Romans chapter eight and verse twenty eight. And here's a favorite verse of so many of you that we quoted just a few moments ago. I'm just going to read a verse or two and then we shall go down what is left of the chapter in order to finish the short five message series that we've been taking on chapter six and seven and eight. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did for no, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called." and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. What shall we say then to these things if God before us who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies us. Who is he that condemeth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? should tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for i am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And I simply couldn't stop. I didn't know where to stop. And what the Bible says is far more important than anything that I might have to say about it. And so here you have it. the last of these five sections that we spoke about. Now back in chapter six and the first eleven verses we had the first section and that we called the principle of spiritual life. We noticed three things in this connection. The commencement of that life, it begins with dying. And you recall I talked with you about the metamorphosis of dying for the seed. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it died, it bringeth forth much fruit. Here is the commencement of that spiritual life that is being spoken of and being propounded for us in the first eleven verses. The commencement of that life. Verses one and two. And then we saw the confession of that life, verses three, four, and five, where we read about baptism, being baptized into his death, illustrating death and burial and resurrection, and so on, the confession of that life. We noticed the voluntary nature of baptism, and we noticed the vital nature of baptism, and then we finished with the challenge of that life. Verses six through eleven. emphasizing the condition of the dead, the position of the believer, the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice, and the vital character of the attitude, reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed under sin, for alive unto God, the principle of spiritual life. And then beginning at verse twelve and going through the rest of that chapter we observed what we called the possibility of spiritual defeat. It begins with these words, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. The possibility of spiritual defeat. And then using these verses we saw three things about spiritual defeat. First of all it is not infrequent. because the body is mortal, because the enemy is strong, because the flesh is insistent, and because the choice is ours, and so very often we make the wrong choice. So spiritual defeat is not infrequent. That we found in verse twelve. And then we looked at verses thirteen and fourteen, and we saw that spiritual defeat is not inevitable. It doesn't have to be. God's promise proves it, sin shall not have dominion over you. The believer's position emphasizes it, you're not under law, but under grace, but the individual response determines it, and that we got from the word yield. So it's not inevitable. We don't have to be spiritually defeated. And in third we saw that it is not inconsequential, verses fifteen through twenty-three. It cannot be excused. It will come as a result of our definite commitment to sin. It is contrary to teaching. It's been costly in the past. But if we persist in being spiritually defeated, it will be more costly in the future. That's why to believers the word is written for the wages of sin is death. Then we came to chapter seven and we took the whole of that chapter. And having talked about the principle of spiritual life and the possibility of spiritual defeat, now in this chapter we looked at the problem of spiritual conflict, and we observed four mentions of law. There was that which was called the law, fifteen times in sixteen verses. The first sixteen verses. The Lord. Then there was that which the writer spoke about called a law. I see then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Along with the law and a law, we mentioned two others the law of God and the law of sin. We didn't have time to discuss them in detail, and I'm not going to do that tonight either, because I want to make sure we cover what's left chapter eight. Now in the first part of chapter eight we looked at the practice of spiritual things verses one through twenty seven. So we had the principle of spiritual life, the possibility of spiritual deceit, the problem of spiritual conflict, and here in the first part of chapter eight the practice of spiritual things. Now this was where was emphasized for us the activity of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. So we looked at walking after the Spirit, verses one to four, and this we called ambition in the realm of spiritual things. Then there was thinking in the Spirit, verses five through eight, and this we called attitude in the realm of spiritual things. Then there is living through the Spirit, verses nine through thirteen, we called this activity in the realm of spiritual things. Then there is yielding to the spirit, verse fourteen, this we called authority in the realm of spiritual things. And then verses fifteen through twenty-seven, receiving from the spirit, and this we called adequacy. in the realm of spiritual things, and all of them to do with the activity of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. Now we come to this last section which we have called, or are calling, the peak of spiritual experience. And it becomes the peak of spiritual experience. because it has to do with assurance, it has to do with confidence, it has to do with certainty, and it begins, and we know. And in a world that is constantly speculating and coming up with no definite answers, what a wonderful thing it is to be in such a situation that we can say we know, that we can say we are confident, that we can say, we are persuaded. This is the language of these verses twenty eight through thirty nine. Now there are those of you who've been assiduously taking notes, and so again I have