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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you and for those who have been memorizing all of the chapters of the book of Hebrews I'm giving you this week to try to refresh and stay current and make sure that you've got chapters 1 through 6 down before we jump into chapter 7 or for those that want to get a head start on chapter 7 I'm gonna go ahead and get started this week, but we're gonna start the actual chapter 7 next week. It's a longer chapter so we're gonna split this one up at least in half, so that's the plan for chapter 7 and then we've got the birthdays and anniversaries so let's see, do we have no birthdays today, brother Dodie had a birthday yesterday happy birthday, belated birthday and then on the back we've got the upcoming events, so in March Verity Baptist Church is holding their next gen youth rally you can see more information on the poster in the back there if you're interested in attending that event and then we've got the homeschool field trip so we already purchased the tickets for the zoo trip in March and we had a deadline of Sunday for the Coca-Cola Museum as well and again, I'm just gonna reiterate we need people signing up we need people showing up on time and that really makes a lot of difference for all of us who are planning and mostly my wife, not as much me, but to make sure everything goes smooth so please try to get there and show up and not try to rock the boat too much with a bunch of extra requests I'll go into a little bit more of that on Sunday snow winning marathon April 8th is the next one that's scheduled and then a camping trip of course on May 1 through 6 so we've got the sign up sheets for the things we can still sign up for but right now my focus is on the camping trip because I want to get that all settled for our church and I'm gonna start opening up and responding to all the people who have been asking me if they can attend our church camp that don't attend our church so if you have not signed up yet please make sure that you do if you want to attend our camping trip for any of the days, let me know what days you plan coming, it's gonna be awesome I got confirmations back from Pastor Shelley from Pastor Robinson and from Pastor Jimenez confirmed coming coming with families and so that should be great and then Pastor Anderson has told me in the past that he's been his plan to come for our event here so I'm gonna count him in even though I didn't get official word back yet and then I'm waiting to hear back from Pastor Thompson I don't think Pastor, he is gonna be able to make it, I think there was something else going on but he, and then I invited Pastor Brzezinski and Pastor Joe Jones so those are all the potentials and we already got about half of them confirmed so that's awesome and Pastor Williams too, I'm waiting to hear from him as well so gonna be a great time that camping trip it's one of the best events of the year so if you haven't already, try to sign up for it and that's about it for announcements I'm gonna turn the service back over here to brother Peter who can lead us in our next song song 161 our great singer song 161 alright, let's sing this out on the first Jesus my love friend for sinners Jesus lover of my soul friends make me my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my my no my my my my my my He is with me to the end. Jesus, what a guy and keeper. While the tempest still is nigh. Storms a lovely night o'er days. Be my God and hear my cry. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. On the last. Jesus, I do now receive him. More than all, live him I find. He hath granted me forgiveness. I am his and he is mine. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. Second Corinthians Chapter 13. And as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church, we're gonna read the entire chapter. I'd like to ask for the Jesse if he can please do that for us. In Second Corinthians Chapter 13, the Bible reads, This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the second time and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned and to all other that if I come again I will not spare. Since he seek a proof of Christ speaking to me which to you word is not weak but is mighty in you for though he was crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God for we also are weak in him but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except he be reprobates. But I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates. Now I pray to God that you do no evil not that we should appear approved but that you should do that which is honest though we be as reprobates for we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth for we are glad when we are weak and we are strong and this also we wish even your perfection. Therefore I write these things being absent less being present I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord has given me to and not to destruction. Finally brethren farewell be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss all the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. Let us pray. Father we thank you for giving us this evening Lord to hear the preaching the word of God and Lord I just pray to bless the service this evening. Please let everything be done for your honor and glory. Please fill up Pastor Burns with your Holy Ghost so that he'd be able to teach and preach in a manner that would be edifying the flock Lord. And we pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. All right. So we're closing out the book of Second Corinthians tonight here in Chapter 13. Not a very long chapter but there's kind of one main topic that I'm going to be spending a lot of time teaching on. You probably know what that topic is as mentioned three times in this chapter. So it's only fitting that I would cover that a little bit more in depth tonight since it's a word there's a word used here where does reprobate just I'm not just dancing around it right what reprobates use three times in this passage and so he found seven times in the Bible. So it seems fitting to me that we'll cover a little bit more about this doctrine and understand exactly what that means. But it's also fitting that he's even bringing this up here in his passage as well especially with the context of the entire book. So we've been following along every week with the Bible study. There's been these different issues have come up and he's actually we're going to bring this up and kind of refresh some of the things that have been brought up in earlier chapters here in the early part of Chapter 13. So let's look down our Bibles there in verse number one the Bible reads this is the third time I am coming to you in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. Now this alone is letting you know things aren't exactly right at the church. If you have to say hey when I get there we're just going to make sure in the mouth of two or three witnesses that everything is established. I mean you go up to a you know what when I go visit some other church or so you'll go to preach another church I'm not saying like hey we're going to make sure I've got two or three witnesses standing around and make sure that they can hear everything that we're saying back and forth so that every word so that there's no there's no doubt about what was said there's no controversy there's not a he said she said type of thing it's just saying no we're establishing exactly what's being said by having these witnesses here. That's not a very fun situation just right off the bat to have to say we're going to make sure there's witnesses to establish what's being said. Clearly there's a problem and like I said if you've been following along he's already brought up some of these issues so but but don't forget and this is really important as we as we've been going through there's been some harsher tones and harsher times