Suffering? Be Assured! - [Romans 8:28-30]

I always know that when it's Sunday evening, and I'm preaching, Brother Eric always picks my favorite hymn, I'll Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. That's my favorite. Part of it is because it was our seminary song, Dallas Seminary is the commencement song they sang every time at graduation.

And so this week I was reminded of that because I was listening to this radio program called No Compromise Radio. And I came across on a Tuesday, and the host, Pastor Mike Abendroth, was talking with Tuesday Guy about the trip coming up next year to Israel.

And Pastor Mike asked Pastor Steve, you had been in Israel at one point, and there was another seminary that was there. We won't name the seminary. It's in a hot part of the country down south. And Pastor Steve said, yes, they were talking about the passage where Jesus walks on water.

And how the speaker said, can't you see that Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with you? And I was just simply hoping that they would say the first caller in who can name the seminary would win a certain amount of money.

But they never did. I would have guessed it correctly. The year was 1981. The book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. The author, Rabbi Kushner, who four years earlier had lost his 14-year-old son, Aaron, to an incurable genetic disease called progeria.

He grew old very quickly. So over those years, before he wrote the book, he was wrestling with what happened to his own son. And he wanted to come to terms. And because of this struggle in his life, his view of the scripture was colored.

So he writes in the book, in his interpretation of Job, and therefore his conclusion of the character of God, the following, quote, forced to choose between a good God who is not totally powerful or a powerful God who is not totally good chooses to believe in God's goodness.

God wants the righteous to live peaceful, happy lives. But sometimes even he can't bring that about. It is too difficult even for God to keep cruelty and chaos from claiming they're innocent victims, end quote.

So he chose a good God over a sovereign God because he could not reconcile the sovereignty in the goodness of God together. Turn with me, if you will, in the New Testament to your Bibles to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, verses 28 to 30, the mountain peak, the Mount Everest of Paul's writing, the book of Romans, and here as we get to chapter 8, especially verses 28 to 30.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, excuse me, verse 28, I jumped ahead. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified.

And those whom he justified, he also glorified. This text of scripture, of course, is found in a section of the book of Romans chapter 6, 7, and 8, where Paul's theme and focus is sanctification. Our sanctification literally coming from the Greek word, ayasmos, the same word we would use of the Holy Spirit.

It is setting us apart. It is the process of making us holy. This is the section of sanctification. Chapter 6, I entitled the Declaration of Independence, where Paul says that we have been set free from sin and therefore have become slaves to God.

Chapter 7, he talks about the daily struggle that we have in the process of our sanctification, that which we want to do, we don't do that, which we don't want to do. We find ourselves doing. And in chapter 8, the chapter that we're in in this text primarily is divine enablement, divine enablement, simply because in this chapter alone, Paul references the Holy Spirit no less than 21 times.

On the heels of chapter 7, his daily struggle in this process of sanctification, we get to chapter 8 and he highlights the divine enablement we have through the Holy Spirit of God, who he references as the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead.

And notice in our text, as he begins verse 28, and we know Paul does not say, and I know, he says, and we know he introduced himself at the beginning of this epistle, amongst other things, as one who was called to be an apostle.

So he could have just said, I know this because I'm called to be an apostle. But Paul has included the Roman believers here and saying, we, we can know this because the security he's about to talk about, the assurance he's about to reference is for all genuine Christians, not just for pastors, not just for the mature.

And notice he says, and we think, and we hope, no. He gives a declarative statement, and we know, and we know. I've always loved that word because there's a sense of security in that term. There's a sense of assurance.

And we know, we not only think, we not only hope, the apostle John uses the same terminology in his epistle, his first epistle, 1 John 5, I write these things to you who believe in the name of God's one and only son.

Why? So that you may know that you have eternal life. It's a word of assurance and security and conviction. I prefer it over the term hope. Hope seems to be such a flimsy term. But I can't read my preferences into the scripture.

