The Country Church Bourbon Indiana

Announcements:

• Be sure to look at letter from Pastor Revival at Camp Creek

Introduction:
18% of US Anxiety Disorder – By ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America)
In March 2018, the APA (American Psychiatric Association) conducted a poll of 1k adults and found 40% were more anxious than they were a year ago. Only 18% were less anxious.
Despite increased standards of living, anxiety continues to increase and has for a long time
I certainly don’t know all the details of why that might be, but the rise in anxiety does seem to coincide with the increasing secularization of society
Lots of society have forgotten or simply don’t care to acknowledge God. In 2007, only 16 percent of American said they had no religious affiliation. 2013 – 23 percent. 2015 – millennials 34-36 percent.
Even Christians spend less time thinking about Him than they used to. Many have replaced devotions with the news.
In 2019, according to Barna, 9.9 million “Bible-centered” Christians decreased their engagement with Scripture. And only 5% of Americans would call themselves Bible-centered. 35% read it not at all.
Link: Correlation doesn’t prove causation, I know. But I do know this –
Theme: The Gospel Comforts, Reassures, Combats Anxiety, and Helps Us Feel Loved
And if people are abandoning Christianity and even Christians are reading the Bible less, then they certainly aren’t thinking about the Gospel more.

Text: Romans 8:28-39
Verses 28-30
We know that all things work together for good because: God has made a decree that predates our existence. Before the world began, He foreknew, predestined, and called – or elected. The decree that we would be justified and glorified is also past tense, though the actual fulfillment of our justification didn’t take place till saving faith, and the fulfillment of our glorification will occur in the life to come.

Election and predestination are sticky subjects that a lot of Christians have fought over. That’s unfortunate because this isn’t written so that we would argue about it, but that we should be encouraged about it. It’s meant to encourage, but some people find the idea that these things all happened in the past troubling – in what sense did He foreknow us, why did He choose us and not others, these questions bother some people.
A friend of mine once reminded me about something that I think puts a good perspective on these concerns: You know – God is not bound by time. Jesus once said to the Pharisees “Before Abraham was, I am.” This upset them because “I am” is the name that God gave to Moses from the burning bush, so they saw Jesus claiming to be God in that way. It also upset them because Jesus is claiming to be at two points in time at once. I am here, but I am also before Abraham was.

God often refers to Himself as the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the one who knows the end from the beginning. God is not time bound. That means more than a time traveler. It means He is able to be and see all places and all points of all creation from all times and at all times.

With that in mind, it probably isn’t worth arguing about the timing of these things since God isn’t a slave to time. And we also probably aren’t even able to understand fully anyway, being time-bound.
So, let’s not worry too much about that and focus on the encouragement this is intended to bring:

The point is that God has already decreed the beginning and the end of our salvation process. And so, since God has already worked out the end and the beginning so that at the end of days we will be glorified, then we don’t need to worry about God’s intentions and plans towards us. From God’s perspective, the glorification is done. So certainly He is going to work all our life out for good. It all ultimately ends in our glorification which is so sure that Paul uses the past tense to describe it.
He already knows you’re going to heaven and He’s determined to see you there, so don’t worry about it.

Because of the certainty of our glorification, we can be sure that God works all things together for good for those who love Him – which is you and me. Notice though, that it doesn’t say that all things that come our way will be good. What it says is that all things – some could be good, some bad – will work toward a good end.

Not everything that happens to us in this life is going to be good. We’ve all had our bad days, and bad weeks, bad months, and bad years. God’s not saying the bad things that have happened to you are awesome. I’m glad He’s not saying that, because it’d be hard to believe.

What he’s saying is that He is going to bring good to you from it, ultimately. Maybe the good will happen in this life. Maybe the good will happen in the life to come. Maybe a bit of both.
Here’s an example for our church. Maybe not a perfect example, but close enough. Our church building was broken into last year. That was not good. That created a lot of work and a lot of fear for a lot of people. It made preschool start late, which was an inconvenience to both parents and kids. We had to have plastic tarp down to keep them safe and wait a long time for that new carpet. And I know most people are still not comfortable coming to church alone at night anymore. That’s probably a healthy fear, but it’s really unfortunate it has to be that way.

