P147_052025 Rom. 8:37-39 Nothing In All The World Will Separate Us From The Love Of God

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Thank you so much for listening today. Colin Cook here. This is my broadcast called How It Happens, which you can hear on your smartphone or other remote device. Any time of the day or night, simply download a free app, SoundCloud.com or Podbean.com, and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Please, would you consider a donation? nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, let me tell you this. If you have eyes to see it, if you have ears to hear it, if you have faith to perceive it, this passage speaks about the salvation of all humanity. This passage It gives us hope that the world will not end in extinction. It will end in eternal life. It will be redeemed. You say, how can you come to a conclusion like that, Colin? Well, look, of course, there’s much more to this truth, to the reality of this than these scriptures themselves. But look at it. Think of it. What else is there in all of life than is described here? Death, life, angels, and that’s referring, I presume, to fallen angels, principalities, the dark forces and powers, the things that are present, all the troubles that are present in the world, the things that are to come and all the disasters and crises that will come. The depth, the depth of sin, the depth of evil, the depth of cruelty, the height of arrogance and pride of the human race, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Now, before you get this reality of this being referring to the whole world, you tend to think of it in a very, very limited way, as I did. that God is talking about people who believe in him and people who trust in him and that nothing will separate them from the love of God, but as for the rest, well, they will be separated from the love of God and they will be sent to hell or destroyed. But that’s not what it says, is it? And it’s talking about the comprehensive, all-inclusive, far-reaching nature and absolute nature of the love of God. What we need to learn to believe is, and it requires a courage of faith, but a courage of faith based upon the word that all families of the earth, according to Psalm 22, will return to him. All families of the earth will remember and return to him. That will be in the judgment, the final judgment, presumably. And think of Isaiah 45, that every knee will bow before him, and every tongue acknowledge that in him alone is their righteousness and strength. And that promise is repeated in Philippians, that every tongue shall bow to Jesus Christ, and is repeated in Romans 14, that that is the judgment scene. So, you see, we’ve got a lot to go on, and what we can look forward to is this, that though there be many troubles, hearts failing them for fear, and for fear of what is coming upon the earth, nevertheless, we the people who have been chosen ahead of time, the world will be chosen as well, because according to Romans 9-11, which we shall study in future, All people are predestined. All people have been elected. But we who have been chosen ahead of time are to assure the world that though there will be troubles and though there will be judgments, God will redeem the world and they are therefore to put faith in him. So we go around encouraging people to have faith in God so that those who come to believe will encourage others to have faith in God. Now, you know, it’s incredible what Paul says here when he says in verse 37, yet in all these things, well, let’s get a little context to it. Let’s read verse 35 onwards. And once again I say to you… This is the world, isn’t it? Isn’t this describing the world? It’s not just describing pockets of the world. There’s trouble everywhere. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine in some places, starvation and nakedness in other places, peril in other places, the sword. But it’s everywhere, ultimately. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And then he says in verse 36, as it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. In other words, human beings have been appointed to go through suffering. Whether you like that word or not, I’m sorry, but that is what the word of God means when it says, for your sake we are killed all day long. Don’t dismiss these words. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors. Now, you see, if you think that this means that you are the conqueror, well, you don’t have any hope at all, do you? Because you know that you’re not a conqueror over all these things. You know that you have been defeated by these things time and time again. you know that things in death and life and angels and principalities and powers have just pummeled you throughout life. So what is he talking about when he says, we are more than conquerors? Well, he’s talking about Jesus Christ, of course. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him, you see. Now, it doesn’t mean that by his strength we conquer all of this, because we don’t conquer death by the strength of Jesus, do we? We don’t face our death and say, well, by the faith in Jesus Christ, I choose not to die. No, you’re not a conqueror in that way. You are a conqueror over death in that Christ conquered death for you and on your behalf, and that applies to everything else. We are more than conquerors through him. He’s the one who has the victory, who gained the victory, who has been resurrected. And by his resurrection, we also shall be resurrected because he was resurrected on our behalf. And so, you see, you can claim these verses. You don’t say, oh, I wish I could claim these verses, but I haven’t been a conqueror. You are a conqueror in Jesus Christ. Christ has conquered on your behalf. Look, when David, that little young kid, 17 years old or so, took those stones in his sling and slew Goliath, What did Israel do? Well, they came down from the mountains and rushed into the valleys as conquerors, but they hadn’t conquered, had they? It was David who conquered, but David conquered on their behalf. That’s why David, among other reasons, is a type of Jesus Christ. Jesus conquers on our behalf, and therefore we rush down the mountains into the valley and conquer the enemy. Well, sometimes we conquer the enemy and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we get slain. But we are conquerors in him. That’s the whole point here. And so, you see, our faith needs broadening. Oh, goodness me. I’ve been at this program a long time, 27 years, and I hope that some who have been listening to me have their faith broadened and widened and deepened and heightened by the realities of the gospel revealed in the book of Romans. You see, you and I can have confidence that our God, who loves us, has atoned for our sins in Jesus Christ. Romans 5, remember verse 18. The first Adam brought sin and death to all, judgment, condemnation to all. The second Adam brings, although it doesn’t say the second Adam, it says, as in one man. Let’s read, in fact, the verse 518. Therefore, as through one man’s offense, that’s Adam’s, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man’s righteous act, the free gift came to all men and women, resulting in justification of life. God has decided in his love and determination and ability and power and mercy that to redo everything that Adam undid, and Christ redid it for us, so that everything that was undone in the generations following Adam is redone in Jesus Christ, so that all generations will be redeemed. In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 16, after Israel has done incredibly abominable things, even to the sacrificing of their own children to the pagan gods, after they’ve done all that, God says, That’s chapter 16. And when he does it, he says in chapter 37, I will raise all Israel from the dead. And Israel is a type of the world. As God works with Israel, so he works also in the same way with the world. The atoning sacrifice of Christ, which was meant for Israel, was ultimately for all the world, wasn’t it? And thus, what God does for Israel, he does for everyone. God told the Gentiles to rejoice with his people Israel. That’s Deuteronomy chapter 32. And so, we have this clear promise that when God is going to redo everything, he’s going to redo it for the whole world. And this is why we must look at these verses and broaden our faith and expand our faith and have the courage to say, Dear God, I believe you love everyone and I believe you are going to save everyone through Jesus Christ, even though judgments will come, but they will not be judgments unto death but unto life. Have the courage to say that to God. And then as you do so, read and study. The Scriptures, and as you know, I’ve written a book on it. It is not yet published, but it will be. I have a publisher, and it’s going to turn into two books, by the way. My publisher thinks it would be better as two books. And these books will tell you, they’re called God’s, wait a minute, what’s the title? God’s Unbreakable Oath. And we will trace how God does these things through these two books. We’ll trace that. So, you see, you now come from the macrocosm, which is everything, to the microcosm, which is the little center that you are in, the small places that you and I are in. And we look at these verses and we say, okay, Nothing can separate me from God’s love in this life, even though angels, demonic angels, may try to harm me. Even though principalities and powers may try to break down my health and my mind by addictions, nothing will separate me from the love of God. And even though things in the present, where I’ve lost my job or I’ve lost my finances or I’ve lost my reputation or I’ve lost seemingly everything, nothing in the present is going to separate me from the love of God. You do not look at those things and think, oh, God has abandoned me. I am cast off. That’s what Israel thought. They were cast off. But God was assuring them that he had not abandoned them. He says in Ezekiel, I am for you. And that is repeated here in chapter 8, verse 31. If God is for us, who can be against us? So you see what we have. Your faith now must expand and must contradict the intuitive nature of your mind and the rational thoughts of your mind. Faith affirms that God is great, that God is merciful, that God is good, and that His judgments will not endure forever. that he will have mercy upon the whole human race, as it says in Romans 8, 11, 32, that he may have mercy on all.