Please be seated. And please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8 once again, and we'll conclude that reading beginning with verse 28, and we'll conclude with verse 30. Romans 8 verses 28 to 30. 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 we are excuse me in order that he might be the first born 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 our focus of attention this morning will be on Romans 8 28 where Paul says to fellow believers in Jesus Christ. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. In context, the overarching theme of Romans 8 is that God is sovereignly at work securing the ultimate and complete salvation of everyone who believes by conforming them to the image of his son who brings them to eternal glory. Jesus put it this way in John chapter 10 verses 28 to 30. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Our salvation is eternally secure because we are in His hand. This overarching theme of Romans 8 is encapsulated in verse 28. The sentence structure reveals a main verb in the phrase, all things work together for good, clearly indicating that our God, sovereignly enthroned on high, is actively working on our behalf from beginning to end. This main phrase has two parallel clauses on either side of it, both of which collectively define the ones whom he has brought to glory, his true worshipers. The one, as it were, sings, we love you, God, while the other responds in kind, we are called according to your purpose. But what is so striking is that our Sovereign Lord continues to serve us. The Sovereign Lord, who is seated upon the throne, assures us that all things work together for good. He has an ongoing service of forgiveness and grace to us, cleansing our spiritual lives. He continues to turn the principles of this evil world upside down as he gets up and lays his garments aside and begins to wash the feet of those who love him, those who are called according to his purpose. What else can we do but sing for joy? I know that there are many things that are happening in your lives that you just don't understand, but the lesson of our text is to lay hold of what you know to be true about God. That's why Paul begins, and we know the knowledge that he is speaking of is a knowledge that is relational and experiential. It's not merely intellectual. This is what we know to be true about God. Mark Vrogop, in his book Waiting Isn't a Waste, writes about a time when his heart was unusually heavy. He was spiritually and emotionally exhausted. In a conversation he had with his wife, he shared this brewing sense of hopelessness, a feeling of being disoriented and discouraged. And so with tears in his eyes, he said to her, I'm really discouraged, even hopeless. I'm not sure how to do this, Sarah. She recounted the promises of God, he said, to encourage me. And she concluded her counsel with this poignant and spontaneous conviction. God's going to help you. He has to. God used it, he said, to change the trajectory of my life. He said it was a call to live by divine promise. That simple yet powerful statement about what was true about God put me on a journey of learning to live by what I know to be true about God, even when I don't know what's true about my life. And isn't this what the Apostle Paul is saying? I want you to learn to live by what you know to be true about God, even when you don't know what's true about your life. Make it your lifelong endeavor. Right alongside the believers in Rome, we also are very much in the now abides or now remains portion of Paul's summary statement in 1 Corinthians 13, and now abides or now remains faith, hope, and love. This triad of Christian virtues is graciously given to us by our Lord for the duration of our time here on earth. as a necessary framework for living in alignment with Christian teaching, for bringing us near to God, for enduring to the end of our journey and delivering us safely to our eternal home in glory. In our passage, Paul focuses our love, faith, and hope on God, who strengthens them with the promise, all things work together for good. And Paul states the heart of the promise this way in Philippians chapter 1, verse 6. I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. All things work together for good is the fullness of this promise. It's nothing less than the promise of an all-encompassing delivery by God for our eternal salvation in Jesus Christ that shall never fail. It's personal. It speaks to our love. It's powerful. It speaks to our faith. It's purposeful. It speaks to our hope. So let's look more closely at this comprehensive delivery by God's hand. So we can say God wants me to know more fully, first of all, his personal delivery. His personal delivery of my soul in Jesus Christ is where it all started. The Romans 8, 28 take on love is not merely, do you love me? But I want to deepen this love because as your love for me matures, the image of my son in you will be brought into sharper focus. Our text speaks directly to our love and says, for those who love God. You didn't always love God unless you were born again in the womb by the spirit. In fact, you hated him. You were his enemy. And spiritually, the word tells us you were dead in your trespasses and sins. How is it then? How is it? that you have the sweetest and most intimate description possible applied to yourself. Well, John, John throws it back. He says, we love you, God, because you first loved us. So the answer lies in the beloved, right? It's because you are the beloved of Christ. You are enfolded in the beloved of the father. