(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Psalms chapter 13, and originally we were going to go through Psalms 13 through 16, but I don't think we're going to get through it all today, because Psalms 14, I'm going to kind of change what my sermon was really about. Preach a really in-depth sermon. And so I'm going to quickly go through Psalms 13, because we've got a lot of stuff to focus on in Psalms 14. But in Psalms 13, starting at verse 1, the Bible reads, How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? Now, this is something that we all feel from time to time, as if God has departed from us. Now, obviously we know that when we're saved, we have the Spirit of God, and we're saved forever. And God's Spirit will not completely depart from us in terms of losing our salvation, because it is everlasting life. And we can never lose our salvation. But at the same time, God's presence being upon you, that can come and go, depending on how godly you are. So if somebody's living an ungodly life, then yes, you know what, the Lord might not answer your prayers. His Spirit might not be upon you to do great works. And there's this statement here in verse 1, but that's basically how the psalmist feels. Now, this can happen for a couple reasons. One, it can happen for sin, where the Lord just does depart from you. And the other reason why we can feel it's happening to us, even if it hasn't, is if the world just kind of kicks us around. That is something that happens quite a bit. We as Christians, as God's people, we come to church, we're serving God, but don't we all become depressed from time to time? Sometimes you're serving God, and you feel like, what's the purpose? Because it feels like the ungodly, wicked world is being exalted. They're the ones that are rich. They seem like they're so happy, and everything life has to offer. And from time to time, we can feel as if, what's the purpose of serving God? Is God even on my side? Now, that is what I think is happening in Psalms 13, where basically he feels like God is departed from him, even though there's no indication that he's living an ungodly life, okay? Verse number 2, the Bible reads, How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? So when he says, how long shall I take counsel in my soul, what he's basically saying is, it's as if I'm taking counsel with just myself and not with God. Basically, you know, God's not really answering my prayers. I'm doing this by myself. And as I said, I don't think that's really the case, but I think that's kind of how it feels. It's kind of a little bit depressed. How long shall I take counsel in my soul? So basically just taking counsel by himself, and he says he has sorrow daily. I don't think he has sorrow because he's living an ungodly life, but because of the fact, how long shall my enemy be exalted over me? And this is how we feel from time to time, when you have reprobates and bad people that are exalted in this world, and they hate our guts, and it seems like they're being blessed. They have the money, it seems like they have everything life has to offer, and you feel like, how long is our enemy being exalted over us? But quite honestly, this is what's going to take place our entire lives, because the ungodly people are going to be exalted by the world. That's just the way it is. But from time to time, we will start to feel down about this. Verse 3, Consider and hear me, O Lord my God, Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. He's asking for God's help and guidance because he doesn't want to die. He's like, I want to serve you, I love you, I want to serve you. Verse 4, Lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. Isn't it true that the enemies out there, they would love to see us fall and literally die? People that are bad people. And they would be happy about it. I remember when I had a friend of mine who died in college at the age of 20. This is someone I went soloing with a couple times every week. He was my soloing partner. We went together quite a bit. He loved God, he never drank, he never partied, he was serving God, and he tragically drowned when he was 20 years old. And I remember that an old church we had gone to like six months prior. Well, the pastor had the phone number of my roommate who didn't really ever go to his church, but he just kind of knew him from Bible studies and stuff like that. But the pastor sent a text message to my roommate and said, Man, I'm really worried about your friend. You know, man, I really hope he believes. Why? Because his message of salvation was different than ours. But basically he sent a message saying, Hey, your friend might have died and you died in hell. Now what kind of arrogant, foolish, and wicked statement is that? But that shows what's in his heart because in reality he hates us. Why? Because he's a Calvinist reprobate. He's a hardcore Calvinist and he hates our guts. And he sends a text message to my roommate just kind of suddenly saying, Well, you know, I'm not for sure. You know, I hope he was saved. And it's like, look, even if he wasn't, what good would that do? Look, I have known people. I remember someone I got saved in college and I really had to explain in depth about salvation. And when I explained it in depth, it made it very clear that their Pentecostal background was going to lead you straight to hell. And then her mom died like two weeks after that, who was a hardcore Pentecostal. Now, look, you know, I knew, of course, that her mom wasn't saved. You know, I can send a text message, you know, saying something. I don't know why you would do something like that. Even though I know that person's in hell, why would you even say that? What's the purpose of that? Even if it were true, why would you even do it? That's something that if you're a jerk, you would do. It's not something that you do if you're a normal person. Look, you know, there's wicked people out there. I'm not going to send text messages to their wives and their husbands saying, Ha ha, you know, I hope your husband's I wouldn't even do that. What's the purpose? Allow God to fight our battles. But that Calvinist pastor who hated our guts because we went to the church in the past and left when we understood the repentance topic, you know, obviously it shows what was in his heart. He didn't care about any of us. And, you know, he didn't like any of us. And, you know, whatever. Obviously, he preached a different gospel than the gospel we preach. Verse number four. And so this is what the enemy's going to say. They're going to feel like they prevailed against you. It's like, well, I must be right about this repentance topic because one of you died. I mean, isn't that stupid? Look, people die all the time. And our friend, you know, he didn't drink, he didn't party. Look, if God was going to strike somebody down dead, you know, it would be someone who was a wicked person, not someone who's just going about their life, going to college, being a nice, good person. Verse number five. