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Romans 8:28
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,1 for those who are called according to his purpose.
[1] 8:28
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
So if you are trying to follow along in your worship guide, you might be a little confused. We're not doing those scriptures. We're not singing those songs. And I am not Jeff Heine. So, Jeff called me up, last night.
Joel Brooks:At least I think it was Jeff. You couldn't really recognize the voice. And he just said, I I can't make it. I'm sick tomorrow. Would you mind preaching for me?
Joel Brooks:And so I said, Sure. I mean, what are you going to say? So so three things happened after that. First, I still went on a date night with my wife because some things are more important, which means also went to the evening without a sermon or went to bed without a sermon, which led to those anxiety dreams you have, of me preaching before you without a shirt on. It could have been worse, but it it was yeah.
Joel Brooks:So I had those last night. And then this morning just being reminded of what we preached or I preached last week, Romans 828, that God causes all things to work together for good. And, I was like, do I believe that? I said, I'm gonna name it and claim it. So, Jeff got really sick for my good.
Joel Brooks:And, hopefully for your good as well. So what we're gonna do is Jeff is going to preach the end of Romans chapter 8 next week. He's already spent a lot of time. He's prepared what I'm sure is a wonderful sermon. I thought about just asking if I could have it, and I could preach that sermon this morning, but I knew the moment I quoted from some 18th century Danish philosopher, I would fool no one.
Joel Brooks:So, instead what we're gonna do is this morning is I'm gonna try to lay the foundation for, what we will be looking at in a couple weeks from now when we come to chapter 9 in Romans. Chapter 9 is going to deal with some pretty heavy and heady things. Also some very glorious things. But when we come to that chapter, you will miss those truths, or perhaps you will even resist those truths. If you don't come in with the understanding of who the biblical God is.
Joel Brooks:Your view of God will greatly shape how you understand the chapters that are ahead of us. God is not like us. He's not just a slightly more powerful or more wise one of us. He's unique. He is completely sovereign and supreme.
Joel Brooks:So that's what we're gonna look at this morning. We're gonna look at the sovereignty and the supremacy of God in all things. And I'm gonna go ahead and warn you this might not be the most put together cohesive sermon you've ever heard. So ask for a little grace in that, But I pray that it will be profitable for us. So if you would pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Our father, your children are all gathered together this morning, so you might as well work. Through your spirit, you might as well change us so we look more like Christ. So spirit, do your work. May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So last week, we looked at one of the most comforting verses in, in all of scripture. Romans 828. For we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
Joel Brooks:All things work together for good. Now the undergirding of of such an enormous promise like this, the the foundation for a promise like that is the sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign, then that passage is worthless. It's just ink on a page. That promise cannot We can't hold on to it.
Joel Brooks:We can't apply it to our lives unless God is truly sovereign. And by sovereign, this is what I mean. God does whatever he wants. Not God can do whatever he wants, but God actually does whatever he wants. There's no potential in God.
Joel Brooks:What he wants happens. That's what I mean by sovereignty. And here is the good news according to Romans 8. We know what he wants, our good. He wants our good.
Joel Brooks:And because he's sovereign, what he wants happens. Good will happen to us. We will all be conformed to the image of Christ. But once again that's based on God's sovereignty. And when we read here in Romans 828, that he causes all things, we mean all things.
Joel Brooks:We looked at that last week. It means all of our mistakes, all of our failures, all of our sorrows, even all of our sins, they work together for good. We didn't get a chance to look at this last week, because we were short on time, but the obvious biblical example of this would be the life of Joseph. Joseph, you find his story, you know, in Genesis and he was betrayed by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, then goes to prison, and then God raises him up to be the 2nd most powerful person in Egypt. And he uses his power to, save not just Egypt, but the entire surrounding region, from starvation.
Joel Brooks:And what you find in the last chapter of Genesis is Joseph is confronting his brothers there, and he says these words. You meant this for evil. God meant this for good. He doesn't get them off the hook and say it really wasn't that bad. No, he calls sin, sin.
Joel Brooks:You meant this for evil, but then God meant this or God planned this or God purposed this or God orchestrated all of this for good. That's Romans 828. It's Romans 828 in a nutshell. The story of Joseph could not happen apart from the sovereignty of God. A God like us could not do that.
