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

Man, Romans chapter number one, this morning we talked about the first half of the chapter and we ended on this thought in verse 16 where the Bible reads, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And so salvation is by grace through faith. It's not of works lest any man should boast, it's to everyone who believeth. And then he says in verse 17, for therein, meaning in the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So our eternal life comes through faith in Christ Jesus. We are saved by faith, the gospel is the power of God unto those that believe. Now in verse 18 he changes gears and starts to talk about the negative side of things. Instead of talking about people getting saved through putting their faith in Jesus, now we're going to talk about people that reject God and in fact they reject God in such a way that God ends up rejecting them. Basically they go too far and they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge and so God basically just gives them over to a reprobate mind. God ultimately rejects them. Let's start out the beginning here in verse number 18, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness. Now wrath is talking about extreme anger and so God's wrath is his burning anger and it's directed at all of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of this world, right? So God looks down on this earth and he sees all the sin and the wickedness and the ungodliness and this enrages God. That's why the Bible says God is angry with the wicked every day and so God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. It's no mystery, it shouldn't be a surprise unto us that God is angry about sin. That God is angry at wickedness. That is something that has been revealed to us and he is angry and his wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness. So you say, well, okay, maybe he's only mad at people who know the Bible really well or maybe it's just, you know, Christians that are doing ungodly things. But no, cause keep reading. It says they hold the truth and unrighteousness verse 19 because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even as eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. And so what the Bible is saying here when it says men who hold the truth and unrighteousness, he's talking about every person on this planet because that which may be known of God is manifest unto them. God has shown it unto them. Why? Because the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even as eternal power and Godhead, which is an archaic way of saying his godhood so that they are without excuse. And so what the Bible is teaching here is that all of mankind is without excuse before God. There's no one in this world that could just say like, well God, I get a pass cause I didn't know that you had these rules. I didn't know that sin made you so mad. I didn't know that murder was wrong. I didn't know adultery was wrong. You know, everybody, the Bible says is without excuse before God, okay? Everyone on this earth today is a sinner and every single person is responsible before God. And even if they don't know that there's a God or if they don't believe that there's a God, that's their fault, okay? Because that has been revealed through nature that obviously there's a God, obviously right and wrong exists. We have that within our hearts as human beings. We know that God exists and that there's right and wrong. And so there's no excuse for those who are living unrighteously and ungodly in this world. Now truly, even though we are all sinners, we're going to find out as we get into especially chapters three and four of Romans that if we believe on Jesus Christ, then God's wrath is turned away from us and then he forgives and forgets our sins and we're accepted in the beloved and we're saved. But see, here's the thing, in order for salvation to exist, there must be some danger, otherwise you don't need to be saved, right? If I'm not in danger, if I'm just sitting at home in my house relaxing and the fire department just breaks down the door and says, we're here to save you, that wouldn't really make a lot of sense, would it? But if my house were on fire, that would make a lot of sense. Well, let me tell you something, people in this world today are damned without the Lord Jesus Christ and so you need to be saved by Jesus because God's wrath has been revealed and they are on the receiving end of God's wrath because of their unrighteousness and sins and they should know better, they have access to the truth and that which may be known of God is manifest in them, they have no excuse. And so they are doomed without the Savior, God's wrath has been revealed, this is where we're at, this is why Jesus Christ came and died on the cross, because of God's wrath on the unsaved. The Bible says that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So according to the Bible, people who are not saved have God's wrath abiding on them. When they believe on Jesus Christ, God's wrath is turned away from them. Now they are the recipients of God's grace and his forgiveness. So the Bible says in verse 20 at the end there that they are without excuse, verse 21 says this, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. And so people in this world are exposed to the word of God, they're exposed to the gospel, they hear about Jesus. And it's very important what they do with that information when they find out about Jesus. How do they respond to the light that they're given? You know, when God gives them a little bit of light, how do they respond to that? Because if they reject the light, if they hate the light, if they don't take heed onto what they hear, well, then they could start down this very dark path that we're going to read about in Romans chapter one, which could ultimately lead into the worst happening, which is that they would become a reprobate, that they would be given over to reprobate mine. But all throughout this world, people are exposed to the gospel, they hear about Jesus, they hear the word of God. You know, you always hear about this guy who's in this really deep, dark jungle, and he's never heard about Jesus, he's never heard the Bible, he doesn't know anything about it. And you know, it's always this proverbial, what if this guy or whatever, you know, but that is really overrated because of the fact, and first of all, let me tell you, this is what my parents used to tell me when I was a kid, because this is a thing that would come up, and this was my parents' explanation for that, was that, well, you know, if they're living that deep and dark, it's because their parents rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and they're kind of suffering for their parents' actions because their parents are raising them in this weird place where they don't hear about Jesus, and so it's like the sins of the fathers being visited on the children under the third and fourth generation because of the fact that these places are dark spiritually because their ancestors had the chance to get saved and blew it off and whatever. I think that an even better