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me. And this is something when it says I will sing unto the Lord, this is something we've got to put into practice. Because, honestly, a lot of people never sing songs to God, they never sing hymns, they never sing praises. But, you know, if you're going to be happy in your life and joyful, part of that is singing praises to God. That's actually going to keep you happy. And I know our lives get busy and we know that we need to pray to God, we know we need to read the Bible, but at the same time, honestly, you should take some time during the day to sing a song. Look, there's nothing wrong here. You're going for a walk or you're just, you know, doing whatever, you're in the shower, just, you know, singing praises to God during that time. Quite honestly, that will put you in a better mood. Now, go to Psalms 14 and we're going to spend a lot of time here. And this is going to be a really in-depth topic we're going to look at. But also turn to Psalms 53. So I want you to have your place in Psalms 14 and in Psalms 53. And we're going to compare these verses. Now, you know, we don't have really technology at our church, but this is honestly a time I wish we could have a screen and compare these verses, these chapters side by side. We're going to go back and forth in Psalms 14 and Psalms 53. Let's start in Psalms 14, verse number one. Okay, Psalms 14, verse number one. The Bible reads, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. Now, keep your place in Psalms 14. Let's go to Psalms 53. Psalms 53, verse number one. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. Notice that verse is almost identical to Psalms 14, verse one. Psalms 53, verse two. Psalms 53, verse two. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand that did seek God. Now, go back to Psalms 14. Psalms 14, verse number two. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. Notice how verse two in both those chapters is almost identical. There's a very slight change in the wording. Verse three in Psalms 14. Psalms 14, verse three. They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Okay? Go back to Psalms 53, verse number three. Every one of them has gone back. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. It's almost the same verse. Right. Psalms 53, verse four. Have the workers of iniquity, no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, they have not called upon God. Go back to Psalms 14. Psalms 14, verse four. Have all the workers of iniquity, no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord. Once again, verse four is almost identical. Let's read verses five through seven in Psalms 14. I'm all ready to. There were they in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous. He hath shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge. O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion, when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. Go back to Psalms 53, and we're going to read the last two verses here. There were they in great fear, where no fear was, for God hath scattered the bones of him that encamped against thee. Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them. O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion, when God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. What we're looking at in Psalms 14 and Psalms 53 is parallel chapters. They're basically identical. There's hardly a change. I'm sure you can do an in-depth study of those two chapters, and I'm sure there's a lot of great information, too, if you really study the slight changes there, which I didn't really do for this sermon. But what you're seeing is that these chapters are almost identical. And when God repeats something in the Bible, he repeats it for a reason. So obviously Psalms 14 is important. What's interesting is that one of the famous chapters that is parallel is 2 Peter 2 and the book of Jude, which is one chapter. Those chapters are about reprobates primarily. False prophets. There's other stuff mixed in. It's mainly about false prophets. And we look at Psalms 14 and Psalms 53, and what are you seeing? You're seeing the foolish atheists, and you're seeing the workers of iniquity. We are seeing the reprobates, or the people that are really wicked in this world. So these are parallel chapters in the Word of God. Now, for the sake of this sermon, we're not going to go back to Psalms 53. But obviously throughout this sermon you can go back there as well. It's almost identical to Psalms 14. But what I want you to do is turn to Romans chapter 3. And we are going to be in Romans 3 for a lot of this sermon. So I want you to keep your place in Romans 3 and Psalms 14. Because we'll be going back and forth, back and forth between those sections. And as you're in Romans 3, let me just read you in Psalms 14 verses 1 through 3 again. It says, The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Now when you read that, immediately what comes to your mind is Romans chapter 3. This is where we're getting Romans chapter 3 in these verses. It's quoting back to Psalms 14 and Psalms 53. Now this is going to be an in-depth topic on something you almost think we all know. Because Romans 3 is so famous to all of us, right? But you know, as famous as it is, quite honestly this is a really, really in-depth topic. I'll talk about that more during the sermon. But Romans 3 is quoting back from Psalms 14. So in Romans 3 verses 10 through 12, let me turn there myself. Because this was not in my original notes. But in Romans 3 verses 10 through 12, what does it say? As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. That is quoting back to Psalms chapter 14. And I'll tell you basically what I'm going to explain in this sermon. Because I remember when I really focused on this. I mean, I had noticed this before. But the spot kind of came into my head. I said, you know what? Whenever I go soul wedding, I quote Romans 3, 10. And I quote Romans 3, 23. And to say that basically everybody is a sinner. Which is obviously true, right? Everybody is a sinner. But what I thought in my head was, wait a minute. I'm quoting back to a chapter about reprobates. And so the thought came into my head, am I taking these verses out of context? Now, it wouldn't change the truth that we're all sinners. But I said, you know, if I'm taking those verses out of context, I don't want to use those verses in my soul. Now, if you've heard me preach the gospel any time recently, I use Romans 3, 10 and I use Romans 3, 23. Because I don't think they're out of context. And I don't think that you can just say they're just about reprobates. And I'll go really in depth to explain why this is and what's happening in Romans 3. But that thought came to my mind in the past. I actually asked many pastors and like-minded people that we know and soul winners. And I was asking them this question. And I said, so what is Romans 3 really about? Because they said, we go back to Psalms 14 and it's referring to reprobates. And if you talk to a Calvinist, they're going to tell you, see, everybody is just an evil person before they're saved. Because when you read Romans 3, in between verses 10 and 23, you're seeing about some really wicked people. And in the back of my head, I said, well, you know what? I don't want to take this out of context. And I had an open mind about it. When I studied it out, I realized, you know, Romans 3, 10 and verse 23, we're not taking them out of context. We want to be using someone. And I'll prove that to you in this sermon. But Calvinists will go to Romans 3 and they'll say, well, see, this is