At this time, I invite you to take your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Romans. Book of Romans, chapter 8. And this morning we're going to be looking at one or two verses. And it's one of those verses that when you hear it, you go, oh yeah, I know that verse. Romans 8, verse 28. But at the end of verse 12, just to set a context, this is found on page 1,300 of the Bibles provided there in your rows. Once again, let's give our attention to the reading of God's Word this morning. The Apostle Paul writes, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with Him, that we also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. because the creation also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good. To those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified." Thus far the reading of God's holy word. Remember the grass withers and the flower falls, but God's word abides forever. Amen. We've been going through a series over the past couple of months where we're taking various passages of scripture that individuals are willing to look at and to change or misinterpret or mishandle or even twist, and we then are approaching them or we're applying the biblical corkscrew, as it were, to untwist it in order to go, what is this passage really saying? And frankly, Romans 8 verse 28 is one of those verses, believe it or not, that people will actually take and turn and manipulate and twist. It happens in this manner. How often do you find yourself in a situation where someone's going through a hard time and you don't know what to say, but you know you need to say something, and you kind of slap them on the back, or you put your arm around their shoulder, or maybe you don't do that since some of you are German, but nonetheless, you at least come to them and go, you know what? It's all going to work out after all. God causes all things to work together for good. So chin up. Approach with happiness because this thing will somehow pan out. You ever done that? Or maybe sometimes we have this perception that as it relates to certain things that happen in our life, that they actually shouldn't happen because as we look at this particular verse, it says, well, God said that he would work everything for good. And yet this event, this loss of a child or this debilitating disease or this unfortunate circumstance isn't fitting in line with this picture of good. It's because you haven't rightly understood what good is. Sometimes we take the approach that says that we just ought not worry about things because it'll be okay. After all, good things happen to those who love God, and if you don't, well, too bad. There's another twisting of it as well. The danger can even be for you confirmants this morning whereby you may think to yourself, well I've been through confirmation, I've had my four years of study, I've come before the church, I've made my declaration, and as a result I'll just go forth in terms of my life and everything should just be okay. And there's a sense of indifference as it pertains to your Christian walk in faith because You did your time and you said your vows. And so this morning we want to see, well, what exactly is the problem with this type of mindset? And then from that, how does Paul intend this verse? And then lastly, what are some things for us to learn? What are some problems if we approach Romans 8 verse 28 and we have this thought that we would then say, well, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose and consequently believe that it means that every single event in my life should be good. Or it somehow means that as it relates to the bad event, that somehow or another this bad event at some point in time will be exchanged for a good event, and things will just work their way out. The first problem is just simply what underlies this perspective. It's ultimately a perspective that says, hey, I'm entitled to being comfortable. I don't like things being unpredictable. I want to have my health. I'm entitled to my sense of wealth. And so as difficulties may come to my life, I just don't deserve this. And I don't deserve it because overall I have this general sense of optimism that should relate to my life. I want comfort. I want ease. I want pleasure. I want things to be okay. And yet if that's your mindset, you have no answer. When you deal with illness and you get the phone call that says, I'm sorry to tell you, but your child has cancer. You have no way to handle that surprise information when a friend texts you and says they just wanted to let you know that last night a buddy of mine was driving down the highway and he was hit by a drunk driver and he was thrown from his motorcycle and killed. You don't understand how to look at your loved one and find out that they're dealing with a lifelong addiction to substances. Or how do you take the pink slip at your job? Or deal with a family member who went off to war only never to be found again? Or who died on the battlefield or comes back with the loss of a limb? Or struggling under post-traumatic stress disorder? If we retain a perspective that this verse only causes us to have optimism for this life and the experience of good in the here and now, we're in trouble. But furthermore, what does it ultimately say about God? It ultimately notes that God is dealt with based on your merits or demerits. For example, if you say, well, as long as you love God, He'll respond with goodness. But if you're not loving God, and then a bad situation