three pegs on which you can hang your thoughts for the evening. We're going to talk about the peak of spiritual experience, and we're going to notice chapter eight, verse twenty eight, God's promise to the believer. Now that's a good place to begin when we want to think about being assured, being confident, and being certain. We couldn't be any more confident than we are when we rest upon the promises of God, which in the Lord Jesus are yea and in him are men and which cannot be broken. God's promise to the believer, verse twenty-eight. Then we're going to look at verses twenty nine and thirty, and we're going to see God's program for the believer. God has not only made us promises, God has also arranged for a faith program, and it's given in these two verses twenty nine and thirty. Then we have the verses thirty-one through thirty-nine, and here we have God's provision on behalf of the believer. And since we are immediately brought into contact with it in one of these verses where it says, How shall God not with him freely give us all things, we remind you that all of God's provision is wrapped up in one wondrous parcel, the person of the Lord Jesus. How shall God not with him freely give us all things? God's provision on behalf of God. of the believer. Now I have twenty-one and a half minutes because I'm going to finish as closely as I can to eight thirty. That's to encourage you to come back again on Thursday night. God's promise to the believer. Now let me read this well-known verse to you and emphasize something in the reading. I'm reading verse twenty-eight. And we know. that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now here we have four couplets. Did you notice them? We know. Now there we have positive certainty. It doesn't say we think. It doesn't say we are inclined to believe. It says we, K-N-O-W, we know. Now that's the language of positive certainty. But then it says, and we know that all things work together for good. Now here is the thought of total involvement. All things. Think about that. That includes our ordinary circumstances. Remember those two men I told you about who met on the street? And one said to the other one, how are you today? The other one said, I'm all right under the circumstances. Said the first man, what are you doing there? We have no business as believers to be under the circumstances because our ordinary circumstances are part of the all things that work together for good to them that love God. total involvement, all things. Now I don't know whether there are things in your ordinary circumstances that are very irksome. I don't know whether there are things in your ordinary circumstances that are very trying. I don't know whether there are things in your ordinary circumstances that may even be heartbreaking. They are still among the all things about which we do not speculate. but about which we are positive, and absolutely so. Also, these all things involve not only our ordinary circumstances, but our personal limitation. Now we all of us as individuals are limited in certain directions. Not only so, but in our own lives as individuals, we find that those limitations change. Some of those bounds that surround us are pushed out. Some of them are brought in. Some limitations get less and some limitations grow. You remember when you were a young man, a young woman and only just married, you remember how you struggled to make financial ends meet? Do you remember how strict your limitations were then and you wanted to do this or that or the other and you couldn't because financial limitations were very real and stringent? But perhaps for some of us at least, perhaps for more of us and like to admit it, those limitations are not what they were. We are a little more affluent than we were and we don't have to use so closely to the line as we did. And so we don't have to look twice at fifty cents as we used to do for thirty or forty years ago. Those limitations have been reduced. But in those days we used to run around the block and come back and we weren't even breathless. But now we can't climb a flight of stairs perhaps without stopping in the middle to get our breath. And so some limitations have been increased. But the Word of God says we know that all of them, whether the limitations of our earlier life or the limitations of today, all of these things work together for good to them that love God. Our ordinary circumstances, our personal limitations. Now some of us are more limited than others. Some of us have our struggles and our problems. I watch our sister when she comes to the door here with her walkers and I see with what difficulty she comes from the car and she gets into the pew. Those are limitations that she has learned to live with. And I'm sure that God in some ways has made them a blessing to her. At least she has recognized the truth of his word, my grace is sufficient for thee. But don't you think that sometimes she looks at some of you who are still so spry. and quite a bit older than she is. Why is she so limited? Only God knows, but in the coming day is going to show her wife. But of one thing I'm absolutely certain, when she's in her place with all of her limitations and others who have their health and strength are not here, God's going to do some assessing and reckoning up in a coming day. And then she's going to thank God for that she was faithful in spite of her limitations. You know, God allows these things into our lives. He doesn't explain them, but He promises they're going to work to our good, so be encouraged this. And others of you have other limitations because these struggles are going to redown to the glory of God, and they're going to redown to your eternal reward and blessing. When you look at others more limited than you are, be grateful that God's been so gracious to them. I grumbled that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. No feet. And again, among these all things, and I sure am going to have to hurry along, come the sudden emergencies. The sudden emergencies. Those things that without any warning at all descend upon us, and they seem to seem to shudder our lives, why it happens to the people of God. I think of Brother Little's home call, and I know that there's a home that has been