This is a lightly edited transcript of what I actually said when I delivered this message on Romans 8:28. It differs from what I planned to say; for the prepared text, see the manuscript.
Tonight we’re looking at a passage of Scripture very familiar to most of us—Romans 8:28. Most of you could quote it from memory. But often with the passages we know so well, at least in my own case, I can spout a verse off and never stop to think about all it means. We’ll all say, “Yes, I believe this is true,” yet by the way we live we sometimes show we don’t really believe it. This promise is full of theology and rich in doctrine, yet it’s one of the most practical promises in God’s Word, applying to every event of every day of our lives. When it’s fully understood, it brings great stability and confidence—we stand on solid ground that nothing can shake. In a sense, a believer who has come to rest in this promise is invincible: he realizes that nothing can happen in his life outside of God’s will, and whatever comes his way, he remains steadfast. Let’s notice two things: what the promise is, and who it’s for. “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.” Father, as we look into your Word, give wisdom; may everything I say be accurate and according to Scripture. Help us leave this place wholeheartedly embracing this promise, understanding that truly all things are working together for our good. In Christ’s name, amen.
What the Promise Is
Notice four things, all from the first phrase. First, the certainty of the promise is secure—“and we know.” Notice the confidence: not “we hope” or “it would be nice if,” but “we know.” The apostle can speak this way because he’s seen it come true again and again—and because this is the inspired Word of God, not merely his opinion, nor a conditional bargain, but an unconditional, guaranteed promise. The Greek word for “know” (oida) carries the idea of absolute knowledge. How can Paul be so confident? Faith. As he embraces this promise by faith, it gives him confidence that it will surely be true. Often things come into our lives—like the recent earthquake over in Turkey—and we ask, “Why? I can’t see any good that could come of this. Lord, why have you taken this loved one? Why have you allowed this?” That is where faith comes in: even when we can’t understand God’s reasons, faith takes him at his word. Faith is the key to unlocking this promise—whatever it entails, we can be sure of it.
Second, the extent of the promise is endless—“all things.” Our first response is to question whether Paul really means all things; some commentators soften it, but if we understand him rightly, we must conclude that all things work together for good. Name something—big or small—that might fall under this promise. Car problems? Yes—is God in control even of that? Health problems? We can’t leave those out; God is in control of what we suffer physically. Life and death itself is in the Lord’s hands—“it is appointed for man to die.” A death in the family, a collision, an earthquake like the one in Turkey—can these really be included, God working them for our good? With the apostle we must say yes. When Job lost his family, possessions, and wealth—can even that work for his good? Yes. Paul carries the thought on in verses 31–39: “If God is for us, who can be against us?…Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life…nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He covers it all—height and depth, everything—so that nothing can separate us from God’s love.
Third, the source of the promise is sovereign—“work together.” Who’s behind this promise? God, clearly—though his name isn’t used here. These things aren’t working themselves together by chance; God is the active being causing them to work together. So there really is no such thing as luck, chance, accident, or fate. We use those words—“good luck,” “I was in an accident”—but to be theologically accurate, God controls all things, and nothing can happen to you outside his will for your life. No suffering, no death, no health problem—nothing—comes into your life outside God’s plan. And when you reach that conclusion, great confidence follows: you don’t have to live worrying about what will happen, because a sovereign God is in control and working on your behalf. God isn’t pacing heaven, hoping things turn out; he is not passive but actively working out his will—“he works all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11). Fourth, the result of the promise is rewarding—“for good.” What a comfort those two words are. If we only knew that God is sovereign and does whatever he pleases, that alone would offer little comfort. But to know that this sovereign God is working for our good—that changes everything.
Let me add a note I’ve come to see over the past year: there are two motives behind everything God does—his own glory and our good. God does everything for his own glory (a recurring theme in Isaiah and the Psalms—“for my own sake,” “that I might be magnified”), which we might first think selfish; but we are human and God is God, rightly concerned for his own glory—and at the same time he is concerned for our good. These aren’t in conflict; in the same act God pursues his glory and our good together. And by “good” here Paul doesn’t mean temporal health, wealth, and prosperity—those may or may not be part of God’s plan for you. The good in view is spiritual: our growth in grace, our conformity to the image of Christ, a closer walk with God—the greatest good that can happen to us. Joseph is a fitting example. Hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, lied about, and thrown into prison—yet he didn’t turn bitter or turn from God, because he came to see that nothing could happen to him outside God’s will. As he told his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). Even the sins of others against us cannot thwart God’s plan to do us good. Nothing can.
Who the Promise Is For
The second half of the verse shows the promise isn’t universal. God nowhere promises to work all things for good for all people; it doesn’t extend to those outside of Christ. Two qualifications limit it—those who love God and those who are called by God—and these aren’t two groups but two descriptions of the same people: true, born-again Christians. First, they love God. Scripture makes plain that a Christian loves God—there’s no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t—and no one but a true Christian can, since by nature people are haters of God, lovers of self. (And this describes a positional truth about the Christian life as a whole, not the mistaken idea that things work for good only in the moments when we’re one hundred percent right with God.) How do we know we love God? Two dominant evidences. Love produces a desire to please its object, so love for God is seen in obedience: “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). And love for God is seen in loving others: “if a man says he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20).
Second, they are called by God—and here we find the cause of that love. We don’t simply decide one day to love God; grace is the cause. If you can search your heart and truly say you love God, you can take no credit—all the credit goes to grace (Paul says in 1 Timothy 1 that God’s grace “overflowed” with faith and love). This calling is closely bound to election—the effectual calling is the outworking of God’s purpose in election. This isn’t the general call but the effectual call, which guarantees salvation, as verses 29–30 show: those God predestined he called, and those he called he justified—no one lost. So the same God who is sovereign in our salvation, bringing us to himself, is the same God sovereign over all the circumstances of life.
So we’ve seen what the promise is and who it’s for. If you love God and have been called by him, take hold of this promise—make it yours, embrace it as true, believe the God of Romans 8:28 that all things truly will work together for your good. If you embrace it that way, nothing that comes your way will shake you or cost you your confidence in God. To conclude that we have a sovereign God determined to work for our good is one of the greatest conclusions we can reach in the Christian life, in suffering and trial. So I challenge you tonight: take this promise, meditate on it, and truly make it your own.