And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to His purpose.
Because whom He has foreknown, He has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son,
so that He should be the firstborn among many brethren.
But whom He has predestinated, these also He has called;
and whom He has called, these also He has justified;
but whom He has justified, these also He has glorified.
We do know that all things work together for good. I think probably we are all very familiar with this statement. Whenever we visit anyone in the hospital, we use this verse. Here is a ready-made verse.
Whenever any brother or sister has any problem—whether they are sick or whether something has happened—we have a ready verse for them: “All things work together for good.”
Now, we use that verse so often. Sometimes I wonder whether we really understand what we are quoting.
When you read Romans 8:26, it says, “We do not know.” We do not know what to pray for as is fitting. You know, brothers and sisters, in our daily life we encounter many things, different environments, and oftentimes we do not know what is happening.
We do not know what to pray, or how to pray, as is fitting. Now, because we do not know, we say we do know that all things work together for good.
We do not know why certain brothers and sisters become sick. We do not know why something happens to them, and we do not know what to say. So we use this ready verse: “All things work together for good.”
But do we really know? All things work together for good.
Now, all things means everything—everything that happens in your life, whether it comes from people, whether they are just things, or whether they are certain events and circumstances that come your way. All things, everything.
The Bible says all things work together. Now, we know that all things include things that are inanimate—that is, things that are not living. How can all things work together?
Everything has a meaning, and everything will coordinate and work together for good. How can this happen? There must be Someone behind all things. There must be Someone who controls all things, Someone who orchestrates and puts together all these things with a very positive, definite purpose.
And we know this is God. Behind all things, there is God. God is the One who brings all things together, and He makes all things work together for good.
Now, brothers and sisters, what is good? You remember one day in Mark 10, a young man, who was a ruler, ran to our Lord Jesus. He knelt before Him, before the crowd, because he was earnest.
He asked a question: “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Now, that is a very important question: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He addressed this question to our Lord Jesus. He said, “Good Teacher.” And our Lord said to him, “Why do you call Me good? There is no one good but God.” In other words, our Lord corrected him.
God is good. Aside from God, there is nothing good, no one good.
You also remember Romans 12:
Brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service.
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed,
that you may be able to prove what is the good,
and perfect will of God.
So, in other words, what is good? You know, we have our own definition of good. Suppose you are in good health—you say that is good. Suppose you inherit a large amount of money—you say that seems good.
If you are in ill health, that is no good. If you are in poverty, that is no good. If you have a good job, that is good; but if you lose your job, that is bad. Now, that is our definition of good or bad.
But, you know, our definition is really not correct. What is good? God is good, and His will, His purpose, is good.
So the Bible says all things work together for good. What does it mean? It means that whatever happens to you in your life—whether it is prosperity or poverty, whether it is good health or sickness, whether it is smooth sailing or hard going—whatever happens in your life, all things are included.
Many things happen in our life, but all things that come our way have God behind them. He is making all things work together for good. He is making all things work together so that His will may be done in your life. Now, that is good.
Have you noticed, brothers and sisters, that we have the habit of quoting half of this verse, or even one-third of it? We do not quote the whole verse. We say, “All things work together for good,” period.
But that is not what you find in the Bible. The Bible says, “All things work together for good,” yes—to whom? To those who love the Lord.
If you do not love the Lord, if you do not love God, do all things work together for good to you? If you do not love God, probably you will feel that all things work together against you.
Not only disaster works together against you; even prosperity and success work together against you, if you do not love God.
It is not because God does not want all things to work together for your good, for your eternal good. There is no problem with God. Our God is good, and He is at the back of everything. He is trying to make all things work together for your eternal good. There is no doubt about that.
But whether they work together for good to you, you have a responsibility. If you do not love God, you do not understand. You are not able to really enter into God’s mind and God’s heart.
Because of that, when you look at all things, you find everything and everyone against you. It does not bring you to eternal good.
But how can you love God in all things? If you have a very smooth, rosy life, it may be easy for you to love God. Suppose you live a very hard life. Are you able to love God?
What is the secret of loving God? Quote the full verse, and you will find it: “All things work together for good to those who love God.” But how can you love God in any circumstance? Whatever happens, you love God. How can you do that?
“To those who are called according to purpose.” In other words, you are called according to purpose.