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Ephesians 1, 3 and 4. So by his hand, there is a personal delivery by God to bring you into a special relationship of love with him through Jesus Christ. So what God is saying to you is, in my hand, you have every reason to love me. For from my heart, you have received a double portion of my intimate affection. Two words help us understand this double portion of intimate affection. Translate and transfer. Not only have you been translated from one place into another, but blessings have been transferred from one person to another by his grace. Let's look at translated. By his personal delivery, you have been translated into his kingdom. You've been taken out of that kingdom of darkness, that domain of darkness, and you've been brought into the kingdom of light. Colossians 1. 13. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and translated us to the kingdom of his beloved son. God does have a universal love toward all creation. That's his love of benevolence. God does display his goodness to all people. That's his love of beneficence. But God's special love reserved for the elect, for those he has chosen from all eternity, that's his love of complacency. This is the perfect love that the father has for the son and the son has for the father. We are loved with a perfect love. And what a comfort to know that Jesus doesn't love us based on our love for him. Those who love God. This implies that a change in our nature has taken place by the indwelling operation of the Holy Spirit. This is the inward call of God that results in our regeneration. Simply put, he takes out the old heart of rebellion and replaces it with a new heart that loves him. Once your nature is changed, you begin to act in accordance with that nature. You respond with the accompanying twin graces of repentance and faith. Let's look at transferred. By his personal delivery, you have had the inheritance rights, the inheritance rights of Christ transferred to you by grace alone, through faith alone. He loved them to the end. That's what John says in John 13, 1. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. One of the writers from Ligonier Ministries said of this passage, he submitted to death because he loved us enough to pay the ultimate price to atone for our transgressions and reconcile us to God. This should inspire nothing less than awe and assurance in us. John Calvin comments, Though we think that we are at a distance from Christ, yet we ought to know that he is looking at us, for he loves his own who are in the world. For we have no reason to doubt that he still bears the same affection which he retained at the very moment of his death." Oh, the wonder, wonderful salvation we have in Christ Jesus, this inheritance, Romans 8, 29, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that we might be, excuse me, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Firstborn, right, signifies the privileged position, the high and privileged position that Christ has as a result of the resurrection from the dead. In Romans 8, Our chapter, verses 16 to 18, it says, you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, listen, heirs of God and co-heirs or fellow heirs with Christ. God gives us all things. in Christ, those who love God. This implies that a change in our legal standing or status has taken place by the witness of the spirit of adoption. So we could say those who love God do so because he has demonstrated his love for us by bringing us into his house, giving us a seat at his table, teaching us to pray, giving us a song, a new song in our hearts to sing. Even though we are loved with an everlasting love and are already seated with him in the heavenlies and have in our possession all of the benefits of Christ, he's not yet ready to take us out of this world to be with him for all eternity. And so what does he say? He says, walk by faith. He tells us to daily deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. He turns to each one of us and says, my promise has comprehensive coverage. All things work together for good. Do you trust me? Right? He's not acting like the Hollywood actors do. Do you trust me? So many of the movies have that aspect to it, right? No. God is not acting. God wants me to know that, secondly, his powerful delivery of my soul in Jesus Christ is my necessary daily dose of reality. So, Romans 8, 28 take on faith is not merely do you trust me, but I want to deepen this trust because as you trust in me, as your trust in me matures, the contours of your conformity to the image of Christ are made clearly defined, are more clearly defined. Our text speaks directly to our faith and says all things work together for good. By his hand, there is a powerful delivery by God to sustain you in your faith as you follow him, Jesus Christ. What the Lord says to you is, in my hands, you have every reason to trust me. For from my heart, you receive a double portion of my efficacious work on your behalf. So two words help us to understand this double portion of efficacious work. Transport and transform. Not only are you being transported throughout all of life, but you're being transformed from one form to another by his strength. So let's look at transported. By his powerful delivery, you are being transported throughout this veil of tears. All things work together for good. This implies our lives, which are full of limitations, are being carried by one who possesses an all-encompassing presence, an all-encompassing knowledge, and an all-encompassing power. by God himself. The prophet Isaiah says in 46, for even to your old age, I am he, and even to your advanced old age, I will carry you. God actively carrying the believer through all circumstances, even the difficult ones, ultimately working them together for their good. