This is the word of the Lord. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind. To do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of all evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. May God bless our time of considering his word. You may be seated. Well, as I mentioned, we're completing chapter one of the book of Romans. And as you can gather from what we have read, we're about to cover what I suppose some might consider, I really think of it this way, as some of the darkest and most disgusting portions of the Word of God. The content is of a nature That is like that. It's of that nature because the subject demands that the level of dark and disgusting terminology be used. So, what topic is it that is such a repulsive topic, one of such a repulsive nature? In a word, the topic is mankind. Yeah, it's mankind. It's an honest look at the true nature of mankind that is going on here and that brings out this language of very low vulgarity or low depictions that Paul uses here in the last part of this chapter. Paul, as we've seen, as we've walked through this opening chapter has brought his reader to the place where they need to look at themselves and they need to see where mankind is. They need an honest assessment of mankind. He's presented the gospel. He did this back in verse 16 where he stated the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. He defines that as the gospel and that this salvation is obtained through an imputation of the righteousness of God to the believer and that this is solely obtained, if you want to use that word, by faith. It's solely obtained by faith. He made the statement, the just shall live by faith. And after creating this dramatic thesis statement that we've looked at probably each time, we've started here in Romans, where it is the thesis of the whole book, he now enters into his argument as to why all mankind needs this salvation. Why does mankind need salvation? Well, quite simply, In the words of Paul, because the wrath of God is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Mankind in their natural state, he says, suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That's what he tells us in I think it's verse 18. All mankind knows the truth or knows at least truth about God because though you can't see God, they can't touch his attributes. These unseen things of God are clearly manifest, Paul tells us. They're clearly manifest in man and they're clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Creation itself then, Paul asserts, manifests the omnipotence of God as well as his divinity, that is, his godness, in that he sustains, he maintains and he governs the whole world and all that is going on and cares for it. None of these truths that validate for all mankind that God exists and is worthy of worship can be missed by anybody. Paul says, nobody is with excuse. They're all left without excuse because these things have been shown. They are without excuse. They know the truth of God, but as he's mentioned, they suppress this truth. And that's an unrighteous act. So it's stated as suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. We use the example of the beach ball, right? Of how you have to keep working at keeping it under the surface to not be seen. And so, in the game where they push it down under the surface, the person is in contact with the reality of the beach ball, is working consciously to keep it down underneath, and in all this, still will shout out as part of the game, In the pool, ball, ball, there's no ball. Where's the ball? I don't see a ball, right? And that is a depiction of what goes on in the world in that same fashion. Every human being that is unsaved denies God. Every atheist, every agnostic, every humanist of any stripe that you can think of is doing that same act. They know God exists. because he's manifest himself, he's shown it. They're left without excuse. It's clearly seen through his creation. They're constantly in touch with the reality of God and night and day, the psalmist says, his glory is being declared. So they can't even say, well, it's dark now, so I can't see God. The stars declare his glory, right? And so the unbeliever is involved in the same game and playing ends up playing the fool of self-deception, or the self-deceived fool, if you want to put it that way. And he then says, God, God, there's no God, I see no God, God does not exist. And the whole time he's having to work to keep that truth hidden even from himself, right? This is general revelation that Paul's talking about. And by this general revelation from God, God has and does make himself known. Clearly, Paul says, clearly known. It's not like, oh, it's obscure to me. And so man's without an excuse, right? Another aspect of man's nature is that he is ever a religious being. He is ever a religious creature. He can't avoid an innate drive to worship something. He must worship something. And through his self-deception about the existence of God, he doesn't worship God, but that innate drive to worship is still there, and he must, and Paul says, he goes from the incorruptible to the corruptible. And he begins to worship the creature, the created thing. He actually ends up, no matter what avenue he goes through, worshiping himself. He glorifies himself, even as he worships nature, because he thinks it's so much better for his being to be in full submission to the way of nature. So he's still the center of all things. In fact, he will die for nature in some cases. Think about the people who chain themselves to a tree, right? Or lay down in front of the logging trucks, or do