Now, the text upon which my sermon will be based is Romans 8, 28. Romans 8 and verse 28. Let me read it. 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.'" That's God's purpose. "'All things work together for good "'to them that love God.'" Now, why should we have a sermon on this subject? I give you more than one reason. to explain why I have chosen to speak on this subject tonight. The first reason is because the words of this text are happy words. They are joyful words. They are encouraging words. All things work together for good to them that love God. Now, you can maybe correct me later when I meet you at the door, but I have to say, I do not think there are any words anywhere which give more comfort to the Christian than these words. All things work together for good to them that love God and are his people. The second reason why I choose this text is because you and I live in a dark and difficult day. Very few people are coming to church today, compared with what used to be the case. I remember the first time I went to the island of Lewes, and to Stornoway, which is the main town in Lewes, in the Western Isles. And when I went to the service, this was a number of years ago, there were about one and a half thousand people in the church. And that wasn't the only church in town. And certainly not the only church in the island. There are hundreds and hundreds and more hundreds going to church. But that's not so today, as I think you know very well. So this is a bright statement, an encouraging statement for the Lord's people in a dark day. All things work together for good to them that love God. Let me give you a third reason. It is that God can turn sadness into joy. He can turn sorrowful experiences into happy experiences. He won't do that for all the world. But listen to my text. All things work together for good to them that love God. those who are born again, those who are saved, those who trust in the blessed Jesus, the Savior of the world. So I say to you, these are reasons why this is a relevant text for you and me to think about today. I dare say the thought has gone through your mind that the unbeliever would laugh at this. Those who are not Christians would scoff at this. They would say to us, you fools, do you really believe that stuff? They would say, look at the world we're living in. Wars, first world war, second world war, millions of people killed in these wars. How do all things work for good, they would say. Look at Ukraine just now. People being put to death in their own country. And look at the diseases, the COVID disease. How many people have died because of the COVID disease and other diseases? And they would scoff at us when we look at this verse. Other people would say, look at the weather, look at the weather. Terrific floods in some parts of the world. Afghanistan, I think, terrible floods, people losing their houses, losing their lives. Look at the winds and the tornadoes blowing so fiercely in some parts of the world. And so we have to look at these objections of the unbeliever. And the way I put it to you is this. Christians are the people who know that all things work together for good. And Christians know that to die and leave this world, because of a disease or because of some calamity, the Christian knows he's going to a better world. For me to live is Christ, says Paul, and to die is gain. So these words that are written here, they're not just an exaggeration. They are true and the Christian knows it and he takes them to heart. It is not man who is speaking here, it is God. With an inspired Bible, we learn all things work together for good. It doesn't say to everybody, but to those who love God. That's why I think, my dear friends, you and I must be sure we are converted. Be sure you're born again. Be sure you have Jesus as your personal savior. Be sure that you come to church in order to worship God in spirit and in truth. God says to you, all things work together for good. For Christ's people. Now, verse 28 needs to be read more carefully. Let me go to it again. This is verse 28, my text. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, that means Christians, Again, to them who are called according to his purpose. So God has a purpose and all things work together for good for Christians according to God's purpose. He's not saying that This is something that happens to everybody all the time, whether they're Christians, or atheists, or belong to some foreign religion. What the Bible tells us here is this. All things are working together for good. To those who are genuine Christians, who love God, And things are working together for good because God has a purpose for Christians. You see that? 28 is the verse. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who look at the cold according to God's purpose. And this purpose of God, is something which Paul now explains in the next two verses, 29 and 30. Let me look at these two verses. For whom he, that is God, whom he did foreknow, he, that is God, also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn of my many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. Verses 29 and 30. Now these two verses, 29 and 30, are an explanation to us as to what God's purpose is. What is God doing in this world? Well, the unbeliever, It is right to say we live in a very difficult world. Wars, and diseases, and crimes, and unkindness, and cruelty, and irreligion, and false religion. All of that is here, but the Apostle Paul, earlier in this chapter, has taken account of that. Did you notice? He says, earlier in this chapter, the whole creation groans. The whole universe in which we live is a groaning universe. What does that mean? It means that God's curse has come down upon the whole world and everything in it. And those who don't know their Bible say to us, why did God curse us? And the answer as we read the Bible is this. Because of Adam's sin, Adam sinned against God and brought a judgment upon the entire world. You and I were born sinners. We were sinners in our mother's womb before we came out of the womb, before we said a word or did a thing. We are all born sinners. And the whole world is under the judgment and curse of God. And so it will be until Jesus comes back at the end of time. When Jesus comes back, he will destroy the world in which you live. The sun, the moon, the stars, and the weeds, and all the