The Ultimate Promise

Today on Renewing Your Mind. God does things and we do things God does things, and Satan does things. And yet God overrules and you overrule sin such a way as to guarantee your good.

Not what you think of as good at what he thinks half as good. In Romans chapter 8 we read that all things work together for the good of those who love him.

It was true. In Paul's day and true today. Even during a pandemic, even during an economic collapse and even death.

In these days of turmoil and difficulty. It can be hard to see God's intention for our good today are Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Derek Thomas will show us that God is sovereign and he has a plan to become in this study to the best known verse.

Perhaps in Romans eight and one means a great deal to many Christians and I suspect to you too and it's the stuff of Calvinistic verse, and Romans eight 2800 begins a lengthy section that includes the doctrine of foreknowledge and predestination on all of that and the rest of course that I'm referring to is and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. If you live inside this massive promise.

Your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest. Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 828 outside of Romans 828 all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty outside this promise of all-encompassing future grace. There are strong houses of drugs and alcohol and numbing TV and dozens of futile divergence that I slapped walls and tin roof.

So fragile investment strategies send fleeting insurance coverage and trivial retirement plans that are cardboard fortifications of deadbolt locks and alarm systems and antiballistic missiles outside are a thousand substitutes for Romans 828. Once you walk through the door of love enter the massive unshakable structure of Romans 828. Everything changes that come into your life, stability, and depth and freedom. You simply can't be blown over anymore.

The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good. All the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience as an incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life when God's people really live by the future grace of Romans 828 from measles to the mortuary. They are the freest and strongest and most generous people in the world and that of course was John Piper and might've given it away by the reference to future grace and it's a wonderful paragraph in his book, in which he nails what Romans 828 means for us as Christians their three things that I want us to think about. In this particular verse. The first is the character of those to whom the promise is made.

This is a promise that's made for those who love God is a promise that is made to those were Christians. It's a promise to those who are justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is a promise to those who have the imputed righteousness of Christ is a promise to those who are called by the Holy Spirit into a relationship with the Lord Jesus is a promise to those who think of God and call him Abba father, who are led by the Spirit and helped by the spirit and interceded for by the Holy Spirit. It's a promise for Christians.

It's not a promise for everybody. It's a promise for those who love God and who have discovered that love in the provision that God has made in his beautiful son that he freely gave and did not spare and deliver them up for us all, and along with him freely gives us all things. So if you're not a Christian, if not a believer. If you don't have the hope of glory cannot regenerate if you're not involved by the Holy Spirit. If you haven't been called effectually drawn to Jesus Christ to embrace him as he is offered in the gospel things will not ultimately turn out for your good. That's the reality. That's the other side of this verse, things will turn out for catastrophe because there's a heaven to be gained. That is good and there is a hell to be shunned. That is very very bad list look at the scientists of the positive side, what a promise. This is to Christians who not only saves us.

He not only forgives us our sins, he guarantees that everything that ever happens to us will be for all good so the character of those to whom the promise is made.

Secondly, the comprehensiveness of the promise, all things we know that for those who love God all things good things and bad things. Things that we understand and things that we don't understand things that from one point of view the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. What the world throws at us what this fallen world throws at us. This world that is out of joint. This world that is subject to futility this world life under the sun looks like and feels like vanity as the preacher in Ecclesiastes conference. Sometimes life just stinks. Sometimes things just don't go the way we want them to go and our plans come crashing to the ground and all of our efforts in all of our energy seems to accomplish absolutely nothing.

Those things, things that seem pointless things that seem to us to have no sense to them whatsoever and we find ourselves unable to pray. Paul has said in the previous verses in our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we ought, in the spirit has to come alongside and help us and interceding for us and fix those prayers on the way up so that by the time they reach the heavenly father. They are perfect bad things evil things, things that are of the devil, like Job in chapters 1 and two and Satan is there.

This evil being this fallen angel of extraordinary power is referred to in Scripture as the Princeton power of the air, who along with a host of demons seems to exist to bring us down to make accusations of slander against us. It's hard to imagine it is not because it's almost an oxymoron. When we speak of him is pure evil and it's hard to wrap our brains around what that means. The malevolence the hatred the opposition, but he exists, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour and where to resist him, steadfast in the faith, and in general he is the one who lies behind the tragedies that befall Job in the loss of his children, and the loss of his wealth and the loss of his health. Job seems to be totally inventive. Satan doesn't seem to be aware that he even exists behind the veil of evil that comes into our life there is Satan.