something like that. They'll die for what? They worship. So he worships nature and the world. He exchanges the truth of God for a lie. He's self-deceived in this lie. And it is the same self-deceived lie that was asserted from the beginning in the garden. To the first man and woman, you can be as God. Ultimately, no matter what the object is identified, the worship is of oneself. And there's been movements in which this has become very overt. Those of you that are Oh, I don't know how old you have to be. Do people remember Shirley MacLaine in Out on a Limb? What? Just me? Do you remember this? Well, Shirley MacLaine in Out on a Limb. I think that was the title of her book, and she also did a little video thing where she's not out on a limb, she's running on a beach, but it's called Out on a Limb. She is out on a limb, and it's a pretty rotten one, but anyway, she's out there, and she's got her hands up, and she's shouting. It was all part of the New Age movement of that time in the latter part of the 20th century. He's shouting, I am God, I am God. I am God, right? Well, yeah, as I mentioned, she is out on some limb, and it's probably a rotten one, because it's coming down. That will be coming down, because the wrath of God, who is blessed forever, and is the only being that's worthy of praise and worship, which we just sang about, worthy of praise, worthy of honor, worthy of glory, had it right here in my notes, we just sang of that. So very timely for God to do that. Yeah, anything that doesn't glorify Him is coming down. Well, mankind continues to insist on deliberately, that's one thing you gotta keep in mind, it's not just that they're ignorant or whatever, though what you gotta realize is they purposely say there's no truth of God, but they come to the point where they believe their thing that they're purposely saying, and so they become self-deceived. All right, and so they begin to believe their own deception, but they continue to deliberately suppress the truth. And as they continue to do this, then God begins to allow the depravity of mankind to begin showing itself in greater and greater degrees. And we actually began to see this the last time we talked about Romans, which is probably three Sundays back, but there you would see in verse 24, for example, which is before the text we started, it says, therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness. God also gave them up to uncleanness. You might say that this is the beginning of Paul's presentation of the descent of man into the depths of his depravity. or you might say it is Paul's beginning of showing a greater and greater unveiling of the releasing of the depths of the depravity of mankind. It's there. It's always, it's all, it's there already. Okay, it's not like you become more and more depraved. You are this depraved. and there's something God does or quits doing, as we'll see, that it begins to show itself more and more. Well, Paul's going to develop this doctrine of the nature of man more completely as we go through Romans. He'll get more particular about the origin of this and its outworking as sin in our lives. But we need to realize that it is the nature of all who enter this world, that all mankind, due to the fall of Adam, are born with a corrupt nature. This corrupt nature, doctrinally, is called original sin. You hear somebody say they're talking about original sin. They're actually talking about the nature of mankind, his corrupt nature that is rooted in the original sin that happened in the case of Adam and Eve disobeying. But this is not simply a bent towards sin. It's not really just a nature to have a propensity to sin. that's just kind of corrupt or something. No, this corrupt nature is so corrupt that it is given the distinction of being depraved. It is depraved. In fact, the depravity of man is so extensive that the doctrine that speaks of that is called total depravity. Total depravity. Now, by total depravity, it's not meant to say that man even is as depraved as he can be. Okay? It's not meaning that, but it's saying that every fiber of his being, every attribute of his nature is corrupted. The depravity is total in its extent as far as touching every part of man's being. It's total in that way, not in its depth. So total depravity means that the depravity of man touches every aspect of who man is. Now, before you wipe your brow and say, phew, I'm not as bad as I could be, okay? Okay. Don't sigh relief quite yet, because though mankind is not as deeply corrupt as he can be, Paul's gonna tell you that this corruption does run deep, okay? It does run deep. Man is depraved totally. The extent of the corruption is total in that sense. The depth of the corruption of man is not, but it is not minor. The depth is not shallow. It is very, very deep. And Paul is demonstrating that in this text. Now, one of the reasons we might think of the depth of man's corruption as not being as deep as it is, you know, we look out there and we see people that aren't believers that do decent things, okay? Man isn't that bad. Well, one of the reasons we don't think of it as being as deep as it is is because God, in his mercy and grace, doesn't allow man's depravity to manifest itself in its depths, that it exists. God, through a means that, I don't know if he's the first one to assert this, but it's often brought up when this topic comes up, Abraham Kuyper, it's a means of what Abraham Kuyper would call common grace. By that means, God restrains man's sinful acts for the good and preservation of mankind. If his common grace did not act, man would totally destroy himself and all