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It says, but I trust that ye 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. And the title of the sermon this morning, or this evening, excuse me, is a systematic teaching on reprobates, a systematic teaching on reprobates. I want to preach on the subject of the word reprobate in the Bible. Now let me give you a couple introductory statements as far as why it is that I'm preaching on this. First and foremost, let me say this, is that I believe it's important to define words based upon its biblical definition, right? You know, when we think of words, we don't want to just flippantly use words and use a modern definition of it in relation to the Bible, right? We want to make sure that we go to the Word of God and see what God has to say about it, how He defines it, or as the Bible will put it, to compare spiritual things with spiritual, right? Sometimes a word in the Bible actually has multiple meanings. You know, you have one specific word in the Bible and it's often associated with a specific doctrine, but it can have multiple meanings based upon the context that it's found in. And that is definitely the case with this term, this word, reprobate. Now I believe we should use the words in their primary definition, but as well as in their connotation. Because of, you say, why? Well, because of the fact that, you know, it's important to use the word and its definition, but today in 2020, the word reprobate has basically gotten a connotation of one of these definitions. Because when we think of a reprobate, we think of someone who has passed the, you know, the hope of salvation is when it means that they can no longer be saved. It's not the only definition though. But here's the thing, in 2020, because it's so prevalent, because there's so many wicked people out there, because psychopaths exist, this is a common term that we use frequently to describe these types of people. It's the most prevalent definition of the word that we find and that we use. Now with that being said, the term reprobate is a word that most of us are aware with and are familiar with. But let me just say this is that we never want to be so familiar with the term that it basically loses its severity, right? You know, we never want to throw it around to the point where it begins to lose the gravity of its definition, the severity of the definition. And when we use it, we're talking about those who are beyond the hope of salvation, we never want to just flippantly throw that on any individual because of the fact that that's a severe, severe condemnation. We're talking about someone who can no longer be saved, someone who the Bible would describe as a devil, okay? And so, you know, I don't believe we have that type of culture in our church. I don't believe that people in our church, you know, if we were to look at it as a whole, go around calling individuals reprobate or saying that they're just a bunch of devils. I don't think we have that type of culture in our church. I believe the kind of culture we have in our church is that we know that these people exist, you know? And when these people show themselves to be devils, they show themselves to be wicked individuals and they begin to exert those qualities or those attributes of a psychopath, we have no problem saying this individual is a reprobate, okay? But we never want to use it with such familiarity that we just, it kind of just loses its severity because it's a very condemning term to use, right? But on the other hand, you do have people who, you know, oh, by the way, let me say this is that when that happens, you actually weaken the word, right? You weaken the word and the severity of its meaning, et cetera. But on the other hand, you have a group of people who claim that people reprobate people, okay? And I know we've heard that term thrown around quite a bit, where it's just like, oh, they're just trying to reprobate this individual, they're just trying to reprobate. And what they're basically saying is you have individuals who they look at another individual and based upon some of the wicked acts that they've committed, they say, well, that person's a reprobate, okay? And I believe that's wrong. I believe it's wrong to use it in that manner. And I'll be honest with you, when I think of that, the thing that comes to mind is a tactic that liberal leftists use, okay? So what do you mean by that? You know, we've gotten to the point in 2020 where if you say, if you opinionate on anything, you're automatically labeled a what? A racist. You talk about any, you know, social, you know, on any social forum, on any political view, if you vote Trump, it's just like, oh, you're a racist. And look, racism obviously does exist in America, and I don't think anybody could deny that. Now, in our church, we don't care for racism because of the fact that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, right? Bond or free for all and one in Christ Jesus. But here's the thing, wouldn't you agree that the left has used that term so loosely that it's almost as if like that's their last resort to use as an insult? You're like, oh, you know, I'm for, you know, conservative values. Oh, so you must be a racist kind of thing, right? And they kind of just throw that out there. They just fling that insult as a last resort to try to just label you as a racist. Well, that's stupid and it's wrong. But you know what? That's kind of how I see this being thrown around, where people will often, you know, disagree or they'll call an individual wicked and they're like, oh, well, you're just trying to reprobate that person. No. Look, if I wanted to reprobate, first of all, I don't reprobate anybody. God is the one who reprobates them, okay? That's first and foremost. Let's just make something very clear. I don't have an ability to reprobate anybody. And I'm talking about, you know, cause someone not to be saved to the point where they're like beyond the hope of salvation. I don't have that power. I'm not God, okay? The one who has that ability is God himself. What we do is we look at the biblical definition of a reprobate, what that individual, the qualities that that individual exerts, and based upon that, we assess, okay, this person is probably a reprobate, okay? And so we don't want to be either or. We want to be balanced Christians, right, where we don't ignore the term, but we don't abuse it either, and then we don't try to condemn others who use it. And the reason I say that is because, you know, we don't want to, we don't want to, how should I put this, we don't want to shame people on the internet from using that term. Because what can happen is a culture can be built up where people are actually afraid to actually expose actual reprobates, psychopaths as reprobates, right? For fear that the mob or whatever is going to say, oh, you're just trying to reprobate that individual, you understand? So it has its proper place, it has its proper definition, and we need to use it as its fit in the context of whatever situation we're dealing with, okay? So when they do that, you know, they also weaken that definition, where we don't want to use it anymore. Look, I'm for using the term reprobate, it's in the Bible. And, but I'm just saying that we need to make sure that we use it in its biblical context, use it appropriately. We never want to be immature in the Lord and just throw words out there without thinking, without investigating, without examining that individual. Now, there's