We want to examine the scripture face value, don't we not, for what it says. And Paul uses the term hope in this context. Look, beginning at verse 23. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit, grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

For in this hope, we were saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. But the hope that the scripture speaks of is not the same hope in the same way we use that term today.

Well, I hope things will turn out okay. The hope, the biblical hope of scripture, because of the context that we see here that Paul says, and we can know these certain facts that we're going to look at, these biblical truths, is an assurance.

Peter mentions that very clearly when he says that God causes us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that is why Paul said earlier in this epistle in Romans 5, and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame.

So we have to understand hope in the light of the biblical text, not how we use it in our culture. After all, even as I will show you in this chapter, this chapter oozes with a sense of security. We're going to study some important terms tonight that I'm sure you know, I've haven't been here.

Those of you who have been here at Bethlehem Bible Church, words like predestination and foreknowledge and called. But I think my favorite word was that this chapter oozes security. I might start an IBS class called oozology.

Who knows? Look how it just is filled in this chapter. Follow with me in Romans chapter eight, verse nine, this language of security and assurance. You however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, verse 11, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

Verse 14, for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. Verse 16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Verse 26, likewise, the spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray for as we are, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And of course, at the end of the chapter, the classic verse 38, where Paul says, for I am sure the chapter is filled with the language of security. And that is why Paul can begin our text tonight by saying, and we know.

So what's the Paul point that Paul is trying to make as he begins? Verse 28, Paul is not talking about some kind of wishful thinking. He is talking about an absolute certainty. Paul is not talking about some hopeful dreams we can have.

He is talking about a confident assurance that we have. So tonight I want to share with you from this text. What are three truths that you and I can be confident, can have confidence assurance in? What are three truths that we can be completely secure in?

Suffering Will Not Derail Salvation

Number one, from verse 28, suffering, be assured that suffering will not derail your salvation because the sovereign Lord works out all things, including suffering for your good. Rest assured that suffering cannot derail your salvation because the sovereign Lord works out all things, including that suffering for your good.

And we know Paul says the first thing that for those who love God, verse 28, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Some of the earlier manuscripts have it this way.

God works all things together for good or God works in all things for the good. In our ESV text, you can see it says all things work together for good. But because of those manuscripts, the NIV, for example, will actually put it this way.

In all things, God works for the good of those who love him. The New American Standard actually puts it in this fashion. God causes all things to work together for good. The point being that God is sovereign to work all things, including suffering for our good.

The world says as luck would have it, but Paul is saying no, as the sovereign God has planned it. The world says when the stars align, all bad things will work out. But Paul is saying no, the sovereign God is the one who works and causes all things for good.

He says all things here. When you study the term in the Greek language, all, when you look at the authorial intent, when you look at the context of this passage, hold on to your seats. The term all means all.

All things, not just some things, the good and the bad. I remember along those lines, I was helping a Catholic friend of mine when we lived in New York memorize scripture. He was highly Catholic. So we got to Romans 3 .23 and he quoted it for me.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So I asked him, does that all include Mary? Yes, it's contrary to his Catholic faith. It's the same all that Paul uses here in the same epistle.

It covers everything. But from the context, Paul's emphasis is not just on the good things that come our way, the blessings, but his emphasis is on suffering. Look at verse beginning 17 in our text, in our context, beginning in verse 17.

And if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provide, watch this, we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies.

The context that Paul is talking about that God works out all things is within the context of this suffering, of this groaning that we all anticipate finally the redemption of our bodies. And notice even later on in the chapter in verse 35, look at this list, question who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

There's a list of seven things, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, each of those terms increases in the severity of its suffering. That's the context that Paul is saying, God works all things.

And that is why earlier in the book in Romans five, verse three, he can say, we rejoice in our sufferings. Why? Because God works all things, suffering included for our good. In Paul's day, Rome, the way it was, there was over a million people.

What kind of suffering were they experiencing? Many of them were slaves in Paul's day in Rome. There were a lot of slums in the city of Rome, despite all the grandeur that there was. And of course, we know from chapter seven, the indwelling flesh that still remains.

