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Romans 8:28-39 Series - Part 2

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• Romans 8. Romans 8, and we'll read verses 28 through 30. Romans 8, beginning there with verse 28.

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• The Apostle Paul writes, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also 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, then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified."

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• May I remind you that last week I began a series on verse 28 particularly and may go through the rest of the chapter, but I was dealing primarily with verse 28 and the message that I brought was an introduction to verse 28 and also discussing the limitation of verse 28. I told you how that in verse 28 Paul lays down a proposition. And then he goes on to explain as well as to affirm that proposition in verses 29 and 30.

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• Now I showed you that in this passage in the immediate context that the Apostle Paul lays down three truths for encouragement and consolation for Christians. First of all, I told you there was the model of the saints, and I explained that in verses 18 through 25, where the Apostle said that he reckoned that the sufferings in this present life were not even worthy to be compared to the glory that's going to be revealed. Secondly, was the ministry of the Spirit in verses 26 and 27.

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• And then thirdly, was the matter of the Scripture, which I said I'd explain a little bit more this week in verse 28. Now, the main thing that I want to emphasize again by way of introduction is this. When you read verse 28, very clearly, one of the first things you should be struck with is the limitation of this verse, where he says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose." So not everything works together for good, for the unbeliever, and for the wicked, and for the reprobate, and for the rebellious. In fact, I showed you, according to Scripture, everything works together for their bad.

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• We looked in 1 Kings chapter 22 at the life of Ahab. How God worked it out to get Ahab to Ramoth Gilead just so he could kill him. We looked at Haman in the book of Esther. We looked at Athaliah in 2 Kings chapter 11. We mentioned Jehoiakim and Zedekiah and Jeroboam and Omri. We mentioned Judas Iscariot, Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas the sorcerer, Demas. We talked about those antediluvians, those people who lived on the other side of the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah. God was not working out everything for their good because they hated him. They despised him. God was working out everything for their evil.

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• Now, when we begin today in Romans 8 in verse 28, I want you to note that the Apostle Paul begins this section with two very important words. Actually, we should say three, because the conjunction there, "and," just shows you the connection with the preceding verses. But he begins verse 28, "And we know." So the very first thing that catches your attention should be the two words, "we know." In other words, what Paul is assuming is that this knowledge that he is speaking of is in all of the saints. In other words, he is saying that this knowledge is so fundamental, it is so elementary that everyone ought to know it. In fact, there are numerous truths in the Bible that are so fundamental and so elementary that Paul assumes that all Christians know them. For instance, look in Romans 6 and verse 16. In fact, I'm not going to just dwell on this phrase. If I did, I believe you could see that the entire New Testament just about would have to be covered, especially the writings of Paul.

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• For he says in Romans 6 and verse 16, "Know ye not." In other words, here's something that everybody ought to know. It's simple. He says, "To whom you yield yourself servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin and of death or of obedience unto righteousness. Know ye not." Look at Romans 7 and verse 14. Romans 7 and verse 14. Note once again, he makes this statement, "For we know that the law is spiritual." So here's a fundamental elementary truth. Look at Romans 8 and verse 22. He says this. Romans 8 and verse 22, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." And then if you look in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 1, note if you would once again what the apostle says. He says, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens."

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• Note it once again, he says, "For we know." So that's another truth that is so elementary and fundamental. Paul assumes that every saint knows it.

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• Now, the same thing is true in Romans 8 in verse 28. That's when he says, "And we know." So this is one of those fundamental elementary truths. Now, look back in your Bibles, if you would please, to Romans 8 and let's look at verses 26 and compare verse 26 with verse 28. He says in verse 26, "Likewise, the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for—for what? We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Now, verse 28, "And we know." Now, wait a minute. Paul just got out of his mouth in verse 26, "And we know not." And now he says in verse 28, "And we know." Now, how can these two truths be reconciled?

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• Let me ask that another way. How is it that we can be so ignorant, so confused and so helpless on the one hand? And so positive and so encouraged and so assured, on the other hand, Paul just gets out of his mouth when he says, "We know not." And he says, "We know." Well, the paradox is resolved when one realizes that a Christian is one who can be absolutely certain about the ultimate when he is almost totally ignorant about the immediate. Now, Christians do not know everything. But there is one thing that we do know, and Paul said it like this, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God."

