Join Colin Cook for an insightful journey through Romans chapter 1, exploring how humanity’s suppression of the truth about God leads to a dynamic of spiritual darkness. Through a detailed examination of this process, Cook articulates the profound impact of idolatry and God’s acts of mercy on human history. By tracing connections with the book of Ezekiel, this episode reveals God’s unwavering love despite humanity’s flawed choices.
So we are looking at this incredible and remarkable description of human dynamics, of the history of the world, the meaning of the history of the world, in Romans chapter 1, verses 18 onwards. And it is truly astonishing when you think about it. Humanity has suppressed the truth about God, and that means humanity is killing itself, because in God alone is life. And they’re doing that willfully, knowing that God’s revealed in creation, by everything that has been made, this is verse 20 of chapter 1, so that they are without excuse. We are all without excuse. I’m not trying to damn us here. I’m simply wanting us to understand what the explanation is of our incredibly confusing and contradictory humanity. So they knew God and they did not glorify him as God. This is verse 21. and were not grateful or thankful, and all of that, this absence of God, this suppression of him so that there’s no thankfulness, no gratitude, no glorification, all of that leads to emptiness, futility. That’s the word there in Romans 1.21, became futile, empty, purposeless. In their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. That’s what I call the dark mind. Now, this is intolerable for human beings. They can’t stand it. They can’t understand themselves why they can’t stand it. They don’t know what’s wrong with them, but they know there’s something amiss, majorly. What is it? The presence of God, the light and glory and love and grace and mercy of God. In God is light, and in him is life, and we see life and light in him, Psalm 36. And so without him, there is futility and darkness and perversion of mind and heart. So what do we do? We exchange God, this is verse 23 now, exchange God for idols, for corruptible things. And why do we do that, would you think? Precisely because man was born to worship. Human beings, that is the primary need in humanity, is not food, is not sex, it is worship. Worship comes before them all, because when we see and adore God and love Him and see His glory and His greatness in taking care of us, we worship, we adore. But we’ve blocked all this, you see. This is what humanity has done. And by the way, well, I’ll tell you this in a minute. So what does God do about this? Well, the astonishing thing is, as I pointed out yesterday, therefore God gave them up to these things, gave them over. That’s how it can be translated, therefore God gave them over. Verse 24, 26, and 28 says the same thing. Now, what did he give them over to? He gave them over to the alternatives they wanted instead of him. God has given us the alternatives to God. But there aren’t any alternatives to God, are there? No, they’re only the ones that we stupidly choose. Our idols, throughout the ages, throughout the history of the world, Now, why does God do that? Is he abandoning us? No, he’s not abandoning us. He is engaging with us. Look, it says in Romans chapter 11, verse 32, that God has imprisoned all under sin, that he might have mercy on all. Not that he may destroy them, but have mercy on them. So why does he imprison us under sin? That’s, you see, the same idea as humanity being in a state of suppression of God and therefore turning to their alternatives of God, which are our idols. whatever we put in place of God, expecting that thing or object or drug of choice to give us the qualities of the divine that only God can give us, these alternatives to God then, God gives them to us. Why? To teach us a lesson? In what? In sin? No. Sin never teaches a lesson in anything except that we simply do more sin. Because when sin gets a hold of us, when we sin and get a hold of sin, it gets a hold of us. And so there is a dynamic going on here that is destructive. Sin cannot teach life. So then what’s God’s purpose? It is that he teaches grace and mercy and help and rescue and redemption in sin. That is what God is doing here. We’ll see that as the book of Romans unfolds. Now, I want you to understand this is not just Paul’s idea. Some people think, well, this is Paul, he’s sort of kooky, he’s a little bit original, too original. Paul, let me tell you, got all of this from the Old Testament and specifically from the book of Ezekiel. How do I know that? Well, you trace the evidence very carefully. Ezekiel says God’s wrath is on the whole multitude. Paul says the wrath of God is revealed on all unrighteousness. Ezekiel says God gave them up to their evil rituals. Paul says God gave them up to the worship of idols. Ezekiel says they worshipped creeping things, abominable beasts and idols. Paul says they worshipped birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Ezekiel says judgments of famine, wild beasts, pestilence and the sword come upon them. Paul says tribulation, distress and persecution and famine and nakedness or peril or the sword will not separate us from the love of God. Ezekiel says by these judgments you shall know that I am the Lord. Paul says in these judgments we are more than conquerors. Do you see where this is going? Paul is tracing