I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter
20. Proverbs, chapter 20. I'd like to read one verse of
Scripture. Proverbs 20, verse 5. Proverbs 20, verse 5. The Scriptures declare counsel
In the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding
will draw it out. Counsel. That is advice. Advice that is either received
or given. Counsel. In the heart of man
is like deep water. but a man of understanding. Now,
to understand the first part of this verse, counsel in the
heart of man is like deep water, we're going to have to consider
the latter part of the verse, because whatever counsel or advice
this is, that is found to be so deep so inaccessible to man, so far
from his ability to be able to draw it out, a man of understanding
is going to have to do it for him. Now that's what it says.
Advice in the heart of man is like deep water. A man of understanding is going
to have to draw it out. I got to thinking about that
deep water and while I was preparing this, I just physically started
thinking about the depth of the oceans in the United States,
the world. I found out that the Mariana
Trench is said to be the deepest part that they know of, of the
world's oceans. 36,000 feet, over 36,000 feet. That's
almost seven miles deep. That's deep. That's a long way. And like I said, they're not
even sure if that's the deepest part there. That's the deepest
part they've found. Now, if I was exactly on top
of that trench and dropped something over a boat and just watched
whatever it was go out of sight. What do you think would be the
possibility of me being able to go down there and get it and
bring it up? Slim to none. Oh I got to reading about all
the super you know diving bells and stuff like that and I went
down and One man, he got down and then they kind of got real
close to the bottom and stuff like that, recorded it, and it
was a, you know, deepest, deepest, you know. The scripture reveals that there's
something in man, as he is born in Adam, that's like that. It's counsel that has been given
him And it's referred to as deep water advice that every man possesses
as he's born in Adam. I got to thinking about that.
I thought now, what advice, what counsel was given man Hold your
place here. Let's go back to Genesis chapter
3. I'm going to look at some advice,
some counsel that was given man that the scripture reveals deep
water. Genesis chapter 3, verses 1 to
5. Now listen to this. Now the serpent
was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said
unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither
shall you touch it, lest you die. You know, man's got a bad
habit. Trying to embellish what God has said, doesn't he? It's
not recorded that the Lord said, don't touch it. He said, don't
eat it. And the serpent said unto the
woman, you shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened. And ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Now, here was the advice,
here was the counsel. that the serpent gave Eve. He said, you're not going to
die by failing to obey God. Did God say that, you know, God
said that. He said, you're not going to
do that. You're not going to die. He said, you can't depend
on what God says. Satan suggested to Eve that God
had an ulterior motive in telling her that she and Adam would die. He's holding out on you. He said, in fact, a breach of
God's command would not only fail to produce any evil. He said, you're not going to
die. But he said, actually, if you do, Disobey what God had
to say? Great good is going to come from
it. Not only is God not going to
kill you, you're going to benefit from disobeying God. For God
doth know that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes will be
opened. That is, God has kept so much
from you By telling you not to eat, you're understanding if
you do eat it, knowledge is going to be so greatly enlarged that
you're going to be able to judge things with light that you don't
possess now. Your eyes are going to be open.
Your spiritual eyes. And you're going to be as God's Knowing good and evil. Now, let
me tell you the amazing thing about that. Look in your Bible
right there. It's little g. It's a little g. God's. But the word that he used was
Elohim, which always refers to God. God Himself. What he was doing
was he was insinuating that there's more than one. They're all gods. You're going to be as gods. Using
the Word for God. If you eat, the Lord God knows
that your eyes are going to be open. You're going to be so much
wiser than you are now. In fact, You're going to be as
wise as He who upholds all things by the word of His power. And
you're going to be able to know what pleases God and what doesn't.
You're going to know good and evil. You're going to know all
that. Well, she ate. Adam ate. And as soon as Adam ate, they
died spiritually. Not physically. They did eventually.
But they died spiritually right then. And what happened was their
heart was now alienated from God. They now possessed a heart
of unbelief, a heart that could not know God, could not love
God, and had no fellowship with God. They now possessed a heart
of deceit and they couldn't remove it. That counsel from Satan was like
deep water. Now, Jeremiah 17 9 says, The heart
is deceitful above all things. And it is desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who can perceive
it? Who can find it out? Who can
recognize it? Who can be instructed by it in
the things of God? Nobody. It's deceitful. You try to tell a man, now listen,
I'm going to talk to you from experience this morning. You
try to tell a man who's wrong concerning the scriptures. Now
I know this. You try to tell a man he's wrong
and unless God Almighty gives him a new heart, he'll never
believe you. I told you about, there was a
scripture, It was 2 Thessalonians 2.13. I'm going to read this
in just a few minutes anyway, but I'm going to read it right
now too. 2 Thessalonians 2.3. I had a
friend of mine when the Lord began to deal with me concerning
the truth. I read this scripture to him and I thought, there's
no way in the world you will not be able to believe. There's
no way. We're bound to give thanks all
the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
and belief of the truth. And I told this guy, I said,
Ronnie, you believe that? He said, well, I don't think
I believe it the way you do. How can you not believe that? He had no heart to believe it.
