In this heartfelt episode, we delve into the profound insights of Romans Chapter 1, exploring God’s invisible attributes and how they are understood through creation. We discuss the human condition—broken, fallen, yet redeemed—highlighting how idolatry manifests not just in ancient practices but in modern-day obsessions. By suppressing our true purpose of worship, humanity faces a crisis of purpose and joy that only recognition of the divine can resolve.
So, just to go over again what Paul has said in Romans chapter 1, verses 20 to 21, in regard to the human race, it’s so important, that’s why I want to go over it again very briefly, because it helps us to understand ourselves as human beings, as broken human beings, fallen human beings. You know, by faith in Jesus, we know we are redeemed, but we are also carrying about this broken humanity which wants to intrude and tell us lies about ourselves. Well, no, it wants to tell us truth about our human nature, but now that we are in Christ, that is no longer true, and we need to understand the difference. You see, it says in verse 20 and 21, For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, that’s God’s invisible attributes, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. There’s such a lot in there, and I don’t want to go over it again in detail, but just to remind you of these facts. Here is a humanity that refuses to recognize God. And that refusal to recognize God in his personality, personhood, that is his eternal power and Godhead, That refusal has led to an incredible psychological and spiritual crisis in mankind, because although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile or empty, purposeless in their thinking, their thoughts, and their foolish hearts, that is their emotions, were darkened, that is perverted and distorted. So we are looking at what I call the dark mind here. Humanity, having suppressed God, following through from Adam, who walked away from God, suppressed him in order to take the fruit from the tree. Mankind, having suppressed God, has a dark mind. Now, the dark mind is the absence of the fulfilling action of worship towards God. Remember, we were created in God’s image. We were created like him. And that likeness is an adoration and a joy of the one who created us, a joy in the one who created us. And we were born to worship and enjoy and love and adore the one who created us. That is the source of all meaning in us. That is the source of our purpose in life and of our joy in the creation that God has made. We worship him. We adore him. Human beings were created for worship. That is an essential thing to understand.
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But we have blocked that. We have suppressed it. So what happens?
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Having suppressed God, we do not deny him outright, but according to verse 23, exchange the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Now, can you imagine the silliness and the absurdity of idolatry, of idols made of stone and wood that are made to look like animals or human beings, and then we bow down to them and worship them as if they had a mind? It is simply an absurdity. And yet people do it. You say, well, we don’t in the West. Oh, we have our alternatives to the wood and the stone. Let me tell you, we have objects of worship like movie stars, like money, like anything that comes to be a higher form than ourselves that we can put trust in, that we can devote ourselves to. like rock stars and music of certain kinds, that make it a vehicle by which we adore ourselves. This is what idolatry is, the adoration of the self in the person of another, so that we don’t feel too bad about what we’re doing. So we’re in a crazy situation. We’re in a very, very broken state, which will ultimately lead to our destruction unless God does something, which of course he does in Jesus Christ. But now I want to move to the next point, which is what does God do about this?
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What does God do about mankind? Well, listen, this is amazing to think of.
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Romans 1, verses 24, 26, and 28. Therefore, God also gave them over to uncleanness. Verse 26, for this reason God gave them up to vile passions. Verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind. Now, in the King James Version, it says God gave them up. But this is not abandonment. God has never abandoned the human race. The words are God gave them over, not God gave them up, but the same idea may be conveyed by God gave them up to. God gave them up to this and that idolatry. The point is this. God’s giving people up to or over to various things is not abandonment. It is engagement. God is engaged with the human race. Now, in these phraseologies, God gave them over. Listen, I’m not exaggerating when I say this. Take it seriously. When this phraseology is used, God gave them over to this or that. There in that phraseology lies the history of humanity, the whole of it. Because the whole of history, the history of humanity is humanity looking for, constantly looking for alternatives to God. And what God does is to give them and engineer them into positions where he gives them exactly what they want.
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And that is his tough love. It is the wrath of God.
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Romans 1 verse 18 says the wrath of God is revealed. Now remember we talked about God’s wrath being motivated by love. God loves the human race. He is devoted to rescuing it from its destruction. He will save humanity. But how he goes about that is truly astonishing. What God does in his wrath, which is revealed, it says in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed, but it doesn’t tell us yet how it’s revealed until we come to verses 24, 26, and 28. How is it revealed? God’s wrath is revealed by giving them over, giving humanity over to their alternatives to God.
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What does that do?
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Ultimately, it reveals to humanity how broken their motives, their desires, their direction is, because to choose an alternative to God is to choose death, for there is no life in idols. There is no life in objects of stone and wood, and the alternative spiritual ones, supposedly, we Westerners have. No, there is no alternative to our God. And God has to show that to humanity. Why does he use such an odd method of showing it? Because of the nature of sin. Sin is independence from God. It is not simply these various objects that we decide are sin, whether it’s stealing or killing or committing adultery or robbing people of their goods. No, those are simply symptoms of something else. And that something else is the suppression of God. When we suppress God, the soul becomes so empty, so void, so meaningless, so boring, that we seek alternatives. And in those alternatives lies every kind of addiction imaginable, whether it’s killing or stealing or whether it’s drugs or alcohol or food issues or sexual issues. Addictions are an attempt to find qualities in the divine, I mean to find qualities of the divine in the human. we hope through drugs, we hope through alcohol, to find that elevated form of state of mind that gives us a sense of nirvana, that gives us a sense of going beyond ourselves into the divine.
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And it’s an absolute folly. Now, God has to help us to see that? How does he help us to see it? By giving us exactly what we want as our alternatives to him.
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God’s wrath, which is motivated by love, is to hand humanity over to exactly what they choose instead of God.
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Why?
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Because we will not see it in any other way. We hold out against God. We don’t think he’s necessary. The universe is an accident. There’s no intelligent, loving, caring, redeeming cause behind it. There is no God. Everything, therefore, ultimately becomes meaningless. And the meaninglessness is so incredibly painful and tedious and boring that that we finally have to have more of the same alternatives until they ruin us. This is the tragedy of man. You cannot avoid it. When you look at these verses, that is the best description that has ever been presented to the human race in regard to mankind’s crisis. Now that is why you and I need the redeeming Creator to give us a rescue plan. And that rescue is Jesus Christ. Because through Him, we shall see this, I’m just jumping ahead of the account here, through Him we are brought back to the Father. Through him, all the guilt and the judgment that we have known and deserve is taken upon him instead of our having to bear it. All the shame and emptiness that we have tried to escape continually throughout our lives has been taken upon Christ so that we can have his fullness finally and realize that we don’t need all the escapes that we have so avidly gone after throughout our lives. So you see, when we tell ourselves and when we hear Jesus saves, we now have a more comprehensive understanding of what he’s saving us from. He’s saving us from our own humanity. And as you put faith in Him, even right now as you’re listening to this broadcast, your humanity is not counted against you. You are now in the Beloved. Thank you for listening today. Colin Cook here and this is How It Happens, a broadcast you can hear any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. This is listener-supported radio. It costs $200 per week’s broadcasting. That’s $39 each broadcast of 15 minutes. And you can make a donation, if you like, online at faithquestradio.com. Or you can send your donation to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366. Littleton, Colorado, 80160. Please seriously consider taking care of this, would you? The donations are so much needed to keep the broadcast going. Thanks so much. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
