Amen. All right, we're there in Romans chapter number one. And of course, on Sunday nights we've been going through this series entitled Declaring Doctrine.
It's a systematic study of theology and we've been taking this series on and off over a couple of years now and dealing with different sections.
If you remember, I want to say it was 2019, we started and we dealt with the section on Sunday night on the doctrine of the word of God.
We spent several weeks looking at that and we've talked about the doctrine of the Godhead and God the Father and God the Son, the Holy Spirit, the deity of Christ and the virgin birth and all those things.
And now we've been in this section regarding salvation. We've been looking at the doctrine of salvation.
If you remember, four or five weeks ago I started with a sermon called the doctrine of salvation.
We looked at what the Bible teaches about justification and propitiation and atonement.
And the week after that we looked at eternal security, the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer.
I gave you five reasons why we believe in eternal security, why the Bible teaches eternal security.
Then we looked at the doctrine of individual soul liberty, the fact that God has given you free will, God has given us a choice and we must choose to believe on Christ.
God does not force his will upon anybody. We also talked about how that differs from freedom of religion.
Last week I preached a sermon called the doctrine of the new man and how when you get saved, God creates in you, born again in you, quickens in you, new man separate from the old man or the flesh.
And we've been going through this series on salvation and I feel like the last four sermons have been very positive, encouraging.
I mean these are very positive doctrines that we believe in, salvation, eternal security, individual soul liberty, the new man.
Tonight I'm preaching on the reprobate doctrine. Lest I be accused of you're always just harping on the reprobates, you're the one that chose to come tonight.
I've been preaching positive sermons for the last four weeks and you happen to be here for the reprobate sermon. I don't have any control over that.
I will say this, I can't preach a series on the doctrine of salvation without dealing with the reprobate doctrine.
Although it doesn't cover salvation, it does fall under that heading of salvation.
Let me just give you a definition for the reprobate doctrine. If you'd like to write this down, I always encourage you to take notes.
Obviously on the back of your course this week there's a place for you to write some things down.
The reprobate doctrine is the belief that although every human being is born with the opportunity to be saved, someone can cross the line with God and lose their opportunity to be saved.
And I want to make sure you understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that somebody can lose their salvation.
We do not believe that. We believe in the eternal security of the believer. Once you're saved, you're always saved. You can't lose that.
But you can lose the opportunity to be saved. Someone can cross the line with God, I'm talking about somebody who's not saved, and lose their opportunity to be saved.
Now, I'm going to disappoint some of you tonight. Let me just go ahead and say this.
The sermon is not meant to be a screaming, yelling, just ripping on the LGBTQ or whatever.
I mean, it may turn into that. I don't know. I'm not planning on that.
This sermon is really meant to just give a doctrinal philosophy as to why we believe that, what we believe in, why we believe that.
Some of you are thinking like, oh, why did I show up then?
I'll tell you this. I'm thinking about, and I'm not 100%, so you'll have to forgive me if I'm not 100% on it,
but I am considering next Sunday, this coming Sunday, preaching a sermon against that dog that's running for governor.
I don't even know what you call it. It calls itself Caitlin.
But I am planning on preaching a sermon on that transvestite that's running for governor,
and that might be a little more to your liking for those of you that like those types of sermons.
But this sermon will really lay the foundation for that.
So you pay attention tonight, and then we can jump right into it next week.
But if I have to lay all these doctrines next week because you fell asleep tonight, that's just going to not work out either.
So the reprobate doctrine, what is it? Why do we believe it?
And here's the thing. Today, we would be told by most Christians would say that they don't agree with the reprobate doctrine.
In fact, this is one of the doctrines that people just hate our church for and preach against us and say we're hateful people
because today you're told God doesn't give up on anybody, and God won't give up on anybody,
and you could get saved up to your dying moment.
And I would say for most people, that's true.
God doesn't give up on most people, and most people could get saved even up to their dying moment.
But the Bible teaches that God does give up sometimes
and that people cross a line with God as to when they can be saved.
I'm going to break this down for you tonight. I hope you'll take some notes, and I hope you'll have a heart to listen and to hear,
especially if maybe you don't agree with us on this subject.
I would encourage you to follow along and look at the Bible and forget about the messenger
or forget about whether you like how I delivered or whatever and just ask yourself, what is the Bible saying?
Because at the end of the day, that's all that matters is what the Bible says.
All that matters is what God says, what God's Word says, and as Baptists, we should just say,
you know what, the Bible says it, and that's good enough for me.
But let's talk about this idea of the reprobate doctrine.
Let's start, number one, with the deviance of a reprobate.
The deviance of a reprobate. I'm going to give you four kind of headings or sections for this doctrine,
and maybe that will help you keep track of it.
The first one is the deviance of a reprobate.
I use that word on purpose, deviance, because the word deviance is defined as deviating or departing from the norm,
characterized by deviation or deviant social behavior.
Deviance is when somebody deviates from what normal social behavior is.
They depart from the norm, and that's exactly what the reprobate doctrine is about.
You're there in Romans chapter 1. We're going to start at verse 24.