Paul is saying, despite all of that, all things, God sovereignly works for our good. And he uses the term, as you notice in verse 28, work together. It's a term where we get synergism. God somehow in his infinite wisdom and sovereign eternal plan works out every single detail of our lives.

For our good. But for whom does he do this? Who is the audience? Well, from the human side of things, notice what he says in verse 28. For those who love God. For those who love God. He's referring to the Roman believers here.

Those who love God to you. From beginning to the end of this epistle, he highlights that they were genuine Christians. At the beginning of his epistle, he says of them, your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

And in chapter 16, at the end of the epistle, he says, your obedience is known to all. These are people who had a love for God. Of course, Paul is not known as the apostle of love. The apostle John is.

But Paul does talk about the love of God in this epistle. In Romans chapter five, he says, God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. In verse eight of chapter five, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners.

Christ died for us. So for whom does God sovereignly work all things, including suffering for good? For those who love God. And why do they love God? Because God poured his love into their hearts and into our hearts.

How did John put it? We love God. Why? Because he first loved us. That's from the human perspective. But what about from the divine perspective? For whom does God work out all things, including suffering for good?

Notice the end of the verse 28. For those who are called according to his purpose. For those who are called according to his purpose. In theological language, there are two types of calling, what's known as the external call.

That's the call a preacher, a ambassador for Christ would make to somebody inviting them to salvation after proclaiming the gospel. That's what Jesus talked about in Matthew 22, verse 14. For many are called externally, invited to respond to the gospel in faith and repentance.

But few are chosen, chosen of God. But that's not the call Paul has in mind here. Paul has in mind what's known as the internal call, the effectual call. It's the idea that Jesus posed in John chapter six, when he said, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.

These are the ones that God works all things for their good, including suffering. From the human side, those who love God. Because God's love has been poured into their hearts. From the divine side, because these are the ones that God himself has called.

It is God himself because he says here according to his purpose. It's no wonder that at the beginning of the epistle, Paul says to these Roman believers, you were called to belong to Jesus Christ. You were called to be saints.

This is an effectual calling, as we say. This is irresistible. So those whom God has called, he will work out sovereignly everything in their life for their good, especially suffering. On this calling, Spurgeon, of course, put it eloquently, he said, quote, what you say, God can make me become a Christian?

I tell you, yes, for herein rests the power of the gospel. It does not ask your consent, but it gets it. It does not say, well, you have it, but it makes you willing in the day of God's power. The gospel wants not your consent.

It gets it. It knocks the enmity out of your heart. You say, I do not want to be saved. Christ says you shall be. He makes your will turn around. And then you cry, Lord, save. Or I perish. This is the calling that Paul is talking about.

These are the ones for whom God solemnly works all things, especially from the context suffering for their good. Classic illustration. We know him well, Joseph. Joseph didn't have these verses. Didn't have even the Pentateuch.

But in his first encounter with his brothers, if you can remember with me, this is what he said to him. Genesis 45, verse eight. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. I can picture the brothers looking at each other.

I thought we were the ones who sent them here. Reuben must have been looking, saying, you know, I prevented the rest of you guys from killing him. Judah made the suggestion. Well, instead of killing him, maybe we should sell him to these traders.

Even the text in Scripture in Genesis makes that very clear. Genesis 37. Then Midianite traders passed by and they drew Joseph up and lifted him up out of the pit and sold him to the Israelites for 20 shekels of silver.

They took Joseph to Egypt. But to Joseph, they did it. God brought him there. And then he continues in that same verse in Genesis 45, verse eight. The second part in his first encounter with his brothers after so many years, he says this to them.

He of God has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Joseph must have had a short attention span because early in Genesis chapter 41, verse 41, Pharaoh said to Joseph these words, quote, See, I Pharaoh have set you over the land of Egypt.

Not according to Joseph, because to Joseph, God was sovereign. Not only did Joseph believe in the sovereignty of God, he also believed in the goodness of God. At the very end of the book of Genesis, chapter 50, verse 20, he said to his brothers, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

He knew that his brothers had evil intentions, but he knew that God was good. And in his sovereignty, he brought about goodness. Unlike Rabbi Kushner, who couldn't reconcile the two. He put the goodness of God over the sovereignty of God.

