Before we open our Bibles to
the book of Romans chapter 1, I want to give a few introductory
things to our study of those verses concerning the providence
of God. I think that you will be able
to see why that I'm doing this at the very beginning of our
study this morning. The book of Esther is one of
the greatest books of the Bible concerning God's providential
dealings with his people. The unusual thing about the book
of Esther is this, the name of God is not even mentioned.
This has caused a lot of people who are saved to raise questions
concerning the book of Esther. the non-mention of God has been
a problem to many. This is the very point that we
are to see at the very beginning of our study this morning. If the events of the book of
Esther were explained that it was God who was bringing all
these things about, then the impact of the record
would be reduced. Thus, in the outworking of events,
as one sees when he reads and studies the book of Esther, he sees the controlling hand
of God, and I should refer to the controlling hand of God as
being the hidden controlling hand of God in all things. God holds the reins of his providence,
and we're speaking of God's government. God holds the reins of government
today, whether men recognize the reins of God or not. I want
to do a little more this morning than I have already in our study
of the relation of providence to will of God and the relation
of sin to the providence of God. I'd like for us to look at the
word providence. I gave to you, I think it was two weeks ago
tonight, the simplest definition of the word providence. You don't
hear this word very much today from the pulpit. You do not hear
this expression very much among religionists. It is true that
the word providence is found only one time in Holy Scripture,
Acts 24 verse 2. The word as it occurs in that
portion of Scripture comes from the Greek word which means to
consider in advance, to look out beforehand. I'll not take
the time this morning to give to you the Greek words because
you're not interested so much in the Greek words as you are
in the meaning of the words. You'll notice I referred to words
plural because the word that is used in Acts 24 verse 2 comes
from another root word and literally means to consider in advance,
to look for or look out beforehand. Our word providence, our English
word, comes from the Latin word providio, made up of two words,
before, pro, video, I see, thus seeing something beforehand.
Now this word has the acquired meaning of activity arising from
foresight. You remember I said two weeks
ago tonight that providence simply means God's purpose in execution. In other words, what God planned
in eternity is executed in time by his providential dealings
with mankind. Now I'm getting to the point
after giving the meaning of the word providence. The confession
of providence has become to this religious generation in which
we live, I didn't say Christian generation, I said religious,
a stone of stumbling. I said the very confession of
providence has become a stone of stumbling. People are asking
such questions as these. I read one of these recently,
And then I read a similar question that I've added some things to
that will update, so to speak, what I want to bring to you this
morning. People today are asking, quote, where can one point to
purpose in the radically ungarnished life of our times? Will you think
about that for a moment? Where can one point to purpose
in the radically ungarnished life of our times? Another question,
how can the terrors of our times, with the inproportionate sufferings,
corruptions, immoralities, and injustices be a reflection of
the guidance of God? I want to repeat that one again,
because that is a very important question, one that is being asked
maybe not in those very words, but the meaning is similar to
what I've given to you. Once again, we raise this question. How can the terrors of our times,
with the inproportionate sufferings, corruptions, immoralities, and
injustices, be a reflection of the guidance of God? What is
the real cause of our crisis today? Can you answer? The answer is given in Romans
1 18 through 32 and we will be discussing only a portion of
that particular passage of scripture this morning. Now what is the
real cause of our crisis today? That doesn't mean that the hand
of God is not overruling and controlling all events. But let me give to you now what
is the major cause of our present-day crisis. Such preaching, someone has said,
as grace without judgment. Such preaching as grace without
judgment. We're living in a time when religionists
talk much about grace, but they don't want any judgment. So there
is an oversimplification of grace to the neglect of the subject
of judgment. Already we have seen in the first
chapter of Romans that not only is the righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel, but also the wrath of God, verse 18, is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. The wrath of God, the judgment
of God is revealed today. Now the question is, how is the
wrath of God revealed today? I'll prove to you, I will show
to you this morning from these verses that we will be studying,
how God's wrath, how God's judgment is being made manifest today. So grace without judgment, this
has been the preaching of many, many years. In my years of proclaiming
the gospel more than 30, I have seen the fulfillment of this.