I'm going to come back and cover some of the verses before that here in a little bit.
We're going to go through the entire section of this chapter that deals with this passage.
Romans 1 and verse 24 says this,
Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness.
I want you to notice the deviance of a reprobate through the lust of their own hearts.
Notice these words, to dishonor.
What they do is not honorable, it's dishonorable 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.
I'll come back to that verse in a little bit. Look at verse 26.
For this cause, God gave them up, notice these words, unto vile affection.
The word vile means morally wicked.
The Bible says that he gave them up to morally wicked affections, vile affections.
For even their women did change.
Now I want you to notice these words.
In fact, if you don't mind writing in your Bible or underlining in your Bible,
I would encourage you to circle these words.
For even their women did change the, notice this word, natural.
The natural use into that which is, notice these words, against nature.
I want you to notice the deviance of a reprobate, the reason that they depart,
we say they're deviant individuals, is because they depart from the norm.
They deviate from normal social behavior.
In fact, the Bible says that they dishonor themselves, their own bodies,
through the lust of their own hearts, that they've been given up unto vile affections.
And then the Bible says that what they do is unnatural.
It says that for this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections
for even their women to change the natural use.
So they changed what was the natural use into that which is against nature.
The Bible says that what these people do is not natural, it's not normal.
Notice verse 27.
And likewise also the men, leaving, notice the words, the natural use.
Again, unnatural.
The natural use of the woman.
Here we have men who have left the natural use of the woman,
and notice, burned in their lust, one toward another, men with men.
What are we talking about here?
Homosexuality.
Men with men working that which is unseemly,
the word unseemly means not proper, not appropriate,
and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
You could write in your margin of your Bible, right next to that verse there,
just write the word aids.
Notice verse 28.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind.
Notice to do those things which are not convenient.
The word convenient means what comes easily, what comes naturally.
I want you to notice when we talk about the deviance of a reprobate,
we're talking about the fact that they do things that normal people do not do.
They do things that normal people do not desire.
They do things that do not come naturally to people.
See, the truth of the matter is this, we're all sinners.
Everyone's a sinner.
We've all sinned.
However, the Bible says that there are some sins that are unnatural.
Everybody, by nature, performs natural sins.
But there are some things that are unnatural.
They don't come naturally.
They don't come normally to an individual.
Here, God gives us an example in Romans 1 of homosexuality or sodomy,
a man with a man, a woman with a woman.
But you know, those aren't the only unnatural sins
and I won't take the time to go through all the different passages and show you everything,
but some of the things that we would put in that category of unnatural, of course, is sodomy.
Same-sex attraction is not normal.
It's not natural.
I'm going to just tell you right now, you guys,
this sermon is not going to go well if I don't get some amens, all right?
I'm going to stop preaching on the sodomites
and start preaching on men that don't want to back their pastor up, all right?
So how about you help me out and say, amen, if you agree?
I'm assuming you agree that sodomy is not natural.
Pedophilia is not natural.
A grown man being attracted to a child is not normal.
Bestiality is not natural.
A human being being attracted to an animal is not natural.
These are things that we would say is a deviant behavior.
Reprobates, according to the Bible, are the only ones who desire these unnatural sins.
You understand?
Now, look, there are some major sins out there that we preach against.
We preach against fornication.
We preach against adultery.
We preach against drinking alcohol.
We preach against all sorts of things, and we're against all those things.
But you know what?
It's normal for a man to be attracted to another man.
Excuse me, good night.
To be attracted to another woman,
obviously it's normal for a young man that's not married
to be attracted to a young lady.
Now, we're against fornication.
We preach against fornication.
We throw people out of church for fornicating.
But that's a major sin.
But we're not going to call them a reprobate for that.
However, there are some sins that the Bible says are unnatural.
They're not convenient.
They're not normal.
And here's the point.
In order to partake in those sins,
something had to have happened for them to be able to do that.
Now, let me just make this clear,
because this is where people often misunderstand our position on the reprobates.
People think that we say,
oh, when somebody does sodomy, that makes them a reprobate.
That's wrong.
That's not what we believe.
What we believe is this,
that somebody can do sodomy because they are a reprobate.
Somebody can go down these roads of unnatural sins
because they have been given over to a reprobate mind.
So we have the deviance of a reprobate
that teaches us that they deviate from that which is normal.
Normal people do not desire unnatural sins.
Normal people do not desire these types of things.
Only a reprobate does.
So look, when we look at a situation where there is unnatural desires
burning in the lust one towards another,
then we can walk away from that saying,
that person is a reprobate.
Because a normal man is not attracted to children.
A normal man is not attracted to animals.
A normal man is not attracted to other men.
Or normal women are not attracted to other women.
So we have the deviance of a reprobate.
But now let's talk about the development of a reprobate.
Go back. You're there in Romans chapter 1.
Go back up to verse number 18.
The development of a reprobate.
How does this happen?
How does somebody go down the road
where they cross a line with God and become a reprobate?
The Bible gives us here an idea of how this takes place
and how somebody comes to this place.
I want you to notice, first of all, they knew God.