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• You could apply this to yourself. Look at the situation that Don and Joyce find themselves in, Bob and Nancy, and many of us. There are some things we don't know, we don't understand, we don't comprehend. But there is one thing that we do know. In other words, we should never, ever let the immediate destroy what we know about the ultimate. The fact that we do not know what is happening around us or we do not understand it at this very moment does not mean that we do not know that everything is going to be worked out ultimately for our good and for God's glory.

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• Now, let me point out, it is exactly at this place that the flesh and the world and the devil will attack you the quickest. For instance, when you're going through something and you're confused and you're helpless and you're ignorant and you really don't understand, inevitably the enemy is going to come to you and say, "You can't be a Christian. You wouldn't be going through this if you were. God doesn't love you. Look what you're experiencing. Look how you're suffering. You can't be saved." Ah, you see, it's at this particular point that you have to agree with your adversary and say, "You're right on one thing. I don't understand. I don't know. I don't fully comprehend it. I do not know the mind of God totally. And it may be that I'm confused on this one issue, but one thing I do know, that ultimately, God will use this and everything else in my life and work it out perfectly for my good and for his glory."

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• In other words, you and I are absolutely assured of the ultimate victory. So the truth is you and I are not to allow particulars to interfere with the whole. Don't focus on the incidents of life with such intensity that you lose sight of the ultimate, that you lose sight of the whole outworking of God in your life. You've heard it said like this, you may lose a battle, but that doesn't mean that you've lost the war. The war, the ultimate, is already won. We may not understand the battles that we're in, but we do know that the victory is ours. I want you to understand before we go further that there is a principle here, and that principle is this. The Word of God is teaching us that you and I are not exempt from the trials and troubles of this life. We're going to go through many things. In fact, we may go through a lot of things in the next couple of years that we may not understand or we may not comprehend.

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• But the truth is we know the ultimate, that the captain of our salvation is at the helm of the ship. He's in absolute total control and he's working everything out for our good and for his glory. So you can take these two phrases, "we know not," and this phrase, "and we know," and say that is a complete summary of the Christian life, because there are many things that we do not know, but we do know ultimately that we are going to come out the victor in Jesus Christ. That's why Paul wrote, "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose."

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• Now, let me begin today by showing you the foundation or the basis for this knowledge. You remember a few weeks ago, I spoke to you about epistemology. OK, epistemology just answers the question, how do we know? So if I were to ask you, "How do you know that all things are going to work out for your good and for God's glory, if you're a child of God?" I'm asking you a question in reference to epistemology. How do you know? Well, what is the ground that you and I can most assuredly say, "And we know"?

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• Let me give you, first of all, two very obvious grounds. Number one, we have the express statements of Scripture.

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• Now, there are multitudes of promises. There are scores of plain, simple statements in the Bible that God is providing, protecting, and working everything out for His people. And may I ask you this question? And why should He not do so? Because according to Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 10, and Zechariah chapter 2 and verse 8, God said, "Whosoever toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye." So God's people then are referred to as the pupil, the tenderest part of the body. He says, "You are the apple of my eye." I want you to hold Romans chapter 8 and let's look in our Bibles, first of all, to Psalm 91. And as you turn to Psalm 91, I would encourage you also to find Hebrews chapter 1, because we're going to be looking at a comparison verse in just a moment. So, Psalm 91, and then find in your Bibles also Hebrews chapter 1. I just want to share with you this morning some of these express statements of Scripture before we go further. Look in Psalm 91, if you would, and let's begin reading there with verse 1.

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• Psalm 91, verse 1. Watch carefully. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Now, wait a minute. Where does God place his people? God places us in the secret place of the Most High. We're under the shadow of the Almighty. What will that enable us to say? Look in verse 2. "I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust."

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• "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence." Did you hear that? "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler." What is the snare of the fowler? Does anyone know? It's a snare to catch a bird. In other words, men set snares. And God says he's going to deliver us from all these snares that have been set by wicked men from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. "He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust."

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• "His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Now watch, thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee."

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• Now let me tell you, I know not everyone in here has seen this, and I've used this as an illustration before. But it is still absolutely amazing to me. Some of you men who were in service will remember. During boot camp, they took us out and showed us fields of fire with 11 man squad. And in these fields of fire, for those of you who are not in service, what you have, you have 11 men lined up, usually two BARs, Browning Automatic Rifles.

