Romans 8:28 is the Christian’s Greatest Promise! What can possibly be better than knowing that every single thing that the Lord brings or allows into our lives is going to work for our good?! If we really believe this promise, it will radically change our lives!
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The Christian’s Greatest Promise
Romans 8:28
2 Peter 1:4 speaks of “precious and magnificent promises.” Well, this morning we are going to consider one of the most precious and magnificent promises in God’s Word. If John 3:16 is the greatest promise in the Bible for the lost, Romans 8:28 is the greatest promise in the Bible for the saved.
I want to lift up this wonderful promise this morning like a jeweler lifting up a diamond, so that we can look at it from 5 different angles. I want you to see 5 different components to this truth:
- The Core of This Promise
- The Certainty of This Promise
- The Cause of This Promise
- The Completeness of This Promise
- The Circumference of This Promise
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The Core Of This Promise (“all things work together for good”)
Let’s begin by examining the core of this promise in those six words “all things work together for good.” Now, let’s start by stating what Paul is not saying here.
Paul is not saying that all things are good. War is not good. Adultery is not good. Blasphemy is not good. Cancer is not good. The death of an infant is not good. Alcoholism is not good. It would be a lie to say that these things are good. Remember the context. Paul has been talking about the suffering of the believer. Romans 8:17-18 says, “if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Paul is not saying that all things will turn out good in this life. Sometimes we use Romans 8:28 when someone has lost a job or has broken up with their fiancé to tell them that God has a better job or a better spouse for them. That may or may not be true. Romans 8:28 is not talking about our temporal good, but our eternal good. How do I know that? Keep reading verse 29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son…” There you have the good defined by God. It is to be like Christ, which brings glory to God. God is not committed to making you healthy and wealthy. But He is committed to making you like His Son! Whatever it takes for Him to make you like Christ is good.
So then, what is Paul saying? He’s saying that God is working out everything in our lives for our everlasting good. The Old Testament parallel to Romans 8:28 is Genesis 50:20. Joseph has been sold into slavery, has been accused of rape, has been thrown into prison, and has been forgotten by the cupbearer for two years. None of those things was good or felt good to Joseph. Yet in Genesis 50:20 Joseph said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” It was necessary for Joseph to suffer in order that he would eventually be exalted to the place where he could save his family from starvation.
Most of us enjoy salt on our food. But did you know that table salt is made up of sodium and chloride? Both sodium and chloride are poisonous by themselves, but when they are joined together, they flavor our food and can preserve meat. We all need a certain amount of salt in our systems. So too, many things in our lives are bad. Yet, God is able to take those bad things and work them together in order to produce a good result.
Think about buttermilk pancakes. If you ate any of the ingredients alone, you would want to gag! Buttermilk, eggs, oil, baking soda, baking powder, salt. But when they are all mixed together in the right amounts, they are delicious! It doesn’t make sense does it?! How can you take a bunch of distasteful things, mix them together, and out comes something delicious? God does something very similar. He takes all of the stress, trials, pain, grief, and sufferings of life, puts them together, and produces something eternally good!
What we are talking about here is the Providence of God. Providence is God’s overruling hand at work everywhere in a fallen world. The circumstances of our lives are not controlled by chance, luck or fate, by our Heavenly Father who ordains or allows only those things that will bring about His purposes.
We should erect a sign over all the unexplained mysteries of life which reads, “Quiet, God at work.” The danger is that we will judge what we can’t see by what we can see. When a tragedy strikes, if we can’t see a purpose in it, we assume there isn’t one. Instead, we should judge the beginning by the end.
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The Certainty of the Promise
(“And we know”)
Paul does not say we hope, or we have a vague wish. This is not speculation, conjecture, or guesswork. Paul says “we know” this. We know this with absolute certainty. But how do we know this? We know it because of what Paul has already told us in verses 26-27. We know that when we don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. Because God always hears and answers the prayers of the Spirit, we know that He will answer these prayers that are according to God’s will for our lives. Therefore, because God is going to accomplish His will in our lives, we know that He is causing all things to work together for our good.