reprobates. And everybody's just, their feet are swift to shed blood in Romans chapter 3. And so I wondered in my head, are we taking these verses out of context? Can we only apply it to reprobates? I'll show you why that's not the case in this sermon. So this is a very in-depth topic. And honestly, it's important for us as soul-runners to know, for one, because Calvinists will use Romans 3, 10 and 23 against us. And for two, if we're using such famous verses, we want to know very fully what the context of Romans chapter 3 is. This does go back to Psalms chapter 14. Go back to Psalms 14. And let's look at verse number 4. Psalms 14, verse number 4. And it says in Psalms 14, now remember in the first verse it says, the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. So that's referring to an atheist, okay? And I don't 100% think that's only referring to an atheist and I'll explain why, although that's the main context. But in verse 4 it says, have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord. And so the Bible says, have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge. Now, we're going to look up the term workers of iniquity in the Bible, but somebody who works iniquity is an evil rapper. Right. Okay? But we're all sinners. But there's some people that are just fully set on working iniquity. They're just a bad person. They're an evil person, okay? The term workers of iniquity is really referring to someone who's a religious person fighting against the God of the Bible, okay? Even if they don't realize they're fighting against the God of the Bible. Now, in verse number 1, the context here is about atheists. Now, you would say atheists don't even believe in God. But the truth is that atheists, the one God they hate is the God of the Bible. Right. They hate that God. And quite honestly, atheists want to destroy the God of the Bible. They hate the God of the Bible. So quite honestly, they're basically religious reprobates. Yeah. They say they're atheists, but they're really religious reprobates. And so turn to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. Now, Matthew 7, verses 22 and verse 23, it's a great litmus test to see if somebody's saved or not. Because when you talk to an unsaved person, I mean, oftentimes when you talk to an unsaved person, you preach the gospel, you know, they will tell you to turn to Matthew 7, verses 22 and 23, to prove that you need to be a good person in order to go to heaven. Now, I read Matthew 7, 22 and 23, and I think it teaches the opposite. And it does teach the opposite, but they don't get that because they're the natural man, not the spiritual man. And so in Matthew 7, verses 22 and 23, it says, Many will say to me in a day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Notice, this is Jesus speaking, these are people that have prophesied in the name of Jesus. These are not Muslims. They're not Hindus because they're prophesying in the name of Jesus. They're not Buddhists. They're prophesying in the name of Jesus. Preaching in the name of Jesus. And in thy name have cast out devils. So, you know, we've got some Pentecostals here. So they're casting out devils by the name of Jesus Christ. Then it says, And in thy name done many wonderful works. These people are claiming they're doing all of this in the name of Jesus. These are people that claim to be Christians. These are very religious people that are claiming to be Christians and they think they're good people. Now, I believe that some of these really religious people are just phonies. Like, they know they're phonies. But I don't think they're all just phonies. Because the Bible talks about deceived and deceived. See, someone who gets deceived can become a deceiver where they're deceiving other people. But that doesn't change the fact that they might just be a deceived person and they think that what they believe is right. Look, Ray Comfort probably believes he's right. He's not. He's not saved. The priest is a false gospel. But he probably believes that he's right. John MacArthur probably believes he's right. He's not. He believes in a false gospel. John Piper, he probably believes he's right. See, all these religious reprobates, most of them probably believe they're correct. Now, I believe that there's some that are just fully realizing they're just an evil person. Like the pope. He obviously knows he's just a wicked, pedophile, evil person, right? But I believe that some of these people that are religious reprobates, they think they're living a really good life. I don't think they're all, you know, just sodomites and pedophiles. I definitely think a lot of them are. You know, we see that a lot from the fall of the prophets. But I think some of them are just deceived into thinking they're just such a great Christian. And they think they're just God's gift plan. They're just here to teach everybody. In reality, though, they're phonies and they're bad people, okay? But they're doing this in the name of Jesus. And yet in verse 23 it says, And then while I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that were iniquity. Notice how he says, I never knew you. He does not say, I once knew you and you lost your salvation. He doesn't say that. Remember what the Bible says in John 10? My sheep hear my voice and I know them. And they follow. He says, I know them. See, the people that are saved, God knows them. That's the terminology in the Bible. And yet in Matthew 7 23, he never knew them. I never knew you. Why does he say, I never knew you? Because they were never saved. Well, why were they never saved if they claimed to be Christians? Well, what did it say in verse 22? What were they trusting to get to heaven? Well, we prophesied in your name. We've cast out devils. We've done many wonderful works. I'm such a good person. I have to be saved. See, honestly, when it comes to most religious people and most Christians out there, they think they're going to go to heaven because they are a good person. They think they're a good enough person. And yet this shows what he is actually trusting. He is trusting his works. He's not trusting what the Lord did for him. He is trusting his wonderful works. Look, your works are not going to lose you to heaven. And look, let's say hypothetically that I ended up in hell one day. Okay, now obviously that can't happen because when you believe on Jesus, you have eternal life. But let's say I ended up in hell, I would plead to God, I believe. That's what I would say. I would say when I was 18 years old, I remember the place, October 9, 2003. I remember I heard the gospel and I went home that night. I got on my knees. I prayed to ask Jesus to save me. I believe. I thought it was just by faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and now shall be saved. Well, what do these people say when they end up in hell? But I've done all these good works. I mean, I've been a preacher. I mean, my books have sold millions of copies. I've convinced millions of people of Calvinism around the world. I've taught people how to speak in tongues. That's what they're going to say. Look at all these wonderful works we're doing. That is what they're trusting to get to heaven. They're trusting they're wonderful works. In reality, they're not so wonderful after all. But remember at the end of verse 23, it said, ye that