Paul is writing to these Roman Christians to help them, to help them with their problems and struggles, their battles against sin and against temptation. And here the Apostle Paul puts together this theology and practice, theology or doctrine and the practical. So how do you know that this applies to you? How do you know that this promise is yours? It is not for everyone. How do you know that it is for you? First of all, you know by whether or not you conform to the description Paul gives of the kind of people to whom this does apply, this promise does apply. And what is the first thing we are told about this, about the one who has the right to cling to this promise, to claim this promise? They love God. They love the resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You remember, as I noted this morning, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to Peter as he recommissions him. Here he's denied Christ openly three times. I don't even know the man. And then Jesus initiates this conversation with the Apostle Peter, goes to him, by his grace, recommissioning him. Do you love me, Peter? Three times, do you love me? Three times, he denied Christ. Three times, Christ asked him, do you love me? And Peter says, yes, Lord, yes, Lord. You know I do, Lord. They love God. That's the first thing. The question is, do you? We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Paul here says, and in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. Why does he not say that all things work for good for those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? And we must believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians, true Christians, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We must believe upon him. That is true of every Christian. They believe upon Christ, they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, they must trust in him, not just the historical Christ, but Jesus Christ, the Lord, the eternal Son of God. But why does he describe them as those who love the God? Paul speaks about this in other places. For instance, 1 Corinthians 2.9, no eye has seen nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. Why does Paul put it that way? Well, first of all, is there any greater contrast between the Christian and the non-Christian than this? He has been contrasting the Christian with the non-Christian. For instance, look at verse six. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. There's that contrast. between setting the mind on the spirit and setting the mind on the flesh. We find the same thing in Ephesians chapter four, turn to that with me. Verses 17 and 18, now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. And we have the same contrast in chapter eight, verse six. Why is this important? It is important because many describe or understand the Christian life merely in terms of the mind, in terms of the intellect, in terms of accepting the truth. It does involve these things. The Christian faith does involve the intellect. We don't leave our minds outside, the intellect outside when we come in here. We don't leave our minds when we come to the scriptures, the intellect when we read the scriptures. These things are important. You see the trouble with the unbeliever, with the non-Christian is that he hates God. He doesn't know that he does, but he hates the God of scripture. He has a God of his own imagination that he worships. He does not love, does not worship the God of scripture. So according to the scriptures, there are two alternatives. Either you love God, or you hate God, or you are, as Paul puts it in Romans 8, you are hostile toward God. You are God's enemy. So this description here in verse 28 brings out this contrast between natural man, man who's natural in his thinking, Bible describes him as having a darkened mind, He is darkened in spiritual things because of the fall. His thinking is according to his fallen mind from the effects of sin. And according to the Westminster Confession of Faith, by means of the fall, he is made opposite to all good. Or as it says in another place, he's defiled in all the faculties. And a Christian loves God. He's not hostile toward God. He's been reconciled to God. He's not an enemy of God. He loves God. So Paul is saying Christianity goes beyond simply believing in God, believing in the existence of God, believing in the existence of Christ. I don't know if you've ever recently came out with a poll, believe it or not, according to this poll, this national poll, 85% of our population believes that there's forgiveness of sin in Christ. One of the problems with that poll was the definition of sin. premarital sex was not a sin, extramarital sex was not a sin, the number one sin was racism. Do you believe that 85 percent of our population is by true faith and repentance joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, putting their faith in Him, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, love the Lord Jesus Christ? So there's this need for a more searching test. And if you have only an intellectual assent to a body of doctrine, then you'll never have the assurance that this promise is for you. Assurance, true biblical assurance, is deep. True biblical assurance presupposes certain things. Remember how the Lord Jesus Christ summed it up, summed up the law, first and greatest? