Paul spells out how God has made salvation possible by the atonement of Christ and the work of the Spirit in the heart. Are our minds set on material things and the ‘here and now’ or do we know Christ inseparably for life and eternity?

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

And our subject will simply be Is God With Us or Against Us? The Apostle says that he knows (look back to verse 28: we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose). I’m going to look at a number of verses in this chapter this evening but just for background look first at this 28th verse then we’ll come to our text. ‘We know’ says the apostle. There’s something certain that he’s speaking about in this eighth chapter of Romans. It’s certain that all things work together for good to them that love God. How does he know that? Well, because it’s taught throughout the Scriptures that once we’re reconciled with God by conversion through Christ, then all the influences upon our lives in heaven and earth are ultimately directed by God, and all things will work together for our spiritual and our eternal good.

They won’t necessarily appear to work together for our earthly good, but for our spiritual and eternal good – that’s the issue here. We know we can be certain of this. Not only is it the teaching of the book of God, but we’ve proved it in our lives. The Apostle may say that every circumstance and every situation is orchestrated to serve our spiritual and eternal well-being if we walk with God – we know that all things work together for good to them that love God – so there’s something certain. Very little appears to work together in the interests of people who have never found God – of course, they’re under the providence of God, the rule of God, but nothing seems to go right. I cannot say that I’m in the hands of God and all circumstances serve for my spiritual and eternal interests.