work iniquity. So we're referring to religious people that are just bad people. And they might not realize they're bad people, but there's nothing worse than a false prophet sending people to hell. And so they are workers of iniquity and they can't do anything good. They're just working iniquity. They're bad people, okay? Now remember in Psalms 14, go back to Psalms 14 for a second. And in Psalms 14, verse 4, have all the workers of iniquity know knowledge? So realize in Psalms 14, verse 4, we're referring to the same group of people in Matthew 7, verse 23, workers of iniquity. I'm not saying they believe the exact same thing because in Psalms 14, this is referring to atheists, but people that are workers of iniquity or any sort of religious reprobate or anyone really fighting against the Bible, okay? And so it mentions workers of iniquity in Psalms 14, verse 4. They have no knowledge. Why? Because they're ever learning and never able to come under the knowledge of the truth. They think they have knowledge and they have none. They really think they go back to the Greek and they just use this exegesis, they exegetis passage, and man, they think they have knowledge. Man, I know how to pronounce this word in Greek. I can go back to the Hebrew. They think they have a lot of knowledge. We look at them and say, man, you don't know anything. You're foolish. It's like James White, you've been around for like 30 years and you know nothing. You listen, you explain a passage, and it goes straight over your head. All these verses that say Jesus died for everyone and yet you don't get it. You say, why? Because he's a religious rapper, a worker of iniquity, a bad person. Now turn to Romans 3. And I'll show you in Romans 3 how part of this certainly sounds like a rapper man. And I do believe that part of this is actually referring to a rapper man. But remember in Romans 3, 10 it says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Many of us, that's one of our first couple verses we use also to show people, hey, there's none righteous, no, not one. And it's true, there's none righteous, no, not one. But then you go three verses later and notice what it says in verse 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asks is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. In the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. This does not just sound like an unsafe person. This sounds like a rapper man. And look, the Calvinists are right on this verse and this is a child of the devil we're seeing in verses 13 and 18. What they're wrong on is they believe everybody's a child of the devil before they're saved. They believe everybody their feet are swift to shed blood. No, that's someone who becomes a child of the devil. So why is it that we transition in verses 13 to 18 to people that are really, really wicked people? I mean, when it says their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, look, before I was saved, I wasn't some wicked evil person. I didn't party. I didn't drink. You know, I didn't curse. I didn't use the Lord's name in vain. I mean, I was just a normal person, you know, going to college, getting a degree, and I wanted to know how to get to heaven. My mouth wasn't full of cursing and bitterness. Now I was a sinner. I'm not saying I wasn't a sinner, but I didn't go around just using the Lord's name in vain and just being a wicked person and cursing people. Verse 14, verse 15, their feet are swift to shed blood? That's saying their feet want to go to murder someone. Now wait a minute. The thought of murdering someone has never gone through my mind. I have never had a desire to kill people, and this says their feet are swift to shed blood. Like, they get an opportunity, man, I'm going to kill things. I'm going to kill that person. Now, I'm sorry, but the average person out there that we talk to, their feet are not swift to shed blood. They are not just looking to kill people. Okay? That's a weird person. That's someone whose mind and consciousness defy it. Okay? Verse 16, destruction and misery are in their ways. In a way of peace have they not known? And you can think of the gospel of peace. Obviously, these are people that are not safe. Verse 18, there is no fear of God before their eyes. And so I just remember looking at this passage in Romans 3, and I was really wanting to know what does the Bible say? Because I said, you know, I use Romans 3.10. I use Romans 3.23. And yet, when I read this passage, I see reprobates in between these verses. And I thought, is this just referring to reprobates? Because I wanted to really know what the Bible said. And I have decided in my mind that if I'm taking these verses out of context, I'll use some other verses to show people that they're killing. Now, as I said, I use Romans 3.10 and verse 23 every single gospel presentation. So I don't think we're taking them out of context. But what I want you to do is see this in verse number 18. It says, Now, ask yourself this question. When you look at all of the unsaved people out there, can we say that none of them fear God? We cannot say that. And I'll prove it to you. Acts 10. Acts 10. Because in the Bible, we see that Cornelius fears God. Right. Okay? Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. And so, when the Bible said in Romans 3, verse 18, there's no fear of God before their eyes, if we can prove that there is somebody that feared God that was not saved, then this cannot be referring to just unsaved people in Romans 3, verse 18. It must be referring to reprobates. Acts 2, verse 10, verses 1 and 2, There is a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian, and he says, He says, He says, He says, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much honestly to the people and prayed to God all way. And so in Acts 10, verse 2, it says a devout man that feared God. Now, I didn't have time to prove it, but I think all of us in this room know this, Peter makes it very clear that he led Cornelius. Cornelius was conversation comes because God sends Peter specifically to give the Gospel to Cornelius because he truly does fear God. And God wants to make sure that he hears the Gospel. So you cannot say that an unsaved man just automatically does not fear God because in Acts chapter 10 verses 1 and 2 we see an unsaved man that fears God. Look, some unsaved people fear God. The people that don't drink, that don't party, that are trying to just obey what they think is right, that have some sort of love for God even though they don't know the right way, look, those people do fear God. The people that say, I'm not going to fornicate, I'm not going to drink, I'm not going to live a worldly and ungodly life, there are unsaved people that do that and quite honestly, those people, they fear God. Now I understand there's phonies and false religions that put on a show, but there are honestly people out there that are unsaved that live in Agaguan and by God's side, that you know what, honestly some of them just fear God and they want to serve God. And that is what Cornelius was. So in Romans chapter 3 verse 18 we must realize that is what Fermi reprobates when it says their feet are swift to shed blood. When it says in verse 18 that there's no fear of God before their eyes, you cannot say automatically that an unsaved person has no fear