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and all your strengths, and he goes on to say, and you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. What's his point? When he talks about with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, he's being all-inclusive. He's not dealing with the mind only. not only with the intellect, but with the whole person. You cannot love with only parts of your person, of your personality, human relationships, and in your relationship with the Lord. So this love for God, whether you have love for God, this love for God is a thorough test. But then the next question, what does this love include? What is meant by loving God? Is it merely a matter of sentiment? Is it a mere feeling? Many people think it is. They think that if they have a certain feeling toward God, they love God. Most people would say, yes, I love God. It does include feelings and emotions, of course, but there's much more to it than that. So here's another snare the devil lays for us, another trap. Some people think they love God because of certain feelings, because they've had certain emotional experiences. That's not really love, necessarily. That's not full, complete, real biblical definition or understanding of love. Love includes, of course, emotions, feelings, but it's much more than that, much more than those things. You can have some emotional experience and think that you love God, when in fact, you do not. So how do you know? How do you know that you love God? Well, it couldn't be any clearer than this, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, John 14, 21, whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. You can say till you're blue in the face, I love the Lord. If you do not obey him, do not, no one obeys him perfectly, but if you do not long to obey him, if you do not love his commands, you do not love him. This is true because love for God, love for his son, love for the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, always includes, always involves, always leads to basically four things, a desire to please him, a desire to live for his glory and his honor, a desire, a drive to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, to have the mind of Christ, and a deep, heartfelt, desire to keep the commandments of God. Not that that is in any way meritorious, but you do it, you want to do it, you long to do it, you feel like you can do nothing but that because why? Because you love God. That's the only pure motive. Love for God, glory for God. So Paul chose this phrase because it involves the whole person. But another reason, there's another reason why Paul puts it this way, because there is a connection between your love for God and your reaction to adversity that comes in your life. In other words, how you react as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, how you react to trials, persecution, affliction, says a lot about you and your love for God. So I ask you, how do you react to trials, to temptations? You remember the parable of the sower? There are those who believe the gospel, they enjoy the Christian life, but then what happens? Trials come their way. What do they do? They give up. They go back. They cannot face the test. Perhaps they feel let down. Perhaps they feel that God has let them down. They thought being a Christian would mean no problems. This is what Christianity is all about? I don't know if I can really trust God. They actually become bitter toward God, thinking that God has misled them because Christianity is not what they thought it would be. And they have to say, what you have to say about them, is that they really don't love God. And trials and tribulations will show you whether or not you love God, how you react to them. You remember Job and his wife, of course? God says to Satan, have you considered my servant? Here's the devil, Job has it easy, so easy. Job serves you because all things are going so well for him because you blessed him. But if Job suffers, he'll turn from you and curse you. So God, quote unquote, permits the devil. Calvin, one place in his institute, says, I will allow this, and I agree with him, I'll allow, permit if we understand that God really is in control. In our own confession, Wordsmith's Confession of Faith, under the heading Providence, says that God upholds, governs, directs, disposes all creatures and actions, not by a bare permission. It's not merely that he just, like we usually think of it, permits it. is sovereign over all things. He governs all things. So God in his providence permits the devil to test Job and to test him severely. When the first test came, He lost his children, his possessions, what did he do? Look with me at Job chapter one, verses 20 and 21. Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped and he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. So here we have a picture of a man who loves God. And then verse 22, in all this, Job did not sin or charge God with the wrong. Then Job endures more tests. He soars all over his body. And Job's wife goes to him and says, are you still, are you still holding on to your integrity after all of this has happened to you, after all that God has brought upon you? That's how she sees it. Curse God and die. And Job says, chapter two, verse 10, you are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble? You see, that's the test. And it is shown even more clearly in Job 13, 15, though God slay me, yet I trust him. There's only one conclusion that we can draw from all of this. Job loved God. His trials, his testing proved it. Yes, he trusted God, but he loved God also, which was a part of his trusting Him. When everything seems to be going against you, you seem overwhelmed by troubles, trials, these afflictions. Do you curse God? Don't be too quick to answer, no, I don't. Do you murmur against God? Do you find fault in God? Do you say, God, you're wrong? Do you grumble against Him? Do you complain about all of this? How? How can you do this to me? If you do that, there's little reason for you to think that you love God. Now, it's true that we all struggle with this. I think, I mean, I certainly, I react, my first reaction to many things that come into my life is to complain against God, but then, and I think that's true of all of us, but then, do you come around, after a while, after you get through this emotional state, all these feelings are