where he's been preaching and writing to them and then there's also with that the loving side going hey I care about you I'm willing you know gladly spend and be spent for you you know I'm going to come I'm not asking you for anything we're going to preach you know I want to help you I love you I want your edification so it's understanding both aspects here you need to have the firmness you need to have the boldness you need to be able to say you know call out when things are not right and need to be corrected and say this is wrong this is bad this is what's going on and deal with issues that may be unpleasant that may need to have two or three witnesses involved but then at the same time let the church know that it's not here it's not because he hates you it's because he wants to help the church he wants he wants to help them grow he wants to build them up and edify them in their faith but but they need to get some things corrected and what's happening here though specifically is it's I don't think it's the whole church but there's people who are being persuaded by some bad elements in the church there's a few bad apples there's a few bad actors there's a few bad you know I would say even false prophets that are among them that are causing these problems that are speaking ill of the apostle Paul that are just just kind of stirring things up and he's going to deal with this when he gets there and that's what he's saying you know just right off the bat hey this is the third time I'm coming to you we're just going to make sure everything's established there's not going to be this oh yeah he's real weighty and powerful when he's not here but then when he's here he's you know no we're not going to deal with that everything is going to be established you're going to show up just as we are when we're absent from you it could be the same way when we're present verse 2 says I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the second time and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned and to all other that if I come again I will not spare what does that mean I'm not going to hold back okay I you know maybe I've been too gentle this point but now it's the third time I'm coming to you look everything is going to be established and especially those that have sinned when I come I'm not going to spare I'm not going to hold back I'm going to just open up and you're going to you're going to get it right you're going to you're going to hear everything that the apostle Paul is going to have to say and just the judgment that's going to come forward with what they're doing wrong and then he says this in verse 3 since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me say they're doubting that the apostle Paul is even like an apostle or that he's even teaching them right things and they're they're casting shade on the apostle Paul and like you know this guy isn't of God or whatever you know the bad people are trying to lead others astray and now it's like oh yeah well what proof do you have of Christ speaking me if you remember earlier he was he's like you've compelled me to basically be a fool and he brings up all the things that he's gone through all the sufferings that he's had because he is preaching the word of God because he's an apostle of God so he's he's receiving all of this persecution for the cause of Christ and bring that up going like here here's here's the evidence here's the proof right I'm being hated and I'm suffering all this persecution just as Jesus suffered right and he gives them that proof but he's saying look now when I come those that have sinned I'm not going to spare because you guys were trying to seek a proof of Christ speaking in me which to you word is not which to you word is not weak but is mighty in you verse four for though he was crucified for weakness yet he liveth by the power of God so he's on Christ being crucified through weakness what there's a weakness of the human body of that human flesh he was crucified but lives by the power of God for we also are weak in him but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you so just as Christ lived by the power of God he's saying hey look we're also weak but we also shall live with him by the power of God toward you verse five says this now we're going to we're going to get into this concept of reprobates he says examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith and he's like right off the bat just first hey you check yourself because ultimately you're going to be the only one that's going to be able to tell if you're saved at the end of the day you know your own heart he's like you check yourselves whether you're in the faith you know for yourself prove your own selves you decide for yourself are you in the faith and then he says know ye not your own selves he's like don't you even know for yourself how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates I mean these people that are in this church he's saying look there's only like one or two you know one of two choices either Christ is in you or else you're just a reprobate he says don't you even know that Christ is in you unless you're just reprobates now look and then he says let's just keep reading here before I go further with that verse six says but I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates now I pray to God that ye do no evil not that we should appear approved but that ye should do that which is honest though we be as reprobates now there's a lot to unpack here just in these few verses about reprobates that are actually very relevant to this doctrine but we're going to start off just by getting what is the definition of a reprobate and then we'll go back and we'll go I promise we'll go through these verses again but let's get the understanding let's get the biblical understanding of what is a reprobate keep your place here you could turn to Jeremiah chapter six it's the first place we see the mention of the word reprobate in the Bible which is going to give us the definition of what it means in scripture and look the scriptural definition is also going to match up with the dictionary definition and it's consistent throughout the Bible it's consistent throughout dictionaries it's actually very interesting because it's a concept that's been kind of lost in Christianity almost by and large now Calvinists still have an idea of reprobates they still have a false idea at the end of the day thinking that people just you know God's picked and chosen who's saved and who's not so basically you're either going to be saved or you're not through your own free will but that's a sermon for another day but they still have that concept of people who are just damned right in their doctrine but by and large Christianity today doesn't have this concept of people who are rejected because that's what that word literally means reprobate in the context of the Bible the biblical definition is rejected we're going to see that here if you're in Jeremiah chapter six we're going to start reading in verse number twenty eight the Bible reads they are all grievous revolters walking with slanders they are brass and iron they are all corruptors the bellows are burned the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vain for the wicked are not plucked away reprobate silver shall men call them and why are men going to call them reprobate silver because the Lord hath rejected them that's why they're going to be called reprobate silver reprobate means rejected and this is not a stretch this isn't just like well I think there's another meaning to that even if you just go to the dictionary OK go to dictionary dot com or whatever dictionary you want to go to I mean it's not going to be inconsistent here's the definition for dictionary dot com now the number one definition for the noun reprobate is a depraved unprincipled or wicked person now that's true I mean that's still a good definition but then the