Introduction
With the harvest thanksgiving service two weeks ago and the BB enrolment last week, it’s been a while since we were studying Romans together. And so, let me remind you that we’re in the eighth chapter of Romans and we’ve been going slowly though this chapter, which begins with the precious promise that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Think about that for a moment. No condemnation. Think of the things you’ve said and done and thought this past week which were wrong. In other words, think of those things that condemn you. But for those who are in Christ — in order words, for Christians — there is now no condemnation. Though we deserve to be condemned because of all the ways we have disobeyed God and fallen short of doing his will, we will not be condemned. And we will not be condemned because of what God has done for us through his Son, Jesus Christ, who was condemned in our place. That’s how this chapter begins. And this chapter ends with another precious promise, which is that nothing will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, no condemnation and no separation. That’s how this chapter begins and ends.
And between the beginning and the end, Paul tells us that believers are no longer in the flesh, but we’re in the Spirit. To be in the flesh means our life is dominated by sin which leads to death. And that’s the way we are when we’re born. But now that we have come to believe in the Saviour, we’re no longer in the flesh, but we’re in the Spirit. And to be in the Spirit means that our mind is set on what the Spirit desires. And what the Spirit desires is always good.
And Paul went on to tell us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Adoption, who persuades us deep down inside that God is our Father and we are his children. And when we’re in trouble, the Holy Spirit enables us to cry out to our Heavenly Father for the help we need.
And then Paul went on to say that our present sufferings — all the troubles and trials of this troubled life — are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us when Christ returns and brings us into the presence of God, where we will be made perfect. Paul says that the whole of creation is waiting for that day to come, because when we are made perfect, then it will be made perfect. And so, the whole of creation is waiting for that day to come. And we who have the Spirit of God are waiting for it as well.
And in the meantime, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. And one of the ways he helps us is he helps us to pray. We need his help to pray, because we don’t know what to pray for. But the Holy Spirit knows, because the Holy Spirit knows God’s will for us. And so, the Holy Spirit helps us by interceding for us. Do you remember I used the image of a mother praying for her sick child? The child is unable to pray for himself. And so, his mother prays for him. And we’re like the sick child because we’re weak and we don’t know what to pray for. And the Holy Spirit is like the mother, because he’s praying for us in exactly the right way.
This is a magnificent chapter from beginning to end and it’s bursting with wonderful truths about God and about our salvation and about the glory to come. And Paul hasn’t come to the end of this wonderful chapter yet. He’s got more wonderful things to teach us. And in today’s verses he reassures us that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.
The promise
Paul says that God works in all things for our good. Now, some of you may be using the ESV translation of the Bible, which says that for those who love God, all things work together for good. So, the NIV says that God works in all things for our good, whereas the ESV says that all things works for our good. Which is it? Well, it’s both, isn’t it? All things works for our good because it’s God who works in all things for our good. All things don’t work themselves out. But God is the one who works them out and he uses all things that happen to us for our good.
And ‘all things’ means all things. This is a wonderfully comprehensive promise. It’s all-embracing. There are no restrictions. There are no limits. There are no exclusions. I’ve got to renew my car insurance next month and I’ve received the documents from the insurance company and the documents list what’s included and what is excluded from the policy. But there are no exclusions here, because Paul is clear: God works in all things for our good. He works in all the circumstances of our life.
And that means two things. Firstly, it means that God is always active in our life. If God is at work in all the circumstances of our life, then that means he’s always active in your life. It’s not as if he comes and goes and he’s working in your life some of the time, but not all of the time. It’s not that he’s only active in your life on Sundays and Tuesdays and Thursdays. No, God is active in your life every single day of your life. That has to be the case. Otherwise how could he work in all things that happen to you? If he’s at work in all things that happen to you, then he’s always at work in your life.
And secondly, this means that Christians face all kinds of circumstances. None of us should think that becoming a Christian means that our life will now be perfect and pain-free. That’s not what God promises us. Paul has already referred in verse 18 to our present sufferings. In verse 23 he refers to our inward groaning. And in verse 35 he refers to trouble and hardship and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword. He’s saying that these are some of the things Christians can expect in this troubled life. So, the young people here may from time to time fail an exam. Or you may not get on the team. That person you ask out may say no. Or someone else might not get that job you wanted. Or that job you got may not be as good as you hoped it would be. Or those plans you had for next year might not work out because of some unexpected setback or health problem. People look forward to taking things easy in retirement, but then something happens to spoil your plans. Someone we hoped to be around for the rest of our lives dies suddenly and we’re heartbroken. Christians encounter all kinds of circumstances. There are good days. And there are bad days. And there are very, very bad days. This is our life.