And by the way, let me just say this.
Every human being born on earth knows God.
Knows of God.
You say, well, how could you say that?
Here's why.
Because God reveals himself to mankind.
Now, not every human being has heard a clear testimony of the gospel.
Not every human being has maybe even heard from the word of God.
But God has revealed himself to every human.
You say, how can you say that?
Here's why.
The Bible tells us that God reveals himself through creation.
We've actually talked about this in our doctrinal series.
Look at Romans chapter 1 in verse number 18.
The Bible says, for the wrath of God.
I want you to notice the wrath of God is revealed.
Now, when we talk about the fact that God reveals himself to mankind,
I want you to notice God reveals himself through creation but only the wrath of God.
Now, what you and I preach when we go out and preach the gospel
is we're preaching the good news.
We're preaching the good news of God.
We're preaching the good news of salvation.
The good news is not revealed through creation.
That must be revealed through a soul winner preaching the gospel.
But the Bible says that the wrath of God is revealed.
You see that word reveal there?
It means to make known, to disclose, to reveal.
The wrath of God is revealed, notice, from heaven.
That is a reference to nature.
From heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man.
Notice, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
The Bible tells us here that unsaved people hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Even though they're unrighteous, even though they're not saved, right?
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
We're all unrighteous.
Here, we're told that they hold the truth in unrighteousness.
So even the unsaved people hold the truth of God in their heart.
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them.
Verse 20, notice, for the invisible things of him from the creation, again that's nature,
of the world are clearly seen.
Those words mean they're manifest, they're revealed, they're shown,
being understood by the things that are made.
You see that?
You say, what are the things that are made? That's creation.
Even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.
Here's the point, and you know this, I've taught this to you before.
Everybody is born, every human that's born can look up at nature, at creation.
They can see the sun, the stars, the moon.
They can see nature, and that reveals to them the fact that there is a God.
There's a reason why every civilization, every group of men and women
that have gathered throughout the history of the world have all believed in God.
They believed in a God, they believed in something, some sort of form of that.
You say, well what about people that are atheists? Nobody's born an atheist.
Nobody's, you talk to an atheist, you know, how long you been an atheist?
I've been an atheist my whole life. No one will say that.
Because everybody's born with a belief of God, a revelation of God,
and they have to be brainwashed into not believing in God.
They have to be convinced into not believing in God.
See, God reveals himself through creation.
The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen
being understood by the things that are made.
Even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.
Not only does God reveal himself through creation,
but even more powerfully than that, God reveals himself through the conscience.
Notice verse 19 again.
Because that, and notice what it says.
Because that which may be known.
The word known there is referring to knowledge.
That which may be known of God is manifest.
The word manifest means readily perceived, evident, apparent, is manifest in church.
Is that what it says?
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in the Bible.
Is that what it says?
Now church will definitely make manifest the things of God.
The Bible will definitely make manifest the things of God.
But this is not what the Bible says here.
The Bible says because that which may be known of God is manifest in them.
Inside of them.
For God hath showed it unto them.
The word showed there means to be seen or to become visible.
The Bible says that God has revealed himself in them.
You're there in Romans chapter 1.
Just flip over to Romans chapter number 2.
Romans chapter number 2.
That's why even atheists when they find themselves in positions where they might lose their lives call out to God.
You say why is that?
Because everybody in their heart knows there is a God.
God has revealed himself through creation but God has also revealed himself through conscience.
Romans 2. Look at verse 14.
For when the Gentiles which have not the law.
Now here we're talking about a group of people that the oracles of God were not given to.
The word of God was not given to them.
For when the Gentiles Paul tells us which have not the law notice do by nature.
By nature the things contained in the law.
These having not the law are a law unto themselves.
Which show the work of the law written in their hearts.
Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts.
The meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
Notice that the Bible says here that by nature the things contained in the law they are in themselves.
They are a law unto themselves for the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness.
Isn't it interesting that all throughout human history even in areas where the word of God has not been preached.
Where the laws of God have not been given.
People have gone married.
I mean men and women have gone married. Had children. Had families.
And by and large except for maybe some reprobate cultures.
People have seen things like adultery as a negative thing.
People have seen things like stealing as a negative thing.
People in general have seen things like murder as a negative thing.
Did they need God's law to tell them that?
Now God's law does tell them that but they didn't really need God's law to tell them that.
God had already put his law in their hearts. It's called a conscience.
You ever heard of somebody having a guilty conscience?
They feel bad because they did something.
They don't need a preacher or a Bible or a law to tell them you did something wrong.
I mean all those things are available but sometimes it's just that conscience that God put inside of you.
That conscience is God revealing himself in you and to you.
So God reveals himself through nature, only the wrath of God.
And God reveals himself through conscience.
Now notice verse, if you go back to Romans 1, look at verse 20.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power in Godhead.
He says, so that they are without excuse.
Notice, nobody will ever stand before God and have a reason or have an excuse as to why they couldn't get saved.
Now please understand this.
Whether they know the gospel or not, because sometimes people get to say, well what if they never heard the gospel?
