The Bible says "The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Psalm
9:17) That includes America. She has forgotten God and everybody knows it. She
hates God. She hates Jesus. Hates the Word of God.
College campuses are places of
immorality and sin and filth and infidelity. The Bible also says, "Righteousness
exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." (Proverbs 14:34) So we
live under reproach tonight, but I have good
news.
I have wonderful news for those of
us who believe the Word of God. I suppose that for the Christian, the great
smorgasbord verse of the Bible is Romans 8:28. You've got to figure out who said
this and how come him to say this and who he said it
to.
You've heard me say, my old daddy,
when he went to the old fashioned country telephone many years ago, after four
rings on 187 had sounded, he picked up that receiver on the left and put it to
his ear and got up to the mouthpiece and said loud enough to hear him up at the
neighbor's home, "Hello!"
And the next question my daddy would
ask was, "Who's doing the talking?" He wanted to know who was talking to him.
Brother, I want to know who's doing the talking, and I have found out. It's the
Lord!
You listen to me a minute. He said,
"We KNOW . . ." That's certainty, that's permanent. He didn't say, "We think" or
"We presume or imagine or We could wish." He said, "And we KNOW." And I want to
know what he knows.
There are a heap of people living in
the world who think they know. That's not enough for me. The greatest preacher
who ever lived, outside of Jesus, said, "I KNOW." ". . . I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day." (1 Timothy
1:12)
Then he said in Romans 8:28 "And we
KNOW that ALL things . . ." That's a lot, isn't it. There are a heap of things
going on down here, and he said that we know that ALL things work together for
good.
We might as well admit that life is
a series of things and happenings and experiences and day by day steps, and yet
Paul is saying, by the Holy Spirit, "And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God."
One of the considerations in this
message is, "Do you really love God?" I'm not talking about loving the church
and your denomination. There's no need you wasting your love on that, because
that's passing. I'm talking about the permanent. If you get tied onto a
denomination or even a church or on some things that ought not to be the object
of your love, you'll wind up discouraged.
When you get through analyzing
Romans 8:28, here are some of the things you will see. In the first place, he
said, "We KNOW. And we know that ALL things, and we know that they work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his
purpose".
That means the people in the will of
God and who have the purpose of God in their soul. I might as well just go ahead
and say it, because it's the truth. This verse does not apply to just the
preacher or the average church member. And there's no need to try to make Romans
8:28 work in the average life, because it won't
work.
There has to be, first of all,
regeneration, no condemnation, there has to be real justification, there has to
be sanctification, there has to be an impossible separation and there has to be
a certain glorification. All of these things are written down in Chapter 8 of
the Book of Romans.
But notice, he said we have some
limitations, even after regeneration. He doesn't say that we become perfect as
soon as we get saved, but we get on the trail that heads in that direction. He
said in verse 27, "And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of
the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will
of God."
The Holy Spirit always prays in the
will of God. He never prays against the will of God. John 15:7 tells us "If ye
abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall
be done unto you."
Romans 8:28 is a passage that works
for the will of God's people and the purpose of God's people and the people who
love God. If we are in love with the world and the junk that is in the world,
then don't expect Romans 8:28 to work in your
life.
I know that we use this as sort of a
hiding place and a springboard and everything else, because somebody gets killed
or dies a little early and they say, "Well, Romans 8:28." I'm thinking of one
man in particular. He ate himself to death. He won every eating contest he ever
entered, and of course he died before he was old enough to die, but he
died.
Then the wife looked at me and said,
"The will of the Lord has been done." No, it wasn't the will of the Lord for him
to kill himself. He committed suicide. I really get sort of tired of people
blaming everything on the will of God.
When you walk and live in the will
of God, Romans 8:28 is going to hatch out the best for you, and that includes
the sunshine, as well as the shadows and the rain. When our hearts and lives are
hid away in the purpose of God Himself, and when the will of God is our divine
object in life, you put it down, things are going to work out for
good.
Paul, bless his sweet memory, said
to the brethren one day, "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the
things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the
Gospel." (Philippians 1:12)
Paul got word that the people at the
church over at Ephesians had had their faith shaken in the Lord because he had
so many knots on his head and had so many stripes on his back. Paul looked at
them through the letter that he was writing and said, "You know, fellows, it's
hard to understand why y'all are about to faint because of my
tribulations.
I'm making it just fine." Wherefore
I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For
this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to
the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the
inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted
and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge." (Ephesians
3:13-19a)
And he wound up that great chapter
and said, Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in
us."
