Romans 10

Chapter 10. Divine ProvidenceAnd we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)This passage begins the fourth section of the Epistle to the Romans. The theme of this section is the providence of God, first, respecting the individual Christian, and then, as it has reference to nations and communities, especially the Hebrew nation. This larger view of the subject is discussed in the ninth, 10th and 11th chapters of this great epistle. The last 12 verses of the eighth chapter are devoted to the unfolding of God’s special providence respecting His own children. For His Saints

1. The standpoint from which we are to regard the providence of God is first presented with great clearness, and it is a point of much significance and solemnity. God’s providence is not the same to every person, and it is not promiscuously true that all things work together for good; but it is only to “those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). It is very much like looking at an immense army, splendidly uniformed, equipped, mounted and armed, and led by a masterly general. The feelings with which we could look at such an army would depend very much upon which side we were on. If they were our friends we would look at them with pride and confidence; but if we were on the opposing side their very strength and splendor could only fill us with dismay. We are to look in this connection at the majestic armies of God’s providence, which move through all the earth in constant obedience to His will and pursuance of His plans; but they will either be a terror or a joy, according as we are on God’s side or against Him. There is no more cruel delusion than to preach to people indiscriminately that everything is all right anyhow, and is going to come out right at last. There is nothing more really unkind than to stand by the bed of sickness or the bier of death and speak honeyed and idle words of consolation when God is speaking in terrible tones of warning and reproof. Our sympathies cannot really heal the hurt of hearts that are wrong, or hold back the inevitable wheels of retribution that are moving in obedience to the solemn principles of God’s government which no man can turn aside. “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done” (Isaiah 3:10-11). There is no promise in the Bible more comforting than this beautiful verse, but there is none whose comfort must be claimed so absolutely in connection with its setting in the context and with the conditions which are here annexed to it. It follows the unfolding of our life in the Spirit in the previous verse, and in Christian experience it necessarily comes after the things of which the writer has just been speaking. It is for those who have received the Spirit of Christ and who are walking therein in all the blessed fullness which this precious chapter unfolds; it is for them that all things work together for good. Or, to use the very language of the text itself, it is for “those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). This is no superficial and light expression. It is very easy to say that we love God and not mean anything by it. I remember once talking with a man who had just come out of a drunken brawl, and I tried to convict him of his sin and lead him to see his need of Christ; but I could not make the least impression on his conscience. He seemed to think he was all right, and when I finally asked him if he had ever fulfilled the great commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30), he said “Why, yes, I always loved God; I never had anything against Him.” That is about the extent of most people’s love to God; but that is not the love that a bride will accept from her husband or a child from its mother, nor will God accept it in fulfillment of His greatest command. The people that love God are more fully described in this verse by another expression—“those… who have been called according to His purpose.” What is His purpose? It is defined in the next verse. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness [image] of his Son” (Romans 8:29). This is God’s purpose, to conform us to the image of His Son. People, therefore, who love God and for whom all things work together for good, are those that have yielded themselves to God’s purpose and are allowing Him to conform them to the image of His Son; that is, to make them like Jesus Christ—to sanctify them, separate them, and bring them into their Master’s will and their Master’s likeness. Thus it will appear by a logical necessity that if we are to have the providence of God on our side, we must be ourselves on God’s side. As Abraham Lincoln once said when somebody was urging the importance of praying that we might have God on our side: “It seems to me,” said the wise statesman, “much more important we should be on God’s side, and then we shall have no trouble of having God on our side.” Let us get into the will of God and make it the supreme purpose of our life, and then every force and agency in earth and heaven and hell are bound to work together for our good. The sanctified man is the man who has come into the purpose and will of God, and such a man, in renouncing his own will, has gained immeasurably more than he has lost. True, he has lost himself and his own selfish will, but he has found his God, and all things are his, and even God is for him in every attribute of His being and every form of His providence. In Christ