of God because quite honestly, there are unsaved people that do fear God. And it said in Romans 3 verse 18 there is no fear, not even just a little bit of fear. Look, the average unsaved person has at least a little bit of fear of God, maybe not just like Cornelius that just fully fears God, but they have a little bit of fear towards God, but this says there is no fear of God before their eyes. So we have to ask ourselves this question, what exactly is going on here in Romans 3? Is this just for Fermi reprobates? Now you could look at Romans 3 and I've heard people have different opinions because I have asked a lot of people that are like-minded pastors because I was really curious. This was a question and it's just that it seems so simple because it's Romans 3 and yet it's so deep. And I said, you know, what is this referring to? Is it just being exaggerating in Romans 3? I don't think it's just exaggerating though because if we take it just literally there's no fear of God before their eyes. These are people that are reprobates in Romans 3 verse 18. Now I want you to go back to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Now this is something that I came to a conclusion on several years ago when I was really studying this output. I kind of got reminded of this when I was reading Romans just this past week which is why I kind of changed my sermon because I tend to write my sermons well in advance and then I go and review my notes. And as I was reviewing my notes I thought this is going to be much, much more important to preach, you know, going in depth on this. And I was really kind of looking at this as I was going through the book of Romans and I think what's going to help us understand what's going on in Romans chapter 3 is that when you go back to Romans chapter 1 you're going to see three groups of people that are going to see it, okay? Now every book of the Bible is addressed to saved people. Isn't that true? Because the book was written for saved people. But at the same time sometimes it will reference unsaved people in the Bible. And we're going to see that in Romans. And quite honestly in Romans we're also going to see reprobates being brought up very clearly in Romans chapter 1. And so what is taking place when we go back to Romans 1? We're going to see three verses in a row that refer to reprobates, unsaved, and then saved people. And realize Romans 3 is not that much further down the road. And so what's taking place in Romans 3, and I'll prove this to you more in depth here in a little bit, is that verses 10 to 12 is where I believe the cutoff is, where basically that applies to your everyday unsaved person. Verses 13 through 18 in Romans 3 are referring to reprobates. And very clearly in verse 19 it changes from reprobates to your average unsaved person. Very clearly in Romans 3 and 19. We'll see that later on. But I want you to notice in Romans chapter 1, starting in verse 28, Romans 1, let me turn back to myself, Romans 1 verse 28. And in Romans 1 verse 28 the Bible reads, and 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. Okay? These are the people that reject God and it says they're given over to a reprobate mind. These are people that are twice dead, children of the devil, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backfighters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Look, this is not your everyday unsaved person. Haters of God? Look, before it was saved, I didn't hate God. Right. I mean, you look at some of these things and you think, proud. You think of gay pride because the context is referring to sodomites and we're proud of their six-colored rainbow, aren't they? They're real proud of their sin and their wickedness. You know, the vice-pumpets of this world, they really love their sin. They think it's real cool. Look, they're full of pride. Right. They're inventors of evil things. You say, how in the world did the Catholic church come up with these torture techniques? Look, reprobates invent evil things. Right. That's not something a normal person can think of. Amen. You have to come up with that. Yeah. And they come up with that because they're inventors of evil things. They hate God. You look at all of these terms and these are truly wicked people. This is not your average unsaved, full of murder. Now, that goes to their feet are swift to shed blood, though, doesn't it? Yeah. People that are reprobates, their feet are swift to shed blood, full of murder. Look, I've never killed anyone in my life. Now, I'm not saying I've never had anger in my heart towards someone, but look, you know, someone who's full of murder, that means it's not too hard for them to murder someone. Well, that's not your average unsaved person because most people, even if they didn't fear God, they would be so scared of what the government would do to them. They would never even think of murdering someone. And you have a conscience in your mind. How can you do something like that unless you have no conscience? Now, I understand in the Bible, there are saved people that do commit murder. That is such a wicked sin. And to say full of murder, look, you're referring to reprobates here in Romans chapter one, people that are rejected by God. The one term that I don't even like to think about because I know what it's saying because we're referring to Sodomites is when it says unmerciful at the end of verse 31. And you can use your imagination to think of how you can apply that to, you know, pedophiles and what they would do to little kids, completely unmerciful. It's like, man, that is an evil, wicked person, right? We're seeing reprobates in verse 31, but now listen to verse 32, 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. Now I've heard this preached a lot of different ways by like-minded pastors. So I understand people can ask different opinions, but I'm going to explain to you what I think is being referred to in verse 32. When it says who knowing the judgment of God, this is still referring to the same group of people that know the judgment of God. They know the judgment, remember these are people that rejected God on their parts. They heard about God, they rejected him, they became atheists and reprobates and sodomites and all these wicked things, okay, who knowing the judgment of God and they which commit such things are worthy of death. So they have an understanding of the Bible that basically we, that you deserve death for committing these sins and what God actually says about these sins in the Bible are worthy of death not only do the same. So these people, these reprobates, they do all these wicked acts but have pleasure in them that do them. When it says have pleasure in them that do them, what that's saying is that reprobates, sodomites take pleasure when other people do wicked acts, okay. This is referring to reprobates here in verse 32. So basically sodomites, they have pleasure when someone else becomes a sodomite. They love it when somebody does something wicked, they take pleasure in that and that makes sense. Who knowing the judgment of God, these people they know the judgment of God, they rejected God and yet they're wicked people, they're worthy of death, they do the same and then they take pleasure when other people do these acts. Look, the whole goal of reprobates is that other people