All Things Work Together for Good | Romans 8:28 | Gary Hamrick

Romans chapter 8 is where we are ladies and gentlemen Romans chapter 8 now this is the third week we are in Romans chapter 8 and I don't usually on Sunday mornings Terry that long in one particular chapter but I have chosen to remain here in Romans 8 one more week because there's one particular verse that I felt led to study with you this morning and it is one of the most often quoted and beloved vers verses in the entire Bible and particularly in the Book of Romans however I I think that it is also one of the most misunderstood or misquoted verses in all of the Bible that people love when life is good and they struggle with when life is bad and it's Romans 8:28 so if you have your Bibles open I'm actually going to throw the verse on the screen because I'd like us to say it all aloud and together I I teach out a new King James uh version and so just uh for uniformity if we could all just look at the screen and recite this aloud and together many of you know this by memory but let's say this aloud and together 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 now as I said I had every intention of teaching this last Sunday and so you know here we are in Miami International Airport missing our flight and Terry knew what I was going to be teaching on and she turns to me and she says I guess the Lord wanted you to practice this before you preached it you know all things work together for good here I am we missed our flight you know we're we're we're sitting here in Miami International Airport what exactly does this verse mean is it a principle or is it a promise and if it is a promise how come life doesn't always turn out so good every time and so we're going to pray and we're going to look at this passage together today let's pray first father God thank you for meeting us here thank you Lord for hearing our prayers thank you that you tell us we're two or more gathered you're here in our midst and we pray that everything that you would hear from the songs that we've sung to this time in your word would would be edifying Lord and would bless you and that you would use this to speak to our own Hearts to teach us to encourage us to stretch us to show us new things or remind us of old things Lord we thank you for your word and for this verse in particular as we look at it today use it to speak to our hearts and we're grateful in jesus' name and everybody said amen well we can't understand this verse or really any verse in the Bible without first accepting a few things about the whole Bible things like God's word is constant and consistent it is reliable and it is true it can be preached in all places to all people in all cultures at all times because it is applicable in all circumstances whenever we read a verse in the Bible and I think Romans 8:28 falls into this category that sometimes doesn't always make sense given whatever the situation or circumstance might be in our lives it's not that the verse is inadequate it's that our understanding is inadequate we love this verse particularly when things are going well but we stumble at it when things are not going well and it seems incompatible at times all things work together for good really God when you look at certain things that you might be going through and so how is it that this verse is constant consistent reliable and true even though often times my life is not very consistent there are things that happen from time to time that are difficult and yet this verse is still true it's not because the verse lacks it's because my understanding or my perspective lacks and so it is important for me for every single one of us that when we read God's word when it doesn't quite make sense or line up with where my life is what we have to do is ask the Lord for a deeper understanding of what this verse must mean so that our lives can conform to what God says rather than expecting God's word to conform to whatever the situation is in our life it's really the opposite it's like God's word is constant reliable and true my life is pretty inconsistent there's a lot of things that happen that I'm unpredictable I wasn't prepared for and so I need to understand how does my life line up how could how it square with what is consistent and consonant which is the word of God Romans 8:28 falls into that category and and and when we look at different verses in the Bible we can get perplexed about certain things and we think that they are only applicable when it lines up squarely with my life take for example Genesis 22:14 Genesis 2214 is a verse where Abraham declares one of God's covenant names which is Jehovah Gyra my provider now the fact of the matter is that God is my provider when I have plenty and when I have nothing it's not like we can only quote Genesis 22:14 Jehovah Gyra when we have things we still need to quote that verse when we have nothing another verse Psalm 127:2 it says God gives his beloved sleep well that's easy to quote after a good night's sleep but what about when you're rocking a child who's sick in the middle of the night and you you don't get much sleep is Psalm 1272 still true well yes my life is inconsistent but God's word is still consistent my point is that God's word is reliable constant and true no matter how unreliable inconsistent or difficult my personal situation might be so when I have trouble understanding how a verse applies to my life when my life doesn't line up with that verse it's not the word of God that is inadequate or incomplete it's my understanding or perspective so we have to keep that in mind when we're looking here at Romans 8:28 we're