number two definition is a person rejected by God and beyond hope of salvation that's the biblical definition right there of a reprobate but even our modern dictionary will tell you literally this person is beyond hope of salvation that that is what that word means the adjective has morally depraved unprincipled bad and then the second definition of an adjective rejected by God and beyond hope of salvation again the same thing and that comes from that source and they have everything for verbs you know reprobated is an actual word OK as a verb someone being reprobated to disapprove condemn or censure and says of God to reject a person as for sin exclude from the number of the elect or from salvation but even going back to Webster's 1828 right I mean people who study the Bible oh no you got to look at the Webster's 1828 dictionary and get what's the definition that say well the number one definition there's multiple definitions but the number one definition is not enduring proof or trial not of standard purity or fineness disallowed rejected disallowed rejected so again the number one definition even in that dictionary is rejected it's rejected if you're rejected you're not accepted right it's kind of one or the other so that's the definition for reprobate it lines up perfectly with Jeremiah 6 and why you talk about reprobate silver when do the process of refining when you're refining metals there's the dross will come to the service they usually filter out the dross the dross is the is the worthless byproduct of worth like metals that are that are combined with the good metal so if you want to refine silver you want to refine gold when you when you mine it out of the earth it's not pure you don't get the point nine nine nine nine purity silver or gold straight from the earth it has it's mingled with other metals and other substances so what they do is they mine it out of the earth it's in the rock it's you know mixed up they heat it up they get rid of all the rest of the stuff when you heat it up it purifies it and liquefies it and then they can remove the excess material the dross the other the dross is just the materials impurities that are not the precious metal itself and then they what do they do with that they discard it and get rid of it because it's worthless the dross is rejected the value the valuable stuff is what's left over that's the fine gold or the fine silver and the other the rest is reprobate the rest is rejected it's good for nothing it's just that's it they toss it away before we get into so understanding that the Bible says there in second Corinthians chapter 13 when he says examine yourselves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves know you not for your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates so unless God has rejected you he's basically assuming you're all saved unless God's just rejected him right and you can't be saved because God's just rejected you and he's saying prove yourself don't you know like whether Christ is in you or not he's got to be in you unless you're reprobate like you're either saved and he's talking to people there obviously we know there's unsaved people on the way the apostle Paul knows there's unsaved people in the world but he's basically talking to these people who are all claiming to be these believers claiming to believe the word of God to be saved and everything else and that they're saying look don't you know that Christ is in you except you be reprobates because Christ can't be in you if you're reprobate and then he says but I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates now this is also important whether or not the apostle Paul is a reprobate because him and other disciples with him went and preached the gospel initially to the Corinthians like he helped establish the church of Corinth they went out there and they were preaching gospel so they're the fruits of his labor and it's like well you should at least know that examine yourself first hey are you saved well then if you're saved and you got saved as old as my preaching then how are you going to say that I'm a reprobate I mean I can't be I can't be this this this rejected of God devil if you're saved I mean you examine yourself am I in the faith yeah okay well I'm not a reprobate so how could this guy who's the one who's preaching me and getting me saved he can't be a reprobate and this is this is this is what he's teaching and he says now I pray to God that you do no evil not that we should appear approved now doing evil is like harming other people doing bad things others and by them doing good it's going to be more of an outward evidence of God in their life right not you know because if all they did was evil like all these people and they're just doing evil you're going to say like well how can they have received Christ if they're all just doing all these wicked things I mean it makes sense right we know that just getting saved alone isn't going to automatically ensure that everybody is going to live right and no one's going to be in sin we know that okay but understand this as well because this is also important we we often fight the theoretical a lot because there's a lot of false teachers out there that want to add works into salvation and they try to repackage it in different ways so we fight vehemently against the work salvation and when we know and understand that yes it is possible for a person to get saved but then not show the works outwardly but that just because it's possible doesn't even mean that that's the norm okay that's that's not the norm it's just the possibility that there could be people who get saved that you're not going to see necessarily outwardly the manifestation of the Holy Spirit that has it residing inside of that person and you know I have used myself an example in the past I'll use myself again just that like you know when I got saved I had our manifestations of the Holy Ghost residing within me of being born again but see the problem is that not everybody is able to see that there may have been one or two people that have had an experience with me personally where I was trying to preach the word of God or I was trying to do something good or whatever but not everyone sees that see a lot of other people just saw the same old day that ended up walking in his flesh that looked no different from before he got saved but there was a difference there absolutely was a difference there was a change because I was born again there was a new creature that was born again inside of me absolutely the Gospel changes for certainty and there were things that can be associated with that change in my life but you don't always see it see the problem is that people just want to get hung up on oh well this person can't be saved because they're drinking or they're doing it look that's that is so false so we fight against that real hard okay but most people that get saved there is a change in their life I mean we know there's a change every person who's saved has a change in life but I would say most people get saved there's also an outward manifestation to some degree in their life but we're not monitoring people all the time to see when that comes out when are they going to show that right so but here's the thing if you've got a group of people and you've got an entire church that are all the result of this ministry and like this whole church is showing up is just doing all these evil things it stands to reason that you could think like yeah I don't think these people are saved you just gathered a bunch of people together that are saved that are all doing these wicked works that's different than saying there are there could exist people who aren't show you know that don't have any type of manifestation of their salvation right there's it's kind of a different thing and that's what he's he's bringing it up here is he's saying you know I pray to God that you do no evil and it's not to approve