Having peace and assurance during tough times
Key Passage: Romans 8:28
Date: January 30, 2024
Turn your Bible to Romans chapter 8, if you would please, Romans chapter 8. I failed to mention this. I appreciate it so very much. The men and some ladies that filled in some areas, but the men that did such a great job when I was gone.
The fill-in: Aaron’s brother Joel Powers in Sunday School, Brother Anthony in the pulpit, Brother Dunper in the pulpit, Brother Patrick in the pulpit. They did a wonderful job. I did just a great job, and they did so good I thought I’d stay away for a couple more weeks; they’d do better than me, you know. I am glad to be back home with you, thrilled to be back home with you. And Romans chapter number 8, if you would please, in God’s Word, Romans chapter number 8.
During vacation, I felt like the Lord had put this verse—it’s a very familiar verse—on my heart to preach on it. I was shocked when I looked at my notes; I don’t think I really preached on it that much, a whole message over the years, and I was surprised about that. It was a very familiar verse: Romans 8, verse number 28, of God’s Word. We’re going to choose this as a topic for the Internet: having peace during tough times, having peace, or maybe you could word it, having assurance during tough times. Romans 8, verse number 28, is our text. We’ll just read that verse for a second time. Let me just say a word about the verses before. We won’t read over those. We have to get lunch and a nap in to be a good Baptist. Somebody say amen right there.
That’s just part of the Baptist Distinctives, you know. Fried chicken, eat a good meal after Sunday and take a nap. It’s into Baptist distinctive somewhere, you know. The verses prior are speaking of the Holy Spirit and God, how He intercedes. He makes intercession—the Holy Spirit does. Such an amazing thing. God does so much for us. We often take so much for granted what all God does for us: the Holy Spirit, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, and the Holy Spirit also, sometimes with utterances that we can’t even speak. God is just so good. We’re so blessed that we have the Spirit of God interceding for us. Now, that’s the thought.
This verse starts with that word, and it’s a little bit of a continuation there. I just kind of want to point that out very briefly. We won’t talk about it a lot, but just a brief context to where we’re at today. Romans 8, and we’re going to be in verse number 28. How many of you might not have it memorized, but you know about Romans 8:28? If you know about it, would you raise your hand? My goodness, that’s the vast majority for sure.
It’s a wonderful, wonderful promise it is. Would you please stand as we read it out loud together, in respect to the Word of God? Romans 8, verse number 28. And we’ll read it. Here we go. I’ll read it out loud. Here we go: “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.”
Let’s read that verse out loud together. Would you read it out loud with me? Here we go: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them are the called according to his purpose.”
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
I will give a little bit of introduction, and then we’ll get to three points. We won’t be long on those three points. This verse is often called a conditional promise. In other words, Romans 8:28 is not for everybody in the world. There are some conditions to this promise, all right? Two conditions the Bible says here. Would you look back at the verse, keep your finger there the entire service long; we’ll be looking back at it to the very end.
Look at the two conditions. He says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that…” What’s the first condition? Love God. Can I remind you, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Can I remind you that I think—and we won’t take time to look it up for a second time—but James 1:12 teaches us that if you love God, you’ll endure temptations or trials. See, if I just love God’s blessings, when the blessings end and the trials come, I won’t love Him anymore.
The Bible here says the condition for Romans 8:28 is for those that love God. Here is a very sad thing about that: When someone gets bitter, and eventually that bitterness goes toward God, they lose this promise. That’s the sad thing because we get bitter typically in very rough, tough times, and that’s when you need this promise more than ever, but it’s a conditional promise. If I lose my love for God—and it’s really not about loving God, it’s about loving His blessings—and I don’t love God like I ought to, and I get bitter or angry over this, I lose one of the most crucial promises you can have during tough times. So, two conditions. Number one, the condition here is if I love God.
Now, what’s the second thing? Let’s go back to this verse: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are…” Would you finish it out? Here we go: “To them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Now, “the called.” It’s very interesting how God words it in Scripture. It’s almost like a classification of people: the called. It’s those people that listen to the voice of God. They’ve heard. Many are called, but if you’re chosen, the call is those that have listened to the call of God.