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• That was the weapon of choice when I was in a long time ago. Two Browning Automatic Rifles on the ends, and they would be shooting like this, crisscrossing. All these other men in between had fields of fire and angles. So that means it does not matter which way you came. There were bullets coming at you. So my field of fire may be from this door to that window. Henry's field of fire may be from that door to that wall where everything's crisscrossing.

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• Well, they took us out at night. And every fifth bullet they shot was a tracer, which means you could see it was red. For every red bullet, there were four that you did not see. And when that eleven-man team started firing, all you could see was a solid sheet of red. And I often wondered, "Oh Lord, how does anybody get through that?" And yet thousands of people did.

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• And that's what God says, "A thousand shall fall at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." You're talking about protection. Let's go on, look at it. He says in verse 8, "Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked." It's not going to happen to you, but you're going to see it happen to them. Why? "Because thou hast made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against the stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion, and the adder, and the young lion, and the dragon, shalt thou trample under thy feet."

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• "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation."

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• Now, go back, if you would please, to verse 11. "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."

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• Now, look in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14. Look what the Bible says about angels. Hebrews 1, verse 14, God says, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation?" Do you realize that we have angelic servants, angelic ministers who minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation? In other words, they're the ones that protect us up until the time we are converted and continue to protect us even after we are converted. They are ministering spirits. So here, the entirety of Psalm 91 demonstrates the providential care and protection and deliverance of Almighty God.

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• Here's an express statement of Scripture. God says, "I'm working out for you. A thousand may fall at my right hand and 10,000 at my feet, but it's not going to come nigh you."

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• Now look in your Bibles, if you would please, to Matthew chapter 6. And as you turn to Matthew 6, turn to Psalm 37, because we'll come back and do a comparative statement there. Psalm 37 and Matthew chapter 6. Watch this carefully. Matthew chapter 6 will read, beginning there with verse 25. Matthew 6 verse 25. The Word of God says, "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" Now God says, let me give you a comparison. "Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into their barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them."

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• "Are you not much better than they?" Now let me point something out. It is true that our Heavenly Father takes care of us. But it is also true that we have to work, isn't it? In other words, God uses means. If you were to come to my house, you would see some of the fattest sparrows and finches and wrens you've ever laid your eyes on. You know why?

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• Because I have three feeders out there and they gorge themselves on them every day. Well, now, who's feeding those sparrows? Well, God is. But he's using me. You follow what I'm saying? God's the one. Because if God did not provide for me, I could not provide for them. OK, now watch. Let's go a little bit further. He says, "Are not you much better than they?"

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• Now, here's the uselessness of worry. "Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Why are you so uptight about the things of this world? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

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• "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought," that is, do not be anxious, "saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles and the heathen seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

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• Now go back to Psalm 37, if you would please, and look, if you would, at verse 25. Psalm 37 and verse 25. Look what David says. And the truth of the matter is, most of us waste precious time and energy on things we should not even be thinking about. Notice in Psalm 37 and verse 25, David said, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Isn't that amazing?

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• Now folks, let me tell you, here's an express statement in Scripture that our Father knows what we need and He will take care of us. All of our trials, all of our troubles are going to work out for our good and his glory. Look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. In fact, we need to probably compare this with the book of James chapter 1. In fact, go ahead and find James if you would please.

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• Sitting right up here between his parents, isn't he? The book of James. All right. Look in Romans chapter five, beginning there with verse one. "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace where we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Now watch verse three. "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations." Now let me tell you what the word glory means. It means to exalt, it means to jump up and down again.

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• Now let me give you the comparison. Go back to verse 1, "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now watch verse 2, "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Now the word rejoice is exactly the same word as glory in verse 3. Now Paul says, when we begin to think of the eternal weight of reward and glory that is ours with Jesus Christ, we rejoice, we jump up and down, we exult. Then he says in verse 3, "And not only so, but we jump up and down and exult in tribulations."

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• Now when's the last time you said, "Thank God the IRS is after me"? You see what I'm saying? When's the last time you said, "Well thank God I don't have enough money to pay my bills"? When's the last time you said, "Well thank God I was sick all last week"? Now watch what he's saying now. "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations. Why? Knowing that tribulations worketh patience. And patience, experience. And experience, hope. And hope maketh not ashamed, for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." What is the ultimate end of our tribulations? It's for the love of God to be shed abroad in our hearts. Our tribulations just give us patience. The patience gives us experience. Experience gives us hope. And hope makes us not ashamed. Because ultimately, the end is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.

