this verse today.
AND WE KNOW
William R. Newell, in his “Romans Verse by Verse”, points out that the term ‘we know’ is used repeatedly in the New Testament epistles in reference to those who are saints of God and as such know whose they are and where they are going in the surer, higher sense.
It tickled me that as though he didn’t want to come off harsh or too confrontational in his narrative, yet hardly able to contain himself, he added in a footnote at the bottom of the page:
“As for the ‘Modernist’, his shallow, ignorant, blatant boast is, ‘We do not know; we are not sure’, thus giving continual open evidence that he does not belong to that company of whom John writes: ‘We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, that we know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ.” Romans Verse by Verse, William R. Newell, Moody Press, 1938, pg 328 (1979 reprint)
What causes me concern though is not the ignorance of the unbeliever, but the evident ignorance of so many professed believers in Christ and the Bible.
In researching for this sermon I checked a couple of different sources for survey results, and since I don’t relish quoting survey statistics I won’t tell you where I looked, nor will I quote them. But I know you’ll trust me if I tell you that according to the stats I did find an alarming number of professing Christians feel that their eternal security must be earned and maintained, and if asked for their level of confidence that they were going to Heaven when they die far too many answer, ‘I hope so’.
That’s pathetic! Should we feel sorry for them? For these poor souls who are born again believers in Jesus and eternity bound, safe and secure in His bosom never to be cast away and yet living in uncertainty because they just can’t be sure?
No. Don’t be sorry for them. Teach them, certainly, if they are teachable and are willing to listen to you. The Bible says ‘we know’ because we’re supposed to know. We have the scriptures and if we’re saved we have the indwelling Holy Spirit testifying to our spirit, if we’re paying attention, that we are God’s and nothing can take us out of His hand.
I was in a discussion on this very topic with a fellow preacher very recently and he agreed with me ~ it’s always nice to have another preacher agree with me, it makes me more confident in my own preaching to know that a respected brother is saying the same thing from his own pulpit…because if someday I’m proven wrong at least I’ll know I’m not alone ~ he agreed with me that if we had no part in our salvation, which we did not, then how could we presume to be able to reverse that process? It is God’s work and it is complete and certain. We will never stand on surer ground about anything than the fact that we are eternally secure in Him.
There is no shortage of proof texts for this, they’re all over the New Testament. I’ll cite just two that come to mind:
John 10:27-30
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Romans 8:38,39
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We’re expected to know these things, Christians. To express doubt in our eternal security in Christ, or to teach that we can be lost to Him once we are saved is to call God a liar. If we believe the scriptures are God-breathed, and that His Holy Spirit inspired and protected His Word and preserved it for us down to this day and the Bibles we have are inerrant and infallible, then to doubt our security is to manifest ignorance of the Bible and cast suspicion on God’s character.
Sometime go to your concordance if you have a good one in your Bible, or go on line to a site called Bible Gateway.com, and put in the phrases ‘we know’, and ‘you know’, and see how many times the writers of the epistles, especially Paul, used those terms in reference to the believer’s understanding of God and spiritual truth.
God doesn’t want you ignorant, believer. He’s not keeping any secrets from you. Anything we do not understand about God’s revelation to us is because we haven’t gotten that far in our growth yet, or we haven’t sought to know, or we have refused to believe when we’ve heard.
Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. It was a specific reference to the nation of Israel and had historic significance. But it is true of all God’s people, that when we get into trouble, when we find ourselves sinning, when we put our faith in a false teaching and suffer for it, the problem always comes back ultimately to a point of ignorance. A lack of knowledge. A faulty understanding.
Paul says here, “And we know”, so as we go on to study this verse and dig out what nuggets we can find, remember that it’s something you should know, and something God wants you to know, and you should therefore listen closely so after today you will know.
GOD CAUSES
The next most prominent error that my instructor found when he received these scraps of paper from his audience, was that very many of them began with “All things work together for good…”
In fact, a lot of them thought that was the entire verse. They had some recollection of Romans 8:28 having something to do with all things working together for good, so they thought that was the whole verse. Pastors. Preachers. Shame on them.
First of all, friends, all things do not work together for good. Sometimes life is just a mess and that’s all there is to it.
If you go to the hospital emergency room and put your hand on the shoulder of a father whose little girl has just been run over by a truck and say, “Don’t worry, all things work together for good”, you might get punched in the nose, and you would deserve it.
The Bible does not say that all things work together for good. Some things only work for evil; in fact, a lot of things, because this is an evil world and the days are filled with evil. To say that all things work together for good is to prove one’s self profoundly naive, and to demonstrate once more, marked ignorance of the scriptures and spiritual truth.