Well look, if they never heard the gospel, that's your fault.
That's my fault.
God has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation.
God has given unto us the ministry of going and preaching the gospel unto all the earth.
That's why we sang that song this morning.
That all the earth may know.
God has given to us the job, the task of reaching the world with the gospel.
But yet no one will ever stand before God with an excuse.
Why? Because whether they know the gospel or not, they know God.
They know there is a God.
Their creation reveals God. Their conscience reveals God.
Because God reveals himself through conscience and creation.
Everyone and anyone that stands before God will stand, the Bible says, without excuse.
Now we could love them and help them out a little bit.
We could love them and knock on their door and say, you know that guilty conscience you feel?
You know how you are struggling with this idea of God and guilt and shame?
God put that in you to draw you to him.
Let me teach you about God. Let me teach you about his son, that he died on the cross.
Let me explain the good news to you.
We don't really need to spend a lot of time on the bad news.
People's guilty conscience is often enough for them to realize, I'm a sinner and I deserve help.
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 when they knew God, notice what they chose.
They chose, the Bible says, they glorified him not as God.
Neither were thankful.
It 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 a 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 worshipping 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 worshipping 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 a 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 worshipped 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.
Notice, 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 a corruptible 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, to the lust 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, burnt in their lust, one toward another, men with men,
working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves,
that recompense of their error, which was me.
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.
To do those things which are not convenient.
So look, the Bible clearly teaches that God, people, they know God, they reject God,
and then God eventually rejects them.
Now let me just give some thoughts here for some common questions that I receive in regards to this idea.
First of all, let me just say this, not every atheist is a reprobate.
And the truth of the matter is this, that we don't even know really who is or isn't a reprobate,
because not every reprobate is even a sodomite, or a homosexual, or whatever you want to call them.
Now look, you can't go down that road unless you've been given over to a reprobate mind,
but you may have been given over to a reprobate mind and not fully gone down that road yet.
Does that make sense?
Here's what I believe and here's what we believe here at Very Baptist Church.
Every sodomite is a reprobate, but not every reprobate is a sodomite.
Every pedophile is a reprobate, but not every reprobate is a pedophile yet.
Look, you give them long enough, they'll all go down that road.
You give them long enough, they'll all go down that road of depravity,
because they've been given over to this reprobate mind.
Please understand that it's not like only the sodomites are a reprobate.
There are all sorts of reprobates.
And you say, well, you know, why do you queue in on the unnatural sins?
Well, first of all, because Paul did.
But secondly, because that does give us a clear, when somebody's doing unnatural sins,
that gives us a clear testimony that person's a reprobate.
But that doesn't mean that somebody who hasn't done those things couldn't also be a reprobate,
because becoming a reprobate is a road you go down.
You take steps in that direction, and you go down that road long enough
that you eventually cross a line, and God rejects you.
Now, where that line is, we don't know.
It's in different places for different people.
That's why we want to get as many people saved as possible, as young as possible,
so that people don't go down that road.
And let me tell you something.
The devil is doing a wonderful job at getting everybody on that reprobate road.
In fact, I would say this.
If you put your kids in the public school system,
I'm not saying every kid in the public school system is a reprobate.
Don't walk out of here saying that I said that.
That's not what I'm saying.
But I am telling you this.
You put your kids in the public school system, and the devil is lining them all up
and just having them start walking down that road.
I mean, why else would the devil be teaching kindergartners and first graders,
having them read these little books about, I've got two dads.
Let me tell you about my two moms.
Starting them with sex education in second grade and third grade
to teach them all sorts of perversion.
Having transvestites come in and read books to little children.
They're trying to bring them down the reprobate road.
That's why they're teaching evolution to them.
That's why they're teaching them there's no God.
That's why they're teaching them that they came from animals.
Why?
The devil is doing his best to put people down this road,
to reject God as early as possible,
to teach them about perversion as early as possible,
to get them down that road.
Please understand this.
We live in a society that's all messed up.
It's all crazy.
We've got somebody running for governor who's a transvestite,
and that's just accepted.
I mean, people aren't just talking about riots.
Good night.
That's worth a riot.
And I didn't say go start a riot.
Let me just cover myself there.
The point is this.
There is a road people go down.
And by the way, let me just say this,
and I don't want to get into every little detail or whatever,
but sometimes people start going down that road,
and we might look at it and say,
yeah, you were definitely on that road,
and you know they got off that road,
and just in time to get saved,
and we understand that too,
and we want to have grace and show people love
and all those things,
but the point is this,
that people go down these unnatural sins,
and the way that they get there
is because they're a reprobate.
They knew God.
They reject God, and God eventually rejects them.
Let me also say this,
because I get asked these questions a lot.
You know, somebody performing a sodomite act,
does that make them a reprobate automatically?
Well, again, it's not like taking the mark
of the beast where you perform an action,
and that makes you a reprobate.
The way you go down this road is by becoming a reprobate,
and look, we live in a society
where young children are being told,
just try it.
Just try it to see if you'll like it.
And some of these young people in these schools,
they don't have a church like this.
