Sermon Synopsis
Romans 8:28–39 reminds believers that even when life does not unfold according to our expectations, God remains sovereign, loving, and faithful. Through the examples of Joseph, David, and personal experiences of suffering, this sermon emphasizes that God is continually working all things together for good, shaping His people into the image of Christ. Because God has already demonstrated His love through the gift of His Son, believers can be confident that He is for them. No hardship, loss, failure, or circumstance can separate God’s children from His love, giving them confidence to trust Him through every chapter of life until the final scene of eternity.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
God Is for You
Romans 8:28–39
Introduction: When Life Doesn’t Follow the Script
Life doesn’t always go according to the script we would write for ourselves.
Many of us have expectations about how our lives should unfold. We imagine the relationships we’ll have, the careers we’ll pursue, the health we’ll enjoy, and the opportunities that will come our way. But sooner or later, something happens that we never would have included in the script.
I mentioned the other day that one of my favorite movies is Avengers: Infinity War. I remember the first time I watched it. The movie ended, the credits rolled, and I sat there thinking, “That can’t be the end.” The villain wins. Half the heroes disappear. Everything seems lost.
But of course, it wasn’t the end of the story.
Sometimes life feels like that. We find ourselves living through a chapter that doesn’t make sense. We’re confused, discouraged, disappointed, or even devastated. We wonder what God is doing.
Another movie that illustrates this is La La Land. If you’ve seen it, you know that it doesn’t end the way most people expect. The characters don’t get the ending you’re hoping for. Yet the story still communicates something meaningful. It reminds us that life doesn’t always unfold according to our expectations.
The same is true in real life.
I came across a humorous example years ago known as “The Bricklayer’s Accident Report.” A bricklayer was asked to explain how he sustained his injuries. His explanation became increasingly absurd as one poor decision led to another. By the end of the story, everything that could go wrong had gone wrong.
Life can feel that way sometimes.
One thing after another happens, and we find ourselves wondering why.
The reality is that suffering, disappointment, and unexpected hardship are part of living in a fallen world. The question is not whether difficult things will happen. The question is how we will respond when they do.
When Bad Things Happen, People Have a Choice
We see this throughout Scripture.
Think about Joseph.
His brothers hated him. They threw him into a pit. They sold him into slavery. They lied to their father and convinced him that Joseph had been killed. Joseph spent years suffering for things that were not his fault.
Jacob, meanwhile, believed his son was dead.
Genesis tells us:
“Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son for many days. Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.”
It was a bad day.
Can you imagine losing a child?
I shared the other day about a friend whose daughter died in a car accident. Devastating.
Actually, when I was twenty years old, my cousin was killed in a car accident. For years afterward, my aunt struggled every time she saw me. My cousin and I had worked together, and from behind she sometimes couldn’t tell us apart. Every time she saw me, she was reminded of the son she had lost.
You see people who simply never recover from terrible things that happen in their lives.
Even biblical heroes faced moments like this.
At the end of 1 Samuel 30, David returns to discover that his family has been taken captive, his camp has been destroyed, and everything of value has been stolen. His own men speak of stoning him.
The text says:
“For all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and daughters, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
When bad things happen, people have a choice.
Jacob struggled under the weight of his grief. David, though deeply wounded, chose to strengthen himself in the Lord.
The Context of Romans 8
What I want to do this morning is look at Romans 8:28–39.
These are familiar verses, so I don’t expect to go into a tremendous amount of detail. But I do want to point out some truths that have been deeply encouraging to me and, by God’s grace, will be encouraging to you as well.
The message is simple:
God loves you, and He is for you.
Yes, life is hard.
There are difficulties, struggles, frustrations, and disappointments.
But if you are a Christian, God is on your side.
Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. Yet faith says, “Whatever happens, God is in control.”
Things will work out in the end.
Probably not in our timing—almost never in our timing—but we can trust Him when life doesn’t unfold the way we expect.
Romans 8 falls within the section of Romans that deals with sanctification—the process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.
Sanctification, in its broadest sense, means:
Separation from the sinful and setting apart for the sacred purposes of God.
If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you probably know that there are different aspects of sanctification.
Positional Sanctification
When we trust Christ, we are perfectly accepted before God. He sees us through the righteousness of His Son. In that sense, we are already set apart for Him.
Perfect Sanctification
One day we will be completely free from sin forever. We will be perfectly set apart for God’s purposes. That is the goal. That is the reality awaiting every believer.
Progressive Sanctification
This is where we live right now.
We are in the process of being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
This aspect of sanctification involves choices. We can cooperate with God’s work in our lives, or we can resist it. There are consequences to those choices.
The more we yield to God’s desires, the more we become like Christ.
That is why it is called progressive sanctification.
In Romans 8, we discover several freedoms:
“The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Suffering is part of the sanctification process, but it is not the whole story.
We must keep our eyes on our Heavenly Father.
A Personal Reminder of God’s Faithfulness
This is my daughter Suzanne.
The picture was taken on February 26, 2012.
I remember that day vividly.
After Sunday school she complained that her stomach hurt. At first we assumed it was nothing serious. But as the morning went on, the pain continued. Eventually her mom took her to the emergency room, and I joined them later.
By the time I arrived, they had already been there for a couple of hours.