happens, then all you can expect is evil. What are you really saying about God? You're saying that ultimately God deals with you based on your marriage or your worth. Or that as you put forth the effort, then God will carry you the rest of the way and he's obligated to do so because after all he said, well, I'll work all for good. What do you deal with the individual? as you're trying to comfort them and encourage them, and you bring this verse to them to tell them, don't worry, it'll all work out just fine, and they look at you and go, what are you saying? You're insensitive to this hurt and this devastation that I'm dealing with. I don't know how I'm now going to eat because of the loss of my job, and all you wanna tell me is, well, God's gonna work it out and everything's gonna be okay. Don't fret. That doesn't chew my kids and it doesn't put food in their bellies. There's a story of an individual who had a child who had passed from cancer and the dad was an unbeliever and someone had the audacity to come to him and say, well, you know, you ought to take encouragement here because the Bible says God will work all this for good. The insensitivity of the statement was seen in the fact that this guy was struggling with bitterness at God for the death of his son, and someone actually wanted at that point in time to declare the name of God and say, hey, it's gonna work out for good, don't worry, don't sweat it. And the bigger question is, the guy's going, how in the world can you even say this is going to be good? How do you know that? How do you testify of that? How do you believe that or hope in that or draw encouragement or strength from it? This really comes down to just helping us understand what really is the meaning of some of these words here. The two words, I think, or three words that we need to understand here is firstly, what does Paul mean when he says that all things will work together for good? Well, in order to understand this, we really have to understand the context. We have to reflect on the context, first, of Scripture, and secondly, the context of this passage in Romans. In terms of noting things to be good, the Bible doesn't have in mind that each and every incident or event in your life is going to be good. You cannot approach this passage and look at it in relation to isolated things that occur in your experience. The context or the idea of good in mind is the sum total of all events that happen in your life. If it's simply about your comfort or your convenience or your wealth or your health or your overall experience through the things that transpire from day to day, you are in trouble. Here's why. Because you can't explain tragedies and sicknesses and sufferings. And furthermore, your approach and perspective on God based on the one thing will be to say, God, I don't even know if I can trust you because after all, you're not truthful. And furthermore, you can't even do what you say and so why should I even follow after you? But if we understand it to be in the context of the sum total of all, then we can answer it, and we can trust, and we can believe, and we can have hope. Furthermore, the example of the saints in the whole of Scripture speak to the fact that they were faithful to God, had hard experiences, and yet nonetheless could see the end sum being good. For example, Abraham was called the friend of God. He was faithful before God, called by God from the land of Ur when he was roughly 75 years old and he was promised that he would have descendants that would number the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, only to have to wait some 25 years before the promised son Isaac would come about. In the meantime, he ended up taking matters into his own hands, he ended up fathering a child with his wife's servant, and he had other issues and problems as well. The struggle of being barren for 25 years was a hardship and viewed as not being good, and yet God, through the test, strengthened his faith and confidence, or strengthened the faith and confidence of Abraham, so that in the end, when Isaac did come about, God then brought good, even in the midst of waiting. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, separated from his family for, I believe, some 13 years, only to find out that all of the things had to happen so that in the end, the entire world could be saved. And he could declare that what you meant for evil, God meant for good. Good. Daniel faithfully prayed and followed after God, and yet he was harassed for his faith. And yet, in the end, he's identified as a child of God. The prophets listened to God and walked in His ways, and yet they had unpopular ministries, being imprisoned, some even being beheaded, and so on and so forth, and going through all sorts of harassments. And yet, as they look at that, they would say, well, this isn't very good, this isn't very pleasant. This isn't very successful, but when they see God's purpose in it all, they could declare it to be good. Examples in the life of David, all of the apostles. fellow saints throughout the scriptures, all testify to this point, and that is that we believe good is worked out in our lives based on the ultimate intention that God has. And that intention is accomplished not through a series of isolated events that are all pleasant, but some that are good and some that are hard, some that are difficult and some that are pleasing, but reaching the end game, which we will note in a moment. In the immediate context of this