Love without justice. Oh, this is a generation that
magnifies the word love, and yet most people know not anything
about the meaning of the word love. Love without justice. You see, there is no such thing
as true love apart from justice. So this generation of God loves
you. Once again, the oversimplification
of the love of God to the neglect of the justice of God has brought
chaos to professing Christendom. And lastly, forgiveness without
redemption and regeneration. Now what's the real cause of
our crisis? Once again the answer is such
preaching as grace without judgment, love without justice, and forgiveness
without redemption and regeneration. This has caused the crisis, this
kind of preaching has caused the crisis of our times. God
has in his providence given many religionists up, and he's giving
them up today. And God's giving up religionists
is the manifestation of his judgment or his wrath upon today's society. Now will you turn with me to
Romans 1? I thought that that would be about the best introduction
I knew to our study of these verses. I can't go back and review
any of the things that we've already covered. We'll simply
just go right in to the beginning of our study of these verses
three times where it specifically states that God gave them up. As God gave up the heathen Gentiles
in the past, he gives up people today. as God gave up the heathen
Gentiles who turned their back on the revelation of God in nature. So the same sovereign God gives
people up today who turn their backs not only on the revelation
of God in nature, but turn their backs on the revelation of God
made known to us in Holy Scripture. The Word of God doesn't mean
a great deal, even though most religionists today, they simply
go through the Bible and pick out the things they like and
discard the other things. The Christian, however, embraces
all of Holy Scripture knowing that all of Scripture is for
his instruction, and will cruelly punish the man of God unto every
good work. Now let us read verses 24 through
28. These are all the verses that
we'll read, and we're only studying this morning this passage of
Scripture, dealing especially with the 24th, 26th, and 28th
verses. Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own
bodies between themselves. Who changed, or a better translation,
exchanged the truth of God, and there is a better translation
than that, the true God, who exchanged the true God For what? For a lie. And worship and serve
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them
up on the vile affections, for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature. and 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 in themselves that recompense of
their error which was meat. Verse 28, and even as they did
not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over
to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. I want to call attention to two
or three things and let you be thinking about these as we progress
in our study of these verses. In the first place, the word
women and the word men are not good translations of the original. The word in the original is not
the word for a woman and is not the word for a man. It's male
and female. There is a reason for it. The
degeneration had come to the place that Paul could not even
refer to them as men and women. But due to the degeneration,
he referred to them as males and females because of their
sinful condition. He spoke of them in the same
sense that he would speak of male and female animals. Now, beloved, this is an awesome
passage of Scripture. And as I said to you several
weeks ago, unless a person possesses grace, he can't take that which we are studying now.
And the study of such a passage as this is the best way I know
to tell if a person really possesses grace or not. We're dealing now
with three things, verse 24, verse 26, and verse 28. We will come to the last, the
reprobate mind, and it is that to which I am giving special
emphasis in this service this morning as you will see. when
we come to the close of our study of this portion of Scripture.
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven. How? By God giving
men up, by God giving women up, by God giving persons up to uncleanness, to moral uncleanness,
to evil passions. and to minds that are void of
proper discernment. All one has to do is look at
the television, even the newscast, and he soon comes to the conclusion
that most persons today are void of what? Proper discernment. Now we're going to divide our
lesson this morning into three divisions. In case you're taking
notes, first of all, God gives men up to uncleanness. I am putting it in the present
tense, even though we're discussing this portion of Scripture where
Paul describes vividly the heathen people of his time. And heathenism is the same in
every age. Notice, first of all, the very
first word of verse 24. The word wherefore indicates
that the divine retribution finds its foundation in the antecedent
sin. What do you mean the antecedent
sin? Go back to verse 23 where it
specifically states that they change the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man and the birds
and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So the word wherefore indicate
that the divine retribution finds its foundation in the antecedent
sin, and is just infliction for the sin committed. They sinned,
wherefore God punished them. They sinned by degrading God,
wherefore God degraded them. That's the language. The Christian
looks at it. He sees it for what it is. He
doesn't try to pass it by and forget about it. And every person
who possesses grace knows of the privacy of the human heart.