temporarily shattered. You can't take a young father out of a home like that. A young husband without life being shattered. And now it's got to be rebuilt. Why? Why? We don't know why. But we do know that God promises that all things shall work together for our good, even those sudden emergencies. Doesn't that encourage you? When you realize that you can't control these things, but the one who controls the universe is he can and he does. Therefore nothing reaches you, but comes to you in order that eventually it might bring blessing in its way. I was going to sing a hymn with you, but I thought there wasn't time. Ye fearful saints Fresh courage take that lousy so much dread are big with mercy, and will break in blessing on your head. How fearful we get. How frightened we get. We're so human. And yet God has control of every circumstance. And he says, My child, I'm leading you along, and you've nothing to be afraid of. I will never, never let go your hand. Positive certainty we know. Total involvement, we know that all things. Now comes perfect harmony. We know that all things work together. You know, I like from time to time to sneak over to Mr. Kaiser's workshop when he's busy working there. Because if there's anything I like to watch, it's a craftsman at work. A man who isn't just going to let anything slip by. I have yet to see him with his tenon saw making a dovetail joint. To me, that's the most difficult joint to make. He's an artisan. He's an artist. He can do it. And someday I'm going to watch him doing it. And I'm going to see how carefully he takes the saw. And how carefully he watches his lines, how deliberately he stops that tenon saw at exactly the right spot, how carefully he takes his chisel, sharpens it, tests the edge, and then places it on the line and taps it until the waist drops away, and when he's through, those dovetails slip the one into the other, perfectly meshing. That's what it means, working together. Those things that seem so jumbled in your life, do you know God knows all about them, and everyone is made to fit into the next one. My life is but a weaving, said the poet. Between my God and me, I cannot choose the colors. He worketh steadily. The dark threads are as needful in the weaver's skillful hands as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned. And the poet goes on to remind us that we're looking at the underside. of the pattern and God is looking at the top and everything there is perfect. Perfect harmony. Even though your life may seem to be disturbed and disjointed and such a jumble of things you don't understand, it's all working out and they're all working together and in the end you're gonna say how wondrously they did that. Because God both engineered them and the harmony in which they work together. You know, if you put several notes together, you can come up with a horrible chord. You can come up with discord. But just rearrange those same notes, and you come up with beautiful melody. It's the way they're arranged that makes the harmony. And God's arranging your circumstances and the things that come into your life. that they might work together. And then finally, the last of these couplets, we have permanent prophets. They work together for good. And when things that God has engineered and controlled work together for good, that good is eternal good. So there's coming a day when you look back and say, it seems such a puzzle to me, but now it's so clear, It seemed such a jumble to me, but now I see how everything fitted into its place, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. Now, don't forget the end of the verse. Don't ever quote this verse and stop with the word good, because all things only work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. So you've got to see that if these things are going to happen this way, it's because you allow God to have his own way. God cannot make a mistake. So you can't lose out. by letting God do as He will. Them that are called according to His purpose. You know what that makes every day that you live? It makes every day that you live a day of accomplishment. Just imagine that. And you thought you were just drifting along, living your days because, well, this is a nice place to live and the weather is good and so on. But after all, it's just one day after another. Do you know you can open your eyes in the morning? whatever your circumstances, whatever your life may be, and some of you, a number of you, live alone. I sometimes think, you know, when I pray for you, when your name comes into my prayers and you come into my thoughts, I say to myself, what would I do if I lived alone? I would find it very hard to live alone. I go away from home. And I never find I get used to that. When I'm away, I'm sometimes alone. And sometimes in a hotel room there, I feel very lonely. It makes me feel for those of you who live by yourselves, but you're really not alone. Do you know that your days, each one of them, can be wondrous days of accomplishment? If you'll just look up into the Lord's face and say, Lord, I don't know what today is going to hold, but you know what it's going to hold. And Lord, I don't quite know how to make the best of this day, but you know how I can make the best of this day. I'm going to do the only thing I can with it. I'm going to turn it over to you so that you can have your own way in my life today, for I want to be able to look back on this day as a day of joy, a day of victory, a day when I walked so closely with you. that it wouldn't have been a surprise to me if you'd taken me home with yourself. God's promise to the believer. Now, that's only the first of these verses. Verse twenty-eight. Very quickly, verses twenty-nine and thirty. Let me read them to you just in case the language may confuse you just a little. If you think about God's program for the believer, you'll see it here. whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Now, in these two verses there are two things. There is first of all the plan, and then there is the process. Now, the plan begins with God's foreknowledge, and it ends with our conformity to the image of Christ. Now, whatever predestinate may mean anywhere else, Here it means that God has predetermined for you, if you're a