mankind. Now, some in the Reformed faith, which we assert here, don't like that terminology. They shy away from the use of common grace, just to let you know, And it's because they want to reserve the term grace only for what God would bestow upon His elect. So they say, you know, the intellect don't get grace. And so they prefer, they do still talk about this restraining of mankind, they call it God's providence. Okay, they like to keep it under God's providence. So just to let you know, you might come across where you're talking common grace and the person's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's providence. Okay, but I think we can easily maintain distinction here between Because I define Providence a little differently Providence is God's care of the world Providing in a timely fact, you know, look at Providence and Webster's 1828 Providing a timely fashion. That's which is needed but anyway We can make the distinction that God grants to mankind you know between what God grants to mankind in general and and call that common grace. We don't deserve this. It's still an unmerited thing that God does. And what he grants to the elect in particular, that being his special and his saving grace. And I think common grace is really more appropriate to talk about when we're talking about what it is going on here in our text concerning the act of God in relation to man and the restraint that is upon man's expression of his depraved nature. So Paul is demonstrating here, again, the need for man to come to God in faith in order to be the recipient of the power of God to salvation. But to truly receive this good news, Paul knows that man needs to hear bad news. Okay? I mean, how many of us would grab the life preserver if we didn't think we were drowning? It's like, what's that out there for? Okay? You know, who would want life if he doesn't think he's dead? Why would you pursue it? Who would want rescue from eternal judgment if you didn't think you were under that very wrath of God? Why would you simply believe and be saved unless you knew that there was no good thing in you and every effort of your own to assert your own will simply drives you deeper and deeper into the depths of depravity, destruction, and judgment? You just make yourself more guilty. But unless you know that, why would you care about being saved from it? Well, there's Paul's mission. That's the mission he's going into and he's been driving into for the last few times we've talked about Romans. And here, now, he is going to go into its very depths and show us man's depravity, and we, along with Paul, are going to enter into that depths of discussion of what is the total depravity of man. So he begins with verse 26, and he says, for this reason. Now, when you hear those words, then you can think, well, this is why. This is why whatever I'm about to say is taking place, why something is about to be said or will happen. Well, what is the basis? You got to look back a little bit. It's everything he's talked about up to that point, obviously, in the introduction. And especially the content of the last time we talked, and the verses that just followed this, and much we have already reviewed. Because man purposely suppresses the truth, chooses to believe a lie, raises himself to the level of worship, or worship in the created order, it is for this reason God takes an action. More precisely, God stops taking an action, okay? Because what does the wording say in verse 26? For this reason, God gave them up. Now when you give something up, you are releasing some level of possession. You are letting go of some level of claim. upon something or someone else. So this is indicating that there's some status or relationship change, that there was one that existed that now is going into a changed state. And by the wording that follows, we can deduce that it is a restraint change. A change in the amount of restraint that God has given. God chooses to remove a restraint level of his common grace upon mankind, upon people who continue to pursue a suppressing of the truth. Again, God removes a level of his common grace or restraint on men's sinful expression. And really, what we see here in the latter part of Romans 1 is a step-by-step process of God removing a little more, and a little more, and a little more of that restraint. And man's depravity becoming a little more, and a little more, and a little more expressed. See, what I want you to notice is where we're starting here in verse 26, I've already kind of mentioned it. This isn't the first time it says that God gave them up. This is actually the second time that Paul has said that God gives man up to something. In fact, we referenced it, I think, a little bit earlier in verse 24. And from verse 24 through verse 28, it's stated three times. Three times it's stated that God gives mankind up to something. I think when we look at this more closely, we're going to see it's a progressive descent into deeper and deeper expressions of man's depravity. So let's actually back up to verse 24 for a moment and just kind of run through these three levels. In verse 24 it says, therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. So that's the first pulling back of that basic restraint of mankind's lust. It's a sexual immorality that begins to increase here. We've definitely seen that in America in the last number of decades, in fact, here in America. And then we go to verse 26 and we see a similar expression of a giving up. Verse 26, for this reason God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. So notice in verse 24, it's mankind is given up to