The Steady Hand of a Caring God - Part A

We have before us in verse 28 a Grand Canyon of Scripture with incredible breathtaking views that covers absolutely everything in life are a Tory called Romans 828 hello tired heart.

Many people in the world and God is. Judge denies that could be further from the truth. Connect with Skip Heitzig today as he shares encouraging truths about how much God truly cares for you right now you want to tell you about a resource that will help the kids in your life diving to the Scriptures. The most recent state of the Bible survey revealed that only 9% of millennial's with the Bible on a daily basis will skeptical generation I record is also uninformed about the word of God. Small water supply style confusion about your own children or your grandchildren passenger fitting to a younger generation so they don't become a statistic and stepped to help you encouraging person in your life to get excited about God's word all he has for them, soaring to the Bible by Skip Heitzig gives kids and twins. An overview of the entire Bible and exciting travel guide for illustrations fascinating facts to keep them engaged will send you your copy of this may produce resource you give a generous donation of $35 or more to help keep his Bible-based teachings on the air connecting more people like you to God's word. Call now to give them and receive a copy of sword to the Bible 892 1888 or securely connectwithskip.com/offer joint Skip to put today's teaching Romans chapter 3 why sometimes feel haphazard feels random feels like it doesn't make sense.

No wire going through what you're going through. You don't know why a loving God would allow you to go through what you're going through.

You just don't get it.

There was a man who lived in a flood zone and a flood came, he was down in Louisiana as the waters were rising and there was a mandatory evacuation. He decided to stay put. So he climbed up on top of his house on his roof.

The waters were getting higher up to his ankles and about neighbor came neighbor came by the little girl about said love to give you a left out here and the man smiled and said oh no I trust in the Lord.

I'll be fine. So he stayed in the waters rose a little, but hired a little bit higher up to his waist and a man in a motor boat came by and said love to give you a left out of here and the guy goes all know God is faithful and trusting him. He's gonna provide. So we went often waters Rising higher and higher up to his chin is now on his tiptoes helicopter came in and swooped down the pilot L down and announced grab a hold of the rope. I'll save you the man looked up and said no don't need any help, God's got this covered so he was treading water now for a couple of hours we finally died and he was in heaven he complained to God because Lord I don't get it. I had such trust in you. What went wrong. I don't understand. God said, yeah, I don't understand either. I sent you two boats and a helicopter. Aren't you glad that God never says yeah I don't understand that God never says groups, God never declares oh that's not part of his vocabulary Romans chapter 8 verse 28 and when you look at 2829 and 30, but principally 28 is one of the most famous verses of Scripture ever penned most of you know it by heart.

It is brought comfort to millions of believers for centuries. This one verse will help you go to sleep at night when nothing else will often times I just repeated that to myself in dark moments. In fact, it always makes the list of the most popular Bible verses. I look at the list recently this week of the top 10 most famous Bible verses to Americans. Romans 828 was number four. It always makes that less. However, preaching on a famous verse of the Bible can be a little intimidating simply because everybody knows it. They've Artie internalized that they memorized it you know it's meaning you applied it to your lives.

But I found that it can be very rewarding, especially if you treated like it's a jam precious jewel you look at Romans 828 and working to just sort of turned around slowly letting it catch the light so to speak of God's glory on each facet of truth word for word.

It is an important verse because not all things are good and to say all things are good, would be a fallacy. It is wrong to say, for example, the death of a child that's not good cancer is not good. Suicide is not good, more is not good. Terrorism is not good rate is not good sex trafficking. All of those things are not good in get the verse says, 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. We have before us in verse 28 a Grand Canyon of Scripture with incredible breathtaking views that covers absolutely everything in life are a Tory called Romans 828 a soft pillow for a tired heart that a great description. A soft pillow for a tired heart. How many times have we rusted our souls on the promise in this verse someone said if the whole of Scripture were a feast for the soul. In Romans chapter 8 is the main dish and I would add to that is a Romans 828 is the entrée is the main feast know what's gonna go back and get our bearings. The theme of Romans we have seen is the gospel the righteousness of God and the meaning of the gospel.

The first few chapters.

However, plummet us downward reveals the wrath of God before reveals the grace of God.

So in chapters 1, two and three, Paul consigns the entire world as being unrighteous under God's judgment, religious and nonreligious Jew and Gentile, then chapters 4 and five gives us the fix fix his faith that if we simply believe like Abraham. He was a prime example. He believed in God, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore, a person who believes is justified is the theme of those two chapters in chapter 6, seven and eight. There is no condemnation were adopted children of God by faith we are free from the law.

