1st delivery to lust in their flesh 24-25
2en delivery to degrading passion 26-27
3rd delivery to depraved mind 28-32
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,
God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
After looking at all the material evidence, & testing everything
they came to the conclusion not to approve the being of God!
Depraved or worthless mind—
thinking that comes out of this mind is depraved,
unbefitting to rational or sound thinking!
28 and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,
God gave them over to a depraved mind,
Next we have what comes out of their depraved minds
to do those things which are not proper,
KJ do those things not convenient
NIV to do those things what ought not to be done
Worthless or Depraved Mind
1. Defined: The mind of unbeliever who has suppressed the existence of God; that is saying no at God consciousness. &
therefore no to Jesus Christ at Gospel hearing.
When a person denies the existence of God, as the Creator of all things, & denies that JC is the only way of reconciliation with God,
things begin to happen in their souls, in their minds, in the way they think.
2. Since God is truth, & absolute reality, when you deny Him, you are out of reality. & man rejecting the truth of God, now believes The Lie & builds his thinking on this lie.
Since God is light, you are out of the light & your mind becomes darken.
This means that your thinking, your mind, is in the dark, not in the light of reality.
This means that man’s reasoning power is futile! Worthless.
In math: algebra, Trig. You can work a long time on a problem, but if you made a mistake at /beginning, all your work is futile, as to it’s conclusion, no matter how brilliant your mental work is.
So, if one starts off with the denial of God, no matter how brilliant his scientific, philosophical reasoning may sound, it is futile, worthless!
3. His ability to think in realm of reality about the earth, it’s origin, it’s purpose; it’s destiny is darkened. futile -- worthless
4. The worthless mind, is a mind that is hardened to truth of God, & that God is in control.
That all history is in design by God. Of creation of man, calling of new race by regeneration—Jews—to Incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, Church Age; Tribulation & the Millennium. Hope
5. The worthless mind is hardened to fact that man is created in the image of God. & when the mind denies this about mankind, all his thinking from that point about man is worthless.
And then his thinking becomes perverted – in man’s relationships; perverted in use of human body.
His understanding of moral make up of man, the orderly function & structure of society is all futile & depraved, perverted.
They are in darkness as to relationship of the soul & the body, the detrimental effect of such perversions as homosexuality & lesbianism. & what happens to the soul, thinking of children reared in a perverted structure called the family.
6. But, & here is another real danger, he thinks he has it all figured out, he has the ability to perceive & understand everything.
But, while he claims to be wise, he is foolish for he is not near reality!
This I say therefore, & affirm together with the Lord,
that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk,
As Gentiles walk--live
In futility of their mind futile, from premise: no God
Being darkened in understanding shut out God
Alienated from the life of God live totally in flesh
Because of ignorance in them pertaining to God
Because of hardness of their heart no, no
Having become callous Perfect Present result of
past action: insensitive
Have given themselves over to sensuality
For the practice of every kind of impurity
With greediness
8. For the record: There is a worthless mind for the believer also.
For bel. the worthless/depraved mind; comes from rejection of Sal. 2 rather than Sal. 1. Being believer means they have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior at Gospel hearing, saved from the penalty of sin by faith in one sent by God—His son.
But when it comes to Sal. 2-being saved, restored from the power of sin as a bel., they reject that it is by faith in the one God sent, Holy Spirit & that man must do something.2 Cor. 13:5
At this point their thinking starts becoming futile.
depraved!
Why? Because all thinking is from the flesh. He is no longer in power & leading of Holy Spirit
All that he does is from the flesh! & at judgment seat of Christ is burned as worthless Heb. 6:8
This believer, who has rejected faith alone for restoration, has a worthless mind, because his faith has been shipwrecked 1 Tim. 1:19
This believer with worthless mind is described in Rev. 3:14-20 as being Lukewarm of which Jesus Christ spits out of His mouth.
Accompanying the rejection of being in Holy Spirit by faith & faith alone, the worthless mind of bel. is due to no spiritual growth in Biblical truths:
Read Heb. 5:11-14 worthless mind is un-teachable; so he is not thinking in the power of Holy Spirit or in sound doctrine.
Heb. 12:15-16 gives a good description of depraved/worthless mind by rejection of faith recovery, & what happens even to bel.s with worthless mind.
In Rev. 2:4—believer with the worthless mind is described as a believer who has left his first love.
So, a believer can come under worthless/depraved mind….
being fully influenced with all unrighteousness
How would you describe this to someone at work or social life, a friend?