answer, and I'm not saying that that answer doesn't have some merits to it, but I would say an even better answer is that this guy probably doesn't even exist is probably a better answer, okay, because right now, here we are in 2022, I'd like to know where this guy is that basically, and as soon as we find him, then he'll probably hear about Jesus and then he won't be that guy anymore, okay? But here's the thing, you know, I've often asked people, you know, where are all these people? Where are these people that have supposedly never even heard the name of Jesus? And I've even heard missionaries get up and say like, a billion people have never heard the name of Jesus. This is nonsense. Millions and millions of people have never heard the name of Jesus. Let's just stop and think about it for a minute, okay? First of all, there are 2.3 billion people in this world who say I'm a Christian. I'm not saying that they all are, but I'm saying 2.3 billion of a billion people say I'm a Christian. That's like more than a fourth of the world's population. So have they heard of Jesus if they're saying we're Christian? But then if we add to that Islam, 1.6 billion people that are Muslims, and obviously they are not saved because they do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but guess what? They've all heard of Jesus because the Quran talks a lot about Jesus and they're constantly responding to Christianity and arguing with Christianity. The Quran is constantly criticizing Christianity and so forth. So they have definitely heard all about Jesus. They've heard about him dying on the cross. They've heard about him rising again. They don't believe in it. They don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They believe in a false Jesus, but they know all about the Christian Jesus, too, as opposed to their fake Muslim Jesus. They've heard of Jesus. So if we take 1.6 billion Muslims, and by the way, if you ask a Muslim, do you believe in Jesus, they will all say yes. Now they're not saved because they don't believe he's the Son of God, but every single Muslim that I've asked, do you believe in Jesus, here's what they say. Of course I believe in Jesus. I can't be a Muslim if I don't believe in Jesus. We're required to believe in Jesus. Again, it's not the Jesus of the Bible. It's not that he's the Son of God, but they believe in a guy named Jesus of Nazareth and they're familiar with what we believe and they're familiar with what they believe and so forth. The point is that if you add Christians, so-called, and Muslims, so-called, together, 1.6 plus 2.3, right, we're looking at literally half of the world's population that says they believe in Jesus, let alone having heard of Jesus. Is everybody following the logic here? Okay, then we can move over, let's move over to India, where we have one billion Hindus, right? Over in India, we have, you know, and in the surrounding countries, you know, Bangladesh, Pakistan, whatever. You've got some Hindus in some of those places too, you know, Sri Lanka, whatever. The point is, you've got a billion Hindus in this world. Have they heard of Jesus? Have Hindus ever heard of Jesus? And I've had people try to tell me, oh, people in India haven't heard of Jesus. This is baloney, okay? Because you have different types of people in India, okay? You've got northern India, you've got southern India, you've got Muslims, Hindus, and one of the groups of people that if anybody you would expect not to have heard of Jesus would be who are known as the Adivasis. The Adivasis are the forest dwelling people of India and these forest dwellers are kind of like, and I'm not saying this is an exact analog, so forgive me, you know, if I'm getting this wrong, but I would say like we have the Navajos and they have the Adivasis, kind of. I'm not saying it's exact, I'm just saying, you know, I'm just trying to break it down for Arizona people. It's sort of like people that are saying that they're really indigenous and that they've been there a long time and they're, you know, whatever. I'm not saying it's exactly the same thing. But here's the thing. If you actually study the Adivasis, you'll find that they're one of the most successfully evangelized groups in India that multitudes of missionaries have gone to India and had more success with the Adivasis than with the rest of the Indian population. So you have areas in India where literally 75% of the population in certain states in India is Baptist, not Christian, Baptist. There's a place, there are places in India, in northeastern India, Nagaland and a couple other places around there, where like it's more Baptist than Mississippi. It's more Baptist than Alabama. And obviously most of India is very non-Christian. But I'm just saying you have these little pockets that are just teeming with Christians, teeming with Baptists. You have the Adivasis that you could read about missionaries that have gone through and evangelized and they've heard the gospel. I'm not saying that they're saved, but hey, a lot of them are saved and a lot of them have heard the gospel. So they're getting evangelized. And here's the thing, I talked to this guy from India and he's like, well, I didn't hear about Jesus. I was in India. I didn't hear about Jesus until I was 10 and I didn't hear the entire story about him, you know, dying on the cross and go, you know, until I was a teenager or something. It's like, well, it sounds like you heard about it, buddy. It sounds like you heard about it repeatedly and by the time you became an adult, you'd heard great details about it. So look, people in India have heard of Jesus, okay? Christianity is a thing there, even if it's a very small minority overall, it exists over there. It's a thing, they've heard of it. If they wanted to seek it out, they could find it. It's there. In fact, India is so big, there's literally millions of Christians there, okay? But anyway, let's move over to Africa. Folks, Africa is like the most evangelized continent. I mean, if somebody said, think about a missionary, what place comes to mind? Africa. I mean, that's like the most classic choice for a mission field. I mean, that's like the default. Oh, I'm going to be a missionary. Where are you going? I mean, you should default to Africa, right? I mean, that's just, get real, folks. So come on, you want to talk about missionary after missionary after missionary that has gone up one side of Africa and down the other over and over and over and over again. And you can pick the place, you can name the place. People in this world have heard of Jesus, people in China have heard of Jesus, people in Korea and Japan have heard of Jesus, even if these are very non-Christian places. And again, I'm not going to belabor this point all night, but this world has heard of Jesus. The word of God has gone around this world. You know, my wife, she grew up in Germany and she wasn't saved and she wasn't exposed to the true gospel as a kid. She grew up Roman Catholic, but even in the Roman Catholic Church, you know what? She heard verses from the Bible, she heard the basics about who Jesus was, and she prayed as a little girl that God would