The law doesn't make things better.

It makes things worse now or at the very pinnacle right at the top of the mountain and were looking over this panorama of the comprehensive view of the care of God.

How much God cares. I called this message the steady hand of a caring God to probe this verse. All three of them are primarily verse 28 and I want you to notice with me six facets of God's care. Six facets of God's care number one the certainty of God's care.

The phrase the first part of it is is and we know. There and we know there is a ring of definiteness in Paul's language.

He's not scratching his head, going way now. I think I hope maybe goes and we know Kenneth Wiest, the Greek scholar who translated the New Testament in one of his verses also was a contributor to the NASB said this should be translated this way and we know with absolute knowledge.

We know it with absolute knowledge. 32 times in Paul's epistles. He uses this phrase and we know five times alone in the book of Romans and we know that's the certainty of God's care know there's a lot of things in life we don't know the Bible says that, for instance, in verse 26 of Romans eight Paul says we don't always know how to pray as we ought.

Also, we don't know why certain things happen to us member in the Old Testament. One of the prophets name Habakkuk, who wondered why God would allow the things to happen to his own countrymen, and he said how long the Lord how long why will you be silent over this. Why is this happening. Also James chapter 4 says we do not know the things that will happen tomorrow. The patriarch Isaac declared I do not know the day of my death.

Jesus said, you do not know the day or the hour of your Lord's coming. So there's a lot of things the Bible says we don't know. But there are certain things we do know, or we should know and one of them and it should never be a question in our minds is that God loves us, God cares for us. First Peter chapter 57 cast all your care upon him because he cares for you.

And so Paul begins this verse speaking about God's care and we know listen dear believer never abandoned what you do know because of what you don't know you there certain things you don't know you can't figure it out you can't see why, but then there are other things you do know during those times gravitate and hold on to the things you absolutely no even when there's other things you don't you can be a know so believer rather than a so so believer you can be a shouting Christian rather than a doubting Christian you should be in! And not a?

With your head bent over, we don't need hope so. Thanks so maybe so perhaps so salvation we need no so salvation. This is certain.

You can lay your head on the pillow of the certainty that God cares for you. That's the first facet.

Now we take this gem of Romans 828 and we twisted a little bit after the certainty of God's care.

We have the comprehensiveness of God's care because notice what he says and we know that all things work together for good. I cannot think of a statement that brings more assurance, more joy, more confidence to the Christian than this to be careful.

He does not say. We know that all things are good in and of themselves, because that would be an absurd statement in view of natural disasters that happen. Human tragedies that occur nor does the text say that God will keep us from bad things. I know that that is the teaching in the faith teaching community that God loves you and he won't let anything bad happen to you. And if you're a Christian, you'll always have health and prosperity and he will heal you from every disease. If that were so you would have people converting to Christ for all the wrong motivations all the wrong reasons, and the Bible never promises that notice again. It does not say some things work together for good to those who love got to be easier perhaps to believe that if it did, it doesn't say that nor does it say most things work together for good, nor does it say all good things work together for good, nor does it say all prayed about things work together for good. It says all things.

The Greek word palmtop all things and guess what it means.

It means all thanks all things literally actually means all things, that is, no qualifications or no limitations. There's no confinement.

The point he is making is nothing is beyond the overruling overriding scope of God's providential care.

I love how George Muller put it, George Muller, I told you about him before he ran several orphanages in Bristol, England all by faith didn't have always financial wherewithal to run these things, but he was a man of great faith of Romans 828 he said in 1000 trials.

It is not 500 of them that work for the believers. Good 999 of them and 1 Besides His Way of saying all things know what is included in all things. Of course we know it means all things voice included in context or will remember back in verse 17 we covered that last week when we're together. He said if we suffer with him, will also share in his glory so it speaks of suffering in the present world down in verse 23 Paul writes we ourselves groan within ourselves as we are waiting for the final redemption of our body so we know it includes all things alike suffering in this life and the groaning that comes because of it. William R Newell writes dark things, bright things, happy things, sad things, sweet things better things times of prosperity, times of adversity. All things but don't miss read the verse. The idea is not that all things just happened to work out for good on their own.

The idea of this verse is behind the be all things is a God who is the prime mover who is causing all those things.

In fact, the new American Standard Bible translated that way we know that God causes all things to work together for good.

