A reprobate mind

1. This past week was a period of several sad news reports.

2. A plane in Greek airspace was hijacked.

3. A member of congress was accused of improper involvement with a page.

4. There was a shooting at an Amish school.

FOR OUR SCRIPTURE READING WE HEARD ROMANS 1:28.

a) Paul said God “gave people up.

b) It is as if God turned to some people and threw up His hands.

c) When we look at this verse it seems God had been through enough with certain individuals.

d) Finally God reached a point where He said “no more” and walked away.

2) In this same verse we read about “reprobate minds.”

3) A reprobate mind is one that is empty of two things: truth and virtue.

4) It is bad when someone says no to truth. A person will not be nice if they reject virtue.

5) Reject both truth and virtue and a person is filled with wickedness.

6) At the present time we see still examples of people who have reprobate minds.

7) There appears to be little to no truth and little to no virtue.

8) Today I want to consider the word reprobate by letting each letter in the word stand for something.

a) Reprobate begins with an “r” and I want to let this letter stand for rejection.

b) No one can be reprobate without rejecting God and His word.

c) Jesus said people would reject Him (Mt. 21:42).

d) The Pharisees and laywers “rejected for themselves the counsel of God and were not baptized” (lk. 7:30).

e) Paul spoke of Christian widows “rejecting” their first pledge (commitment to Christ), 1 Tim. 5:12.

f) We can reject many things in life and it is not a big deal.

g) Junk mail comes, and into the trashcan or shredder it goes – we reject it.

h) If a phone call is made to us and we do not want to respond, we can reject the caller.

i) If an e-mail comes through that we do not want, we can reject it.

j) If a store has an item that is priced too high, we can reject it and look somewhere else.

k) Our society excels at rejection. Even schools sometimes reject people in one capacity or another.

l) Our ability to reject is often carried over into the spiritual realm.

m) People feel free to reject God or some part of His word.

n) The word reprobate should remind us of an important truth concerning rejection.

o) Rejecting God is one of the ingredients in a reprobate mind.

9) When we look at the word reprobate our second letter is an “E.”

10) I am letting this word stand for “evil.” A reprobate mind is an evil mind.

a) Think again about the meaning of this word: a way of life that is void of virtue and truth.

b) What happens when someone is stripped of truth and virtue?

c) The only things that are left are evil and error.

d) This past week a man was speaking with me about society.

e) He is a little older than I and he said, “Things seem to be getting worse and worse.”

f) He had forgotten some history, but I do agreement with him.

11) In 1927 a Michigan man angry about taxes blew up a school; his actions led to the deaths of 45 people.

12) In 1959 a man in Houston Texas exploded a suitcase of dynamite and 6 people in a school were killed.

13) In 1979 a girl received a rifle for a Christmas gift and shot some people at a school.

14) What is happening is not new, but frequency is increasing and the violence is more extreme.

15) What we are seeing in society are really examples of reprobate minds; people void of truth and virtue.

a) Some in our world have a problem saying that something is evil.

b) Some hesitate to call a person who blows someone up a “terrorist.”

c) There are really people living among us who do not believe in good and evil, right and wrong.

d) We can understand why people think in this way.

e) If there is no God, it is impossible to classify something as good or bad.

f) Without a God, there is no standard to appeal to.

g) If there is a God and He has revealed to us a standard for good and bad, then we know what is wrong & right.

h) God has given us this information and if people refuse to use it, they are on the road to a reprobate mind.

16) Our third letter is “P”, and I am letting this stand for pride.

a) When we find people with a reprobate mind they are often proud.

b) A mind that rejects the truth of God often revels in its own version of truth.

c) Virtue becomes something determined by the individual.

d) This is often how cult leaders act.

e) They forsake truth and virtue and consider themselves to be almost god-like (they are proud).

f) Pride in and of itself will not make someone reprobate. It is one characteristics of this mindset.

g) Pride is certainly not what God wants to fill the minds of His people.

h) In Mk. 7:21-22 Jesus spoke of pride and listed it with the sin of murder.

i) In this same list He mentioned things like covetousness, sexual sin, and theft.

j) A proud person has one quality that is found in the reprobate mind.

17) Going back to the letter “r,” in reprobate, we let this letter stand for a “rotten choice.”

18) Choosing a reprobate mind is not a wise thing to do.

a) Rom. 1:28 says God “gives these people up.”

b) If God turns His back on those with reprobate minds, they will not be in heaven.

c) Tit. 1:16 says a person who is reprobate is worthless; useless; rotten.

d) A person who rejects truth and virtue loses value.