Thank God, all who believe in the Lord Jesus are called, and we are called according to purpose. That is, for God’s purpose.
Even before God created the heavens and the earth, the Bible tells us, even before the foundation of the world, God had purposed a purpose in His Son, Jesus Christ, for you.
Now think of that. Even before you were born, even before you were formed in your mother’s womb, even before the world was created, in past eternity—before time began—God purposed a purpose in Himself.
What is that purpose? He purposed a purpose in His beloved Son concerning you and concerning me. The Bible calls it the eternal purpose of God.
So, dear brothers and sisters, it is extremely important for us to know what God’s eternal purpose is concerning us.
If you know what God’s eternal purpose is concerning you, then your eyes will be opened. You will be able to see truly that God is at the back, managing all things in your life and causing all things to work together for your eternal good.
That is to fulfill His eternal purpose in your life. If you see that, then whether blessing or adversity comes your way, they will not affect you adversely.
You are able to see behind everything that God is working out His purpose in your life. You will praise Him, you will thank Him, you will worship Him, and you will love Him. That is the secret.
In too many believers, when they are blessed, they love the Lord. When they are met with adversity, their love for God begins to cool down. Why? Because they are influenced by what they can see. They are influenced by their environment. They do not see God behind all things.
Now, if we can see God and His good will in all things, then, brothers and sisters, whatever happens—if the south wind blows or the north wind blows—they will all work together for good to those who love God.
As I was meditating on this, the apostle Paul came to my mind. You know, Paul, in Philippians 4, says something. This apostle Paul suffered a great deal for the gospel’s sake.
When he wrote this letter to the Philippians, he was in prison in Rome. He was there as a prisoner, not because of any wrong he had done, but because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When you look at his circumstances, you would think that he would be very downhearted. Probably he would murmur and rebel against God: “God, I love You. I have worked so hard for You. Why is it that You allow all these things to happen to me?”
But even when he was in prison, he was full of joy. When he wrote this letter to the church in Philippi, instead of waiting to be comforted by the Philippian believers, you find that he was comforting them.
He said, “Rejoice always in the Lord; and again I say, rejoice.”
Toward the end of the Philippian letter, in Philippians 4, he says:
Not that I speak as regards privation:
for as to me, I have learned in those circumstances in which I am to be satisfied in myself.
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.
In everything and in all things I am initiated,
both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer privation.
I have strength for all things in Him that gives me power.
You find that in whatever circumstance the apostle Paul was in—whether he was praised by people or persecuted by people, whether he was full or hungry—he said, “I have been initiated. I have learned to face all circumstances.”
Why? Because he knew the purpose of God. He knew that God means well, that God was using all things to bring him into the full purpose of God.
Now, are we like that?
“All things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to purpose.” Now, what is that purpose? In the following verse we are told.
Because whom He has foreknown,
He has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son,
so that He should be the firstborn among many brethren.
Now, our God is omniscient. That is to say, our God knows everything all the time. With God, His knowledge is infinite. His knowledge is not limited by time. He knows the end from the beginning.
The knowledge of our God is infinite. He knows everything at all times. Nothing is hidden from Him. All things are naked before Him. God has foreknowledge.
Now, we are very limited in our knowledge. If you are very clever, if you are very observant, maybe you are able to predict something that may happen.
Suppose you see a person walking back and forth before your house and peeping in—very suspicious. If you are very observant, probably you begin to wonder whether that is a thief.
So you begin to watch, and sure enough, in the night, that person breaks in. Does it mean that because of your foreknowledge, you made him a thief? Are you responsible for making him a thief because you had such foreknowledge? Not at all.
He made himself a thief, but you were observant. Now, our God’s foreknowledge is unlimited.
Before you were born, before you were shaped in your mother’s womb—long before, of course, even before the foundation of the world—there was nothing of you yet, but God had already seen you.
He has foreknowledge. He knows you. Dear friends, you may not know God, but God knows you by your name.
You remember what happened with Saul, who later changed his name to Paul. Saul means one who is looked for, a big shot. The first king in the Jewish nation was named Saul, so this man was named after the great King Saul.
But after he believed in the Lord Jesus, he used the name Paul, which means little. Isn’t that true? Before we know the Lord Jesus, we feel ourselves great, big, important. But when you know the Lord Jesus, it makes you little. You feel that you are just a little nothing. Thank God for that.
