All Things Work Together

By Donald Barnhouse

From eternity to eternity God's Plan is steadfast, working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). Join Dr. Donald Barnhouse as he explains this famous passage from Romans, and teaches us how we can rest in God's good purpose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
• Release date: Dec 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463616802

Book preview

All Things

Work Together

Donald Barnhouse

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895-1960), one of the twentieth century's outstanding American preachers, saw the need to spread God’s Word to a vast audience, and went on to start a radio broadcast that has become known as Dr. Barnhouse & the Bible. Dr. Barnhouse is best known for his many colorful illustrations of living the Christian life. His books include Teaching the Word of Truth, Life by the Son, God’s Methods for Holy Living, and more. He was pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1927 until his death in 1960.

© Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Inc, 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, PA 17601 USA.

Revised 2018 by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. 
All rights reserved.

All Scripture in King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

Other Scripture is from the J.B. Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, 1962; and Revised Standard Version, 1946, 1952, 1959, 1973 by National Council of Churches. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

This publication may be duplicated in its entirety and without edit, including this full disclaimer, for personal, small group, non- commercial use. No more than 200 copies may be made. No electronic use beyond email is permitted. Any use other than those listed herein are forbidden without prior written permission from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. All rights reserved.

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Contents

1. We Know

2. All Things

3. Who Are Called

Notes

About

1. And We Know

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord,

even to them who are the called according to His purposes. — Romans 8:28

As our text begins with a conjunction, it is linked to the fact that the Holy Spirit is directing our lives in accordance with a definite plan of God. The end of our text says that it refers to those who are the called according to His purposes, that is, according to the purpose of God, known to the Holy Spirit, and which causes Him to pray within us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Finally, the text that follows this one enlarges on the nature of the divine purpose by saying that those who were chosen by God were predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

The first, and most important, conclusion that must be drawn from these indications is that God has a definite plan that originated in Himself, and that it is from eternity to eternity. We can strengthen this conclusion by quoting our text from a modern translation. Phillips renders it, Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to His Plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. God, in His foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of His Son, that He might be the eldest of a family of many brothers. It is not inconsistent with the magnitude of this concept that Phillips should have capitalized the word Plan in stating that we are called according to the divine Plan.

Once we know that all things are happening according to a divine Plan our hearts and minds can be at rest, and God says it is not possible for any man to be at complete rest until he is aware of this great truth. Satan’s greatest counterpart of the Plan and this rest is to be found in Mohammedanism where all things are supposed to be a part of fatalism that is hard and heartless. It is quite proper that the word that has