 This passage is used by so many, it's probably the most quoted passage in Romans, but does it really mean what many think it means? Hey, smart Christians, many of you have heard this passage before. As a matter of fact, there are non-Christians who could even quote this particular passage. We find it in Romans 8, 28. So, it's what it says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose. Well, the question is, what does that really mean? One, we need to figure out who does these things work good for. In other words, if God is causing these things to work together, and what does it mean by Him causing these things to work together? Is that the right rendering, the right translation? Is there a better translation? And it says, who are called according to His purpose? Is that a separate group? So, let's go back and look at it, and let's see what it says, and we can get a clear understanding. Now, I want to go ahead and focus your eyes over to the right and look at the Greek and just kind of read it in the Word order, because it's given emphasis for particular reason, and then we're going to step back again and look at it in the greater context. But it says, Oedeman, which is, we know that because, or to those who are loved. Toys agoposin, which are to the beloved, God all things works together in good. So, because of this Word order, we know who this is affecting. To those who love God, those are the ones that God works things for good. Now, a couple of things we need to look at as well. When we talk about the good, it's not necessarily for our good in the way that we think it is for our good, but according to His good, what He considers to be good. Now, it doesn't really give a lot of description to the word good. It just says, ace agathon, which is into good. Well, it could not mean into our good, because that would vary from person to person. But if we go further and read what He's explaining in verse 29, as well as what we see previously, which we will do, you'll kind of get the understanding. But then something else I want to look at as well, and this is this word, all things work, which is, or the NASB says, causes all things to work. Panta sunnege, which is, God is working these things. Well, what things? Now, some can say that this is God is causing everything in the world to work for good, or it can be taking that God is taking the good, or the bad, or everything else, and causing those things to work. Well, just the way that this is rendered, you would have to say, whatever it is that's out there, be it good or bad, God causes those things to work for good. Here's what I mean. You've gone through something. This is kind of in keeping with the passage of what we read earlier prior to we get to verse 28, that all these sufferings, these things that are happening to us, that God takes those things that might even be bad things, but He'll take those and He'll work with those things for our good. And we'll see this even as we read a little further, but He says this next portion of it, to those who are called according to His purpose, well, is that a separate group, or is that a special group of Christians? This word that we see here for choice, who is this choice preferring to? Well, this choice also kind of parallels, it goes along with this word, choice here, so it's really kind of describing the same group. Those people who love Him, they're also the same group that are called according to His purpose. We can see that even more so as we will in just a second, when we read verse 29, but the whole point of this is that God takes things, I don't care what you're going through, what the issue is, be it something bad, in some cases horrific, something good, something in between, God causes those things to work to your good. He uses these things to form you or conform you into something for His purpose. How do we know so? Well, if we go to verse 29, look what He says, for those whom He foreknew, that mean these Christians, this is referring to the those who are called according to His purpose, this is referring to those who are loving Him, those believers, what does He do? He also predestined to become conformed into the image of His Son. So kind of keeping this one, trying to thought, all the things that God is using to work together, He's going to use those things to work you into being conformed to the image of His Son. I'm not going to deal right now with this issue of predestination so forth. We'll leave that for another point in time, but as long as you know that this sovereign God is working these things in the lives of Christians to cause them to become conformed to the image of His Son so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. Now that being the case, God wants us as believers to be a certain way, to look a certain way, to act a certain way, that Jesus would be the firstborn amongst us. We would look like Him, behave like Him to the degree that we can here on earth. But now remember I said that keeping this in context, if we go back up to chapter 8, going further, I think the verse 18 would be a good place to start. Let's read this. He says in verse 18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us, for the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. So in other words, the suffering that we're going through, by the way, none of that is going to separate us from God. We are firm. We are secure in Him. But we're still going to go through things. And this is why He says that none of these things are going to be able to separate us. And so He says in verse 20, For the creation was subject to fatality, not willing, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that is a creation of itself, also will be set free from its slavery to corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation roams and suffers, and that's the point He's trying to make, the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but we also ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. There are so many things that we're going to be going through as believers. And there's just this uncomfort in us because we're here. We're in a place that we don't want to be, that our Spirit didn't want to be. And so this is the point. So whatever the suffering that's happening, there is still something greater. But in the meantime, God is, as we get to verse 28, we know that He's conforming these things. He's causing these things to work for good. And the issue is, who's good? Our good? No. As we said, God's good for His purpose. Let's continue. And if we drop down to verse 26, in the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will. So we don't know what we want. We don't know what we need. We don't know what we should want, nor what we should need. And this is where verse 28 comes in. But we know this one thing though, that God will take those things and work those things together. That's where we get the word sooner gay, which is with and work. He is the one that's working, working these things for the good of who? For those that love Him. So for all of us who are here, going through whatever it is we're going through, He's taking the good, the bad, and the middle. And He works these things for the good. And those who has been worked for, those who love Him are also the same as those who are called according to His purpose. And there it is to His purpose. His purpose is what matters, not ours, not what we want. And so it's not as though that God is going to take these things and cause them to work out so that we can get the house that we want, that we can get the job that we want, that we can get the lifestyle that we want. That's not the point. The point is not to get our purpose, but the point is to work towards achieving His purpose, ultimately His glory. And so that's the point. This passage gets used a lot, especially when someone is going through something to kind of cheer them up. But it cannot be, and it should not be taken for someone who is not a believer. This does not apply to non-believers. Now it could apply to a person who, as a matter of fact, it does apply to a person who is yet to become a believer. In other words, this person is not saved yet, but who knows? Only God knows that in a week, in a year, in a month, whenever this person is going to be a believer. Well, those things are being worked to bring this person to become one of the children of God and that He also will be a child of God. Jesus will be the first born according to verse 29. This person will be conformed in that same image. And so this only works to the benefit of those people who love the Lord and for not our purpose nor our glory, but for His. Amen.