It could be at salvation; they listen to the call of God to be saved. Every person in the world has had a call on them to be born again, to be saved. Every person in this room here, whether you’re saved or not, God has knocked at some point; He’s knocked on your heart’s door, said, “Hey, you need to get saved. You don’t want to go to hell. You’re a sinner. You need saving.” Every person, but some have heard. They’ve heeded that call and they’ve been saved; they’ve accepted Jesus. And some have not.
It could be so much more than just this, the call of salvation, but it’s the call to fulfilling God’s purpose in your life. If I just put it plain and simple, it’s those that are living for God. Not being perfect—none of us are there—but those that sincerely are trying: they go to church, they pray, they’re trying to read their Bible, and they’re trying to do it right. They’re trying to fulfill God’s purpose in their life. They have heard the call of God, maybe to be a Sunday school teacher, maybe just to be a person that’s faithful to God in this house and faithful to be a good testimony at work and in their neighborhood—all those. But they’ve heard and they’ve heeded the call of God. They’re trying to live for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this promise is conditional: those that love God, and to them who are the called according to His purpose. All right.
It’s a conditional promise. I don’t want to venture—I’m trying to stay on this verse—but let me just say a word or two about the verses after this. Many get off on this. It is a Bible term: predestination. Some say some are predestined to go to heaven and some predestined to go to hell, and you have no choice in the matter. No, friend. If you’ll notice in that verse, it talks about the foreknowledge of God. It simply means God has foreknowledge. Isaiah says He inhabits eternity and He can go in eternity future and see those who choose Jesus and those who do not choose Jesus. So He predestinates those that He sees are going to make that choice to accept Jesus as their Savior. So don’t fall for this saying of Calvinism that nobody has a choice. You cannot make a difference in your future. Why, when you go to the street, why do you look both ways when you’re about to walk across it? Because you can make a difference. That’s why. If not, just go out there and lay down in the middle of the street. “Well, what’s going to happen is going to happen.” No, friend. I’d like to see a Calvinist go out there and lay down in the middle of the street and say, “Well, I’m predestined to live, whatever.” Go ahead and lay down there and find out what happened. No. You have a choice in things. Amen. I don’t mean to get off on that, but we might as well shoot the rabbit while we’re there, amen.
This promise is conditional. Now let’s keep going. For this morning, I’m going to assume that you’re saved. I hope you are. By the way, if you’re not saved—and I mean this—I beg you to get saved. It would be a great day for you to get saved, and the Lord would love to save you today. We’d be thrilled if someone got saved in church today. We’re going to assume you’re saved. We’re going to assume you’re living for God, trying to serve God. So that’s the condition. Now let’s talk about it. You’re saved and living for God, I hope you are.
Let’s talk a little bit about this promise. Go back, if you would, to Romans 8:28. Let’s look at a couple things here. He says, “And we know that all things work together.” Those are key words. If you’ve been around here for years, you’ve heard me tell this. It’s story number 58. You remember that one? My preacher for years, Brother House, years ago, I remember a story from his preaching. It was a tent revival, I believe it was.
An older man, I think a pastor or a preacher, said, “Hey, I’d like to meet with you under the tent when nobody’s there, and let’s pray together.” Brother House said, “Well, we always need prayer.” So they met, and the tent was empty. They met down at the altar and got on their knees. The older man said, “I want to pray first.” Brother House said, “Sure.”
The old man on his knees started praying. He started, “Dear Lord, I sure hate flour.” That’s the craziest prayer I ever heard in my life. He said, “Lord, I sure do hate shortening. And Lord, I sure do hate buttermilk.” Brother Howe said somewhere along in there, he just said, “Well, I don’t know what in the world this guy is praying about. Maybe he’s getting so old he’s senile or something. He’s got dementia.” He said he actually looked up, opened his eyes, and looked at this guy, wondering what in the world he was praying about. He kept going on those things: “I hate flour and shortening and buttermilk,” and all these things. Then finally, Brother Howe said, he got a big smile on his face and said, “But Lord, I sure love buttermilk biscuits!”
That’s probably the best definition I can give you: “And we know that all things work together.” It doesn’t mean every ingredient in your life you like or find good and wonderful. But God is a master. I’m always amazed to watch God bring all these many times bad-tasting ingredients, and He’ll bring them all together for good. That’s what this promise is all about.
