The Divine Alchemist

I'll never forget a sermon illustration that my late mentor, Dr. Stephen F. Olford, applied to Romans 8.28. Romans 8.28 declares, 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. Stephen Olford said the following. He said he had a relative in London.

It was either a brother-in-law or an uncle. I don't remember exactly, but he said this relative was a London druggist. And one day, Dr. Olford went to visit him in his drugstore, and he found him in the back room standing over a table with jars of white powders and vials containing colorful liquids.

And this chemist would take a little of this jar's powder and sprinkle it into a mixing bowl and then pour green liquid in and stir it all together, and out would come a powerful medicine that would cure the sick. And Dr. Olford made the following observation as it relates to our text in Romans 8.28. He would say, Now, this is what God does in our lives as we pass through the trials of life. He takes a little of this adversity and a little of that trial, mixes them all together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

And God is like a divine alchemist, mixing a little of this and a little of that to make us more like Jesus Christ according to his divine purpose. I like that illustration, friends. And that's the title of my message today, The Divine Alchemist.

And my text is Romans 8.28. You may turn in your Bibles there now. I have looked up the definition of alchemy, and when I read it, I was floored. It floored me because it sums up the divine operations of God in a person's life better than I could put into words.

Here now is that definition of alchemy. Alchemy is defined as the process of taking something ordinary and turning it into something extraordinary, sometimes in a way that cannot be explained. Did you hear that, friend? Is this not what God does in our lives? Does he not take something ordinary, which is us, and turn it into something extraordinary for his use, usually in a way that cannot be humanly explained? I like to think of D.O. Moody in regard to this.

Here was an ordinary man whom God used in an extraordinary way. Moody could hold the attention of 10,000 people at a time for a month at a time in major cities like London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. One day, Moody was walking down the street with a minister, and the minister asked him what he thought about all the attention he was getting.

Moody did not reply, but simply bent over and started to dig in the ground with his fingers until he had a handful of dirt in his palm. Then Moody rose and held his handful of dirt before the minister's face and exclaimed, D.O. Moody is nothing more than this dirt. Listen, friend.

Think of your own life. Think of where you once were as an unsaved person. Think of your former behavior and the former life.

Before you found Christ, God performed a supernatural work in you by taking a heart of stone and making it a heart of flesh through the act of regeneration. That in itself is a miracle by the hand of God. Now think of all the troubles you have encountered along the way.

Think of all the trials you've been put through, the storms that blew suddenly into your life, the many adversities, the griefs, the sorrows, the losses. Now picture God with a mixing bowl, which represents your life, friend. Here is God taking a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and he mixes it all together for our good.

The divine alchemist is continually working in our lives with our best interests at heart. Let's look at a biblical example of this found in our Bibles. Keep your thumb in Romans and turn in your Bibles over to Genesis in chapter 50.

I'll be reading in verse 15. Let me read it to us now. And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will, peradventure, hate us and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him, and his brethren also went and fell down before his face.

And they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God. But as for you, ye thought evil against me.

But God meted unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day to save much people alive. God had a divine purpose that he was bringing forth, friends, through his servant Joseph, and that was to feed a nation and to save much people alive. But Joseph had to endure great hardship and suffering for this to come to pass.

He was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery. He knew what it was like to be in a pit and to be locked in a prison and forgotten by men. But God did not forget Joseph.

The divine alchemist was at work through Joseph, carrying out his plan and purposes, which was much larger than Joseph himself. And you, friend, in your current trial, your current suffering, God has not forgotten you. God is with you in your dire circumstance.

He is there with you in your grief. He's there in your trial, and he's mixing in a little of this and a little of that into that mixing bowl of your life, and out will come something fantastic. Remember our definition? Let me read it to you again.

Alchemy is defined as the process of taking something ordinary and turning it into something extraordinary, sometimes in a way that cannot be explained. Listen, friend. God will take you through the current process that he has you in.

He will carry you through to the other side. Daylight is around the corner, but right now it's like you're sitting on a train and you're going through a tunnel, and it is dark, and you cannot see clearly. But remember this.

God is the conductor of the train, and he will bring you through the tunnel of darkness. Your job is to stay on the train. Stay on the train.

Keep your eyes on him. When the disciples were rowing on the Sea of Galilee, and a storm arose, and they were in great danger, struggling in the night without making any progress, Jesus was on the hillside all the while watching them in their struggle. He waited until the fourth watch of the night, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., to come to their rescue.

And God is the God of the fourth watch. He will place us at the very end of our extremity until we are emptied of all human resources, and all hope is gone. That's when God steps off the mountain and steps onto the Sea of Supernatural Deliverance.

And what emerges from the fire will be a more pure commodity than what went in. All the dross from the silver will be removed. You may be in the midst of a severe trial, friend, a personal fire right now, but remember this, God is the silversmith, and when a silversmith places silver into the fire, he never takes his eyes off the silver.

God's purpose will be realized in your life, friend, even through the present pain. I know of which I speak. It seems for the last decade or so, I've gone from one trial to another, and I've been to the place where all human resources are gone, and hope is a tattered thread blowing in the wind.

I have a plaque I keep on the mantle above my fireplace that reads, Faith is not knowing what the future holds, but knowing who holds the future. God holds the future, and His ways are always the best way for us, no matter how painful it seems at the time. And remember this, friend, the divine alchemist is at work in your life.

Think of the apostle Peter, boastful, prideful Peter, who was always sticking his foot into his mouth. When Jesus looked at Peter, he did not see the Peter in the courtyard denying him as much as he saw the Peter of Pentecost preaching him. When Jesus looks at you, He doesn't see you as you are now in your troubles, in your failings, but He sees what you will become in Him.

Every failure, every stumble, every pain, every grief has a place in that mixing bowl. God mixes in a little of that and a little of this, and out comes something quite extraordinary. And there's no explanation other than God did it.

He must get the glory. So our text today from Romans, and we know that all things, did you hear that, friend? All things work together. Did you hear that? Work together in that mixing bowl for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.

Did you hear that? According to what? His purpose. I want to read you Matthew Henry's Bible commentary on Romans 8-28 before I close, and as I read it to you, think of that mixing bowl in the hands of the divine alchemist at work in your life. Here now are Matthew Henry's comments.

We see believers compassed about with manifold afflictions, but in this the Spirit's intercession is always effectual, that all this is working together for their good, merciful providences, as well as afflicting providences. They are all for good, either directly or indirectly. They work together as several ingredients in a medicine concur to answer the intention.

There it is again, friends. This mixing of a little of this and a little of that into the mixing bowl of our lives as God the divine alchemist performs what is necessary to produce the spiritual fruit of our lives to bring Him glory. All things working together, no matter how painful, how trying, how disappointing, He will bring something extraordinary out of it for our good and His glory.