You know something about the depravity of your own heart,
which is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Who
can know it but God himself? Now there are several parts to
this major point. First of all, God gave them up. What does that mean? This refers
to God's withdrawal of all restraint. God's withdrawal of all restraint. I'll illustrate that by two biblical
examples in just a moment. The withdrawal of restraint.
sends men deeper and deeper into sin. God only left them, as Paul refers
to the heathen Gentiles, to their own self-determination and their
own self-destruction. Wherefore, God gave them up to
uncleanness. Oh, what a statement. It makes
us shake. It makes us tremble. It is not
something that God has done to men in the past. It is something
that God is now doing. And we're witnessing it, even
in this day in which we live. This is a revelation of God's
wrath being poured out right now. Verse 18 of Romans 1. God was not purely passive. He
positively withdrew his hand. We'll get into the permissive
will of God, and that isn't a good expression. That isn't a good
expression. And we'll have more to say on
that particular point in our study of the relation of sin
to the providence of God. We'll get into the subject of
concurrence, and that's something future. We'll get into that later.
But this was not merely passive, a passive act on the part of
God. He positively withdrew his restraint. Wherefore, God gave
them up. Let me give to you two biblical
examples of this. First of all, we have in Genesis
6-3. where the Lord speaking said,
My spirit will not always strive with man. The question is, how
did God's spirit strive with the antediluvians? Through the preaching of Noah.
Through the preaching of Noah. But due to their conduct, And
all one has to do is read the first part of the sixth chapter
of Genesis and he will see that they were evil in their imaginations
and that continually. That continually. And therefore
God said, my spirit will not always strive with man. Even for the preaching of Noah. Let me give to you an example
from the New Testament. All of you are familiar with
the prodigal son, but you might have overlooked this point in
the life of the prodigal son. Do you remember when he came
to his father and he wanted that which belonged to him? And the father took off all restraint,
did he not? And when the father withheld
all restraint, what did the son do when he received that portion
which belonged to him? He went into a far country and
lived a wicked life without any restraint whatsoever from his
father. There's another biblical example of removal of restraint. What happened to him? When he
had spent all that he received from his father, he found himself
in the hog pen. All restraint. So when you have
time, read Luke 15, 11 through 24. And you will have a biblical
example of all restraint being taken away by the father when
he went into the far country. So God gave them up. And God
gives up men and women today who turn their backs on the revelation
of God, not only in nature, but the revelation of God in Holy
Scripture. He gives them up. He gives them
up. Now notice the second thing,
not only does he give them up, but he gives them up to uncleanness
through the lust of their own hearts. The heart is more than the center
of man's nature. It is the whole of his personality
according to Jeremiah 17 verse 9. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. I said, out of the heart of the
issues of life. Now, if I had the time this morning,
I would go back and make a study of the heart in Jeremiah 17,
9, where the prophet said, the heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked who can know it. But all I have time to give to
you this morning is this. The heart is more than the center
of man's nature. It is the whole of his personality.