passage, And through our reading of verses 12 through 27, we see that there is a word that stands out. It's repeated a few times over in these verses. First, it's mentioned in verse 17, see if you can catch this. And if children, the heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we also may be glorified. Verse 18, I consider the sufferings of this present time. And then further on throughout this passage, you hear the reference to suffering, suffering, suffering, suffering. The context of good is seen in the context of suffering. Paul tells us that suffering is in the created order, that creation was subjected to it, even futility. So that there is then groaning, and there is anxious expectation, and there is the desire, and there is the hope. The world was subject to futility because of the sin of Adam and Eve. And so God then made a decree that there would then be the consequence of sin not only in man's life, but also in the entirety of the world. He said that Adam would labor among the ground, and yet in his labor would only produce thorns and thistles. We see then death overtake the created order. We see the issues of division of sin that are present, and a sense of warring, and all sorts of hardships, the calamities that happen by means of natural disaster. and other things that occur are all as a consequence of sin. God decreed this and yet he then says that I will make a response to sin. And so even in the context of suffering, God then notes a message of hope. Look again at verse 20, the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. And then you see verse 21, creation wants to be delivered from this bondage. It groans and labors even till now and even then believers also groan, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. And so the point of good in Romans 8 verse 28 is seen in the context of suffering. That God ultimately notes that even as we go through all that we do, it's not without purpose or meaning, but each and every one comes through, not by chance, but by the will of my faithful father. That we're assured that he upholds heaven and earth and all creatures and so governs them. that all things happen not by chance, but by His sovereign will. And the exercise of that sovereignty is leading to a hope that awaits us. And the good that occurs through our lives, the promise of good made in this verse, is for that which is to come, and yet only understood or seen in the context of suffering. There's another key word that's found in this verse, we move ahead from good, and it's this, we know that all things work together. There's the hope of good that results even in the midst of affliction. But the only way that we can have that hope of good is that it works together. What is it working toward? What is it ultimately seeking to achieve? What is it that is good? Notice words that are repeated again in verses 18 through verse 30. the glory, verse 18. Look again in verse 21, we will be delivered from bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Verse 23, the promise of adoption and redemption. Verse 29, being ultimately conformed to the image of Christ. Verse 30, the very last word through that golden chain of of salvation, it ends with glory. What's the point? God works through everything. Recognizing it to be good even through the hardships and the challenges and the hurts, not because he's looking at it based on the isolated incident, but through it all, he's moving, he's directing, he's orchestrating, he is purposefully, through his sovereign love, seeking to bring about a wondrous and a glorious thing. What is it? The end of all of those things that are those refining moments to be found in the culmination of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, we know this. We know this not because we have somehow or another proposed it based on the power of positive thinking. It's not because we wish it into existence or we somehow convince us based on some aspect of hope. It's the declaration that God himself makes when he says that he works for the good of his people, ultimately leading to glory. Verse 29, for whom he foreknew he predestined to what? Be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. The whole point of sufferings, the whole point of challenges, the whole point of the struggles that you deal with from day to day, whether they be small and inconvenient or whether they be overtaking the entirety of your life based on ongoing pain and the change of health. is so that you will be conformed to the image of Christ and that Jesus Christ will then be adored and praised by all creation as he sits over it and hears its praises for his perfect life and death on the cross. You know this because God has said as much. Look over at Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4 verses 27 and 28. Peter, a witness to the sufferings and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, says this, Truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Amazing declaration, isn't it? God anointed Jesus. He made this promise from the very beginning. Immediately after our first parents had sinned, God comes into the garden and he says, hey, Someone's gonna come and crush the head of this one who has deceived you, and it will be the promised seed that will come from the line of Adam and Eve, or at least from Eve, in order to defeat you. And then he begins to testify this through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on down through the ages. The holy prophets