TEXT: Romans 8:32

SUBJECT: The Passion of Jesus Christ #18: To Obtain All Things

For the last few months, we’ve been studying John Piper’s short book, The Passion of Jesus Christ. Its aim is not to describe the suffering and death of our Lord, but to explain them. To show us why God sent His Son to the cross, and what that cross does for us.

What do we get from the cross? We get forgiveness, for one thing, and a clear conscience for another. We are reconciled to God by it and to each other. We receive the Holy Spirit because of our Lord’s death and a sure hope of heaven. A great many things could be named here, and if they were, far more would be left out. Because—in a word—the death of Christ gets everything for us.

This is what the Bible teaches. Peter says we have been given All things which pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue (II Peter 1:3). The Psalmist says the same thing, The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from him who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).

The Beatitudes make the same point, though in a somewhat different way. The blessings pronounced on God’s People in this great part of the Bible are future,

Human promises are not always kept and hopes are often disappointed. A young heir has millions coming to him when he turns 18. But then the stock market crashes, and he ends up with nothing. Or, maybe the money’s all there, but he dies before he turns 18. And so, even though the millions were once there for him, he didn’t get them. We’ve all heard stories like this one.

But the promises made in the Beatitudes are not human—they’re Divine. And, being Divine, they are backed by the full faith, wisdom, and power of God. This means they cannot fail! Thus, the kingdom, the comfort, the fullness, and the mercy promised are, in effect, already ours!

Because of what Christ did for you, All things are yours.

This is the general teaching of the Bible and of our text in particular. Piper says of Romans 8:32,

Piper’s point is well made. Paul is arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God is generous enough to give us His Son, He is generous enough to give us everything else. If a man was willing to die for you, don’t you think he’d be willing to buy lunch for you? Of course he would, because dying for you is a far greater sacrifice and commitment than taking you out to McDonald’s! And so, if God doesn’t spare His own Son for you, He won’t spare anything else. No good thing will He withhold. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with all benefits, even the God of our salvation!

This looks very good on paper, but it doesn’t seem to hold up in real life. If the Lord will give us everything we need, why don’t we have it? We pray for good health, but we don’t have it. We want work, but we can’t find it. We ask for children, but they’re never born. We want a good family life, but things get worse and worse.

If these were sinful things, we’d know why the Lord wouldn’t give them to us. But they’re not sinful things; they’re good things, things we’d be thankful for and use for His glory. But He doesn’t give them. Not right away, and often, not at all.

How do we square the facts of life with the promise of God? Piper knows,

The answer is broken up into three parts; they’re not three different things, but three ways of saying the same thing. God will give us all things that…

Are good for us. Felt needs and real needs are not the same thing. Paul was a brilliant and godly man, and at one time in his life, he felt the thing he needed most was good health. Three times he prayed for it in faith and in the name of Christ. And three times God said, no!

Do you know why? Not because God is mean and stingy, or that He doesn’t care for the body or didn’t love Paul. The true answer is: Because Paul’s sickness was good for him—better than health would have been. Had he been healthy, Paul would have been a proud man—he said so himself. But sick, he was humble, and relied on the power of Jesus Christ which was made perfect in his own weakness.

There’s another example of this in the Bible, far more extreme than Paul. The man is Job. He was physically well, very rich, respected by everyone, and not corrupted by the good life he led. But for reasons not known to Job, he lost his money, his family, his health, and nearly his mind. But at the end of the story, Job was happier and holier than he was at the beginning of it. The suffering God sent his way was good for him.

The Psalmist saw things this way, too. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes (Psalm 119:71).

Three years ago, a close friend of mine died after a long and ravaging illness. In the months leading up to his death, he signed all his letters with the Psalm I just quoted. I think of my friend often and miss him terribly. But the prayers I and others offered for him were turned down in heaven because God had something better for him than wellness.

‘God will give us all things’, therefore, means He will give us all things that are good for us.

Piper also says He will give all things we really need to be conformed to the image of His Son. Jesus Christ is both God and Man. His Divine nature does not mature or grow in grace. But His human nature did. Luke says He not only grew in stature (that is, physically), but in favor with God and man (that is, He grew spiritually—not from bad to good, but from good to better).