Joel Brooks:So God, he orchestrated every event in Joseph's life. And we can look back and we can see it was in order to humble him, to teach him reliance on God, and then in order to raise him up to that position of power to save everyone. All those events in Joseph's life were not plan b, plan c. God only has one plan. Everything happened, even being thrown in a pit, thrown into prison, everything happened according to God's plan.
Joel Brooks:And I could tell that last week when we were going through Romans 828, some of you were struggling to believe that. I actually talked with a few of you afterwards, and you said, I want to believe that. I really want to believe that verse, but when I look at my life, I can't help but feel I'm on plan b or c or plan d, e. And we've actually run out of letters of the alphabet. I've messed up so many times.
Joel Brooks:If that was you, just know that your struggle with Romans 828, you were not struggling over the goodness of God. You were struggling over the sovereignty of God. Is God really that in control of my life that everything that happens, he has orchestrated? The answer is yes. God, he doesn't look at your life, and then you blow it, and he gives you a new plan.
Joel Brooks:Then you blow it, and there's a new plan. And finally, it's like he's grabbing a napkin, and he's writing on that. You mess that up. He writes on the other side of the napkin a new plan. He's not forever adjusting.
Joel Brooks:Your life is going according to plan and nothing in your life ever surprises God. He doesn't have to adjust to the new things that you were doing. He's got a purpose for your life. He will 100% complete the work He started in you. That's Philippians 1:6.
Joel Brooks:He who began a good work in you will perfect it. It's a done deal. And if you are having a hard time wrapping your head around that, having a hard time figuring out how is that all possible, then join the club. I'm with you. I I don't know.
Joel Brooks:I I have so so many questions when I begin to think of the sovereignty of God and how our will, how does it all interact? I have so many questions there. We'll explore some of those questions in the weeks ahead. But I believe in Romans 828. Not because I have figured out the answers, but because I know this one certain absolute truth.
Joel Brooks:God is sovereign. God is supreme. And he does have the answers for this. Years ago, I came across this quote about Albert Einstein. And it, had a profound impact on me.
Joel Brooks:For those of you who know me, you know that I have kind of a man crush on Albert Einstein. I really do. I have this thing for Albert Einstein. And, I I think it's probably because we have very similar minds. By that I mean, he was dyslexic and he couldn't remember people's names.
Joel Brooks:We're very similar in that regards. Or we couldn't remember where we parked our car. But my, I guess I have this love for physics that came because my my wife, her dad is a physics teacher. I just kinda wanted to be able to talk to him more. So I began to read physics books and then I came to enjoy them.
Joel Brooks:And so I've read a number of biographies on Albert Einstein. Read books on general and special relativity. I don't confess to understand them, but I'm fascinated with those things. And so, years ago, 22, 23 years ago to be exact. I came across this quote about Albert Einstein, And honestly, it has affected every sermon I've preached.
Joel Brooks:It has had such a profound impact on me. It's by Charles Meisner. He was a general relativity specialist, and he is saying this about Einstein. Here's the quote. I do see the design of the universe as essentially a religious question.
Joel Brooks:That is one should have some kind of respect and awe for the whole business. It's very magnificent and shouldn't be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion. Although he strikes me as basically a very religious man. He must have looked at what preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming.
Joel Brooks:He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing. My guess is that he simply felt that the religions he'd run across did not have the proper respect for the author of the universe. I'll tell you that line hit me. He must have looked at what preachers said about god and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing.
Joel Brooks:And now Einstein knew things like like we know about our creation. Things like light travels at 5.87 trillion miles per year. A light year. Our galaxy, it's it's just one of the medium sized galaxies out there, is 100 light years across. That means it's 587,000 trillion miles across.
Joel Brooks:And I realize when you talk about space, the numbers are so large, they're beyond any kind of real comprehension. Even struggling to comprehend our own solar system. Alright, so if you were to look at your worship guide and find a period there, pretend that period is Jupiter. That's the size of Jupiter. And then, poor old Pluto Pluto, God rest his soul.
Joel Brooks:Just just imagine that Pluto is over here. Pluto would be 35 feet away from that period. To use the the same scale, once again, pretend that period is Jupiter. And if we were to go to the closest star outside of our sun, that closest star would be 10,000 miles away. It's just it's just mind boggling.