This man Saul persecuted Christians fearfully. Not only in Jerusalem, the capital city, he would enter homes, seize men and women who believed in the Lord Jesus, and send them away. He went to the synagogues and forced these people to blaspheme.
When Stephen was stoned to death, he was there, watching the clothes of those who stoned Stephen. When anyone was sentenced, he gave his vote. He pursued Christians even to Gentile cities.
But on the way to Damascus, the risen Lord met him. Do you know what the Lord said? “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
Saul said, “Who are You, Lord?” We do not know God, but God knows us all the time. He knows your very name, and thank God, one day He calls you.
God knows every one of us all the time. All whom He has foreknown—you are foreknown by Him. You do not know Him, but He knows you well. He knows you better than you know yourself. How true that is.
Whom He has foreknown, He has predestinated. Ah, predestination. He has predestinated that you be conformed to the image of His Son, that His Son may be the firstborn among many brethren. Wonderful.
People do not understand predestination. People even rebel against predestination. Have you heard people say, “If God has predestined me to go to hell, then there is nothing I can do. So God has the responsibility. How can He judge me? Because He has predestinated it. It is not my fault; it is His fault.”
Ah, you misunderstand completely. That is not predestination. God never predestinates anything arbitrarily.
If you have a rational mind, how much more rational must be the mind of God? True, God foreknows, and He predestinates. His predestination is according to foreknowledge.
He does not predestinate arbitrarily, saying, “So-and-so, you go to hell. So-and-so, you go to heaven.” No, He never does that, because it is God’s will that all may be saved and come to the knowledge of God. That is God’s heart.
But He knows beforehand, when the gospel is presented to you, how you will react. Will you humble yourself and confess your sins, allowing the Lord Jesus to cleanse you with His precious blood? He died for you on the cross.
Will you accept His offer, or will you harden your heart, reject His offer of love, and yourself be destined for hell?
In other words, God knows how you will react. God will use every means to persuade you, but He cannot force you. Why? Because He is the One who created you, and He created you with a will.
God is the supreme will of the universe, and He created you with a will. Because He gave you a will, He respects your will. He will not force you to do anything. He can persuade you. He can warn you.
But He will not force your will. If you do not want to accept His love, there is nothing He will do. That is what you decide to do, and God predestinates according to what you decide.
Just like the illustration I used, you do not make that person a thief because you foreknow. He has to be responsible for himself.
Thank God, whom He has foreknown, He knows that when the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to you, you will humble yourself, confess your sin, and allow the Lord Jesus to redeem you, to cleanse you, and to fill you with His life.
So He predestinated you. Now, He predestinated you to what? Predestination is not to predestine you to death or life, eternal death or eternal life. No.
To us, this is everything: “Oh, if only I can go to heaven, that is everything to me. If only I can escape hell, that is everything to me.” It is good, and thank God for that. But remember, He is God.
You may be satisfied, but He is not satisfied. He has to work in your life until He is satisfied. He loves you so much. He wants to do so much for you—not just save you out of hell into heaven.
No, that is not predestination. Predestination is that He has predestinated you to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now think of that.
God has an only begotten Son. He had that Son even before the foundation of the world. He is the only begotten Son. This is the very heart of God. All His love is poured upon that Son.
He made His beloved Son the heir of all things. As a matter of fact, He created all things for His Son. He especially created man for His Son, because He said it was not good for His Son to be alone.
God would make Him a helpmeet, a counterpart, to share His life and to share His glory. That is God’s purpose concerning you and me. It is because of His Son, not because of you and not because of me. We are not that important.
It is because of God’s Son. God loves His beloved Son. He gives everything to His Son, and His Son is so obedient to Him, pleasing Him all the time in everything.
So His Son is the model. God wants to transform you and conform you to the image of His Son—to be like Him.
His Son is all-glorious, so holy, so pure, so meek, so humble, so great, so powerful, so glorious.
God says, “I want to work until you are like My Son, so you can be His bride and eventually be His helpmeet, eternally united with the Son in glory.” Now, that is God’s purpose for you.
Isn’t that wonderful? I thank God for predestination, because once God purposes that for your life, He will see to it that it is done.
If you cooperate, it will be faster. If you do not cooperate, He will take a longer time. But it shall be done. Wonderful.
How is He going to do that? Read the following verse: “Whom He has predestinated, these also He has called.”