Paul knew what he was talking abut.
He was not illiterate concerning spiritual things. If there has ever been a man
who lived who had a right to question the goodness of God, on the outside, it
would have been Paul.
He said over in Philippians 3:7, “ .
. . What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ . . . for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith: That I may know Him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of
his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death."
Now, where did Romans 8:28 get
started? It had to start on the Damascus Road. Paul got the credentials, he got
the papers, he got them sealed and put them in his pocket and headed for
Damascus to kill Christians.
He met Jesus Christ and that's where
Romans 8:28 went into effect (for him.) "All things work together for good."
That's where he met Jesus and was saved. Dear Friends, if you and I knew tonight
what he knew, there would never be another worry, another day of anxiety or
another fear for our life. Most Christians, including some preachers, live in
constant fear.
Now the Number One question is, Do
you know that you love Him? Number Two. Do you know that you are in the will of
God? Do you know that the purpose of God is being carried out in your life?
That's the secret of it all.
Romans 8:28 never works in a critic
or complainer's or a murmurer's life. If you sit around wondering when the Lord
is going to get you out of this, He won't. But if you will just go ahead and
enjoy the circumstances and climb on top of them, God will take care of all the
situation. While they were in jail, Silas asked Paul, "How do you think it's
going to work out?" "I don't know, but in the meantime we'll be praying. Let's
pray now." They prayed and then Paul said, "Silas, do you feel like singing?" He
said, "Yes sir. I'll sing." So they began to
sing.
The Bible says they prayed and sang.
It didn't say they sang and prayed. A lot of people try to sing without praying
and you can't do it. A lot of people think that singing is as important as
praying. It's not.
After Paul and Silas prayed and sang
a while, they felt the building shaking and saw the doors falling ajar. It was a
stormy night. The old jailer started to commit suicide, But Paul said, "Hold it.
Do thyself no harm. We are all here."
And the jailer came and said, "Sirs,
what must I do to be saved, And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ . .
." and the old boy believed. When the jailer took Paul and Silas home for
breakfast and was washing their bloody backs, he said, "Fellows, I'm sorry. I
didn't know any better. My, I wouldn't have done this for anything. Silas said,
"That's all right. This is all a part and purpose of God to get you saved. We
don't mind these stripes." Then he looked at Paul again and said, "You know, I
believe Romans 8:28 really does work!"
Folks, do you believe this is just a
wild theory and something to preach about, or will it work? Would you be willing
to let Romans 8:28 really work in your life? Do you believe that the same God
who saved Paul would work out things for you in your life and home if you would
be willing to love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength and
all that is within you? Just say "Lord, I want You to order my steps out of the
Book, and I will delight in Your wonderful
way."
But that's not all. I believe this
same old rugged prophet of God after he had been jailed beaten, whipped and
received 195 lacerations, could look away toward Glory and said, "I KNOW whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto Him against that day." (2 Timothy
1:12b)
Your life is completely and
permanently immortal until the will of God is finished in your life. There is no
way on earth that the devil and his crowd in hell can stop you until the will of
God is finished, as long as you are walking in the will of
God.
Satan might hinder, but he can't
stop you. Paul said one day, "None of these things move me, neither count I my
life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy." (Acts
20:24a)
Then in to the next city he went to
preach, telling the sweet story. He practiced Romans 8:28 every day he lived,
unafraid. He refused to give up or to let up or to back up until that day when
he was caught up to be with the Lord.
One of the things that grieves me is
that so many people have never found the will and purpose of God for their
lives. But, of course they MUST have an experience with Jesus Christ and must
know Him as their personal Saviour.
When Paul came to the close of the
journey, they said "You'd better get ready. the chopping block days are just
ahead." And Paul said, "I am ready now." When the fellows came with an old axe,
Paul voluntarily laid his head on the block and winked at Brother Luke and said,
"I'll see you in the morning. I'm going Home. It's been a wonderful trip. I've
enjoyed every step of the journey and I just want to say Romans 8:28 has been a
wonderful experience all the way."
"And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according
to His purpose."
Paul also said, "Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ, Neither death nor life nor powers or principalities
nor things present or things to come, nor any other creature shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans
8:35,38,39)
If Romans 8:28 ever worked, it will work right now. It will bless your life and strengthen you with the strength that you need in these closing end-time convulsive days when many are turning back. We need to come to this Book and memorize it and hide it in our heart, that we might not sin against God, and Jesus will meet our every need.