We know that all things work together. All right. Let’s look at another thing real quickly in this verse here. We’re going to be past our introduction pretty soon. I mean, then we’ve got three points, only an hour each. We’ll be out of here by three, I’m sure. We’ll be ready to go. But look back, if you would, at verse number 28: “And we know that all things work together.” What’s the next word? Now, I’m going to be honest with you—not just preaching now, I’m telling the truth—it doesn’t say best. It doesn’t say we know that all things work together for best.
You say, what’s the significance of that? Let’s just say I’m in my office meeting with someone, and maybe they have been abused as a child—physically, sexually, mentally, emotionally, whatever—been abused. The best thing would be if whoever abused them had never done that. It had been best if they had never sinned. God is never for sin; that would have been best. You wouldn’t be here. It doesn’t say all things work together for the best, but it’s saying God Almighty can bring good out of even horrible things. If that sinful person abused that child in whatever way it was, God’s not saying that’s the best thing that ever happened to you. God’s saying, “I can bring good out of that.” That’s what God is saying: “And we know that all things work together for good.” That’s God’s promise. Now we’re finally past the introduction. We can get to the preaching time now.
Let’s look at a couple things real quickly. Some of you are getting nervous out there. You’re like, “Boy, I don’t know what time I’m going to get out of here. Preacher’s been gone for a week and a half. Man, he’s got it all built up. It’s going to be a three-hour long service.”
Look back, if you would please, at that verse. Just a couple of things I’ve been feeling like the Lord wants to point out here just real quickly. Verse number 28: “And we…” What’s that next word? Know. We don’t worry, we don’t doubt, we don’t fret, we don’t think about it—we know.
Whatever’s going on in your life, whatever problems there are, whatever someone said about you, whatever issues are going on with your family—it’s hard to watch your children or grandchildren suffer, isn’t it? And we know there is confidence there, there is assurance there. There is not a doubt or a worry or fear, contemplating, trying to figure it all out. By the way, friend, more likely than not, you won’t figure it all out. But you can know, and we know, we know, we have no doubt about it. We know that all things work together for good, if you meet the conditions: You’re called. You’re trying to live for God. You love God (you’re not perfectly loving, but you’re trying to serve Him). And you can know it. You don’t have to worry about when you get the phone call about your medical condition. You can know God can bring good out of that. You can know that God can bring good out of the situation you’re dealing with and the family problems and the issues that are all around you. You can know it. Friend, there’s peace there.
The world gets so disillusioned. We were saddened a little bit by our own vacation. We did a lot of different things, and we were saddened by how much we heard about alcohol. It just seemed like everywhere we went: beer, beer, beer, beer, let’s drink some more, drink, drink. (And my wife would drink—I didn’t know, folks, I don’t eat a couch this afternoon, today. And you know I’m joking, of course. It was the opposite of that, really.)
My friend, this whole world, they don’t have peace. So often they’re turning to alcohol and depression. I’m not saying we don’t battle depression and things, but there’s just depression, long-term, and living there for the rest of their life, and alcohol and drugs and every little jingle they can get a life because they have no peace when trials come. And yet you can know those ingredients in your life—God can bring good out of it. You don’t have to worry about that.
One of the things that helped me so much when I lost my fingers years ago in the accident was that I knew God somehow was going to bring good out of it. I didn’t understand. I still don’t understand it all today, but I know He can. I know He does. Whatever you’re going through, whatever the burden, whatever the trial—you say this thing is so heavy, I feel like I can’t carry it free—can I assure you right in the midst of this thing, you can know that God can bring good out of that. Physical problems, little things. God allows that for a reason; He can bring good out of it.
I love it when sometimes down the road we see the good that comes out of it. There was a lady years ago, Miss Grace Sacks. She was going to the mission field. She had surrendered, and God had called her years and years ago. Her dad—she was single—her dad was very reluctant. But finally, he said, “Well, I can’t argue with God. If God wants you to go to the mission field, all right.”
He gave his permission, and she had met with a pastor and wife and all those things. She had already been accepted in the mission field; she was about to go to the mission field, a young lady. The night before she was to board a ship, her dad got very sick. I’m just amazed—the night before! It was a critical condition. She knew in her heart, “I’m not supposed to go to the mission field. My dad is hanging between life and death,” and she could not go. The ship left the next day, and she was there.