uncleanness that is expressed through the loss. The Greek words here are, didn't put down the pronunciation, catharsia. And it is uncleanness in particular, physical or moral impurity. So their morals becoming corrupted and degraded and the natural physical activities, the epithumia or loss that follow from this are then acted upon. Then you go to verse 26 and you clearly can see a step deeper into the abyss of man's depraved nature. And it's seen even in the English translation where it says vile passion, right? God gave them up to vile passions, at least that's the New King James wording here. But what it says here is that God gave them up to atomia pathos. And again, that's vile or disgraceful affections or lusts. Pathos being another Greek word that deals with your affections and your feelings but is often translated lusts. But here, these are not natural. These are not natural lusts, but they are vile and disgraceful lusts. I'm going to elaborate on that a little bit later. But to kind of complete our train of thought here on the giving up of mankind into deeper and deeper depravity, let's continue on as we progress from what we might call natural lusts to vile lust, and now in verse 28, the third time that this is brought up, it says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. God gives them over to a debased mind. or debased there from the Greek, Edochemos. I think the King James does a helpful thing by calling it a replica. A reprobate. A reprobate. The lecture tells us that adjective, reprobate, means abandoned to sin, abandoned to error. Their mind is given over to being completely governed by sin and error. That's reaching the lowest levels of depravity. From being given over to lusts that naturally challenge all men and women, to lusts that are of a vile and degrading nature, to finally a debasing of the mind, a reprobate mind that is under full control of sin and air. That's the descent of mankind. Not anything being added to his nature but the descent he goes to when God says, no longer do I restrain you, no longer do I restrain you, as he continues mankind to suppress truth and unrighteousness and chooses to believe a lie. Let's delve just a little bit deeper into these levels. Particularly, I'll spend some time on the second level, the violas. When I described the first level to which mankind has given up to, I termed it natural loss. That's because it's desires that remain within the nature of things. The nature of things is God has ordained and created the order of things. The desires that can arise between a man and a woman. In God's order and within the confines of marriage, this is a good and holy desire. The descent of depravity in unleashing the things here, this is natural desire that now goes outside, yes, the bounds of God's design. This is sin that brings disorder, corruption within the culture. It destroys God's order of the family. It destroys his order in society. There's no good in it when exercised in an ungodly way. Yet, what we're talking about here is unbounded lust of a natural desire. Things are very different when you go to the next level. When you go to the second level, it's of a very different nature. In fact, that's not even the word to use. It's not a desire or a lust of nature. It is unnatural. So after Paul writes that God gives them up to vile passions in the second level, he describes these vile and disgraceful lusts. He says in verse 26, for even their women exchanged the natural use of what is against nature, likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burning their lusts for one another, men with men, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. Obviously, what Paul is speaking about here is what we commonly say is homosexuality, men having relations with men and women having relations with women, a very disgusting and vile activity. God saw fit to have this written in a letter to a church that was read publicly, so we speak of it. Not that we would pursue to do such things, but God has it here in his word, and it's been noted I should say, that commentators have pointed out that when Paul gets to this section that I just read, he doesn't use the typical Greek words for man and woman. The usual Greek word for woman, I'm no Greek scholar, probably mispronounced, gune, transliteration G-U-N-E, Here, that's what would be used when you're really talking about a woman, but he uses phileia, and it just designates a female, okay? And he does the same thing when talking about man, using aran, A-R-R-H-E-N, which just means male, instead of the typical Greek word for man, which is anthropos. And you'll see that just prior to this, whenever he says man, he's using anthropos. And everywhere else, he uses anthropos and gynae. But in this little section, he backs up as if he's saying this activity we're talking about does not deserve the dignity of men and women. I will not deny because the filthiness of this is because it is male and female, but no longer those who participate can truly be men and women. That's the conclusion that's often drawn. You'll call them male and female. That's their designated gender if you want to use that. But they're hardly men and women. Notice, Paul says that they've exchanged the natural use for what is, and look at the wording, against nature. Against nature. That's the terminology that's used here in the New King James, and it's also used in the King James, which was more the foundational text, or Geneva Bible, I didn't look at that one. for our country, and it's interesting to know in how many places in American law biblical terminology is what's used. And if