Romans 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

God continued to describe the result of the rejection of God. Again we see here that these people once knew the truth, but they rejected it. God is good. He gives all people the opportunity to know the truth. There are people we meet that have little if any knowledge of God these days. However, somewhere in the past they knew the true God. Yet, they rejected that which they knew. This is something we have witnessed in our own families. We have seen how a former generation had a greater knowledge of God, but did not want to follow God. Their children had less interest in the true God and then their children are even more pagan.
You can see how the troubles mount in families the further they get from the truth. Marriages break apart. People get into more corrupt activities. We see how God responds to those who choose depravity over truth. He gives them over to a reprobate mind. The Greek word translated as “reprobate” means “unapproved” and “worthless”. God cannot approve of those who reject Him. God did not create man to be wicked. He works in the heart of man to draw him to Himself. When Cain chose to form his own religion, God rejected that. He spoke to Cain about the root of the problem. When Cain developed evil thoughts regarding his brother, God spoke to him about that. When Cain murdered his brother God spoke to him about that. At every step of the way, Cain became more hardened and the result of that was that his life became darker.
Yes, his descendants were industrious. They were inventors of musical instruments and good at working with metals. His descendants also brought in polygamy. Spiritually they were empty and thus all their abilities were of no value to God.
In our text we see that when God gives a person over to a reprobate mind, the person will do things that are not convenient. The phrase “not convenient” means “not becoming”. Again, we are reminded that wicked people behave in a manner that God never intended for man to do. We see lost people acting worse than animals at times.
In verses 29-31 we see that these reprobates are filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, etc. They are filled with it. They have no room for anything else. God directed king Solomon to write about this in Proverbs 1. Wicked people have their minds so full of evil.
When I was a younger person there used to be “soap operas” on TV. I would watch parts of them just to see what they were about. If you watch a part of an episode today and then come back to the same program a week later, nothing much has changed. It is all about evil people who are seeking to destroy one another and their lives are miserable. Those who spend their time watching that junk will become like those people.
Of course we know that Hollywood is designed to corrupt humanity. Too many people are hooked on watching movies and they are slowly but surely groomed to be just like those corrupt actors. The Lord showed me there is nothing good on T.V. and a number of years ago we smashed ours and threw it away. I did not want it to be in working condition that others could benefit from.
We purchased a big screen T.V. a few years ago to use as an electronic sign in our church window. They are much different now than they used to be and that T.V. is only used to scroll Bible verses and to list our service times. That is a good use for it. Otherwise it has no use.
It is also important to be careful what we find on the internet. There is much junk on there. The devil is very subtle and he knows how to slowly lure a person into his wicked ways.
In verse 32 we see that these reprobates are not content to keep their wickedness to themselves. God says they know the judgment of God. They know they are worthy of death. However, they do not want to be reminded of that so they get into high places where they can pass laws that will incriminate those who love them and want to help them to turn from their filth.
We see that these people are not content to do this wickedness among themselves. They want to see others do the same.
I read of a couple in Michigan that was having trouble with their young teen daughter. They were trying to work with the school to help her get through her struggles. Eventually they found out that the school had been working secretly with the daughter to get her to transition into being a boy. They had changed the pronouns they used for her. They did all of this without parental approval or without notifying the parents.
Those parents should have known their child should not be in the public school. No God-fearing parents would send their children into a public school. Homeschooling or a local church run school is the only place to teach children. A church run school should only be for those who are saved and members who faithfully attend that church. If a private school opens the school to people who suggest they have similar ideals, there is bound to be trouble. In fact, generally speaking, there will be problems even in a separated church run school.
There are some larger churches that run schools as well. If you observe them, you will notice that there has to be compromise on the part of the church to accommodate the variety of opinions from the parents involved with the school. That is also true when a church has a children’s “ministry”. I have witnessed this problem too often.
Churches run into trouble when they get away from God’s design for a church. A true church is designed by God to be:

I Timothy 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

It is very easy to get away from that and into things that are detrimental to a healthy godly life.
Getting back to our text, we see that the reprobates have pleasure in those who join them. They want to expand their territory. They want to expand their influence. They are quite aggressive in pushing their agenda. That is why born again Christians are called to separate from the world and to draw nigh to God.
You cannot be a strong Christian if you want to dabble in the world. We need to work in the world. We need to shop in the world. We need to worship in the church. We need to be sure that our worship takes priority to the things of this world. We need to be sure that the atmosphere promoted in the church is Biblical in all things. If it is not, it will just be a matter of time before the church will not be recognized as the “house of God”. It happens in such a subtle manner that those in the midst of it do not even recognize the slide. It is just a little bit at a time. Eventually you have more reprobates. Grandpa and Grandma may scratch their heads and wonder what happened to the grandchildren. Sadly, often Grandpa and Grandma are just happy to see the grandchildren and they turn a blind eye to the spiritual depravity that is taking over the family. They may not even see it.
That is why a strong, true Bible-believing church is so important. We need to:

Hebrews 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

God knows us far better than we know ourselves. We need to listen to Him and take His Word seriously.
Pastor Bartel