people, obviously, that we can look in high places who we can say, oh, yeah, that person's a reprobate for sure. Ruth Bader, reprobate, fact, okay? You know, these false teachers who teach a false way of salvation who damn people to hell, reprobates. You know, Joel Osteen, reprobate, okay? Rick Warren, reprobate. You know, Robert Breaker, reprobate. These people are for sure reprobates, because you say, well, how can you say that you're just trying to reprobate that person? I'm not, I'm just confirming the fact that they're reprobate. I can't reprobate them. I'm confirming the fact that these people have already been rejected by God based upon the words that are coming out of their mouth. And look, folks, you said, well, they're just misled. Well, I guarantee you, sometime throughout their ministry, they had a man of God confront them and say, hey, you're wrong about this. This is what the Bible says. And they just kind of like said, no. At which point, God says, okay, then I'm going to reject you then. So it's not like they're mistaken. Folks, the Bible teaches that there are false prophets and false teachers out there who literally on purpose teach damnable heresies. And this is a category known as reprobates. Of course, that's not the only term for them. But that is an appropriate term for them because of the fact that it's referring to a person who's been rejected by God that can no longer be saved, okay? They didn't lose their salvation, because you can't lose your salvation. But it's an individual who can no longer be saved because they hate God. And this is a reality. So I want to preach a pretty basic sermon tonight on what a reprobate is in the Bible. And I want to break it down into three parts, okay, for people to understand. So the three parts will be this. The beginner level will reprobate, the intermediate level, and then we have the advanced level, okay? This way you can remember each of these. So let's talk about reprobates in the Bible. Now go with me, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter number six. Most of these scriptures you're familiar with, most of these concepts you're familiar with, but if you're not, you're going to learn something today regarding this. Now let's do reprobate 101, okay? The beginner level. At base level, what is a reprobate? Well, the term reprobate simply means rejected. We're not talking about anyone in particular, by the way. Whether saved or unsaved, we're just take that word at base value. What is the definition of the word? It simply means someone or something that is rejected, okay? It doesn't even mean rejected by God, by the way, because it can be rejected by God, by another individual, by a group of people. It simply means to be rejected. It doesn't mean sodomite, though today we would definitely use that connotation, and it is an appropriate connotation for them, because someone who is a sodomite, according to Romans 1, has a what? Reprobate mind, according to the Bible, okay? So these are the connotations that is picked up, because we frequently use these terms to describe these wicked individuals, and it's appropriate. I mean, I believe we should continue to use those definitions to describe these people. But you know, if you were to look at the dictionary definition of a reprobate, they would often say, well, it's someone who is depraved, unprincipled, or a wicked individual. And look, I've read books, literature, like from, you know, 50 years ago, 60 years ago, and they would often describe a wicked person as a reprobate. In their literature. We're not talking about, like, Christian literature either. We're talking about just regular literature, whether it's historical literature or just, you know, some sort of biography or a story that you're reading. Sometimes when they are describing a wicked individual, they'll often refer to them as a reprobate, because it has a connotation of an individual who is just wicked, they're depraved, okay? Now, look at Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 28. Just to prove this point that reprobate simply means rejected. And by the way, the individual that's being rejected, excuse me, I've got a little bit of cold, so if I crack, forgive me, okay? My nose is just stuffed. It doesn't necessarily mean that just an individual is rejected, it could mean a group of people are rejected. Look what it says in Jeremiah 6, 28, they are all grievous revolters walking with slanders. They are brass and iron, they're 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. So what is Jeremiah talking about here? What's the sermon that he's preaching? Well, Israel is involved in idolatrous practices. Israel has gotten away from God, they're completely backslidden. Of course, at this time, they are the chosen people of God. But the problem is here is that they've become wicked, okay? They've become idolatrous and covetous from the least of them to the greatest of them, from the leaders to just a regular Joe Schmall on the street. Everyone has become a corrupt, as the Bible says. So what God did is that he brought judgment upon the nation in order to chastise them with the desire to bring them back to the Lord, bring them back to the way of serving God. But they refused to get rid of the wicked out of the land. That's why it says in verse 29, the bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire. He's burning them. He's allowing judgment to come upon them, he's burning them, he's chastising them. But it says there, the founder melteth in vain. Why? Because they're still not rectifying their ways. They're not correcting their manner and their ways. And look what it says in verse 30, reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. So when we see this term silver being used, it's appropriate with verse 29, because you think of something that is being burned and consumed, you think of silver and gold that is burned in order to remove the dross, right? You burn something in order to remove the dross, remove the impurities, that's the purpose of burning it. And sometimes it can get to a point where you just burn something and it doesn't remove the dross, it just perishes. It's just completely rejected. And the founder, the person who's melting that silver, says, well, this is rejected, this cannot be used. Therefore it is rejected, I will not use it anymore. So what God is basically saying here is that Israel is like that silver that has become rejected, it's become reprobate, it can no longer be used. Now we understand, we believe in our church, the doctrine of replacement theology. And this is not a sermon on replacement theology, but we believe that believers, not the church, because we don't believe in the church, we don't believe in a universal church, but believers have replaced the nation of Israel as God's chosen people. You can prove that many ways throughout the New Testament. But even in these days, there was a new Israel that would have replaced the old Israel, if you think about it. Because this generation, who gave themselves over to idolatry, what happened to them? They became reprobate. Doesn't mean they became sodomites and wicked people, they could no longer be saved, but as a nation, as a whole, they were rejected of God. And it required 70 years afterwards, those who were taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar to be brought back and they began to serve the Lord. So what we see is that multiple generations would come up, they stopped serving God, then what happened? They would be rejected, there would be reprobate, and then a new generation would rise up who would serve the Lord. This is referring to a specific nation. So the point that I'm making is the fact that as a nation, as a whole, they were reprobate. From going to heaven? No. Because I guarantee you there's people here in Israel who were saved. Just like America's being reprobate right now. Right? It's being rejected by God, but you know what? There's still 7,000 prophets who have not bowed the knee to Baal, but folks, because we live here, we're going to suffer the consequences of America as a whole, you understand? Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13 where we began. So the word reprobate simply means to be rejected, a reject, okay? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 13, let's give some further proof here, verse number 6. This is where we began, it says, But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. 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 people try to use this to try to prove or see, you know, even Christians can become these depraved people, because Paul's saying here, though we be as reprobates. But folks, remember what I said in the beginning, various definitions, and what he's specifically stating there is that to the Corinthian church, he's a reprobate. What is that? He's rejected of them. In fact, through 1 and 2 Corinthians, he's like trying to approve himself, he's like, hey, I'm the one who got you saved, should I come with you, you know, with a rod and to chastise you? And people were rejecting his leadership, they were rejecting his authority, therefore, he's constantly just chastising them through these letters, and he's saying, look, but you should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates, though we're rejected of you. It's a sad thing to see that the Corinthian church were rejecting the leadership of the apostle Paul, but this is true here. So he's not saying, though we be as some sodomite, though we be as some wicked individual, he's saying, though we be rejected of you, because you're not accepting us. You're not accepting me as your leader, you know, though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet ye have not many fathers, the Bible says, for, you know, in the gospel I begotten you, right? You know, the apostle Paul was the one who won a lot of these people to the Lord. He's the one who got them saved, but yet we see later on the same people are actually rejecting his leadership, rejecting his apostleship, really. Now go to Acts chapter 4, if you would, Acts chapter 4. So at a beginner level, what does reprobate mean? It simply means to be rejected. We see this with Israel as a whole, which is a nation. We see this with a man of God, such as Paul. He's not involved in sin here, he's not doing anything wrong. He's not, you know, doing something very wicked. He's simply saying, I am rejected of you. Though we be those that are rejected of you, I still want you to do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we're rejected. In other words, what he's saying here is like, just keep serving God, even though you're going to reject me, is what he's saying, okay? But here, let me give you some further proof that that's what this word means. Look at Acts chapter 4, verse number 10, it says, Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you hold. This is the stone. Now when we talk about the stone, who is that referring to? Jesus, right? This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Now here in Acts 4-11, in the King James Bible, it says, this stone which was set at naught. However, when you reference this with Spanish Bibles, for example, I read Spanish, I have Spanish Bibles, in fact, I have a parallel Bible right here, the term that is actually being used here is actually reprobate. So the term naught, because, you know, this is the same phrase that we'll see in Mark chapter 12, where it says, you know, the stone which the builders rejected, the same as become the head of the corner. Well, the term that he used for rejected is reprobate. And in fact, it says, la piedra reprobada, okay? You don't need to know Greek for that. I mean, you can hear it there, right? Reprobada, okay? Or for your English speaking folks, reprobada, okay? Amen. So what is it saying? Jesus is just some wicked reprobate? Obviously not. What it's saying is that Israel as a whole rejected Jesus Christ, right? They've reprobated him, they've rejected him, they set him at not. That's what that's referring to there. So point number one, at a beginner's level, when it comes to defining what a reprobate is, we need to have a clear understanding that that simply means rejected. And in order for us to understand what's being rejected or who's the one rejecting, we need to look at the context. So we can't just look at every time a word is used as reprobate and say, well, it's always in reference to, you know, being rejected of God, okay? Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, 1 Corinthians chapter 9, talk about reprobating in the Bible. At a beginner level, we understand that it simply means to be rejected. Number two, let's look at the intermediate level. It also means to be just cast away by God. Now I'm going to specifically talk about Christians being cast away, because this is actually what this is referring to. Now, let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 24. It says, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth a prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is tempered in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainty, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. Now what is the Apostle Paul stating right here? He's comparing the Christian life to a race. And he's basically saying, hey, we're all in a race, we all need to run, and we need to run for the prize. And the prize is not eternal life, by the way. Eternal life is given at the beginning. When we believe on Jesus Christ, we're given eternal life. The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made into salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that doesn't require for you to run a race. That requires just for you to believe. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. The race is of yourself. Salvation is not. It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. So it's important for us to know that. And look, folks, we have people in the Bible who got saved and they were just completely incapable of running the race. How about the thief on the cross? You know, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Today thou shalt be with me in paradise, Jesus said. That guy got saved and, you know, he had a hard time running that race because he was nailed to a cross as well. He was tied up to a cross. But you know what? He was still saved. Now, you know, we on the other hand, I'm looking at a group of individuals who still have an opportunity to run a race, who are either running a race or have not yet run the race, but you still have an opportunity to run it. So this is what he's comparing it to. He's comparing it to running a race. Okay? Look at verse 27. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. So he's saying, look, as I'm running, I got to make sure that I'm keeping under my body, I'm bringing it into subjection. I got to make sure that I'm doing that because when I preach to others, I want to make sure that I'm not castaway out of the race. Now, this is not a Greek class, so don't freak out because I'm going back to the Greek or anything like that. But if you were to go back to the Greek, the word there for castaway is reprobate. Now, here's what's interesting. There's a guy who, in times past, he wanted to argue with me about the reprobate doctrine, you know, because I was telling him, hey, reprobate, people can't be saved. If they're reprobate, they're beyond the hope of salvation. This is what the Bible teaches. And he just hated that teaching. A lot of people just hate that teaching. And I can't really understand why a saved person would hate this teaching, okay? Because it's pretty black and white, right? It's pretty clear. And he just scoured the Bible, and he was just like, in Greek, and by the way, mind you, he did not agree. Is in Greek castaway is reprobate? Are you saying the Apostle Paul is saying that it's a potential that he can become a reprobate? Yeah, but folks, here's the thing. It's not concerning the faith. And we'll get into that on the advanced level, which is third point. The castaway that we see here is referring to that he's rejected from the race. He is disqualified. If someone's running a race, and they begin to gas out because they had too many cheeseburgers or whatever, you know, they're eating all unhealthy before the race, and their body is heavy, and they gas out, what's going to happen? They're not going to be able to run the race with patience. They're not going to be able to endure the Christian life. So what happens to an individual that is not capable of enduring the Christian life? They become a castaway. They are cast away, right, into the world. They go back to old sins, or they go back to old friends, or they just live a mediocre Christian life where they don't really come to church, they're not reading the Bible, they're not really serving God, at which point they become a castaway. And the Bible would use it as saying, reprobate. Now I don't think it's a good idea to say that about Christians who are castaways. Why? Because we already have a strong connotation of what a reprobate is, because of the day and age in which we live. And look, the King James Bible says castaway, so it'd probably be more appropriate to use castaway than reprobate. But just so that you understand that this is what the Bible means when it says that, in case someone tries to come to you and say, Yeah, but in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, the Greek word there is reprobate. How do you explain that? Well yeah, what are your reprobate concerning what? Just the race. Paul's not saying, oh yeah, I'm going to become some sodomite if I don't keep under my body. Because by the way, this is the argument that people have, right? You know, you have these Christians who literally believe that people can get into such, you know, bad sins that they can eventually become a sodomite. It's ridiculous. Folks, that's not a sin that is common to man. That requires a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. And Romans 1 tells us that the reprobate mind is the individual who hates God. Folks, a person who is castaway doesn't hate God. They don't hate God. They're just a sinful person. They have sinful habits. They walk after the flesh, as we talked about on Thursday. They have a carnal mind. They're just being led of the flesh which ultimately leads them out of the race. Go to John 15. So he's saying, look, I'm going to keep under my body. I want to bring it into subjection. Let's find a means when I preach to others, I myself should be a castaway. In other words, he's saying, I don't want to be a hypocrite. I don't want to spend so much time telling people how to live, you know, and just completely forsake making sure that I'm living a right life. I'm not being a hypocrite. You know what I mean? I want to make sure that I have the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation, that I'm girding my loins with truth, that I have the sword of the Spirit, that I have my feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I want to make sure that I'm living right because of the fact that, you know, I want to save others, but myself also, from being cast away. And look, folks, we need to be aware of this danger here of being a castaway. Look at John 15, verse 5. Jesus speaking here says, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. That's an awesome promise. The possibilities are endless. The sky is the limit, right? He's saying, look, if you abide in me, you can do so much. You can bear so much fruit, but without me, you can do nothing, right? Without me, you can't win many souls to Christ. You can't, you know, rear a godly family. You can't be a good leader. You can't be successful because without him, you can do nothing. If you abide in him as a branch abides in the vine, you will become fruitful is what he's saying. Look at verse 6. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. Now, what does it mean to wither? It means to die. You know, a branch breaks off and it just, it lands there. It doesn't bear any fruit. It's not attached to any vine, so it begins to wither and die. It says, it goes on to say, and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Now, people try to use this as a proof text that people can lose their salvation, right? Well, it says that, you know, men will gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. Folks, you can't take a parable too far because in that case, are we all made of wood or something or what? Are we all branches? Are we all twigs? You know, I know some of you might be, you know, I'm just kidding. I'm definitely not. We can't take that parable too far. You know, what this is referring to is the fact that when an individual is no longer abiding in Christ, they're not following his commandments. You know, listen to the sermon from this morning, if they're not behaving like a Christian, they become worthless because they're no longer bearing fruit. So what are they good for? Just to be cast out. Go to Matthew chapter five, they're burned. You know, a Christian who's not in church, who is not reading the word of God, they're not winning souls, they're just kind of living their life. Folks, I'll just be honest with you, they're a worthless Christian. That's harsh. Well, it's actually biblical. They're actually worthless. Okay. And look, people can get to a point where, you know, obviously people are out of church or they're not serving God or whatever it may be and they're just worthless, but others, the Bible says there is a sin unto death. I do not say you shall pray for it. You know, when people get backslidden, we pray for them that God will restore them and bring them back, because there's hope for them. But there's actually individuals who are so rejected, they're so cast away, that God actually says, well, I'm just done with you, I'm just going to take you home early. And he definitely does that. Look at Matthew five in verse 13, ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, you know, like cast away and trotted under the foot of men. These are the words of Jesus. Jesus is the one who's saying, hey, you are good for nothing, because you've lost your savor, you're not, you've lost your salty properties, you're not a salty Christian, get salty. And if you're not salty, you're just good for nothing. It's a lot different than what Jesus portrayed today, is it not? You know, God is a God of second chances, for sure. But you know, he's also strict, and he tells