them as not being reprobates is what he's saying like not not to show that we're approved by you doing good things and not doing evil things and not harming people he says but that you should do that which is honest but we be as reprobates he said I just want you to do what's right even even if you just said like we are reprobates you still just do what's right not because I want you to approve my ministry but because that's what you need to do in honesty and sincerity you need to do what's right it's not he's trying to say you know it's not about me but he brings up this concept of reprobates and being rejected and that you know I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates and this is an important doctrine and he brings like I said he brings up three times this word we saw Jeremiah chapter 6 let's look at some of the other references to the word reprobate to help define and get a full understanding of what this means and even applying it appropriately in context in all the passages so let's turn to Titus chapter 1 we'll see another example of the word reprobate and by the way the concept of a reprobate is also taught in scripture even without using the word reprobate and we're not going to go through all of that I'm not going to spend all the time going through every possible place where the teaching is there the doctrine is there just without that reference we are going to look at all the times that reprobate is used Titus chapter 1 verse number 15 the Bible reads unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled they profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate now the context is important it's just like the word repentance or repent the context matters a lot so just as people could have the false idea that the word repent means turn from sin that's not true the word repent just means to turn or to change to change your mind but it doesn't necessarily have to do with sin unless sin is in the context repentance is something that people can turn from but whatever context dictates is what is about the same way with reprobate okay we saw the dictionary definition we see that the word means rejected but even that dictionary definition that says someone is beyond salvation that's in the context of applying it to a person as being rejected in Titus chapter 1 the context here isn't unto the person being reprobate it's the good works they'll reprobate unto doing good works they're rejected from being able to do the good work basically they're not able to do any good works but it doesn't necessarily imply that the person themselves are rejected of God so it says here they profess that they know God but they say they know who God is but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate meaning they're not able to do any good works now I would say this you could have unsaved people that are not reprobate themselves as in rejected of God fit into a category like this where they could profess to know God there's a lot of unsaved people out there that are not reprobates that will profess that they know God right there's tons of them the world is full of them the vast majority of unsaved people are going to say that they know God but in works they deny him there's plenty of people that do things that are abominable in God's eyes for example you know that you know if a man wears that which pertains unto a woman or a woman put on a man's garment it's an abomination okay that is abominable in God's eyes so there's unsaved people that do things that are abominable in God's eyes and there's plenty of other things that are abominable by the way too it's not just sodomy right sodomy is also abominable but that's not the only thing there's plenty of things that are abomination to the Lord that doesn't make you individually rejected of God and disobedient again be disobedient to God they profess to know God in works they deny him so the things that they do don't reflect that their statement that they're saying they believe in God they're being abominable doing things that God hates they're disobedient and unto every good work reprobate they're just not able to do good works but here's the thing we know that the natural man is not only not able to see reward as God but they're also not able to please God those are not in the faith can't please God so every unbeliever can fit into that category of not being able to please him and not really be able to do the good works because they can't until they get saved so I'm not you know and I'm not also saying that necessarily this passage isn't talking about a person who is rejected of God because it could also be talking about that but my point is when you look at the context and the usage of this word reprobate it's talking about the good work the reprobate unto the good works not necessarily reprobate of being rejected by God specifically according to this context in this passage so let's move on to 2nd Timothy chapter 3 but I just want to go through it because it's a usage of the word reprobate. 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse number one is we're going to start reading just to get this in context. This know also that in the last days perilous time shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors heady high minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away now there's a lot of things listed there a lot of sins a lot of characteristics there that are referenced that are extremely wicked in this as we continue reading you're going to see the commonality with other passages in the Bible that are describing this is describing a type of person it's talking about these people who are going to encompass kind of all these traits they're just going to they're going to be like this and it just lists off all these various things that showing kind of how how wicked they are and then it says in verse number 6 for of this sort this type of person are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with diverse lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now we'll get into that in just a little bit and this is now as jannies and jamborees withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith so now we'll see another usage of the word reprobate but in the context what it's all about it's all about reprobate concerning the faith not concerning the works but concerning the faith this is someone who is rejected because they don't have you know they because they're just rejected like the definition of God has rejected them their reprobate concerning the faith mean they're rejected concerning the faith they don't have that faith and they can never have that faith and they are of this sort and we look at this sort these are the people that creep in I mean these are the really wicked people that are out to do wicked things that are there trying to resist the truth this is the example of like the bar jesus that doesn't want people to hear the gospel they're trying to just confound everything the right ways of God and and pervert the ways of God and all these various attributes we're not going to go through them one by one shows you what type of person the reprobate is and let's flip over to Romans chapter one because we're going to see a very similar list of attributes in Romans chapter one as we just read in second timothy chapter three and when we read this list this is what the apostle Paul is talking about and I'll read the passage again when he says Now I pray to God that you do no evil not that we should appear approved but they should know you should do that which is honest that we be as reprobates because the reprobate is full of all these evil things right so the lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobeying parents without natural affection truce breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers those that are good all on and on and on and on and on this is that evil so if you have a group of people that are