He had no heart to believe it. The heart is desperately wicked. It's that stony heart of unbelief
and it hides itself from itself. It's so deceitful. Man born in
Adam doesn't know it. He doesn't realize that a corrupt
heart is the worst enemy a man fallen in Adam has. It's his
worst enemy, his heart. It's just full of evil devices,
deceit and folly and abomination. And without the power of God
to lift it out, how are you going to get it out? If you don't believe
something, you don't believe it. Unless you're convinced of
it, you still don't believe it. Man is born thinking that he
has the ability to plumb the depths of his heart. Counsel
in a man is like deep water. And your heart will tell you
as it's born in Adam, mine and yours as we're born in Adam,
will tell us you have the ability, the will, to reach down, pull
that up, and reconcile yourself back to God. Now that's a lie. Eric, that's
a lie. That is a lie. Listen to this, I'll read this,
John 6. Listen to the words of our Lord. He was speaking to
a group of people who trusted in themselves, who thought they
could, thought they could do something. Listen to the words
of our Lord, John 6, 63 to 69. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
that makes alive. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
their spirit, their life, but there are some of you that believe
not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray Him. And He said, therefore said
I unto you, now listen to the words of our Lord, that no man
can come to Me except it were given unto him of My Father. They heard that, and the next
verse says, from that time, many of his disciples went back and
walked no more with him. I'm not going to hear that. Don't
tell me that I can't do it. Don't tell me that I can't do
something to reconcile myself back to God. The Lord said no
man can. And my deceitful heart will tell
me, oh yeah, you can. Be just like Satan coming to
Eve and says, Am I going to die? Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Would ye go away also? Simon Peter answered him, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. No man can. This is the message
that men of this world, and I'm telling you again, I'm speaking
from experience, hate. They hate this message. A man tell me that I can't do
it, don't tell me I can't do it. Counsel in the heart of man
like deep water. But, oh what a wonderful word. But, what a word of hope. Man
doesn't have any ability, man doesn't have any discernment
to recognize his plight or to do anything about it, but a man
of understanding, a man of intelligence, a man of discretion, a man of
skill, a man of wisdom will draw it out. Let me ask you this, who other
than the Lord Jesus Christ is this man of understanding? All of us, here, men, women,
all of us are found in the category as those being born in Adam. You're not going to find this
man of understanding among us, I'm going to tell you right now.
Listen to Romans 3. I'll read this for you. Romans
3, 10 to 12. The scripture says, as it is
written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that
understandeth. Now what's it going to take to
lift out of the deep water the immeasurable depth of my depraved
heart, who among the sons of men born in Adam can be classified
a man of understanding when the scripture says there's none that
understand. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Where am I going to find a man
of understanding when among men born in Adam there's none? One. All men born in Adam They're
not going to be able to plumb the depth of their depraved heart
and lift it out. I gotta get it out of there.
I gotta have that depraved heart removed. For me to have any hope,
for me to have any understanding, for me to have any life, And
I didn't even know it. I didn't even know that my heart
was depraved. I didn't know that. How did I
find that out? God had to tell me. What I need is I need for the
Lord, by His mercy and grace, to expose myself to me. You're going to have to tell
me what my problem is. I didn't think I had a problem.
I was doing fine. I'd made my profession of faith.
I had reconciled myself back to God by my own free will. I walked down the aisle. I gave
my heart to Jesus. I did everything that that preacher
told me I was supposed to do. And he didn't have any more sense
than I did. How though is this act of mercy
going to be accomplished? How? How is it that this precious
act of mercy is going to be wrought in me? How is this man going
to draw it out? One way. He's going to get a vessel of
His mercy, one that He's everlastingly loved and chosen in Christ Jesus,
and He's going to put that person under the sound of the gospel. That message that Paul said,
I'm not ashamed. of the gospel of God, the gospel
of Christ. It is the power of God under
salvation. This is the means by which Almighty
God is going to teach His people. He's going to put them under
the sound of the gospel of God's sovereign grace. And He's going
to bless it by His Holy Spirit. And He's going to give them a
heart of understanding I can tell you this too, if he's
chosen to show mercy, I love this right here, it says, but
a man of understanding will draw it out. Do you know what I noticed
he didn't say? He didn't say he can draw it
out, though he can, though he can, I know he can. Remember
that leper that came to the Lord? He said, Lord, if you will, Thou
canst make me clean. And concerning those that Almighty
God has ever given, has eternally given him in electing grace,
guess what? He wills to do so. He said, all
that the Father has given me, that's John 6, 37. I love that
passage of Scripture. All that the Father has given
me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise. Tell me how he does it. I know
he does it under the sound of the gospel. But tell me how. Now listen to this work of God's
grace and power. Ezekiel 36, 26. He said, I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh. How deep was it? Not deep enough
for him. Not too deep for him. I will
take that stony heart, that unbelieving, unhearing, unloving, cold, hard,
rebellious heart. I'm going to take it out. And
I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to give you a heart
of flesh. That is, not talking about this
corrupted nature, it means fresh. I'm going to give you a new heart.
A fresh heart. And in doing so, He's going to
give them something that they didn't have before. They're going
to have a new appetite for Him. They're going to hear the gospel
of God's grace, sovereign mercy, and they're going to say, I never heard it like that before.
That's the greatest message I have heard in my life. You mean to
tell me I don't have to try to save myself? No. You mean to
tell me that God has saved me by grace and given me faith to
believe it? Yeah. That's what He said. Called you by the gospel. I told
you I was going to read it. I'm going to read it now. In
2 Thessalonians, there was one verse I didn't read. We're bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He calls you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, all of God's
people are going to be under the message that gives the Lord
Jesus Christ all the honor, all the glory, all the praise, and
doesn't give us any. And we will then hear, by the
grace of God, to all those that He's everlastingly loved, He's
going to give them a heart to believe it. And they're going
to gladly say, I am what I am by the grace of God. Not by works of righteousness
that I've done, but according to His mercy, He saved me and
kept me by His power. Oh, the grace of God to a vessel
of mercy such as I, one that couldn't do anything for himself,
One that didn't have sense enough to get out of the rain. And Almighty
God was pleased to send a preacher across my path and tell me the
truth. And then by the grace of God
gave me a heart to believe it. And would keep me. I pray God
do so today. For Christ's sake and for the
eternal good. of his people. Amen. Let's take a break.