They don't have parents like you,
and they're thinking, well, maybe I am.
I mean, I heard a story of a young guy,
and it was kind of a funny story,
but he came home and told his older brother.
He said, I think I'm gay.
And his brother's like, what?
What are you talking about?
He said, well, my school teacher said you might be gay.
And he's like, you know what that means?
And he explains to him.
He's like, oh, no, I'm not that, you know?
But you've got these school teachers telling you,
hey, you might be a homosexual.
Try it.
Obviously, because of drugs and alcohol and abuse
and all sorts of reasons,
there might be a reason why somebody has had
that type of stuff happen to them,
and they're not a reprobate.
We understand that.
You know, the key words that the Bible says
is that they burned in their lust one towards another.
And we're going to have to become very adapt to this
because the more and more that we minister in 2021
and 2022 and 2023,
we're just going to find a lot more young people
who have been forced and coerced to go down this road.
And they realize, I'm not burning in my lust one toward another.
I don't like this.
And they're able to come out of it and get saved,
and the Lord is able to restore them and help them.
But look, please understand, there's a big difference
between a teenager that was a little confused
and some 40-year-old drag queen
that's been doing this for 30 years
burning in their lust one towards another.
Those are two different things.
So there's the deviance of a reprobate.
There's a development of a reprobate.
And then thirdly, there's the depravity of a reprobate.
How can somebody do these things?
How can a man even be attracted to these things?
The reason is they're depraved.
The word depraved means morally bad or evil,
to make corrupt.
The Bible tells us in Romans 1.28, it says,
Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate.
Reprobate mind.
To do those things which are not convenient.
Keep your place there in Romans.
Go with me to the book of Jeremiah, if you would.
In the Old Testament, you've got Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel.
Jeremiah, chapter 6.
You know the verse, but let's look at it.
What does the word reprobate mean?
Well, the Bible defines it for us in Jeremiah,
chapter number 6, and verse 30.
Jeremiah 6.30 says this,
Reprobate silver shall men call them.
Now here, the prophet Jeremiah is talking about the fact
that there are people that are going to be called reprobates,
or reprobate silver.
And the idea, of course, when we talk about metals
and silver and gold, gold would have to,
once it's brought out of the ground,
it would have to be refined.
You would mine it, then you'd refine it.
And refining is a process of purging,
where you would boil it and have all the impurities
boil up to the top,
and those impurities would be removed
in order to make the silver pure.
Jeremiah is talking about the fact that
when they would take something like silver
and they would refine it, they would heat it up
so that all the impurities would come up to the top,
that dross at the top, they would remove that,
and they would call that reprobate silver.
It came from the silver, but it was trash.
It was reprobate.
It was something they did not want.
That's what Jeremiah is referring to.
He says there are people like that.
He says reprobate silver shall men call them.
You say, why would anybody look at somebody
and say that's a reprobate, or that's reprobate silver?
Here's why.
Because the Lord hath rejected them.
I get sick and tired of these Christian organizations.
We're not giving up on anybody,
no matter how bad you are,
no matter how wicked you are,
we're not giving up on you.
Let me tell you something.
I'm all for love, I'm all for patience,
I'm all for forgiveness, I'm all for all those things.
But when you're forgiving more than God forgives,
you're forgiving too much.
I mean, when you love so much that you outlove God,
the Bible says God is love,
and if God gave them up,
there's nothing you can do about it, friend.
Reprobate silver shall men call them.
Here's why.
Because the Lord has rejected them.
When the Lord has rejected you,
when the Lord has rejected someone,
there's nothing anyone can do for them.
Because the Lord has rejected them.
Go to 1 Timothy 4.
1 Timothy chapter 4.
If you can find the t-books,
they're all clustered together.
1 Timothy Thessalonians, 1 Timothy Titus,
1 Timothy chapter 4.
See, the Bible says that they've been given over
to a reprobate mind.
What does that mean exactly?
What it means is that their conscience,
because remember, God revealed Himself
through creation and conscience.
Creation reveals God.
Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare
the glory of God.
That the heaven and nature itself declares to us
the amazement of God.
He reveals Himself through nature,
and He reveals Himself through conscience.
You know, even unsaved people,
even unsaved people would say,
you don't do that to a child.
You don't hurt a child that way.
You say, why would an unsaved person do that?
Because they might not be saved,
but they still got a conscience.
God gave them a conscience.
You say, well, why would these people do it?
1 Timothy chapter 4, look at verse 1.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,
that in the latter times,
by the way, we're living in the latter times,
according to the Bible.
Some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies and hypocrisy,
I want you to notice these words,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
The Bible says that there are people
who can have their conscience seared.
This is what the Bible refers to
when it says that God gave them
over to a reprobate mind
to do those things which are not convenient.
You know what it means to sear something?
This is often something that's done
if somebody would maybe have a wound
that's bleeding, and they might die,
it's bleeding so much,
you might take a hot iron
and you would place it over their wound
in order to burn that skin together,
to make it callous,
to make it hardened so that you can't feel it.
When something is seared,
it's burned so that there's no longer feeling there.