2. The condition of God’s providence is also clearly stated in this passage. Ezekiel 16:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Here we see again the same “all things” as were mentioned in Ezekiel 16:28, but now they are connected with the person: “with Him.” They all hang upon Christ, and we can only have them by having Him first. It is much the same as when the Master said during His earthly life, “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well” (Luke 12:31). We cannot get the gifts of God until we first accept the greatest gift, with whom they all come, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is no use to go to God and ask Him for temporal blessings and minor requests, while we have neglected His own greatest requirement of us, that we should believe on His Son, Jesus Christ, and accept Him as our personal Savior. In fact, it is an impertinence to ask God for anything while we are neglecting His great salvation and refusing to submit ourselves to Jesus; but when we accept Him, all other things are counted in. It is much the same as marrying the heir of a millionaire. It is a small thing for us to get his fortune when we get his child. God’s providential gifts are all guaranteed to us by His great redemption gift, and He has bound everything else up so with Christ that having Him we must have all else. It is said that once a great Egyptian king was about to rear a splendid obelisk in the public square, and fearing that the engineers might be careless and let it fall, he took his only son, the heir to the throne, and he tied him to the top of the obelisk, and said, “The life of my son is bound up with the safely of this obelisk; if it falls, he perishes.” It is needless to say that that obelisk was reared with tenderest care and safely placed at last upon its pedestal. And so God has linked the life of His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, with the safety of every Christian. He has bound our lives, as it were, with the person of Jesus Christ, and if He can fall, so can we. But if aught of ill would come to us, it would come just the same to Him. Therefore, when Paul was persecuting the early Christians, the Lord Jesus spoke to him from heaven, and said, “Why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Wondrous mystery of eternal love, wondrous gift of God! Behold the best, the greatest gift Of everlasting love! Behold the pledge of peace below And perfect bliss above! All Things
3. The all-embracing comprehensiveness of God’s providence is very strongly expressed in this promise. It touches all things, and it weaves them all together in a perfect chain of cooperation and divine overruling, so that if one thing may work against us, the next thing will cooperate with it to make it work for us. And while in their separateness many things seem unfavorable, yet as God binds them up and weaves them together, they form a perfect plan of blessing. We must, therefore, wait His time to see the outcome of things which we do not now understand. Like a blocked map made in sections, we may try to put three or four of the sections together and see nothing but confusion, but when all the pieces are furnished and each drops into its place in the general plan, then all is perfect symmetry and not a single one could have been spared. Now God wants us to claim His providential working in our lives, just as much as His spiritual working in our hearts. Temporal Things Men may depreciate what they call temporal blessing, and talk about the higher sacredness of the spiritual realm; but the fact is that God has always loved to glorify Himself by working in temporal things and showing that they are subordinate to and controlled by His spiritual workings. There are two expressions in the third chapter of Ephesians which are very striking in their connection. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). This describes God’s outworking, the things that He is able and willing to do for us; but this is entirely dependent upon His inworking within our hearts, as the next clause expresses it: “according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). If God is only working in you mightily, there will be no trouble about His working out for you the events which your eyes can see and your senses can discern. Jacob The whole story of the Bible is full of God’s outworking and inworking, as they keep pace one with the other. Look at Jacob in the great hour of his peril yonder at Peniel. He is in extreme distress, all his contriving and working have failed at last. His cruel and angry brother with a fierce army is coming to meet him, and before tomorrow’s sun shall set it seems almost certain that the blood of his wives and children will be poured out on the desert sands. What can he do? Nothing more. God must do it now if anything is to be done. But where does God begin? Outside? No. He first works in Jacob’s heart. “So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak” (Genesis 32:24). Ah! that night of prayer was God’s inworking, and when the morning dawned Jacob was a new man spiritually. He had touched God, and henceforth had power with God and with men. And before the noontide of the next day the outworking had also come. He met his brother and all his fierce followers, but there was no hostility and there was no harm; they fell on each other’s neck in the embrace of forgiving love and perfect reconciliation. God had wrought the external miracle because Jacob had already entered into a greater miracle in his own soul. Daniel Look again—yonder in Babylon a solitary man is standing for righteousness and God in the face of the two great empires of Babylon and Persia. His name is Daniel. His character is a miracle of goodness. Man can find nothing against him except it be concerning the laws of his God. Lions cannot terrify him, kings and palaces cannot tempt him aside. He has stood firm against all the splendid bribes of the grandest of earth’s empires, and God has found a man he can depend upon even in Babylon. That is God’s inworking. Look at him on his face before God for 21 