show her the truth and that God would reveal himself to her. You know? And I'm like, you rang? You know? And I showed up and I was sent by God. And I gave her the gospel and it was much later that I showed up, but you know, I had to wrestle with the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Grecia and only Michael stood with me and whatever, but eventually I got there, okay? The point is though that, you know, people around the world are hearing about Jesus. They're hearing Bible verses and you know, I wonder how many other little girls over in Germany maybe heard some of those same Bible verses, heard those same Bible stories, heard about Jesus and was just like, meh, and just blew it off, didn't care, didn't have respect for it, not seeking the truth, not responding to the light that they're given, but the one who is responsive, the one who does desire the truth, the one who is seeking will find, the one who asks will receive, the one who knocks, to them shall the door be opened. And so that's what's going on in this world. Now a lot of people say, well what about throughout history? And you know what is so silly about this conversation is that nobody knows because we only live right now. Like we're alive right now and the world is a certain way right now. Here we are and in our current world, isn't it amazing how everybody pretty much has the chance to get saved in the world in which we live? So why would I just assume that it hasn't always been that way? Well, but it just hasn't though. Really? And you've been in a time machine and you've gone back and you know exactly what's going on. First of all, a lot of these places where they claim, oh they have no exposure to Christianity, no exposure to the Word of God, these are places that have also no reading and writing. So how in the world do you have any idea what they believed, what they thought, what they talked about, what they did? What we, this is the thing that's so ridiculous about archaeology, ancient history, is that literally 99.99% of the evidence is gone. What we have is so tiny compared to what's there. We don't know exactly what the world was like. We don't know exactly what God was doing. We don't know exactly who believed what, who heard what, who knew what. Even the most famous authors in the world from 2000 years ago, most of their works end up not surviving and we have fragments and we're missing this and missing that. If you actually study ancient history, you'd be shocked how fragmentary things are. You go back to 500 BC, you know, based on how much there was, like virtually nothing has survived. I mean, you can take like the most famous playwrights in ancient Greece that wrote Greek Tragedy, right? And you want to talk about a popular genre. Greek Tragedy, that's popular, right? So you got the three big names. You got Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides, right? So let's take Sophocles, the most popular ancient Greek Tragedian. I believe he wrote about 127 tragedies, seven have survived out of 127 and this guy is the number one most popular guy. Same thing with Aeschylus, same thing with Euripides. Super famous, super popular authors, this tiny fraction of their work survives. What about guys that are less popular? Who knows? There are all kinds of beliefs and ideas and thoughts that just aren't represented in the archaeological record or historical record because they just haven't survived. So you know, yeah, you can sit there and we can sit there and speculate about some hypothetical guy who hundreds of years ago never heard of Jesus. What about that guy? Well, at the end of the day, that guy's in hell, okay, sorry. But the point is though, I don't even really know about that guy. I don't know what that guy's situation was. I can't check in on that guy because he's been dead for 300 years. So I don't know what he did and didn't have access to. So at the end of the day, I'm just going to trust God that he's fair and you know, I only care about one world and that's the world that I'm living in right now. That's the only one I'm really sure about. You know, I can't really tell you everything about what the world was like in the 1800s. But I can tell you exactly what the world's like in the 21st century where I live. And you know what I can tell you is that the gospel is everywhere. Word of God's everywhere. Access to the plan of salvation is everywhere. Now look, most people just aren't looking. Most people don't care. Most people reject it when they hear it. I mean, think about how we walk up to people and knock on their door and we bring them the gospel on a silver platter, on a silver platter made to order. Hey, give me 10 minutes and I can give you the clearest gospel presentation you've ever heard in your life. You could be on your way to heaven in 10 minutes. I can make it so clear that even a theologian could understand it. It's going to be so clear. It's going to be so easy. Okay. I could break it down. I can make it simple. Give me 10 minutes and it's like, no, I'm kind of busy. You know, they got a video game controller in their hand and they're, yeah, I'm real busy. No, I'm good. I'm fine. Folks, when we go out sowing, what's the most common answer? Oh, I'm good. I'm fine. Do you know for sure you're going to heaven? I don't know. Well, you know, I can take 10 minutes and show you from the Bible. No, I'm okay. You just said you don't know, buddy. You're not okay. You're good. Now, I don't say that. When they say like, no, I'm good, I just say, okay, no problem. Have a great day. See you later. But inside I'm thinking, you know what? You're screwed, buddy. You're an idiot. You know? I mean, that's what I'm thinking. But like, but I'm just like, isn't it amazing how people are offered just the gospel on a silver platter? They don't care. Well, what if I told you that people all over the world are the same way and they don't care either because this world's full of people who are vain in their own imaginations and they're proud and they don't care and they don't want to hear the word of God and they're not interested in the gospel and that's what the Bible says in Romans chapter one. It says, you know, God showed it unto them. Well, what about this guy? No, no. Why don't we just read what the Bible says? No one has an excuse. Any questions? You say, well, I still think that there's a guy out there that's never even heard of Jesus at all. Well then, you know what? If you think that, you know what? Let's go tell that guy about Jesus then. Amen? I mean, that's the job of Christians. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So if that guy's out there, you give me his address, let's get the gospel to him. Let's do it. Instead of whining about it, fix it. I mean, if there are millions and millions and millions and millions of truly saved Christians, we should be able to find these people and get them the gospel. That's what we spend our lives doing, making sure people hear the gospel not once, but five times, 10 times, 15 times, because we want people to be saved. But let me tell you something, they, when they knew God, when they heard the word of God, when they heard a Bible verse, when they heard about Jesus, when they heard about the gospel, when they got shown whatever light they were shown, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. And to tell you something, that is their fault. They did that. They didn't glorify God. They weren't thankful and they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four footed bees and creeping things. So here's the thing, you know, people even today in India are offered the gospel. They're offered Jesus and they're like, no, give me a snake God, give me an elephant God, give me Goro from Mortal Kombat holding a severed head. You know, that's who I want to worship. They literally choose an elephant God, a rat God, some demonic looking female God, and they pick all these weird satanic demons to worship and they're offered Jesus. And they're like, no, I don't want Jesus. I want to worship the devil. Is that what's going on in India or not? They're being offered the truth and they choose the light. That's what Romans one is about. My friend, Romans one is saying, look, these people, they knew God, they didn't glorify him as God. They instead changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image. It's like, it's like, oh man, the word of God, the Bible, the wisdom of all the ages. And they're like, no, no, no, give me a little statue that I can pour milk and honey on its head and throw flowers at it. That's the trade off that they're making. Am I right? I mean, they have a choice and that's what they pick. They are turning in the gold of the Bible for the fool's gold of idolatry. That's what the Bible says. That's what we see in real life. And it says that they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image, uh, made like to corruptible man and a birds and four footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed for every man. And here's the thing, I'm not just picking on the Hindus because you know, this is just talking about all types of unsaved people throughout this world, right? Just the unsaved Gentile world is what Paul is talking about in the book of Romans. I'll tell you who he really has in mind more than anyone else is the ancient Greeks obviously because he's writing in the Greek language, he's writing an epistle to the Romans and the Romans have adopted a lot of the religion and culture of the ancient Greeks. They're similar to the Greeks in their culture because they kind of synthesize the two cultures by this time. And so in this Hellenistic period, right? You've got the Romans and the Greeks and they're polytheistic, they're worshiping idols. That's probably who he primarily has in his mind. But you know what? We could talk about all kinds of other people in this world. We could talk about Chinese folk religion, we could talk about people over in Japan and Korea and we could talk about their Buddhist religions or other folk religions. We could talk about pagans in Northern Europe, you know, from centuries ago. We could talk about Native Americans in the United States. We could talk about even today's modern atheists and agnostics today that worship and serve the creature more than the Creator in their own way. Maybe they don't have a little statue that they pray to, but you know what? They worship the environment, you know, they worship animals. They say that dogs are better than people and it's out there, my friend. And so this is a general teaching that, although maybe specifically tailored for ancient Greeks, it could really end up describing just unsaved cultures in general. What you pick, whatever the idolatrous, whatever the pagan religion that's out there, or even just unsaved people that aren't even pagans, okay? That exchange the gold of the gospel for the fool's gold of Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or humanism or secular atheism, whatever. You just change a few details and it's the same thing. Because what is the essence here? The essence is rejection of the Lord and seeking something else. You know, we don't want, you know, no Jesus, give us Barabbas, okay? And it doesn't matter who Barabbas is, it doesn't matter whether, you know, it's Ali Babarabbas or whether it's some, you know, whatever the Barabbas is, it doesn't matter, it's not Jesus, okay? That's the point. Now this is a process, this is a downward spiral where people reject the light that they're given, they worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, they're not thankful, their foolish heart is darkened, professing themselves to be wise, they become fools. God gives them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, and everything, you know, this is like a downward spiral where it's like it keeps getting worse, okay? Now ultimately, when it says in verse 25, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever, amen, okay, this verse right here is, although very similar to the previous verses, you know, when you take God's truth and turn it into a lie, this especially tends to bring down the wrath of God. Remember how God really doesn't like you changing his word or twisting his truth, twisting the gospel of Jesus? These are the things that he really, really puts a curse on, you know? Like all the way back in Deuteronomy, you know, it was a curse if you add to or diminish from God's word. Think about the famous curse at the end of the book of Revelation, if anybody adds to these words, God's gonna add all the plagues that are in this book, if anybody takes away from these words, God's gonna take away his part out of the book of life and of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book, and so you have these major curses on people who would change the truth of God into a lie. It's one thing to believe a lie or propagate a lie, but what God really doesn't like is when people change the truth of God into a lie, you know? So anyway, you know, it's just kind of showing a downward spiral where people are getting worse and worse, they're doing worse things, they're receiving worse consequences, they get worse, it's like a positive feedback loop of just getting worse, getting worse, getting worse, circling the drain as it were. You know, verse 26 is where we really hit the drain. So we're kind of circling the drain from verses 17, or sorry, 18, verses 18 through 25, we're kind of circling the drain, and then verses 26 is where we kind of hit the drain, okay? Because the Bible says, for this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use of 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 meet, 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. So in verse 28, we get to the final offense, because we've got sort of this back and forth where they respond to God in this way, God responds in this way, they respond, God responds, they respond, God responds, it keeps getting worse, worse, worse, circling the drain. The last offense that they do is that they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge. This is the final straw. What is the final straw? The final straw is that they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge. They don't even like to retain God in their knowledge, meaning