And he hates you. He hates all who are God's children. He hates all who long to Jesus Christ. So Paul is saying here, to those who love God all things are meaningless things evil things, things that signaled us the tragedies and hurts that come into the lives of Christians like Job, like Joseph. Joseph was accused of rape falsely accused of rape and imprisonment mention someone languishing in prison for terrorists and terrorists and terrorists falsely accused his friends, thinking that he's guilty. His mother perhaps thinking that he's guilty. His siblings, thinking that he's guilty. Perhaps some occasions he begins to think maybe I guilty parties in the sense and that's Joseph, and God weaves an incredible story of enormous complexity to get him to the second most important figure in ancient Egypt and Jesus raised in the Egyptian courts and he's there in Potiphar's house and eventually he will be the one to ensure that his role Jacobs's lineage will be held together in the story on the narrative of redemption will take the course that God had planned all along and he says he remember in the closing part of Genesis to his brother's you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. His brothers meant that they did it.

They did it and they did that which was evil, and they did that for which they were accountable and yet at the same time God did it and overruled it in this of proximate cause. And there's an ultimate cause and cure. Romans 828 Paul is thinking of the ultimate causality and the ultimate sovereignty that ensures that everything that we do and everything that we experience is so ordered by a sovereign God, but they work together for good, and they do so in a way in which God is never culpable. God is never culpable for sin is never culpable for the wrong doing and the way that the Westminster confession resolves that if resolve is the right word is to introduce the idea medieval idea of first causes and second causes because of first costs in the first cost of everything is God. Even though the second cause might be Satan and to whom the culpability of moral defection would be level. Not sure that I can say that I fully understand that but I repeated this to myself. Many many times in a way that is compatible lists to use one long words and sometimes when you throw along what I did something you think you understand that if you can repeat it but actually God does things and we do things God does things, and Satan does things. And yet God overrules and you overrules sin such a way as to guarantee your good. Not what you think of as good, but what he thinks of as good. The ultimate grant that the character of those to whom the promise is made on this is a promise that is made for Christians for believers is the comprehensiveness of the promise, all things everything.

Things that I don't understand things I wish would not happen. Things I wish would happen that don't happen all things, but just the good things, but the bad things. The loss of the space. The loss of one's job.

The loss of wealth and income loss of dreams and hopes and ambitions send aspirations send your life has turned into something that you can't even recognize anymore those things to and God's hand is always on the tiller. He's always shaping and conforming molding and driving you to that point that he is planning from all eternity within the knowledge, uncertainty that he loves you because he sent his son for you. He did not spare him freely delivered him up for us all and how shall he not alone with him freely give us all things, and those of the all things that he's talking about here in verse 28. We know that for those who love God all things work together for good. The ultimate good. So this the character of those to whom the promise is made, the comprehensiveness of the promise and then the conquest envisions by the promise and that conquest envisions is good, what is our ultimate good. And the answer, of course, as we shall see at the end of verse 30 is glorification and will examine how we get to glorification. In verses 29 and 30. In another lesson to follow it. The goods that Paul has in mind here is not a feel-good, the good that I think would be best for me or for my situation, but the good that Paul has in mind here is that God is determined to bring you home to himself. He has saved you, but he wants to bring you all the way home he has saved you and is giving you the Holy Spirit's to equip you and help you and intercedes for you and enable you to persevere, even to the end because he is called to just justified you, and eventually he's going to glorify you.

When Jesus comes again, and your bodies will rise from the grave and be reunited with your souls and you will be forever with the Lord that good thoughts. God's ultimate purpose God has a plan for you.

It's a marvelous plan that's a sovereign plan. It's an incomprehensible plan is an intricate plan. The future is enclosed in the sense that we have decisions to make the futures closed in the sense that everything about our futures has been ordered by God. God doesn't have those surprise moments when things happen that he had been planning for he says there's going to be a second coming mention all of the events and circumstances that need to happen in order to ensure the second coming and imagined circumstances and events that could happen that could undo the second coming for the coming of Jesus. The first time that there would be someone called Mary in the right place at the right time with the right lineage as God had prophesied all along God has a plan. He is a detailed plan for you and me and how do we get to know the details of that kind is the ultimate plan.

