INTRODUCTION
• Mark Smith in an article in Readers Digest said the following: Like many high school seniors, my son was filling out college-scholarship applications. One form asked for extracurricular activities. He answered: “wrestling.” The next question requested positions held. He entered: “pinned, mostly.” --Mark Smith, Readers Digest Jun00 (http://www.irsweb.com/)
• How many of you have felt liked you are continually being “pinned” to the mat and are just waiting to get counted out.
• Maybe you have been hit with so much adversity you feel like the little girl who was riding along on her bike when she bumped her head on the low hanging branch of a tree. She ran into the house hollering, "Mom! Mom, Joey hurt me!" Mom looked up from what she was doing and said, "Sissy, Joey didn’t hurt you. Joey’s not even here. He went to the grocery store with your daddy." The little girl got this startled look on her face. Then in a bewildered sort of voice she said, "That means stuff like this can happen on its own at anytime. Whoa, bummer!"
• We have been looking at the issue of discouragement. One of the great things we can enjoy in Christ is freedom from discouragement. Over the last couple of messages we have seen reasons why we can have freedom from discouragement. One reason is that we know that better things are coming, there is more to this life. Secondly we can be free from discouragement because of the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
• Today we will look at a third reason given to is by Paul in this chapter as to why we can enjoy freedom from discouragement, the reason being is that our God is bigger than our problems. His plans are bigger than our problems.
• Turn in your bibles with me to Romans 8:28-30 and we will see that God is bigger than whatever we are facing.
SERMON
I. GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU IS BIGGER THAN YOUR PROBLEM (28)
1. When we are suffering through difficult times, we can know that God will cause the bad situation to work together for good.
• We are told that we KNOW that God causes all things to work together for good.
• The word “know” means to learn by instruction. How do we know our math facts? By instruction. We know that God causes all things to work together for good because we are taught through God’s word this is true. The only way we know this fact is through the teaching of the Bible.
• If it were not for the revelation of the Word we would tend to think that too many things that happen in life work for evil instead of God.
• How many times have you seen what seemed like a hopeless situation turn into something good? I have seen some of the most difficult situations in life turn into something good for people.
• In my own life there have been many things that happened that at the time did not seem good, but later I could see they were the best thing that happened to me or they led to something really good.
• Joseph M. Stowell tells a story about his childhood. “Growing up in Hackensack, N.J., just across the George Washington Bridge from New York City, provided a variety of experiences for me. One was going to school with some of the rough kids from the neighboring town of South Hackensack. I recall one afternoon, playfully sparring with one of the southside guys and having his punch actually land on my face. The blow jarred one of my front teeth loose. Thankfully, the dentist was able to anchor the tooth again, and I didn’t lose it. In fact, I was better off--the tooth had always been crooked, so the dentist straightened it as he worked. Sometimes the blows of life have a way of taking something crooked and making it straight.” (http://www.irsweb.com/)
• We are told that God causes ALL THINGS to work together for good. In the context of the book thus far, all things includes all the trials and tribulations we deal with in life. It deals with the persecutions we face as a result of our faith.
• We have some examples in the scriptures of this principle.
• How many of you think it would be terrible to be sold into slavery by your own brothers? Then how many of you think it would be bad to be thrown into prison for something you were completely innocent of after things seemed to be going well for you?
• This all happened to a man named Joseph in the bible. Later on in his life, Joseph’s brothers thought Joseph was going to get them back when Joseph said the following in Genesis 50:20, “Even though you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it. This was to keep many people alive, as he is doing now.”
• When the early church was being persecuted, it seemed like a bad thing, but the good out of it was the fact it made the Christians leave Jerusalem and take the gospel to other parts of the world. Acts 8:4 tells, “But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus.”
• Whatever we are facing in life, God promises that it will work together for good. Who is that promise for? Is it for every person or just a limited few? Look at the rest of verse 28.
2. This promise is only for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
• The passage implies that only those who continually love God are the ones for whom this promise is for. We have learned in Romans 6:13 that if we love God, we will present ourselves to Him. In 6:22 we learn that if we love God, we will grow in sanctification (or we will become more holy and Christ-like in our lives). In chapter eight, we have learned that if we love God, we will walk according to the Spirit.