The Bible says that their conscience is seared.
Their conscience is callous,
it's unfeeling, it's hardened,
it's seared with a hot iron.
Their conscience is seared,
this is what it means when the Bible says
that they were given over to a rejected or reprobate mind.
Go to Titus chapter number one.
Titus chapter one,
and we can go into a lot more detail
about the mind and all that.
We got a documentary called Psychopath Reprobates,
I think it's out there or it's on YouTube somewhere,
and you can find it
and we went through all that information even medically.
Titus 1 and verse 15 says this,
unto the pure all things are pure,
but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.
Notice these words,
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Their conscience is defiled.
Your conscience is supposed to be the moral aspect of you.
God put it in you to tell you,
no don't do that, that's wrong.
Even when we sit against our own conscience and do that,
which our conscience tells us not to do,
we feel guilt and shame for having done it.
These people, their conscience itself is defiled.
It's like having a conscience saying,
yeah steal from that person,
yeah kill that person,
yeah rape that person,
yeah take advantage of that child.
Their conscience, their mind and their conscience is defiled.
Verse 16, they profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him,
being abominable and disobedient
and unto every good work,
here's our word, reprobate.
No matter how good they are, they're reprobates.
You say why?
Because they have a depraved mind.
Their conscience has been seared.
They've been given over to a reprobate mind.
This is the only way that they can do these unnatural sins,
because normal people can't perform these unnatural sins.
Period.
So how can they?
Because their conscience is seared.
And by the way, that's why I say,
when someone goes down that road,
you find out that they had all this child pornography on their computer or whatever,
that's a reprobate.
Their conscience has been seared.
A normal person wouldn't go down that road,
wouldn't find any attraction in that.
It's unnatural.
Their mind and their conscience is defiled.
Go back to Romans chapter 1, look at verse 29.
We talked about the deviance of reprobates.
We talked about the development of reprobates.
We talked about the depravity of reprobates.
Let's talk about the danger of reprobates.
You say, what's the big deal?
Why are you guys so angry about this?
You know, we preach about this stuff.
What's the big deal?
You know what? Here's the big deal.
The Bible says that these people are extremely dangerous.
I mean, what did you think if there was people out there who had no conscience?
No moral boundaries.
Nothing in them that tells them, don't do that.
Don't go there.
Don't tell that lie.
Don't take advantage of these people.
I mean, you would imagine that these would be highly dangerous people.
Here's what the Bible says about them.
Here's how God describes in Romans 1, 29, being filled with all.
Now, I want you to notice those words, being filled with all.
We're going to come back to that in a minute.
Here's how these people are.
Unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness.
Maliciousness is a desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on others.
Full of envy, murder.
You know what murder is.
Debate, deceit, malignity.
Malignity means to speak evil or harmful things.
Whispers, backbiters, haters of God.
Despiteful, it means they're spiteful, they're malicious.
Proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers.
Notice, without natural affection, they lack empathy.
Implicable, that means they will not be appeased, they will not be pacified.
Unmerciful.
The only way they could do the things they do is to be unmerciful, and implacable, and without natural affection.
And you know, the Bible paints this picture and tells it, look, if you knew somebody, if you knew somebody,
and they were characterized as unrighteous, fornicators, wicked, covetous, malicious, full of envy, murder,
debate, deceit, malignity, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of all things,
disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful, you stay away from that person.
That's a pretty bad person.
Now here's what people have to say, well, you know, I mean, it says they're disobedient to parents.
So, you know, all kids are disobedient, does that mean they're all reprobate?
Here's what you need to understand. Here's the key to understanding this passage.
The key begins with the first four words, verse 29, being filled with all.
See, normal people can do, normal people can murder. Normal people can have envy.
Normal people can be malicious, can be backbiters, can be proud, can be boasters.
The thing is that reprobates are all of this. They're filled with all of this.
And what God is trying to tell us is that these people are highly dangerous people.
You say, Pastor, you don't understand, I work with a sodomite, and he's just a real nice, just a kind of a quirky guy.
And he's a nice guy. Well, he's lying to you.
And the Bible says that they're filled with all these things.
Look, they're wicked, dangerous people, all of them.
And again, the world, see, here's what the world wants to do.
The devil doesn't want people to go to heaven.
The devil wants people to go to hell.
He's waging war on God.
And the best way for him to do that is to put as many people, there's this road called the reprobate road,
and if he can just get them started down that road, put them on that road and say, go right over there,
he knows as long as he can get them down that road without a soul winner snatching them off that road,
they're going to go to hell.
And so how does he do that? He does that through public education, teaching children there is no God,
teaching them to try perverted things, try it, you might like it, just try it.
How does he do that? He does that through media.
Look, you don't have to be blind to not see the fact that there is a concerted effort by our media
to just uphold and just put every, I mean, if you watch some show or whatever,
and I'm not encouraging you to do that, but here's the point,
you watch whatever the media puts out and they act like every other neighbor is a homosexual.
That's not true. Like every coworker you got is a sodomite.
And they're all the nicest, they're all the most loyal, they all have the most integrity.
