So how does this happen?
This development, how do people develop into becoming a reprobate?
Well it begins with the fact that they and everybody knew God.
God reveals himself through creation and conscience.
Now what do they do?
What gets people down this road of becoming a reprobate?
First of all, they knew God, secondly, they reject God.
Now I didn't say they reject salvation.
It's not even that hard.
They just need to reject God in general.
Look at verse 21.
Because that, when they knew God, it's not that they didn't know God, they knew God.
Everybody knows God.
Everybody has a conscience.
Everybody has an understanding that there's more to this life.
He says because that when they knew God, notice what they chose, they chose, the Bible says,
they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
Notice verse 23, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man and to birds and to four-footed bees and creeping things.
Now in the ancient world, when the apostle Paul was writing this, he was referring to
the fact that there were pagans who were worshiping animals, birds, four-footed bees, creeping
things as deity.
And in fact, even in our world today, there are major parts of our world in India and
with the Buddhists that are still worshiping animals.
But before you start thinking, yeah, but we live in the United States of America and we're
a little more sophisticated and we don't worship animals, or really, we just do it in a little
more sophisticated way, we call it evolution.
But we've changed glory, I'm talking about our society, they've changed the glory of
the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed
bees and creeping things.
Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor
their own bodies between themselves.
Notice verse 25, who changed the truth.
It's not that they didn't have the truth, they had the truth and they changed the truth
of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature, that's evolution, more than
the creator who is blessed forever, amen.
Look at verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.
It's not that they didn't know about God, they just didn't want to think about God.
It's not that they didn't have access to God, it's that they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge.
So how does this happen?
How does somebody go down the road of becoming a reprobate?
Well first of all, they and everyone knew God.
Secondly, they chose to reject God.
They glorified him, they knew God and they glorified him not as God, Romans 1.21.
They changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible
man, Romans 1.23.
They changed the truth of God into a lie, Romans 1.25.
They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, Romans 1.28.
So what happens?
Well what happens is that God eventually rejects them.
Notice verse 21, you say, well pastor, this is where I would disagree.
God doesn't ever reject anybody.
God doesn't give up on anybody.
Well this is where you're going to have to figure out and decide whether you believe
the Bible or not.
Because in Romans 1.21 the Bible says this, because that when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, neither were thankful but became vain in their imagination.
And their foolish heart was darkened.
The Bible says that their foolish heart was darkened.
Notice verse 24, wherefore, the word wherefore means for that reason or for this reason,
for what reason?
He says, because of the fact that they knew God and they glorified him not as God, because
of the fact that they changed the glory of God into an uncorruptible, into an image made
like to crawl through a man.
Verse 24 says, wherefore, God also, notice these three words, gave them up.
Oh God doesn't give up on anybody.
Oh really?
Well he gave up on these people.
I don't know how else to interpret it for you, gave them up.
Go back to the Greek if you need to, it says gave them up.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the loss 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.
What happens when they change the truth of God?
Romans 1 26, for this cause, for this reason, God, there are your words, gave them up unto
vile affection for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against
nature and likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman, burdened in their
lusts, one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves
that recompense of their error which was meet, verse 28, and even as, those words mean
in the same way, even as in the same way that they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
in the same way that they didn't want to think about God, they didn't want to acknowledge
God, they rejected God, the Bible says God gave them over to a reprobate mind.