speak of these things. He gives the law and he points, makes pictures to speak of sacrifice and the need for perfection and how the one will come to serve as the spokesperson of God and as the servant of God between God and his people and as the one who will rule, defend, gather, and preserve them. All of that is in accordance with the plan of God, as God noted from before the foundation of the world, revealed shortly after He made the world, and yet in order to accomplish it, it had to be through the midst of suffering and hardship, taking the perfect Son of God, having Him declared by the civil magistrate to be innocent, and yet nonetheless, taking Him as it were and dragging Him to the place of the skull. to nail him on a cruel cross. And Peter says, you did all this, but yet it was according to the determined purpose of God. The cruelest atrocity to ever be committed in the entire history of the world, condemning an innocent man to die And Peter says, God intended it, an evil for good. You're good if you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Lord and Savior. You're good if you recognize that His death was for the purpose of the covering of your sins before a holy God, which you couldn't do. You're good if you recognize that God receives you through Him, and declares you to be innocent in his sight and no longer his enemy, but his son, his daughter, his child. You're good with the recognition that God then is working to make you, even through the hardships, like his perfect son. You're good so that you will then stand before all to declare him to be supreme to be the preeminent one, to be the ruler over all things, to be the one who is worthy of praise, honor, and glory. So what are some of the positives then that we need to note? What are some of the things that we need to reflect on? Circumstances aren't some individual events that aren't connected. But God is using your present circumstances as His child in order to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ. He's bringing these things about in your life. Yes, the hurts. Yes, the sorrows. Yes, the pains. Yes, the difficulties, but He's doing so to take away another element of the presence of sin, to take away some aspect of pride, to remove some trust in yourself so that your heart would be molded and shaped and bent to Him, so that you would cry out in reliance on Him, and you would look more and more like your Lord and Savior, the one who is not only your glorious example, but the one who you yourself long to be like. Secondly, it undercuts simply our perspective of life. God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God desires for you to be holy, not happy. And so consequently, he will do those things necessary that are hard in order to bring about the good character and the beauty of holiness. Third, you can handle sufferings and sorrows through this perspective. Separated from God, you can't. In the end, you hope it works out. In the end, you can't explain why these bad things happen. In the end, you have no confidence within yourself. You have no certainty as it pertains to the things that are happening in your life, especially if you feel that you've done everything right, and you've been walking the straight and narrow, and you feel that things are proper. And yet here comes this death, or this job loss, or this sorrow. But with this proper understanding of Romans 8, you recognize that the greatest good of all is the glory of God, even if it's costly for you. The glory of God even costing you everything is far greater and far more worthy than the ease that you may experience. And so three responses. The first is to bow and praise the greatness of our God and reflect it in the wonderful character that he shines forth, that he perfectly orchestrates all that transpires in your life, even the challenges, so that you would be made like Jesus Christ. Number two, That God is not overcome even through difficulty. That God, when a surprise happens to us, it's no surprise to Him. When a hurt happens to us, He is able to use even that. When someone intentionally seeks our harm, those evil schemes are no match. for the greatness and the power and the wonder of our God. And thirdly, as a child of God, you have true comfort. You have true comfort because God has assured you and promised you that in the context of suffering, you have hope as you anxiously await to be conformed perfectly to the image of Jesus Christ and one day see him. And in the meantime, he then uses all of these things, never leaving you nor forsaking you, never causing you to have to doubt or to fear. but to be assured that He is present, that He loves you, and that every single stroke of difficulty will be a stroke of blessing and wonder in your life. The passage of Romans 8 verse 28, knowing that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. is a beautiful and wondrous passage. It's a passage that we never want to lose sight of, we never want to lose out of our scriptures or even from our hearts. But it's not a passage that we ought to twist to somehow see that it will be easy living or goodness in terms of comforts. But instead it's a passage that directs us with the security that we have as God works in our lives for the intended purpose of making us after the image of his son. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, teach us by your word to mark our days rightly in accordance with your intention for us. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.