In the early days of our country a weary traveler came to the banks of Mississippi River for first time. There was no bridge, of course. It was early winter, and the surface of the mighty river was covered with ice. Could he dare cross over? Would the uncertain ice be able to bear his weight?
Night was falling, and it was urgent that he reach other side. Finally, after much hesitation and with many fears, he began to creep cautiously across surface of the ice on his hands and knees. He thought that he might distribute his weight as much as possible to keep the ice from breaking beneath him. About halfway over he heard the sound of singing behind him. Suddenly a man, driving a horse-drawn load of coal across the ice came flying by him singing merrily as he went his way. Here he was -- on his hands and knees, trembling lest the ice was not strong enough to bear him up; then came the man, his horses and sleigh, and his load of coal, upheld by the same ice on which he was creeping! Source: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited; Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988.
This is sometimes how we treat God’s promises. They are as sure and solid as can possibly be, but because of our scary circumstances, we timidly tremble forth upon them as if our belief in them somehow will determine their reliability. Nothing could be further from the truth! God’s promises are solid because of Who God is. We are to CONFIDENTLY go forth because God is loving and good and His Word will never fail us! We can confidently Trust His Promises!
After I was saved I was like this guy crawling along ever so timidly wondering if I was safe in my new life in Jesus. God assured me of His Promise to finish this Work that He had started in me using a Survival Kit. He led me to Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing; that He who began a good work in you will perform it (carry it on to completion) until the Day of Christ Jesus.” Many times this verse has encouraged me by assuring me that God is always at work on our behalf; He will FINISH what He has STARTED in us!
That is what God is promising us here in verse 28 only in more detail. He is assuring us that we (His children) can know that everything that happens in our lives, whether it is good or bad, He knows about, He allows and He uses for our good, while we wait for the Day of Jesus’ return or our home going – whichever comes first.
Some very awful things can and do happen to us here and they are truly awful. For example, tomorrow is the sixty-first anniversary of D-Day, which was truly awful. God is not saying these things are not awful or that they don’t cause terrible suffering for us. What He is saying is that these things are not worth comparing to what awaits us. This is said to encourage us, not to diminish our sufferings.
Are you confident in God’s Provisions and Promises? Or, are you timidly crawling across the days of your life fearing you’re going to fall through any minute?
A. This Promise is for BELIEVERS Only!
1. WE Know – Who are “we?” We are “those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” His Purpose is to enter into a personal and intimate and eternal relationship with us through His Son, Jesus Christ. God created you and one day invited you to enter into a personal relationship with Him through Jesus. When you did, you became a believer and ever since you have been on the receiving end of this promise!
A Sunday School Teacher had two new boys in her Sunday School class one day. In order to register them she had to ask their ages and birthdays. The bolder of the two said, ’We’re both seven. My birthday is April 8, 1976, and my brother’s is April 20, 1976.’ ’But that’s impossible!’ she said. ’No, it’s not,’ answered the quieter brother. ’One of us is adopted.’ ’Which one?’ asked the teacher. The boys looked at each other and smiled, and the bolder one said to the teacher, ’We asked Dad awhile ago, but he just said he loved us both, and he couldn’t remember any more which one was adopted.’ By our faith in Christ we become Jesus’ adopted brothers and sisters--adopted sons and daughters of God. As fully adopted and accepted children, we share the same blessings as His Son, Jesus. (Source: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited; Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988.
2. We KNOW – This word means to know something is true by experience. God’s Holy Spirit confirms this truth to be true in us as we live this new life in Jesus. Paul explained this is 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 when he said, “The man without the Spirit does not accept things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”
We understand the things of God; know these things to be true, after we have joined His family. For example, we know that all things work towards our good by experiencing God’s blessings in all of our life situation by His Holy Spirit in us.
B. This Promise Depends Upon God’s PROVIDENCE
1. In ALL Things – God is allowing and using everything that happens in our lives for our good. This thought messes with our heads. It’s hard to comprehend not only that God allows everything that happens to happen, but that He uses everything that happens somehow for our good! As a parent I can relate this to teachable moments; times I have used good and bad things that happened to help our daughter as she was growing up to help her to learn about life and to grow from even bad and unfair things that happened to her. John MacArthur, in his commentary on this passage, says it this way: “No matter what our situation, our suffering, our persecution, our sinful behavior, our pain, our lack of faith – in those things, as well as in all other things, our heavenly Father will work to produce our ultimate victory and blessing. Any temporary harm we may suffer will be used by God for our benefit.”