Gk. word adikia is translated in so many different ways:
Iniquity, evil doer, unjust, unrighteousness, dishonest, false, wickedness, sin, evil, wrong, & harm.
Each of these English words are used to convey the idea found in this one Greek word.
The root of this noun is from a judicial setting!
Luke 18:6 & the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said;
KJ & NIV hear what the unjust judge said;
One thing we want of a judge—is that he understands justice
Wickedness ponhria used in NT for sexual immorality from fornication, to adultery to sexual perversions ---
the depraved mind is obsessed with immorality!
This word emphasis physical satisfaction!
two points of interest
1. The point you don’t want to miss here is that this word describes a force that controls the desires of a person…a driving force—this person just has to have more
2. Take note that this is third destructive force mentioned: We have seen how sexual perversion has accompanied the decline & fall of nations through history, well, another is debt! & /American people are in uncontrollable debt, our nation’s debt is mind boggling. & our political leaders seem oblivious to what this means.
But anchoring debt comes from greed.
Three aspects of depraved mind:
Thought Motive Action
Thought: injustice/anti-justice; & evil
Motive: greed
Action: immorality
Jealousy
1. The first thing to know about jealousy is that jealousy is more than just a sin.
Jealousy is vital part of the immune system of the flesh nature.
That’s right, jealousy is a natural protector of self. & like any good immune system when jealousy senses that self is threatened it rushes to the defense.
& jealousy feels threatened when any advantage is given to another.
2. As an Immune System of flesh self; jealousy is obsessed with self, & others-- comparing Look at what others have!
Jealousy looks at self, & then at what others have & compares self with others. Jealousy feels threatened & then in defense of self, makes a rival out of anyone who might have some advantage: real or perceived.
3. Jealousy is like AIDS—in protecting the flesh self, jealousy destroys you. Jealousy eat away at every part of flesh self.
4. Jealousy destroys your enjoyment of any blessing that you may receive from God. You cannot enjoy husband/wife; even children; or your work, even friendships are destroyed by jealousy.
& of jealousy destroys your ability to enjoy things! Jealousy can destroy a marriage, a friendship; family.
S of S 8:6-7 Lord is not in original text: omitted in KJ & NIV
5. Jealousy demands exclusive devotion & is intolerant of rivalry, whether that rivalry is real or imaginary.
6. Jealousy is based upon values – what you value; whatever it is that you value, you will be jealous of those who have it & you don’t. jealousy esp. of those close to you; friends, family.
This is true in the material world & it is true in the spiritual.
If you value money:jealous of those who have it
If you value success – Jealous of those who are successful
If you value beauty—Jealous of those who are more attractive than you;
If you value spiritual things then you are jealous of those who are more spiritual/ religious than you. They know more, they do more, etc.
More things which cause jealousy to rise up to protect flesh self:
Money, things, success, praise—jealousy cannot stand it when it hears someone else being praised or congratulated---it needs to say something about itself. Power, accomplishments
7. Historically jealousy was the motivation of the religious crowd to crucify Jesus Christ.
Matt. 27:18 For he Pilate knew that because of envy/jealousy they rel. crowd had delivered Him up. To be crucified
& in Acts 5:17 High Priest delivered over the apostles to authorities out of jealousy
Jealousy from Religion has caused & is causing more violence & death throughout history. Islamic religion is motivated by jealousy to kill all infidels; to kill all who do not adhere to Islamic religion & esp. any of those who follow after Jesus.
Most religious people, most legalistic people are extremely jealous. & the expression that jealousy is to demand that everyone agree with them or be punished.
The Jews were so hardened against the truth of the gospel—being by faith alone in Jesus as Messiah alone, that God knew one final way to entice the Jew to believe in Jesus, was to arouse a jealousy in them of the Gentiles being saved by faith alone.
Rom. 11:11 &14
8. Jealousy comes from our flesh nature, sin nature, but as a protector of our flesh nature, jealousy is so volatile.
Jealousy is always intensified with evil
Therefore jealousy/Envy are always found in list of intensified evil.
James 3:14 & 16
1 Cor. 3:3
Jealousy appears in list of works of flesh: Gal. 5:19-21; Titus 3:3
Jealousy is easily aroused therefore we must always be on guard 1 Tim. 6:4
9. Prevention of Jealousy
Spiritual Love is the prevention of jealousy in the soul of believer.
1 Cor. 13:4 Love is not jealous!
10. But what of the inner impact of jealousy? Jealousy over a period of time can build a strong hold in our souls. So what do we do about these strong holds of Jealousy? Is /bible Sufficient to solve even these problems?
2 Cor. 10:3-5