Among Christians, verse 28 is probably one of the best known, most often quoted verses in the Bible.  But as is often the fact in such cases, it is probably misinterpreted more than it is understood correctly.  And so today I want to focus just on this verse and the two immediately following it, in hope that we can gain a correct understanding of this passage.  Because it is a tremendously important text.  It states a doctrine that undergirds our faith.  And so it’s important that we understand it.  

Correct doctrine is important.  These truths of God’s word are what we base our faith upon.  We base our future eternity upon them as well.  And nothing could be more tragic than to assume a false doctrine is true, and pattern your life in accordance with that doctrine, only to find out eventually that it is a flawed doctrine.  That you thought it meant certain things, but in reality it did not.  And usually when you discover that, it comes at the worst possible time.

I will give you a personal example. I grew up in the church.  I was a pastor’s kid and I must have listened to thousands of sermons and teachings about the Bible growing up.  But in spite fo that, I had a superficial knowledge of the Bible. I had never proved some of those doctrines in the fire of trials, and it turns out, that some of the things I thought were true were not.  

About a dozen years after I was married, I had by that time a successful career, I had a nice home, a beautiful family, kids in private schools, and all the trappings of what I thought were the benefits of living as a Christian in America. And then began a series of illnesses that were not quickly diagnosed.  I was ill with one thing after another for about a year or so.  And I soon found myself unable to work as I used to be able to do.  My finances went upside down. I ended up in serious debt looking at the possibility of bankruptcy. 

I’ll spare you all the details, but suffice it to say that my faith began to take on a more serious note.  Nothing sends you to church and to your Bible like a crisis.  But somehow through the years I had developed a type of faith that had been influenced by what is often called the prosperity gospel.  I wouldn’t have called it that, but nevertheless I expected that God would make everything better soon.  If I had more faith, if I tithed more, if I went to church more, if I read my Bible more, God would soon rectify everything and all would return to normal, perhaps even better than normal.  

I found examples in the Bible which supported that kind of hope; such as Joseph who was cast in prison and then was exalted to the second position under Pharaoh. I found every reference in the Bible to God making everything right, or restoration, that I could find, such as with the life of Job, and I underlined every one. And particularly I found Romans 8:28 comforting as I believed it promised that God would make everything good again. I held onto that faith with all my strength, believing that the size of my faith, or the diligence of my faith would make God come to my rescue and fix all my problems.  After all, it only made sense that God could use me even more if I was successful and healthy than if I was a physical and financial wreck.  How could I be useful to the Lord as a failure?

Well, long story short, I eventually was forced to sell the dream home that I had built with my own two hands.  My health degenerated and left me practically incapacitated for over three years.  I developed paralyzing anxiety attacks that made me a psychological wreck.  To this day I have large sections of my memory which seem to be blacked out, particularly of my children at that time. I guess from stress.  I can’t remember some things.  I lost my new cars.  I ended up at the bottom financially and finally at the end of my rope we moved here to the beach to try to reconstruct my life, a  move which didn’t really improve my situation at all, in fact it may have made it worse.

Bottom line is, I found that a lot of the doctrines of my faith that I had wanted to be true, or which I believed to be true, were in fact not what the Bible teaches.  My faith became tested in the fire of adversity and what came out was quite a bit different than what I had wanted to believe.  I found that believing something does not make it true, and God is not obligated to fulfill my wishes just because I muster up some sort of fervent faith.  

And so I present this passage of scripture to you today not from the perspective of a theologian sitting in an ivory tower, but from the experience of someone who has proven the validity of these promises in the fires of tribulation and trials.  So let me just say unapologetically right from the outset that verse 28 is not some sort of promise that God is going to make everything work out the way you want it to.  God is not promising good to you in the sense that we most often think of what’s good.  When you lose a loved one to illness or an accident, perhaps a young person in the prime of their life, you will ask yourself then, “how can this be good?”  And if you’re like most of us, trying to understand life from our own perspective of justice and goodness and rightness, then we will end up disillusioned and in danger of your faith becoming shipwrecked.

The key then to understanding this verse is the context in which it is found.  Context is so essential in interpreting scripture correctly.  And the verse which summarizes the context up to this point best is vs 16 and 17. “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  and 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.]”  What Paul is saying here is that if we have become children of God by the new birth of the Holy Spirit, then we have a glorious inheritance that awaits us in eternity, but the path to glory goes through the valley of suffering in the present world.

Now we have already discussed this verse in previous studies, so I don’t want to belabor it again, but suffice it to say that what Paul is saying there is that suffering is an integral part of the Christian experience.  Health, wealth and prosperity is not typically the means that God chooses, but suffering is the way that God uses to bring His children to glory. It is the means that God uses to change us, to conform us to be like Christ in this present world.

