The Promise That Will Change Your Life Romans 8:28

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1 MESSAGE FOR SUNDAY NIGHT, AUGUST 8, 2010 CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister The Promise That Will Change Your Life Romans 8:28 Read Romans 8:28 P R A Y E R ============== I N T R O D U C T I O N As a young boy we used to sing a little chorus that went like this: Every promise in the Book is mine! Every chapter, every verse, every line. I am standing on His Word divine, Every promise in the Book is mine! Do any of you remember that little chorus? God is faithful and true in everything He says and does. Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? Psalm 119:140 Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them.

2 Psalm 145:13b The LORD is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made. While the Bible is filled with wonderful promises, in tonight s message we are looking at one of the most precious promises of them all. And that is this wonderful promise found in ROMANS 8:28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Let s explore the rich truths that are found in this promise. =================================================== First of all. I. It is a CERTAIN Promise And we know 1. KNOWING completely changes our perspective. Illustration: For some time now I have had some serious breathing issues. When I would like down at night it was almost as if I was suffocating. And even in the day time I struggled to take in a deep breath. To be honest with you I feared the worst. I thought I might have lung cancer or that I had done serious damage to my lungs years ago when I worked in a burial vault company and breathed in concrete dust every day.

3 Well about two weeks ago I went to see Dr. Young at Pamlico Internal Medicine and he did a few chest X-rays on me, and guess what? My lungs were clear! There s no cancer! There s no disease related to breathing in concrete dust. But the X-RAYS did show I have a hiatal hernia which is putting pressure on my diaphragm, which in turn is causing my breathing problems. Now that I KNOW what I m dealing with, it has changed my perspective. I m sleeping easier. I m not afraid I ve got something serious or potentially life-threatening wrong with me. KNOWING has made all the difference in the world! 2. That is the way it is when it comes to GOD S PROMISES. Once you and I KNOW God s promises and we truly BELIEVE God s promises.and we learn to truly STAND on God s promises.it completely changes our perspective on LIFE! Believing in GOD S PROMISES should completely change how I look at every circumstance I face in life. It should completely change how I face every trial, every hardship, every trouble, every problem and every Believing in GOD S PROMISES should help me to face life with confidence and courage rather than with cowardice and fear. 3. Yes ROMANS 8:28 is a CERTAIN promise! And we KNOW! But not only is Romans 8:28 a certain promise

4 II. It Is A COMPLETE Promise And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the GOOD. 1. That little word all is very important though it consists of just three letters. ALL means every thing! ALL means the total sum of! ALL means nothing excluded! 2. This promise in ROMANS 8:28 is a COMPLETE promise! (A) God Promises to work through ALL the SWEET things of life. Now that s something we can all understand isn t it? GOD has put food on our table clothes on our back..and a roof over our head. HE has blessed us with family and friends. HE has blessed us with income, and material things, and reasonably good health. We all have so much to be thankful for don t we? But not only does GOD promise to work through the SWEET things in our life.

5 (B) God also promise to work through ALL the SORROWFUL things of our life. Do you realize some of the most valuable lessons you and I have learned in this life came while we were on our sickbed, or when we were in suffering or pain, or when we were grieving the loss of a loved one, or when we were going through a time of financial difficulty. But not only does God work through the SWEET things and the SORROWFUL things, (C) God even promises to work through ALL the SATANIC things of our life. Can God use Satan s attacks on us to work out good things in our lives? Of course He can! And He does! We see a classic example of this in the life of the Apostle Paul. Turn over to II CORINTHIANS 12:7-10 We don t know the nature of Paul s thornin-the-flesh. Paul said he prayed earnestly on three occasions that God would remove this thorn. So why didn t God remove it? Because God used this affliction brought on by a messenger of Satan for Paul s good and His glory. And God promises to do the same for you and me.

6 3. But equally as important as that word ALL is that word GOOD. And we KNOW that in ALL things, GOD works for the GOOD 4. You notice, Paul did NOT say, And we know that in all things GOD works for our HAPPINESS. While God, Our loving Father does want those of us, His children to be happy, that is NOT His ultimate goal for us. His ultimate goal is that we become more and more like His Son, Jesus Christ. And in order for you and me to become more like Christ we must experience many trials and tribulations in this life. Do you think Paul was happy about all those beatings and shipwrecks and imprisonments and being bitten by a poisonous viper? I doubt it! But yet Paul could rejoice even in the midst of his sufferings that GOD was working through those difficult circumstances to transform him into the image of Christ AND THAT WAS GOOD! And God works through all of our circumstances in life to do the same in you and me. AND THAT IS GOOD! -We may not LIKE the circumstance. -We may not be HAPPY about the circumstance. -We may not UNDERSTAND the circumstance. BUT ONE THING WE CAN KNOW FOR SURE IS THAT GOD WILL USE OUR CIRCUMSTANCE FOR OUR GOOD!