Joel Brooks:And there's there's millions of galaxies. There's about a 1000000000 stars in every galaxy, and there's millions of galaxies. You could go to any, you know, NASA website. You could look these things up on the Hubble Telescope. You could see this and your your mind is just blown.
Joel Brooks:Einstein knew these things. We know these things. He could read them in any high school textbook. And when Einstein would go into church, and he would hear some pastor giving some Hobby Lobby cliches about God, he would just think, what are you talking about? Or if he would hear, you know, the 5 L's of dealing with depression.
Joel Brooks:Here's the 6 Q's about how to have a better marriage, and then some nominal reference to God. Einsteins going, what Just blasphemy. You're not talking about the real thing. I have seen way more than you could ever imagine. And this led him apart from the church, away from the church.
Joel Brooks:Einstein had to be thinking, I could get that stuff anywhere, and he would have been absolutely right. You could go to any mosque, any Buddhist temple, any Hindu temple, any Mormon church. You could go to any community center for crying out loud, and you could find the 5 cues to help you to be a better parent or whatever you want. Einstein wasn't fooled. That's not the God of the bible.
Joel Brooks:The God of the bible is shown as utterly sovereign and supreme. Literally every page of your bible drips with that. Start off Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, the beginning, God. And he created the heavens and the earth.
Joel Brooks:First Chronicles 29, we read, you rule over all. Job 23, whatever his soul desires, that he does. Job 42, I know that you could do all things and that no plan of yours can be thwarted. Psalm 115, our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases.
Joel Brooks:Psalm 135, our Lord does whatever he pleases both in the heavens above and the earth below, in the sea and all their depths. Proverbs 16, the Lord works out all things for his own end. Proverbs 21, even the king's heart is like a channel of water in the Lord's hand. He directs it wherever he wishes. Isaiah 46.
Joel Brooks:And you could just land in the Isaiah forties, like, for all of them scream the sovereignty of God. I read a different chapter from Isaiah 40 every day for 10 years. Profoundly changed me. Isaiah 46. I am God, and there is no other.
Joel Brooks:I am God, and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning, saying my counsel will stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. Jeremiah 32. Us sovereign Lord, you have created the heavens and the earth by your outstretched harm and your mighty strength. Nothing is too hard for you. Daniel 4.
Joel Brooks:God's kingdom is an eternal kingdom. His dominion endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing before him. No one can say to him, Stay his hand. No one can say to him, Lord, what have you done?
Joel Brooks:Jesus testifies about the sovereignty of God. In Matthew 10, he says, the sovereignty of God extends even to the smallest of creatures. He said, don't you know not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of my father in heaven? He knows the very numbers of hairs on your head. In Matthew 16, Jesus agrees with Jeremiah and with Daniel and with Isaiah and the psalmist.
Joel Brooks:He says with God, all things are possible. Paul in Romans 11, the great doxology we are getting to, he says, don't you know that from Jesus and through Jesus and to Jesus are all things to him be the glory forever. Ephesians 111, God works out all things in conformity with the counsel of his will. Ephesians 3:20, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all that we can ask or even imagine. Colossians 1, it says that God who created everything, even the the heavens and the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
Joel Brooks:Created through Christ and for Christ. And in him, all things hold together. The author of Hebrews tells us how in Hebrews 1, when he says, he upholds all things by his powerful word. James tells us in James chapter 4 that that extends even to us. When he says, you shouldn't say I'll do such and such tomorrow.
Joel Brooks:Say this. If the Lord wills, you'll live, and you'll go on to do such a thing tomorrow. Literally every page drips his supremacy, drips his sovereignty. Isaiah 46. One more.
Joel Brooks:Gotta be from Isaiah 40. To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal? Will you lift up your eyes and look to the skies? Who created these?
Joel Brooks:He who brings out the starry host 1 by 1, and calls them by name. By his great power and his mighty strength, not one of them is missing. He calls the stars by name. 100000000000000 stars by name. Me, how how do you even do that?
Joel Brooks:I mean, don't you run I mean, like Bob. Like Susie. I mean, you start you start running, like, you know, that's when you're in the r 259 point whatever. My wife and I, when we were having our first child, she was having a child. I was just there as encouraging her.
Joel Brooks:But, we're struggling with what to name her her child. I wanted The Edge, named after the lead guitarist for U2. She won a Caroline. So we it was at a standstill. So we got a book called 35,000 Baby Names.