God wants to bring us home. God wants to glorify us and he's going to do everything in order to ensure that having foreknown and predestined them called and justified. He will glorify us but what about the little plan. What about the plan from below rather than the plan from above. The plan that involves our daily lives.

What are we supposed to do tomorrow will we supposed to marry or not marry, where we supposed to live what job I was supposed to be engaged in. Do I turn left arrow time). There are a million or billion decisions that we make in the course of our lives. God says, even those I superintend not in a way that makes us robots. We make decisions in their real decisions and we choose what to wear in the morning and read choose where were going to go on shop for foods in the store all that store and we say is it chicken or beef for lettuce leaves for dinner tonight and I want to offend anyone in the choice of food is a real decisions were not robots and automatons. And yet God superintendents the overrules he orders the end from the beginning from a pastoral point of view, the doctrine of course, from an intellectual point of view receives a great deal of opposition and Calvinists on one side and a minions and Sammy Arminians are on the other side of that and usually it revolves around the concept of free will. Whatever people mean by free will, but that step back from all that for a minute and ask ourselves the pastoral question.

What's the alternative, if God isn't in control. If there is no guarantee that things are working together for good that you can make a decision and it can be catastrophic. You can make a trivial decision and it can derail the train from its tracks and everything can come crashing down other others in our time who believe that the future is open and they believe it in different ways.

In the subtle nuances between how they might articulate that view.

But in order to maintain a reality of realism to free will. They suggest that there are certain things in the future that are fixed and then there many more things that are not fixed and it's open then God himself has left it open and doesn't try to close that in any way. In Romans 828 then doesn't make any sense because as John Piper reminded us in the magnificent quotes from the very beginning. Romans 828 is like a fortress. It's like a castle where you feel safe and secure and you move around inside the castle and you have fun and have relationships and make decisions. But the walls of the castle ensure that no evil can ever take you and destroy you.

I imagine that in times of difficulty and grief and sorrow you run into this castle and referred the doors shut until you've heard that gate come down and the chains rattling. You've heard the thud on the floor in Romans 828 has been your refuge and no one can.

No one can touch you. No one can take away from you what God intends for you is begun.

It's already and is giving you the Holy Spirit does the firstfruits is the diluted payment is the guarantee that a harvest is coming in all of its beauty and glory and grandeur. So Romans 828 is our refuge itself safe place like people with houses that have a safe room and when trouble comes they run into that room and press a button, everything shuts down and there inside. Romans 828. It's a beautiful place to be is your assurance and confidence as you hope to courage, especially in times when you don't understand going on. It's not important that you understand what's important is to believe and trust. Could there be a more appropriate message for our current crisis. We need to run to Romans 828 and hold her to a tightly we are so thankful for God's word in days like these were thankful for the promises he's made to us.

Thanks for listening to Renewing Your Mind today I'm Lee Webb and that we are wrapping up highlights of Dr. Derek Thomas's series on Romans chapter 8. Dr. Thomas is a look at your teaching fellow is also the senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, and a distinguished Prof. of systematic theology.

This is the first time we've had an opportunity to error his new series on Romans eight in we committed highly to you. We like to send it to you. It's 12 messages onto DVDs simply give a gift of any amount to look at your ministries when you call us at 800-435-4343 for when you go online to Renewing Your Mind.work you may be wondering how the code 19 pandemic affects our ministry here at Ligon here. I want to assure you that we are is committed as ever to carrying on the mission which are Felder, Dr. RC Sproul fixed wars almost 50 years ago, our president and CEO Chris Larson reminded us of that when he addressed the staff in a recent online message. What we long to see is a fear of the Lord return to our land and to the nations of this world and so that is one of my prayers is that the Lord would use this time of this health crisis. The economic crisis to have people call upon the Lord in perhaps ways that they never have before, or maybe even for the very first time in their life.

I do believe that God will use this time to call his elect in and to continue to have the gospel go forth and to be a great encouragement to his people and so we put our shoulder to the plow. We keep her head down. We strive to do good work. That is one of the ways that we glorify God through this.

I hope that she encouragement to you as it was to be and the rest of my colleagues here at Ligon are ministries that we do ask that you pray for us as we continue this vital mission to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God to as many people as possible crisis like this has a tendency to rearrange our priorities, that's for sure next week on Renewing Your Mind will bring you a series by Dr. Spruill designed to help us keep in step with the Spirit. We hope you'll join us. Beginning Monday