you were to look up, if I think Idaho now has modified it, but if you were to look in history in Idaho, it wasn't too long that it was there, or at a state that still has homosexuality on the book as a crime, it's actually often even called sodomy, they'll define it a crime against nature. In fact, if you look up in Webster's 1828 Dictionary, and you look up sodomy, He gives a very short, succinct, simple, straightforward definition, a crime against nature. That's all he says about it. It is a crime against nature, and that's even the terminology our statutes have used. But those who might advocate for the activity as being acceptable might say, crime, crime. What is the crime? How can it be a crime? Who and what is the crime against? And this is why it's so important to understand the definition, for it's right there in the definition. It is a crime against nature. What is nature? Webster tells us, nature is a word that comprehends all the works of God. What is it a crime against? It is a crime against the very work of God. It is a crime against the very work of God. It is not just unnatural. It is against nature. And being such an act, it's got to proceed. We use the word unnatural, which is strong. An unnatural act has to proceed from an unnatural desire. It has to come from that. And this is important to understand because in the church, and even in some conservative reformed churches, there's been this idea of accepting or it being acceptable to have a non-practicing homosexual claim to be a Christian and get positions even of leadership in the church. I mean, they're not practicing it. Yeah, we're talking about somebody who professes to be a Christian and may even say that homosexual relationships are a sin, but still identifies himself as a homosexual because that is a desire that possesses him. And there'll be those who argue that, hey, they ought to have a place in even authority in the church. And the argument's based on the fact, well, there's people in leadership that struggle with lustful desires toward women, And they choose not to act on those because it's sin. In the same manner, there can be a man who struggles with lustful desires toward another man, yet not act on it. And even acknowledging it's a lust and a sin. What's the difference? Well, the difference is that for a man to struggle with desires toward a woman that's not his wife, If that's a true temptation, and if conceived to dwell upon a lost, it is sin, it's still within the nature of things as God has ordered it. Okay? But if a man struggles with desires towards another man as he would in the nature of things toward a woman, it's a temptation But it's a sin. It's a sin, even if not conceived to enact, because it's outside of the nature of things. It is outside of God's order, and it is participation in disorder and confusion. Okay? Yeah. If the individual has professed Christ, he cannot profess to be a homosexual Christian. Those words cannot go together. That's like saying, I am a Christian who is against the very order of the nature of God that I say I worship. It cannot be. We all need to recognize that when someone has become so steeped in a sinful behavior that it's consumed their life and distorted it so radically, like a sin of homosexuality would do, that when one comes to Christ, there'll be struggles. That's understandable. And there could be struggles for some time to overcome and replace the old man with the new man, the new man in Christ, but the recognition that what was before must be done away with and what is new must be put on, that's got to be there. That's got to be there. And the repentance, the turning away from an old way to a new has to be complete. and it can be done. We don't have to sit back and accept that a person can be a homosexual Christian. Paul didn't accept it, and neither should we. If you go to 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 6, Paul makes a whole list of sinful lifestyles that will not inherit the kingdom of God, that will not inherit the kingdom of God and he includes specifically homosexual, he uses both homosexual and sodomite in the same list. And he says they will not inherit the kingdom of God. And he goes on to say in verse 11, to the Corinthian church members and such were some of you. Okay, they were in that category, and now they are not. So there were individuals in the Corinthian church who had been practicing homosexuals, yet a change had occurred. A change had occurred, and now that was past. Because he says, and such were, were, past tense, some of you. So the question is, what changed? was the change. And Paul doesn't leave us in the dark. Continuing on in verse 11. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. When the church opens this door a little bit to provide an exception out of sincere sympathy for an individual. It only provides the avenue for the door to get wider. It only provides the avenue for the door to get wider. If when you deny that there is actually absolute change in a person's life when they go from unbeliever to believer, when you deny that there's an actual work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer that makes them new, you only set up the stage to get a wider opening in the door for the avenue of sin. While I was preparing these exact words of this sermon, you know what was going on in the United Methodist Church General Convention? On the same day that I was preparing this, the United Methodist Church, and I very, I don't wanna even use that name anymore, but that group, denomination, At the General Council this week, quote, removed a 52-year-old. All