gone, do you still murmur, complain against God, or do you then, Bow your head in worship for the Lord. I, oh Lord, I am in your hands. You know what you are doing with me. You know what you are doing in my life. You know, I do not know, you know what is best for me. You always are just and righteous in all your ways. You always deal with me in mercy. And you have promised to work all things for my good. And the final reason, I think, for the praise of those who love Him. There is no better proof of God's sovereign love for you than the fact that you love God. Let me ask you, why do you love God? Sitting right now, right where you are, you say, I love God. Why? Why do you love God? Most people would say, well, I just exercise my free will. I decided to love God. Yet we are given the fact, in Romans 8, 7, the mind set on the flesh, that is, the unconverted, unregenerate, is hostile toward God. Does not love God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. Not able to do it. Unconverted, the unrejoined does not even have the ability to subject itself himself to the law of God. You remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when he was asked, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus in Matthew 22 says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. So the question is this, why do you now submit to the law of God? Why do you now love the law of God? Why do you now love God? Based upon God's word, How could you ever love God unless he first chose to love you? So the first way that you know that this applies to you is that you love God. And then there's another way by which in which you know that this promise applies to you. In other words, Paul describes those to whom this promise has been given. And he says they are the called ones. But again, why this? Why does he put it this way? Because this is the only explanation for why anyone does love God. They have been called, effectually called by God. Again, Romans 8, verse 7. Look at that with me, please. But the mind is set on the flesh, is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. And then 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural man, that is, the unregenerate, does not understand the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish system, and he cannot because they are spiritually discerned. Cannot is a verb of ability, does not have the ability to discern these things. God must give him the ability. And so the biblical gospel truth is this, that right now, where you sit, you love God, you love his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, you love God's law for one reason, and one reason alone, because you were called by God according to his purpose. Now these words called and to call are used basically two different ways throughout scripture. When we talk about the calling of God, being called by God, we speak of general call and the effectual call of God. There are many, many in this city, many in this state, in this nation, many throughout the world, who have gone to church, have been witness to, Heard the gospel call, the general call, to repent, to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, to bow the knee to him as their Lord and Savior, and have never done that. They've heard the call, but they've never bent the knee in worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember Jesus' conclusion of the parable of the wedding, banquet of the wedding feast, Matthew 22, 14? Many are called. Many are called, but few are chosen. And sort of a side note here, parenthetically, you and I, you're part of this congregation, Bethel Orthodox Presbyterian Church, part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to go out without regard to any worldly standard, without any Question about, well, should I do this? Should I witness this person or not? Maybe he's not at the elect? No. We have to do what the Heidelberg Catechism calls us to do, to go out promiscuously preaching the gospel wherever, wherever, whenever, to whomever. That's the great commission. But this is also true. Not all who hear believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And a wonderful illustration of this is found in Acts chapter 13, verse 48. Here's the Apostle Paul preaching to the Gentiles. And it says, and when the Gentiles heard this, they heard the gospel, they began rejoicing in glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Now get the picture. Here's the Apostle Paul preaching to a number of people. We don't know how many people. They all heard the same words, the same words, but who were the ones, who was it that was saved? Those who were appointed unto eternal life. The others, I mean, they had the general call, but those who believe upon Christ had the effectual call of God, effectually called of God to embrace Christ as their Lord and Savior. You see, the others who did not believe were called in a general sense, but they were not effectually called. They were not regenerated by the Holy Spirit. They were not enlightened by God. Their hearts of stone were not removed. They were not given hearts of flesh. They were not given a will to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to follow after him. And Romans 8.30 makes all of this very clear. And those whom he predestined, he also called, that's our word, And those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. And this is not true of the unbelievers. It's true only when a person has been effectually called according to the free, sovereign grace of Almighty God. Again, Matthew chapter 22, the parable of the wedding banquet. He says the kingdom of God is like this king who prepared this great wedding banquet for his son. He sent out his servants to those out in the street to invite them to come, but many refused. He sent more servants out, and they paid no attention. They even killed some of those