his theology or bringing his theology through the Old Testament and particularly the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel says God provides a sacrifice of atonement to forgive all Israel. Paul says God provides a sacrifice of atonement justifying all mankind. Ezekiel says Israel fears their hope is lost and they are cut off. Paul says Israel fears that they are cast away. God assures Israel that he will raise the whole house of Israel from the dead. Paul assures them that it will lead to their acceptance and reconciliation of the world and life from the dead. Ezekiel says God says of Israel, I am for you. Paul says if God is for us, nothing can be against us. Ezekiel says the whole house of Israel will be redeemed. Paul says all Israel will be saved. Okay, done enough. You get my point? He is not unique and different, and you needn’t put him aside because he sounds odd. What is being shown here is that God has to do some very strange things in his passionate love for us in order to bring us back to him. He has to give us exactly what we want instead of himself. Now, of course, it teaches us that what we want ultimately comes to ashes in our hands. What we want are the things that destroy and are useless. But that’s not what will draw us to himself. Remember the son in the prodigal son in the parable did not come to himself because he realized he was now in a pigsty and had no more food left. He came to himself because he remembered his father’s house. and all the good blessings he had there. And so he was determined to go back home. The same way when God hands people over, he is not handing them over to sin in order to reveal how wicked and bad and useless and destructive sin is, so that we turn back to God. No, sin will never teach us to turn back to God. It’ll simply tell us to do more of the same until we’re dead. No, what happens is that in every instance in which we go away from God, God is maneuvering his grace and his mercy and his help through all our stupidity so that we still have a mind left. Listen, we still have a mind left to come to our senses by the Holy Spirit, of course. and say, I will go back home and say to my father, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. So, what do we do with all this? Look, the history of your life is not about sin. The history of your life, if you are able to trace it properly by the power of faith which God gives you, is God’s grace and mercy in your sin. Think of your sins. Think of the stupid things you and I have done throughout our lives. Aren’t there several occasions in which we could be dead? That we got into so many sticky situations that unless something happened beyond ourselves, we would be in a coffin. And yet God somehow pulled us out of it, even when we didn’t acknowledge him. That’s what is the truth of the gospel. Trace your life, but do not simply trace the big sins in your life, but trace an invisible truth. action by God and His mercy, bringing you out. Yes, not bringing you to Christ yet, but bringing you to at least some kind of sobriety that enabled you to realize there’s something better than this mess. And so, you see, we need to put pen to paper, we need to get our journals out, and we need to write down the big tragedies and sorrows and griefs of our life. Some of them coming, of course, outside of us and beyond our responsibility, things that hit us like a ton of bricks, but also some things that we, of course, brought upon ourselves. And then when we’ve listed them, We don’t simply repent of them. We start by giving glory to God and saying, Oh God, if you hadn’t stepped in at some point there, I would have been overwhelmed with depression so much that I would have killed myself. Or I would have been so overwhelmed, dear Lord God, that I would have gone farther into my mess until there was nothing left of me. But Lord, somehow you brought a circumstance into my life, a situation, a friend, a change of my fortunes or my work or my health that turned me in another direction. I didn’t know you then, Lord. I didn’t turn to you. But I’m realizing now that that was part of your process of interceding, of intertwining your grace with my mess. Lord God, You handed me over to my idols. But in handing me over, you were not abandoning me, I’m now seeing. You were engaging with me to bring me over many decades or weeks or months or years or decades to the place where I finally opened my heart to you because I saw that my life without you is ashes. This is what God is doing when he hands people over. And he’s not simply handing you and me over. He’s handing the world over. Not because he hates, but because he loves and he is determined to save. Amen to that. Thank you for joining me today. Colin Cook here, and how it happens, you can hear the broadcast any time of the day or night on your smartphone or other remote device. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Now, I know some of you have been meaning to donate to help the ministry and the radio broadcast to keep going, but you simply haven’t put pen to paper and written out a check yet or clicked online to make the donation there. Would you this day do that? I would appreciate it so much. You can make your donation online at faithquestradio.com or send your donation to Faith Quest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. Thanks so much. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
