Author: Pastor David Page 33 of 57

“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.” (Rom. 8:28)

The Holy Spirit gave God’s people some amazing, comforting truths in the eighth chapter of Romans. However, it has become commonplace in Christian culture today for Romans 8:28 to be used in a very broad and general sense to try to comfort God’s people in tragedy, extending far beyond the immediate context of the verse. Oftentimes, well-meaning believers attempt to use Romans 8:28 to try to explain some bad circumstances that occur in life – a tragic, sudden loss of a loved one, a terminal diagnosis, a global pandemic, wars, violence, crime and unrest, or any number of other bad things in this world. They attempt to teach in a very general way that “God is working all things together for your good”. This incorrect portrayal of this text tells the struggling child of God that the Lord has caused this event, but it’s okay because ultimately God is using this – just like how supposedly God uses all things, all events in this life without exception – to work together for your ultimate good. While it is true that God’s motivations and goals in his actions are always the good of his children and God can use challenging circumstances for your good, scripture does not support that all events without exception are working together for our good. Let us rightly divide Romans 8:28 together to understand that not all events without exception are working for our good, but rather all things that GOD DOES are working together in synergy for the good of his children.

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As Primitive, Original Baptists we strive to uphold the teachings of the original church as we see presented in the New Testament scriptures. One of the distinctive doctrines that we find in the scriptures that Primitive Baptists uphold is the doctrine of “unconditional election”. When some people first hear of the doctrine of election, I have seen it cause a good deal of anxiety and confusion when this doctrine is not properly understood. One of the first rebuttals I will usually hear against election is that “God could not have chosen a people to salvation before the world began because John 3:16 says that God loves the whole world and offers salvation to any that will believe in Jesus Christ.” It is true that John 3:16 does say that God loves the world. However, we will consider the rightly dividing of that verse in context to see that Jesus is not teaching Nicodemus that God loves everyone without exception, but that God loves the world without distinction, particularly that God has a people outside the natural Jewish nation among the Gentiles. I believe we will see that John 3:16 is not an invitation to eternal life to anyone that is willing to believe, but that verse is an assurance text to all that do believe that they already have eternal life through Jesus Christ. We want to have a thorough discussion together of how to properly reconcile the doctrine of unconditional election with the verse in John 3:16. We hope you can read this article with an open mind, considering the scriptures referenced, and study these things out for yourself to see if these things are so. “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” (2 Tim. 2:7)

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“11) And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel. 12) And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.” (Josh. 22:11-12)

In this lesson among the eastern and western tribes of Israel, we see the danger of rumors and imposing false assumptions on those rumors. The people of God get to the brink of war just because they imposed their own assumptions on others’ actions and did not follow the biblical command to verify this information by asking the people directly. Once they actually got around to asking the eastern tribes and getting an explanation, they understood it was a reasonable decision, and the conflict was resolved. All of this conflict was created because they did not ask the people directly and attempt to reconcile the issue before escalation. Unfortunately, even today the world and God’s people are not any different. We assume we know “why” others do something, impose our own false assumptions upon what we heard, and then create conflict based on totally wrong information. What is the remedy for this danger of rumors and false assumptions? Simply follow the scriptural pattern to ask the offending parties directly for an explanation before we assume anything regarding their actions. Our speech needs to minister grace and edification to our hearers, and gossip and unverified rumors need to cease when they reach our ears.  

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“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.“ (Col. 4:12)

We see here an amazing example of Epaphras, a minister (maybe the pastor) at the church at Colossae, of the tenacity and laboring of his prayers for others. Sometimes we feel like our prayers are not effectual, but actually, the scriptures clearly affirm that the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (and woman) availeth much” (James 5:16). Some of the most significant impact we can have on the kingdom is by laboring in prayer for our fellow kindred in the church. Some older people who are physically limited, in nursing homes or even bedridden, might feel that they might not have anything left to do in the kingdom. Well, there are no physical limitations that prevent anyone from laboring fervently in prayer for the saints. I believe some of the most diligent, devoted, and tenacious “prayer warriors” have been old sisters who can’t even attend church anymore, but they are still laboring in the kingdom in fervent prayers for the church. Notice Epaphras was not laboring for himself but laboring “for you”, for the saints in the Colossian church, in prayer. Our prayers need to be more “selfless” and “others-centered” than selfish and self-centered. Part of the community of the church is other saints bearing one another’s burdens, and we need to pray more diligently “for others” and help bring their burdens to the Lord for healing and relief.

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“And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.” (2 Kings 19:14)

When facing the blasphemous threat of the king of Assyria, Hezekiah shows us the proper pattern of prayer to spread our troubles before the Lord in prayer. We need to go into the house of the Lord, the church, and spread our cares and concerns to the Lord in prayer. There is no need for us to have pretense before God in prayer, to try to present ourselves better to God or act like we have it all together. We need to be fully open and honest to our God because he knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts anyway. Spread all our cares and concerns before our loving Heavenly Father, and God will answer our prayer and defend his people, as he did with Judah by destroying both the Assyrian army and king Sennacherib as well.

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