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. Isaiah 11, verse 40. This is where the prophet is emphasizing a close, intimate relationship with God where he cares for each individually and so deeply. Jesus conveys the comprehensive nature of the promise when he counsels us about God's care for every detail of our lives, but even the hairs of your head are numbered. If I can illustrate this. Paul says in Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 and following that there is definitely a connection between the creator and the redeemer. The all things of creation and the all things of redemption are related. So if we look at creation, there's something coming into focus. amongst many in the community. the world or the academia world that studies these things, the fine-tuning argument for creation, which is commonly referred to as the Goldilocks principle. In the Goldilocks story, it was too much on this side, too much on this side. Ah, but that is just right. And that's the same idea. Eric Metaxas in his book, Is Atheism Dead?, conveys this idea where he says, So many things in our universe are calibrated so perfectly that they cannot just have happened, but rather overwhelmingly seem to point to some designer. The argument of a fine-tuned universe where things are so extremely, perfectly calibrated that they cannot hardly be coincidental. If these things were even slightly different, life would not even be possible. So consider the size of the earth. The size of the earth is exactly what it needs to be in order for life to exist here. The moon, if it were slightly larger or slightly smaller, life wouldn't exist here. If the earth were just a little closer or a little further away from the sun, life wouldn't exist here. Jupiter, the size of Jupiter and how massive it is and its gravitational pull. It keeps asteroids from hitting the Earth. If it were one planet in the rotation closer, it would be protecting Venus. If it were one planet further away, it would be protecting Mars. It's protecting Earth. And there are so many more examples of a fine-tuned universe on many different levels. It's just innumerable, he said, and the number keeps growing. And so as the conditions necessary for life to exist keep increasing, the plausibility of the random chance of evolution decreases. Well, the same argument can be made for redemption, the new creation. All things work together for good speaks not only of providence, Where his fingerprints are on every aspect of our lives, but ultimately on our life in Christ and our eternal existence in him. Where his fingerprints are on every aspect of our new life in Christ. Everything is perfectly fine-tuned. If we look in verses 29 to 30 in our passage, we commonly call it the golden chain of redemption. These are unbreakable links. There are no weak links. Nothing is left to chance. There's no unfinished business. At just the right time, God sent his son, his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Paul says it this way, if Christ is not raised, from the dead, then your faith is in vain. Let's look at the word transform. So as you're being transported by his powerful delivery, you are being transformed into his likeness. So all things work together for good. This implies that our lives are being, which are being outwardly transformed. Wasting, right? Outwardly, we're wasting away. At the same time, they're being changed into a character of Christ to sustain us in the battle. And that we run the race with perseverance, the race that is set before us. So the race is a contest. It's a daily progress toward Christ-likeness. And the conflict, that's an internal struggle of the soul. inward transformation of character as God uses even difficult circumstances to shape and refine our character, bringing about positive growth and maturity in our spiritual life. There's a deepening spiritual development taking place. So when facing trials, Believers can rely on God's power to use those experiences to cultivate qualities like patience and perseverance and reliance on Him, leading to a more Christ-like character. Just consider the precious metals and stones that we find in the earth. They're formed deep within the earth. We're only under intense pressure, does a transformation of the substances take place? Well, it's just as true with the most precious jewels of Christian character. So through all manner of sorrows and suffering, through the temptations even of success and the torments of despair, the Lord is with us, he's working. Bicycle enthusiasts. Bicycling is a way of life. It's their sport. But they use this term SAG wagons. SAG is short for supply and gear. And it's a vehicle that comes behind these events, these group rides. And the vehicle serves as a support and assistance to riders who may need to stop due to mechanical failures, fatigue, injury, and other problems. Essentially acting as a mobile supply depot of spare parts and food and water and first aid to help riders continue their ride. Well, spiritually, our lives need to be rejuvenated daily by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness that we find only in Christ. Well, God wants me to know one other aspect, and that is that His purposeful delivery of my soul in Jesus Christ makes the glory that is to come worth waiting for. Again, I refer you to the title of Mark Vrogop's book, Waiting Isn't a Waste. He says it requires thinking carefully and theologically. It's an opportunity to use uncertainty as a means of spiritual growth and intimacy with your Savior. So let's do that. Let's carefully and theologically or biblically get about that business, right? So the Romans 828 take on hope is not merely, am I your hope, but I want to deepen this hope, because as your hope in me matures, the image of my son in you radiates more brightly. Our text speaks directly to our hope and says, for those called according to his purpose. So by his hand there is a purposeful delivery by God to put you on display, to reflect the hope of glory to others through Jesus Christ. The Lord says to you, in my hands you have every reason to hope in me, for from me you receive a double portion of my glorious