What matured Him? What, so to speak, conformed His Son to the image of His Son? Several things did: prayer, study, singing the Psalms, fellowship, the Holy Days of Israel, meditation, the good example of His parents, His baptism, godly friends, and so on.

But I’m leaving something out. Much of what made our Lord the Man He was (and is) was His suffering. The Word says He learned obedience through the things He suffered. If suffering conformed Christ to the Image of Christ, it’s a part of making us like Him too.

To make us like His Son, God sends suffering our way—always less that Christ had, far less—but it is one of the things He gives us in His love.

If unpleasant things are sent our way to make us like Christ, they’re also ours to attain everlasting joy. There’s a Psalm to this effect, Psalm 30:5,

The height of that joy depends, a good deal, on the depth of that weeping. Paul says If we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him. One of the glories of heaven will be no more tears! Not, ‘no tears’, but no more tears! The tears that come to us in this life enhance the happiness that the life to come.

And so, God gives us everything that is (1) good for us, that (2) conforms us to Christ, and (3) fits us for heaven. Most of these things are pleasant, like the forgiveness or love or hope or just plain old fun. But some are not so pleasant: yet, they too are His gift, not because He takes pleasure in our suffering, but because they’re good for us, make us like Christ, prepare us for glory.

Piper ends the chapter with a summary, and slips in one new thought while he’s at it,

The summary: Everything we need is given or will be given when we need it. This means, if God doesn’t give it, we don’t need it, at least not now. And more than that, when He says no to one thing, He says yes to something else, and that something else is better than the good thing we asked for. This is easy to understand, but hard to accept. That’s why we pray with the demoniac’s father,

The new thing John slips in at the end, he should have said earlier. The ‘all things’ God has for us are the ‘all things’ we need to glorify Him. American culture has de-throned God and put man in His place. To most Americans (including many saved ones), man’s chief end is to be happy. Liberals define happiness in one way, conservatives in another. But, whatever ‘happiness’ is, it’s man’s happiness!

This is not the Bible way. It puts the glory of God above human happiness and makes the latter depend on the former. This means glorifying God in your problems is more important than escaping your problems. It also means you cannot be happy until you stop aiming for it; happiness is not a goal, but a byproduct of glorifying God.

Washing dirty, stinking feet is not my idea of happiness. But, in that setting, the Lord said, Happy are you if you do [it]. Not if God and man are catering to your wishes, but if you’re catering to theirs!

What do we do with this doctrine?

First of all, we believe it. Not say we believe it, but really believe it. We have good reason to do so because it is God’s Promise, and whether we can see how He can pull it off or not, we know He can pull it off—and will! All things work together for those who love God.

Secondly, we thank God for it. What if you were in control and got everything you wanted? Sounds like a nice thing, until you think about it. If you got everything you wanted, you’d also get hell, because you’re not smart enough or good enough to want the right things. C.S. Lewis says There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Your will be done" and those to whom God says, ‘your will be done’. The former are in heaven, the latter are in hell.

Thirdly, we can tell others about it. Our first duty to the suffering is silence; then come sympathy and tears and practical help. But somewhere down the line, you need to gently tell them that even our losses are the Lord’s good gifts. That they’re fitting us for glory, conforming us to Christ, and are doing us good, even when we can’t imagine how!

Believer in Christ, you have everything God wants you to have and that means all you need and far more. The 23^rd Psalm applies to you directly,

If you don’t believe in Christ (even if you’re a good person), you’ve got nothing you need, even if all your wishes have come true. What good are a sound body and a strong mind without Christ? What good is a beautiful wife or obedient children without the Lord? Lazarus the beggar was richer than Dives the rich man because, while Lazarus had Christ, Dives didn’t.

You have need, real, deep and urgent needs. Even if you don’t know it, you do. And no one can supply them but God. And He will, when you believe in Christ. For if He’s willing to give you Christ, what would He not give you?

Jesus Christ suffered and died to obtain for us all things that are good for us.