A couple of days later, her dad got better. She got a little bitter over it, a little angry: “God, I prepared! I’ve been planning to go to the mission field! Why is it that when everything was set, I’ve raised the money, I’ve got everything prepared, I met with people, and everything was in motion, you let my dad get sick for just a couple of days when I was going to leave? Why is that?” She met with her pastor. The story I read is that she became a little angry over the deal. For about a week, she could not figure it out, and it bothered her.
Back in the day, we didn’t have all the communications; it took about a week. But a week or so later, she heard this story—a true story—that the ship she was going to be sailing on sank. Every person aboard had drowned. Friend, God always knows best. And we know that all things work together. When you don’t understand it all, friend, rest assured God has a reason for that. He might not cause all the evil, wicked things, but He has allowed some things in your life, and He wants to bring some good out of that. It’s a wonderful thing. A couple years, or maybe weeks or days down the road, you’ll find out the answer.
I think about our building. We were trying to build another building on this property. Many remember, for a year, year and a half, we tried everything in the world to build here. Brother Stowe and others helped us, and we hired a soul scientist, and nothing worked here. You know, we’re building on rock—this church is, amen. Rock of Jesus and rock in the dirt. Amen, just rocks everywhere here.
We tried everything to build here. We met with the state, we met with the county, and so on. About a year, year and a half into it, God said, “You big dummy,” talking to me, He said, “I have a better plan.” And we know that all things work together for good. God has a better plan than I have—that building in that location over there is so much better. In the midst of it, it’s hard to figure it out: “Lord, we’re trying to build for You, to do more, reach more lost, see more people saved, and help more marriages and all that.” And, “Lord, why?” We didn’t understand it, but in the midst of that, Lord willing, we would say, “Lord, we know, we know, no doubt. But we know You’re going to bring good out of it.” And we know; don’t let the devil get in there and make you doubt. We know, we know. Now, it’s wonderful now, a year or two down the road, we know why. Like that lady who was going to go to the mission field, a week later she knew why. But sometimes you don’t know why. Sometimes this side of heaven, you won’t understand it.
Can I say this, friend, for those of you who say there’s been tragedy in my life and burdens, and I’m trying to carry everybody, I can’t understand it all? Can I say this? Sometimes you’ll see it this side of heaven, but sometimes you won’t see it till heaven. Can I say this? That requires more faith. Help me out. What pleases God? What pleases God? Faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Now, wait, I love it when I can look back and see it. But if I really want to please God, there’s going to be times that I don’t see it right now. That requires greater faith; that will bring a smile to God like nothing else. And we know you’re not always going to see it on this side.
I mentioned my former pastor, Brother House. He would tell a story. He grew up in a very poor home. Dad was an alcoholic; Mom raised him by herself, basically. They had a rag drawer—all the old rags. You don’t throw rags away from the Depression days. My grandparents lived in the Depression days, and they didn’t throw anything away. I won’t get too descriptive on that because my wife is like, “Don’t go there, Paul, leave it alone.”
But the rags, instead of throwing them away, she’d put them in a drawer, all the rags. Every once in a while, he’d be on the floor. Mom would get all those rags out of the drawer and start sewing them together, like our ladies make quilts. She put all the rags together; you sew those rags together. He said he was sitting on the floor looking up, just like a bunch of tangled threads hanging out everywhere. Every once in a while, his mom would say, “Hey, Jack, come up here.” She’d put him on her knee, and he’d see the quilt from top down—it was a beautiful quilt.
One day when we get to heaven, God’s going to explain some things, and we’re going to see things from heaven’s side. Down here, you’re not going to understand it at all. It all doesn’t make sense. It looks so confusing, and it’s so painful when you don’t get it all. But when you get to heaven, God’s [going to show you]—this is a quilt I was making out of your messed-up lives. Sometimes you’re not going to see it until heaven. It’s not the easiest thing. That’s why the Bible says just to live by faith. One day we’ll live by sight, but right now we live by faith. God is so pleased with those that say, “Hey, I know it. I know God’s going to bring something good out of this thing, even when you don’t see it until you get to heaven.”