reprobates this is what they're going to be like and the reprobate brings forth the reprobate so he's saying look I'm advising you not to be doing these evil things not to show that I'm not a reprobate but just because you shouldn't be doing these things anyways right you should in sincerity be doing what's right but if they were you know full of all this evil it's going to it's going to reflect bad obviously you're trying to discern the fruit from its tree but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself with that either so we're going to look at that as well in Matthew chapter 7 Roman chapter 1 look at verse number 21 we get even more clarity I believe and we're not going in chronological order in the Bible here so also just take note of that and the reason why is because we get more teaching actually earlier on in the New Testament that we do later on when it's used more often but Romans 1 we get tons of information about the reprobate and that's earlier on in the New Testament where you first come across this word in the New Testament and gives us a lot more detail about this so let's start reading verse number 21 because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four footed beasts and creeping things wherefore I mean for this cause God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than the creator is blessed forever Amen this lines up with so much of these other contexts you know Bible says that they they they profess that they know God they they have a form of godliness so these people to describe in chapter 1 they have a form of godliness but they're changing God into like an animal like they're changing who God is they're redefining God into the way that they want to have God but they have a form of godliness they say that they believe in God they they worship they'll tell you all these things that they believe in God but it's it's a different God it's a false God it's a God that they've made up a God out of their own heart it's an idol they change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature more than creator is blessed forever Amen for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections for even the women to change the natural use into that which is against nature so for the reason being that they knew God they glorified him not as God they knew the way of truth but they changed it into a lie they knew they had the understanding they could have gotten saved but when they when they should have chosen to get saved and to accept Christ and accept salvation they rejected salvation they knew full well what it was and they said no I reject that I'm going to make my own God in whatever image I choose for him to be and that's what I'm going to worship and serve so because a person gets that point and they do that in their mind in their heart God says well now I've rejected you and this is what the Bible is saying here he's saying first it says he gave them up unto vile affections for even the women to change the natural use in that which is against nature against nature completely against nature is having these men with men women with women type of relationships and affections they're disgusting affections they're vile affections it's not something the natural man would even do which is key to understanding and being able to look at this as one of the attributes as a sign as showing that someone has been given over the rubberbait mind is because they're doing something that's not natural naturally natural man is a sinner natural man is a sinner you don't have to teach your children to lie you don't have to teach your children to steal you don't have to teach your children growing up naturally to be sinners to do sinful things those things will come naturally that doesn't mean you have a choice of course we all have a choice that the temptation and the desire to do something sinful is natural to man but the vile affections the disgusting affections that's not natural to man it's not natural so when the person rejects God that is them rejecting him then God gives them over to this rejected mind this is when God then rejects them and then removes the bounds of what the natural man would even be bound by and just releases them unto all manner of filth this is and we'll see this in another reference when the conscience is seared with a hot iron when there's no more conscience than any limitation is removed this is the sign that God has given up on someone because that conscience that was holding that natural man it's still bound to a certain degree of non-filthiness right of living in a manner that's not completely depraved once that's removed then anything is possible and this is the perfect explanation of what we see in the world around us without even talking about homosexuality or sodomy let's just talk about some of the things that are even worse you hear about you read about these people that make the headlines we call them psychopaths I mean people study them there's documentaries made you know it's in one sense it's kind of fascinating that people you know there's an interest in how can someone even do that because it's so far removed from what any normal person would ever even think of doing and it's extremely repulsive what these people have done the Jeffrey Dahmer's and John Wayne Gacy's and these people who get involved in these acts but all these people they don't have consciences they don't think like a normal person they don't have the feelings they don't care there is no charity there is no care at all it's completely non-existent from these people any form of showing anything like that is literally just an act they just they try to fit in among normal people and they observe how other people can behave and act and then they try to do something that would make them try to be normal but they're not this is how you could have a person who is able to do the unthinkable say to a child or just do the most perverted discussing things that no one would ever even in their entire lifetime ever even have the perverted thought go through their mind these people actually do those things not only do they think them but they actually go forward and do those things and act on them and carry that out and take pleasure in hurt and pain and destruction and everything wicked and evil this goes way beyond the sinner who does something destructive who does something evil but the implacability the mercylessness in the reprobate is real and it's there and it perfectly describes the indescribable the unexplainable in this world you can't explain you know people want to try to explain the psychopath as like they've got some imbalance in their brain or there's some other cause no you know what the cause is the cause is that they've rejected God and then God rejected them in their conscience that they used to have is seared with the hot iron because every single one of those people they were not none of them were born that way none of that I mean if you're going to believe that we've got scripture to prove that that's not true okay everybody has a chance everyone has a choice Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world God's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance God wants every single person every human being that's ever lived he's wanted them to come to faith in him and be saved and have eternal life but when they come to the knowledge they understand they know they reject they say no I'm going to I'm going to worship God but it's not you for knowing not just ignorantly deceived but full well knowing what they're doing God says you're rejected and when the when the conscience is seared when when the rains are removed not every reprobate is going to go down the same exact path it's not like they all follow exactly the same pattern some may go into pedophilia others may not some just go into the sodomy others might go into the bestiality others might not go into any of that but they're