God in Control

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 603 Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Romans 8:28-30 — Where is God when bad things happen and why do they happen? How should the Christian respond when the devil comes accusingly and harasses them? In this sermon on Roman 8:28–30, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones pastors the listener through a myriad of troubles, explaining why they occur, how God uses them in the lives of His children, and how they can know that all things truly are working together for their good. Sometimes a Christian doesn’t know what to pray for in those situations but, as Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds, “the Christian is one who can be certain about the ultimate even when he is most uncertain about the immediate.” Listen to this sermon “God is in control”, as he declares promise after promise from God’s word and cites examples from church history which will encourage the soul to trust God in the midst of dark times. Because God is in control, the Christian can be assured that even though they may not understand, they can still walk confidently, trusting that He is working all things for their good.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are engaged as most of you will remember at the present time in considering the words to be found in Paul's
0:07.0	Epistle to the Romans in Chapter 8, verses 28 to 30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
0:17.0	to them who are the called according to his purpose.
0:24.2	For whom he did for know, he also did predestinate,
0:27.0	to be conformed to the image of his son,
0:30.4	that he might be the first born among many brethren.
0:34.5	Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called,
0:41.7	and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. Now, we began considering this last week, and we saw that it's a further argument
0:49.2	brought forward by the apostle to give us assurance as to our ultimate and final salvation, our ultimate
0:58.5	glorification. Now, we saw that he limits his statement, all things work together for good
1:05.8	only to certain people, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.
1:12.5	It isn't just a general optimistic statement, isn't life wonderful, or isn't the world wonderful,
1:20.6	and so on. It isn't that. It's a peculiar, special statement which has reference only to Christian people, to those who have been called saints in the previous verse in verse 27. So it's important to observe the limit. Then we went on to inquire after the meaning of this statement. What does it mean by saying that all things work together for good?
1:45.6	And we examined it and tried to consider how exactly that comes to pass.
1:52.6	We emphasize that there is no limit upon this word all.
1:55.8	It means all things.
1:57.8	And we saw that it came to this.
1:59.6	Not that all things do this in and of themselves,
2:02.3	because they obviously don't, but God overrules everything for the good of his people.
2:08.7	So we saw the trials and tribulations, illness, accident, disappointment, these things
2:15.1	can under God's almighty hand be turned to our good and our advantage,
2:21.9	and we considered in practice how this is worked by the power of God through the Holy Spirit.
	...

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