Christian, that one day you shall be like his Son. Somebody has said God loved his Son so much, God wanted many more like him, and so this is God's plan. It starts with his foreknowledge, because he knows the end from the beginning, whom he did foreknow. He knew the moment that would come in your life when you would accept the Lord Jesus. He knew the moment when you would become his child by such receiving of the Lord Jesus. He knew the moment when you would take your all and put it into his hands. All of these things he knew before ever you were born. And so his plan for you begins with his foreknowledge. But it's going to end in that day when you're just like the Lord Jesus, changed into his likeness, changed into his image. Now that's the plan. Now for some of us that's going to be a real big change. If you're irritable, if you have a bad temper, if nothing pleases you, then I can assure you it is going to be a drastic... There isn't anybody like that at Park of the Palms. But if you were like that, that would be a real drastic alteration. But you know there are some of you and you walk so closely with God and it's obvious when we get into your company I want to tell you a story. Can I go over time if I tell you a story? It's a true one. You know, the man who started the work to which I belonged for eleven years, the work of the Pilgrim Preachers, when a man by the name of Ernest Luff, the name conveys something to Mr. and Mrs. Willie here, he had a little Bible shop in Frinton on Sea in Essex. He had a sort of almost white beard. And he was an old man when I first met him. That's the man I mentioned to you who prayed, Lord, keep me from becoming a wicked old man. You know, he used to travel with the pilgrim preachers until he got a little too much for him. One day, way in a town to which we were going, he with the party... There was a home in which the little girl had been told, a pilgrim preacher is going to come and stay with us tonight, and he's going to stay with us for three days. What she said? A pilgrim preacher. I don't know what she conjured up in her little mind, whether it was a man in a long white shirt with a staff, I don't know. A pilgrim preacher. She said, Mommy, when will he come? Well, they're going to have an open air service down at the Market Cross, and they won't be here until long after you're in bed. Mommy, don't you think just for once I could stay up so I could see the pilgrim preacher? No, you need your sleep, and you'll be able to meet him tomorrow anyhow. And so reluctantly when her bedtime came, she went to bed. Four o'clock in the morning, she pushed open her mummy's door. And her mummy in bed, fast asleep, suddenly became aware of the fact that somebody was standing by her bed. And with a start she wakened, and in the dim light there she saw the little girl. What are you doing here at this time, she said. Mummy, did he come? Did who come? Did the pilgrim preacher come? Yes, he came, but it's too much too early to do anything about it. Go back to bed. Mummy, his bedroom door is open just a little bit. Do you think I could go and take a peek? I suppose mommy took the easy way out. She said, now listen, don't you make a noise, not a noise, the slightest noise. And yes, you may go and take a peek. So that little girl walked along the corridor between the bedrooms there. She pushed open his door. She gave one look at him as he lay there in bed fast asleep. And she came running back into her mother's room and she said, mommy, it's Jesus. Mommy, it's Jesus. Now it wasn't just the little beard, you know. I learned to love that man. He walked very closely with the Lord Jesus. And the more closely you walk with the Lord Jesus, the more like him you grow. And that's why if we walk closely with him, when the change comes about, it won't be such a big change after all. I remember when I first went to the conference in Indiana, Winona Lake, was my first conference in America. There I met Mrs. Cowman. I had the joy of eating in her home twice. If ever there was a woman who carried with her an aura of the presence of the Lord Jesus, it was the woman who wrote streams in the desert and springs in the valleys and mountain trailways, Mrs. Cowman. We ought to covet to be like these. Eventually we're going to be like the Lord Jesus. That's God's plan. Now what's the process? There are five things in the process. Here it is. Whom it did foreknow he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he, that is the Son, might be the firstborn heir among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called. Whom he called, then he also justified, whom he justified, then he also glorified. Now here is the... the five-fold process. It begins with discernment, God's foreknowledge. And then it goes on to determination. God did predetermine, God predestinated, God determined what was going to happen. God's determination. Then comes God's dealing. Whom he did foreknow, then he did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, then he also called. Here we have his dealings. And my, what a long time God worked with some of us. Before his dealings were effective. We didn't hear his call when he whispered. We didn't hear his call when he shouted. We only heard his call when he began to bring pressure to bear upon our lives, but he called us. He called us. because he loved us. And he knew that we would respond his daily. And whom he called them he also justified. And here, of course, is the thought of deliverance. Not only have your sins been forgiven, but you have been justified. And the little girl said, justified means made justified never sinned. Made just as if I'd never sinned. That's what it means to be justified. That's more than being forgiven, you know. This is the process in God's program. And then comes delight whom he justified, then he also glorified. That's the process in the plan of God. Beginning with God's discernment and ending with God's and our delight. When we have glorified together with the Lord Jesus. Just a word or two about God's provision on behalf of the believer. verses thirty-one through thirty-nine. Now obviously if there's so much in the three verses we've already dealt with, there must be that much more in the verses thirty-one through