The impurity of the heart manifests itself in deeds. Out of the heart are the issues
of life, we're told in the New Testament. So first of all, God
gave them up. Secondly, to uncleanness to the
lust of their own hearts. And number three, to dishonor
their own bodies. This means to what? Disgrace
themselves. You and I are witnessing today
the greatest manifestation of this that we have ever encountered
in our lives. Persons dishonoring themselves,
people disgracing themselves. Did you know that God punishes
sin by sin? Some of you may not know that,
but that's true. One of the Old Testament words for punishment
is the word sin. Cain, you know who Cain is, said
in Genesis 4.13, my punishment, and it literally means my sin
is greater than I can bear. God often uses sin to punish
sin. This is demonstrated in the 10th
chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. When God used the Assyrians to
chastise his own people, finally we find they exchanged, verse
26, they exchanged the truth of God or the true God for a
lie. Beloved, we do not have to go
with the Apostle Paul in spirit to Mars Hill. We do not have
to go in spirit with the Apostle Paul to the city of Athens and
listen to the Athenians, the philosophers of Athens. When
Paul said, I perceive that you're too religious, everywhere Paul
looked, he saw idols, idols, idols. Everywhere we look today,
we see nothing but idols, idols, idols, all sorts. all kinds. So men today, as the
persons that Paul posed here in Romans 1, they are exchanging
the living and true God. They're casting Him aside, wanting
no part of Him, and in a place they're holding tenaciously to
their idols. Let me illustrate that. What
madness it would be for a person to abandon a pure spring of water
for an impure and poisonous pond. And yet that's exactly what humanity
is doing. We have all kinds of gods. Pleasure
gods, religious gods, sports gods. And all of these things
we see on every hand today in America. Now when you think about the
gods of the heathen, the gods constitute a lie against the
divine unity. There are three persons in the
Godhead, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. There is no
unity among the false gods, there is perfect unity among the persons
of the Godhead. Persons who worship their gods,
whatever they might be. Persons who exchange the true
and living God for a god, an idol. There's no unity among
the gods. There's no unity among the idols.
But there's perfect unity among the persons of the Godhead. Secondly,
The corporal nature of idols or gods is a lie against the
invisible divine spirit. God is a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. You see,
we don't have to see an idol when we come to church. I don't
believe in such idols and images. We worship the Lord. God is a
spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. But too many persons today, even
religionists, they have to have something they can see, whether
it be an organization, whether it be a church building, whether
it be a man, or whatever it might be. Religionists are exchanging
idols for the true and living God. So the corporal nature of
idols is a lie against the invisible
divine spirit. And lastly, The confined and local residence
of false gods or idols is a lie against the omnipresent God. The true and living God is everywhere
present. You and I don't have to have
something we can see, something we can lay our hands on, so to
speak. So the confined and local residence of false gods is a
lie against the omnipresent one whom we love and serve. Now look
at verse 26. We have seen now verses 24 and
25. Secondly, God gives up men under vile affections. I want
you to notice what all is involved in the study of this subject.
That's verse 26. For this cause, states the reason
for which God gave up the wicked Gentiles to the judicial infliction
expressed in verses 26 and 27. The words wherefore in verse
24 and for this cause, verse 26, are all to the same effect. The abandonment is the judgment
for apostasy. Notice what I said. The abandonment
is God's judgment for apostasy, turning from the revelation of
God, not only in nature, but now today to make it practical
and bring it and update it to the revelation of God in Holy
Scripture. Merely without excuse, even in
the light of the revelation of God in nature, men surely are
without excuse, knowing that the Bible is the revelation of
God's mind to man. Now let's divide this particular
point up into a couple of divisions. First of all, vile affections. That statement literally means,
unto passions of dishonor. Now let's look at that for a
moment. Vile affections, passions of dishonor, wrong living, beloved,
grows out of wrong loving. When you love something that
is wrong, then your living will be wrong. What people do grows directly
out of what they love. This cannot be denied. This is
a fact that no one can set aside. Idolatry, someone has said, brings
unnatural sins out of natural desires. I want you to think
about that for a moment. That's a tremendous statement.
