Let’s read Jeremiah 1:5, “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (NKJV). What we see in this marvelous verse is God’s SOVEREIGNTY in CHOOSING him and SETTING HIM APART before he was even born to be “a prophet to the nations.” This speaks to us of God’s Divine Choice in choosing one for service. Jeremiah responded to this by saying, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” Yet in verses 7-10 the Lord assured him that he would be with him and give him the boldness and the words to speak to fulfill his mission. Of course, God would never have called Jeremiah into this service if he was a wicked man but the same grace that CHOSE HIM FOR SERVICE would work in his heart to make him a godly and willing servant. We read in Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who works in you both to WILL and to DO for His good pleasure.” We are all born sinners, including Jeremiah, and God had to work in his heart to give him the desire to serve and the ability to perform His good pleasure. This means Jeremiah, at some point in his life, came to see himself as a sinner (who had no love for God or desire to serve Him), which in turn led him to repent of his sins and acknowledge God as his Savior. Isaiah the prophet was inspired to write, “I, even I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior…And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. ‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other’” (Isaiah 43:11 and 45:21-22). Once Jeremiah looked to God and trusted Him to be a “savior from sin,” he was then qualified to serve Him. He could then trust Him to lead him in service and give him the words to speak to the nations of “their sins” and plead with them to “turn from their sins to God.”

What happens to those who do NOT do not own up to the fact that they were “born in sin and practice sin” (Psalm 51:5 and Romans 3:23) and who refuse to acknowledge God and to look to Him as their Savior? To answer this let’s look at John 3:16-20, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, BUT THAT THE WORLD THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who doers not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT, BECAUSE THEIR DEEDS WERE EVIL. For everyone PRACTICING EVIL HATES THE LIGHT and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” These are very solemn words, for even though God has graciously provided a Savior for the world, men naturally “love darkness” and “hate the light.” They “love sin” and they “hate holiness” and because of this they “do not come to the light.” Their love of sin will lead them into every kind of sin, including the ones you mentioned in your question. In the Old Testament God spoke of some of these sins that caused Him to rain down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 19:4-8 then turn to 2nd Peter 2:6 and Jude 7). In Romans chapter one of the New Testament God reveals that those who reject the knowledge of God (see verses 21-23) were allowed by God to sink deeper and deeper into these sexual sins. “Therefore God also gave them up to UNCLEANNESS, in the LUST of their hearts, to DISHONOR THEIR BODIES AMONG THEMSELVES…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 LUST FOR ONE ANOTHER, MEN WITH MEN COMMITTING WHAT IS SHAMEFUL, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (verses 24, 26-27).

Let me end on a positive note. If those engaged in these shameful acts will acknowledge them as SIN, and turn to God in true REPENTANCE and BELIEVE in Jesus Christ as their Savior (see Acts 20:21), they will be washed from their sins and declared righteous by God. This is confirmed in Paul’s words to the Corinthians who were once in bondage to these (and other) sins but had trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor HOMOSEXUALS, nor SODOMITES, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU. But you were WASHED, but you were SANCTIFIED, but you were JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1st Corinthians 6:9-11).  (468.1)  (DO)