19) There are people who do not care what anyone says about them.

a) Most care at least a little how they are regarded.

b) Imagine if someone said about us that we are absolutely worthless.

c) Suppose someone said we are “rotten through and through.”

d) Or, suppose the thought were worded this way: “we are completely useless.”

e) We hear these things said about people at times, and they are often an overstatement.

f) God says that He can view people in this way if they become reprobate.

20) When a person chooses to abandon truth and virtue, they will be rotten.

21) If such a person does not repent, he or she can be of no use to God in this life or the hereafter.

22) Truth and virtue are necessary ingredients to pleasing God.

23) If you are following along with the letters you know that “O” is next.

a) I am going to use the word “odd” for this thought.

b) Is it not odd that some people will choose a way of life that is reprobate?

c) When truth is available, why will people spurn (reject) it?

d) When virtue is something that can be obtained and used, why will people reject it?

24) If God charged for these things and we couldn’t afford them, perhaps we could understand the rejection.

25) If heaven placed conditions upon them that only a few could achieve, we could understand rejection.

26) God says all people can know the truth and have the virtues described in the New Testament.

27) These two things will help us find eternal life, but some turn to them and say, “no thank you.”

28) Why will people do that? One day those who reject these things will answer for their disobedience

a) Four letters are left and the fourth to the last letter is “B.”

b) This letter relates to the question just asked.

c) Why will people reject God’s truth and the moral values He has given.

d) Some want to “be their own boss.”

e) The American dream for a lot of people is “being their own boss.”

f) This is perhaps why retirement is often viewed as the ultimate goal or reward.

g) Many think a time will come when they can “set their own schedule and do whatever they want.”

h) We like to be our own boss. Many start some type of business for this very reason.

i) We like to think that we are the ones in charge.

29) Associated with this is a desire to define truth by ourselves.

30) A reason to reject the virtues God has given is that we want to set what is right and wrong.

a) We will determine what our obligations are.

b) We will determine what we need to do, need to avoid, and how we should live.

c) A long time ago Jeremiah said (10:23), “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”

d) The steps of good men are guided by God (Ps. 37:23).

e) A person who has a reprobate mind looks at life and says, “this is my life and I will live it my way.”

f) That type of thinking is American, but it is also pagan and humanistic.

g) God is our creator; we can answer to Him now in loving obedience or later.

h) We are not our own boss now and never will be our own boss.

31) Our third to the last letter relates to the idea just expressed about being our own boss.

32) The “A” in reprobate stands for attitude.

a) When a person is reprobate, they have a bad attitude.

b) They think they are in charge and they should do whatever they want.

c) In the Bible we are told about a different way.

d) Jesus said greatness comes through service (Mt. 23:11).

e) Our attitude is to love God with all our being (Mt. 22:37).

f) Our attitude is that we want to learn God’s will (Acts 17:11) and then do it.

g) Our attitude is one of humility and accepting God’s will (Acts 20:19).

h) Our attitude is that the spiritual things in life are the most important (Col. 3:2).

i) With the right attitude and respect for truth and virtue, we will not be reprobate.

33) “T” stands for tragic.

a) There are some tragic things in our world.

b) About half the world’s population lives on less than $2.00 per day.

c) Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.

d) According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty.

e) 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5.

f) 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.

g) Tragedy is here as well as abroad.

h) As horrible as these facts are, something far worse is a reprobate mind.

i) A person may have all the food, clothing and shelter he needs.

ii) His greatest asset (the ability to love and serve God) is abandoned.

iii) Jesus once asked a question: what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

iv) That question still needs to be asked.

v) If a man does not have the truth, he really has nothing.

vi) A man without real virtue is little more than an empty shell.

vii) Life without God is a very tragic existence.

34) Our last letter is “E”, and this stands for eternity.

35) A person may have a reprobate mind for a while but change (he or she repents).

36) If the person does not change, that reprobate mind will lead to a death sentence.

37) Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life.

38) If we reject the truth because of a reprobate mind, we have rejected life.

39) If we say “no” to the way (Jesus), we say “no” to the virtues in the New Testament.

40) A reprobate mind is the complete opposite of the way Jesus wants us to go.

41) Whatever we choose, our choice will have an eternal consequence.

42) What have we chosen for eternity? Is it Christ or some other way?

10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)

1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation

Health of children

Worldwide,

2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized

15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)

source 26

The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world “rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world’s financial assets.”