they hate God so much, the true God, God of the Bible, that they want to forget that he even exists. They don't even want to be reminded that he even exists. This is the worst that they do with respect to God. They don't even want to retain him in their knowledge. And this leads to God saying, okay, well, you know what, then I'm just going to give you over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Now what does the word reprobate mean? Because we don't see the word reprobate until what? Verse 28, it's like we're reading through all this and it's like there's a lot of bad stuff going on, but we don't really get to the word reprobate until verse 28 which says even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. The word reprobate literally means rejected, rejected, okay? The first time the word reprobate is used in the King James Bible is Jeremiah 6.30. It says reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them. So people whom the Lord hath rejected are called reprobates in Jeremiah 6.30, first mention of the word in the Bible. And so again, reprobate is not a word that we use in our modern vernacular. Sometimes you'll look it up in the dictionary and it'll say, oh, it's a really bad person. That's not accurate to its biblical usage. The Bible does not use this word to describe a really bad person because there are some really bad people that haven't been rejected by God. The reprobate is the person who doesn't even want to retain God in their knowledge and therefore God has given them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Now what are the things which are not convenient? Things which are not convenient are the unseemly acts between men and men and women and women. What does this mean when it says to do those things which are not convenient? It's saying that these things do not come naturally. They're not normal. They're not suited or appropriate to human beings and they don't happen on their own. Human beings are not wired this way. Men are not attracted to other men in a carnal way. They just aren't. It's not like, well, we're Christian, so we've got to be straight, you know, but no, it's not a temptation for normal men. Normal human beings, they're attracted to as men, they're attracted to ladies. Women are attracted to men. That's normal. That's how humans are, it's biology, it's human nature, it's who we are. God created them at the beginning, male and female, this is how we are, and men are simply not attracted to other men that way. And women are not attracted to other women that way. That's just not the way the world works. In fact, men are horrified and repulsed by the idea of being intimate with another man. It's disgusting, it's horrific, it's gross, okay, that's how normal people feel, okay? So you know, I'm driving down the road, and there's some billboard of some bikini babe. Am I, as a normal man, going to be tempted to look at that image and think a lustful thought as a man? Is that going to be a temptation for me? Or is this going to be like, meh? It's going to be a temptation as a normal man, you know, these kind of images of scantily clad women. Yeah, that's a temptation. That's something that men, naturally, would like to feast their eyes upon. Okay, but if I'm driving down the road, and there's some dude in his underwear on a billboard, it's just like, who cares? It's not even a thing, right? There's no effect. You're just like, why is there a picture of a dude in his underwear? That's stupid. And you're just like, driving along. You're not like, oh, I better not look at that, you know, you're just like, it's just not a thing, okay? Men are attracted to women, women are attracted to men, this is who we are as human beings, this is normal, yet there is a segment of our population of men burning in lust toward other men. Now is this something that all men have in common? No, because the vast majority of men have no desire for that, and are repulsed by it. But yet we do have a segment of the population where we have men burning in lust toward other men, and women burning in lust toward other women. So here's the million dollar question, how did they get that way? What's wrong with these people, right? Why can't they be normal? How did they get that way? Some people would say, well, they're born that way. And they'll say, well, it's a gay gene, you know, they're born that way. But of course, scientists would love to find that gay gene, and they have looked and looked and they would love to be the guy who discovered that thing, and guess what, it isn't there. There is no gay gene, they've done all kinds of studies on identical twins who have the same genes, and they were even gesticulated in the same womb, and yet, gesticulated, gestated, excuse me. Yeah, they probably did some gesticulating too, you know, hey, the baby's kicking. But anyway, they were having the same parents, same DNA, they're identical twins, same womb, same process, and yet they found that that isn't what correlates whether they end up being a sodomite or not, whether they end up being a homo or not, okay? So this thing of they're born that way, there's no evidence for that. Also, there's nothing in the Bible that teaches that. And I don't believe that God would create people to be desiring that perversion, that doesn't make any sense. It's not biblical, it's not science, it's just false. But yet people still propagate, oh, they're born that way. And then the Christians come along and the mainstream evangelical Christians, this is their answer of how they got that way. Well, they're just the same as everybody else. They're just no different than anybody else. I mean, it's just homosexuality is just a sin, and the difference between us and them is that we don't do it, and they do it, and we don't, and that's it. Quit complicating this. Don't talk about different people being gay or straight. It's just, no, no, no, queerness just doesn't exist, just doesn't exist. It's just we're all people, and some people choose to do that sin, and some people don't choose. Now, people who talk this way, it makes me kind of wonder about them. You know, if they're just like, well, these people are just like you and me, I'm thinking like, speak for yourself, buddy. Because they're not, okay? If you have this giant section of the population, 90-some percent of people that have no desire for that and are repulsed by it, and then you have this small group of people that are burning with lust, men burning in lust for another man, you know, these people aren't the same. How did they get that way? Were they born that way? No. Are they just the same as everybody else? That's just denying a reality. Even they themselves will tell you, we're not like you, we're not normal, we're queers. They use that term about themselves. I'm serious. Well, here's the thing about that, the Bible says how they got that way. It says that 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. They don't come naturally unless God gives you over to a reprobate mind. What does the Bible say in verse 26? And look, I don't understand how anybody could read verse 26 and just deny what the Word of God