it like it is. And here's an example of that. I don't want to be someone who's good for nothing, I want to be useful, right? Go to Romans 11, Romans 11. So here's an example of when a Christian can become reprobate, they become rejected, but in English, we would say they're cast away, they're no longer useful, they no longer have a position of being a servant, they're not serving their purpose in this life, and therefore God is done with them. Not for salvation, but for service. And here's the big thing, folks, this is how you can distinguish this. When it comes to Christians becoming reprobate, it's not for salvation, it's for the service of God. Not for salvation, but for service. Look, don't we have examples of that in the Bible? How about Saul? Wasn't that man rejected from being king? And in fact, isn't that exactly what the prophet told him? That God had rejected him, the kingdom was taken from him, and given to someone who is better than now, he said, which is David. Harsh words. But you know, God believes in replacement theology, so he replaced Saul with David. He says, I've rejected you from being king, the kingdom shall be taken from you, and given to someone who's better than thou. Ouch. You know what? Saul was rejected. He got to a point in his life where he was getting counsel from some witch, right? The witch at Endor getting counsel from some wicked witch that in times past he would condemn, you know? When he actually approached this witch, he was like covering his face and making sure that no one saw him, but then, you know, she's like, oh, you know, I can't do that, because Saul put out all the witches, and he's just like, I am Saul. I've gone back on my promise here, okay? I need your help. But this is how cast away he was, to the point where he's getting counsel from a witch. You know what God said? I'm done with you. I'm through with you. And look, folks, I'm not saying that if you go out and get counsel from a witch, by the way, I don't recommend it at all. That you're just going to die a horrible death. One of the reasons why Saul died such a horrible death for going to the witch at Endor was why? Because he was a king. He was an important leader in Israel. So he had a lot of responsibility, and you know what? He had a lot of influence. And so the higher up you go in authority and in position, the more influence you have, the more you're responsible for. To whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required. So that's why God had him die such a horrible death. You know, he went to the witch at Endor, and Samuel came up, and was just like, thou and thy son shall be with me. He's like, you better get ready, because tomorrow, thou and thy sons shall be with me. And it doesn't matter how he tried to avoid it and just escape the judgment of God. It still came upon him. Look, the Philistines were going to kill him. He killed himself, but it doesn't matter. Even if he didn't kill himself, the Philistines would have gotten him. And wouldn't you say he died a dishonorable death? Aside from the fact that he took his own life, the Philistines came, decapitated his head, took his torso, impaled it upon a wall. I mean, they just completely mutilated his body. It's a horrible way of dying. But why? Because he was rejected of God. How about Samson? Samson is an example of someone who was rejected of God. He was going to be used of God. He was used of God to be a judge, one of the best judges of Israel. Wouldn't you agree? I mean, the Spirit of God will come upon him. He was one of those twigs that I was just referring to earlier. But you know what? When the Spirit of God would come upon him, he would be able to rent a lion and twain. He was able to destroy the Philistines. He is an example, a spiritual example, so to speak, of how we, how God can use us to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. He was supposed to be used as a symbolic figure of what it is to be filled with the Spirit and the exploits one can do. But you know what he did? He just completely ruined all of that because he wanted to fornicate. He wanted to do wicked things. You know what the Bible says? That we are the temple of God. And if any man defile the temple, him shall God destroy. And what happened? You know, the Spirit of God went from him and he wished not that the Lord was not with him. The Philistines came to gouge out his eyes. They made sport of him. And ultimately, yeah, the Spirit came back upon him to commit suicide. This is someone who is rejected. This is someone who God says, you're cast away. You're done. It's time to look for someone else. Folks, I don't want that in my life. I do not want to be a castaway. I do not want to be thrown away and just be a Christian who's just good for nothing. I'd rather just do the best that I can. Be a great repenter. Continue to grow in God's Word and tread lightly in this Christian life. Look at Romans 11, verse 1. I mentioned this earlier, but Israel was cast away, right? Look what it says. I say then, had God cast away his people? This is the Zionist's favorite verse. When they do the devotions, they start with this. They don't start in Genesis 1. They're like, go to Romans 11. God forbid. And then you just completely forget the rest of the chapter, right? The rest of the verse, for that matter. I say then, had God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am in Israel, the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people, which he what? Forgnew. So what does God say? What is Paul saying? He's saying, look, I didn't cast away my people who are saved. Because, folks, those who he foreknew, he also did predestinate. Those he predestined, he also glorified, right? He justified them. This is referring to saved individuals. What you not with the scripture say that Elias, how he maketh intercessions to God against Israel saying. Now skip down to verse 13. Anytime someone brings up this passage to prove Zionism to God, you know, God's not done with Israel. He's gonna use them in the end times and restore them, and all this John Hagee nonsense. God hath not cast away his people. This is what I show them, verse 13. For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are in my flesh, I might save some of them. Look what it says. For if the casting away of them. Well, I thought you said they weren't cast away. Here it says, for if the casting away of them, be the reconciling of the world. Now let me ask you, is the world being reconciled to God right now? Absolutely. The gospel has come to the Gentiles. Gentiles are being saved. The focus is no longer on Israel because they failed to be a light unto the Gentiles. But how is it that the light of the glorious gospel came to the Gentiles? By casting away Israel. Amen. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? Now people want to use that and say, well, there you go. You know, he's going to receive them. Read closely. What shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? It's referring to the fact the only people I'm going to accept who are Israelites are those who were saved from like back in the day. Right? Because when shall all Israel be saved? When shall all saved Israelites be on this world? At the millennial reign. At the resurrection, you have Daniel and David and Abraham and all these people resurrecting from the grave. And at that point, God receives them into that kingdom at the millennial reign. Now you say, why bring that up? Well, because it's just cool to look at, you know, and talk smack about Zionism, right? No, I'm just kidding. No, because of the fact that we see that Israel was cast away. They were rejected. Now, why is that? Because they refused to be a lie unto the Gentiles. That's why. They didn't do the work. So, you know, God is no respecter of people, right? If he rejects one individual, he can also reject a nation and is based upon the work that they're doing. That's why he tells them just as he told Saul that the kingdom of God should be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. What is he saying? I've rejected you. You're done. You're no longer God's chosen people because you failed to be the light and the testimony to the Gentiles. So this is referring to an individual who is basically, go to 1 Corinthians 3, who has been cast away. This is a person who's been reprobated. A Christian. Now you can cut that and clip it and say, oh, pastor, he is saying that, you know, Christians can become reprobated. Listen to the context. Not from salvation, but from service. Plenty of examples of that in the Bible. And again, there are those who are cast away. They can be reconciled. They can be, you know, we can recover them, but there are those who can no longer be recovered. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 14. It says, if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Knowing not the year of the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwells within you, in you, if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. So what is it saying? You begin to defile the temple, God says you can potentially destroy your life and cause me to destroy you. He said, well, what specifically though? I don't know. Kind of leaves room for interpretation. It kind of leaves you wondering, well, I don't even want to get close to even defiling my body because I don't know where that can lead. I will say this, two chapters afterwards in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we have an individual who is involved in fornication in the church. He's cast out of the church and given over to Satan for what? The destruction of the flesh. But I don't care. I mean, it doesn't matter what sin it is. I'd rather just glorify God in my body which is God's, you know? And so I think he leaves it some room there for interpretation to kind of strike fear within the heart of a Christian to say, you know, I just want to make sure I live right. No drinking, no fornication, no adultery, no idolatry, no extortion, no covetousness because I don't want to potentially destroy my body and have God destroy me because of it, okay? So when we talk about the term reprobate, this is just at a base level simply means someone who's rejected. But when we go to the intermediate level, we see that a Christian can become reprobate or what? Cast away. They involve themselves in sin to get into the world and to such a point where God says, I'm just done with you. You know, you're out of church. You're not even serving me anymore. I'm just going to take you home early, okay? And look, folks, I know people from my old church who are castaways. You know, there's an individual who was in our church. Brother Albert knows him. He, like when I first came to church, he was like one of the biggest influences in my life. I mean, like, I mean, as far as like Christianity was concerned, like he invested time in me and he was very kind, but you know, he became a castaway. He destroyed his life with drugs. And then I remember he came back, but it was probably too late for him. His habits had overtaken him, basically. And he ended up committing suicide that week. You know, that's what people say. Maybe he committed suicide or maybe someone killed him. We don't know, but we do know this is that he caused himself to be a castaway. And the guy had a lot of potential. I mean, what Christian does not have a lot of potential, right? Any Christian who serves Christ, serves God, loves the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength has a lot of potential to do great works for God. God wants to use every one of us. But with this individual, I mean, he was already being used greatly, but you know what? He made some bad decisions in his life that caused him to be cast out of the race. And you know what? Unfortunately, he died a dishonorable death, okay? That's not what we want for our lives. So beginner level, reprobate means to be rejected. Intermediate level, a castaway. And here's the advanced level, okay? This is the Goro round, okay? A mortal comeback. This is the individual that has been rejected by God and is beyond the hope of salvation. This is not referring to a saved individual. Because once we're saved, we cannot be rejected by God, and God's not gonna be like, well, man, I regret saving you. Good night. You know, it's not gonna happen. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He made a promise by two immutable oaths, the Bible says. In hope of eternal life, which God, they cannot lie, promised until before the world began. You understand? So God gives us eternal life, and once we have it, we can never lose it. But you know, the individual prior to that, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13, can get to a point where they become reprobate concerning the faith. Now faith, a synonym for faith is to believe. To place your faith in something means to believe in something. So get this, God, you can actually get to a point, and when I say you, I'm referring to just unsafe people in general, can get to a point where God actually removes their ability to believe. That can be proven up and down in the scriptures. We see that all the time in the Bible. You say, well, how does God remove someone's ability to believe? Well, the Bible says that he sears their conscience. And when you sear conscience, the symbolic meaning there is that he basically numbs it where they can no longer reason or understand the truth. In fact, not only can they not understand the truth, now they're susceptible to any type of lie. He sends them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie because they rejected the gospel. Now why does this happen to certain individuals? Well, this is why. Because all individuals in this world are given light of God, right? I don't mean like a literal light. I'm talking about he gives you a little bit of truth here and there. We're born with truth in us. And as we go on in this life, we're given more light. We hear about Jesus. We hear about the Bible. We hear about biblical concepts. And as we respond to the light that God gives us, the goal is that eventually we will reach that point where we're ready to be saved. Some individuals, though, get to that point where they know what the gospel says and they're right on the edge. Someone gives them the gospel and they say, no. Now I don't know when it is when God just shoves them over the edge and just says, okay, you're just reprobating. We don't really know, but we know it happens. We don't know how many times an individual hears the gospel before they become reprobate. People ask me that. How many times does someone hear it before they actually are rejected of God? I don't know. I don't know. It could be years. It could be, I don't know. There's never been a case study on it, okay? I don't think you can do a case study on it. But the reality is is that it happens. Now when you think of, for example, sodomites, here's my theory on this. Because sodomites, they're not going around teaching religious doctrines to