going to unpack it together I'm going to share five things with you that are important about this verse and for those of you taking notes here's the first thing this is critical to understanding Romans 8:28 number one all things work together for good does not equal my expected outcome and this is where most Christians struggle like well well if things are not turning out the way I had hoped or prayed for or thought or dreamt of then it's not turning out for good all things work together for good does not equal my expected outcome now it does equal something which we'll get to at the very last point but it doesn't equal my expected outcome and I'll give you some examples one example in particular right out of Daniel chapter 3 familiar story to many of you who know your Bibles a little bit but Daniel and he has three friends haniah Azariah and mishel who are taken as captives from jerus M by the Babylonians and they are transported to ancient Babylon which is the region of Iraq and Iran Nebuchadnezzar is the king he has subdued Israel taken captive thousands of Jews among them are those four young men they're teenagers haniah Azariah and mishael are better known in in the Book of Daniel by their Babylonian names um meach uh now see I don't even remember their Babylonian names Shadrach mhach and Abed go they're they're polluted names of their Hebrew given names they are pagan names Shadrach Meshach and Abednego but there's this edict that King Nebuchadnezzar places upon the whole country of the Babylonian Empire they have this huge statue made of Nebuchadnezzar and then he demands that everyone in the country bow down to the Statue of His Image whenever the music is played in the nation well that's a violation of the first two Commandments and here you have these Jewish young boys who are here transplanted now against their will in this foreign country asked to bow down to a pagan King this Idol commandment number one you shall have no other gods before me commandment number two you shall not make any idols and so they they're in conflict with with this edict and in Daniel chapter 3 they speak up to Nebuchadnezzar in verse 16 they say oh Nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter if that is the case our God whom we serve is able is able to Deliver Us From The Burning fiery furnace and he will Deliver Us from your hand oh King but if not but if not let it be known to you oh King that we do not serve your Gods nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up see Nebuchadnezzar threatened if you don't Bow Down and Worship this image of me you will be killed you'll be thrown into the fiery furnace and they said well God going to deliver us we know that God is able now now hear the language there we know that God is able but even if he does not we will not bow down notice what they were doing they were deferring their expectations to the ultimate purpose of God we've made our request known we know that God is able they are not going to rely on their expected outcome they're going to rely on the ability of God and they're going to trust him in this situation because they say even if it doesn't work out the way we would like it to work out that's what's key to Romans 8:28 even if the expected outcome is not what we had hoped for it doesn't change the fact that God is good and he's working things out in the ultimate plan for his good now in the case of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego hananiah Azariah and mishel it actually did work out the way they had hoped Jesus appears in the midst of the fiery furnace delivers them out of it it becomes a testimony to Nebuchadnezzar and the nation of God's miraculous Deliverance but it doesn't always work out the way we hope John the Baptist was beheaded Paul was beheaded when you look at Hebrews chap 11 the Hebrew Hall of faith that lists all these wonderful men and women who believed God had faith and many wonderful things turned out for many of them but in the same chapter there's the list of the others the others who did not what they had hoped for yet they're still in the chapter as men and women of faith it says in Hebrews 11 I'll start reading at verse 35 just listen it said others were tortured not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were swn in Two they were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute Afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains in dens and caves of the earth and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise they didn't get what they had hoped for but God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us in other words wonderful men and women of faith in Hebrews chap 11 not everybody got what they had hoped for for exercising faith in God but they believed God to the very end and they got an ultimate reward even though this side of Heaven they didn't get what they had hoped for that does not nullify Romans 8:28 Romans 8:28 is still just as real for them as it us as it is for us today even though we may not get what we hope for that doesn't negate this verse all things work together for good does not necessarily mean in this lifetime according to our expected outcome that's hard sometimes for us to grasp we think this verse is meaningless if we don't get what we hope for pray for or wish for or dream for but the same one who wrote Romans 8:28 Paul wrote Romans 88:18 a few verses earlier and he said this I consider that my present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that awaits me in Christ Jesus he said I I have to go through some things this side of heaven and and things may not always turn out the way I hope