still reprobate they're still rejected they're still beyond the hope of salvation but all of those things any of those things are fully capable because now they've got a reprobate mind they've been rejected their heart is like turned into a heart of stone it's darkened their eyes are darkened and it doesn't matter how much learning they do it doesn't matter how much hearing they have it doesn't matter how many times from that point on they hear the gospel they're not going to receive it they cannot believe in Jesus Christ and this is what this let's keep reading here in Romans chapter 1 verse 27 likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving themselves that recompense of their error which was meat and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate blind to do those things which are not convenient so the vile affections of discussing things that the natural man doesn't do or doesn't want to do when when people are just given over to that it's just showing the evidence that God has given them over to the reprobate mind it's not the act of homosexuality that's the unforgivable sin that's like people just get this wrong too many times of what this doctrine is teaching what the Bible is teaching about the reprobate it's not the sin that makes the person all of a sudden become unforgivable or unsavable it's the fact that they rejected God and then God rejected them as a result of that rejection now there are some things that are outward manifestations that just demonstrate yeah that person is given over to a reprobate mind because they are able to even do these things that are so disgusting vile and reprehensible that no normal natural man would do those things that is not something that you're going to do now of course this is the rule right this is what you can see this is what is going to be the standard there's going to be situations where someone may have been involved in some vile affection at some point in their life possibly you know either through drugs alcohol things like that where they've committed an abominable act but they weren't given over to this reprobate mind where they're lusting after like it says in verse 27 like it was also the men leaving naturally burned in their last one towards another right so or someone maybe being defiled or abused as a child has gotten screwed up in their head and totally damaged doesn't necessarily mean that they've been given over to that reprobate mind you know that's there's going to be a dividing line at some point okay but I'll tell you this much I may not be able to pinpoint every single person on this earth that's a reprobate that's not real based on some specific weird situation but I could tell you all the fags and flamers are out and proud and just burning in the last one towards another they are reprobate and that's a huge swath of them that are out there just look if they're just out proud doing what they're doing just completely given over burn in the last you better believe they are you better believe I'm not going to sit and argue over the one case of the one person who you know like got got messed up somewhere along the way wasn't burning in the law you know doesn't fully fit this but had done an act okay yeah that's you know I could say I'll be willing to say that that exists but the general teaching is these people when they're given up that's what they're given over to it's pretty straightforward and then it goes on to describe verse 29 through 32 you know all these various attributes akin to what we saw in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whispers backbiters haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant breakers without natural affection implacable they can't be placated they can't be satisfied and merciful right that's where you get these horrific atrocious crimes against people that it's just just no mercy whatsoever and the ability to do so because they have no empathy for people they don't feel anything they have no conscience and they could just do what ever the Bible has the answer for everything and how people get that way and you know what the Bible calls them reprobate because they are rejected and you know even in natural manners there's kind of an understanding to this and I don't normally like to try to teach on a doctrine like this when we're out soul winning because one believer what they really just need to understand is that they're a sinner they need a savior Jesus provides salvation they don't have to do any work they just have to put their trust in Christ that's it but there are people I think who have had experiences with the reprobate in their life with the villain with the wicked doer the evil person who they know is evil to their core the person they've been exposed to who is just a horrible wretched devil of a person and when you preach in the gospel they rightfully will understand like wait a minute that guy like if that guy goes to heaven I don't even know how that could even be possible and then I'll explain the reprobate doctrine because God is just and it's not that there's sin you know like look Jesus paid for the sins of everyone I want to make sure people understand that too to say hey look just so you know I mean whatever sins committed that God did you know Jesus paid for those but there are people who have who have gotten to this point in this depth of depravity that they are not savable and it's not because you count up how many sins they did or whatever it's because they rejected God and now they have no conscience and when people get exposed to someone like that yeah I mean that person is beyond salvation and the Bible teaches that the Bible says in 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 these people they they know that what they're doing is worthy of damnation is worthy of the death penalty but not only that doesn't deter them that doesn't stop them not only do they do them but they also have pleasure in everyone else that does those things they glory in their shame they enjoy being around and just the promotion of that degree of filth and wickedness it's the complete exact opposite of what a born again believer should be just as far as Jesus is separated from the devil it's that because these people are children of the devil versus a child of God 1 Timothy chapter 4 those are all the references to the word reprobate there's seven of them in the Bible we saw in Jeremiah and in Titus 2 Timothy 3 and Romans chapter 1 those were the four other references three times as in 2 Corinthians 13 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 the Bible says now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron no conscience forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth so again this is these are people who have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof they have their conscience seared with a hot iron they depart from the faith and everything that's listed here it's the same type of person and I was going to I'm not going to do I've already covered this when I preach through Hebrew 6 I covered that so I'm going to skip that just for sake of time because we're already going a little bit late but I just want to make this point because I don't know if I if I explain this as well as I could have when I preach on Hebrew 6 Hebrew 6 8 the Bible says but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected rejected is another word for reprobate that which bears thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned and in Matthew 7 we have the qualifications for determining whether or not a person is a false prophet because you judge them you know them by their fruits and it's important to note in Hebrews chapter 6 it talks about that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected you bear thorns the Bible says you're rejected you're reprobate why because you're burying something bad something evil your fruit is not good your fruit is bad fruit versus