In other words, about 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s assets in 2004. source 27

Notes and Sources

1) This figure is based on purchasing power parity (PPP), which basically suggests that prices of goods in countries tend to equate under floating exchange rates and therefore people would be able to purchase the same quantity of goods in any country for a given sum of money. That is, the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Hence if a poor person in a poor country living on a dollar a day moved to the U.S. with no changes to their income, they would still be living on a dollar a day. In addition, see the following:

Ignacio Ramonet, The politics of hunger, Le Monde diplomatique, November 1998

The 9th International Anti-Corruption Conference Plenary Address by James Wolfensohn, August 2000

March recognizes the billions living on less than two dollars a day, EarthTimes.org, October 24, 2000

The poverty lines: population living with less than 2 dollars and less than 1 dollar a day from PovertyMap.net provides two maps showing the concentration of people living on less than 1 and 2 dollars per day, around the world.

Also note that these numbers, from the World Bank, have been questioned and criticized.

The World Bank has been criticized for almost arbitrarily coming up with a definition of a poverty line to mean one dollar per day (of which they say there are about 1.3 billion people). That figure and how it has been chosen has been much criticized by many, as shown by University of Ottawa Professor, Michel Chossudovsky in the previous link.

In addition, as also stated in the previous link, in the United States for example, the poverty threshold for a family of four has been estimated to be around eleven dollars per day. The one dollar a day definition then misses out much of humanity to understand the impacts. Even the two dollars per day that I have pointed out here, while affecting half of humanity, also misses out the numbers under three or four, or eleven dollars per day. These statistics are harder to find, and as I come across them, I will post them here!

As an aside, Morgan Spurlock, the Oscar nominee for his documentary Super Size Me where he went 30 days on a diet of burgers only to see the effects, produced another documentary where for 30 days he tried to live on the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. At times he was earning $50 to $70 a day and yet the tremendous hardships he faced was incredible (including a ludicrous $40 for a bandage in a hospital, and some $500 for just being seen to).

More fundamental than that though, for example, is a critique from Columbia University, called How not to count the poor . The report describes an ill-defined poverty line, a misleading and inaccurate measure of purchasing power equivalence, and false precision as the three main errors that may lead to “a large understatement of the extent of global income poverty and to an incorrect inference that it has declined.” (Emphasis added). This allows the World Bank to insist that the world is indeed “on

For most, the eternal consequence of this type of choice is self-evident.

If a person has no interest in truth, most are willing to believe there is little to no prospect of eternal life.

Without virtue, most who believe in God will also have serious doubts about a person being saved.

Today I want to think about a mind that is not reprobate.

What about the person who does have some concern about truth and virtue?

What about those people who look at the Amish school shooting and are shocked?

What about the people who do demonstrate a number of good qualities in their lives?

Is refusing to be reprobate enough to make us right with God?

Many seem to think that this is the way things are.

I want to study the material for today’s lesson from the standpoint of Lk. 11.

By this time in His life Jesus had really irrated some people.

At this point there were people who accused Him of using Satan to cast out Satan.

Sometimes people say things that make absolutely no sense at all.

Other times people put forward an argument that is so bad it doesn’t even make sense.

This is what Jesus said aobut His opponents.

Back in verse 18 He said that if He were doing this by Satan’s power, the devil was working against Himself.

We know better than to work against ourselves, and Satan understands that principle too.

Beginning in verse 24 Jesus spoke of an evil spirit (demon) that no longer possesses a man.

He said this spirit would seek a new home.

This image that is used reminds me of the weather last week in Goshen.

Maybe you were exposed to the downpour of rain last Monday.

Some may have also tried to dodge some of the hail that came down.

The image is that a demon really wants to find a new home.

None could be found so the demon returns to the man from whence he came.

When we look at the Bible we conclude that demon possession is no longer taking place today.

Although demon possession is no longer taking place, something else is.

Most will try to stay away from things that will make them reprobate.

Most will not act like a plane hijacker, the Florida congressman, or the Amish school maniac.

Lives almost become a negative way of existence.

How many times have we heard someone say, “I do not drink, smoke, gamble, beat my wife, etc.”?

A high percentage of people see a lack of a reprobate life as a good way to live.

It is good and right to get rid of what we would call reprobate behavior.

The little story in Lk. 11 teaches us something.

Getting rid of all those bad things is not enough.

What is bad (wrong) is to be cast aside, and something is to be put in its place.

God tells us what is to be put in place of things that are called sin.