I want to repeat it. One of the great theologians
of all time made that statement. Idolatry brings natural, unnatural
sins out of natural desires. Now, I'll illustrate that before
I will have finished this morning. There are natural desires in
every human being. But unless a person is guided
by divine truth, there can be unnatural sins brought into being
through natural desires. Paul does not use the terms,
as I've already related to you, men and women. That ought to
be enough for you. He refers to them as males and
females because of their beastly sins. Without natural affection,
would you think about that for a moment? We're witnessing unnatural affections
today. The abortions. Lesbianism. homosexuality, and Paul describes
these things vividly here in this portion of Scripture. All
of these things are unnatural affections, and you know they
are. Inventors of evil things, he
goes on to say in the last part of the first chapter, we're not
studying that portion this morning. So wicked men are devising new
schemes new ways of sinning in bitters
of evil things, without natural affection, without natural affection
on the part of parents for the children, without natural affection
on the part of the children for the parents, without natural
affection for the woman and woman for the man, without natural
affection. Do you see what he's talking
about? Don't pass this by lightly. This describes the generation
in which we live. You and I know that modesty is
woman's most beautiful adornment. First Timothy 2.9, and when woman
loses that adornment, she's lost the most precious possession,
humanly speaking, that she has. You know as well as I do that
in a nation where womanhood has lost all respect. There's nothing
left for that nation but destruction. I'm not through. Let's turn to
the men. Paul not only talks about the
women leaving the natural use of the man, but he talks about
the men leaving the natural use of the woman, men with men, burning
with lust one toward another. and doing things unseemly. We'll
look at that in a moment. Now let's look at manliness.
Manliness, man's desirable qualities of dignity, courage, directness
and moral strength was absent in the males that God gave up. And such manliness is absent
in men whom God gives up today. The beastly affections were a
direct result of the willful choices of the persons involved. The horror of such idolatry is
not its ignorance, but its sin. Now let's see what else he says.
For this cause God gave them up in the vile affections. Passions of dishonor, that's
the meaning. Now let's investigate this. Now in the light of the last
part of verse 26 and verse 27, will you look at these two verses?
First of all, the disgraceful passions of the women, and I
should say females, because that's the original word that Paul uses.
are explained. The lesbian vice may be included
in the expression, quote, even their women or their females
did change a natural use into that which is against nature,
end of quote. You will notice that the Apostle
Paul refrained from a detailed description of the lesbian vice. The delicacy which belongs to
the woman makes the degeneracy more apparent. So the natural
use of a man is the point made here in this particular
statement. The last bulwark of any society is its womanhood. Now look at the men. Paul doesn't
just point his finger accusingly at women. Now look at the men.
So we have in verse 27, the male homosexual bias is more clearly
described. Do you know what this means?
I hope you see it in its proper context. A homosexual is one whom God
has given up. That's what the book says. Now
today they're becoming more apparent, you know, in our society. And a lot of preachers and a
lot of churches, a lot of denominations are saying we've got to make
a place for the homosexuals in our society. And so they receive
them in the church. Now let me say something, don't
go off on this quote me. They need the grace of God and
the only hope for them is the grace of God. But they are not
to be received into the church as members, as long as they're
homosexuals. If the grace of God does something
for them, they are no longer homosexuals. Beloved, any institution, I don't
care what denomination it is, that looks lightly upon that,
and it ceases to be a church of Jesus Christ. It's just a
religious institution. just a religious institution. Now let's go into this a little
bit. I could spend a lot of time on this point, but I want to
get to the point that really applies to what I want to bring
before you this morning. But we'll take it as it comes.