Now I should explain here that Bible scholars have a lot of debates over this verse. As in other cases, I think they make it a lot harder than it is by nitpicking over how many manuscripts say this, and whether the word ‘God’ should be in the verse twice, and if only once which one, and so on. Some old manuscripts do say simply, ‘all things work together for good’ and those who want to cling to those manuscripts say that “God causes” should not have been included.
But the Bible as it has come down to us does say “God causes”, and because I believe the Holy Spirit is the one who has ultimately been in control and brought the Word down to us, I have to take my stand on the necessity of those two words being there.
In fact, Martin Luther on this verse puts it this way, “In this intercession (He makes for the saints), He works together with us, as He works together with us in all other things. (Luther here follows the Greek reading, ‘Panta sunergei ho Theos’ in all things God works together with us for good.)”* implying a sort of partnership that God has called us to; but certainly a partnership wherein He is the senior partner, exercising the real power. Our role then would simply be one of cooperation with His efforts.
*Commentary on Romans, Martin Luther, Kregel Pub., 1954
The important thing for us to get in our heads here though, is that it is God working to cause the good in all things, not just some cosmic ‘way of things’, and not according to some man’s philosophy that there is a silver lining behind every cloud.
As we progress I will explain to you why we must see that it is God working; for now please repeat to yourself, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good…” but don’t put a period on that sentence. If you did, you would be implying that God causes all things to work together for good for all people and all situations everywhere in all times, and that would be inaccurate.
TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD
This next phrase is extremely important. I doubt that most of us have ever stopped to meditate on it and consider its implications.
To whom does God cause all things to work together for good? To those who love Him.
Now the thought is not complete, and we’ll go on to get the full picture. But for now let’s talk about this first part.
People talk about God and make assertions about God and have expectations of God but they have no knowledge of God. They get in a tight spot or find themselves in the middle of calamity and so they pray, but they receive no answer and do not get the results they want so they are angry and disappointed with God; but they have no right to be, because God never promised them anything.
The only message God has for an unbelieving world is ‘repent and believe the good news of Jesus Christ and be saved’. All of His promises, all of His provision and protection, other than just a general provision of nature and holding all things together by the word of His power, is reserved for those who have heard that call and responded in faith.
In the absence of the Holy Spirit in the life it is impossible to love God, for you cannot love whom you do not know, and you cannot know Him apart from the life-infusing power of the Holy Spirit.
So when the Apostle says ‘to those who love God’, the automatic implication is that they are those who belong to Him through regeneration and adoption.
Now here is where someone might object, saying that they have Moslem friends who are devoted and would declare that they love God very much, and here is where we have to move on to the next phrase.
TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE
History is full, and our present world is full of people who are very devout and very sincere in their religion and in their philosophies. I would never deny that and I would not deny that their feelings and their sincerity are real. But they are sincerely wrong.
Apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ, God’s Son and promised Messiah, every religion and philosophy of mankind has been born of man’s own imagination, his own prejudices, out of his own fallen nature. No matter how convinced he is, no matter how devoted he is to its precepts, no matter what warm fuzzy feelings of rightness and security he gets from it, he will not ultimately be benefited, because in the end there is death and separation from the one true God if He is not approached solely upon the basis of faith in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.
It is therefore not enough to say that God works together with us for good in all things to those who love Him. Those who truly love Him must of necessity be those who have responded to His call, which is to be partners with Him in completing His purpose.
Now listen carefully to me. I use that word ‘partners’ in one very strict sense; that being, that we have submitted to His will and out of love and duty cooperate with Him in the process of progressive sanctification.
Do not think for a moment that I mean to imply that somehow we are partners with Him in our Justification and our regeneration.
To explain more fully and make my point I have to go slightly beyond the text. Let’s read verse 29.
“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren;”
Now generally speaking we can agree that God foreknew everyone. His knowledge is perfect from eternity to eternity, and there is nothing God does not know, no one that He is not perfectly aware of in every sense that we could mean that term.
When the Apostle says “For whom He foreknew”, he means it in the narrower sense of the ’elect’; those He would call to Himself and justify.
As he says in II Timothy 2:19 “…the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His’…”
In John 10:14 we read Jesus’ own words, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My own and My own know Me”. Now intrinsic in that statement is the implication that there are those who do not know Him, who will not know Him. If everyone did, there would be no need to make the distinction.
It is a well established Biblical truth that not all would respond to the call of God, and that God was aware of them from eternity past.
There are Biblical examples, such as Pharaoh and Esau. Is God unfair to let them go their way and rush down the path to eternal destruction? No, it is because He is fair that He does not interfere.
In a speech to the National Press Club, broadcasting mogul Ted Turner said the following.