become reprobates. Right. That is what their goal is. They take pleasure in it. Their whole life they want to see other people become sodomites and reprobates. Look, how do they recruit people? Think about it in your head. Think about the catholic church. Why are there all these sodomites running around? Because they do their recruiting method and they are glad when somebody else becomes a sodomite because when you're a wicked evil person you want everybody else to be just like you and be a disgusting person that hates life. They take pleasure in other people doing that. I don't believe when it says have pleasure in them that do them. I don't think that's referring to say people take pleasure in sodomites but I don't take any pleasure in sodomites, okay. But sodomites certainly take pleasure in other people being really wicked. Right. Now in chapter 2 verse 1 though there's going to be a change of focus here. Now this is a very in-depth topic and as I said honestly different godly people have different opinions on these verses. I'm just showing you what I've seen from God with what I believe but in chapter 2 verse 1 it says therefore, okay. I believe we're making a transition. It goes through this list of referring to sodomites but then it says therefore and what we're going to see is the second type of person being addressed referring to reprobates in the previous verses, okay. But in chapter 2 verse 1 it says therefore thou art inexcusable oh man. I believe in verse 1 when it says oh man this is just your average unsafe person. Yeah. Not a reprobate but just your average unsafe person and it says thou are inexcusable oh man whosoever thou art that judges for wherein thou judgesth another thou condemnest thyself for thou that judges do us the same things. Now is it true when you go through this list of things with the reprobates unrighteous look you know unsaved people can be unrighteous. Yeah. Unsaved people can have fornication. There's a difference between being full of these things and from committing these things from time to time. Envy look every one of us in this room has been envious before but if you're full of envy that's different. Right. Every one of us can get caught up in debating sometimes but if you're James White that's different. Yeah. Every one of us can be deceitful or dishonest from time to time. Every one of us can be despiteful. So the majority of things that are listed here these are things that that a person can't commit whether they're saved or unsafe okay. Now there are some things here that are very specific to sodomites but in general most of these things honestly these I mean we think of gay pride but saved people and unsafe people I mean people have pride issues. Yeah. That's not just reprobates it's just they're full of pride okay. So look unsaved people certainly they do these things so in chapter two verse one what he's addressing is basically someone who thinks that they're innocent because other people are so wicked and guilty and it's like well yeah the sodomites are really guilty we saw that in Romans chapter one they're evil disgusting wicked people but look you know you're still guilty oh man because you're judging me but you do the same things and you're trusting in your works to get you to heaven and you do a lot of those same things you're guilty that's what he's saying and so basically what he's saying is you know what yeah you have your reprobates but now he's saying you know there's all these people that are think they're good people they're religious people often he addresses you know jewish people in paul's writings and he says you're going hey you're guilty you're trying to work your way to heaven look you're not going to make it why because you do the same things and it's not unsafe that they do the same things as you know the wicked world out there and look there are obviously certain things that reprobates do that are unnatural and normal forces doesn't do but by and large all these things mention most of these things unsafe people do as well and honestly most of these things they do as well time to time but look we're not trusting in our works it says therefore is our inexcusable wait a minute we're not we're not trusting in our works so look we're getting saved because we believe that jesus christ amen these are people that are inexcusable because they're trusting in their works and yet they're guilty of doing these things and so they're not going to earn their way to heaven they're inexcusable because they're trusting in their works and god looks at their works and he says my solace it's like man i see a million sins it's like you are definitely guilty you are not going to say no okay but then in verse number two we see another transition to save people romans chapter 2 verse 2 but we are sure that the judgment of god is according to truth against them which commits such things so what does paul say he says we and when he says we he's referring to say save people look the vast majority of the book of romans is written to save people and all of it is written to save people but there are verses where he's highlighting a certain group of people he says we us that are saved we are sure that the judgment of god is according to truth against them which commits such things so yes the reprobates they're twice dead they're done but you that are trying to get to heaven by your works well wait a minute we're sure that god's judgment is according to truth and so you are guilty you cannot work your way to heaven that's what's going on in Romans 2 verse 2 now this this sermon really kind of shows you how deep the bible is because when you really break down every verse it's like man we read over a lot of stuff and this is a really deep topic i mean we're in Romans which is one of those famous books and yet this is a very very deep topic and i i mentioned these verses because what i'm showing you is that there's three groups of people highlighted and so it is not going to be strange that in Romans 3 we transition from your average unsafe person to a specific group of unsafe people just back to your average unsafe person okay now verses three through six here in Romans 2 because once again he's going to talk to this man who's just an unsafe person and think it's now this oh man that judges them which do such things and do us the same that thou shalt escape the judgment of god look he's referring not to a reprobate verse three he's referring to an unsafe person right because it says you do these same things you're not going to escape the judgment of god or despise the style of goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not known that the goodness of god leadeth thee to repentance but after thy heartless and impenitent heart treasures unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath in revelation of the righteous judgment of god who will render to every man according to his deeds and so what is he highlighting here he's saying hey you know when you're unsafe every single deed you do you're gonna be guilty and he is going to judge us by our works he's saying i thought that god would judge us based on whether we put our faith in jesus but at the same time he judges us by our works because us that are saved we will judge you by the works in terms of how many rewards you get and those that are