the good fruit which would be any other manner of fruit that's actually good for not a thorn Matthew 7 verse 15 the Bible says beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves you shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles so you have the grape is a grape of good fruit yes it's good for the consumption it's sweet they're nice to eat grapes of thorns the contrast between grapes and thorns or figs figs and other great fruit right good eat the fig or thistles thistles are what like thorns right it's the same type of thing so you've got the good fruit bad fruit good fruit bad for you saying you're going to know them by the fruits do they have grapes or do they have thorns do they have figs or they have thistles so just as Hebrews 6 said hey that which bears thorns is rejected Jesus is teaching the same thing hey that which has thorns is rejected but the grapes are good that which bears thistles is rejected but the figs are good even so every good tree bring forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bring forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit which again ties in the fact of bringing forth evil when the apostle Paul is preaching to the Corinthians the church of Corinth saying I pray to God that you do know evil because he's their their their his fruit so he's saying I'm not asking that you do know evil not that we should appear approved but that ye should do that which is honest though we be as reprobates so even though you think we're reprobates or whatever you should still do what's right and good it's not his roundabout way to justify himself with not being a false prophet which is kind of what he's being accused of alright let's go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and you know one more element of the reprobate I said I was going to get into this later but I'll just do it right now then because I have this in my notes here ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth that's just one one of the reasons why how we know that no matter how much they hear after they're rejected there's no more hope for them of coming to the knowledge of the truth they are rejected and that's a sad condition to be in but you know people are capable of getting to that point of being rejected prior to death and the common teaching among Christianity today is that nope it's never too late for anybody everyone can get saved doesn't matter everyone has a chance of being to say before they breathe their last breath but I'll say this here's the thing that should be common amongst Christian at least the non cults of Christianity is once you die there's no more chance that's it so you don't get this I'm mad I heard this when I was a child growing up I don't know where it comes from people just want to have this thought of like people could still get saved well if you haven't heard the gospel Jesus will present you with the gospel even after you die or you could still accept it no that's not true it's like people trying to absolve the great commission of like no you need to get the gospel out there and just think that somehow magically God is going to give you the gospel after you die doesn't happen zero scriptural evidence for that is people trying to make themselves feel better that will talk about that anyone knows anything about the Bible is going to let you know hey once you die that's it but the teaching of a reprobate teaches that there is actually a time prior to death where that cut off point is in place and if you don't believe it from everything else we just saw about reprobates well how about if somebody tampers with the word of God Revelation 22 anyone adds unto the words of this book he says God's going to add unto them the plagues and all the bad things all the hellfire damnation all the place everything that he's talking about there says well you know God's going to add to it and for them that take away from the words of the book of his prophecy God's going to take away his part out of the Holy City and out of the book of life they're done and that's someone who does that before they die so they get in that condition before they die anyone who takes the mark of the beast guess what at that moment for certain their fate is sealed no one who takes the mark of the beast is going to heaven because the Bible says that everyone everyone that takes the mark of the beast is being cast into hell every single one of them not only that the Bible also brings up blaspheming the Holy Ghost as being the unforgivable sin and say hey you blaspheme the Holy Ghost you have no forgiveness neither in this world neither in the world to come okay if someone blasphemes the Holy Ghost you can't say well they could still turn and believe on Jesus how the Bible says they have no forgiveness in this world or the world to come so how can they turn to Jesus then and get saved if they blaspheme the Holy Ghost you can blaspheme Jesus you can blaspheme the Father but you know you can't blaspheme the Holy Ghost so when I say can you can do those things without being reprobated but you blaspheme the Holy Ghost the Bible says you reprobate you're rejected bottom line so three examples in scripture although not even using the word reprobate expressing the same concept that a person can can get to the point to where they are unsavable beyond the hope of salvation it is all throughout scripture not being taught should be it's there it's clear anyways let's let's finish up this chapter here verse number eight the Bible says for we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth for we are glad when we are weak and ye are strong and this also we wish even your perfection he's just as he's done in other chapters continuing to balance the sharpness the look we're going to come and we're not going to spare with the love of going look man we just we want your perfection we want you to grow I want you to get strong I want you we want you to improve and get the sin out of your life and get right with God this is what we're striving for we're glad that we can be weak and that we can suffer and that we can go through these trials for you to get stronger we want you to be strong we want you to grow we want you to be perfect and we're glad doing that therefore verse ten I write these things being absent lest being present I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction he said we don't want to destroy you we want to build you up but he's saying you know we're using these words being absent because look if I'm present there's going to be some sharpness I think it's easier for the apostle Paul to show more of the love when he's writing to them than it would be when he's when he's in the flesh you know present with them physically and them coming at him with these accusations and all this other stuff he's because he'll put them in their place right away he's saying you know I have no problem using a sharpness when I'm there in person but nonetheless though regardless of using a sharpness or not it's still for their edification and not for their destruction finally brethren farewell be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you now what a great message but here's what's bizarre about churches these days they love verse 11 like all they want to do is hear verse 11 let's just preach verse 11 there's people that want their ears tickled and just say hey just tell me be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace look these are all great things but you don't get this result without the rest of the book you don't get this without the sharpness you don't get this without the calling out of the sins and saying hey these sinners you better believe when I show up there's gonna be sharpness I'm gonna call them out they're trying to say they want a proof of Christ in me but then he ends it up here and say well hey be perfect be of good he's giving them comfort he's trying to help them but it's a balanced