And we'll get started. We'll talk about according to my Bible. This is number 24. And we're going to talk about inability and ability. Very, very, very important things for us to see and understand. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, as we come to you right now, in the name of Jesus, we thank you, dear Lord, for this time. Dear God, we do ask for forgiveness of sin, and we thank you for that. And Father, we come to you now, we realize that, Lord, if we've grieved the Holy Spirit in any way, we pray that you'd, Lord, just allow us to see it, confess it, forsake it. And Father, we pray right now that God, that you had blessed this time. Lord, I pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit here, dear Lord, tonight. And so now, Father, we ask in Jesus' name that you'd bless this into our hearing. And now, Father, we commit this time unto you. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. One of the most important things about studying these two words, inability and ability, number one is this, when we look at inability, that drives us to prayer. When we realize Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing, we realize that these things shove us and move us to prayer because we know that we can't do it. but God can. And so for us to understand these things drives us to prayer. And the more we understand it, the more reality there is in it. Remember something, there's a difference between knowing something and then knowing it as a reality. I've known people that knew that dipping, this guy used to dip, smoke, spit, chew everything. And you talk to him about cancer and boy, I mean, you know, he knew people that had cancer of the mouth because they've been dipping and chewing all their life. But that didn't stop him. And then, One day, I noticed he wasn't dipping or chewing. And he's, I've told you this before, he was the same guy that wouldn't quit smoking either. And I asked him, I said, well, I said, man, you're not smoking, dipping or chewing. Yeah. I said, well, you told me you'd never quit. Yeah. I said, what's wrong? He said, I got cancer. And Isn't that something? He talked about it. But boy, when reality hit him, it changed everything. When reality, when spiritual reality hits you and me, it changes everything. And that's one thing about us going through the Word of God, is that at some point, May reality hit us. It's interesting to me that we talk about the cloud. And the computer system, you know, they say, well, there's, you know, it's in the cloud. It's up there in the cloud. I just think what's in the cloud. Every type of moral perversion and wicked thing you can think of, it's in the cloud, isn't it? Well, that makes sense to me. The reason is, is because Satan, he's the prince in power of the air. Right? And so he's just saying, yeah, I got a cloud for all that stuff. Let me put a few things in the cloud myself. There's a reality to this stuff. But our topic tonight is inability. Let's work our way through this and then go to ability. Inability. Genesis 6, 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The thing you want to do is circle the word ever, every. Every. We don't have a spark of divinity in us. Depravity is total depravity. Genesis 8 21. And the Lord smelled a sweet Savior. And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite anymore everything living as I have done. I want you to realize something. That's very important. In 6-5, in Genesis 6-5, it says every imagination of the thoughts. Not some, every. Now that's pretty total, isn't it? If we were talking about something and I said everything, that means everything, doesn't it? Right? And so, and then it says evil continually. So it's a continual thing that we see. And then here it says, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Now, that word youth takes him all the way back to a small child, all right? And we, Well, I'm going to jump ahead of myself. I don't want to do that. Go to Psalm 114.2 here, 14.2 and 3. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. That's Psalm 14, two and three. What we find here then is the state of humanity. And humanity is in such a state The only thing they can do is evil. When you realize that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. If you and I honestly look at that, it's gonna bring us to the conclusion that that person is dangerous. That person is totally corrupt. That's the type of person they used to put in the insane asylum. Why? Because man, they're dangerous. Then in Genesis 8, two, for the imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth. Wow, so the state of humanity has been corrupted his imagination, his thoughts of his heart. We find the imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth, so that's the extent of it. And so we find then, if that be the case, they don't have the ability to discern anything spiritual. That's why it's so important for us to realize that when it comes to one, children. That's why God gave guidelines for discipline. Because look, God says, hey, the imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth. So the only thing that's going to control the wickedness that's in the youth is discipline and consequence for the sin, for the action. Then we find in Psalm 14, two and three, they are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. What an indictment upon humanity. But what do you expect from people that are mentally and morally corrupt when the Bible speaks to the heart of the matter? You and I even use that term, don't we? Boy, you get in some conversations and people say, well, the heart of the matter is, right? And so what are they saying? Well, that's the very essence of it. And so we realize then that humanity's in a bad condition. But I put it in red, Jeremiah 17, nine. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? If that's the state of the unregenerate person. As I've said before, there's just no bottom to human depravity? Not. I mean, just about the time you think, well, it'll stop at that point. No, they come up with something else. There's just no bottom to it. And so what we're looking at here is inability The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who could know it? Only God knows. We don't even know our own heart. So what we find here then, if our condition is that bad spiritually, what makes a human think that you have the ability to reverse that condition? I mean, that's insanity for a human to think that he or she has the ability to reverse such a depraved spiritual condition. It's impossible. How are you going to do that? That would be like you being eat up with cancer. and the doctor saying, you got 15 minutes to live. And you say, well, I'll change this. Well, that'd be a miracle, wouldn't it? You can't change it. We do not have the ability to reverse such a depraved spiritual condition. We do not have the ability. Now let me show you a couple words I want you to look at. There in Jeremiah 17, I said the heart is deceitful above all things. So listen. So one of the things about your own heart is self-deception. Self-deception, it's deceitful above all things. And so what you find is the heart of people, they deceive themselves when they say, well, I'll do this. And God said, do that. No, I'm gonna do this. You see, what we find there is the heart is deceitful above all things. So the tragedy of it is this. We say, all right, man, you got cancer, you're gonna die in 15 minutes. Well, I can reverse that. And then you die in 16 minutes. Your spiritual condition is desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know? But yet people think that they can reverse that themselves. They think they can turn over a new leaf. Or you can go out and turn over the whole forest as far as that goes and it ain't gonna make no change in you. The heart is deceitful above all things. So listen, one of the things that we've got to deal with is self-deception. That's why the Bible declares, now let's see what the Bible declares is truth. First of all, the Bible declares it's true, John 17, 17, isn't that right? But then the Bible also declares that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And so that means this, within the church, if it's the pillar and ground of truth, the one place where people should come to find the truth is in the house of God. And apart from that, If the house of God's doing anything else, it's heresy. The first thing that a church should do is make sure that they practice the church is the pillar and ground of truth. Truth. and the desire of the saved person should be truth. The only thing that counters a deceitful heart that's desperately wicked is going to be the Holy Spirit moving into us and then showing us what's false and what's true. The Holy Spirit will lead you into all what? Truth. You see, ladies and gentlemen, what we find here when we talk about inability, it's this. The unsaved person does not have the ability Number one, to change himself. Number two, to look at truth. They don't know the difference between truth and deception. They're willing to be self-deceived. And so what we find here, and the heart is desperately wicked. So we've got to face the reality. If the very heart of the matter, is wicked. The only thing it can produce is wickedness. What can a heart do that's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked? The only thing it can do is produce wickedness and deception. And before I move on, I want you to realize this, that heart that is deceitful above all things is going to get the possessor of it to believe the deception. I look at some people at times and I think, how in the world can they believe that? How in the world can they accept that? Well, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The way they accept that, well, that's an act of God, an act of their desperate heart. You see, we find that, man, that wicked heart, that's how they can accept that. There's much more I can say. Go to Psalm 36.1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Oh, so now, get this, David's writing this, the transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, in other words, he's looking at it, and in his heart, he's looking at these people saying, man, there's no fear of God before their eyes. We agree with that, don't we? I mean, when we look at the sodomite situation around us and just the sin of everything you can think of around us, I mean, we look at that and say, man, there's no sin, there's no fear of God before their eyes. Look at what they're doing. Well, let's do this. Go to Romans 3. Let's read verse 11 and 12. And then we're gonna read verse 18, Romans 3, 18. Romans 3, 11 and 12. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. All right? Now, listen. Now I'm gonna jump ahead of myself. None, none. You see that? The one thing that takes place so often, we struggle when it comes to the absolute of the Word of God. In other words, there is none that understand it. Well, we don't like the word none, so we'll say, well, there's some that do. But the Word of God says none. Then it said, there is none that seeketh after God. Wow. So when we look at this, lost unsaved people, there's none that understand it. Listen. When people function out of deception, They do that because they don't understand the consequences of it. That's the one thing about not understanding things, not knowing things. That's why during war, man, everybody's always trying to twist the street signs around, trying to get you to go to the wrong road, do the wrong thing. You see, There's none that understand it. You've got to understand, number one, your enemy. During the Second World War, they done that quite often. Man, they twist the roadsides