God, by His foreknowledge, has predestinated you for a glorious future: to be like His Son, that you may be united with His Son. Whom He has predestinated, He has called.
Are you called? Everyone is called, but not everyone responds in the same way. You remember what the Bible says: “Whosoever will, come and drink of the water of life.”
D. L. Moody, that great evangelist, used an illustration that is very clear. He said that when you come to the door of the Lord’s salvation, what do you see written on the door? “Whosoever will.”
Whosoever will can enter. He said, if the door said, “D. L. Moody wills, you can enter,” then he would wonder whether there was another D. L. Moody besides himself. It might mean someone else, not him.
But it says, “Whosoever will.” That no doubt includes me, right? So he said, “I will,” and he entered.
After he entered through the door, he looked back and saw written on the back of the door, “You who are called and predestinated.”
So how can you know you are called? If you have entered into the door of salvation, if you have believed in the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, then you know.
Have you believed that He is the Son of God? He was raised from the dead that you may be justified. If you believe with your heart and confess Him with your mouth, then you look back and are told, “You are called, predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son.”
Whom He has predestinated, He has called; and whom He has called, He has justified. What is justification? How can a sinner be justified—be just before God, before the just God?
Our God is just. He knows everything. How can I be justified before Him? I have committed many things against God, against myself, and against people. God knows. How can I be justified, just as if I had never sinned?
Who is able to cleanse me from all my sins? Whom He has called, He has justified. In other words, you cannot justify yourself, but He can justify you.
Why? Because He has sent His beloved Son into the world to die in your stead. His Son bore in His body all your sins, and He was crucified on the cross for you.
Now justification is offered to you. If you believe, we are justified not by our works, but by faith—by believing in God’s gift, believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Whom He has justified, He has glorified. You know, justification is just the beginning. Your sins are forgiven, and you receive a new life, but that is just the beginning.
Now God is working to make that life grow, that you will begin to put on a new character—the character of Jesus Christ. You shed the old habit, the old character of yours, and begin to build up that new character of Jesus Christ in your life, so that you can be conformed to His image.
That is what God is doing to you today. How is it to be done? How can the justified be glorified? All things work together for good to those who love the Lord, who are called according to purpose.
Now, brothers and sisters, I hope you understand why certain things happen in your life, why certain people come into your life, and why nothing happens to you by chance.
The Bible says even your hairs have been numbered. Do you know how many hairs you have? Nobody knows, but He knows the number of every one of them. In the morning, when you comb your hair and one falls out, He knows the number of that one.
That is the love of God.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, you who are called, you who are justified, He is working in your life every day, every moment. God is moving all things to work together for good.
By all these things, those things that are not pleasing to God—those things that are natural, carnal, fleshly, worldly, and against God—God uses all things to bring these things to death.
At the same time, He is using all things to build up the character of Christ in your life. Only Christ is glorious. His life is glory. Whenever the character of Christ is built in you, then you see glory.
God’s beloved Son, the only begotten Son, will be the firstborn among many brethren. What does He mean? He means that many brethren will take upon themselves the character and image of the Firstborn.
So He will be the firstborn among many brethren. He will be the model, the example.
In the Bible, “firstborn” has two meanings. One is the common meaning: first in time. Suppose in your family you have five children, and the firstborn is born first in time. He may not be first in character, but certainly he is first in time.
That is one meaning. Another meaning of “firstborn” in the Bible is according to quality—not according to time, but according to quality.
We will take our character from Christ. He is the Firstborn. He has the priority; He has the sovereignty. We begin to take character from Him, and so He becomes the firstborn among many brethren.
Wonderful, brothers and sisters. I feel really excited. Wonderful. You do not know what God is doing with you. If you know what God is doing with you, what can you do but worship? God is good.
So may the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Dear holy Father, our hearts are warmed. We thank You for loving us so much. Your thoughts concerning us are noble and many.
We do thank Thee that Thou art not satisfied just to justify us. Thou also glorifiest us, that we may take up the character of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is worthy.
Dear Lord, we do pray that by Thy word Thou wilt open our understanding, that we may not murmur, but that we may praise Thee; that we may not rebel against Thee, but that we may submit ourselves to Thee, knowing that Thou dost all things well.
O work out Thy full salvation in each of our lives, that Thou mayest be glorified. We ask in the name of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.