Last Saturday, we were on vacation, and Saturday morning I went deep-sea fishing. It was just a half day; we didn’t go very far out. I like to go on one of these party boats, headboats they call it. My wife said she doesn’t go there anymore; the last time was not a good experience for her. She gets carsick and seasick sometimes. I spent that time alone on the boat, and I’ll be honest with you: anybody ever been fishing and not catch fish? That’ll increase your prayer life. My prayer life was working real good last Saturday morning.
At one point—this is not a truth, but at one point—I had a guy on my left and a guy on my right, and both of them were catching fish, and I caught nothing. It gets even worse than this; this is embarrassing. They have these rigs on their poles where they have two separate hooks, and you bait both hooks. At one point, I believe this is accurate—it’s close, it’s probably all the way accurate—but at one point, this guy pulled up a double, this guy pulled up a double, and I pulled up a big fat zero. And I’m begging the Lord, “Am I Jonah? What have I done? Please forgive me, Lord. I’m going to get right.”
Honestly, and I’m far from where I ought to be, but I did have this thought, and it’s amazing how it comes out. A lot of them knew I was a preacher, a Baptist preacher and all that. I thought, “God, you have a reason for this. Maybe somebody on this boat—there were only 20 or 25 people on the boat—maybe somebody on this boat needs to see a Baptist preacher doesn’t always get his prayers answered. Maybe somebody on this boat needs to say, ‘Hey, preachers have issues too. Sometimes they can’t catch a thing in the world either.’” And that brought me peace. I knew God has a reason. It’s a little thing, a crazy little thing, but God works in little things.
In the midst, when you don’t understand, you can’t contemplate all the reasons you don’t understand. You can’t. Sometimes you just stop trying to figure it all out and just know—just know—God has a reason. He always does.
Here is another crazy little story from our vacation. Monday, we rented a motorcycle using a rider-share app. Amen. You can rent it from individuals. We rented a Gold Wing. I know some of you are mad at me—he rented a Honda and all that—but we rented a motorcycle. We picked it up Monday afternoon evening, six or seven o’clock, I’m not sure. We rented it from people at their house and all that. We left there, and we were riding back when we saw this wonderful, beautiful sight: a Mexican restaurant. Somebody say amen right there.
We pulled over and went inside. I told my wife this morning, the only problem about vacation is that when you come back, it seems like all your clothes shrink for some reason. What is this? When we got out of the Mexican restaurant, water was coming out of the sky. And we had a motorcycle. Oh, this is dark. We were ready to do the thing; I’m not comfortable with that. We had to ride down the interstate for about an hour. I thought, “This is not a good thing.” That’ll increase your prayer life also. I’ll be honest, I prayed about it a whole lot. My wife looked back; I was praying hard. My prayer life increased on vacation.
It rained for a good while on us. I don’t understand. I know these are silly things, but I had peace. God’s got a reason for it. Maybe a pastor had been crazy and rode too fast when it wasn’t raining. I don’t know. Whatever the things are in your life, you can know—and we know, we know—that all things work together for good.
You could know it. He’s saying there, “And we know.” I don’t see it. It’s been living in this thing for 10 years; I don’t see it. That’s all right. It takes a lot of faith to live in that for 10 years. God is pleased with all that. We’ll understand it better by and by. And we know, we know.
Now, one last thought or two, and we’re done. Go back to that verse, would you please? Romans 8:28. Are you there? Amen. Good deal. And we know. Watch this: “That.” What are the next two words? All things. All things. All things. The tragic things, very sad things. I’m not saying God causes all those sinful things that happen in this sin-cursed, messed-up world. But I am saying God says, “All those things, I can work them together for good.” All things. The problem you’re going through that nobody else knows about—that’s all things.
You say, “Preacher, you don’t know about my circumstance, my situation.” No, I don’t, but I know it’s covered in “all things.” And we know that all things. “Preacher, I live in pain every day, and this thing bothers me.” I understand it, and I have hurt for you on that, but that is part of this, and we know that all things. Forget about so-and-so. Think about your problem, your situation, your pain, your burden that you’re in. And we know that all things work together for good. That covers your situation—all things.
