Honest Confession:
Perhaps the most difficult thing I
have learned and am relearning is
that what seems like a trial from
hell is, more often than not, God
working in my life to accomplish
His will.
Introduction
This is the kind of sermon that will
impact everyone to some degree
throughout his entire life.
Please stand.
Turn to Romans 8:28.
The Issue is Trust.
Please use a pew Bible if you
didn’t bring a Bible with you.
Pg. 835
ROMANS 8:28
• “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to
his purpose.”
OUTLINE
• Six Simple Points
– To them
– Love God
– His purpose
– The called
– We know
– Defining good
ROMANS 8:28
• “And we know that all things work
together for good to
to them
them that love
God,
who are the called
according to his purpose.”
POINT NUMBER ONE
• The promises from God, like this promise, do
not universally apply to all people equally.
Are you part of
“to them”?
ROMANS 8:28
• “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.”
POINT NUMBER TWO
• The promise that “all things work together for
good” applies only to those who love God.
Do you love
God?
Application
Is there sufficient evidence
in your life that you treasure God
above all else?
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
• Matthew 13:45-46
– “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
– Who, when he had found one pearl of great
price, went and sold all that he had, and
bought it.”
EVIDENCE
•
•
•
•
•
Worship is a priority in your life.
Giving
Bible knowledge/growth
Holiness/sanctification
Service
ROMANS 8:28
• “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called
according to his purpose.”
POINT NUMBER THREE
• God has a purpose for my life.
Turn to
Eph 1:3-12.
ROMANS 8:28
• “And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose.”
ROMANS 8:30
• “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them
he also called: and whom he called,
them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified.”
POINT NUMBER FOUR
• “The called” is a way of emphasizing God’s
role in bringing men, women, and children
into a saving relationship with Himself.
God the Holy Spirit is the person of God who calls
men, women, and children to obey the gospel—
thus, those who obey are “the called.”
ROMANS 8:28
• “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his
purpose.”
POINT NUMBER FIVE
• “We know that” is a way of expressing an
absolutely true statement with God Himself as
the guarantor of the promise.
ROMANS 8:28
• “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his
purpose.”
POINT NUMBER SIX
• The guarantor of the promise—God—is the
One Who determines what “all things work
together for good” looks like in my life.
I don’t
get to
define
good.
“This working of all things for good is done
quite naturally to ‘them that love God,’
because such souls, persuaded that He who
gave His own Son for them cannot but mean
them well in all His procedure, learn thus to
take in good part whatever He sends them,
however trying to flesh and blood: and to
them who are the called, according to ‘His
purpose,’ all things do in the same intelligible
way ‘work together for good’ . . .”
– Robert Jamieson
Case Studies of Romans 8:28
Joseph in
Genesis 37-50
BACKGROUND
• Abraham
–Isaac
•Jacob (Israel)
–Joseph (one of twelve sons)
Good looks like
being hated and despised by his
Jewish brothers.
Good looks like
being left in a pit to die.
Good looks like
being sold into slavery and taken to
Egypt.
Good looks like
being unjustly thrown in jail with
no hope of release.
Turn to
Genesis 50:20.
Joseph is a picture of
whom?
Good looks like
leaving the glories of heaven to be
born of a poor carpenter in a stable.
JOHN 17:5
• “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine
own self with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was.”
Question
Why don’t we comprehend the
significance of this?
Good looks like
an emergency trip to Egypt to save
baby Jesus’ life.
Matthew 2
Good looks like
40 days of
fasting and temptation
Matthew 3
Good looks like
being falsely accused, convicted,
and sentenced to death
Matthew 27
Good looks like
a crown of thorns,
and a whip to the back.
John 19
Good looks like
the Son of God hanging
on a rugged cross.
Matthew 27
Good looks like
“My God, My God why have you
forsaken me?”
Matthew 27
Good looks like
“It is Finished.”
John 19
In our own lives, all of us are
often guilty of asking,
“How can this be good?”
Yet, in the life of Christ
we call what He went through—the
gospel—the good news.