wicked things and terrible things that are in the world. God's curse brought these things down upon us. But he did so as a punishment for the sin of Adam. But when Christ comes back, he'll make a new universe. And you may say to me, but that's not happened yet. So how can all things be working together for good now, in these days before Jesus has come back? I give you the answer to that in the words the Apostle Paul gives us here. He says, verse 29, Whom God did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. And if you look at that, you will see that there are different things told us about God's eternal purpose. Let me spend time looking at these, because it's an extremely important subject, what God is doing in the life of a believer. You notice these things. Grace, glory, and heaven. He tells us that before the world began, God planned the gospel method of salvation. Before Adam was created, God had planned the gospel. You may say, well, there was no need for the gospel before Adam sinned. Ah, true. But God foresaw that Adam would sin. He knew that Adam would sin. And God, knowing what was going to happen when Adam was created and Adam would sin, God prepared a solution. And we call it the gospel. And he puts it like this, whom he did foreknow, them he did predestinate. That means that God knew before the world began everybody who was going to be born. And God put the name down of some of these in his book. that these are the ones he was going to save. So you see, when you and I are born into this world, when we come to faith in Christ, we do so because it was God who chose us to this great privilege. We can't thank ourselves if we have come to faith in Christ. It was the grace of God. We did not choose him, but he chose us. Our duty is to choose God. But without God's grace and without the new birth, we have no ability to choose God. So the Apostle Paul says, whom he foreknew, he did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And that word called means God gave them the ability to believe the gospel. Now if you and I look into our own lives, we remember when we were unconverted. I certainly remember when I was unconverted. I lived for this world, for playing football and playing cricket and eating nice food and laughing and joking. and wanted to have dancing and entertainment and all of that. But when a person is truly converted, they do so because they have heard God's voice in the gospel, repent and believe the gospel. Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. These are the clear teachings of the Bible. And this call which is mentioned here is not simply hearing a preacher's voice, but it is hearing God's voice as well as the preacher's voice. And God's voice is not heard in some sort of microphone, it's heard in the conscience. God speaks to the conscience and he says to the sinner, You're going to hell if you don't repent. Sinner! I will punish you eternally if you don't repent. And when the sinner hears that, and when the Holy Spirit makes those words efficient and powerful, then what happens is the sinner says to God, Have mercy upon me. Oh Lord, give me salvation. Oh Lord, give me a new heart. Make me a genuine, real, true Christian. And that is part of this purpose of God. Whom he did foreknow, them he did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, them he called. That's the gospel called. And now notice what comes next. Whom he called, them he Justified, verse 30, whom he called, them he also justified. Now this justified, I hope you know, refers to an extremely important subject in the Bible. We call it justification. Now this is why we must listen to the Bible's teaching and not to the teaching of some churches. Because for instance, the Roman Catholic Church teaches a form of justification which is not the Bible's teaching. The Roman Catholic Church and other churches sometimes they teach that if you want to be saved you've got to do good works. Go into a monastery or spend your time becoming a nurse or some function where you can show your kindness to humanity. And in that way you'll earn your way to heaven. That's the way to think of it. You have to pray so many times a day, you have to look at the saints, and you have to say, I want to be like Mary, the Virgin Mary, or something like that. Now that's not, not the teaching of the Bible. That is a false teaching about justification. How can a sinner be justified? Which means, how can a sinner have God's forgiveness. That's what justification is. God's forgiveness of all our sins. And the answer is, we can only get it by believing in Jesus. To believe in Christ is the only way to get this justification. And it is an extremely important subject. Don't listen to anything you hear from Catholic sources or liberal sources. My dear friends, to get right with God, We can do it only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the one who can pay the price for our sins and has paid for it on the cross. You can't pay for the price of your own sins and nor can I pay the price for mine. But justification is to believe in the Saviour Jesus Christ who by his death has paid for the sins of all his people who believe in him. That's justification. Now says the writer here, whom he justified, verse 30, them he also glorified. Now glorification is that wonderful state in which a genuine, true, converted Christian who has had the new birth, he enters into a new condition entirely when he dies. When a believer dies, His soul leaves the body and goes into glory. The body goes into the grave until the end of the world. But when the end of the world comes and the Lord Jesus Christ returns, Jesus will call for these dead bodies to come back to life. That's a thought, isn't it? Think of all the cemeteries in the world. Millions and millions of people are buried. Now I'm not talking about everybody, being given a new birth, I'm talking about Christians, I'm talking about believers. When a Christian dies, his body is put in the earth and it returns as dust. Dust we are and to dust we shall return. But when the Lord Jesus comes back in the glory of heaven with all his holy angels, he will sound the trumpet and he will call to all the dead Christians whose bodies are in the grave. And he will say to them, come forth and they will come out of the graves and their bodies will rise again. So the justification, the glorification of