That's not true. The Bible says they're wicked.
Look, at some point we as Christians are going to have to decide, do we believe the Bible or not?
Because I believe the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
And you know, when I read the Bible from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation,
and I read the Bible and I think to myself, let me just see what God thinks about sodomites.
You know what he thinks about them? Nothing good.
Every time they come up in the Bible, they're trying to rape somebody,
they're trying to molest somebody, they're trying to hurt somebody,
the sons of Belial are trying to take advantage of people.
God never shows you the quirky guy.
He never shows you the nice little couple that they're just nice people.
Either God's wrong or you're wrong and I'm putting my money with God
if I was a gambling person, which I'm not. That's another sermon for another day.
I'm just saying this, I'm going to trust God before I trust Hollywood.
I'm going to trust God before I trust the public school education system.
I'm going to trust God before I trust the government.
And what God tells me is that these people are wicked as hell.
They're dangerous. They're filled with wickedness and maliciousness and murder and malignity.
They're haters of God.
These reprobates are extremely dangerous people.
They hate the Lord.
And look, all of them hate God. Period.
Oh, well, I know this church and they've got a sodomite, you know, they've got a lesbian pastor.
I mean, that is so wrong on so many levels, I don't even know where to start.
I go to this church and there's these members there, they're homos, but they love the Lord. No, they don't.
Look, why don't you just say, I don't believe the Bible, I don't care what God says.
My authority is the television.
I spend more time watching the stinking hellavision than I do reading the Bible anyway,
so I'm just going to let the television tell me what to believe.
The Bible says they hate the Lord. The Bible says they're wicked.
The Bible says that they are dangerous.
This is why the Bible tells us, we talked about it on Wednesday night,
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
Am I not grieved with those that rise up against me, against thee?
I hate them with perfect hatred, I count them mine enemies.
You say, Pastor Jimenez, you know, aren't you supposed to love your enemies?
I'm supposed to love my enemy. Yes, absolutely.
I believe that.
I'm supposed to love my neighbor, I'm supposed to love my enemies,
I'm supposed to help people or whatever,
but when people hate the Lord, they become reprobates,
and the only way someone could become a reprobate is by rejecting my God and hating him.
You know, I, like David, say I count them mine enemies.
You say, so, you know, what do you think about some sodomite down the street or whatever,
what do you think about him? He's my enemy.
I hate him.
I want nothing to do with him.
I don't want my children around him.
You say, well, what if it's a co-worker? You should hate him.
I didn't say beat him up.
I didn't say, you know, get yourself arrested or whatever. I didn't say none of that.
You say, well, at work I gotta be, you know, nice and friendly.
You be polite and cordial and do whatever you gotta do, but don't be friends with those people.
You hate them.
You know, what if it's my neighbor? Hate him!
What if it's my family member? Hate him!
I don't care if it's your Siamese twin, you hate them.
The Bible says that they are haters of God. They're wicked!
I count them mine enemies.
The Bible says they're dangerous people, and the Bible says they're worthy of death.
Romans chapter 1, look at verse 32.
Now, again, people are gonna cut this off and make whatever clips they want,
and they can do whatever they want. It doesn't make a difference to me.
Our job is not to carry forth the judgment of the death penalty.
That is a job that God gave the government.
I'm not saying that there's something we should go do and whatever,
but I'm gonna tell you this is what God thinks about it,
and if we lived in a righteous government, this is what that government would do.
Romans 1, 32 says this,
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things...
This is how Romans 1 ends.
I mean, he develops this whole thing.
They knew God. They rejected God. God rejected them.
They've been given over to a reprobate mind. They're dangerous. They've defiled.
And he says, Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death,
not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
The Bible says that they are worthy of death.
Go to Leviticus chapter 20.
Leviticus chapter 20.
You have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 20.
God put the death penalty on this behavior.
And again, I'm not saying we should go do it. I'm not saying that we need to take up arms.
You didn't hear me say that.
But this is what the Bible says should be done to these people.
There's no reforming them.
There's no changing it.
Leviticus 20, 13 says,
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lies with a woman.
That's homosexuality.
A man lying with another man the way that he would lie with a woman.
Both of them have committed an abomination.
They shall surely be put to death.
Their blood shall be upon them.
That's what the Bible says.
Oh, well, that's what the Bible says in Leviticus.
That's the Old Testament, a different dispensation, a different God.
God was angry back then. He needed a nap.
Okay, well, Romans 1 says they're worthy of death.
That's the New Testament.
Also, all these liberals want to always tell you about how we're supposed to love our neighbor, love our neighbor, and I'm all for loving my neighbor.
But let me remind you that the phrase, Love thy neighbor, is a quote from Leviticus.
Leviticus taught us to love our neighbor.
And then Leviticus says, If a man also lie with mankind, as he lies with a woman.
Both of them have committed an abomination.
They shall surely be put to death.
And these two verses do not contradict each other.
Because when you put people that are dangerous to death, you're actually loving your neighbor.
You're protecting your community.
You're protecting your community when you take these wicked reprobates that are dangerous people and put them to death.