But here’s the wonderful promise: God uses all the circumstances of our life — the good and the bad — for our good. He’s at work in all of those things. And all of those things that happen to us fit into his plan for us.
For whom?
Who is this promise for? It’s for those who love God. In other words, it’s for Christians. Christians are people who love God. So, because we love God, we therefore love to gather together on Sundays to worship him and to be reminded of all that he has done for us. We love to pray to him for the extension of his kingdom so that many more people will love him too. And we love to obey him in our daily lives. Christians are people who love God and who demonstrate their love for him by the things we do. Of course, we only love him because he first loved us. And since we’re sinners, we don’t love him as much as we should. And since we don’t love him as much as we should, then we should ask him to help us to love him more and more. But despite our shortcomings, we can still say that Christians are people who love God. And this precious promise is for Christians. Are you a Christian? Then this promise is for you: in all things God works for your good.
For good
But what does Paul mean here by ‘good’? The promise is that for those who love God, God works in all things for our good. But what does Paul mean by ‘good’? We have to keep reading to find out what he means by ‘good’.
So, at the end of verse 28 he describes Christians in another way. He’s already described Christians as those who love God. We don’t love God as we should, but we do love him. And Christians are those who have been called according to God’s purpose. God calls us through the reading and preaching of his word to believe in his Son for salvation. He calls us to turn from our sin and unbelief and to turn with faith to the Saviour. And he calls us according to his purpose. Or he calls us with a particular purpose in mind.
And what is the particular purpose God had in mind when he called us to believe in Christ for salvation? The answer is in verse 29, where Paul has another description for Christians. So, Christians are those who love God. And Christians are those who are called by God according to his purpose. And now he says that Christians are those people God foreknew.
Last Sunday evening when I was preaching on part of John 17, I explained that in the Bible the word ‘know’ means more than knowing about someone. So, I can know a lot about someone by reading a book about that person. But knowing about someone is not the same as knowing that person personally. And that’s one of the ways the Bible uses the word ‘know’: it means knowing someone personally and intimately. But the word ‘know’ can mean even more than that. In the Bible to know someone means you choose that person. So, God says to the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ God was saying to Jeremiah: before you were born I knew you and I chose you to be my prophet. And so, when Paul describes Christians in verse 29 as those people God foreknew, he means that God chose them. And since the prefix ‘fore’ means ‘before’, then Paul is saying that before we knew God — in fact before we existed — God knew us and chose us. And choosing us is really another way of saying that he set his love on us. He didn’t have to choose us, but out of the overflowing love of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, God set his love on us and chose us.
And he chose us with a fixed destiny in mind. That’s what Paul means when he uses the word ‘predestination’ here. Christians are those people who were chosen by God with a fixed destiny or with a fixed goal in mind.
And what goal does God have in mind for his people? What destiny does he have in store for us? Paul tells us in verse 29: it’s to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. God chose us with the fixed goal of making us like Christ. And that is the ‘good’ Paul has in mind when he says to us in verse 28 that God works in all things for our ‘good’. So, we might paraphrase verse 28 in this way: God works in all things to conform us to the likeness of Christ.
Now, because we’re sinners, we don’t think about things the way God thinks about things. And so, we might think to ourselves: That’s not what I want. I want good results in my exams. I want a good job. I want a good house. I want a good spouse and family. I want a good car. I want a good holiday. I want good health. That’s sometimes the way we think. But God, who knows what’s best for us, wants to make us like Christ. And he uses all the circumstances of life to make us kind like Christ and gentle like Christ and patient like Christ and humble like Christ and self-controlled like Christ and faithful like Christ. We’re all bent out of shape, because we’re sinners. And God uses all the circumstances of life to straighten us out so that we become more and more like Christ. Or think of a sculptor, chipping away at a piece of rock to transform this lump of rock into a beautiful statue. And God our Father is chipping away at us, through all the circumstances of life, to form us into the likeness of our Saviour, who is altogether lovely.