a Christian is in two stages. The soul is glorified at death and the body is glorified at the second coming of Christ. So the believer loses nothing in the end. Some people think that when a believer dies his body's in the grave and he's lost his body forever. No! He's only lost his body for a while until Jesus comes back and then Jesus being in the clouds of heaven will say, Sinner, come forth! And all over the world this wonderful thing will happen. Dead bodies of believers will come out of their graves. He will deal with the unbelievers in a different way. He will raise them from the dead and When the judgment is over, he will cast them into eternal fire to be punished forever. But you see, this is what it meant by whom he justified, them he also glorified. And this is the purpose of God. This is the wonderful purpose of God. So you see, for the true genuine Christian, all things work together for good. All the trials of life, all the sorrows and temptations of life, they're not going to spoil his eternal enjoyment of God in heaven. God has so worked everything in his eternal purpose that those whom he has foreknown, he has predestinated. Those whom he has predestinated, then he has called through the gospel. whom he has called, them, when they believe in Christ, are justified, and in the end of life, and in the end of the world's history, they will all be glorified. Now, my beloved, you and I must ask ourselves this. Have we believed in Christ? Are we all born again? Do we know what it is to have this experience of becoming new creatures in Christ? Well if we don't, then my word to you is this, oh beloved, make sure that this very day, before it becomes midnight, give your heart to Christ. Plead with God for his forgiveness. Some people say, well if God has predestinated then what hope have I got? I may not be one of those predestinated. Oh no, we're not called upon to think like that. It is true, God predestinates some, but you see, we don't know who they are. And God tells us, whosoever will, let him come to God. If you want salvation, you can have it. Don't you be thinking about predestination too long. That's God's secret. We don't know who the predestinated are. What we do know is that everyone is welcome to come. Every sinner is welcome to come, no matter who he is or what his church background is. If you repent and come to the Lord Jesus Christ, then he will give you this wonderful calling. I often quote John Wesley when he was converted 200 years ago, I think it was. When John Wesley was converted, he said something very important. He said, my heart was strangely warmed. I had the same experience myself. When I was a teenager, about 18, under conviction of sin, I cried to God and said, oh Lord, I'll do anything to get peace. And I got it there and then, a peace of pastoral understanding. I knew that I was a changed man. And that's what we need to tell our friends and those who come to church, either this church or any other church, they need to know that God invites all to come, whosoever will let him come, and take of the waters of life freely. And if they do, they will be justified, and in the course of time, they will be glorified. So now you see how it is that the Apostle says that all things work together for good, not to everybody, but to all those who are in God's purpose, which means those who have truly come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So you see how wrong the world is. They're complaining because there are wars and there are diseases and there are terrible types of weather and all sorts of criminal things happen in this world. How can everything we said to be working together for good? And the answer is not everything works together for good for everyone. But says Paul, God works all things together for good for those who are in his purpose, for those who are genuine believers, for those who trust in Jesus Christ as their savior. And therefore, all things are working together for good now in this life, and they'll go on working together for good. Yesterday we had the Lord's Supper in this congregation here. My beloved friend was the one who gave the elements of bread and wine to those who were there, present. Some were not able to come tonight, but both they and those of us who were here yesterday had the bread and the wine. And you see, that bread and wine is the symbol of Christ's finished work. that Jesus, by his shed blood and his broken body on the cross, has done everything necessary to make this purpose of God come true. If Jesus hadn't died on the cross, nothing would be working together for good, to anybody. But because he died on the cross and shed his blood and had his body broken, he is telling you and me, it's all part of God's eternal purpose. The gospel is God's eternal purpose. So my beloved friends, here is the comfort. If we have trouble in this world because of our health or our circumstances or disappointments we have, or sudden illnesses that come upon us. If we're the Lord's people, we must say to ourselves now, don't become too upset. All these things are working together for good. If somebody steals our money, or smashes our car, or runs us over and we have to go to hospital, don't let it break your heart. Say to yourself, all of this is part of God's purpose for me. There are missionaries who've been all around the world to take the gospel there, and some of them have been terribly badly treated. They went to preach the gospel to people of different languages and different countries, and many of them were put to death, as you know, and terribly killed, burned in the fire and so on. But they knew very well that all things are working together for God. And that's how you, if you're a believer, must speak to yourself. As we get old, and it's quite obvious, Some of us here are getting old, aren't we? We won't be here forever. But we know that death is one of the things that is working together for good to those who are God's people, because soon God's people will leave this sad world and enter into the world of heaven and glory and paradise. And there we shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, said Jesus, for they shall see God. In heaven, as believers, we shall be able to see God and talk to God. And we'll be able to enjoy the love of God poured into our hearts in a degree and a measure which we cannot know here in this life. No wonder the apostle Paul said, for me to live is Christ and to die is God. Is gain, I beg your pardon. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Meaning to say that for the Christian, death is better than life. Because life brings us, or the birth brings us into a fallen, ruined universe. But death brings the Christian into a perfect universe. When we are born, we enter into a sinful, ruined world. And we ourselves are sinful, ruined sinners. But when the Christian is taken to glory at death, then he lives in a world where everyone loves everybody else. Where sin will never enter in. and where he will enjoy the love of God to all eternity. So there are lessons then finally, as I draw toward my conclusion, there are things here which each one of us have to learn from. Let us value the gospel, because it's only the gospel that can make people see that all things work together for good. So people may think that they're enjoying life, going to the public house or spending time gambling, playing cards, laughing their heads off. But my dear friends, all of these earthly things will lead them to eternal misery in the end. And they certainly cannot speak the words of this text. But if you and I suffer a little for Christ and people say nasty things about us because we're Christians, or go to that little church round the corner, poor things, fancy going to a place like that, we can say, well, you can say anything you like about me. I don't mind because I know I'm going to heaven. And I know that when I die, I will be with Jesus and with all his saints in heaven above. And the unbeliever has to say, well, is that so? Then it's high time I started going to church, isn't it? And reading the Bible and listening to what the preacher has to say. And that is true. So what lessons are there for ourselves as those who are believers? Well, one is, let us love the church. Let us go to the church. Let us love the preaching of the gospel. The Bible is the thing which we preach in church. We don't preach what man says, we preach the purpose of God, which God tells us. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. We don't listen to the modernist who tells us that the Bible is just another book. A rather nice book, but nothing more than a human book with a very nice story. No. The Bible is absolutely inspired. It is God's inspired, infallible word. And we must take it in that way. We must treat the Bible as God's voice speaking to us. We mustn't change it in any way. We mustn't add to the Bible. We mustn't take away from the Bible. If people add to the Bible, God will add the judgments of the Bible to that person. And if people take away from the Bible, God will take away their names out of the book of life, and they will not get to heaven. So then, as I close, let us love one another as those who are believers. Oh, we all have differences of various kinds. That's the fact about us all. We're all different, aren't we? We have different natures, different interests, different connections, different friendships, etc, etc. But here's the great lesson. If we are believers, let us love one another. Let us forgive one another if we feel we have treated one another badly or been treated by them. Let us forgive the past and let us go on in the future as those that love one another. I mean to continue to love one another. So that's one lesson, to love the church. Another lesson surely is this, to respect all those who preach the truth, those who are genuine preachers of Christ's gospel. Oh, what we want is to have more and more men coming forward to preach the word of God in churches, in missions, In halls, in any place, there's an opportunity to do so. We should be praying for that. We should say, oh God, raise up men for the work of the ministry. Some of us have come to the end of our life pretty well, and the end of our strength, and the end of our ability, and they can't go on. So, oh let us plead with God, as part of his loving purpose, to raise up men. and to pour out his Spirit and to give us a revival so that the churches may hear the Gospel and people may be converted by their hundreds and by their thousands, which is what happens in every revival. Hundreds and thousands of people are converted, as it is in the Acts of the Apostles and the Day of Pentecost. So many hundreds and hundreds of people came to faith just in one day. And that can happen over and over again. Oh, my friends, so let us love the preaching of the gospel and encourage people to come. Get to know the people next door, people across the road, and tell them to come and say, in our church we have a faithful minister, as you do have, a minister here, Sir Graham Craig, men who truly preach the gospel, men who love the word of God. And let us say to them, we would love you to have you come. Come and hear what our pastor has to say. We want you to go to heaven. That's what I often say to people. I have a way of trying to make a conversation with the unbeliever. I often say to the unbeliever, hey, can I give you a little message? And they say to me, what's that? I say, believe in Jesus and he will take you to heaven. And then they look at it in a puzzled way to me, but that's the truth. And we hope to remember that and come to faith in Jesus. And so therefore as I close, let us thank God for this wonderful truth, that all things work together for good to them that love God. And no matter what troubles we may have to go through, no matter what hatred we may have to suffer, God is working in it all. He'll bring us through all our trials and take us safe home to heaven at last. My dear friends, I want to see you all there with the many millions who will also be there. Let us now stand for prayer. O blessed God, our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for this wonderful truth that all things work together for good to them that love Thee. Oh, we pray that each one of us may be such a person, whether we're young or old. And we pray for our loved ones, our families, our friends, our neighbours. We pray for this generation in Scotland and in Britain. We pray for all those throughout the world in places of persecution like China and North Korea. Oh Lord, we pray that all these things that are happening may work together for good. and may thy people get safe home at last. Hear us and cleanse us by the precious blood. In the name of Christ we pray.