Suzanne said, “I’m feeling better. Maybe we should just go home.”
I told her, “Sweetheart, we’ve already been here this long. We might as well get it checked out.”
Eventually they brought her into a room and examined her.
What followed became one of those moments in life that reminds you how fragile everything is.
There are experiences like that which suddenly remind us that we are not in control.
Yet God is.
A Soft Pillow for a Weary Heart
Years ago I traveled and stayed with a family named Michelle and her husband. They showed me to my room, and the first thing I noticed was the bed.
After a long trip, it looked wonderful.
One author described Romans 8:28–39 as “a soft pillow for a weary heart.”
I think that’s exactly right.
Let’s read the passage.
Romans 8:28–39
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose…”
Paul continues through this glorious passage and concludes:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There are three things I want you to remember when you’re having a bad day:
Romans 8:28–30
“And we know…”
That speaks of certainty.
This isn’t a guess.
It isn’t a theory.
It is absolute confidence.
“And we know that God causes…”
God is the active agent.
The verb indicates ongoing action. God is continually at work.
He continually causes all things to work together for good.
And all means all.
This is where people sometimes struggle with the verse.
How can the loss of a job be good?
How can a cancer diagnosis be good?
How can the death of a loved one be good?
The answer is that Paul is not saying those things are good in themselves.
He is speaking about God’s ultimate good.
This promise is specifically for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
It is not a blanket promise for everyone.
It is a promise for believers.
Let me add a pastoral caution here.
Don’t take this verse and immediately quote it to someone in the middle of profound grief.
Sometimes because we don’t know what to say, we reach for a familiar verse and use it carelessly.
Someone suffers a terrible tragedy and we say, “Well, God causes all things to work together for good.”
That may be true, but it can be deeply insensitive if applied without compassion.
People need comfort before they need a theological lecture.
Yet the truth remains:
God is working even when we cannot see it.
Paul then reminds us of God’s purpose:
“To become conformed to the image of His Son.”
That is the good God is ultimately accomplishing.
His goal is not merely our comfort.
His goal is Christlikeness.
Joseph: A Living Illustration
The life of Joseph demonstrates this beautifully.
At the end of Genesis, Joseph’s brothers fear that he will finally take revenge.
After their father dies, they come before him and plead for mercy.
Joseph responds:
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”
What a statement.
The brothers meant evil.
Joseph suffered.
The pain was real.
Yet God was simultaneously accomplishing His purposes.
God meant it for good.
What are you going through this morning?
Marital difficulties?
Financial difficulties?
Fear of losing your job?
Unemployment?
Conflict with neighbors, classmates, or coworkers?
A besetting sin that you cannot seem to overcome?
Anxiety about the future?
Remember:
God causes all things to work together for good.
Romans 8:31–34
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
Paul is not saying nobody opposes us.
Clearly people oppose believers.
The world opposes believers.
Satan opposes believers.
The point is that no opposition can ultimately prevail against God’s purposes.
If the God who created the universe is on your side, what enemy can successfully stand against Him?
Paul then points us to the greatest proof of God’s commitment:
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all…”
If God has already given us His Son, why would we doubt His love now?
The cross settles the question forever.
God is for us.
III. Nothing Can Separate Us from the Love of God
Romans 8:35–39
Paul asks:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”
Then he lists every category of suffering he can think of:
The answer is simple:
None of them.
Believers are not promised freedom from suffering.
Paul actually quotes a passage that describes believers being treated like sheep led to slaughter.
But then he declares:
“In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”
Notice what he says.
Not apart from these things.
Not after these things.
In these things.
The victory comes in the middle of the struggle.
That is why Paul can conclude:
“Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come…”
Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love.
Nothing.
Conclusion
A pastor from California named Ray Stedman summarized these verses this way:
“God, I may fall flat on my face. I may fail until I feel old and beaten and done in. Yet Your love for me is changeless. All the music may go out of my life. My private world may shatter to dust. Even so, You will hold me in the palm of Your steady hand.
No turn in the affairs of my fractured life can baffle You. Satan and all his arrogant bragging and accusations can’t distract You. Nothing can separate me from Your measureless love. Pain can’t. Disappointment can’t. Anguish can’t. Yesterday, today, tomorrow can’t. The loss of my dearest love can’t. Death can’t. Life can’t. Riots, war, insanity, hunger, neurosis, disease—none of these things, or all of them combined together, can budge the fact that I am deeply loved, completely forgiven, and forever free through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son.”
God writes the script for each one of our lives.
We can trust Him all the way to the final scene.
When you read the end of the Book, you discover that the story ends with us welcomed into His open arms, with Him forever.
In light of that, can you stand firm in your faith in this shaky society in which you live?
The end of the story turns out well.
We need to trust God as each page of the script turns.
Let’s pray.
Prayer
Lord, again, Your Word is so amazing. These words are life-giving.
As we consider the God of the universe—the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who spoke our lives into existence—we are amazed that You are on our side.
Regardless of the circumstances You allow, or even bring into our lives, we can trust that You are working for our good.
Lord, I pray that each one of us would have unshaken faith in the circumstances of this life, knowing that You are a good God, a loving God, and a caring God.
Thank You for that, Lord.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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