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• Now look in James 1, beginning there with verse 2. I wonder how many of us have been obedient to this command. He says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations," that is, different kinds of temptations. "Count it all joy. Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Why? Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing," or that you may be mature and complete.

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• So the ultimate end, then, of our tribulations, of our trials, is maturity in Christ. You see, the point I'm trying to make is this. Even when we don't understand, and even though we don't like what we're going through, God still uses it. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 1 Peter. Turn right over to 1 Peter 1, beginning there with verse 5. And let's read through verse 9. 1 Peter 1, verse 5. Now, he's talking about the saints of God. He says this. "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." So the saints are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So here's the assurance and the glory of this to be revealed. Watch in verse 6, "Wherein you greatly rejoice," that is what's going to happen, "though now," that is in this life or season, "if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold temptations."

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• In other words, some of these things can crunch us, seemingly. But what's the result? "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, in whom though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." What's he saying? The testing and the trial of our faith, which oftentimes produces heaviness, is nothing more than our Lord refining the gold in our lives that's ultimately going to be for our good and for His glory. I'm going to show you a little bit later, but even the discipline and the chastisement that God has to bring in our lives because of our sins, works for our good and for his glory.

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• So you have express statements of scripture that enable us to say, "And we know." Now there's a second area that we can say with all assurance, "And we know." What is it? Not only the expressed statements of Scripture, but secondly, the experience of the saints. Look in your Bibles to James 5, beginning there with verse 10. James 5, verse 10. Look what he says. "Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." Now, let's go back to verse 10. He says, "Take, my brethren, the prophets for an example, for an example of suffering, affliction, and patience." And you can go back through the Bible. I don't care if you study the life of Elijah, the life of Elisha, in the Prophets, you're going to find that there was much suffering, there was much persecution, which produced patience and godliness in their lives.

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• Then he says in verse 11, "Behold, we count them happy who endure." And then he says, "You've heard of the patience of Job, and you've seen the end of the Lord." So what he's saying is this, God works everything out for our good and his glory, and the experience of the saints show this. Look in your Bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 42, one of my favorite verses.

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• You remember Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, you remember that? And you remember how Simeon, when they went down to get corn, Joseph knew them, but they did not know Joseph. And Joseph said, "I'm going to keep Simeon here as insurance because you're all slaves. You told me you had a baby brother at home." And you remember the baby brother at home was Joseph's whole brother.

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• These other brothers were half-brothers. He said, "Unless you bring him back, surely you're all spies." And so the boys came back home. Old Jacob said, "Where's Simeon?" Well, he said the man held him down in Egypt down there. And he said, "Unless we bring Benjamin back, we're not going to get any food." He said, "Why didn't you even tell the man you had a brother?" He said, "How did we know he was going to ask to see him?" So when the food ran out, old Jacob said, "Go on back." They said, "We're not going to go without Benjamin, because if we go without Benjamin, we're going to all be put in prison and we're not going to get any food." And look what Jacob says in verse 36 of Genesis 42. "And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have you bereaved of my children? Joseph is not."

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• He thought he was dead. "And Simeon is not." He was held in jail or in the palace down in Egypt. "And you will take Benjamin away." That's my baby. Watch what he says. "All these things are against me." How many of those things were against him? None. Joseph being down in Egypt was for him. Simeon being held in Egypt was for him. Getting Benjamin there was for him.

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• Not one thing was against him. Everything was for him. Let me ask you a question. Was it for Joseph's good that he was sold as a slave? Well, of course. Was it for Moses' good that he had to go into the desert for 40 years and unlearn everything he learned in Egypt? Yes. Now here's a tough one. Was it for David's good that his infant child that was born of Bathsheba died? What's the answer? Yes. Hard experience. Heart-rending experience. But as far as good, look in your Bibles to Psalm 119. By the way, I could ask you this. This one is just as difficult. Was it for David's good that Absalom rebelled against him and ran him off the throne? Yes. Another heart-rending experience, but it was still for David's good. Look what he says in Psalm 119 and verse 67. David said, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." All of that taught David to be obedient. Look in verse 71. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes."

