13 Oct God is GOOD

Romans 8:28-39

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Does anyone like movies with sad endings? I don’t like sad-ending movies. I remember when I was still a teenager, I watched a Korean drama where the main character had leukemia and was dying. And the whole drama was about how she got weaker and weaker and eventually died. I cried almost every episode. It was horrible, but the actress became my favourite actress for many years. I think it’s safe to say that most of us do not like a sad ending. We much prefer a happy ending. But I do have strange friends who like movies with sad endings. When I asked them why, they said that sad-ending movies are far more realistic than good-ending movies. And they are right. We live in a broken world tainted by sin. We witness sad endings everywhere around us. We see deaths, corruption, conflicts, sickness, and natural disasters on the news all the time. The narrative of the world that we live in is filled with sad endings. But as Christians, we don’t live by the narrative of this world; we have a different narrative. As Christians, we can have confidence that our story will have a happy ending because our story is directed by an infinitely wise and good director. Our director can turn the most horrific hopeless situation into a wonderful resolution.

Today we are on the eleventh sermon of our series, “God is.” In this series, we look at one attribute of God each week and ask, “If this is who God is, then how should it shape who we are and how we live?” The attribute we are looking at tonight is goodness, God is good. If you grow up in church, finish this saying. “God is good (all the time). And all the time (God is good).” If you believe it say amen. Let’s close in prayer. It’s easy to say that God is good all the time. But the question is, do you believe it? Do you really believe that God is good all the time? What happens when you get the doctor’s report that says you can’t have children? What happens when you are diagnosed with terminal illness? What happens when your spouse walks away from marriage? What happens when you have been working hard for that promotion, but get laid off instead? What happens when life is extremely painful? Do you still believe that God is good? That’s what we are going to talk about tonight. There is one special promise that God gave to Christians that becomes the root of many other promises. This promise offers a staggering wall of security for Christians to live in joy and peace. It is like living in a massive fortress that protects us from outside threats. And the promise is this. We have a sovereign good God who governs everything we experience and will ever experience for our good and his glory.

Let’s look at the passage together. Here are my three points for the sermon: the promise of good; the foundation of good; the affirmation of good.

The promise of good

Romans 8:28 – And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

How many of you have this verse as your favourite Bible verse? Let me see your hand. This verse is in my top five favourite Bible verses. It begins with, “And we know…” There are many things in Christian life that we don’t know. We don’t know why God allows pain and suffering. We don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. But here is what we know with absolute certainty. “For those who love God, all things work together for good.” So, it is clear that this promise is not for everyone. This promise only belongs to those who love God. This is a special promise for Christians. And notice. This is not a promise that everything in this life will turn out the way we want. This is not a promise that life will turn out fine. That’s not the promise. The promise is that everything in our lives will work out for our ultimate good. Not just the good things. Paul says, “all things.” And the word all in Greek means all. It includes both the good and the bad. This tells us that Christians are not exempted from bad things. Terrible things happen to people who love God. Many Christians wrongly believe, “If I love God, if I serve God, God will protect me from the terrible circumstances. I will not have many bad things happen to me. My life will get better and better.” But Paul disagrees. Paul says horrific things can happen to Christians. In fact, do you know the context of this wonderful promise? It’s suffering. So, that means, as Christians, we will suffer. We will go through seasons in life where we say, “God, I don’t understand why you allow this to happen to me. It’s painful. It’s extremely hurting. I don’t get it.” All things will happen to us.

But here is the good news. Nothing is beyond the overruling, overriding scope of God’s providence. How do we know? Paul says, “All things work together for good.” It means that behind all things that happen to us, God is always active, working on our behalf. A lot of times we don’t see how God is at work. But just because we don’t see it, it does not mean God is not doing anything. Listen. 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 3600 seconds an hour, God is always at work. Even at this very second, God is working in ways we cannot see and comprehend to accomplish his good purpose in us. And what’s amazing is that God is working all things ‘together’. That means there is no such thing as a random occurrence in our lives. God uses every little detail of our lives, all our experiences, pain, and joy, and combines them together as part of his work. No part of our life is wasted. What happened to us when we were 5 will work together with what happens when we are 50. There is no such thing as regret in God’s agenda. He can, he does, and he will take every little detail of our life for his purpose.