is saying. Everybody look down at your Bible at verse 26. For this cause, God gave them over unto vile affections. I don't know where these vile affections are coming from. I can't figure it out. Can somebody help me find where these vile affections came from? Because I can't figure it out. I can't figure out why certain people have vile affections. I can't understand why certain men are burning less. What does the Bible say? God gave them over to vile affections. How did they end up being people with vile affections? Because God gave them over to vile affections. Now I don't understand how anybody could say, well, God has nothing to do with it and it's just a choice that they made. They're just like everybody else. They just made that choice or they're just born that way. No, no. The Bible says God gave them over unto vile affections. God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient with the result that they do those things which are not convenient. You see, God is not the author of their perversion, but when God gave them over and gave them up unto vile affections, gave them over to the reprobate mind, then they defiled themselves through the lust of their own hearts, the Bible says. Through the lusts of their own hearts, it said in verse 24, God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts. So here's the illustration that I like to use. It's sort of like a car that has a governor on it, right? So cars used to have a thing called a governor. I don't think it exists anymore, does it? It does. Okay. Well, even better. So, you know, the car has a governor and it's like, you know, the car could go faster, but it has some kind of a device that is limiting how fast that car can go, just arbitrarily saying nope, this is where you stop, right? So here's the thing. A normal car can only go that top speed and it can't go any faster, okay? But when you remove the governor, now you can go, you know, as fast as the car will go. Well, human beings have certain restraints upon them that kind of separate us from the animal kingdom, where we don't do things that are super gross. You know, a lot of things we're grossed out by and we're not going to do them. You know, even just in other categories like, you know, you see a dog will return to his own vomit. Human beings aren't going to do that. Human beings aren't going to throw up and just start licking it up. If a human being vomited and started licking it up, you say, something's wrong here. You know, whereas like if a dog does it, well, he's a dog. So dogs have different limitations than humans do, but humans have certain governors. And what happens is when God gives someone over to a reprobate mind, here's what he does. He's basically removing a certain governor. He's giving them over to vile affections. Basically the governor that says like, this stuff is super weird, super gross, super disgusting. He just removes that restraint and just gives them over to a reprobate mind where they'll do those things that are not convenient. He'll give them over to vile affections. And what these people do is every bit as gross, yay, much grosser than eating your own vomit. I would rather eat my own vomit out of a bowl with a spoon every day for the rest of my life until I'm a hundred years old than to engage in what they do one single time. And I'm not using hyperbole, I'm serious. I would be like, okay, I'm ready for my daily meal. Now look, that's pretty gross, right? But you know what? They're stinking gross. And you know what? I'm sick of pretending that they're not. They're disgusting, they're filthy, it's vile, it's gross, it's weird, it's sick, and every normal person knows that. I don't care how many freaks they put in the music industry or on TV or in movies. It's just as filthy and disgusting as when I started preaching in 2005. It's still just as gross. And I appreciate you, you know, talking about eating a bowl of vomit, but you know what? Hey, I don't appreciate living in a society where their filth is shoved down my throat every day. And whatever, if you get exposed to one single faggot or transvestite, it's a hundred times grosser than what I just said to you. So deal with it. So get over it. And so the Bible says here, they're given over to vile affection. They're given over to the reprobate mind. What they do is against nature, okay? Now do we as human beings sin by nature? Absolutely. I don't have to teach my children to lie. I have to teach them to tell the truth. Children automatically are born knowing how to lie. And if you don't teach them anything, you know what they're going to do? They're going to litter their trash. They're going to lie. They're going to cheat. They're going to steal. They're going to do everything wrong unless they're taught to do right. That's why the Bible says a child who is left to himself will bring his mother to shame. You can't leave the child with himself. You have to teach them right and wrong. Teach them the word of God. Teach them morality because naturally as human beings, we would tend to be lazy, lie, cheat, steal, hurt people. We have to be taught to be nice and good and kind and loving and Christian. This is the way we are wired. We have a sin nature, unfortunately, right? We're born with a sinful nature. We have to make an effort to do right. If we just default, we default to sin. That's why there's so much sin in this world because that's the default mode. But guess what we don't default to? Being a faggot. Okay, that's not the default setting. Do you understand what I'm saying? So like to sit there and say like, well, you know, we're all sinners. Yeah, I know. But here's the thing. We have certain temptations and you know what the Bible says about the temptations that we deal with as Christians? Here's what the Bible says. There is no temptation taking you but such as is common to man. So we as Christians, the temptations that we are taken with our common demand. Now is this temptation of being a homo is that common demand? Not at all. Absolutely not. It's rare, relatively rare. Okay. Now, what we're seeing in America is that the numbers of this are exploding. I mean, every single year now, it's like every time they do a poll, that percentage of homos in our country is just going up, going up, going up. I mean, am I right about that? The numbers are going up, my friend. And let me tell you why, because it's interesting that the numbers are going up on that particular perversion at the same time that our country is being heavily de-Christianized. You know, just as those numbers have gone up over the last 17 years of me pastoring this church, you know what else has changed over the last 17 years? People have become more hostile to the gospel, our culture has become more negative toward the Lord, more negative toward Christ, more negative toward the things of God. And so this is not a coincidence that as our country gets more wicked, more anti-bible, more anti-Christian, it gets also more of this sodomite phenomenon. That's what we're seeing today. Why? Because this is the downward spiral of an individual, but it's also a downward spiral of a society as well. You know, you