Joel Brooks:And can I tell you after like, just a few thousand, they're just It's They're just shooting from the hip? It's anything. Just combining words. We had like the word The names echo, equito, staple, not staple ten, just staple. I mean there there's names all over the board.
Joel Brooks:Like, you can't even come up with that many names. You know you can actually go to a website and you can buy a star and have it named after you. I looked it up this morning at 3 AM. That's what I was doing. I was writing the sermon.
Joel Brooks:I was getting desperate. So, for 34.90. That's all it costs. And you can buy your own star and have it named after you. And when I read that, I I I Couple of thoughts.
Joel Brooks:1st, what a sham. 2nd was why didn't I think of that? Because you know what I would have done and maybe I could do this now. Don't steal this idea. But I could say, I'll sell you a 1,000 stars for a dollar.
Joel Brooks:Actually I'll sell you a 1,000,000 stars for a dollar. Let me tell you what, you will own that star just as much if I sell it to you as if some website sells it to you. And you know what, if I sold a million a1000000 stars to you for a dollar, I would still be a billionaire. That's how many stars there are. And God puts that before you, and he says, I bring them out 1 by 1.
Joel Brooks:Not one is missing. I call them by name. Why does God tell us this? He wants you stunned with his glory. He wants your knees to buckle and worship to him.
Joel Brooks:And he wants you to be able to believe when he says things like, I cause all things to work together for good. You don't have a doubt in your mind he can do it. That he does it. That's the god that we worship. Is that the god you worship?
Joel Brooks:Or is your god small? Is he just like a slightly glorified version of you? Last week, we ended our time by looking at what was known as the unbreakable chain of Romans chapter 8, verses 29 through 30. I know it's not there in your worship guide, so I'll read it for you. 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.
Joel Brooks:Those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. There's 5 verbs there. We looked at this.
Joel Brooks:Five verbs linked together in what's called the unbreakable chain or the golden chain, but they're inseparable from one another. God foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified. Once again, past tense, even though it's a future action. That's how done it is. Now, what I want you to look at or understand when you see these verses is that God is the subject of every one of these verses.
Joel Brooks:Every one of them. God's the one who does the foreknowing, the predestining, the calling, the justifying, and the glorifying. God is the one who is in control of your life. You're not doing anything there. It reminds me of Exodus chapter 6.
Joel Brooks:And when God and Moses have this conversation, God wants Moses to go, you know, and to, to free the Israelites from from slavery of Egypt. And so they're having a conversation, a planning session if you will. And God says to tell you what, I'll tell you everything I'm gonna do, and then I'll tell you what you're supposed to do. That's the conversation we have in Exodus 6, and and Moses like, great. Shoot.
Joel Brooks:Tell me, what do you do? This is what God says he does. I establish my covenant with them. I hear their groanings. I will remember my covenant.
Joel Brooks:I am Yahweh. I will bring you out from the under the bondage of Egypt. I will deliver you from bondage. I will redeem you. Then I will take you for my people.
Joel Brooks:I will be your God. I will bring you to the land I swore to give Abraham. I will give it all to you. And you shall. So that's all that God will do.
Joel Brooks:Then it's and you shall. And here is what Moses is supposed to do. And you shall know Yahweh is God. And you shall know Yahweh is God. That's your end of the bargain.
Joel Brooks:I'm doing it all, Moses, in order that you might know who I am. The only way these people are delivered is if it's all rest on me, not you. But I do it so that you will know who I am. God knows that if there's to be any genuine obedience of faith, any true worship, it has to come from us and knowing who he is. Is this the god you worship, or is your God small?
Joel Brooks:Is your God like you or maybe just a slightly amplified version of you? The God of the bible screams. It testifies to the sovereignty and the supremacy of God in all things. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, we believe that from you and through you and to you are all things.
Joel Brooks:And in those times we doubt, would you help our unbelief? Or we thank you that you are sovereign and good, and that you do cause all things to work together for good for those who love you, who are called according to your purpose. What a promise. Thank you for the way you pursue us and have drawn us to yourself, and may we forever sing your praises. And I pray that from this pulpit and in this church, we would not blaspheme you.
Joel Brooks:That when the world looks at us and they hear what we say, they would not think they're just not talking about the real thing. We love you Jesus. We pray this in your name. Amen.