Many Christians understand that acts of immoral sin will keep them out of heaven, but many don’t realize that our attitude or disposition is important in determining our outcome as well.

A. What is your attitude?

1. Sometimes we hear someone say “he has an attitude!”

2. I use to work for a man with the nickname “Yosemite Sam” because of his disposition. He was always grouchy and cantankerous, though the majority was for show. He had an attitude!

B. Attitude

1. The posture or position of a person showing or meant to show a mental state, emotion, or mood.

2. The manner of acting, feeling, or thinking that shows one’s disposition, opinion, etc.

C. There are numerous passages that discuss our attitudes. There are many passages which instructs us to watch our disposition.

D. Attitudes are important in getting along with other people

1. Few people like to be around someone who is always complaining.

2. I get nervous being around people who can’t control their anger. You always wondering when the next eruption will take place.

3. Attitudes are often the catalyst for divorces and congregation splitting.

E. Attitudes are hard to change, but they must be changed if we expect to conform ourselves to God’s will.

II. Ingratitude

A. “You’re crossing a street when suddenly a huge truck comes right at you. You’re petrified. You know this is it. All at once a man grabs you and pushes you out of the way just as the truck speeds by. You get up, look at the man, who is lying on the ground breathing hard from exhaustion, dust yourself off and walk away. That is ingratitude!”

B. II Tim. 3:2-5 - In this list is the sin of being ungrateful.

1. Some people go through life never appreciating what they have. They are always dissatisfied with everything and everybody.

C. Christians can show ingratitude

1. Ignoring their responsibilities, they are saying “I don’t care all that much that Jesus died on the cross for me.”

2. Being too tired to attend a worship service - think about Jesus

3. If you feel like complaining about going to a special Bible study - think about God

III. Selfishness

A. “A husband and father spends every available dollar on his fishing boat. Every chance he gets he goes on a fishing trip with his buddies. During the summer months it is practically every weekend and several week nights. Once, his wife asks him if he could take the family to a circus that was coming to town next weekend. The husband begins to rant and rave about how he can’t afford it. Besides, he has a fishing trip next weekend. That is selfishness!”

B. Selfishness is why many marriages fail. Husbands and wives are too busy trying to figure out what they can get out of the relationship instead of what they can put into the marriage.

C. Phil. 2:4 - look out for the interests of others

D. Selfishness can divide a congregation. Listen how often arguing brother talk about what I want instead of what their brethren need.

IV. Stubbornness

A. “A mother repeatedly told her little boy to sit down. The boy continued to stand, disobeying his mother. Finally, the mother plopped him down in a chair. Fuming, the boy said, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m standing on the inside! That is stubbornness.”

B. Some people just can’t admit that they are wrong.

C. Deut. 9:27 - The Israelites sin at Mt. Sinai was due to their stubbornness

D. Judges 2:19 - Following God means we can’t stubbornly hold onto our old lives.

E. Rom 2:5 - The Jews would not admit the Gentile’s salvation because of their stubbornness.

V. Discontent

A. “There was once an elderly woman who complained about everything. The preacher of the congregation she attended would occasionally stop by and visit her. During each visit the poor preacher was subjected to a long speech about how terrible life was. During one visit, the preacher noticed how well the woman’s apple orchard was doing. The trees were full of beautiful red apples. Finally the preacher thought he had found something about which the old woman could not complain. However, he was flabbergasted when she said, ‘I won’t have any rotten ones for the pigs.’ That is discontent!”

B. There is nothing wrong with aspiring to better oneself, but it must be tempered with contentment. There are times when we must be satisfied with what we have.

C. Phil. 4:11-13 - learn to be content

VI. Envy

A. “George dropped out of high school when he was 17 to begin work at the local factory. His parents had urged him to remain in high school so he could get a diploma, However, at the time George thought school was just a lot of foolishness. Later, he married a local young woman and eventually they had three kids. For twenty years, George had worked long hard hours at the plant and he had very little to show for it. He never when back to school to get his GED. In fact, he had done very little to improve himself. Consequently, he turned into a bitter, miserable human being. In contrast, his brother Jim had remained in school and even continued into college, receiving a degree in business management. He was the plant manager at the very plant George worked. Jim and his wife owned a beautiful home and had a lovely family.

Every time George saw his brother at the plant he was filled with hateful feelings. He hated Jim. George didn’t think it was fair that his younger brother had done so much better in life than he did. Jim would always try to stop by George’s station and speak with him, but George would always look the other way, refusing to speak. That’s envy!”