So the males left the natural use to the females. as grievous, beloved, as fornication
and adultery are. The desecration involved in homosexuality
is on a lower plane of degeneracy. You can't get any lower than
that. I challenge you to refute that. I challenge anyone to refute
that. This is what the Word of God says, and I believe the Lord
knows what he's talking about. Now look, secondly, the word
burn, these men burned in their lust one toward another. The
word burn in your King James Version, verse 27, must not be
equated, follow me now, I'm giving something that will be helpful
for you, must not be equated with the word burn in 1 Corinthians
7-9. Now I want you to turn with me,
and I challenge anybody to check this out in the original and
see if I'm telling the truth, but turn with me to 1 Corinthians
7 on. There is a lawful desire, and
I'll give you the meaning of that in just a moment. Turn with
me to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Paul says, beginning with verse
1, Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, It
is good for a man not to touch a woman, that is, in the light
of the present distress. And it looks a little bit like
we're living in similar circumstances today. People are saying today,
oh, I would hate to bring children into the world today. I can understand
it. Just as individuals hated to
bring children into the world at this particular time that
Paul describes. And all you have to do is read
the entire chapter and you'll see what he's talking about.
In the light of the present distress. Verse 2. Nevertheless, to avoid
fornication, that's sin outside of wedlock, let every man have
his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. Now drop
down to verse 9. But if they cannot contain, let
them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn. I said
that the word burn here in Romans 1 must never be equated with
the word burn in 1 Corinthians 7-9. I'm not afraid to teach
anything that's in the scriptures. Now listen to me carefully. The
latter, that is, in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 9, is the burning of
a natural desire which is not immoral and finds its satisfaction,
listen to this, Hebrews 13, verse 4, in the undefiled marriage
bed. Now, it needs no further explanation.
So the word burn in 1 Corinthians 7, 9 is a natural desire which
finds its satisfaction, it is not immoral, which finds its
satisfaction in, quote, the undefiled marriage ban, end of quote, Hebrews
13, verse 4. Now that isn't true with the
word burn in Romans 1. That has to do with unnatural
things described by the Apostle Paul. Now, the word ansin is
too weak a word, really, for you and me to use. This is not
a good translation from the original language. The Greek should be
rendered the shameful thing, the shameful thing. Now we get
to the third point. Verse 28, look at it. And even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are
not convenient, which means fitting. Now here's where we want to spend
some time before we bring something before you this morning. I have
two divisions of this particular point. First of all, God's judicial
abandonment was not restricted to immoral living. God gives
up men and women, or males and females, to minds void of moral
or proper discernment. That's the meaning of the word
used here, translated reprobate. God gives men and women up. He
gives up males and females to mind's void of moral or proper
discernment. Now let's go into that a little
bit. In other words, the judgment of God falls upon the seat of
both thought and action. As the Gentiles did not think
fit to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a mind which
could not stand the test, could not stand trial. That's what
it means. You know, I quiver, I shake when
I witness the person sometime and I detect immediately they
do not want to hear what I have to say about the Lord. Are you
following me? I'm making this practical. I shake when I'm witnessing or
when I'm talking to persons. And I sense they do not want
to hear what I'm saying about the Lord. It just may be that
God has given them up to a reprobate mind, a mind void of moral or
proper discernment. Even as they did not like to
retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up. I want to give
you one outstanding Greek student who has interpreted this. You
do not see this in the study of the King James Version. your
translation of the New Testament. But I want to give you a quotation
by an outstanding Greek student. He said, and I quote, we're commenting
now on the 28th verse. They pronounced the true God
adokimos. That's the Greek word that is
translated void of proper or moral discernment. That means
they disapproved of God. They would have none of him,
and he in turn gave them up to loose, that's the word, the Greek
word for mind, rakimos, a mind which is no mind and cannot discharge
the functions of one, a mind in which the divine distinctions
of right and wrong are confused and lost, so God's condemnation
cannot but fall on it at last. Now let's look at the word mind
here. Gave them up to a reprobate mind.
The Greek word is nous, mind. The mind is the seat of reflective
consciousness. You know something about the
human mind. You know a little bit about it. So the mind is
the seat of reflective consciousness. Comprising the faculties of perception
and understanding. And those of feeling, judging,
and determining. Now, when God gives up a person
to a reprobate mind, that means he cannot discern things properly.