say like, hey God. How do they recruit people? By molesting people, right? They molest others. And typically those who get molested, sometimes they become reprobates themselves. They become sodomites themselves. And if you're sodomite, according to the Bible, that means it's just a fruit, pun intended, to show that you've already been reprobated. You understand? So when you look at some flaming sodomite out in the world, and they're doing just the most disgusting filth known to mankind, you can say with the surety, okay, that person rejected Christ a long time ago. We don't know how long ago, but we know that it happened. When you look at a tree, and you can't tell what type of tree it is, when it begins to bear fruit, it's like, okay, now that's always been an apple tree. That was an apple tree when it started coming out of the ground. It's not until it bore fruit that we realized that's an apple tree. Well, in like manner, when you see a wicked person like that, or someone like Ted Bundy, we say, oh, that person rejected the gospel long ago, okay, and they became reprobate. But here's my theory, is that sometimes what happens is, when an individual gets molested, for example, they can become very bitter towards God, okay? And that happens. Where they become bitter towards God, now, it goes both ways. Sometimes people, they don't become bitter towards God, that actually causes them to seek after God, for healing, for answers, and they get saved, and man, they live happily ever after with the Lord, amen? But others sometimes take the wrong way, and they begin to hate God. And you know what? God, in His compassion, in His love, begins to send them the gospel through individuals, begins to send them the truth, and you know what? That person's bitterness often blinds them, and causes them to reject that. To the point where they hate God, and God says, okay, if you don't want me, then I don't want you either. And some people think that's cruel, but think about that. How can that be cruel? If someone hates God, and says, I don't want you in my life, I don't want your son, I don't want salvation, it's cruel for God to say, okay, then I don't want you either. He's not gonna force himself on anybody. That would be cruel. That would completely negate free will. He wants people to choose God and His Son. I remember long ago, and I'm not saying this individual was a reprobate, but I remember long ago, when I was still working in the secular realm, we used to have friend day at our church. And we liked friend day, because we'd invite a bunch of people to church, people would get saved. But I remember I used to invite all my co-workers, and every year I'd just invite co-workers. In the beginning it was just a lot of girls that I would invite to church, okay? And I remember this one particular girl, she came, and she was interested in me a little bit. And I said, well, if you're interested in me, you gotta come to church. But my trick was, as soon as they came, I would hand them off to some other individual, or some girl to sit with them, and have them disciple them. So this girl came, and my pastor would preach a salvation message for a friend day. And I remember seeing her off in the distance, I was like, okay, cool. She came, hopefully she gets saved. So I went up to her after the service, and I said, hey, so what did you think? She says, that was great. That was awesome. Like, you know, the gospel and all this stuff. She was just like, she said this was great. I loved it. I was like, awesome. Now she was like in a hurry, she ended up leaving. But then literally the next day, I see her at work, and I'm excited. I'm like, wow, this girl, you know, she got saved, she seems to like the church, not only can she get saved, maybe she can become part of the church. And I see her, and I said, hey, so and so. So you like the church, huh? She goes, it was okay. She goes, but that whole thing about Jesus sending, God sending his son to die on the cross is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. And I was like, I was plowed. It just completely blew me over. I was like, come again? She goes, oh, yeah. The whole story about God sending his son, Jesus Christ on this earth to die for our sins is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. And I remember looking at her like saying, okay. I didn't, honestly, I didn't know what to make of it. It was like from one day to the next, it's almost as if she just completely, she like hated the doctrine. She hated the fact that God sent his son to die for us. And it confused me. I didn't understand why. Now, if I were to assess that situation today, maybe friend day was her last chance to be saved. You understand? And maybe she had been given the gospel multiple times already. Maybe God had been trying to get a hold of her many times. Maybe he sent multiple soul winners. Maybe she's been to multiple churches, Baptist churches where they preach the gospel, and she just never gets saved. And then finally, she gets this clear presentation of the gospel because my father-in-law would do that. And then she just rejected it. And God says, all right, you know, I'm done. I'm going to reprobate you. You don't, you're lying. You don't want my son. And you know what? That's the only way I can make sense of the statement that she made. Because the day before, she's just like, that was great. You know, that's great. You know, oh, yeah, God sent. And then the next day, he's like, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. I'm like, whoa. Now, look what it says. We're going to have you turn 2 Corinthians. By the way, keep in mind that like, when I talk about the castaway, a person, you know, they're cast away. Well, let me read to you from 1 Timothy 1, 19. It says, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck. So you think of someone who's cast away, there's still potential to reel them back in, right? But someone who's made shipwreck, it's like that ship can never be repaired. It's destroyed. Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, who have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Look at 2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13, I would say is the chapter that is like the nail in the coffin for the reprobate doctrine. And anytime I run into some old IFB individual who wants to refute what I believe in this regard, I always bring this one up right here. This is the best one in my opinion. It says in verse three, since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you art is not weak, but is mighty in you. For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lived 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 ye be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Now look what he says here. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? So what is he saying? Christ is in you, you're a saved individual, unless you're a reprobate. So what's the insinuation? Reprobates don't have Christ in them. That's what he's saying. You can flip that around, and basically what he's saying is this, if you're a reprobate, then you can't have Christ in you. You have Christ in you, unless you're one of those reprobates. Now why is he saying that to the Corinthian church? Because of the fact that it's a church. You know the place where reprobates are often made the most? Church. The second after that is Christian school. Actually, this Christian school could actually be more than church, because they actually meet every single day for hours on end, getting Bible preaching hours on end, and students are forced to be there by their parents to listen to Bible teaching, and what happens is that they get a reprobate mind. And I've known many of them who that's happened to. But he's telling them, look, you might be a reprobate. Now why? Because first and foremost, it's a church, but look who's writing the letter. Paul. I mean, we're talking about the apostle Paul is the one who's teaching them doctrine, you know, writing this letter, giving them biblical instruction. I mean, folks, none of us got the apostle Paul. We never got any apostle, right? These people got someone who's going to be in the word of God for all of eternity. It's a big thing. So he's saying, look, so he's saying, look, Christ is in you except you're a reprobate. So the proof there is that some people regarding reprobates who are reprobate concerning the faith, they don't have Christ in them, nor can they have Christ in them. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. We'll finish with this. So that's the third one. The advanced level is this, is that some individuals in this world can just be rejected to the point where they can no longer be saved. Not referring to Christians. That's intermediate level. Advanced level is an unsaved individual who has given the gospel to the point where they're rejected to the point where God says you're done. I'm through with you. And folks, it happens. And if you don't agree with that, then you need to explain to me why billions of souls are in hell today. Those are a bunch of individuals who rejected the gospel, right? They're reprobate. They're rejected. Oh yeah, just say that. You know, God loves everyone. Well, can you really say that God loves the ones who are in hell today? Think about that. If you think that God loves the individuals that are in hell today, you have a screwed up definition of what love is. You're like some sadist or something. Or it's just like, that's not an expression of love, folks. We don't burn people we love for all of eternity. That's weird. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him should have everlasting life. Right? Look at 2 Timothy 3 verse 7. He said, well, what happens to an individual if they become a reprobate? But you keep giving them, why don't we just keep giving them the gospel? Well, you can give them the gospel all you want. Look what the Bible says. Verse 7. They can be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. So you can teach them doctrine, you can get them to memorize the entire Bible, but if they're a reprobate concern in the faith, they will not be saved. You're actually just making their condemnation that much worse, which in some cases, amen. Look at verse 8. Now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so did these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. What is he saying? These individuals, God has actually removed their ability to ever believe on Jesus Christ ever. That's not right. Folks, it was because of their decision to not want to believe in them in the first place. The Bible says they didn't want to retain God in their knowledge. And this is what I ask people when we like talk about this reprobate doctrine. I say, look, so you're trying to tell me that someone who doesn't want to retain God in their knowledge can potentially still get saved? They don't want to retain him. They want nothing to do with God. Oh, we just got to pray that they get saved. They hate him. It says that they hate him. You're only going to tick them off more. You're not going to be able to placate these individuals. They hate the Lord. And they're reprobate concerning the faith. So God just removed, he just made it easier for them, in other words. So instead of constantly fighting, God just says, here, I'll just help you out. Why don't I just remove, why don't I just cut your brakes? Now you don't have to worry about pumping the brakes. Why don't I just remove your ability to believe? Now you don't have to struggle with it to believe or not. You just will never believe. But he doesn't do this to every individual who is born right off the bat. He does it to only individuals who receive the gospel over and over again. They just reject it. And they're given over to a reprobate mind. Now, everyone who's given to a reprobate mind doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to become some sodomite either. Maybe in the long run they will. We don't know. But there's individuals that are given to other sins worse than others. You know, Judas wasn't a sodomite, right? But he was the son of perdition. He was definitely a reprobate. Balaam, the son of Bozor, wasn't a sodomite. He was just this guy who loved money. You understand? So what's the sermon for today? Well, it's simply just to say this. Hey, we need to make sure that we use this term in its biblical context and not just use it flippantly, you know, because that's a very severe and condemning word to say, right? But in like manner, people shouldn't say that we reprobate people. You know, I don't have anybody in my church who reprobates anybody. You're giving them a little too much power. Okay? A little too much power. No one has the divine ability to reprobate anybody. Well, you know what we mean. You're just trying to say that they're not saved. No one's saying that anybody's not saved. Folks, we as a church, we know what this word means. We know who it's designated for. And let me just say this just to close with this, okay? Anybody in my church who makes comments on a public platform to anybody listening, just know this. Before you criticize what they say, just remember this. They probably got it from me. So think about that for a second. Before you go on and criticize the individuals in the church, you know, just recognize they're probably repeating what their pastor has said. They're probably standing in the same position that their pastor is standing in. And look, I'm not saying we can't disagree. We can definitely disagree, respectfully. Respectfully. Where you can say, you know what? I disagree with your pastor. I heard what your pastor said about that. I disagree with that, you know, but hey, let's keep serving God. Let's keep soul winning. I love your church. I love what you guys are doing. That's a respectful way to disagree, right? But just keep in mind, if you rebuke someone from my church who makes a statement, just know this. Their pastor probably believes the same exact thing. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And Lord, thank you for the admonitions. Just as a Christian, we don't want to be castaways. We want to be used of you, Lord. I want to continue to win souls. I'm looking forward to the millennial reign. I pray that you help us, Lord. And I know there's individuals in our church who used to be in our church, who maybe have been cast away. They've gone into sin. They've gotten out of church. And Lord, we pray for them, that you would chastise them in order to bring them to repentance, back to church. And Lord, we pray, God, that you'd help us and give us understanding and help us to have discernment, not to use this word flippantly and just throw it to any individual who we deem as being just a wicked individual. Lord, we know that even Christians can become wicked. They can begin to act in an evil manner sometimes. Saul did. Samson did. Many individuals have. And Lord, help us to have discernment, to have maturity, and bless us as we go on our way. In Jesus' name, amen.