Join us as we unpack the timeless truths of faith and perseverance amidst life’s adversities. The conversation navigates through the realities of suffering, offering a bold affirmation that God’s love penetrates even the darkest circumstances. For listeners facing their own trials, this episode provides solace and strength, calling on the faithful to lean into the promises of scripture and find comfort in the enduring love that transcends all earthly tribulations. Through this lens, we are encouraged to be living testaments of faith, inspiring others in their journey towards solace and truth.
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SPEAKER 01 :
So we come to that section in Romans 8 where Paul now says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or the sword? Wow. Now this, you see, is a continuation of his thought in verse 31. If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is for us, nothing can be against us because God is also in control over everything because he has gained the victory over evil through Jesus Christ. So if God is for us, then all things that are seemingly against us and even evil are directed and limited, shorn up by God’s grace so that they turn out to be a blessing ultimately. With that thought in mind, he’s able to say in verse 35, “…who shall separate us from the love of God, that is, from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or the sword.” Now, as I pointed out some days ago, I am absolutely convinced that Paul is reassessing and reexamining the history of his nation with these verses. He is coming to dramatically new conclusions. you remember that the biggest disaster that came upon Israel from the historical point of view in Paul’s day was the Babylonian captivity some 800 years before. And that Babylonian captivity decimated Israel. They were taken captive, and the temple was destroyed. And it was something that utterly shocked and stunned Israel and made them feel that they are lost and God has given up on them. But then Paul notices in the book of Ezekiel that God says, I am for you. In the midst of all this trouble and trial and the famine and the nakedness and the hunger and the sword, I am still for you. And so Paul is able to take this, and with the new knowledge now of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of God’s Son for the sin of the world, and Jesus being contemporary to Paul in his day, With that knowledge and with the history of Israel described in the book of Ezekiel, Paul concludes that tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and the sword and the peril are not indicators of God’s absence. They are not indicators of God’s rejection. Now, that is absolutely remarkable. I mean, now we have to apply this to ourselves, don’t we? What about your life? What kind of trouble have you had? Disasters, tragedies, loss, psychological conditions of depression, all kinds of ill health? What has gone on for you? And maybe you are listening to this broadcast with just a hope that you might get a twinge of encouragement because things are so bad. And you presume that as a result of all these bad things, God does not love you and has not cared for you. And we are now at liberty, and you are at liberty, I say, based upon Romans chapter 8, based upon the whole gospel, of course. to know and to say and to affirm that God is for you, that these trials and troubles and tribulations are not against you. Now notice this. Paul is not really asking here if these things are against us. He’s asking the reader, can they separate us from the love of Christ? Now, this is where the rubber meets the road, because how do we determine God’s love? Do we determine God’s love by the blessings he pours upon us? The visible blessings, that is, of maybe financial prosperity or good health or a blessed marriage and family? Do we determine God’s love for us by whether somehow we have a blessing real pleasant high every day, and we are not brought down by our moods and depressions? How do we determine God’s love? Well, according to these verses, we certainly do not determine God’s love by the troubles that come our way or the circumstances of life. We are completely convinced now because of the death and resurrection of Jesus on behalf of all humanity. You remember John said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. John 1 verse 29. We are absolutely convinced. that God’s love is identified by the sacrifice of his Son on behalf of humanity. That’s how we determine it. There’s no other way. Yes, we look at the Old Testament and we see evidences of God’s love there, but they’re also mixed up with events of judgment and some horrible things that take place in the Old Testament. And we wonder then, well, which is it? Is God all full of blessing or is he full of judgments? And we’re not sure. until we see the revelation of Jesus Christ. Christ is the revelation of God’s heart. I want to tell you today, I believe in Jesus, the revelation of God. He is the Christ, the salvation, the Savior of the world. He reveals the heart of God. And I’m saying that to you not only based upon the truths that I know in Scripture, but based upon the experiences of my own life and heart in fellowship with Jesus. Let me tell you, cling to belief and trust in Jesus Christ. You will know then God’s heart ultimately. So this is how we know things. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation. What this is saying, then, is that the love of Christ is invincible. God’s love in Christ can penetrate every circumstance, whether you’re in jail, whether you are on death row, whether you are in some terrible ill health and a condition that brings you down constantly. God’s love will penetrate. If you are in a state of mind that is a sick mind, schizophrenic mind, a troubled mind, you can still believe that the light of God’s love penetrates your darkness. You can talk to God in the darkness. Now, this is so important when we recognize the difficulties with addictions and so on, where you feel your mind is out of kilter and not in harmony with God, and you hardly dare lift up your heart and say, ìOh, God, help me, or I believe in you.î But faith is bold, and faith contradicts the accusations of the mind. Remember that. Allow faith. Allow your faith to speak out and say, Dear God, even though I feel condemned, even though I feel distant from you, even though I fear that you are poking your finger at me in my heart and mind and accusing me, I will believe that you are my life, you are my Lord, you are my God, you do not charge my sins against me. Romans chapter 4, verse 5. God justifies, declares innocent, the ungodly. These truths enable us to recognize that circumstances do not determine reality. Circumstances that are negative do not determine God’s heart towards us. We know by the solid history of Christ’s life and death and resurrection that God is for us. Now notice what Paul says next. As it is written, he says, For your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. So what’s Paul saying here? Well, he’s saying that we know that the tribulations and the distresses and the persecutions and the famines and the nakedness and the peril and the sword do not separate us from the love of God. And this is not merely, says Paul, or implies Paul, a mere idea, because we are being slaughtered every day. Now, can you accept? Will you dare to accept? that we all are being slaughtered. This is a broken world. Do not expect to be freed from suffering in this world. There are some people who are so convinced that God will heal everybody that they are aghast when they discover that they are going through some sickness or cancer or something and wonder why God does not heal them. And they think, this must be because I’m an enemy of God or God has rejected me. No. What the problem is, is that you and many others, and I myself frequently, cannot or do not accept that this world is the world of death and suffering. I’m not being negative here. I’m trying to be real so that we put our faith in the right place. Our faith is not establishing that we will prosper and that all things will go well with us. I mean, you surely know that, don’t you? And this nonsense prosperity gospel is what it is, nonsense. And it’s a calamity, as a matter of fact. Paul makes it very, very clear that we embrace sufferings as part of our Christian life. Can you and I accept that we are being killed all day long? Can you and I accept that we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter? You might say, well, why, Colin? Why are we counted as sheep for the slaughter? Look, you don’t get faith in that by asking why, although we can give some little few explanations. The reality is what, not why. The what is… This is a life of suffering. And in that suffering, we push ourselves upon God. We throw ourselves upon his mercy. We do not look to this world as our final resting place and home. We look to the kingdom. We look to the city afar. That’s where we are meant to look. We are meant to develop a state of mind, a faith mind, that contradicts the mind of sin and death. That’s what’s going on, and I think that’s the why that you wanted to hear a little bit earlier. We are led as sheep to the slaughter because we are being trained to trust in God under all circumstances. And not only that, as we suffer, In the name of Jesus, we are giving witness to the world. We are helping people who are unbelievers to begin to see the light. Those people, those unbelievers, can’t understand us. They say, how in the world does this man maintain tranquility and faith and peace when he’s going through such a mess? They can learn from it, and they, by that learning, can call upon God also and say, Oh God, please help me to be like this man, this woman. Do you see? We are vessels of mercy, and we are giving witness to the vessels of wrath that they also might obtain mercy. Well, thank you for joining me today. Colin Cook here and How It Happens. You’ve been listening to my broadcast on the radio, possibly 10 o’clock in the evening. It’s also repeated at 4 in the morning, and it’s on KLTT AM 670 in the Denver and Colorado and surrounding states, areas. Please realize you can also hear the program on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or pudbean.com, and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Would you please consider a donation? The funds are exceedingly low at the moment. Please send your donation to Faith Quest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado 80160. Thanks so much. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