This is a promise that we should never doubt. We can be sure and certain about it. We should believe it with all our hearts!
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The Cause of the Promise
(“God causes”)
Now, there are a few different readings in the Greek manuscripts at this point.
KJV “all things work together for good”
NIV: “in all things God works for the good”
NASB: “God causes all things to work together for good”
Which of these translations is correct? The truth is that none of these translations substantially changes the meaning of the verse. Even if we go with the KJV which says, “all things work together for good”, we have to ask ourselves why? Why do all things work together for good? Paul doesn’t mean that all things work together for good on their own, or by fate, or chance. Of course he means that they work together for God because God is ordering and directing them to that end.
So let’s take the NASB rendering, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good.” There it is. There is the Great Cause of why all things happen in this world. God is taking all things and working them together for a good result. If this is true, then it stands to reason that God must be over all things and must control all things. How can all things work together for good, if God can’t control all things? This is not fatalism or determinism. This is the glorious truth that the all-wise, all-loving God is in complete control of all things! And that’s good news!
I heard a story of a shipwreck with only one survivor. He washed up on a small, uninhabited island, and prayed that God would rescue him, but no help came. He eventually built a small hut out of driftwood for protection from the elements. However, one day he came home from a day of hunting for food only to see his hut all in flames, the smoke rising high into the sky. Angrily the man cried, “God how could You do this to me?!” The next morning he was greeted by rescuers coming ashore. “How did you know I was here?” he asked. “We saw your smoke signals” they replied.
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The Completeness of the Promise
(“all things”)
All things includes everything. It is utterly comprehensive. There are no limits to this verse. There are no restrictions or conditions. There is absolutely nothing that we face that is not under the control and direction of our heavenly Father. Everything that people will do to us or say about us works together for good. Every problem, trial, pain, and suffering works together for good. Every sickness, heartache, disappointment, or persecution we face works together for good. Everything that another person does to us or says to us works together for good.
No wonder Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”
Now wonder he wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:15 “For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”
Now wonder he wrote in Romans 8:35 that tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword would never separate us from the love of Christ. Instead in all those things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
Paul goes on to enumerate the “all things” in Romans 8:38 which include death, life, angels, principalities, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth, or any other created thing. But none of them can ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Friends, you never have to worry that something has come into your life that slipped past God somehow. Even Satan had to go to get permission to torment Job or to try to sift Peter’s faith. You and I are in good hands!
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The Community of the Promise
(“to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”)
Here we discover who may claim this promise. What community of people is this promise true for? Folks, this promise is not for every person in the world. The promise is much more narrow than that. The only people who can know that all things are working together for their good are those that love God and are called according to His purpose. This is a promise only for Christians.
Notice that this community is described in two ways: 1) those that love God; 2) those who are called according to His purpose. When we look at these people from the human perspective, we describe them as “those who love God.” When we look at these people from the divine perspective, we see them as “those who are called according to His purpose.”
Why did Paul describe this community in two different ways? Why not just describe them as those that love God? If God rested this glorious promise only on our love to God, it would rest on pretty flimsy ground, because our love to God is fickle and wavering and sometimes weak. Our love for God is not a sufficient ground for such a massive promise.
But if Paul had said that this promise is good for those who are called according to His purpose, I would wonder who has been called. How can anyone know whether they have been called or not? The answer is that they love God. You see the divine call and love for God are Cause and Effect. The sovereign, effective call of God Almighty is a sure and strong foundation, a bedrock for this tremendous promise.
So Paul gives both sides. He gives the subjective human side, and the objective divine side. He gives our experience and God’s work that makes this promise unshakeable. How do we know that this promise of God will not fail? It is because of His work, His call. Our love for God is too uncertain, but God’s call is not uncertain in the least. God’s call brought our love into being and will cause it to continue so that this glorious promise will be true of us forever. The key to the success of this promise is not you, but God.
Let’s meditate on both the Divine and the human descriptions of this community of people.
