Captured my heart and this was in 2009. It took a little while. It's kind of slow, but he just put it on my heart just to reach out to everybody who had ever just planted seeds of the gospel in my life. And so I contacted all my old youth pastors as a kid, all my old pastors wrote letters. And but one that I just could not like, I just like. was Derek. I mean, I just, I just, I wanted to like be next to you because I just admire so much just the ministry God's called you to. And, and, and so I just, I love you so much and just thank you for the way you continue to walk with me and encourage me. And, and, uh, you're a big part of the reason I'm at RTS when I was thinking about seminaries and I know nothing about seminaries. I know nothing about Christian education. And, um, so I was kind of doing a little test run and I talked to, Derek about it, and he he told me simply then just go to a good reformed school and so I like to joke that I just went home and googled reformed seminary and Like wow you realize there's one called reformed theological seminary. That's gotta be it so Ended up there, but that is where God has us and growing more convinced by the day That's where he wants us for this season and my wife and I are so thankful for how he is working in our lives and What I want to do this morning, if you want to go ahead and open your Bibles, I want to go to Romans 8. Why not? Right. We could spend all of our lives in Romans 8 and not mine all the gold from that chapter of Scripture. Everybody knows that there's no secret that it's. Often thought of as the greatest chapter in the Bible, Christians for generations have found immense comfort in the verses of Romans 8, and it will continue until glory. Paul's letter to the Romans, it's a theological masterpiece, unpacking the gospel in just the grandest way. And Romans 8 is kind of the plateau, kind of the mountain peak, if you will, where it just kind of bursts into almost this doxology of just praise to God for and just precious promises and I thought we would do well to look at one in particular this morning. And the reason why is we're closing out the year and what I have started to do over the last several years and my wife and I, my wife Joy and I kind of now have this tradition on New Year's Eve Towards the end of the night, you know, we just shut all the TV off don't care about what's going on in NYC or anything like that we just sit together and just recount the year and and just look at what all we've been through and walked through together and the highs and the lows and share what God has been doing in us and teaching us and our struggles and just reflect. And I think that's very, very good to do. And I want to commend that exercise to you this year. And so as we approach that day here just in a few days, and I'm already thinking that that's the reason why I want to go to Romans 8, because I imagine as we sit down together, here this week to do that. There's going to be a lot of tears. We've had what we were not ready for as far as this past year. Just a very difficult year. We thought we were going to move to Florida, start seminary, that everything was going to be exciting and fun. And it's been very, very hard, leaving our family and friends and everything we know here, to move to a strange place and financial difficulty that comes with that. And my health took some pretty hard turns this year, and just chronic disease, and in and out of the VA hospital all year there in Orlando, or as I like to call the place where God sanctifies me at the VA clinic. And then my wife losing her little sister here just about 10 days ago. So it has been a hard, hard year for us. And we are not alone. In fact, we know people even in our own lives who have had more difficulties than us. And even you might be thinking now through the past year and you may have had to tread some rough waters yourself. And you may be able to count more rainy days than days of sunshine this past year. And so when we think about all these things, the question is, what do we make of all this? What are we to make of it? What was God up to this year? In our lives, my life, your life, what was He doing? And all the highs and the lows, and especially the lows is what we're going to talk about today, especially the hard times that we've experienced. What was He up to? Was He up to anything? If so, what? And to what extent? And how can we be sure? Those are the questions I hope to tackle with you today, and this is important for everyone. Because some of us are in the middle of those tough, difficult seasons, perhaps a chronic illness or affliction, difficult relationship, tough ministry. Some of us are thankfully just over the horizon, just recently removed from a tough season. And I rejoice with you in that this morning. And and for some of us, it's it's coming. There is no avoiding it. Jesus promised it. In this world, you will have tribulation. Paul says, through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Trouble comes to all of us. So it's important for us to kind of learn how to swim before we're tossed into the deep end of the pool. And so so with that, let's let's turn to Romans 8 here this morning and read together. I'm going to start in 28 and we're going to read through verse 32 this morning. Hear the word of the Lord. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Amen, the word of the Lord. He who has ears, let him hear. Let's let's pray this morning. Father, we do thank you for your word, and as we turn to it now, We declare we believe in the Holy Spirit. We ask that you would be amongst us, teaching us, convicting us where we need conviction, encouraging us where we are weak, strengthening us. Show us Christ. Show us your magnificent gospel and give us hope, Lord, for all that you have done and all that you are going to do. God, we need a rock to stand upon, and we come to you, the rock of salvation. Help us this morning. It's through Christ I pray. Amen. So in Romans 8, 28 verses 28 through 32, I want to point you to three things this morning. I want to point you to a promise. I want to point you to the meaning of that promise. And then I want to point you to some assurance of that promise. So a promise, the meaning of the promise, and then some assurance or evidence of that promise. Look at verse 28 for the promise. We all know this. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. First, and if you're an underliner or you've got a highlighter or whatever, we need to recognize, and you might even want to underline the words that Paul opens with here, we know. And we know. He does not begin here stating we think. This matter is settled. He does not begin here stating we feel. This is a statement that surpasses mere emotional agreement. This is important to recognize because the truth is, or at least it is for me, that often you will not feel what Paul is about to say is true, especially when you're under the weight of hardship and suffering. Although at times we will, and if you do, that is a gift of grace and the Holy Spirit bearing witness that we are the children of God. But often we will not feel. This is true, however, our feelings we know will deceive us. And so the Apostle Paul here, he appeals to the mind and to the will. He is giving us facts, not fantasy. Secondly, note the exclusivity of the promise for those and we know that for those. And he mentions two things, those who love God and for those who are called according to his purpose. There's a warning here. This promise does not apply to everyone. It does not apply to those who fall outside of this category. This is not an either or situation either when it comes to those who love God and those who are called. Either both of these are true or both untrue. And you might ask the question, how do I know if I'm called? And I would just ask a question back. Do you love God? Those who are called are lovers of God. We love because he first loved us. So do you love God this morning or is your heart fixated on the idols of self-worship? Have you been called out of the darkness of sin into his marvelous light? I pray that he would reveal where you stand this morning. Also, look at the phrase all things in this promise. Love those two words. All things worked for good. When Paul, via the Holy Spirit, says all things, he means all things. Got a couple semesters of Greek now. All things means all things. I just take my word for it. Paul does not tell us that all good things work together for good, nor everything but these lists of things work together for good. But literally, God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Paul specifically, I believe, has the harder things in mind here, the not so good things, the bad things. We know that because of the audience he is writing to in the period in which they lived. We also know that just because if we look at Paul's life and the categories of suffering that he endured, we know that just by reading the previous seven chapters of Romans, trials and hardship and groaning inwardly are mentioned often. And Paul has these things in mind. So Romans 8, 28, it's not a mindless cliche fit for a bumper sticker. This is a rock solid promise of the sovereign God of the universe meant to be a banner for our lives. And I would tell you, beware of theology that would lead you to believe that God is not sovereign over all of life, of life, life, life, including evil. Beware. of any such teachings. You will find no comfort there. I get very disturbed when I encounter somebody who is going through a difficult season, and treated as such as though God is off in the distance somewhere, and that He is not involved, and that this is 100% an attack of the devil, and it's up to them to defeat the enemy, and that is terrifying to me. I find no comfort in a God who is not in the midst of my difficulty working. And he is, and we see it here in Scripture, our God who made everything out of nothing can surely make good out of anything. And this isn't the first mention of the providential working of God of all things. for his purposes. Remember the story of Joseph, of course, in the book of Genesis, all the trials and suffering he went through and painful things he had to endure. And at the end of his life, when he's before his brothers and they're kind of reconciled and and he looks at them and he says, as for you, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Meaning God actually meant their evil for Joseph's good and for the good of thousands of others. God was over that. He was in charge of that. There wasn't some rogue power running around, causing all this mischief while God was somehow off in the distance or unaware or unable to intervene. God is sovereign over all of life. And there's much comfort to be found in that truth. And of course, the Ace of Spades is the life of Christ. I mean, talk about the worst thing that has ever happened in human history. The only person to ever truly get what they did not deserve. Beaten, betrayed, mocked and crucified for crimes he didn't commit. We look at that and we say, surely that was all devil. But God was working for good in that, the highest good, the ultimate good. God works all things for good. Now, you may be saying at this point, I understand all those examples, but tell me more about this good that God is working all things toward. How is it good? Or in what way do all things work for good? Another fair question, because