MacArthur uses Paul’s experience as an example. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Paul says, “7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Somehow, in ALL things, God works toward our good too. Yes, believers will and do suffer all sorts of things in life; and it is hard to believe and to accept that God allows these and can use them for our good. That’s why He gives us His Promises and His Spirit to sustain us when we struggle.
2. God Works Toward OUR GOOD – To “work toward” is the literal translation of the Greek word, Synergeo. It is from this word we get the English word, synergism (working together for greater effect) is derived. John MacArthur uses a very good illustration to help us understand its meaning. He says, “In physical world the right combination of otherwise harmful chemicals can produce substances that are very beneficial. Ordinary table salt, for example, is composed of two poisons, Sodium and Chlorine.” In other words, God is not saying that bad things produce good results by themselves; but that by God’s will and His working in all events of our lives, even the “poisonous” ones, that He causes them to work together for our good.
God is not saying that the outcome of every situation will be pleasant! Often the “good” that comes from what was a very painful situation, possible being fired from a job for example. God is also not saying that the outcome of every situation will be better than the situation in material terms! Being fired from one job may not lead to a better job. The good that comes from this experience may be a better character. This is true because God is far more interested in our ETERNAL lives than he is in our EARTHLY successes.
What God is saying in verse 28 is that nothing will touch our life that is not under His control! Some will ask, “Why does he let this awful thing happen to me then?” Although this is a good question, we may never get a good answer in this lifetime, hence this promise.
Take Job for example. He trusted in God’s providence despite the pain, the unfairness and the lack of an explanation. When Job sought an explanation God said, 40:7 "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 9 Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?” 42:1 “Then Job replied to the LORD: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” This reminds me of a parent trying to answer the endless “why?” questions of a typical five-year old. There is simply not need to even try to answer because there is no way the child can understand why.
Joseph is another great example of how to trust God despite our life struggles. He suffered many things including unjustly being thrown down a well by his brothers, only then to be sold into slavery and eventually landing in prison after being falsely accused of seducing Potifer’s wife; but it all led to his becoming second only to Pharaoh during a time of terrible drought in the land. God used him to save Israel from starvation. Joseph said it best, “18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said. 19 But Joseph said to them, "Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50 No matter what you are going through, if you love God, He will use it toward your good and very possibly to save many lives from eternal spiritual drought!
3. According to His PURPOSES – His purpose is to “. . . conform us to the likeness of His Son . . .” (v29)
(a) The plan of God is to save a lost world. He uses his people to reach those who do not yet know him, and this often requires much sacrifice and suffering. It certainly did for Jesus! He left Heaven and came to earth to obediently fulfill the Father’s plan for our salvation but becoming our sacrifice for our sins. We too are to have this mind of Christ for those who do not yet know Him.
(b) God’s plan is to shape us into the image of Jesus – to transform us into his likeness more each day. All things are working towards these good things – personal relationships with God through Jesus and growing relationships in Jesus each new day until we attain that goal – to go to be with Jesus in Heaven for ever!
Conclusion - We Are Safe in His Hands!
The famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon tells about an old country farmer he was chatting with one day who said to him, ’The other day the Devil was tempting me and I tried to answer him; but I found he was an old lawyer and understood the law a great deal better than I did, so I gave over and would not argue with him any more; so I said to him, ’What do you trouble me for?’ ’Why,’ said he, ’about your soul.’ ’Oh!’ said I, ’that is no business of mine; I have given my soul over into the hand of Christ; I have transferred everything to him; if you want an answer to your queries, you must apply to my Advocate.’’ Source: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited; Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988.
The old farmer was confidently resting in the promises and the provisions of His Savior and Lord, because Jesus was The One now responsible for finishing what He had started when that gentleman received Jesus as his Savior and Lord.
There’s no need to wrestle with the Devil, or with the troubles of life; refer them and trust them all to Your Advocate, Jesus. Just confidently stand upon these promises and trust that He knows what He is doing since it is for your own good.