right. The General Council of the United Methodist Church this week stated, quote, they removed a 52-year-old declaration from their official social teachings that deemed the practice of homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching. They approved a new definition of marriage as a covenant between two people of faith while recognizing the couple may or may not involve a man and a woman. And they removed the long-standing ban on self-avowed practicing homosexuals from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Yeah, so they had this little crack that said you could identify as homosexual, but if you weren't a practiced homosexual, you could remain a minister. That door didn't stay barely open for very long. Yeah, they blew it completely open. Yeah, other Protestant denominations maybe haven't gone that far into the descent of the depravity of man's lust being something that somehow now can be acceptable. But if they allow an individual to claim to be a Christian, that individual to self-identify with something that will not inherit the kingdom of God, they have gapped the door. And it's going to open. In Christ, Paul explains you are a new creature and old passes away and things become new. For example, Ephesians. Let's look at a few here. Ephesians chapter 4. 21 through, well let's start at 20, but you have not so learned Christ. 21, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. or even to the church at Colossae chapter 2 of Colossians verses 10 and 11. And you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. In him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Going one more chapter over, Colossians 3 verses 8 and 9. But now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds. Paul says these things are put off, put off, put off when you come to Christ. in our biblical counseling course, and you're gonna learn today, You can't just stop something. You have to fill that void with what is right. The mind that is after the flesh has to be replaced with the mind that's after the Spirit. It's got to be replaced with the mind of Christ. Deeds of the flesh have to be replaced with deeds of the Spirit. Paul says not only the old man must be put off, but a new man has to be put on. I purposely only read the putting-offs. Paul goes on. Let's go back to Ephesians 4. If I were to continue reading where he says, you put off the former conduct of the old man. He even said, be renewed by the spirit of your mind in verse 24 then. He says, and that you put on. The new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Yeah, go to Colossians 3 if you happen to have your Bibles open. And we're gonna look at that in a little more extensive fashion. Let's get the whole thing of what Paul says here, beginning with verse one and reading through verse 10. If then you were raised with Christ, there's your condition, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth." Fornication, uncleanness, level one, passion, level one, evil desire, and covetousness. We're getting into a deeper level here, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. That's exactly what he's teaching in Romans 1. in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy languages out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed. in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Yeah, there's a new thing. You are a new creature if you're truly in Christ. Well, that's just the second level. There's a third level. Paul does deal with it pretty extensively here. There's a third level which God gives up, the insistent disobedient mankind gives them up over to by withdrawing his common grace. And we've seen, again, the level of uncleanness and the loss of hearts, primarily adultery, fornication. We have seen the giving up of mankind by God on a second level to vile passions, disgraceful, that which is against nature. It's the homosexual activities and other gross sexual acts. Now we come to a third level to which God gives mankind up, who continues to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, who continue to exchange the truth of God for a lie. Paul says here in verse 28 that They did not like to retain God in their knowledge. Or the ESV and NASB say they did not see fit to acknowledge God. There's no reason to even consider God. And now that's the third level that we move to. And we gotta think about this because what does the Bible say about what even the fear of God is the basis of? The fear of God is the basis of knowledge, of understanding, and wisdom. That's what the Psalms and Proverbs tell us. And so if you decide you will not possess in any level of recognition what is the basis of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, you are into complete foolishness. and believing foolish lies, you're going to unleash the full debased, reprobate mind whose thought is completely abandoned, as Webster says, to sin and evil. Like the debased mankind before the flood, your thoughts will be evil continually. And Paul says, this is what that is like, as he gives us a whole litany of sins. God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. Those are the sins that characterize that kind of a person. Now, enlisting all those sins, there's some that you and I have committed, and maybe even periodically still do. Okay, we've got to realize though there are sins here that we have committed. I mean, some of us have probably been whisperers or disobedient to parents or undiscerning or unforgiving. We need to make something clear that this is not a list of sins that if you happen to commit some of these, you are a person with a