It also caused financial loss for us as we had to pay the deductible. But, you know, we did get a carpet out of it and that old carpet was not in good shape. It needed replaced but the price for that made it not a priority for us any time in the future.

Does getting a new carpet make up for the bad of getting broken into? I would say no, but it is good, and I’m confident God will continue to bring good to us out of it, ultimately. Some of that good might await our glorification when God wipes away the tears from our eyes for the hardships endured. I am confident because I know, through the Gospel; God ultimately works all things together for our good.

The Gospel itself is a story of God working all things together for good. Because Jesus came to earth, obeyed God perfectly, suffered and died, was buried, and rose again three days later – all who place their faith in Jesus can now be saved.

There was a lot of suffering that was involved in that process though. Thirty years of Jesus experiencing humanity and all the difficulties of a fallen world. And it ultimately ended in a gruesome death. That wasn’t good.

But God is able to take all the evil intentions of the adversary and thwart him so utterly that He brings good out of it in the end. Jesus went through so much more than any human will ever have to go through and it was not good. But, God will bring infinite good out of that terrible moment – God will glorify His Son forever and save multitudes and multitudes of people, who will live in enjoyment forever, through faith in Jesus.

The Gospel is an excellent thing to remind yourself of when going through some hard times, or when anxious about the future. God brought the Gospel out of bad things. And God has a plan that brings you all the way to glorification. So it’s going to be OK. God can do it. He will take care of you.
The Gospel, therefore, is a point of comfort and reassurance towards us in current hardships and anxious fears. We know that, whatever happens, God will bring good out of it to those who love Him. We are often discouraged and often hurt – but the Gospel helps us to gain a positive perspective on those difficulties.

Verses 31-34
More victorious words spoken I don’t know where to find!
These verses show another reason that the Gospel reveals all things will work out well and it is this – If God cared so much for us that He “did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”

Good question! Just think about it. Why in the world would God go to all that trouble, and all that horrible heartache, in order to save us, if He did not intend to give us a wonderful future? He’s not going to let His wonderful Son suffer for no reason. He’s not going to fail to save and reward graciously those He did this for, whatever difficulties we face or how we feel – He will not fail to richly reward.

Would He send His own Son to die for us, only to turn His back on us at the end of days? Certainly not. Because of the Gospel, we know that God will make us the inheritors of the new heaven and the new earth. If we were able to know, fully, the wonder of that truth, I think we’d have a lot more happy days.

More encouragement – who is going to be able to bring a charge against us, in God’s court, and get us condemned? God is the judge who justifies and His Son who died for us is interceding for us. There is someone, in heaven, who would like to bring charges against you and his name is Satan. But he can’t because God is on your side and Jesus pleads our case.

Boy does that not mean the difference between despair and peace? If God were not on my side and Jesus weren’t pleading my case, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But since they are – I have nothing to worry about.

Verses 35-39
Is there anything that can separate us from the love of Christ? There is no trial, hardship, danger, nor any power that can separate us. Nothing in our present can and nothing that is in the future will either. There is nothing that now exists nor will exist that is able to separate us.
Whether we are living or are dying, we cannot be separated.
And though it isn’t listed here, I like to remind myself that if these things can’t separate us than my feelings can’t either. For one reason or another, maybe some wrong we’ve done or a particularly bad day, we might not feel the love of Christ. But it is there, even when we don’t feel it. The love is there, it’s always there, but if you don’t believe it then you’ll have trouble feeling it.

These words help us in such moments to remind ourselves, whatever the moment, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. That’s eternal, unconditional love and we need that. Life is hard to live when you don’t feel loved. And life is richly more beautiful when we do feel loved. We have the assurance that there is at least one who will never fail to love us, and He loves us the most and is best.

*Reflecting on Gospel comforts us, reassures us, combats anxieties and fears, and helps us to feel loved*

A Mighty Fortress is Our God – Martin Luther
A mighty Fortress is our God,
A Bulwark never failing;
Our Helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth His Name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His Kingdom is forever.