The things that just weary you. Paul said, “My thing in my life,” he said, “it’s a messenger of Satan.” The devil has sent this messenger, and it’s beating the snot out of me (that’s in Greek, if you get it all). And God says, “I’m bringing good out of that, Paul.” And we know that all things—your situation, your circumstance, your burden, your thing that you’ve prayed so many times about God to take away—is part of “all things.” And we know that all things work together for good.
A young missionary—very similar, but this was a married man. True story. He was planning and prepared to go to Africa and be a missionary. He had everything lined up, raised the funds, about to set sail, all prepared. In this story, true story, his wife got ill and discovered she had an ongoing sickness, an illness that meant she could never live on the continent of Africa. She could not handle the conditions back in the day. So he did not go to Africa; he stayed at home.
His dad was a dentist and had a little side business, true story, a little side business of unfermented juice or unfermented wine juice—the dad, the dentist. The son who was going to be the missionary stayed home because of his wife’s illness. He took over the dad’s little side business, this juice business. God began to bless that business. It began to grow and grow and grow. The name of the business is Welch’s grape juice. God, through that man, provided the finances for many, many, many missionaries.
And we know that all things work together for good. Sometimes we’ll see it, as Mr. Welch saw it: instead of him going to the mission field, God used him to provide the funds for many to go to the mission field. He saw it, but sometimes you don’t see it this side of heaven. But you still know that all things—all things. Maybe when you get to heaven, God will let you sit in His lap, and He’ll say, “Let me show you the quilt from the top down.” Friend, you know, you know; rest assured, all things work together if you are fulfilling those two conditions. God said, “All things.”
I spoke a lot about missionaries. A missionary in China years ago—again, this story here—they had like a hospital, a medical mission, and they were treating people. A man came in who had leprosy. They were witnessing, praise the Lord for that. They were providing for physical needs, and more importantly, they were providing for spiritual needs. This leper came in and got saved through their ministry there.
A little while later on, the man with leprosy—you have to understand leprosy, especially back in the day—it’s like you get sores all over your body. It starts typically in the extremities, and slowly it erodes away your fingers. I had something like leprosy on my thumb finger right there, maybe your toes, often your face, your ears, your nose, things like that. It just sores and eats away at your body. This man had that, and there was no cure at that time. Their life expectancy was not very long.
The man said this: “I am glad I have leprosy.” Can you imagine that? A man whose body is being eaten away by sores, a putrefying sight, and the man comes in and says, “I’m glad I had leprosy.” This is what he said: “I would rather be a leper who came to this hospital, heard about Jesus, got saved, and is going to heaven, than be a healthy man who is going to hell.”
Friend, if you’re not saved here today, God is trying to bring one of the good things—the best thing He’s trying to bring out of all the issues in your life—is your salvation. You would be so much more blessed to be saved on your way to heaven and be a pauper, have bad health—you put all the bad tags on it you want—and yet be going to heaven forever, than to have everything wonderful and perfect in this world and be on your way to hell forever. Friend, if you’re not saved, the thing God is trying to bring into your life is your salvation.
That last thing, and we’re done. Would you look back at that verse one more time? We’re done. Notice what he says: “And we.” We. God’s people. Saved people. This promise—yes, I think it’s covered in “the called according to His purpose”—but He even emphasizes it from the very beginning: “And we,” God’s people. Friend, if you’re not saved, you can’t claim that promise. Can I encourage you this morning, if you’re not saved, to get saved? Then you’d be part of that crowd. And we, we know. Yes, loving God and living for Him, but it all starts with salvation. And we know that all things work together for good.
If you are there this morning and you say, “I’m pretty sure there was a time when I came to Jesus Christ and I put my faith in Him. I was born again.” Just like when a baby is in the mother’s womb for nine months, there comes a point when it’s born. There was a point when I accepted the call of Jesus Christ, I turned, I looked at Jesus, I trusted Him and Him alone. I’ve been saved; I’m a child of God. Did that happen to you this morning? Did you lift a hand? “Preacher, I know I’m saved, going to heaven. I’ve settled that. I put my faith in Christ and Christ alone.” God bless you—many, many hands. God bless you. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.