His thinking is not straight. Now, this is a tremendous message,
and I'd like really some time to preach a message on this.
The Apostle Paul uses the word mind in three different ways
in the Book of Romans. I'll just relate them to you
now. First of all, as we have here in this particular passage,
a reprobate mind. That, of course, is an unregenerate
mind. In the seventh chapter of the
book of Romans, Paul says, with a mind I serve the law of God. That's the regenerated mind.
That's the regenerated mind. In Romans 12, verses 1 and 2,
especially the second verse, the renewing of the mind, that's
the work of sanctification. So look at this. You have here
in Romans 1 a reprobate mind, an unregenerate mind, an unsanctified
mind, and I'm talking about sanctification in its absolute sense, being
set apart for the blood of Christ, redeemed, purged, cleansed, made
fit or suitable. And then we have the regenerated
mind in this other chapter. The exercise of the regenerated
mind And then finally, in the 12th chapter, the exercise of
that mind in practical and everyday sanctification, the renewing
of the mind that we might know the perfect will of God. So you
have the unregenerate mind, you have a regenerated mind, and
you have the exercise of that regenerated mind in practical
sanctification, a perfect outline for a message. All I'm doing
is just showing you the three ways in which the Apostle Paul
uses that particular word in the Book of Romans. But that's
not my message this morning. The judgment of God falls upon
the seat of thought and action. When men refuse to think God,
one person has stated it like this, when men refuse to think
God, he says, God gives them up to degenerate thinking. Men
are of no value who do not value God. Isn't that true? Men are
of no value who do not value God. And I want you to know that
goes from the leaders of our country right down. Any person
who does not value God is a man of no value. You believe that? That's what the book says. That's
what the Word of God teaches, and I believe it. So the recruitment
mind is rejected because it is deemed worthless. Now the last
part of the 28th verse, to do those things which are not convenient,
which means fitting, do those things which are not fitting. And this explains to you and
me what a reprobate mind entails. What does a reprobate mind entail?
Sin is its own punishment. Sins are enumerated as senseless,
filthy, inhuman, self-deceptive, and God-dishonored. Sin is its
own punishment. Listen now. The effects of such
sins are mental faculties are endeavored, conscience is defiled,
seared, sensibilities are blunted, incapacity to appreciate natural
affections and no appreciation for the good and no more. Now
this is what we're dealing with this morning. Beloved, believe
me, this is what we're dealing with this morning. I want to
give it again. Give it up to a reprobate mind. I have a very
serious charge to make this morning against someone and I'll bring
it as a recommendation. But after four years and many
conferences, this last week after a series
of events that shocked a number of us that I'll tell you about
this morning, I got off and I got to thinking
about what I've been teaching, what I've been studying, what
I've been giving to you. And I said, here is a perfect example
of the very thing that I've been teaching. You know it seems that
every time you get into a particular passage of scripture, a great
doctrine of truth, it isn't long until the Lord and his providence
gives you something that will bring that particular doctrine
to your mind and you'll have to live it or ignore it. You'll
have to experience it or completely ignore it. giving up to a reprobate
mind, a mind that is void of proper or moral judgment. What does it mean? The effects
of such a mind are mental faculties in evil, conscience sealed, sensibilities
blunted, incapacity to appreciate natural affections, and no appreciation
for the good and noble. Need I say more? I think before
that I do this, I realize that this message has not been, and
I'm not apologizing for it. Believe me, I don't apologize
for any portion of Holy Scripture. But I say, of course, this has
not been one pleasant to listen to, and especially lost persons.
But I never know when the grace of God will give an individual
the disposition of heart. You might have come with a mind
void of proper judgment, and the Lord has given you a new
mind. He's regenerated your mind, enabling
you to make a proper judgment concerning the person and work
of Jesus Christ. And a regenerated mind does embrace
the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. And that mind which
has been regenerated is exorcised by the study of God's word that
he might know the will of God for his life.