• John 14:21 (GWT) Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”
• The promise is for those who are called according to God’s purpose. The word “purpose” means to place something before one’s mind, to plan, to resolve.
• This verse implies that a called one is one who has heard the call and has accepted it and obeyed it.
• We are called through the gospel to God. Romans 10:17 (NASB) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
• Romans 1:16 (NASB) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
• Now let us look at the purpose God had in making His plan. This purpose will help us to understand why God works through our difficult times.
II. THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE PLAN (29)
1. One of the purposes behind God’s plan was to see those who love Him be conformed to the image of Jesus.
• The word we translate “conformed” is a word that means a likeness inside and out. A thorough change, not just an outward superficial resemblance.
• One of the purposes for God working in our lives through the difficult times is so that one day we will have the same resurrection body that Jesus has. We will look like Him.
• In the mean time we are to allow ourselves to be transformed into His image.
• 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect£ the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.
• Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
• This is the destiny for those who love God. God does not want us to fail to reach this goal for our lives because it is part of a bigger plan for us.
2. The second purpose behind God’s plan was for Him to have a large family!
• In verse 29 we are told that God wants Jesus to be the firstborn of many brethren.
• What this means is that God wants a big family. Jesus was resurrected and given a new body and now is seated at the right hand of the Father.
• God wants a VERY large family. He wants many others to follow the path of Jesus.
• Remember, the reason we are given freewill is because God only wants those in His family because they love Him. Giving us freewill is the only way for God to know we love Him.
• I wonder if Bill Gates came out and said he would adopt ANYONE who loved him into his family, how many people would say they loved him. How would he know if people really loved him? When you have great wealth that would be one of the perils of wealth, knowing who really loves you for you or who loves what you have.
• I think that when most people are about to die, they want to go to heaven. The question is, did they love God enough to live for Him while they had a chance? Or do they proclaim love for Him now to save themselves?
• One of the ways I know my wife loves me is the fact that she had a choice. If I were to become wealthy somehow, I know she loves me for who I am. Don’t you want people to love you for who you are? God is no different. God wants a big family!
• Now I want to briefly look at the process behind God’s plan
III. THE PROCESS BEHIND GOD’S PLAN (29, 30)
1. Foreknowledge
• Verse 29 talks about those whom God foreknew. In the context the word “foreknew” means to “approve of beforehand.”
• What this means is that in eternity past, God’s knew He would approve of anyone who accepted His Son. He foreknew that those who accepted Jesus would be accepted by Him. God approves those who are faithful.
2. Predestine
• The passage says He predestined them to be conformed to His image.
• Once again, this deals with the fact that God decided beforehand that those who accept Jesus would be conformed to His image, that we would have a resurrection body.
3. Called
• He says that those whom He predestined, He also called. The ones who are predestined to glory are those who accept the call of the gospel. The call is open to EVERYONE! 2 Timothy 2:4 tells us that God desires ALL to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
• Those who reject the call are lost, those who accept are saved.
4. Justified
• The one’s called are justified. Remember that being justified means that we are declared innocent. If you are guilty, you cannot go to heaven, we can declare ourselves innocent, God is the only one who can do that, and that is done to those who answer the call of Jesus.
5. Glorified
• When it is all said and done, when Jesus returns, we will be glorified with Jesus. We will be a brother or sister of Jesus. Look at verse 29 (brethren).
• We will receive our inheritance in full from God
CONCLUSION
• The purpose God has behind His plan and the process behind the plan are some of the reasons that God works through our trials and problems to make the work out for good.
• God does not want us to fail or to think that Satan is more powerful than He is.
• Pain and suffering are a reality of this world, as long as we live this life; it will be a part of life. All that will pass when we go to heaven.
• Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them. --Washington Irving
• We have a great God who will help us rise above the misfortunes in life! Don’t be discouraged; look for the silver lining in the cloud of distress.
• God loves you and when we love Him, He will welcome us into His family!
• DO you want to be a part of that family?