around. The Americans did it, the Germans did it. Man, people go down the wrong road, drive right straight into a trap of some type, you know? And you see, that's why it's so important that you understand what does the Holy Spirit do for us? Well, we're gonna look at that in just a minute. But there's none that understand it, so they don't have the ability to really understand. That's why you and I, as sage people, we get frustrated at times with folks because we see where they're headed. We see the outcome. We know where they're going. Been there, done that. And so we try to reason with them somehow, but they don't have the ability to reason. They don't have the ability to understand the consequence of it. And so there's none that understand it. There is none that seek it after God. Before your salvation was, before the Holy Spirit started dealing with you, did you seek after God? I don't know about you, but I didn't. No, no, the Holy Spirit has, God, that's why I say no conviction, no conversion. Because the Holy Spirit, boy, when he starts working on you, you know it. There's a reality to this. There's none that seeketh after God. Listen, if God did not, if the whole God, the Holy Spirit did not work in us, none of us would seek God, period. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Wow, that's pretty clear, isn't it? None, none, no, not one. You know why? They don't have the ability. And so they're not gonna do it. It's interesting to me how the Armenian people want to throw salvation into the hands of man in so many ways. That's what this modern evangelism does. It tries to bring people to the point to where your salvation is all about you. I want you to know if that's the salvation you got, you're lost. You made a decision. No, God's got to make a decision. And so what we find then is that, watch what it says, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Wow. As I said a moment ago, and here at Romans we have the word none, none, all. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. The thing that we struggle with is the absolute in this. When you and I look at it, there is an absolute in this. None, none, all. We just, we have a hard time. We say, well, that's a good person. They might be good, but the word of God says. In other words, their heart is this. Their mind is this. None, none. That is the truth. Romans 3 18 there is no fear of God before their eyes Well, that's what we read up there in Psalm 36 1 that there is no fear of God before their eyes You see The reason the heart deceive people is and people can live contrary to the things of God is because they do not see the truth of God. When you see the truth of God in reality, then what'll happen is you'll function according to the truth of God. What we find happening here, there's no fear of God before their eyes. And so that allows people to have a cafeteria style religion. In other words, since they have no fear of God, they never worry about consequence. They never worry about judgment. They never worry about God fighting against them. They have no fear of God. So that means within their religious life and even in their physical life, they have no fear of God. So that means even if they're religious, They can live contrary to God. They can break God's rules, God's commandments. And guess what? It never bothers them. Why? Because there's no fear of God before their eyes. And so what you find in one of the things that brings about a strong conflict in families and in churches also, is when you have people that really minimize the power of God. They minimize the fear of God. They minimize the consequences of God. Their heart deceives them and so they reach up and they pull God down almost to their level. And then they begin to live life with a God that's only one brick taller than them. And so that means who's in charge? They are. That's why the bigger your God is, the better off you are. But you get around people that's got a small God, they'll struggle to tithe. Oh, we can't do that. But what you're saying is, God, you're a dirty, rotten liar. God, you're just a scoundrel is all you are. You want my money? I don't have enough money to tithe. And God says, mm-hmm, that's why you ain't got no money. Because you ain't tithing. And then people come at God with all kinds of stuff. You see, the marks of a lot of lost people is their inability to trust God. Their inability to trust God's truths. People that are truly saved, born again, one of the things that marks them is faith. A life of faith. One of the things that marks people that's not saved, but religious, is they have a religious life, but it's not exampled by real faith. And what we find in that, go to John 8, 43. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. Wow, what a statement Jesus made there. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. There's a reality in preaching. There's a reality in teaching. Whether it be you folks teaching the word of God at home, the Sunday school teacher teaching the word of God, or me, the preacher teaching the word of God. And that's this. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. We as saved people must understand something. When it comes to spiritual conversation, the lost person cannot even hear your words. They hear, but they don't hear. That's why they can function like they do. They'll hear it. They'll even agree with it. They'll not fight it. They won't deny it, but they're not going to live according to it. And that's one of the things that makes the difference. You see, even because you cannot hear my word, You see, what we're talking about here is reality. I started this conversation off tonight dealing with reality. There's a lost person could sit here, a lost religious person, and they could hear this tonight, but they wouldn't hear it. They wouldn't hear the reality of it. And so the people that don't hear the reality of it, go on in their deception. They go on living their life in their deception. In their heart, they feel like they're right. In their heart, they see no wrong in what they do. In their heart, where do they get that from? Well, their heart is, what's that say? Deceitful above all things. I had a guy tell me, I said, why you do that? He said, well, I trust my heart. I told him, I said, man, that's not a good thing to do. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You're going to trust it? I don't think so. That's bad. So what we find then, As I move, get ready to move on, why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. There's a reality in this thing called teaching and preaching the word of God that drives all truly born again teachers nuts. And it's this, I can stand up here and teach this, but I know this. The saved that are sitting here tonight and those that'll hear this through the media, they'll hear it. They'll hear it. They'll hear it and they'll hear it. But the lost people, they'll hear the audio, but they won't hear it. Why do you not understand? Because you cannot hear. Wow. Now listen, that is an absolute truth, isn't it? Why is it we don't understand things? Because we don't hear. We need hearing before we can understand. You see that? And so, when we talk about inability, we find that that lost person The heart of the matter is absolutely corrupt. And then we find when it comes to the hearing, so you can understand, is impossible. You don't even have the ability to do that. So if your hearing is not working, and if your heart is corrupt, that leaves you in a condition of total inability. Why? Because you're subject to your heart and the wickedness of it. You're subject to everything else. You can't understand what you're doing. You can't even hear. I've stood and looked people in the face and tried to explain things to them, and I've watched people get mad. I've watched some people walk away just to do that and walk off. Why? Because they didn't understand. There's things we've done before. I've told you about that thing we were blowing things up over in Vietnam, and that one guy had an electric blasting cap in his hand. You know, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. And he went ahead and wired it up. And I said, what are you going to do? I'm going to take this down. And I said, don't do it. Don't do it. That's totally wrong. You don't do that. And he took off walking through that grass. By the time he got just about a little over hill, I heard, and the wire stopped. I knew what happened. The static electricity set that electric blasting cap off. Next thing I know, the wire stopped and I saw him walking back across the hill. His hands had little speckles of blood all in it, you know, and he came walking back over the hill. By the time he got to me, he hadn't said nothing, but he said, oh, shut up. You know, I just kept on walking. He didn't hear, did he? When people hear, Things change. That man that I told you about, you could have talked to him till you blew in the face about dipping, chewing, smoking. He wasn't going to hear it. But boy, when the doctor looked at him and said, you've got cancer of the mouth and the jaw, he heard that, didn't he? What's it going to take to get you to hear? I'm gonna tell you what it's gonna take. It's not a what, it's a who. The only way you're gonna hear and I'm gonna hear, the Holy Spirit has got to do it. Let's talk about ability. Where do we get this ability from? Luke 24, 45. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. Wow. We get the ability to understand from the Lord. I've seen young men with great wisdom because of God. Because they've read the Word of God, studied the Word of God, they were taught the Word of God by mom and dad, they had great wisdom. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. Listen, you're not, I'm not, nobody is going to be able to understand the scriptures apart from the Holy Spirit showing us the truths of this Word of God. That's all there is to it. You're not going to understand the scriptures apart from the Holy Spirit. That's it. You might be able to understand the history of it and the principles of it and some of the psychology of it, but you'll never understand the spiritual aspects of the Word of God. Never. That's why we have such conflict at times with some people that think they're theologians. And you go to talk to them, and man, they got two or three verses they hang on to, and they just flat don't have the ability to move away from that. You know, you talk to some people, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him, yeah, Sounds good, I believe the verse too. But it also says for whosoever. I told one guy, I said, you better look up the word many also. Acts 16, 14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul, whose heart the Lord opened. Here in Luke 24, 45, then opened he their understanding. Here in Acts 16, 14, whose heart the Lord opened, Listen, a true spiritual life requires the act of God to open our heart, to open our understanding. Look at this. Up here, we have a heart that's desperately wicked. Who could know it? Down here, we have an opened heart, that God is open. A heart that is opened. Look at the difference. One, you got a closed heart that's desperately wicked. Here you have an opened heart that's willing to tend to the things of the spiritual lives of the men of God. All right, watch this now. John 6, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40, all right? Watch this. But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. I want you to realize if there's ever been a verse that a missionary can grab ahold of, it'd be this. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Man, that's guaranteed godly success. We find Paul going up close to a city, and what'd God tell Paul? The Lord told Paul, I have much people in this city. You see that? And him that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out, he was going to accept him. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. The important thing of preaching the word of God is that when God puts us somewhere, there's things we need to know. Why does He put us there? To preach and teach the Word of God. That's so important. Why? All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Go preach the Word of God and guess what? You'll find that there's going to be some people that's going to come. There's going to be some true people, some real people. Verse 39, we just read that, verse 40. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. Now watch this. This is the will of Him that sent me, that's God the Father, that everyone which seeth the Son. Listen. You read through the New Testament, there was a lot of people that didn't see Jesus Christ as the Son of God, did they? There was a lot of people that did not see Him. But there was some that did see Him. You see, what we find here is the ability to recognize that truth. Boy, some people saw the Lord and they believed Him. Some people encountered Him and believed Him. That is powerful stuff. God gives us the ability of recognition. We recognize Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We recognize Him as the Savior. Where did we get that from? How do we do this? How can we sum all of this stuff up? How do we wind up with this spiritual ability to hear. How do we get this spiritual ability to see? How do we get this spiritual ability that, boy, allows us to recognize and hear Jesus, see Jesus, recognize Him as the virgin born Son of God? Where's that come from? What moves us? A few moments ago, I said, you folks sitting here, before God saved you, were you seeking God? And all you folks said, nope, nope, nope. That's right. So what happens to us? How does that work? I wasn't seeking God. No, but God's got his ways. Let's see what happens here now. Let's read John 6, 44 and 45. No man can, no man can, no man can come to me. No man can come to me. You see how, boy, those absolutes just drive people nuts. No man can. There is an impossibility in that. There is an inability in that, isn't there? No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day. Wow. What happened? What happened? What happened to me? Well, no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me, draw him. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit went to work on me. And God the Holy Spirit started drawing me. And the Father started teaching me and alarming me. Hey, hell's real, heaven's real. You're in trouble. Jesus Christ, my son, died on the cross for you. What happened? Verse 45. It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. God the Father gives us the ability to learn. God the Father teaches us. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit go to work on us. And they shall be all taught of God, every man therefore that hath heard. Man, a while ago we couldn't hear, could we? But we can hear now. Take this back to Matthew 13, what do you find? Blessed are your ears, for they hear. Blessed are your eyes, for they see. God says, blessed are your ears for they hear and your eyes for they see. Why are your ears and eyes blessed? Because God the Holy Spirit has given you the ability to see and hear spiritual things. God, the Holy Spirit, has allowed you not only to see it and to hear it, but He has given you the ability to respond to it. And that's something you didn't have before. Something I didn't have before. Something we didn't have before. And they shall be all taught of God, every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me." Learned of the Father. Listen, God the Father is not going to just teach it. He's going to make sure we learn it. If He's going to teach us that, We're going to learn that we're sinners needing a savior. We're going to learn that Christ came, lived his life, shed his blood, died on the cruel cross of Calvary, was buried and rose again. I want you to realize Boy, when we look at that, and hath learned of the Father, we've learned these precious truths that our sins are gone. They're under the blood of the crucified one. We've learned that true salvation is called conversion. Like Jesus told Peter, when thou art converted, strengthen the brethren. There's a lot of religious person, but man, they've never been converted. They cannot strengthen anybody. They're so involved with their self. Can they strengthen anybody, encourage it? No, no, they don't do that. You see, hath learned of the Father, look what though, look at the outcome, cometh unto me. God the Father teaches us and he does it in such a way that we have a desire to come to Jesus. We come to Jesus, he shows us. that truth that Jesus Christ died upon the cross of Calvary for us. There's a truth there. Let me read you a verse real quick in Isaiah 54, 13, and I'm done. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. One verse. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. Amen. Oh my goodness, to have the children taught of the Lord. Amen. And then it says, and great shall be the peace of thy children. to have the children taught of the Lord brings great peace. Wow. What a thought, huh? So as I end this, I just want you to know, unless God works, we live in a state of inability. We cannot hear, We cannot see. We cannot understand. Our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We cannot understand because we cannot hear. So all of our spiritual abilities, it comes to us as God gives it. Then open he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. We need God. The more this reality hits us, the more we become dependent upon God. And we see the truth of God. Time is gone, gather around, let's pray.