days in fasting and prayer until the very angels come from heaven and bear the answers to his petitions! Can such a life ever be vain? It is impossible. At the touch of those believing prayers all the wheels of providence were set in motion, and even upon his very throne, proud Cyrus, flushed with the conquest of the world and ruling the proudest empire of the past, is compelled in answer to Daniel’s prayers to publish to the world the most extraordinary proclamation that ever came from the lips of a heathen king: The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.’” (2 Chronicles 36:22-23) And in response to that proclamation, the long train of returning captives went back to Zion, and Israel’s national life was restored once more, in order that Christ might be born among his own people in Bethlehem of Judea. Pentecost Look at another picture: The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was the greatest spiritual blessing of the New Testament age; but this was accompanied by just as wonderful providential events. Was there ever anything more wonderful than the gathering together on the day of Pentecost of that strange company that came from all countries, tribes and tongues, and met in that upper room to receive together the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and speak for God as the Spirit gave them utterance in every human language, and then go back to all their peoples and tribes and repeat the story which they had heard and learned? But that was exactly what happened through the marvelous providence of God on the day of Pentecost. All through the book of Acts we see the same wonderful manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power to work externally in keeping with His internal working. Philip Look at Philip of Samaria: In the height of his wonderful work there, a command comes to him, “Go down to the desert,” and he immediately obeys (Acts 8:26). It would be very much the same as if in the midst of a great revival God should suddenly call some public man to leave his work and go off to some lone spot, where every opportunity of usefulness seemed precluded. This was just what Philip was told to do, and he immediately obeyed and went down to Gaza. As he walked across the barren wastes, wondering what it all meant, suddenly a cloud of dust appears on the horizon, and the signs of an approaching cavalcade. It is a caravan traveling to Africa. A great prince of Ethiopia is returning to his home with a sad and disappointed heart. He has been seeking for the truth and has not found it. The priests of Jerusalem have not been able to answer his heart’s cry. Philip immediately obeys the impulse to join him, and sitting in his chariot, in a few moments he has preached to him the gospel of Jesus and led him to accept Him as his Savior. And before that day is ended, the prince is on his way to his distant home, an ambassador of Christ, to publish the gospel among his people, and probably to lead multitudes to the Savior and be one of the founders of Christianity in that great continent, where through the first five centuries the Church of Jesus had its greatest strongholds. This was God’s out-work through Philip, who had consented to receive His inworking. Peter Look at one more picture only: It is Peter, the great apostle to the Jews. A rigid sectarian, almost a bigot; a high-churchman we could call him today. The thought had not even entered his head that the Gentiles could ever be received to an equal share in the blessings of the gospel. But God designed to make all this different, and so He took Peter apart and began to teach him. Upon the housetop in Joppa one day Peter was waiting in prayer before God, when suddenly a vision appeared, and God showed him that he must think of nothing henceforth as common or unclean; but that he must look upon the Gentiles as equally dear to God with the Jew, and be willing to give the gospel alike to all, and recognize all nations equally in the one household of faith. Just as Peter has learned his lesson, there is a knock at the door. A number of messengers have come. They are waiting for him, have just come all the way from Caesarea with a request from Cornelius, the Roman commander at the capital, that he will come and preach the gospel to him and tell him about Jesus. It is again the outworking hand of God ever keeping step with the inworking Spirit, and as Peter obeys and hastens to Caesarea, he finds a whole household waiting for the message; the Holy Spirit comes down in power upon them, and a new dispensation is inaugurated, even the gospel for the Gentiles, through which even we ourselves have come into the privileges of salvation. These are but some samples of the way God loves to work for the heart that is truly united to Him, and if we will but let Him have the throne of our inner being, He will love to make all things bend to our interests, and work together for our good. And it will indeed be true, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). We have nothing more important in these days of practical men and real events than that God Himself is more practical and more real than any of the things with which we come in contact. Indeed, the whole framework of human affairs is just God’s own providential machinery, through which He wants to work, and use the commonplace things of life to manifest His glory and build up His kingdom. The affairs of nations, the business of commerce, the occupations of every day are God’s own links of providence which the Holy Spirit is able to bind into a chain of holy power, fastened to the throne and bringing this revolted world into union with Himself. God has no other way of showing Himself to some men except through the things which they can see and touch, and He