thirty-nine. But it begins with a wonderful thought. As God provides for us, this is what it says. What shall we say then to these things? If God before us, who can be against us? One with God is in the majority. You can look at an army. You can look at a nation. And you can stand alone in opposition to them. But if God's on your side, you've got to win. You realize you're not on the winning side. You're on the side that has already won. We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. If God before us, who can be against us? One with God is in the majority. Remember that. You can never be defeated. Now in one single word we have God's provision, and it's given to us here in verse thirty-four. Christ is the one that dies. Christ is the one that rose again. Christ is the one who is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, and Christ is the one who is praying for us. Could we want any more than that? God's provision on the behalf of the believers, a Christ who loved us so much that he died for us, a Christ who was so powerful that he tore the bars asunder, a Christ who was so deserving that God gave him the place of honor at his own right hand, and a Christ who is so concerned for us day by day, that he constantly and continually prays for us. You know, it's a wonderful thing to be able to know that people pray for you. I think I told you about that man who put his hand on my shoulder as I was just stepping into London traffic in England. He threw me back under the sidewalk and said, you're Mr. Woodhouse, aren't you? I said, yes, I am. He said, well, you don't know me and you don't need to know me, but I just want you to know as you slip into the traffic there that there's a family in London that mentions your name in prayer every day at twelve o'clock noon. I never learned his name. As far as I know, I've never met him since. I don't know where he lives. I don't know how big a family he has. But you know, it's been a wonderful encouragement to me to know that that family is prayed for me. I met Al Smith during the conference at Winona Lake that I mentioned, you know, of Singstoration. We spent time together at that conference. I didn't see him for nearly twenty years. After twenty years, I was at Keswick in New Jersey at the conference there, and he was the man in charge of the music. And he said, it's such a delight to meet you. After twenty years, he said, and I want you to know that I've mentioned your name in prayer every day since the conference at Winona Lake. Imagine that. A busy man like that, a well-known man like that, a famous man like that, praying for a nobody like me. But the thing that thrills my heart is that the Lord Jesus prays for us and prays for you. We can pray for one another and our prayers can be hindered, but never his. This is God's provision for us. That's the reason why we have a sufficient prayer. to meet every need. Look at verse thirty-one. When we are faced by opposition, God's provision is enough. If God before us, who can be against us? Look at verse thirty-two. When we are plagued by confusion, God's provision is enough. He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not freely with him give us all things? No need to be confused. no need to be disturbed and unhappy and troubled. When we are troubled by accusations, look at verses thirty-three and thirty-four, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifier, who is he that condemns us? It is Christ that died, rather, that he has risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes his intercession for us. When we come to verses thirty-five and thirty-eight, even when we are shaken by threat, God's provision is sufficient. Those threats may be tangible. Verse eight. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, that's very tangible. Or distress, that's very tangible. Or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword. Even the threats of these things in the face of those. The provision is sufficient. Look at the intangibles in verse thirty eight. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heighten the death, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So when we are faced by opposition, he is enough. Verse thirty-one. When we are plagued by confusion, he is enough. Verse thirty-two. When we are troubled by accusations. verses thirty-three and thirty-four, he is enough. When we are shaken by threats, whether they are tangible or intangible, again, he is enough. Let me leave you with this word of Paul's in verse thirty-eight. I am persuaded. The revised standard version says, I am sure. The authorized version says, I am persuaded. The New English Bible says, I am convinced. Philip says, I am thoroughly and absolutely convinced. I wonder, are we? You know, such a convinced heart has the confidence and assurance that we mentioned at the start. You know, this is the kind of Christian that really shapes people. This is the kind of Christian that makes people sit up and take notice. He doesn't stand or sit with his knees knocking. He doesn't look around and grow gray with terror. He says, I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. Shall we bow in prayer? and you've been very patient, I went a full six minutes overtime, and you still didn't wriggle in your seats. Our Father, how we thank thee for such words of assurance and confidence, and we thank thee for any measure in which our hearts are warmed by these things because we know them to be so true, because in our own experience we realize how very real is thy control of our situation. And if sometimes, Lord, being so human, and so feeble and so frail, our hearts begin to grow resentful, we begin to grow discontented with our love. Will it please thee immediately to pull us up short and to show us we don't have to be afraid. We don't have to be disturbed. For thou hast provided in thy Son everything that is necessary for us to meet every day with confidence in joy, to live every day in a worthwhile fashion, and to know that in a coming day, Everything is going to be made clear and plain to us, and our faithfulness in the spite of circumstances is going to prove to be for thine eternal glory and for our eternal good. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.