7 Romans 8:28 is a CERTAIN promise and a COMPLETE promise! And thirdly, we see. III. It is A CONDITIONAL Promise And we KNOW that in ALL THINGS God works for the GOOD of those who LOVE HIM, who have been called according to HIS PURPOSE. 1. This promise is NOT for everyone. It is only for those who LOVE God. That is what makes this a conditional promise. 2. I want you to listen very carefully to this next statement because it is critical to understanding this verse. The only thing I have a part in when it comes to having all my circumstances work for the good in life is whether or not I love God. PERIOD! 3. God does NOT promise to work all things together for the good of everyone, God only promises to work all things together for the good of the Christian. 4. If you are a true believer who LOVES GOD, who loves to call GOD Father.who loves to please God who loves to obey God.who loves the word of God.who loves to pray to God.who loves to worship God, and walk with God and fellowship with GOD then you have the assurance GOD will work ALL of your circumstances out for your ultimate good.

8 5. If you are a true believer, this means *All those difficult years of marriage that eventually lead to a divorce were not wasted. It is possible God taught you valuable lessons about true love, compassion and forgiveness you may not have learned any other way. * It means those hard days when you were rejected and ridiculed in school were not without some benefit, because God may have been creating within you a compassionate heart that has since caused you to reach out to those who are shunned or neglected. *It means those months when you were jobless and didn t have any income were not wasted, because that may have been a time when GOD taught you how to TRUST in Him to supply all your needs, a lesson you might never have learned had you never lost your job and income. * It means that death of someone you loved dearly was not a waste, because if that loved one was a Christian, God has brought them into His presence, and in the same way He has brought you closer to Himself in your times of heartache and loneliness. *It means those times when you or a loved one were sick or hospitalized were not wasted, because it was during those times GOD drew you closer to that loved one and taught you to appreciate things you may have been taking for granted. 6. These are just a few examples of how GOD works all things for the good of those WHO LOVE HIM, who have been CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.

9 C O N C L U S I O N ILLUSTRATION: An only survivor of a shipwreck awakened to find himself lying on a sandy beach of an uninhabited island in the south Pacific. After gathering some food to eat, the man built a grass hut to protect himself from the blistering sun. Every day he prayed that GOD would send someone to rescue him. But the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months and there was no sign of a rescuer. One day as he returned from gathering food, the shipwrecked survivor was horrified when he found his grass hut engulfed in flames. Quickly he grabbed a large palm branch and tried to smother out the flames, but it was too late. His hut burned to the ground. Overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness, the man sat down in the sand near the smoldering rubble and began to sob. As he raised his head and looked across the ocean waters through tear-filled eyes he spotted two men in the distance rowing toward the beach in a life raft..and behind them in the distance he saw a cargo ship. He quickly ran to the beach to greet the two men in the life-raft. He asked the men, How did you ever find me? The men said, We saw your smoke signal. What smoke signal? the marooned man asked. I didn t send any smoke signal? The men said We saw billows of smoke coming from this direction and felt like we should check it out. It was then the marooned survivor realized that what they had seen was the SMOKE COMING FROM HIS BURNING HUT. GOD HAD ANSWERED HIS PRAYERS! GOD HAD WORKED ALL THINGS TOGETHER FOR HIS GOOD! =================================

10 I want to close with this interesting summary of ROMANS 8:28 written by JOHN PIPER. When Paul tells us, that GOD works ALL THINGS together for the good of the Christian He is saying that God is so supremely in charge of the world that all the things that happen to Christians are ordered in such a way that they serve our good. Tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword all work together for the good of those who love God. So the rugged hope of the believer is not that we will escape distress or peril or hunger or slaughter, but that Almighty God will make every one of our agonies an instrument of his mercy to do us good. "You meant it for evil," Joseph said to his brothers who had sold him into slavery, "but God meant it for good." And so it is with every calamity of those who love God. God meant it for good! When you and I come to believe this promise in Romans 8:28 with all of our heart, it will completely change the way we look at life!