could look at this as just, hey, this is what happened to the Greeks in general. They went down this path and became a bunch of sodomites. And that's true, they did. And so you could look at this obviously talking about the individual, but you can also just think of it as just kind of like America, as America turns from God, we see this on a grander scale as well. And so the Bible says that they've been given over to a reprobate mind and this is because they don't want to retain God in their knowledge. Then it says this, it says, being filled. Now anybody who knows a little bit about English knows this is not a complete sentence. Being filled, this is not a complete thought. This is a continuation on what we just read. That's why at the end of verse 28, there's a semicolon and we're still moving forward in the same sentence. Being filled, you know, should ask the question, well, who's being filled? We're talking about the people who've been given over to a reprobate mind. Those people are filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisper. Now it pretty much lists like every sin under the sun that these people are full of. And let me explain to you why. Because of the fact that if they're going to commit that grossest, most vile, heinous sin, obviously they're willing to do everything up to that. What won't they do? They'll do anything. If they'll do that, they'll do anything. They're horrible people. They are the worst people. Okay. And you say, well, I know this guy. He's so nice. You know, it's a facade. He's fooled you. You've been deceived by him or her. Those that are reprobates are the worst people. And who should I believe? Should I believe you or should I believe Romans 1? You're like, well, I know some homos and they're really nice people. But I'm like, oh, well, well, oh, well, okay, I mean, let's just forget about this then. Tell me more about your queer friend. You know, I mean, forget Romans 1. Let's talk about your anecdote. Let's talk about your real life. We can come up and finish the sermon just with stories about all your gay friends. Or better yet, we can just keep the Bible out and we can tell you that your story is a bunch of crap and that the Bible is true and you're wrong. And the Bible says that men who lust after other men, they're full of murder, debate, deceit, malignity, backbiters, all those things. And you know, notably on the list right here, don't miss it, verse 30, backbiters, haters of God. They hate the Lord. Now people say like, oh, you're not reaching the homos with the gospel. They hate the Lord. They don't want to hear the gospel. They hate God. They don't even want to retain God in their knowledge. And if that weren't true, they wouldn't be lusting after other dudes. The reason they're lusting after another dude is in the first place is because they don't want to retain God in their knowledge. They don't want to hear the gospel. They don't love the Lord. You say, well, they go to church. They go to church to infiltrate the church. Just like they infiltrate music, Hollywood, politics, they are trying to take over and normalize their perversion. They're haters of God. They are despiteful, proud, oh proud. That's their buzzword. That's their phrase. I was just driving down the street in Tempe and there's a sign that said, you know, oh, sponsored by Tempe Pride and a rainbow thing. And it was like trash removal for this little tiny stretch of the highway. And I'm just thinking like, remove yourself. You are the trash, okay? Can Satan cast out Satan? Can the trash take out the trash? It doesn't even make sense. But he says here that they're proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Other than that, they're great people. But implacable means you can't satisfy, you cannot placate them. You can't compromise with them. If you give them a finger, they're going to take the whole hand. If you give them an inch, they're going to take a mile, they're implacable. You can't negotiate with them. Well, okay, we'll let you guys get married. That's not enough. We got to get married in the church and we need a Baptist performing the ceremony and we want to adopt children. And not only that, we want your children to be taught about our death style in kindergarten. Because first grade's not enough. Second grade's not enough. No, no, it's got to be kindergarten. And kindergarten wouldn't be enough. If you taught queerness in kindergarten, they'd say that's not enough pre-K. It will never be enough because they're implacable and they're unmerciful. That means they hurt people. What does unmerciful mean? It means somebody's crying out for mercy and you don't show them any. That's what it means to be unmerciful. And that's what they are. They're unmerciful who knowing the judgment of God, that they would commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them to do them. And so these people are super wicked by every metric. These are the so-called LGBT of our day. This is what they are. This is what the Bible says that they are. Okay. And I don't care what anybody else says, I'll take the word of God. The Bible says that this is what they are. I believe it. Okay. They are a reprobate. They are rejected by the Lord. They hate God. They don't want to retain God in their knowledge. They are horrible people. And here's my advice for you, stay away from them. They're doomed. There's no hope for them. Get away from them. And they're not welcome in our church. And you say, well, I can't even believe what I'm hearing. But that's just because our society is so messed up right now that what I'm saying sounds so crazy and radical. But literally 50 years ago, every Baptist pastor virtually would have agreed with me. Okay, I'll put it this way. Every Baptist pastor who believed that Jesus actually bodily rose from the dead would agree with me 50 years ago. Right? I'm sure there's some Baptist 50 years ago who doesn't believe in the virgin birth and doesn't believe that Jesus rose from the dead physically. You know, he'd probably be queer affirming or something. But I'm telling you, nobody that was actually a born again Christian would have bat an eye at what I'm saying 50, 70 years ago. But we've been slowly brainwashed over the years. And you know what? I'm just going to come right out and say it. You know, if you're so offended and so hurt by this sermon, you're probably the one who needs it the most because you've been so brainwashed. It's really sad how brainwashed you are that you can go to the store and see some dude in drag. But that doesn't make you mad. The man of God makes you mad when he reads the Bible to you and tells you how that guy got that way. You know, and this is what the Bible says, and the Bible doesn't change, and I'm not going to change on this. You know, I'm not going to be like, well, I got to, you know, I'm kind of evolving on this issue, you know. If you're like, well, you know, I'm hoping Pastor Anderson changes on this issue. Give up because it's not going to happen. Now if you disagree, and I know that there are some people that are in our church that would say, you know, I disagree. I think that queers can be saved. I would say, you know what? Go get as many queers saved as you want because it's not going to happen anyway. But go ahead. Go get all the queers saved you want. Just don't bring them here. Bring them somewhere else because I don't want them around my kids because they're pedophiles. They're dangerous predators. I don't care what the media says, they're dangerous pedophiles and predators. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible teaches. We haven't even gone to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. We didn't even go to Judges 19. We could be here all night, but we're talking about Romans 1. And Romans 1 is enough to show us what we're dealing with with these people. Now let me just say this because a lot of people will try to always twist what I say and they'll try to say that, well, Pastor Anderson teaches that this is an unpardonable sin. Is that what I taught anywhere tonight? No, because, because see, everybody takes what I say and turns it backwards. I never said that doing something queer makes you a reprobate. Did I ever say that tonight? Did anything like that come out of my mouth? That doing something queer makes someone become reprobate. Did I say anything like that? What did I say? I said that becoming a reprobate leads to people lusting after the same gender, which is not normal. And it's evidence that they're a reprobate because otherwise, why would they be doing that when no normal person does that? How did they get that way? They got given over to that vile affection. That's what I actually said. And so here's the thing, we're living in a day where people are getting so brainwashed by society. You know, I was talking to my son and I got shown one time I was on social media like YouTube or something and this ad came up and it said like, are you gay? Take the quiz to find out. And I was offended by that. You know, I saw that. Okay. I saw that one time, but you know, my teenage son, he kept seeing that over and over and over and over again, targeting young people because isn't it interesting that my 41 year old self gets shown that once. And a 17 year old is getting shown that over and over and over again. And my son said they are targeting teenagers with that advertising. That's what's going on, trying to get you to take some quiz. And so here's the thing. Now they're perverting the minds, even of elementary school kids, kids that haven't even reached puberty, kids that don't even understand any of this and shouldn't even be exposed to any of it. They should be totally innocent of the birds and the bees, but yet they're being brainwashed into this with great detail and all kinds of stuff, even in elementary school. And then it just ramps up in junior high and high school. And so obviously you're going to have some kids and teenagers and young people that grow up and their mind is so warped and corrupted by all this junk that they could become confused or maybe even experiment with something or whatever. Look, I'm not saying that that makes them a reprobate. Okay. But what I'm saying is when you have a man burning and lust toward other men, he's a reprobate. You say, well, we're, you know, where's the line? What does the Bible say? The Bible says men burn with other lust, with lust toward other men cause they're reprobates. Women burn with lust toward other women cause they're reprobates. They have those vile affections. Somebody who gets molested as a kid, gets groomed and confused and perverted and corrupted and then experiments with some, cause I talked to a guy one time and I believe that this guy is saved. I talked to a guy, independent fundamental Baptist saved guy, and he said that, you know, he was molested as a kid and so when he was a teenager, he was confused and he experimented with it one time and he was grossed out by it and decided like, this isn't for me. You know, look, obviously doing that, experimenting with that was super sinful on his part. Super wicked, super gross. But guess what? That doesn't make him a reprobate though, because he was not burning and lust toward that garbage. You see the difference? He is a victim and then he went out and did something sinful and I'm not excusing the wickedness of the sin and the vileness of it, but he's not a Romans one guy. But these out and proud sodomites, they are Romans one people. Okay. That's what we're talking about. Okay. So we're not saying that there's an unpardonable sin other than what the Bible defines as an unpardonable sin. What we're talking about is the fact that these kinds of temptations don't even exist for normal people and they are telltale signs. I mean, it's like if somebody walked in and had, you know, red spots all over them, I might say that they have the chicken pox or something, right? I mean, if somebody walked in and has the symptoms, I might diagnose the disease. Well, the symptom is the vile affections and the disease is being a reprobate. Okay. And it's a terminal illness. Seek hospice care because there's nothing I can do for you. I mean, it's over for these people. Sorry. And you say, well, I just don't think it's over for anyone. Well, tell that to all the people that are in hell right now because it's over for them. Tell that to them. Oh, it's just never over. God just never gives up on anybody. That true, guys? That true? Because we have billions of people down there that would argue with that. They wouldn't say like, oh, it's just never too late. They have a reality right now where it's too late for them. Well, some people achieve that reality before they die, okay? But everybody's ultimately going to get to a point where it's too late if they don't receive Christ. Everybody on this path is eventually going to be doomed unless at some point they look to Christ and be saved and believe on the Lord Jesus. And look, it's easy to be saved. The gospel is available. It's nigh unto you. It's in your mouth and in your heart. It's right there. You just have to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you shall be saved. Jesus did the hard part. It's really easy to be saved. You know what, if you reject the Lord too many times and you get to where you hate the Lord and you don't even want to retain him in your knowledge, you can cross this line over into being a reprobate. And then, you know, you'll be one of these people that we see today. And you know what? It's getting bad out there. You know, it's getting weirder and weirder. We don't need less of this preaching, we need more of it, you know? And I'm not just going to just go along with it. Not going to happen. Father, we thank you so much for this chapter, Lord, and I pray that people would be open to what you've taught in your word here, Lord, and what you've given us in Romans 1 for our own benefit, Lord. And I pray that the Holy Spirit tonight would just cut through some of the brainwashing and some of the Hollywood teachings and cut down to the heart with what you've taught us in your word, Lord. And I pray that every single person here would make your word the final authority on every subject including this one. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.