unsaved they're judged by the works because they will pay for each and every sin they can so we are judged by our works in a way obviously whether we go to heaven or hell do we believe but if you are saved look you know what there's there's a believer's judgment for your rewards and then there's a great white pearl judgment for those that are unsaved right okay and so honestly we have our choice in life how do we want to be judged because we believe on jesus that means he won't look over all of our sins what it'll do is give us rewards for what we do but in romans 2 6 he says who will render to every man according to his deeds because of the fact people that are unsaved they are guilty he's going to look at each and every one of their sins now go to roman's dream and when we look at romans i'm going to write down all of these verses i'm going to show you where there's a transition and why and where i believe the transition takes place but it says as it is written there is none righteous no not one okay now this is clearly a verse that applies to anybody for because none of us are righteous we've all sinned okay it's not referring to reprobates i mean it can definitely refer to reprobates because they're not righteous but look we're not righteous either we have the righteousness of god imputed upon us but we're not righteous and you're not one there's not a single person that is righteous now i personally believe that the shift to the reprobates in verses 13 through 18 but you could say the shift is in verse 11 you know i guess it's up to interpretation because if you go back to psalms 14 this this part is definitely quoted from psalms 14 there's none that understand that there is none that seek after god and so the bible says there's no one that understands there's no one that seeks after god now this could refer to reprobates i'm not sure because of the fact you know there are unsafe people that do seek after god when they get sorts of knowledge but then it says in verse 12 they are all gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there's none to do with good no not one and that's definitely true that none of us does good no not one okay so you can debate whether or not the shift to reprobate starts in verse 11 or verse 13 but i think it's very clear starting in verse 13 that it's a different group of people because you basically said that basically nobody's good but then in verse 13 their throat is an open sepulchre but that's that's not a statement i would make about your average unsafe person sepulchre you know basically like brave your throat is an open sepulchre and it's pretty wicked with their tongues they have used to seek the poison of asks is under their lips i mean do you have snake poison under your lips that's a pretty strong statement okay the average unsafe person i wouldn't say that whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood obviously in verse 15 as we're talking about people that their feet are swift to shed blood that is not your average unsafe person okay this is definitely referring to reprobates verse 16 destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace that they not know there's no fear of god before their eyes we already proved in verse 18 that there are unsaid people that fear god right and quite honestly everybody has at least a little bit of fear of god your average unsafe person it says there is no fear so zero percent fear of god and harmonious disproves that but notice what it says in verse 19 notice the shift in how this is being said now we know you see the shift there it's very similar to earlier in romans chapter 2 at the beginning he says now we know okay so he's shifting the focus to people that are safe okay when it was back in romans 2 what it said in verse 2 is but we are sure and there's a shift in focus in romans 3 verse 19 now we know that what things whoever the law say the same for them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before god all of the world is guilty all of the world is my solid every single person okay very clearly in verse 19 the shift goes to say a safe person mentioning how we know everybody is every single person we are shifting away from reprobates verse 18 is clearly referring to reprobate verse 19 is clearly not because it says we know so it shifts the focus and then he says every mouth is stopped isn't it true that every single mouth is stopped i mean can you imagine somebody who's unsaved going before god and they try to justify all the times they looked at pornography they try to justify all the times they got they got drunk they try to justify all the wicked things they do all the evil thoughts all the times they hated their brother all the times they cursed god's name all the times they yelled at their parents and then god's going to say you think you're going to heaven because you're a good person it's like it's like the law makes you realize you know you're guilty every mouth is stopped you can't justify yourself it'll be like for a person example somebody in court commits murder okay they're on trial for murder and then all of a sudden you pull up the video evidence where you see them committing the murder what are they going to be able to answer their mouth is stopped right you can't say anything and look people that are unsaved a lot of them think they're really good people but honestly their mouths are just going to be stopped because they can't justify because they're guilty they've broken god's laws they're not going to own their way to heaven so every mouth is stopped and all the world is guilty before god look every single person is guilty all of us we are guilty the only reason why we go to heaven is because we believe in the lord jesus christ but we are just as guilty as someone who doesn't get saved right now obviously i understand that some people are serial killers they're probably a lot worse than us but at the same time we've done plenty of things wrong we tell people that one lie sends you to hell if that's all you ever committed every one of us has done before i mean when you really look if you had every single sin you've ever did just brought before a projector look i mean if you live i mean 365 days in a year you live for 20 years that's 7 300 days you commit at least 100 sins a day i mean tell me do you realize how many sins that we have i mean our mouths are stopped we're guilty we have bad attitudes we have bitter we angry look we're not even close to being broken and so every mouth is stopped and all the world is guilty therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is a knowledge of sin honestly verses 19 and 20 are great so only verses as well because by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in sight verse 21 but now the righteousness of god without the laws manifested being with this by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of god was by faith of jesus christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference for all of sin and come short of the glory of god so what is the context of verse 23 every single person in this entire world has sinned and become short of the glory of god it's honestly just a shorter version of verse 19 that goes really in depth to explain how we are all guilty it just shows hey everybody has sinned and comes short of the glory of