“Remember, heaven is going to be perfect. And I don’t really want to be there…Those of us that go to hell…when we get there we’ll have a chance to make things better because hell is supposed to be a mess. And heaven is perfect. Who wants to go to a place that’s perfect? Boring, boring.”
In late 1989 Turner told the Dallas Morning News that “Christianity is a religion for losers.” Christ died on the cross, but Mr. Turner said He shouldn’t have bothered, “I don’t want anybody to die for me. I’ve had a few drinks and a few girlfriends and if that’s gonna put me in hell then so be it.”
This put me in mind of something I had read of C.S. Lewis on Hell so I looked it up.
“I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of Hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of Hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man ‘wishes’ to be happy; but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved just as the blessed, forever submitting in obedience, become through all eternity more and more free.”
The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis
God foreknew those who would be His. It would be accurate to say that God fore-loved them, even before time began; before the foundation of the world. He knew them intimately in eternity before even the Creation, and He predestined the ones He foreknew (fore-loved) to be conformed to the image of His Son.
According to His knowledge he predestined us to salvation and to the on-going work of sanctification and conforming us to the image of His Son; making us more like Jesus.
With that end in view, that primary purpose as His intent, He works with us to cause all things to work for good. Now that doesn’t mean He makes our purchase of a lottery ticket to pay off big. The good He causes all things to work for is the conforming of us to Christ.
So whatever comes our way, whatever the trial, whatever the calamity, whatever the testing, He has an ultimate goal in it, and that goal is to use that thing in the process of making us more like Jesus, and that is an eternal good.
THE PARTNERSHIP
Now here is what I’ve been working toward today.
Christians, we are the only people in the world who can make the claim that God causes all things to work together for our good. Do you understand what a privilege is ours; to be one of the called whom He has predestined to be made like Jesus?
Can you get an inkling of how special that makes you to Him?
Can you begin to get a grip on how much He loves you; that from eternity past He knew you intimately, and determined in His own will to call you into a divinely appointed partnership with Himself to make you into a glorious, everlasting being that will spend eternity with Him in His kingdom?
Max Lucado finished his book, “Just Like Jesus” with these words:
“Can you think of a greater gift than to be like Jesus? Christ felt no guilt; God wants to banish yours. Jesus had no bad habits; God wants to remove yours. Jesus had no fear of death; God wants you to be fearless. Jesus had kindness for the diseased and mercy for the rebellious and courage for the challenges. God wants you to have the same”.
Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado, Word Pub. 1998, pg 173
As we meditate on such a mind-boggling truth we should have a number of responses.
One is that it should give us a Christ-like compassion for those who do not know Him. God may know who will reject Him forever but we do not.
How can we exalt in the knowledge that He has called us to this high purpose and preserves us to it forever; how can we be confident down to our socks that we are His and that nothing can separate us from His love, and NOT want to share it with all who will listen?
Secondly, our response should be uninhibited and unbridled submission to His will and His work in us.
You know, we so strongly emphasize that salvation is by grace through faith and not of works that we seem to be almost afraid to use the ‘w’ word. It’s ok, Christian, to acknowledge that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. Because the Bible says we were. In fact, it says God created the good works for us to do. Eph 4:10
And I know that all of us here understand that good works are the natural fruit from a regenerated heart.
So having said that, I want to point out to you that obedience to God and submission to His will in the sanctification process falls under the category of good works.
When we are truly His we want His will done. Jesus even told us to pray for that. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” So if His will is to cause all things to work together for the good of conforming us to the image of His Son, then obedience and submission to that process should be the fruit of that desire in us.
It is the flesh that asks, ‘why is this happening to me?’ ‘Why did God allow that?’ ‘Why doesn’t God deliver me from these circumstances; this pain; this unpleasantness?’
It is the submitted spirit that says ‘nevertheless, not my will but Thy will’. And in the very worst of pain and trial, ‘though He slay me, yet will I put my trust in Him’.
Luther wrote, “It is the voice of the flesh that says: ‘My, my!” Strike out the ‘my, my’ and say instead, ‘Glory be to Thee, O Lord!’ The wisdom of the flesh seeks its own glory and is more afraid of suffering than of desecrating God.”
Believer in Christ, God has predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son, and He will complete the process at any cost to Himself; at any cost to you.
He has called you to partner with Him in that process and your only role is that of submission.
Don’t fight Him. Don’t hinder the process by your neglect and don’t retard the process by your relentless pursuit of deliverance.
“Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” I Peter 5:6, 7
He has called you to a glorious partnership in which you receive the greatest benefit, 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.
Knowing that we are the only beings in all of creation who can truthfully make that claim, how that should change our lives!