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• David said, "I learned more about my Lord and more about truth." Look in verse 75. He says, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me." All you have to do is read Psalm 51. You will find out that everything that happened to David was for his good. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11. And I want you to do just a little bit of thinking with me.

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• You see, most of us have grown so soft, so lazy, have been so pampered by ourselves and others, that we do not tend to think that suffering can be for our good. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, and as you read this, I want you to ask yourself this question. Was this for the good of those saints? Now watch. Verse 32, "And what shall I more say?"

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• "For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets. Watch carefully. Verse 33, Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of the lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Watch, women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection, and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, watch, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth."

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• Now, my question is this. Was all that suffering and imprisonment and persecution and martyrdom for their good? And the answer is yes. Let me use a very simple illustration. This illustration has been used probably hundreds of times. But if you were to come into my kitchen and you said, "Brother Weaver, what is in that bowl?" I said, "That is a bowl of flour. Take a tablespoon of it and eat it." You said, "Brother Weaver, I don't eat that." "Well, what's in that bowl there?" "Oh, that's some salt."

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• "Get you a tablespoonful of these." "I don't want to eat that." "Well, what's that?" "That's a bowl of sugar." "Well, I don't want a tablespoon of that either. That's too sweet." "Well, what's that?" "Well, that's milk." And I keep going, "No, I don't want a tablespoon of that." You know, all of these ingredients individually may not taste good. But you take all of those ingredients and mix them up and put them in an oven and what do you get?

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• A cake, or bread, or whatever. And you know I'm not a cook, I'm not a chef. But you put all those things together and they're delicious.

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• Now, you and I may not like what is happening to us, but the truth is it is still working out for our good. It may not be good to us, but it is good for us. And God is going to certainly work it out.

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• Now, let me go a little bit further. I want to show you, secondly today, the extent of this knowledge. You look back to Romans 8:28. I've just tried to cover the foundation of the knowledge. How do we know? And that is, number one, there are expressed statements of Scripture. And number two, there is the experience of the saints. And now, the extent of this knowledge. He says in verse 28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." All things. The extent of this knowledge covers everything imaginable.

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• Now, I want you to note, in the context, Paul is dealing with sufferings. Go back to verse 18 of Romans 8. He says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this life or of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." He's talking about suffering. Skip down to verse 35 of Romans chapter 8. He asks, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation?"

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• "Or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." So all of these things that Paul mentions has to work out for our good. You say, "Wait a minute, Brother Weaver, I've got one thing that's not going to work out for our good."

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• I can think about that. What is it? You say, "Brother Weaver, that's sin." I'm going to tell you, dear friend, sin is still going to work out for our good. You say, "How can it?" Have you ever stopped to think that it was sin that got the prodigal son so sick of himself and his life that he said, "I'll rise and go to my father." He got tired of eating with dogs. He got tired of living like a dog. God used his sin and rebellion to make him sick of it. Have you ever thought about Rahab the harlot? You say, "How in the world could God ever use sin?" Have you ever stopped to think, had Rahab not been a harlot, she never would have taken two strange men into her house? Decent women don't take strange men in their homes. I don't know any that do. But she took the two men in, and it was through those two men that she was spared, ultimately converted, and even added in the genealogy of Christ.

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• The point I'm trying to make is this. God controls even sin. There's a man in the Bible by the name of Samson. He was a Nazirite. He's not supposed to touch a dead body, not supposed to drink wine. He did everything. Went down to the Philistines. Married Philistine woman. Totally disobedient to God. Could God use his sin? Yeah, now let me remind you. He suffered for his sin. You see, there's another principle in Scripture, and that's this. If you sin, you suffer. Nobody ever gets by with their sin, but that doesn't mean that God will not use that sin because God's in control. And what did God do? He went to sleep in Delilah's lap. Delilah cut his hair off. The Philistines came. She shouted, "The Philistines are upon you."

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• He arose, shook himself, and wist not that the Lord had departed from him. And went out, and boy, they caught him, bound him in chains and fetters, put out his eyes, mocked him, made fun of him. Slowly but surely, his hair began to grow.