But listen. Paul does not say that all things are good. He doesn’t. Cancer is not good. Divorce is not good. Breakup, bankruptcy, and barrenness are not good. Sin is not good. But the promise is that God will make good out of the not-good we experience. Do you remember what happened when Jesus was standing in front of Lazarus’ tomb? Jesus was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. If I were Jesus, I would be excited. I would be giggling while everyone around me cried. Why? Because I was about to perform one of the greatest good anyone ever witnessed. But do you know what Jesus did? He wept. He was not smiling. He was angry. Why? Because death is bad. Death is painful. When Jesus cried at Lazarus’ tomb, it proved that God hates bad things. He hates illness. He hates pain. He hates suffering. Bad things are bad. So, Paul is not saying, “The bad things you experience are not really bad after all. They are actually good things. They are blessings in disguise.” No, a thousand no! But Paul is saying that God will take the bad things, the hurtful things, the painful things, and he will work them together for good. Bad things are bad. But we have a sovereign God who can work bad things for good and use them for his purpose. God works in a mysterious way that works all things together for good. It’s like baking. We love the final product, the taste of that chocolate brownie melting in our mouths. But we do not like the taste of baking soda by itself. But when all the ingredients are put together, it tastes heavenly. Do you see? God is the greatest baker in the universe. He uses things that do not taste good, mixes them together, and creates a final product with a heavenly taste.

Think of the story of Joseph. If there is anyone who could complain to God about bad things in life, it is Joseph. Nothing about his life makes sense from a human perspective. He was a good son, but he was sold as a slave. He was a good servant, but he was thrown into jail. He interpreted the cupbearer’s dream, but he was forgotten. He did everything right but everything in his life went wrong. But look at what Joseph says to his brothers. Genesis 50:20 – As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Do you know what Joseph is saying? Joseph does not say that his brothers meant evil against him, and then when God saw what happened to Joseph, God responded to the situation and turned it for good. That is not what the verse is saying. God was not in heaven wondering what Joseph’s brothers were doing to Joseph and then thought of a plan to make everything good. That is not the God of the Bible. This is what Joseph is saying. “Brothers, you had intention, but God also had intention. You were trying to accomplish something, but God was also trying to accomplish something. You had a plan, but God also had a plan. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” In the very same event, two different scenarios were happening, and two different directors were directing. But here is the good news: what God meant triumph over what his brothers meant. God will not fail to accomplish his purpose. It was through the brothers’ evil deeds that Joseph ended up becoming the second most powerful man in Egypt and saved the lives of many people. Do you see? Exact same event, two different purposes. And God always has the last word.

But what is the good Paul is talking about? We often translate good as popularity, wealth, health, power, etc. But that’s not the good that Paul has in mind. Yes, God might give us some of those as part of his purpose, but that’s not the good Paul is talking about. Paul’s definition of good is far greater than the temporal earthly good that we have in mind. Here is how we often interpret the good in this verse. “I didn’t get the job I wanted, but it’s okay because God has a better job waiting for me.” “I didn’t marry the person I wanted to marry, but there is a better person for me out there.” I hate to do this to you, but that is not the promise. This verse does not promise that if we love God, we will have a better life. It is very possible for us to love God and never get a better job. It is very possible for us to love God and never find a better person. So, what is the good in this promise? Let’s move to the second point.

The foundation of good

Romans 8:29-30 – ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The word ‘for’ at the beginning of verse 29 explains the good and the purpose of verse 28. What is the good that God is working in our lives? It’s this – that we might be conformed to the image of his Son. The good purpose of God is to make us more like Jesus. In other words, get this. The Bible does not promise us a better life if we love God, but it promises to make us better at life by making us more like Jesus. It means we can be jobless, unmarried, childless, but God is using all those circumstances to make us more like Jesus. And that’s good. Let’s go back to Joseph’s story. Joseph had to go through many years of pain and suffering before he became the second most powerful person in Egypt. Why did God allow it? Why didn’t God just come to Jacob and say, “Jacob, your favouritism toward Joseph will make his brothers hate him. Stop it. If not, they are going to sell him as a slave, and he will have to go through years of misery. You don’t want that to happen. And in the future, there will be a massive famine, and I am going to use Joseph to save your family and many people. So, prepare him for it.” That takes 30 minutes, and it will save Joseph years of misery. But why did God not do that? Because we don’t become more like Jesus that way. Do you know how we grow more like Jesus? Through lots of painful circumstances. Through years of being shown that we are far more sinful than we think we are, and God is far more gracious than we hope he is. We have to be shown our flaws. We have to be in positions where we are so sure God has abandoned us and then find out later that he never left us or forsaken us. That has to happen again and again and again, and they shape our character to be more like Jesus. That’s the good God is working in our lives.