diet that he's giving them it's not all just hey live in peace it's a lot of rip in face getting to these last verses cause you've got verse 11 and you know what verse 11 is a great verse it still shows his heart through the hard preaching look this is what we want for you we want you to live in peace we want you to be in one mind we want you to be perfect but in order to get there you got a lot of work to do there's a lot of sin that needs to be cut out it's the same thing here this is why the preacher has to preach the whole council of God you don't get to pick oh this is really like this so I'm just gonna focus on this and that's it there's more to it than that I'll read verses 11, 12, 13, and 14 but those are the last ones well that's the conclusion who cares what's in it is very important not just the end cause look at verse 12 hey greet one another with an holy kiss that sounds great and by the way we should be greeting the saints we should be greeting the believers in Romans chapter 16 greet the brethren by name in Romans 16 you see the apostle Paul going through all these names hey greet this person this person the church and their house and greet this he knows so many people by name and I'll confess my fault right now I'm not the best at this but I do try and I think you should try too and when people come and visit from other places get to know people's names we have brethren brothers and sisters in Christ you go visit other places people come and visit here try to get to know people's names and know it means something it matters to people when you know their names it matters it shows that you care it shows that you're putting forth an effort greet them now we don't have the holy kiss culture but I will say this though it does say with a holy kiss not just with a kiss okay it is a special type of kiss it's not just the smacking on the lips and having men and women you know getting involved in a kiss that is inappropriate but there's plenty of cultures even in the world today where people have greetings where they'll they'll like you know kiss kind of the side of their face or something like that you know and it's really common we don't have that in American culture but there still is something that could be considered a holy kiss okay it's still out there and there's nothing wrong with that and he's saying hey greet people be friendly right show your love for people and you know we could just as easily do that with a handshake but still be greeting people greet the saints greet one another with a holy kiss all the saints salute you and there's another great verse right we all salute you edifying it's lifting up that's great the grace of the Lord and I love this last verse you got the Trinity in this last verse and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. Grace love communion. It's awesome. That alone is awesome. I could preach an entire sermon on that one verse it's great and you know what that will come but you can't just focus on these last few verses that are all really positive and good because that's not even the majority of what this whole book is about the end yes that's what it's about it's about getting to that point but you have to get there you need the whole council of God to get to hey the end is charity that's the end and that's what he's wanting the perfection that's the end but you need to get there there's a means to get there and that's like the majority of the Bible is the means and how are we going to get there right? Great book lots of great teaching in 2 Corinthians but you know we need it all we take the rebuke yeah this was directed at a church in Corinth but you also say this for people who are you know dealing with trying to find churches the church of Corinth was still a church that was recognized as a legitimate church in God's eyes had a lot of problems but just because a church has problems doesn't mean you give up on it hey look if you can find a better church and you're able to move to a great but try to find a church get in a church that at least qualifies as a legit church and yeah maybe there are some heretics in that church there are some heretics in this church for sure there are some I would say false teachers in that church but the whole church wasn't bad but obviously there's some correction and a lot of things that need to be dealt with but the church as a whole was not was not bad it needed work but it wouldn't be something that I mean it wasn't a reprobate church if it was a reprobate church the apostle Paul wouldn't be wasting his time writing to him so take that in consideration if you ever find yourself you know even just out of town or you've moved away or anything like that and you're trying to find a church don't reprobate a church unless they're just teaching the false gospel then definitely yeah reprobate that church you don't need to go to that church I mean if this church just stands for work salvation not a church this church doesn't even have the word of God yeah I mean how are you going to get from the whole council of God if they don't even have the council of God but if you've got a church that is only teaching on you know those positive verses or whatever but they've got the right gospel they've got the teenage bible you know like don't reprobate them work with them try and try to help and improve and do what you can do to help but just just take that in consideration I mean reading these are real churches real people you know you can read also the churches in Revelation as well the seven churches they were getting letters and you can see the problems that they were having some of them were real significant but still considered a church in God's eyes so it shows us that that we ought to have some level of grace for the church itself you know this church isn't perfect and I'm not perfect and I'm sorry for my shortcomings and my failings and for any other failings of any other person whether involved in ministry or not in our church then you know we're not perfect but I'll tell you what I mean we do got the right gospel we do got the word of God we are trying to reach people and we are trying to improve let's apologize for that word of prayer your Lord we love you thank you so much for the word of God we thank you for all the great lessons we could learn in these these letters these epistles to other churches dear God I pray that you please help us to internalize these these truths help us to manifest these truths in our church in our lives dear Lord I pray that you would guide us in all truth and wisdom and understanding Lord that we would just be able to preach your word in all truthfulness and holiness dear God and that you'd help us to make these things known and publish abroad your word and just use the people here use all of us in this church to do your will to do the work that you have set out for us dear Lord we love you please bless us and Lord also just keep us safe and do our separate ways tonight in Jesus name we pray Amen all right we are going to sing one last song before we are dismissed Peter please lead us in Psalm 451 Where could I go, where could I go Speaking of refuge for my soul Needing a friend to help me in the end Where could I go but to the Lord Neighbors are kind, I love them every month We get a love that's sweet and warm But when my soul needs manna from above Where could I go but to the Lord Where could I go, where could I go Speaking of refuge for my soul Needing a friend to help me in the end Where could I go but to the Lord My dearest friend with friends I love so dear Comfort I hear from God's own word And when I kiss the chilling hand of death Where could I go but to the Lord Where could I go, where could I go Speaking of refuge for my soul Needing a friend to help me in the end Where could I go but to the Lord Where could I go but to the Lord Where could I go but to the Lord Where could I go but to the Lord Where could I go but to the Lord