my present sufferings he suffered a lot but he said they're not worth comparing to the glory that awaits me in Christ Jesus he had a perspective that it's okay to make my desires known to God but if if things don't happen and turn out the way I had hoped there's the ultimate reward that I'm looking forward to and we must keep this eternal perspective as Christians because if we only think that God is good and life is good when things work out according to the way we hope then we're going to become disillusioned and disappointed in the course of life but if we keep our eyes on the Lord realizing that yes sometimes things work out the side of Heaven the way we hope and pray for and sometimes not but ultimately when we get to be with him our present sufferings not worth comparing to the glory that awaits us in Christ Jesus so this is the first thing that is important to understand and it relates to point number two which is all things work together for good is the big picture not the narrow view it's the big picture sometimes we are you know so focused on the here and now that we are not able to really see the big picture that God sees I I'm going to read this brief story that I've I read one time a few years ago but I think it's worth repeating it's by Max Leo in one of his books called in the eye of the storm and he he illustrates this idea about how we don't always understand things in the moment but there's a bigger picture so don't don't don't value everything in in the Moment Like There's a bigger picture here's here's this short story it's about a poor man who lived in a tiny village and his only means of income was chopping wood and dragging it out of the forest to sell to people of the village he had a beautiful white horse and the town's people said sell your sell us your horse and then you won't be poor and he said it's like a member of the family I could never sell my horse well one day the horse was gone from the stall and the people of the village said your horse was stolen you were cursed and he said say not that the horse was stolen or that I am cursed but only that the horse is missing from the stall for all we see is a little fragment of the story well a few days later the horse came back leading 12 wild horses back to the man it hadn't been stolen it had only gotten out of the stall all the people of the village came and said you were right we were wrong you are blessed now you have 13 horses he said say not that I am right or blessed but only that the horse has returned and a dozen with him for all we see is a little fragment of the story well the poor man's son was trying to break the wild horses and he fell off and broke both his legs the people of the village said you were wrong we were right these horses were not a in but a curse your son has broken both his legs he said say not that I am cursed state only that my son is broken both his legs for all we see is a little fragment of the story well soon thereafter their country went to war with a neighboring country and all the young men of the village were recruited into war except the poor man of the village whose son had broken both his legs the people of the village came to him you were right we were wrong you are blessed for your son has been spared the ravages of War he said say not that I am blessed but only that my son did not go off to war for all we see is a tiny fragment of the story now the moral of the story is never listen to the Village People ladies and gentlemen no but but the true but the true story is this it's Roman it's uh 1 Corinthians chapter 13 it's what Paul said about how he said now I see but in a glass Darkly that's old English language for there's a foggy mirror and I can't really see things very clearly now I see but in a glass Darkly but Paul writes but then when I'm with the Lord I shall see face to face he says now I know in part but then I shall know fully even as I am fully known we don't always see the big picture but God does so we have to trust him even though in the moment it may not make too much sense cuz we only see a fragment of the story which leads to number three all things work together for good because God is good and this is important to State because sometimes we we don't realize that the good that happens is based on the goodness of God not our own goodness and if we think that then there's a problem for two reasons number one because then we're going to believe the false narrative that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people and so if something bad is happening it must mean because I'm a terrible person or conversely if something good is happening to me must be because I'm a really good person okay that's a false narrative and don't believe that and the other reason why it's important not to believe that good things happen to good people is because friends listen there's no one good except God there's no one good except God if you remember the Rich Young Ruler who came to Jesus in Luke chapter 18 and he approached Jesus and he says good good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus looks at him and he says why do you call me good for only God is good now the reason Jesus asked him that question was to see if the guy would recognize that he Jesus Is God are you calling me good because you know that I'm God and if you are calling me good because you know that I'm God are you going to listen to what I'm about to tell you he was trying to tap into the gu's worldview but basically what what he was saying there at the beginning is no one is except God the Bible says there's none righteous no not one so you so don't think of your