That really is the sense of this verse because it's in the active voice and it's in the present tense speaks of an ongoing activity that is orchestrated by God that the verse would be better translated. We know with absolute certainty that God on an ongoing basis is causing everything to be working together for good to those who love God, so it's not a statement of fate things additional work out on their own. It's a statement of faith that God is providentially overruling in all things for his plan. Here's a here's a related verse. Another famous verse in Scripture one you love is wealth. Proverbs chapter 3 verses five and six trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path is the matter what's going on in your path. What obstacles are under path. If the path is straighter twisted. He will direct your path. Most everyone of us has heard of PTSD is been popularized over the last 10, 15 years, posttraumatic stress disorder is something that happens when a person is exposed to a traumatic event.

Sometimes they will experience that and they will exhibit certain behaviors based upon that trauma so it's called posttraumatic stress syndrome or disorder but the world of psychology has tapped into another condition they're talking about.

Now they call it PTG post traumatic growth and what they have noted, is this is a positive psychological change experience as a result of adversity and it is due to a shift in thinking and relating to the world that is the result of a traumatic event. According to this field of experts two thirds of trauma survivors experience PTG posttraumatic growth, whereas only a small percentage actually experienced posttraumatic stress syndrome PTSD.

So the point is, for most of us.

Adversity is healthy. It's good changes the way we think.

We grow as a result, now you add to that psychological condition. The truth of this verse. There is a personal God behind it all. Orchestrating those events directing our steps in our path all things. You have a great place of confidence.

The certainty of God's care. We know the comprehensiveness of God's care.

All things must look at the third fastest turn the diamond a little more the cohesiveness of God's care. He said we know that all things work together, stop it, work together two words one word in the Greek language son Eric Gatto soon Eric Gatto if you try to write that down. I don't know why but soon Eric Gatto is the word from which we get our word synergy or synergism. Soon Eric Gatto synergy is the interaction and cooperation of two or more things. It is the working together of various elements to produce a result greater than the sum so it's not that you just have all these random things that happen is that God superintendents. The mixture of all things. So is the right combination is an example. A few weeks ago. Somebody did me a great wonderful honor of giving the homegrown tomatoes from their from the garden. I brought them home and after church after third service type cut into if you have made him there were delicious but I put poison on. I didn't die what we would call it poison we call assault. Sodium chloride, but you know that sodium in its short elemental form and chlorine in its pure elemental form will kill you.

It's poisonous. However, in the right combination sodium chloride. It's actually beneficial. It enhances taste. It brings out the flavor.

It could kill you in one form, but in another combination form. It can be beneficial. God can do that there are certain things in life, in and of themselves are evil horrible bad terrible not good but in God's chemistry lab when when he puts it in the crucible of omnipotence, and he mixes it just right. He can give it back to us and it's actually healing helpful. So Paul can say we know that all things work to gather God's chemistry not enough for a moment I want you to compare two worldviews. One is from an Old Testament guy named Jacob. One is from this New Testament guy named Paul the apostle Jacob and Paul had similar experiences bad things were happening in their lives. Jacob had his son kidnapped he thought his son was dead as Joseph. There was a famine going on in the land. His boys were misbehaving had a lot of bad things happen. Paul the apostle also had bad things happen to him. He was falsely accused put in prison. He was in Caesarea prison for a couple years and went to Rome was facing a trial before Nero get all sorts of bad things happen. Jacob, when the bad things happen to him. This what he said all things are against me when all these things happen. The Paul Paul said all things work together for good to those who love God two different viewpoints. I met a lot of believers who live where Jacob everybody's out to get me things are turning out right or all things work together for good.

What's the difference.

The difference is a perspective based on eternity. Romans 828 must be interpreted from the eternal perspective, not the temporal perspective is you're looking at what's going on around you. I don't get this. I don't know why God allowed this to happen. There is a law of physics that basically says energy in the universe is never lost. It is always transformed from one state to another state. I think it's the same way in human experience. I think nothing is ever lost entirely that God uses it to accomplish his purpose that Skip message for you from the series. Do you want to grow in your knowledge of God's word want to share about an exciting opportunity you have to do just that. Calvary College is now open for registration.

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Please visit Calvary ABQ.College that's Calvary ABQ.com for Calvary College, Calvary to.College the word of God works in you as you read it daily. The Bible is powerful and it teaches lights to see that change happening in your life as well as the lives of so many others around the world's radio ministry going strong and think others consider that coming out again hundred 19 team again at 800-9228 or visit connect with it.com/dining cannot escape.com/dining thank you tune into my Skip shares about the purpose for the struggle and so Skip presentation of connection communications to God's unchanging truth