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• Finally, they said, "Bring Samson out that we may make sport of him." And he was led by a little boy, and he told the little boy, he said, "Get me to the two pillars of this temple." And Samson prayed, "O Lord, allow me to avenge myself. Give me thy grace and my power this one last time." And he took those two pillars and he pulled them down. And of course, Samson died.

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• But here's what scripture says. And he killed more of God's enemies in his death than he did in his life.

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• Now, did God use that? And the answer is yes. And you could ask this question, did God work that out for Samson's good? And the answer is yes.

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• Now, let me just very quickly give you three things. I want you to understand that all things work out together for good. First of all, that means even those things that God allows or permits to happen in our lives.

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• Now let me explain that. When I say those things that God allows or permits to happen in our lives, that means those things that God could stop from happening, but he doesn't. God could stop the incident, God could stop the trial, God could stop the problem, but He does not. Job is the classic example. God allowed Satan to test and to try Job. Do you realize God could have stopped Satan? Satan could not do one thing. Everything that he did to Job, he had to have permission from God. And God could have stopped it. Listen, God did not need that test. God knew Job. Job may not have known Job, but God knew Job. But God allowed it to happen. There are things in our lives that God permits or allows to happen.

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• A lot of times, these are what you and I would know as cause and effect relationships. Now, let me ask you a question. Here's your little baby. You told that baby to keep his hand away from that fire. But that baby disobeys you and puts his hand in that fire. What is the result? He's going to get burned. Now let me ask you, could God supernaturally and sovereignly protect him from getting burned? Yes, but he doesn't.

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• He permits it or he allows it to happen. Why? Let me explain it like this. God's training of us is almost like the training of our children. It's almost like training a young man to take over a profession. There comes a time when you have to back off and just let them learn the hard way.

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• Now, the kid that sticks his hand in the fire, he won't do it a second time. I mean, he learns. Here's a young man who's been trained in the business, his father or some dear friend has been supervising him and keeping him from making mistakes until finally you get tired of trying to live his life for him and you just say, "I back off. Make your own mistakes and let him make one or two of them. And he'll learn."

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• You know, there's an old adage that we have, and that's this, experience is the best teacher. I like what Brother Kersey said. He said, "Unhappily for most people, experience is the only teacher. They won't listen." And so God sometimes permits or allows things to happen in our lives that he could sovereignly stop, but he does it to teach us a lesson. Secondly, God sometimes does things directly to us and sends things directly upon us for our good.

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• Now let me burst just a couple of bubbles. Do you realize the average professing Christian, I'm not talking about our people, I believe you know better, but the average professing Christian thinks of our Heavenly Father as nothing more than a loving, generous, kind, gracious God who doles out his blessings just simply upon request and he looks benignly at our sin and rebellion and our wickedness and winks at us and just lets us do our own thing. God is not like that. Some professing Christians, unhappily, think of God even on a lower class. They think of God as nothing more than, quote, "their little black servant boy," unquote. That God must do their bidding whenever they call upon Him.

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• Both of these views are totally erroneous and completely unbiblical. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 12, and as you turn there, may I remind you of this? That most of us, I know the adults for sure, most of us were whipped as children. We were chastised. I'll go further. Some of us were beaten. You know, I talked back to my father one time. That's all. And when he got through with me, I learned you don't talk back.

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• Now, I didn't like what happened to me, but I can assure you it was for my good. And I'll tell you what grates on me today is to hear kids yeah, yeah back at their parents and argue with them and fuss with them. Oh, listen. The old-timers, they had a cure for that. It's called a woodshed and a switch. And according to how big you are, sometimes it was a swift kick in the seat of the pants. But you learned.

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• Now, what I'm trying to show you is this, dear friend. Sometimes God whips us the same way. He sends things directly upon us. Look in your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6. "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth."

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• Now watch this next phrase, "and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live, for they that is the earthly fathers, verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure? But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness."

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• "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless afterwards. It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." Dear friend, let me tell you something. Sometimes God will do just like your earthly father. He will take you up and whip the daylights out of you. Economically, familially, maritally, physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever it takes. But I've got news for you.

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• When he gets through with you, you will have learned. And you will be the partaker of his holiness. And the peaceable fruit of righteousness will be in your life. So sometimes God permits or allows things to happen. Sometimes God sends things upon us. And then thirdly, sometimes God withholds his blessings or withdraws himself from us. And you talk about an experience. You say, "Brother Weaver, what do you mean when you say God withholds his blessings or withdraws himself from us?"