perfections. And two words here as well help us understand the double portion, transfix and transfigure. Not only are you thoroughly transfixed, but transfigured by his glory. So let's look briefly at transfixed. By his purposeful delivery, you are more and more transfixed, pierced through. I'm not speaking of body piercings. I'm talking about soul piercings. Your soul is pierced through by his glory, those called according to his purpose. This implies a plan to call us in such a way that we are captivated by his beauty, by the beauty of his perfections. It's a holy vocation of expectant waiting that keeps our hope of glory alive. So the curtain, as it were, gets pulled back and gives us something of a glimpse of what is to come. The psalmist gives us a hint of what this looks like in Psalm 27 verse 4 when he says, one thing, one thing have I asked of the Lord and that will I seek after that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. To live in God's presence, signifying a deep relationship with God, to meditate on who he is and to let ourselves be in awe of him. In verse 18 of our passage, Paul says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. If I can condense verses 23 to 24, We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. This hope we wait for with patience. We are pierced through to the very depths of our souls with the glory of God, longing for His ultimate purpose to be realized in us. And we're transfigured. More and more. Transfigured is very similar to the word transformed, although it has an elevated meaning. There is something going on, which is that we are increasingly made more beautiful in his presence as we await his second coming. Those called according to his purpose. This implies a plan to specifically use us to mirror or reflect his glory to others by living in a way that embodies his qualities. So he's extending his glory through you. He's filling the earth with his glory. Paul says it In a way, we commonly don't think of it this way, but in 2 Corinthians 3, he says, he's talking to the Corinthians, and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of fleshly hearts, right? A letter. What is a letter? It's a form of communication. He says in verse 12, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 18th, verse 18, and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. So in Christ, the veil is taken away. What does our text say? From glory to glory indicates that this transformation is ongoing with increasing degrees of Christ-likeness as we continue to gaze on his glory. So in his presence, we are transfigured in that we radiate the glory of Christ. a deeper, more glorious aspect of Christ in you, the hope of glory. So we reflect or mirror God's glory to others by living in a way that embodies his qualities, living with love and with kindness and compassion and integrity, demonstrating God's goodness through our actions. So through these acts of love and service, we become vessels that radiate the glory of Christ to those around us. So tragedy struck Granger Smith, a former country singer, and his wife, Amber, on June 4th, 2019, when Granger found his three-year-old boy, River, lying face down in their family pool. The doctors were unable to revive him. In his memoir, Like a River, Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward After Loss and Heartache, Granger detailed how God used it to gently draw him to himself. So he was translated into the kingdom of God's Son, having all of the inheritance rights of Christ transferred to him by grace alone, through faith alone. It wasn't until he was taught the fullness of God's sovereignty through the sermons and writings of John Piper, specifically a book he and Justin Taylor co-authored, Suffering, and the sovereignty of God, that he could actually find comfort in God's promises. So his faith, his hope, and love matured as he realized that he was being safely transported through all the troubles of this life and that by the all-sufficient grace of Christ, he was being transformed into his likeness. Well, it was an interview. that he and Amber had given, where the call of God on his life became apparent. So he appeals to 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, where Paul says, God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our work, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. It was here. where he begins to talk about the call of ministry upon his life. He wanted to minister to others. He retired from country music to pursue seminary in anticipation of being used by God. So his soul had been transfixed and continues to be transfixed before him, pierced through by the glory of Christ. being more and more transfigured by the Lord into one who mirrors the qualities of Christ to the world. And so he encourages everyone in his path to surrender their wills to God's sovereign design for their lives. He now very gently and tenderly and with deep understanding speaks of his own pain and suffering how God had chosen him for this trial, and encourages you to follow his example in not wasting what God has planned for you. And so we conclude our look at Romans 8, verse 28, the way we started, that is, in worship, with faith, with a faith, hope, and love satiated with God's promise that in Christ He orchestrates all things for our good and for His glory. we sing his praises. Let's join together in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, we do desire to praise you, for you are a majestic God. You are holy and righteous and loving and kind. And thank you, Lord, for revealing to us through your word and by your spirit these wonderful truths of your word. We take such great comfort. We are deeply, Lord, Thankful and grateful for all the work that you have done and are doing and will complete in and through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.