But look what the Bible says in Romans chapter 1 in verse number 21, because when they knew
God, they glorified him not as God.
You know what that sounds like to me, being enlightened?
And new here, when it says they knew God, this is like the Spanish word conocer.
Some preachers go back to the Greek, I go to the Spanish, alright?
But anyway, conocer, you know the difference between conocer and saber.
They both mean know, but it's two different kinds of knowing.
And conocer is knowing as in being familiar with, like if I said, I know that guy.
I know him, okay.
They knew God.
Now look, if I know that guy, that doesn't mean he's my friend, it doesn't mean he's
my savior, it doesn't mean I trust him, it doesn't mean anything, it just means
I'm familiar with him.
So when they knew God, it means they were familiar with God, they were exposed to God,
they were enlightened about the things of God, but when they did, they glorified him
not as God, but became vain in their imaginations.
Now whose fault is that?
That's their own fault, right?
They knew God and they glorified him not as God.
But then we get to this part at the end, their foolish heart was darkened.
Now do you see the difference?
First it's what they did.
They knew God, they glorified him not as God, they became vain in their imaginations,
but now we've switched from active to passive.
Now their foolish heart was darkened and here's the question that we must ask, by whom?
By whom was their foolish heart darkened?
Well John chapter 12 tells us, but let's keep going.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and
four-footed beasts and creeping things, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness.
So if he said their foolish heart was darkened and then a moment later it says, God gave
them up.
Hmm, I wonder who darkened their foolish heart.
God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and
worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever,
amen.
For this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections.
And notice folks, it's no mystery why the reprobate is a reprobate.
You know the Calvinists, they can't figure it out.
They're like, well it's just the mysteries of God's will and it's just, you know, the
mysteries of grace and we don't really know why God chooses one and he doesn't
choose another.
Why does one man believe and another man doesn't and we don't understand, but they
believe that God made that choice before the world began and we don't really know
what the criteria was.
That's what Calvinism teaches.
We don't know what the criteria is.
But hold on a second.
I know exactly why the reprobate is a reprobate.
I know why.
I can articulate to you why the reprobate is a reprobate because the Bible tells us
why.
The Bible says because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.
That's why they're a reprobate now.
It says in verse number 26, for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections.
What was the cause?
Because they worshiped and served the creature more than the creator.
Because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God.
Because they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man.
And because they did these things, they did A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, now God gave
them over to a reprobate mind.
God darkened their foolish heart.
God gave them up to vile affections.
Folks, it's not like, well, you know, God just picked certain people and he just made
them reprobates.
They are a reprobate through their own fault.
It's not God's fault.
They did this to themselves, as Proverbs chapter 1 taught.
For this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections for even their women to change
the natural use into that which is against nature, even women.
And likewise also the man, in the same way, likewise means the same way, leaving the
natural use of the woman.
You know, that would have been normal.
To use the woman to satisfy that appetite, God ordained that a man would have a wife
and that a wife would have a husband.
And that's the normal way for that natural human appetite to be fulfilled, is within
marriage a man and a woman.
But no, no, they leave the natural use of the woman and they burned in their lust
one toward another, it says.
Men with men, working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that
recompense of their error which was made.
And even as, don't miss this, even as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not
convenient.
Why did God give them over to the rejected mind, the reprobate mind?
Because they didn't want to retain God in their knowledge.
And that's what it said in Proverbs chapter 1, they despised his reproof, they
would none of his counsel, they didn't want God's word, they don't want to hear
from God, they don't want the Lord, they don't want the word of God.
And here it says, they didn't want to retain God in their knowledge.
And it's almost like God is just really hammering this point on purpose that it's
their fault.
Because it's like he says it over and over again, like, you know, well, they
had their chance, I mean, they knew God back when they knew him, they didn't
glorify him.
And, you know, they did this, he lists so many things that they did, and he
keeps saying, for this cause, because that, even as they did this, well, guess
what, you know what he's saying, he's saying, look, I'm justified in what I'm
doing, because look what they did leading up to this, they did this to
themselves.
That's what's being hammered in Romans chapter 1.