circumstances as based on whether you're a good person or not God does good things because of God's good character not because there's something good about me that deserves his good treatment I don't deserve the good treatment of God anything good I get is the mercy of God it is the absolute mercy of God that is undeserved because it is based on his goodness not not mine all things work together for good because God is good Romans rather sorry Psalm 34 Verse 8 oh taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man who trusts in him two more real quickly number four all things work together for good to them that love God the rest of that verse says to those who love God to the called according to his purpose those who love God also known as the called are believers please understand that this verse is reserved as a promise for God's family not the world in general the world in general is not the beneficiary of This Promise This is for those who love God this is for the called the called is another term for believers those who have been called those who have responded to the wooing work of the Holy Spirit and accepted Christ as their lord and savior this is for God's family this is you know a a lost and a god forsaking world is not going to benefit from this verse when they despise God and thumb their nose at God it's not like God is going to reward their bad sinful Behavior now God is merciful he's merciful to unbelievers too you know all of us who know Christ before we came to know Christ as unbeliever God was merciful to us to bring us to that place of knowing Christ as our savior so it's not like God ignores the world he's merciful to a lost world but he doesn't reward the world for their bad sinful Behavior This Promise is for those who love God this is for the called This is God loving his children and looking out for his children to do what is good for us for our good and for his glory this is this is Romans 8:16 And1 17 where it talks about how we belong to his family Romans 8:16 the spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs we we receive all the blessings and Promises Heirs of God and Joint HS with Christ if indeed we suffer with him that we may also be glorified together it's this world is not without its suffering but Christ suffered before us in a bigger way and so we are Heirs of God we are coair with Christ we receive the benefits the blessings and the promises of God that's Romans 8:28 it's for the called it's for those who love God it's not a generic promise for the rest of the world so be thankful for that and then finally number five all things work together for good equals God's intended purpose remember I said Point number one it it doesn't equal our expected outcome what it does equal is God's intended purpose look you know many of us have have said this kind of a thing but it really is true that God has a purpose in everything even in our suffering there are some things that God allows us to go through that we otherwise would not have learned when life was great some things that are important for us in terms of how we draw near to God comes through the pruning process and the refining process that is not pleasant but in the end it produces a harvest of righteousness for those who have been trained by it if we would hang in there and trust the Lord and rest in him even when things seem Grim David would write in Psalm 273 to 14 I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and he says this this is Psalm 27:14 this is important some of you really need to hear this Psalm 27:14 wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart wait I say on the Lord God has purposes in all things we can't always we see it at the moment but if we believe that God is good that he loves his children and that he works things out either in the short term or the long term for our good and for his glory then this verse will have wonderful meaning trust him Church lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him He will direct your paths he's a good God our circumstances of Life do not change this promise of Romans 8:28 may God give us the right understanding and perspective to lean on him and trust him he's a good god he's going to work everything out in the short term or long term for his glory and for our good amen Father in heaven we thank you for your word today and this is an easy verse Lord that we love to quote when everything's going well not so easy to quote when things are are difficult I pray today for those who are going through some challenges that this verse would be as real for them today as it would be when it's a wonderful day that you would help us all to recognize the right perspective that you are good and you always work things out for our good and For Your Glory either in the short term or the long term we trust you when things don't always make sense we press into you we thank you Lord that you you love us that you're a good father that you have our best interested heart so that no matter if it's a good day or a bad day we can say with confidence all things work together for good to them that love God to the called according to your purpose this is our prayer and we're grateful people in jesus' name and everybody said amen amen God bless you all

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, gary hamrick sermons, Cornerstone Chapel Leesburg VA, bible study, verse by verse, in depth bible study, Verse by Verse Church, Chapter by Chapter Church, Gary Hamrick Cornerstone Chapel

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Length: 25min 59sec (1559 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2024