Excerpt - Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner Chapter 8
Romans 8:26-28
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groaning which can not be uttered. 27 And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
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Purpose of the Calling.
God calls us "in the grace of Christ." Gal.1:6.
"He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Eph. 1:4.
Still further, we read that he hath "called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Tim. 1:9. In our text in Romans we learned that those who love God are the "called according to his purpose." His purpose is that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. If we yield to his purpose, he will see that it is carried out.
God designed man for a companion for himself. But there is no true companionship where there is restraint. Therefore, in order that man might associate with him on terms of intimacy, he made the will of man as free as his own. God can not work against his own purpose; and therefore he not only will not, but he can not, force the will of man. All men are as absolutely free to choose as is God himself; and when they choose to yield to the call of God, his purpose of grace is wrought out in them by the power by which he is able to make all things work together for good.
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