Maybe here this morning you said, “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m a child of God. I don’t have a time, a moment when I was saved, born into the family of God.” So many in our day and time say, “Well, I’m working on it. I’ve always been saved.” I’m not trying to be mean, friend, but they don’t understand salvation. No, it’s not a process; it’s receiving a gift. There is a moment of time. If you’re there and you said, “Preacher, I don’t have that. I don’t know that I’m saved. I don’t know if tonight or today were my last on earth, I don’t know that tomorrow I wouldn’t wake up in heaven or hell. Preacher, I don’t know that I’ve been to heaven. I’m not saved.” I’m not going to call your name. I love to pray for you in just a moment. We’ll pray, and I love to include you in that prayer.
Maybe you here this morning said, “Preacher, I’m not saved.” I hear anybody like that. Just slip your hand up. God loves you; He’d love to save you today. That would be the greatest day of your life—accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Maybe you hear this morning and you said, “Preacher, I want to meet the conditions. I want to love God more like I ought to. I want to fulfill His purpose in my life. I want to live for Him better.” God spoke to my heart; the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. I can’t fully claim this promise like I’d like to because there are some things the Spirit of God has brought to my mind. I need to love God better. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? Thank you for letting the Lord work in your heart. Would there be anybody else? “I need to love God. I’ve been battling bitterness. Need to live for Him more. Hear His calling in my life.” Anybody else? God bless you. Thank you so very much.
Maybe you hear this morning and you say, “Preacher, I need to live by faith more.” Satan and our own flesh, our own mind, our own heart tempts us to live by sight. There are many times when your eyes can’t make sense of it all. Your intellect won’t make sense of it all. The pain fogs your mind. You say, “I want to know. I want to live this verse: ‘And we know.’”
“Preacher, I’m going to, by choice, choose not to go by my feelings and my eyes. I’m going to choose to go by the Word of God. I’m going to let the Word of God rule in my heart. I’m going to know God has a reason. God has a purpose. And we know that all things…” God spoke from my heart. “I want to live by faith, knowing that God’s going to bring good out of this thing in my life.” God spoke to my heart. “I will live by faith, knowing that God’s going to bring good out of that.” If that’s you this morning, slip your hand up. “That’s me right there. I want to live by faith, knowing, knowing, and we know, and we know.” Oh, God bless you. That will bring you peace, that will bring you assurance during the toughest of times. Many, many hands.
Maybe there will be one more person: “Preacher, I’ve let doubts and worries and fears just kind of bombard and take control of my heart and my mind, and I’m going to decide to live by the Bible. I’m going to hear the Word of God this morning and get faith from Him. I want to live by faith, knowing that God will bring good out of it.” Maybe there will be one more person like that. God spoke to my heart. “I want to know, and we know that all things work together for good.” God spoke to my heart about living by faith in that. Anybody else? Just lift it up. God bless you.
Would you please stand? All of us please stand if you would. If God spoke into your heart, maybe about the conditions, maybe about living by faith, whatever may be, would you come and spend some time with the Lord at an old-fashioned altar? You can spend time there; there is something special about an altar, but be obedient to the Lord, whatever He leads you to do. Would you do that?
If God spoke to your heart, would you come? Would you come? That’s right. No way for anybody else. If God spoke to your heart, “Lord, I want to live by faith, not by sight, and we know,” maybe those conditions—I need to love Him more, need to live for Him more.
Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. How many of you in the last month or so have had just a burden, a tragedy, a trial in your life? In the last month, you’ve had just a trial or burden in your life that seems overwhelming at times? Slip your hand up. “Preacher, that’s me. The last month or so.” Many, many hands. God bless you. Can I assure you, friend, God would like to bring good out of that in your life. That thing you’re thinking of right there—that’s the thing God can bring good out of it. I’m always amazed that God is such a master at bringing good out of it. Now, in the midst of it, would you know? So often at the end I know, but right in the midst of it, would you know? Right now, would you know that God wants to bring good out of it? Let Him know: “Lord, I want to love You. I want to live for You, trusting You to bring good out of it in Your time and Your way.” Would you let Him know that as a single one verse? Would you do that?
Original File: Having Peace & Assurance During Tough Times - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 8⧸15⧸2021 [7IvxsTg-nhY]