Paul then tells us how to know this promise of good is certain. In verses 29 and 30, Paul gives us the foundation for why the promise of verse 28 will not fail. I want us to digest it slowly. Because if we understand what Paul is saying in these verses, it can radically transform our outlook in life. Paul gives us five big theological words that become the foundation of good.

First, foreknew. “For those whom he foreknew.” The word foreknew speaks so much more than knowing things ahead of time. Paul is not saying that God in his wisdom foresaw those who will trust him and then chose those people for his purpose. The word foreknew is literally translated as ‘foreloved.’ It’s a word that describes an intimate relationship. For example, in Amos 3:2 God says to Israel, “You only have I known out of all the families of the earth.” It does not mean God does not know other nations on the earth, but that God has set his affection specifically for Israel. So those that God foreknew are those that God has already loved from before the foundation of the world.

Second, predestined. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” I know some of you get very excited the moment I mention the word predestined. You want me to talk about predestination, election, and how it relates to human free will. But this is not a sermon on predestination. Paul does not use all these big words to bring up theological arguments. He brings up all these big words to give assurance. So, if you want to discuss predestination, you can see Edrick after the service. He will tell you everything you want to know about predestination. But here is what I say about predestination. Something that is predestined is fixed. It means that if we love God, it is first God’s decision before it is ours. We decided to trust God because he had first decided for us. So, what sets us apart from others has nothing to do with how awesome we are, how smart we are, where we were born, or what we have achieved. Paul tells us that before we do anything good or bad, before we pray our first Christian prayer, before we commit our first sin, before we take our first breath, God has already set his affection on us. He had decided on us before we even came to be. And God’s decision is definite. No one can undo it. That’s what it means to be predestined.

Third, called. “And those whom he predestined he also called.” Called is talking about when we hear the gospel, and our hearts respond to it in faith. It is the call of God that raises faith in our hearts to believe the gospel. Those whom God has predestined based on his foreloved will by no means miss the call. We know that we are predestined by God by our heart’s response to the gospel. Those who accept Jesus as their saviour are those who receive the call. No one can confess that Jesus is Lord unless the Holy Spirit first tweak our hearts’ bend toward sin and gives us a new heart to hear. We might think that we are the ones who choose God and decide to surrender our life to Jesus. But the only reason we choose God is because of his works of grace in loving and predestining us before we were even born.

Fourth, justified. “And those whom he called, he also justified.” It’s not enough to be called, we need to be justified or made right with God. We don’t justify ourselves. It is God who justified us by sending Jesus to take our punishment with him on the cross. Our role is simply to trust. Those who receive the call will respond in faith and receive justification from God. The call creates faith, and faith justifies us. It means that we are not only forgiven of our sins but also declared righteous. There is a great exchange that happens because of our faith. Jesus takes our sins, and we receive his perfect obedience. Therefore, when we put our faith in Jesus, we do not have a clean slate; we have Jesus’ perfect record. When God sees us, he sees us the way he sees Jesus. We are holy, blameless, and righteous in God’s sight. That’s what it means to be justified.

Fifth, glorified. “And those whom he justified he also glorified.” Glorified is a state where we can fully enjoy God for who he is. Where we don’t struggle with sin and weakness anymore, where Jesus becomes our hearts’ sole desire. Glorified is a state where we can fully experience God’s goodness. This is God’s ultimate destiny for us. We will be like Jesus, and we will enjoy God for eternity.

Here is where I want to draw your attention. Notice that all these five words are in the past tense – foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified. Do you realise something strange? Glorified should not be in the past tense. It should say, “he will glorify”, right? Because today, we still struggle with sin. We are not free from sin. We are not yet able to enjoy God fully. So, why does Paul say glorified? Because Paul is giving us absolute certainty that no matter what, God is going to make us as beautiful as Jesus. God is going to make us as great Jesus. He will not fail. In the eyes of God, it is already accomplished. That’s why Paul can talk about it in the past tense. Do you see? The point of the chain statement in verses 29-30 is to give certainty, confidence, assurance, and security. The chain cannot be broken. God does not just offer salvation, but he saves people, works through people, and will complete the works of salvation in people. The point is to guarantee that everyone in the chain will reach the goal of glorification. No one gets left behind. Our glorification is as good as done. God had set it in eternity, and it will happen. He who began the good work in us will bring it to completion. How do we know? Notice the subject of all the works of salvation. It is God who foreknew. It is God who predestined. It is God who called. It is God who justified. It is God who glorified. God is the one doing all the work from beginning to end. And if God is the one doing all the work, he will not fail. His success rate is 100%. God is that good. The cross of Christ is that powerful. The purpose of God is that certain. Everyone who loves God will be like Jesus. This is the ultimate good that God is working in our lives.