B. Gal. 5:21 - envy is a work of the flesh

C. Envy is feeling sorry for yourself and having hard feelings towards others who are more fortunate than you.

D. Consider Cain’s envy of Abel. Instead of improving himself, Cain’s envy led him to killing his “competition”.

VII. What kind of attitude do you cultivate?

What Jesus described is exactly how many live their lives today. People will get rid of many things that are wrong (bad habits, evil desires, etc.) and make room for a new tenant (God), but all the changes are too superficial to do any good. Unless God is at the center of our lives, all the changes in the world are useless. Too, those who make changes that are not based upon God frequently find themselves back in the same kind of lifestyle, and the result is a situation that is even worse than before.

Without God at the core of our lives, any “beautification program” will always be disastrous. What Jesus said forever answers all those who say “I am a good person; I don’t drink, be mean to my children, cheat on taxes,” etc. It is not enough to cast out evil; the space that is created must be filled with God and His word. Jesus’ point is still related to verse 23 (we cannot have a neutral response to life and God). There is space in our life and it will be filled up with something or we too will be overcome by the things that are evil, though the primary application of the point may have been related to nation of Israel (this is explained below).

These three verses contain another important truth. When the demon was cast out of the man, it was removed but it was not destroyed. This is still true. Much evil can be driven out but it is not destroyed. It is always looking for a way to return.

The final words in the 24th verse show the arrogance of Satan and his helpers. “What the enemy had once occupied, he considers as his own property. I came out—He speaks as if he had not been cast out. See the pride in the unclean spirit, which shows itself not merely in this word, but from his whole speech, as though it were in his own power either to come out or to return” (Bengel, 1:181). It is quite easy to look at mental process of this evil spirit. He had courage (“says”), devised a plan (“will return”), came up with the best option (“my house”); and believed he left of his own free will (“I came out”). Today those who become involved with Satanism and the occult seem to believe they can control whatever forces they can uncover. This verse suggests that Satan and his helpers are creatures that think, plan, and have little regard for mankind. They are only concerned for themselves and view mankind with a low regard (only a place to be inhabited).

Since this demon had a plan, he instituted it. He returned to his former abode (a “man,” verse 24) but he finds that it is empty. It is clean (“swept and garnished”), but no one is living there. Both descriptions (swept and garnished) are in the perfect tense (this house was cleaned and decorated in the past—all ready for a tenant—but no one had moved into it). Since the place was empty (this is implied in Luke’s account and specifically mentioned in Matthew 12:44—Matthew used a present tense verb to indicate it was standing empty), the evil spirit knew that he had a home.

Because space was available (perhaps Satan monitors who is the least resistant to receiving him), this evil creature entered into the uninhabited house. Satan did not break down the door because the door was not locked. He found some helpers—“seven other spirits more evil than himself” (notice that these are described as more evil instead of stronger—this would have indicated he planned to force his way in) and he moved into a carefully prepared place. Since the house was so attractive (verse 25), Satan took it and brought along some company (there was plenty of space for roommates). He thus arranged with “seven” other spirits that were “more evil” and began to “dwell” (present tense in the man’s body. We do not know if there is any significance to eight demons inhabiting this man, but we do know that they intended this to be a long-term stay. Dwell (katoikeo) has the sense of “settle down” (see how this term is used in Mt. 2:23; 4:13).

Because of the additional demons, and because they were more evil, the man’s problem was worse than before. Seven more spirits who were more evil than the former spirit could “do even more damage. Since the person has cleaned up and adorned himself and has the reputation of having reformed, he can have more influence and can produce more harm than when he was in the filthy condition caused by the unclean spirit’s former occupancy. Sin has terrible results, which continually increase in their extent and power” (CBL, Matthew, p. 255). The description of more evil may indicate varying degrees of wickedness and or power among Satan’s helpers. Too, Jesus suggests that demons sometimes live and work together (compare Mk. 16:9).

In Matthew’s account of this (12:45), an additional statement is made: “Even so shall it be also unto this evil generation.” Jesus worked with a generation that had been “swept clean” from idolatry. It was the Jews who had received the “oracles of God “(Rom. 3:2), been exposed to the preaching of John, and seen the works of Jesus. God wanted to save them (Mt. 23:37-38), but a high percentage of the Hebrew people refused to repent. Since it was impossible for them to stay neutral (verse 23), they were eventually overcome. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. Those who refused to embrace the Lord died in their sins (Jn. 8:24) and were thus in Satan’s dominion.