God begins this work in us in this life. In this life, he begins to form us into the likeness of his Son. And he will bring this work in us to perfection in the life to come. So, when Christ comes again, we’ll be made perfect in the presence of God in body and in soul. And so, we will become like Christ our Saviour in holiness.
And this is not only true for us, but it’s true for all of God’s people throughout the ages, because in the end, Christ will be surrounded in glory by many brothers and sisters. And we will all bear the same family likeness, because all of us will have been transformed by God into the likeness of our elder brother, Jesus Christ.
And that’s the good God has in mind for us. That’s the fixed goal he had in mind when he chose us before we even existed. That’s why he called us to believe in Christ. He called us so that we would become like Christ.
From predestination to glory
And in verse 30 it’s as if Paul is analysing our salvation and he’s able to distinguish some of the things God does for us to bring us to perfection.
He mentions predestination first. So, when God chose us before we existed, it was with this fixed destiny or this fixed goal in mind: It was to make us like Christ. God predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.
And having chosen us with this fixed goal in mind, God then called us. And he calls us through the reading and preaching of his word. He comes to us in the preaching of his word and he calls us to give up our sins and to turn with faith to the Saviour. Of course, since we’re sinners and we’re spiritually dead, then we’re not able to respond to his call on our own. In order to respond to God’s call, we need God’s help. But since God has already chosen us, then he gives us the help we need. He plants new life in us by his Spirit to enable us to respond to his call and to turn from our sins in repentance and to turn with faith to the Saviour.
And having called us, he then justified us. And Paul has already said a lot about justification in his letter to the Romans. And so, you’ll remember that when God justifies us, he forgives us for all that we have done wrong; and he accepts us as if we’ve done everything right. He forgives us for all that we have done wrong, because Christ the Saviour has paid for our sins with his life. He satisfied the justice of God which was against us by bearing in his body and soul the punishment we deserve for all that we have done wrong. And then God accepts us as if we’ve done everything right, even though we may have done everything wrong. He accepts us, because Christ’s record of perfect obedience is given to us and we receive it by faith. And so, when God justifies us, he saves us from sin and death and he reckons us as righteous in his sight and as worthy of eternal life for the sake of Christ.
And God not only justified us, but he glorified us. And notice that Paul doesn’t say that he will glorify us. Paul says he glorified us. Why does Paul say that God glorified us as if this is something that has already happened? The Bible does this from time to time: it speaks about something that is bound to happen as if it’s already happened. When something is sure and certain, the Bible sometimes refers to it as if it’s already taken place. And our glorification in the presence of God is so certain, it’s so sure, that Paul speaks of it as if it’s already happened.
And so, because it’s bound to happen, Paul refers to our glorification as if it’s already taken place and we’re already there, standing in the presence of God, already renewed and restored and made perfect in holiness like our Saviour.
And it’s bound to happen, because this whole work from predestination to glorification is the work of God. It’s the work of God. Did you notice that? Who is it who predestines us to be conformed to the likeness of Christ? It is God who predestines us. And who is it who calls us? It is God who calls us. And who is it who justifies us? It is God who justifies us. And who is it who glorifies us? It is God who glorifies us. Our salvation is God’s work from beginning to end.
If our salvation depended on us and on the things we do, then we would be lost, because we’re unable to save ourselves. We’re unable to make up for our sins and we’re unable to transform ourselves into Christ’s likeness. We’re unable to rescue ourselves from death. Only God can save us. And so, he chose us with this fixed goal in mind: that we should become like Christ. And he called us and he justified us and he will certainly glorify us in his presence.
And until we come into his presence in glory, he uses all the circumstances of our life here on earth to move us towards that goal, which is to be like Christ. And so, in this coming week, perhaps someone will do something or say something to hurt you or to upset you or to worry you or to frustrate you. Perhaps this coming week things will not go the way you hoped they would go. But in the midst of it, you should remind yourself that this is all part of your loving Heavenly Father’s plan to bring you to perfection in his presence. And every day he’s at work in the circumstances of your life to bring you a little bit closer and a little bit closer and a littler bit closer to your goal, which is to be like your Saviour.