wants us in these last days to be the instruments through whom He can reveal Himself to an unbelieving world. And so in the past days God has been overruling the affairs of nations, and working in the operations of missionaries for the spreading of His gospel and the hastening of His coming. And the miracles of His providence in the healing of men’s bodies, in the supplying of financial resources to carry on His work, in the removing of obstacles, the opening of doors, and the overruling of what seemed hostile circumstances for the furtherance of His kingdom, have been not less wonderful than the story of the Acts of the Apostles. Let us trust Him more in the needs of our own lives; let us commit our difficulties and our temporal needs and necessities to His loving care. Leave to His sovereign sway To rule and to command; With wonder filled thou soon shalt own How wise, how strong, His hand. He everywhere hath sway And all things serve His might, His every act pure blessing is, His path unsullied light. Our Final Salvation
4. The purpose of God is back of His promise and His providence. “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). This is the endless chain of God’s eternal purpose, and the guarantee of our security and blessing if we are within that purpose. God’s purpose is not spoken of here as an absolute degree of salvation for a certain number of persons, irrespective of all conditions on their part, and making it certain that they must be saved no matter what they do. It is a purpose to conform them to the image of His Son. God elects men not to be saved but to be holy, and if they are made holy it is inevitable that they must be saved. The purpose of God is always recognized in the New Testament as centered in Jesus Christ. We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, and when we become united to Him we come into the divine purpose; and when we wholly yield ourselves to that purpose in entire consecration it guarantees our full salvation, and like an endless chain binds us to the throne and the glory everlasting. You have seen the great cable in one of our cities which runs the cable cars. You will notice that this is an endless chain, moving on without interruption and able to carry very much more than the weight that is attached to it. Now when the car is attached to this cable it moves with it and comes into contact with all the strength of the cable, so that it is just as easy to go up as down the steep declivities. It is carried by a power beyond itself, and all it needs is to keep the attachment. God’s purpose for us is just a great cable fastened to the throne and encircling eternity. When we yield ourselves to Christ and to all His perfect will we come into touch with a power and a purpose as mighty as God Himself, and our weak will and feeble efforts are backed up by a strength that is immutable, eternal and divine; so that the divine purpose and the glorious doctrine of God’s election is full of comfort to the heart that is wholly yielded to the purpose, and we know that in spite of earth and hell—yes, and even in spite of ourselves—He is able to save us to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25) and keep that which we have committed to Him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12). Protection
5. Divine protection from every enemy is guaranteed by this promise and providence. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Vindication
6. Vindication against every accuser is also guaranteed by this promise and providence. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:33-34). Provision
7. Divine provision for our every need is also guaranteed. “How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). Every necessity is but a draft on the bank of His divine resources, and we may take it to Him as a claim upon His promised fullness. “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Security
8. Our eternal security is pledged by God’s providence and promise. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35). And then comes the triumphant answer, after all the possible obstacles and enemies have been mentioned one by one, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Our trials will be turned to helps; our enemies will be taken prisoners and made to fight our battles. Like the weights on a clock, which keep it going, our very difficulties will prove incentives to faith and prayer and occasions for God becoming more real to us. Not only will we escape from those who attack us, but their very attack will become an unspeakable benefit by making us stronger for the discipline and leaving them weaker for the defeat. We shall get out of our troubles not only deliverance but triumph, and in all these things be even more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Our security depends not upon our unchanging love, but on the love of God in Christ Jesus toward us. It is not the clinging arms of the babe on the mother’s breast that keeps it from falling, but the stronger arms of the mother about it which will never let it go. He has loved us with an everlasting love, and although all else may change, yet He will never leave us nor forsake us. Have you ever seen a ploughman make a straight furrow? He does it by two stakes, the nearer and the farther, and as he keeps them both in line he is able to keep his line absolutely straight. It is the farther stake that keeps him from swerving. We, too, are ploughmen in a heavenly husbandry. Let us keep our eye not only on the nearer, but on the farther stake of His blessed coming and our eternal hope beyond these skies of cloud and change; for His eternal covenant covers all the future as well as all the past, and “neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).