You might be thinking to yourself, well, why is my marriage such a challenge? Answer, God is working your marriage for your good. Or you might say, well, why are things so difficult at work lately? Answer, God is working your work difficulties for your good.

Predestined to Be Conformed to Christ

Second truth that we can lay hold of as a conviction and an assurance. Suffering, be assured that God will conform you to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Why? Because he has predestined you for this. Be assured that God will conform you to the likeness of his son, Jesus Christ, because he has predestined you for this.

Verse 29, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Well, you say, you know, you covered some of the important terms of in verse 28, but you left out an important term, pastor, the term good.

It was by intention. When Paul says in verse 28, he's working all things, especially suffering for good. What's the good he has in reference here that Paul has in mind? Is it a better life now? Could write a book about that.

Is it making sure all your blessings come when you declare them into existence? The good that Paul is talking about a verse 28 is what he says in verse 29, that he will conform us to the likeness of Christ.

How good is our God that in our sanctification, he's using even suffering to conform us to Christ likeness. But who's our audience again? Before it was those who love God, the same people, those who are called according to his purpose.

And now he says at the beginning of verse 29, for those whom he what, whom he foreknew, those whom he foreknew. Keep your finger there, if you will, and turn with me to Acts chapter two, verse 23. So we understand who these are that God foreknew.

What does that term mean? What does Paul have in mind when he's writing that? Acts chapter two, Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, verse 23. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite, or as the new American standard says, the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.

Greek scholars have something that they call the grand real sharp rule. Simply, it says this. When you have two nouns, as you have in this case, that are of the same case, and they're connected by the term and, and the definite article that precedes the first one, they have the same meaning.

It is one in the same thing. So the foreknowledge of God in Acts 2, 23 is the definite predetermined plan of God. Verse 29, for those whom he foreknew, those who he predetermined, he had a predetermined plan for them.

Foreknowledge is always closely linked to election in the scripture. In first Peter one, he writes to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God, the father.

So those whom God foreknew are those who he had a predetermined plan for a definitive plan. But there's a little bit more to foreknowledge. To foreknow also means to forelove. And not only has to do with a predetermined plan, it has to do with a predetermined love.

Speaking of the nation of Israel, the prophet Amos in chapter three, verse two writes, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Same Hebrew word used of Cain in Genesis 4, 17. Cain knew his wife and she conceived.

It's the language of intimacy or forelove or predetermined love. Christ used this idea constantly in John 10. I'm the good shepherd. I know my own. Matthew seven, the sermon on the mount. And then will I declare to them, I never knew you.

And that is why at the beginning of his epistle, Paul says to these Roman believers, you are loved by God. Since when did God love you? Because he foreknew you. He loved you from eternity past. But he says here from those who he foreknew, he also did what?

Predestined. He predestined them. Predestined literally means to mark out or to a point. In the new Testament, it's usually used of God decreeing from eternity past. It's a full ordination. Or as I love how Ephesians 1, 11 puts it, it's according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

And what are we predestined for here? Conformity to Jesus Christ. So as those who have been predestined, God has marked out and appointed you to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. He has decreed from eternity past that you will be conformed to the likeness of Christ.

He has foreordained that you should be conformed to the likeness of Christ. And he has predestined you to be conformed to the likeness of Christ according to his purpose as he works out all things, especially suffering, according to the counsel of his will.

Now, some teachers today would take this text and twist it and say, look, it's all about man. It's about our good. He works for our good. It's about conforming us to the likeness of Christ. But let me assure you that Paul's theology here is obviously not a man-centered theology.

His Christology is still intact. Paul's theology is solid. How do we know that? Look at how the verse ends in verse 29. In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, in order that Christ might be the firstborn amongst many brothers.