servants sent out to them. So the king sent his servants, invite anyone you find. Then in verse 14, the conclusion of all of this, many are called, that's the general call, but few are chosen. That's the effectual call of God. So, 2 Timothy 1.9, God has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of his own purpose and grace. In other words, this is so important. This effectual call of God is according to God's absolutely free, sovereign choice. not because of anything in you, not because of anything in me, not because of any foreseen faith, not that you or I or any of us are any better than anybody else because of reasons known only to him, found in him in God and in him alone. So the question is this, have you been called? How do you know that you have been called? I would like to suggest to you some tests. Can you say I am what I am by the grace of God. That's what Paul said about himself. He said, I am what I am by the grace of God. Why are you interested in spiritual things? Why are you interested in Christ? Why are you interested in the Bible? Why do you come to worship? Why do you want to be more and more like Christ? Why do you want to see Christ one day? Why do you want to serve Christ more and more? Is it because you have decided that you want to do these things? Or is it because of God's free sovereign grace, because of his work in you? Are you amazed at yourself when you think about these things? I don't mean that in a prideful way. But I mean, are you amazed that you are what you are? Are you amazed about what is important to you in your life? Does that amaze you that you have this spiritual hunger, that you love the Lord Jesus Christ, that you long to be like Christ, that you're seeking Christ more and more and more? See, these are some proofs that you have been called by God. When you were called, you were called by God's grace. He lifted you out of the miry clay. He removed that hostility that you had toward him. Paul talks about it in Romans 8, verse 7. And he enabled you to embrace Christ as your Lord and Savior. You don't understand all of this. You don't understand the how of it, but you know this, that this came to you not by any human deduction, but by the word of God. God has done something in your life by his grace so that you are conscious of the fact that God has dealt with you And that God is dealing with you. That God is driving you to Christ. God is sanctifying you more and more in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that He has changed you. You know that He has transformed you. You know that He has laid a hold of you. You didn't just find religion. God found you. You were taken hold of by God and you know it. And you are disturbed over sin. in your life, convicted by sin, why? Because you've been called. You believe the word of God. You believe that it is true. Why? Because you've been called by God. You pray for the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Why? Why do you do that? Because you've been called. So then it follows, another evidence that you've been called is you have a sense of your own helplessness. Talk about that a lot this morning. You have this sense of your need for the grace of God, the grace, the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. You see, no man naturally would come to that, want that, could ever bring himself to that, actually fights against this. The natural mind, the natural man, the darkened mind fights against this. No man, apart from the work of God in his life, can ever bring himself to repentance. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, and anyone who has a sense of his helplessness, he's convicted of sin, has good evidence that he has been called of God. Then there's another evidence that you have been called. You begin to see, you begin to apprehend the fullness, the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only to save you, but to sustain you, to preserve you. for you to live the Christian life, only the Holy Spirit can convince you that Jesus Christ is the Savior, that you have no hope of eternal life without Him. Only the Holy Spirit can convince you that, and only the Holy Spirit can convince you that you cannot live the Christian life apart from Christ. These are some tests that only the called can apprehend. The call of God, delight in singing. I hear thy welcome voice that calls me, Lord, to thee for cleansing in my precious blood that flowed on Calvary. So I ask you, have you heard this voice? Is it precious to you? Is your greatest desire right now to know the Lord better and better and better, to grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ than you've been called? Has he laid his hand on you? Maybe interrupted your life. Some people didn't give that testimony. Are you amazed at all of this, God's grace in your life? Are you surprised that you're reading verse 28 and identifying with it and loving it and claiming it and just finding great comfort in it? Can you thank God for trials? tribulations come into your life. Do you bow your head with the psalmist? Psalm 119 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted. If these things are true of you, then they are proof you love God. You have been called of God and that this sure promise of God is yours. Let's pray. Lord our God, Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for this promise, that you do work all things for our good, for those who love you, who are the call according to your purpose. How we thank you, Lord, for your grace toward us, for your long-suffering toward us. How we thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness to us, that you'll never leave us nor forsake us. How we thank you for your preserving work of the Holy Spirit in us. How we thank you for the all-sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ, not only to save us, but to sustain us, to preserve us.