Those who are called according to His purpose. What does it mean to be called according to God’s purpose? Perhaps it will be helpful to read other passages where Paul writes of God’s purpose.
Romans 9:11, “for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” In this text, God’s purpose and His call are both mentioned, just like in Romans 8:28. What do we learn about God’s purpose and call? It is according to God’s choice. It has nothing to do with human works. This purpose and call will result in what God has determined. God’s will cannot be thwarted!
Ephesians 1:11, “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” God’s predestination is according to His purpose. In other words, God’s purpose will stand, and nothing can make it fall to the ground.
2 Timothy 1:9, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” God’s purpose was established from all eternity. It had nothing to do with our works. It was that which brought about the call which saved us.
So, what we learn from Scripture about God’s purpose is that it overcomes every obstacle and will never fail, because it was determined before time.
What does Paul mean “to those who are called”? The Bible uses the word “call” in two different senses. In Matthew 22:14 Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” There Jesus uses the word “called” to describe those who are invited to the marriage feast. Sometimes the Bible refers to an outward call. This is the call the preacher gives when he invites his hearers to repent and believe the gospel. This call is not always obeyed. In fact, it is rarely obeyed. Most people hear this call, and go on their way unchanged.
However the Bible also uses the word “call” in another sense. Most of the time the word “call” describes an effective call, or an inward call. When God calls a man inwardly, Christ becomes irresistibly beautiful, and he comes. That’s what is going on in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Do you see it? Paul says that he preaches to Greeks and Jews. The Greeks consider his preaching of Christ foolishness, and the Jews consider it a stumbling block. However, there are some Greeks and Jews who see things differently. Even though most see Christ as foolishness and a stumbling block, a smaller group see Christ as the power and wisdom of God. Who are they? Paul tells us in verse 24 – “the called!” God’s inward call makes all the difference. It changes our minds, opens our hearts, and inclines us to come to Christ in faith and love.
Consider Lydia’s experience in Acts 16:14, “the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” God called Lydia, and she believed.
Consider 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” God’s call brings us out of the kingdom of darkness, and puts us into the kingdom of light.
My friends, do you know why you are a Christian? It is because God called you! If He didn’t call you, you would continue to ignore or even rebel against Christ. It is only the fact that God called you by His grace that made the difference in your life.
What does it mean to love God? Many say loving God is the same as keeping His commandments, because Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (Jn. 14:15). However, keeping Christ’s commandments is not the same thing as loving Him. It is the fruit of loving Him. Obedience flows out of love for Christ, but it is not the same thing. To love God is to esteem Him, value Him, cherish Him, revere Him, desire Him, treasure Him, and delight in Him. It is a reflux of the heart to the beauty of Christ. Love for God instantly floods your soul the moment you are born again. Paul has already told us in Romans 5:5, “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” When we see Christ as altogether lovely and glorious, we will repent, believe, and obey. But to see Him as glorious is to love Him. How does a person go from spiritual blindness to seeing Christ as glorious? God must call Him according to His purpose. The call of God produces a sight of the glory of God. Listen to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:4-5, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” There it is! We were blind unbelievers at one point. Then the same God who said, “Let there be light!” and there was light, shone in our hearts, and we saw the glory of Christ! In the instant we saw His glory, we loved Him. The effectual call of God produces love for God.
Man in his depravity does not love God, regardless of what he tries to tell you. He ignores God and rebels against God.
So who is the community that inherits this promise? Only those God has called, and those who love Him.
Conclusion
What do we do with this awesome promise! What difference should it make in our lives? If we really believe Romans 8:28 then there are things we can do, and things we can refrain from doing.
If we believe Romans 8:28, we can:
- Rejoice always. 1Thess.5:16.
- Give thanks in everything. 1Thess.5:16
- Be content. 1 Tim. 6:8
- Have peace. 4:7
If we believe Romans 8:28, we can refrain from:
- Phil. 2:14
- Sinful anger and bitterness.
- Getting offended.
- Taking revenge.
Romans 8:28 is one of the most powerful truths in all of Scripture. Memorize it, meditate on it, trust it. It will transform your life!
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