Back in Acts chapter 2, the term that's usually used in order that, ena, the hinnah clause, is not the term that's used here. It's another term. That's usually a purpose clause, saying that if there was the case, Paul would be saying, for Christ to be firstborn in that prominent position, it would depend fully on our sanctification and conformness to Christ's likeness.

But that's not the term that Paul uses. Turn back briefly to Acts chapter 2 so I can show you this a little bit. Acts chapter 2, verse 38. This is Paul's external call, as you will, an invitation in response for the gospel.

Peter, rather, on the day of Pentecost. Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ. Watch this. For, that's the same term, that term for, for the forgiveness of your sins.

So somebody can read that at face value and say, oh, there you are. Baptism is essential for forgiveness of sins. Be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. But the term that's used there, as it's used in Romans 8, can mean for the purpose of or because of.

If you saw a sign Jesse James wanted for robbery, it doesn't mean that he was wanted in order to commit robbery. It means that he was wanted because he had already committed robbery. Same as in Acts 2.

Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ since or because your sins have been forgiven. And that is Paul's emphasis here. He uses the same word to say that because Jesus Christ is the firstborn, since he is the firstborn among many brothers, that is why God and his sovereignty is conforming you to his likeness, to the likeness of Christ.

But why is he mentioned that term about Christ, the firstborn? Here, Paul is talking about suffering, how God works all things. Why does he bring Christ into the picture? And especially this term of firstborn.

Think like a Jew, whether you were the firstborn son or not, you can have the status of a firstborn. Didn't God sovereignly do that? Jacob, I loved and he saw I hated. This was the status of the oldest son who had a double portion of the inheritance respect from the rest of the family.

Even Moses, God told Moses when he went to Pharaoh in Exodus 4, verse 22, he told him to say to Pharaoh, Israel is my firstborn son. Psalm 89, verse 27, gives us a little more insight into what Paul is saying here in terms of being predestined.

Psalm 89, verse 27, it's Hebrew poetry. It's a parallelism where the second line explains what the first line means. The first line says this, and this is God speaking of King David. And I will make him the firstborn second line, the highest of the kings of the earth.

Firstborn, putting all that together simply means that Christ has a highest rank in position and prominence. Many people will say that means he's a created being firstborn. Nowhere where Paul uses that term in his other epistles, can you come away with that?

When Paul uses the term firstborn in Colossians, he says in that context that through Christ, all things came into being. When he uses that term in Hebrews chapter one, he says of Christ through whom the world was created.

Firstborn is that Christ has the prominent rank and preeminent ranking above all others. And this is the one to whom he is conforming us. The firstborn notice how he finishes verse 29, among many brothers.

Hebrews 2, verse 11 says, for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call him them brothers. Well, you may be thinking, why is serving the Lord been lately more exhausting than exhilarating?

Answer, God is conforming you to the likeness of his son. Well, why does this brother in Christ consistently seem to rub me the wrong way? Answer, God is conforming you to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

Now, this is an exposition of this text. This is not a biblical counseling session. If somebody were to come to you and bear with you their soul about losing their loved one, you don't just go to them and say, you know, Romans 8, 28, Pastor Harry preached it.

God works all things for good. We have to learn how to minister in those situations and grace and mercy. But we also have to know the truth of what Paul is saying here. Well, you say, I have an objective to all this.

It says here, I know I believe the Bible. It says that God is conforming me to the image of his son, to the likeness of Christ. But, you know, it seems like in my sanctification, I don't know about you, but I take two steps forward and three steps back.

So there, my experience, therefore, is proof that this verse is not true. Don't forget, this is in the section, chapter six through eight. And Paul said in chapter seven, I know none of you can probably relate to this, for I do not understand my own actions.

I don't do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

And when Paul penned those words, he was not only a Christian, he was a mature Christian. And let's not forget, Paul in his growth and sanctification, early on wrote in his Christian life, first Corinthians 15, that he was the least of the apostles.

Then later on in Ephesians three, eight, he wrote, I'm the least of all of God's saints. And near the end of his life, when he wrote the pastoral epistles, he wrote to Timothy, I'm the chief or foremost of sinners.