So here is the encouragement of these verses. I don’t know what season of life you are in right now. Some of you might be in a very painful season right now. Some of you might be on the verge of giving up everything. Some of you might be in a season where everything feels mundane and ordinary. Or some of you might be in a season where you are flying high. It does not matter where you are, God promises that not one second of your life is wasted if you love him. Not one thing happens in your life that God will not use to transform you into glory. Every season of life, every rhythm, every boredom, every pain, God is shaping you to be more like Jesus. You might say, “But Yos, you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know my sin. You don’t know how often I fail God.” Yes, I don’t, but I don’t need to. God did not choose you because you were righteous, so he will not abandon you because there is some unrighteousness in you. Let’s move on to the third point.

The affirmation of good

In verses 30 to 39, Paul throws five rhetorical questions to affirm the goodness of God. These five rhetorical questions tell us for sure that nothing and no one can harm God’s good purpose for our lives. Martyn Lloyd Jones calls them logic on fire. Because if we get the logic of these verses, it does not matter what we are going through, we can face it with confidence and assurance.

First question, Romans 8:31 – What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? The answer is a lot. A lot of things can be against us. Our family can be against us. Our spouse can be against us. The government can be against us. Circumstances can be against us. Satan is definitely against us. Paul is not saying we will not have things against us. Paul is saying that if God is for us, that settles it. Nothing can thwart God’s good purpose for our lives. All powers of hell may be against us, but they can never prevail because God is on our side. Our struggles are big, but our God is bigger. I think this is what David must have felt when he walked through the valley of the shadow of death. David said, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” It does not mean David would be unharmed. There might be wolves and bandits who tried to harm David in the valley. But David had no reason to be afraid because God was with David. This is God’s promise. In the valley, we will witness how strong and powerful God is.

Second question, Romans 8:32 – He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? This is an argument from greater to lesser. Follow Paul’s logic. In giving us Jesus, God gave us everything. He gave us heaven’s best. If so, would God hold back from giving us other things that are good for us? It’s like this. If your dad buys you a Ferrari, will he not help you pay for the gas? Helping you pay for the gas is nothing compared to buying a Ferrari. Do you see? If God was willing to pay the price of salvation by sending Jesus to die for us, the very best God has, then God will definitely give us everything we need to accomplish his good purpose. Everything else is infinitely small compared to Jesus.

Third question, Romans 8:33 – Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Now Paul is bringing us into a courtroom setting. And in the courtroom, there are many charges against us. Why? Because all of us are sinners. None of us has a clean record. Let me prove it. If the thoughts we had in our mind today, if the intentions of our hearts from the moment we wake up this morning are put on the screen for everyone to see, how many of us stay around to watch? No one. We flee as fast as we can, and we will never return to this church. We will be covered in shame for the rest of our lives. And that’s just today. But here is what Paul is telling us. People might point fingers at us. Satan will accuse us. Even our own conscience might bring charges against us. But no prosecution can succeed since God the Judge has hit the gavel and declared us righteous. There is no charge against us. How come?

Fourth question, Romans 8:34 – Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. The reason we are not condemned is not because we are not guilty. We are guilty of charges. We know it. The reason we are not condemned is that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. So, we not only have God as a Judge who declared us righteous, but God declared us righteous because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins. And it gets better. Jesus not only died to pay the penalty for our sins but was then raised to life and is right now at the right hand of God, interceding for you and me. It means that right now Jesus is arguing our cases before God. Let me put it this way. Have you ever done something that makes you say, “Where did that come from? I can’t believe I am capable of that. What have I done?” When that happened, what did you do? You hid from God. You were ashamed. You said to yourself, “There is no way God could still love me after that.” Here is what Paul says. “Who is going to condemn you? No one can. Jesus is standing between you and God right now. He is arguing your case for you. He is telling the Judge of the universe that you cannot be condemned because he was already condemned for you.” Do you see? There is not a single thing we can do today that can bring us back into condemnation. It is all paid for. God loves us no matter how messy we are on the inside.