probably everybody in this room can think of something that they have gone through in which there is certainly nothing good about it. and no observable good that came from it. Also, is it the same good for everyone, or is that different? Does God have smaller good purposes He is working all things in your life towards, or does He have one giant ultimate purpose for which He causes all things to work to? And I would answer, yes. He does both. He certainly is doing a thousand things in every detail of our lives, but he most definitely has one gigantic good purpose. Recently, I did get to experience a little bit of the observable good, which was kind of shocking. Just over a year ago, before we moved, as my wife Joy and I were kind of We felt this call and we had been talking about this, I mean, ever since we pretty much met and moving towards seminary and feeling the call and had our eyes fixed on RTS in Florida. And we had goals we needed to accomplish, some financial goals. And you know how that goes when you need to make life changes, you need to prepare. And so we were both working and saving and doing everything that we could. But I found myself in a position, at work that began to be very, very tough for me to endure. There was just some conflict there where it was an issue of conscience and ethics for me at the time. I was beginning to be very miserable and did not want to be my remaining days, months, weeks, whatever it looked like in Tulsa to be that way. So we got together one night and we were still short of our financial goal. We had more things to accomplish before we could make this transition and make this move. And so but but things have gotten so bad. So we we got together one night, my wife and I, and we we prayed and I was in tears just about everything and all the stress and and and just felt just felt a peace about going in the next day and just quitting. And just putting in my notice and just trusting somehow We would find a way to get the remaining things we needed to to make the move We made our peace with that we felt like The Lord confirmed that in our hearts and so I went in that next morning nobody knew prepared to quit my job and turn in my notice and I walked into my office and it was already packed up for me and I had been fired And I was shocked, to say the least, but also kind of a little funny. But to make a long story short, what ended up happening is I was able to receive unemployment because there was no cause to fire and so that actually ended up saving us when we moved to Florida because it took us a while to find work and God sustained us on that as we looked and struggled together and even though that was a hurtful, hurtful thing to go through and it didn't go my way, I got to see some of that observable good in that situation and that was That was interesting. But often we don't see the observable good. And I can think of many more things that have happened this year, especially medical mishaps and things at the VA, of course, where we're still scratching our heads. What was the good there? What was the good? And I don't think we'll ever know. But no matter what we observe or do not observe, there is always that greater ultimate good that God, your father, is always working all things in your life toward. And I want to look at that with you. Go to verse twenty nine. The meaning of the promise. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Did you catch it? Do you see the good? in this verse that Paul is promising, that God is promising all things in your life are being worked by God to accomplish. What is God up to you in your life, particularly in your trials, in your seasons of hardship, your illness, your wrestling with truth, your difficult relationships, your season of unending waiting? Fill in the blank. Answer, He is making you look more like Jesus. He is chiseling away at the old man so that Christ may shine. Was this not God's original intent for man that he should bear his image? What are the words of Genesis 126? Let us make man in our image. And even though a few verses later it went catastrophically wrong and the image was fractured, God has not been derailed of his original intent to have image bearers of his glory covering the earth. And he has at work in your life, working all things toward that end, conforming you to his son. When we consider what work that must be, and we look at, for example, Isaiah's description of Jesus, and we see that this is no light or easy or fluffy task. Jesus is called the man of sorrows, a man acquainted with grief, afflicted, oppressed, rejected. For Philippians 2, though in the form of God, Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. This is a tough, tough thing to be conformed and molded into the image of his son and dear friends, it is not through health, wealth and prosperity that we are conformed into the image of Jesus, though God may grant as he wish. It is under pressure that diamonds are made. and in the fire where impurities of faith are burned away. All things for good. Conformity to Christ. Now, for some assurance or evidence, if you will, to how can I be sure of this? How can I be sure of God's love for me and confident in his resolve to work all things together for my good? Look down at verse 32. He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? We would do well this morning, for the remainder of our time, to ponder the unsparing love of God in the cross of Christ. as the ultimate piece of evidence that God is for you in all things, is working all things in your life for good, and that good is conformity to Christ. The all things in verse 32, I draw a line from there straight back up to verse 28. The reality of God graciously giving