debased mind. No, this is a list of sins that actually characterize a person with a debased and reprobate mind. Because hopefully when you commit one of these sins, you also have godly sorrow, and you repent, and you seek forgiveness, and you receive that. And as you go through that process, you actually are strengthened in your character in Christ and walk more assuredly in righteousness. But this list, as I said, is a list of those sins that actually characterize somebody who God has given up, to the lusts of their heart, to their vile passions, and finally to a debased or reprobate mind. This is how they live. This is their character, their way of life, And it is a way of life that walks unwaveringly, wavingly, whatever, not wavering at all, to death. It is a death life. Paul closes the section after listing these horrendous sins or this horrendous litany of sins. And he wants to make sure that the reader, when he gets to this point, doesn't lose the fact that these people still truly are not ignorant of God, nor that his wrath is against all these acts. He closes this list of words in this section with words that opened it. Back in verse 18, he has said, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. These people still know God exists. God deserves and is to be worshiped. They suppress that truth to the level of self-deception. They begin actually believing their own lie, even to the extent that God is not there. They come to the point of feeling free to worship creation, to worship themselves, to delve in all that they can, to please and you know, enjoy, if they want to use that word, their vile passions. And Paul says still in verse 32 that even after God has given these people up to the third level, a debased mind, notice, who knowing the righteousness, the righteous judgment of God, and knowing that those who practice such things are deserving of death. In essence, they've made their covenant with death. That's where they're headed. In fact, they already have died. They can do all mental gymnastics they want. You know, mind quieting techniques. Trying to become one with nature so they can be at peace. Whatever it is they do to try to ease the conscience that is in there and the reality that they do know, they stand under the judgment of Almighty God. No mental game will ever eliminate that actual fear that they feel and have to continually suppress along with all the other truths. And one of those truths is they deserve death. But because they're so full of pride and self-deceit and so committed to this way of non-life, they not only do these same things Paul says, all these horrendous sins that he's listed, but they also approve of, or NASB probably says it with the strength it has here, give hearty approval to those who practice these things. It's interesting, if you have ever watched, say, a Christian on a college campus present there are only two genders, there is only biological male and female, and that is all that is there, and then open it up for others who think differently to ask questions and interact with them. It's interesting when a biological male, for example, who pretends to believe that he is a woman gets into that interaction and is asked by the presenter this question. It's interesting how they respond. The question is, how do you know you are a woman? You know what they answer? I think all the time. Because it's what my friends tell me. It's what they say. They say, oh, you're so much of a woman. In other words, it has to be approval of these things by others that bolsters their position. You know, they started pretending to be a certain way, but they needed certainty about it, and they get it from those who practice such things and hardly approve those practices in others. It becomes a self beating world. And they only know it because someone says it to them. They have no other basis to believe it. So those that practice such things, they approve the practice of them and others. Pulses are deserving of death. And in this case, statistics don't lie. Diseases, rampant in the culture. Suicide, among the highest of any people group. And police officer says, by the horrendous nature of the homicide, you can almost be assured it was between homosexuals. Yeah, they have a death nature about them. They are under the judgment of God. So Paul, in this letter, we're not even through chapter one, has quickly reached the depths of the bad news of the depraved nature of mankind, outside of the mercy and grace of God that's found only in Christ. There is no hope. There is no hope for the individual. There's no hope for mankind. There is only greater and greater depravity, greater and greater destruction, and death, because God is righteous. He's the righteous judge, and he's gonna be glorified, and he will be glorified even in the destruction of the wicked. That's bad news. But there's an evangel, right? There is good news. There is good news, and Paul stated it even before we got into the depths of this dark section, and it's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. One caught up in the depths of depravity, even to this third and deepest level that Paul says here, can be rescued from the judgment of God by the Spirit of God. And it comes through repentance and faith in the Son of God, who died even for these very sins that are named here. And like the believers in Corinth, It can be said of each man or woman that's been caught up in the depths of this, such were you. Such were you. But you've been washed. You've been sanctified. You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Amen. Oh God, we thank you for your word.