god so there's no question when you look at the context of verse 23 verse 23 is just referring to your average unsaved person and anybody who's now verse number 10 that also is a very valid verse because it's completely true there is none righteous no not one and so when you go back to psalms 14 you're saying in psalms 14 that yes it highlights reprobates the fool outside in his heart there is no god but that doesn't mean that every single verse in there and every single statement only applies to reference because unsaved people are building a lot of the same things as reprobates are and honestly there's none that do a good that applies to anybody and so there are certain statements there about reprobates from psalms 14 that those apply to everybody even if they're saved look in romans one when you pull up that list of things yes it's highlighting the reprobate and yes we see that this is referring to reprobates but at the same time most of those things we can be guilty of as well and so it's okay if in Romans chapter three what it does is it highlights your average unsaved people and in between what it does is say we're going to focus on the reference and that makes sense because you go back to Romans one just two chapters earlier and what are we talking about we're talking about reprobates and Paul is making a difference between reprobates and unsaved people and showing unsaved people yes you realize you're better than you think you're better than vice god and you're going to make it to heaven but wait a minute you're coming just sometimes wait a minute you have pride and so in Romans chapter three yes he highlights their fears swift to shed blood and that's referred to reprobates but at the beginning and end of those statements verses 10 and verse 23 above those statements you should average unsafe person there's no question because if you go to verse 19 in Romans 3 19 is really what helps make this clear because it says now we know so notice there's a big shift from verse 18 to verse 19 verse 18 though there is no fear of god before their eyes that is not referring to an unsafe person yeah because look you know unsaved people can fear god cornelius very clearly feared god and so if it says there is no fear of god before their eyes that cannot apply to your average unsafe person right okay but in verse 19 it clearly shows it's applying your average unsafe person anybody because it says all the world may become guilty before god now we're not like the cowboys when it says all we believe it means all yeah when it says world we believe it means world yeah and so all the world yes you know what everybody's guilty it's not just you calvinist you're not the only one who's guilty all the world's guilty i'm guilty as well it's just i believed in jesus christ and you obviously never did that's why you're still trusting in your words and so in romans chapter 3 and honestly this is important for us to know though because honestly calvinist will turn to roman chapter 3 and you know what honestly most of the time you know we don't necessarily have the answer but this this i believe is how you answered this passage what is going on there verse 19 is really the key is we're shifting the focus because sometimes they'll go back to psalms 14 and they'll go to romans 3 and they'll say we'll see everybody there's no fear of god before their eyes i don't remember the guy's name he's a famous calvinist and he had a debate with james white and whether or not we accept catholic baptism when someone joins you know the protestant church he's a baby catholic baptism he made a statement in a sermon it's a famous five-point calvinist and he said that every unsaved person hates god and every unsaved person would kill god if given the opportunity now i'm sorry but i don't remember ever having the slightest thought about wanting to kill god i mean what a weird thing is that have any of you ever had that thought in your mind like i want to kill god now i'm not saying that people can't get mad at god or be upset at something they say but wanting to kill god it's like you know that that's you know what the jews did they killed god yeah but it's like you want to kill god and it's like you know what honestly you know he's just showing what's in his heart he obviously showed that he was a reprobate and the devil probably used him for his glory because that would be used to be a five-point calvinist preacher but he said that everybody before they're saved they they hate god and they would kill god if given the opportunity what a bizarre statement the average person that's unsaved they don't want to kill god i never i got saved when i was in college i never had a thought of wanting to kill god that's weird i don't even think i i don't even think that thought even came into my mind not only is this something that i would have never desired to do i don't even think i've ever even thought of it as being something it's like when you look at the catholic torture techniques in the middle ages but the ones they use it's like man i wouldn't have even thought of something like that what in the world would make you even think of something like that and it's not even something that would come into your mind and wanting to kill god i i don't think i've ever even had an idea that anybody would want to do that i mean why would you want to kill god but that just kind of shows when you're a worker of iniquity and you hate and reject the god of bible that's what's actually inside your heart romans chapter 3 though verse 10 and verse 23 we can completely use them for our soul because that's not referring to just a replica now there's a section inside verses 13 through 18 or verse 11 through 18 somewhere along there what is definitely referring to reference then verse 19 you see the ship back to your average person now let's go back to psalms 14 because that's where we started and in psalms 14 the main context of psalms 14 this is referring to apias people that have rejected god but i want you to realize that when it mentions these verses in verse 3 for example where it says there is none that doeth good no not one yeah i mean it's true that you know when it comes to to reprobates none of them do good when it comes to us as as as as unsafe people or safe people you know we're not right to see and so some of these statements that yes it's referring to reprobates it doesn't mean that doesn't also refer to other people as well right so let's close in the word prayer dear heavenly father thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to study psalms 14 and rome's chapter three death god and it's an important topic because we use this for our soul winning and and you know there's people there's enemies of ours and cowardice who try to criticize this and mock what we're saying and they try to show us that everybody was a reprobate and everybody hates god and wants to kill god and everybody wants to murder people and everyone has no fear of god and obviously that's just not what your holy word group teaches and it's not what the bible says but help us to to really study the deep things of the bible by not just passively read our bibles but honestly your word is so in depth help us to understand each and every word and to spend our lives trying to learn more and more and what we pray these things jesus