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• Well, let me just put it bluntly. It means he turns from us. We cannot find him. We cannot discern him. And it seems as if he has deserted us.

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• Now, folks, listen to me, we do the same things with our children. Sometimes we allow them to learn the hard way. We could stop them, but we let them go through with it. Sometimes we send things upon them directly, that is, in chastisement. And sometimes we just turn our face and refuse to smile upon them, refuse to acknowledge them, and let them learn what it's like to be ignored.

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• You say, "You'll have to show me that in the Bible, OK?" Look in your Bibles, first of all, to the Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon, chapter 3. Beautiful song. Song of Christ in the church, as well of marital love. But look in the Song of Solomon, chapter 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. Chapter 3, verse 1. Here's what the bride says, "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth."

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• "I sought him, but I found him not. So she says I will rise now and go about the city in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me, to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" And she explains, and of course finally she finds him, okay? But at first she says, "I sought him, but I found him not."

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• Now, look in chapter 5, beginning there with verse 1. Here the Lord comes to his bride, and he says, "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." Now look what the bride says. "I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night." Here's what the bride says to him after Christ is opened. The bride says, "I have put off my coat. How shall I put it on?"

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• "I have washed my feet. How shall I defile them? Now watch. My beloved put his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved, my hands dropping with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone."

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• "My soul failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer." And sometimes, it seems when you pray, heaven is brass. You don't know which way to go and which way to turn. It seems as if God has just withdrawn himself. Look in your Bibles to the book of Hosea chapter 5. Hosea chapter 5 and verse 6.

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• Here's another illustration of that. Hosea 5 verse 6. God says concerning his people here, "They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them." Did you hear that? He had withdrawn himself from them. If you'll read in the New Testament, we'll not take time to turn there, but you'll find in Mark chapter 3 and verse 7 and Luke chapter 5 and verse 16, on occasion, Christ withdrew Himself from His disciples. You see, it's times like this when God withdraws Himself from us, and we don't know which way to go and which way to turn, and it seems like God doesn't care. It's times like this that the wicked taunt us with that question that is repeated in Psalm 42, "Where is now thy God?"

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• In other words, "We've got you in our hands. We're doing with you whatever we want. Where is your God whom you said that you trusted in and would deliver you?" Let me tell you something, dear friend. When God withdraws himself, there's nothing but dryness and barrenness and emptiness. And guess what? It's at that point that we realize how weak and helpless and hopeless we are and how desperately we need the Lord. In other words, we learn to value His fellowship more than anything in the world. Usually when God withdraws Himself, He does one of two things. Number one, he will give us spiritual understanding and illumination so that we may know what is going on in our lives. We know God has withdrawn himself. We know it. And we know that we're suffering probably because of our sin or our neglect of him. Or there's a second thing that God can do, and I want you to look in your Bibles to Isaiah 50. If God keeps us ignorant, He will at least give us grace to trust Him even in the dark.

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• Watch Isaiah 50 and verse 10. Watch carefully. "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." You know what God says? God says, when it's dark, and we can't see, and we don't know, guess what you're supposed to do? Keep on trusting. Keep on obeying. Keep on doing what's right. And in the words of Job, "I'll trust Him even though He slay me." Now, Paul said, "And we know that all things work for good to them that love God." We know, based upon the expressed statements of scripture, upon the experience of the saints, and we know that any and every thing, individually, particularly, and then collectively, all things, are ultimately going to redound for our good and God's glory. I want to remind you, I want to emphasize this, don't go out of this room saying, "Well, boy, I can sin, God's going to use it."

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• That's a whole sermon in itself. God may use your sin, but I can assure you, you'll suffer for it. You'll never, ever get away with sin. There are so many people that want to identify with David in his adultery. But they never want to identify with David in his repentance and in what he suffered for his sin. He who sins must suffer. But we know that all things are working out for our good and God's glory. Let's pray. Father, help us, we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, speak to our hearts today. And Lord, we may be confused and ignorant of immediate circumstances and immediate trials and immediate problems. We may not fully comprehend the impact they have upon us. We may not know which way to turn, but one thing we do know is that somehow, You are going to work everything out for our good and for your glory. And for this we thank thee and we bow to thee and worship thee in Christ's name. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:18:49Z