us all things necessary, meaning that He will not withhold anything. from us to be worked towards the ultimate good of conforming us to the image of Christ. And for me, that is both extremely comforting and haunting. God, the master builder, will not hesitate for one second to come in and demolish walls and clean out whatever he needs to accomplish this purpose. And I am in need of much work. There's much work to be done in me. I fall way short of my husbandly call to love my wife as Christ loves his church. But I am so thankful that God will continue the work of conforming me into that image and working things toward that end. I've spent a lot of time in and out of the book of Job this year. And Job, I think, understood this well, just the sovereign, benevolent care of God, although not perfectly, of course. But he understood God's sovereign reign of working all things, even the evil, even death and suffering and a number of different things for some grand ultimate good and even the evil dealt out by the devil himself. And Job had this exceeding confidence because he looked towards the Redeemer. In Job 19, Job cries out, for I know that my Redeemer lives. So now we also on this side of the cross, in the midst of the darkness, must turn our eyes toward the living Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and hold fast to God's benevolent care. After all, what is man's greatest need but to be redeemed? What deeper, more urgent need can man have but to be reconciled before a holy God? Where might one find more confidence and assurance of God's love than in his gospel? So, let us go then to the good news. Why did God give Jesus up? Why did that have to happen? Well, as we see, we're not going to read the entire book of Romans this morning, but a quick glance through Romans one through three, and we see that man is unbelievably wicked by nature. We are lost, we are suppressors of the truth, we worship creation rather than the creator. And God is is perfectly just and holy, perfect in all of his attributes, therefore not able to allow sin to go unpunished. His justice requires, his justness requires justice. God is also simultaneously, perfectly loving and merciful. He delights in showing mercy. So here's the problem. How can God be 100 percent just and uphold his justice and also 100 percent merciful and uphold his mercy? How can man be saved? This is a God sized problem. The good news of the Gospel and the good news proclaimed here in Romans 8.32 is that what man cannot do for himself, God has done in Jesus Christ. He did not spare him. Paul pulls right from the Septuagint, Genesis 22, when Abraham prepares to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, and God spares him. Provides a substitute. God did not spare him. God also gave him up. We see the passive and the active. The culmination of that promise of provision that started with Abraham. God satisfied himself through the sacrifice of his son and he went all out. He has met your deepest need. If you are in Christ this morning, he has met your deepest need. He has not withheld his most costly gift. He has made a way for sinners to go from enemies of God to friends of God, better yet, sons and daughters. And in that wonderful union with Christ, all who enter in can enjoy the benefits laid out in this wonderful chapter of Romans, Romans eight, no condemnation, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the ability to walk in a way pleasing to the Lord, the gift of adoption, The ability to the ability to call God, the God of the universe, Abba Father. An inheritance with Christ. The promise of redeemed, glorified bodies one day. Amen. I'll see you at the banquet. We'll have our own special section. The promise of God's providential working of all things in your life for good and that good as ultimately making you more like Jesus. And if you ever waver on that ground, beloved, flee to the cross once more and drink from the unending well of the gospel. Find your strength and faith renewed. Octavius Winslow, an old English Baptist preacher, wrote these words, I've read several different versions, but they all say the same thing. He asked the question, who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas for money, Not Pilate for fear, nor the Jews for envy, but the Father for love. Our God is unbelievably generous. He's working all things for good. He is conforming us to the image of Christ. And He will withhold nothing to accomplish this purpose in your life. Let's pray. If you do not know this gift of Christ and union with Him, He stands ready to save you. The invitation is come. All who are weary and he will give you rest. Father, we are in all. Of your great love. Your sovereign rule. Your care for us. Who is man that You would be mindful of Him? We are completely unworthy, yet You love us. And You showed that supremely in the cross through Your Son Jesus. And Father, There are many wounds in this room, some still open, some recently closed, and undoubtedly some new ones on the way. And we are in desperate need of our Abba Father. We're in desperate need to be reminded of your providential care over our lives, your sovereign rule of working all things for good, even the things which are painful and bring us grief. We are in desperate need of the reminder that the ultimate good, even when we can't see what all you are doing on the surface, is that you are conforming us to the image of your Son. You are sanctifying us. And the good work which you began, you will bring to completion. We thank you for the assurance that we find in the Gospel. So, God, help us. Strengthen us. Encourage us. and equip us to live for you, to the glory of your name. It's in Christ I pray. Amen.