Fifth question, Romans 8:35-36 – Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” If in the third and fourth questions Paul talks about the mess inside of us, in the fifth question Paul is talking about the mess outside of us. He is talking about life circumstances that make us doubt the love of Christ. Can those circumstances separate us from the love of Christ? Can sickness separate us from the love of Christ? Can troubles and disasters separate us from the love of Christ? And Paul is not speaking hypothetically here. He is giving us his autobiography. Because Paul went through tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword. He went through all the sufferings he listed out. But the question is, can those painful external circumstances separate us from the love of Christ? Here is his answer.

Romans 8:37-39 – ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Did you hear that? Paul is absolutely confident that no matter who we have against us, no matter what happens to us, there is absolutely nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And I love the phrase ‘more than conquerors.’ This is how John Piper explains it. “A conqueror defeats his enemy, but one who is more than a conqueror subjugates his enemy. A conqueror nullifies the purpose of his enemy; one who is more than a conqueror makes the enemy serve his own purposes. A conqueror strikes down his foe; one who is more than a conqueror makes his foe his slave.” Do you see? God not only will deliver us from painful circumstances, but he uses painful circumstances for his purpose. There is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God because God uses all things to accomplish his purpose. God does not promise that painful circumstances will not hurt us, but he promises that painful circumstances will never be able to separate us from his love. Everything in all creation is under the control of the sovereign God and he is working all things together for good. Nothing can and nothing will separate us from the love of God.

Some might object at this point, “I know what can separate me from the love of God. It’s me. I can separate myself from God’s love. I can get bitter and walk away from God.” Here is my question. Are you part of creation? Last time I checked you were. Paul says that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. It means that even you can’t separate yourself from the love of God. God’s love is so powerful that he will keep you through all your hardships. He will keep you through all your struggles. He will keep loving you and he will keep you in his arms no matter what. He is that good. And this is where we find assurance in Christian life. Get this. Our assurance in Christian life is not based on our fickle love for God but on God’s steadfast love for us.

Let me land the plane. I hope this passage convinces us that God is good. But do not think that God is good because we are good. If we think God is good because we are good, it is only a matter of time before we give up on God. Because I know us. We will continue to fail God, and it won’t be long before we think that God has given up on us. But that’s not the testimony of the Bible. Do you know why God is good to us? Do you know why God will never stop loving us and being good to us? Because it is never dependent on us. God has loved us before our parents even thought of us. It means God does not love us because. God loves us for us. Period. If your spouse comes up to you and asks, “Do you love me?” what your spouse wants to hear is, “Tell me why you love me. List all reasons why you love me.” And when you say, “I love you because…” it means your love is contingent upon those reasons. If those reasons are taken away, so is your love. But God is saying, “I don’t love you because you are spiritual. I don’t love you because you are better than others. I don’t love you because you are good-looking and more doctrinally sound. I love you for you. I love you because I chose to love you. And I will forever love you because my love is not dependent on you.” Do you see? In Jesus, God loves us for us. And because his love for us is not dependent on us, he has no reason to stop loving us. There is nothing that can stop him from loving us.

How do we know? Look at the cross of Jesus Christ. At the cross, the goodness of God is no longer abstract; the goodness of God becomes concrete. At the cross, all the greatest evil forces of the universe were thrown at Jesus. Jesus was tortured. Jesus was mocked. Jesus was in so much pain, that even God the Father turned his face away from Jesus. Jesus endured the condemnation that we deserve. And Jesus could have avoided all that. He could have stopped all that agony from coming to him. All he had to do was give up on us. That’s it. He simply had to choose to stop loving us and he won’t have to endure all those pains. But in the greatest act of love in human history, Jesus stayed. At the cross, Jesus showed us that nothing can stop his love for us. He held on to us. He refused to let us go to his last breath. So today when we put our faith in him, we can know for sure that nothing can separate us from his love. When we see Jesus never let us go no matter what happened to him, that’s how we know with absolute certainty that God is good. That’s how we know with full confidence that no matter how messy we are on the inside, no matter what painful circumstances happen on the outside, Jesus has not abandoned us. If Jesus would not abandon us when hell was coming down upon him, do you think there is anything we can do to make him give up on us? If we look at our circumstances as the measure of God’s goodness, we will continue to doubt. But if we look at the cross, it destroys our doubts. The cross assures us that God is good. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. What does Paul mean by “all things work together for good”?
3. How does the chain statement in verses 29 and 30 encourage you in your walk with Christ?
4. Look at the five questions of the affirmation of good in verses 31-39. Which one stands out the most for you and why?
5. How can you be absolutely certain that God is good all the time?