I’m afraid that this principle is not something that gets a lot of airtime on Christian radio and television.  The expectation of Christian suffering doesn’t sell a lot of books.  We all want three steps to some sort of mountain top experience.  Or we want seven steps to a better, more fulfilling life as a Christian. And of course that usually includes all the physical and material “blessings” which we think will help us live out the American dream.

That may be the American dream, but it is not the Christian experience which the Bible teaches.  Let me just show you a few verses of scripture which indicate that suffering is the means which God has ordained for the Christian.  To the church at Philippi Paul said in Phil. 1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”  To Timothy in 2Tim. 2:3 “Suffer hardship with [me,] as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”  Peter in 1Peter 4:19 said “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.” Jesus said to the church at Smyrna in Rev 2:10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  1Peter 5:8-10 Peter says “Be of sober [spirit,] be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in [your] faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.  After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen [and] establish you.”  In John 16:33 Jesus said,  “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”  

And we could go on and on.  Contrary to our expectations, the Beatitudes talk about suffering being a blessing of the child of God. Jesus talked about taking up your cross and following Him. We don’t have the time to exhaust all that the scripture says about that subject this morning.  But it’s important to understand that suffering is not incidental to the Christian life, but it’s essential.  And furthermore, suffering has a purpose, a Divine purpose.  

So in the context of the suffering that we will endure as children of God, Paul says in vs 28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose.”  God causes all things, even what we might think are bad things, He uses our suffering to work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.  God uses our suffering for good. Now that is a hard doctrine, but that’s a true doctrine.  A fundamental doctrine.  

Probably the best illustration I can think of for that principle is that of Joseph, who was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, spent 13 years in prison for something he was not guilty of, only to eventually be released and put second in command under Pharaoh.  But what’s important to see in that was how Joseph responded many years later when his brother’s finally came and bowed down to him as he had dreamed they would when he was but a boy.  They were afraid that he would put them to death for what they had done to him.  But what did he say to them?  “You meant it for evil, but God used it for good.”

Notice that please.  It was evil that they did to Joseph.  He suffered tremendously for many  years. He was sold into slavery because of their hatred and he suffered greatly. But what purpose did God achieve in Joseph through that suffering? God used Joseph’s suffering for good. He made Joseph like Christ.  Joseph became the means of salvation for his people.  He became a type of Christ.  He was able to love his enemies like Christ loves.  He was able to forgive his enemies like Christ forgives.

So what Paul calls “good” is not necessarily the kinds of things we might call good, depending on the circumstances we find ourselves in.  What he calls good must be examined in light of the fact that the Christian loves God.  Notice that is how Paul phrases this; “God works all things together for good to those who love God.” Now we talk in the church all the time about love, especially Christian love.  We just finished studying what is called the great love chapter in 1 Cor. 13 in our Wednesday night Bible study.  And so we know that this is not an emotion base or sentimental love Paul is talking about.  The love which God has for us, and which we are to have for Him, is a sacrificial love.  It’s a selfless love.  It’s a love which wants what is best for the other, not what is best for us.  It is a love for God that is born out of the fact that God first loved us, so we love Him.  And this is love, that Christ suffered and  died to save sinners.  Oh, that kind of love then.  The kind of love we are talking about is a love that lays down his life for his friends.  That suffers all things, bears all things, endures all things, for the sake of the One whom we love.  To that person who loves God as He loves us, God causes all things to work together for good, even our suffering.

Then to  even further delineating this providence of God, Paul gives the caveat that those who love God are also called according to His purpose. So it’s not my purposes, my grand design, my 25 year plan that God is obligated to fix everything so it works out nice and tidy and I get what I want, so that I can rub my hands together and say “boy, life is good!”  But if I am called according to His purpose, if I am enjoined with God’s purposes, if I love God so much that I am willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary to do His will, then God will cause all things to work together for good, to accomplish His purpose.

Ok then, the next logical question is what is God’s purpose?  I believe the question has already been answered to some degree by the illustration of Joseph.  But nevertheless, Paul makes it clear in the next paragraph. Look at vs29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined [to become] conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” 

Now right about here, most theologians and a lot of preachers stop preaching, and start talking about theology.  And theology is necessary and it has it’s place.  But it’s possible to spend an hour or two on a dissertation of Calvinism  and completely miss the point of what Paul is saying here.  What I find discomfiting sometimes in discussions of theology is that we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to define what God can and can’t do, as opposed to figuring out what God wants us to do.  We spend a lot of time trying to define the undefinable, to know the unknowable.  To explain where the beginning and end are in eternity. 