And again, I'm not saying that that's something we should do.
But the Bible teaches that this is how they should be dealt with.
If God established the government, that's what he would do.
In fact, when God established the government, that's what he did.
Reprobates are worthy of death.
And look, this sermon in our society is like the most unpopular thing you could preach.
I mean, the LGBTQ movement has so much power in our society today that everyone's afraid to cross them.
Even Christians who don't agree with homosexuality, they're not going to get up and say anything real, you know, hard against it.
Oh, homosexuality is a sin.
Like, yeah, we know that.
You know, but getting up and preaching the way I'm preaching, I mean, there's very few churches in this country that are going to do that.
You say, Well, why would you even preach this? Here's why.
Because look, this is the battle of our day.
This is what we're dealing with.
Do you understand that we're dealing with a reprobate culture in the United States of America and in the world?
I mean, the devil has done such a great job at pushing this agenda, pushing this agenda, pushing people away from God, pushing people to reject God.
This is the big deal. This is the big issue.
And we as Christians, we need to stand up and, you know, you say, Why would you preach this sermon?
Why would you preach this sermon? First of all, I want you guys to be firm on what we believe.
And by the way, at Very Baptist Church, we've always believed this, from day one.
I mean, the first book I preached through was the book of Genesis on September 5, 2010.
On Sunday night, you go on our website, I stood up and preached Genesis chapter 1.
And 19 weeks later, 19 weeks into our church, Genesis 19, I was preaching this.
This is what we've always believed. This is what we've always stood.
And as Christians, we need to just understand, and look, it's good for you to know this.
It's good for you to be reminded of these things because we have this constant pressure to back down, to back off, to not speak, to not say.
Let me tell you something. The world is bold in their message.
I mean, the world has no problem getting their message out.
Their filth, their brainwashing, I mean, they have no problem.
They'll put posters up, they'll put billboards up, you can't go on a flight without seeing a picture of two guys kissing each other.
I mean, they're bold in their message.
It's time that Christians get some boldness too.
It's time for Christians that get a little bit of backbone and say, you know what, I'm sick and tired of going down this road of the media telling us what to believe.
Here's what the Bible says.
The Bible says that they're worthy of death. The Bible says that they've been given over to a reprobate mind.
The Bible says there's no hope for them.
Now, we shouldn't put them to death. That's not our job.
But I'll tell you this, they're not coming into this church.
We're not creating a ministry for them.
In fact, I was talking about this prison ministry we have.
I've been working with the guys and we've been developing a plan and a strategy to maybe even expand it and partner with different people
and get more people, more prisoners. We want to reach these people in prison with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that we're supposed to visit the prisoners and minister to them.
In my opinion, there's two types of people in prison.
Those who don't belong there.
Because in the Bible, there are no prisons.
In the Bible, you steal something, you're supposed to pay it back fourfold.
There's corporal punishments where people get beaten for certain things or whatever.
In my opinion, there's two types of people in prison.
Those who don't belong there because whatever they did to get there, the answer is not prison biblically.
And then there's those who deserve to die.
Because they're just a bunch of reprobate pedophiles or whatever and they should be put to death.
In this prison ministry, we have all these sermons we send to all these prisoners.
We start with the Bible's way to heaven, we start with Victoria's Christian life, we start with all these things about the Christian life.
But right about the sixth sermon, they get the Make America Straight Again sermon.
Because we don't want to minister to these people, we want to weed them out.
And you know, we have about 60 people on our mailing list right now, but over the last year and a half as we've been doing this,
there's been two or three where right about the time they get that Make America Straight sermon,
we get a letter saying, please discontinue me from your mailing list.
And you know, to me, I say, praise the Lord, we don't want you on our mailing list.
You filthy animal.
If this sermon offends you, you offend me.
If this sermon offends you, I'm worried about you.
If this sermon offends you, I don't want you anywhere near me or my family or our church.
So the Bible says that they're worthy of death, so we see the deviance of a reprobate.
They're not normal. They perform unnatural sins. Only reprobates would desire these unnatural sins.
We see the development of a reprobate. They knew God, they rejected God, and God eventually rejects them.
We're not saying that everyone who rejects God, it's not like you go out and give the gospel to someone and they reject it.
They're a reprobate, okay?
But eventually they reject God long enough, they're going to cross the line where God will reject them.
We see the depravity of reprobates.
They're given over to a reprobate mind, their conscience is seared,
and now they no longer have a conscience, which is what allows them to do these depraved things.
And we saw the danger of a reprobate.
They're extremely dangerous people, and according to the Bible, they're worthy of death.
The only way to deal with them, a responsible society, would put them to death.
There's no other hope. There's no other way to deal with them.
This is the reprobate doctrine.
This is what the Bible teaches.
And you know, we as Christians are just going to have to decide, do we believe the Bible or not?
That's why I had to have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word, thank you for the Bible.
And Lord, even these sermons that maybe are a little more difficult to hear or understand, Lord, I mean the Bible's so clear.
I pray you'd help us to just get boldness.
Lord, help us as Christians to just stop caring.