But my take on a lot of high minded theology is to simply say that if God said it, then I believe it.  I don’t have to understand it.  Predestination and foreknowledge and election are things that my finite mind cannot comprehend.  And so talking about what I think God can and cannot do is not very productive. If you can understand eternity, then maybe you can figure out election and predestination. But God doesn’t use a lot of pen and ink trying to explain such things.  He just declares them.  But He does spend a lot of time explaining what He requires of us.  And so I think we would be better served to focus our time and energy on what He requires of us, and let God take care of being God.

That being said, however, we can clearly take away something important inn what Paul says here.  And that is that God has a plan. God has a purpose.  We may not understand exactly how foreknowledge and predestination work, but anyone can understand that you have to have a plan and a purpose for there to be foreknowledge and predestination. How can you predestine something unless you first plan what it is you want to accomplish?  So God has a plan and a purpose from eternity past.  And that plan and purpose is to bring many sons to glory.  

Hebrews 2:10 says, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” That’s exactly what Paul is indicating here in vs 29. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined  (that means God planned, He predetermined) for many people to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that Christ would be the firstborn among many brethren.”  Notice the last part of that statement, so that Christ would be the firstborn among MANY brethren.” Same thought as in Hebrews; Christ bringing many sons to glory.  God’s purpose in sending His Son to the world is to bring many other children to Him.

And to make them sons, or children, that are similar to Christ is the purpose of God.  Paul has already established earlier the benefits of being adopted into the family of God.  That we are heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ. Now he makes the point that the purpose of God is just not to save them from hell, but to make them like Christ.  Notice how he says this; “He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”  That is God’s purpose, to bring them into conformity to the image of Christ.  To make them look like Christ, to act like Christ, to have the righteousness of Christ, to have the Spirit of Christ, to do the works of Christ.  That’s what it means to be in conformity to the image of Christ.  Paul is talking about our sanctification. 

Sanctification is the process of being remade in the image of Christ.  Now that happens in the chain of salvation.  And Paul states that chain of events which results in our salvation.  Remember as  I have told you before that salvation has three parts; justification, sanctification, and glorification.  Justification occurs when we accept Jesus as our Savior, believing in what He did on the cross on our behalf, and as a result of our faith in Him God forgives us of our sins, and transfers the righteousness of Christ to us. At that point we are declared righteous, and we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

So having become what Jesus called “born again”, He begins the process of sanctification in us.  This is the life of a Christian.  It’s the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in this present body, in this present life.  And as Paul has just indicated, God uses suffering to shape us into Christ’s image. Suffering is one of the tools that God uses to chip away the dross, to chip away the weights and the sin which so easily besets us, and to shape us into a work of art, really a work of love, in which we begin to take on the characteristics of Christ as we deny the flesh and walk in the Spirit. Suffering is the means of our sanctification.

Now that process of sanctification lasts until the last phase of our salvation, which is when we are gathered to be with the Lord.  That last phase of our salvation is glorification, in which this body of flesh will be made incorruptible.  We will be changed physically to be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.  We will receive a glorified body that will not have the sin nature any longer.  A body that will never die.  It will never have disease.  Because it will have no sin. And in that phase we will ever be with the Lord.  In that glorification phase we will inherit what God has prepared for those who love Him.  In that stage, the eternal plan of God to bring many sons to glory will be realized finally and completely.  The plan of God, which cannot fail, which was predetermined before the world began, will be brought to it’s consummation in the Kingdom of God.  And as Paul indicated earlier, heaven and earth will be remade to be the Paradise of God, where we that love God will be able to be with Him and live with Him, and love and serve Him forever.

So that is the good that God causes to work together for our sakes, to bring many sons to glory.  To conform many sons and daughters to the image of Jesus Christ.  That many sons and daughters will share in the inheritance of Christ.  That brings us back to the verse we started with, vs 17, 17 “and if [we are] 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.”

Oh Christian, if you hear me today, do not be dismayed at the fiery trials which have come upon you, which come upon you for your testing, as if some strange thing were happening to you, “but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”  

John Cowper wrote a hymn of which the following verse is famous.  He said, “Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace; behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.”  Let us trust God in the suffering, in the trials and in the storms.  He has a purpose and a plan to call many sons to glory through suffering with Christ and being conformed to the image of Christ.  And He has promised to make sure that the chain of salvation is completed in us.  He will not lose even one of His sheep.  

Perhaps there is someone here today that has heard the call of God upon their heart.  Today if you hear the voice of God calling you, do not harden your heart.  Call upon the Lord when He may be found.  If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He will adopt you into His family so that you will receive the inheritance of glory.  If God is calling you today I hope and pray that you will answer Him, that you may become a child of God.