John Van Gelderen: All right, 1 John chapter 1. In your Bibles, please, 1 John chapter 1. And in your notes, this will be page 35.

That'll correspond, but we're looking at 1 John chapter 1. I don't know about you, but my heart was stirred in what we just observed. And may we allow the Spirit of God to take it to its intended purpose in our own lives.

The book of 1 John is a book that was written to believers. This is not a book telling you how to get saved. It's written to those who have been saved.

That is important for us to have a right understanding for what we're about to deal with. Throughout this book, the audience is called brethren, beloved, my little children, and such phrases indicating that they were born again. In fact, here in chapter 1, the writer John uses the personal pronouns we, us, and our repeatedly in the short chapter.

So he's obviously talking about those who are already saved. He deals with the truth that is vital. I remember back in 2001, this particular truth, a certain aspect of it, was opened up to my own heart in a much deeper way than ever before.

And I thank God for it. It has been life-changing. And I trust we'll allow the Spirit of God to speak His truth to our innermost being.

1 John 1, two familiar verses. But may we not allow their familiarity to cause us to miss the grand reality of truth that is connected to these familiar words. 1 John 1, verse 7 and verse 9.

The authority of the Word of God says, But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin if we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The title of the message is very simply, A Clean Heart. Shall we pray? Would you join me in prayer and ask the Spirit of God to make this truth crystal clear to your heart.

Lord, we do thank you for your goodness. We thank you for stirring our hearts through the preached word already in this conference, through the presentation that we just observed. Now, blessed Spirit of the living God, would you be our teacher?

Would you open the eyes of our understanding? And take these simple and familiar words. And Lord, unfold them to our innermost being.

Lord, I pray that every teenager here, every person here, would catch a powerful glimpse, Lord, of the grand realities of truth that connect to these precious words. I plead the blood of Jesus that we have just read about. To protect us from the attack of the evil one.

Who hates this truth with a passion. Now Lord knock out his lies and deceptions. Lord may they be abolished.

Lord Jesus we claim our position in you at the throne. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion. And I claim our protection in you there.

So we look to you now to meet with us. May we hear from heaven. May we see Jesus.

Lord, may that sight be used to change us into His image. I ask this now, dear Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank You for it. Amen.

In the early part of the last century, there was a young man, early 20s, really not much older than many in this audience, by the name of John George Govan. He lived in Scotland. He was saved.

He went to church. He looked good. Others would have said, oh my, what a fine example of a Christian young man.

And yet the fact was, down deep in his heart of hearts, he was living for himself. He had ambitions. He had goals.

He had dreams. Now, they were not intrinsically evil. They were not wicked.

They were not flagrantly worldly, as we would often think of those terms. But the fact is these ambitions were not of God. In other words, this was not God's will.

And so it was a selfish pursuit. He was living for himself. He wanted to do what he wanted to do.

And that's where many are. They want to do what they want. They want to do what they want when it comes to college, when it comes to marriage, when it comes to what to do in life, the whole bit.

They want what they want. And some of them, some, even in our ranks today, pursue things that don't look bad. They're not intrinsically evil.

But the problem is, if it's not God's will, friends, it is evil. And that's where John George Goban found himself. Living for self.

Then in the providence of God, he began to hear some preaching on the concept of a clean heart. And a filled life. The concept of consecration, I suppose the word we would use more today would be the word surrender.

And as he heard that, he realized, you know, I'm not surrendered. I'm not consecrated. And he writes in his journal, I tried to consecrate myself on several occasions.

But it didn't work. I hope you catch his wording. I tried to consecrate myself.

No wonder it didn't work. I'll be honest with you. I tried it for years.

When I was your age and when I was in college, I don't know how many times, I walked aisles, got on my knees and said, I surrender all! And I tried to dedicate myself and consecrate myself the best I knew, and nothing ever changed. The reason was, just as with Govan, I was trying to do it myself.

Still self. Well, in the goodness of God, I began to hear the concept of a clean heart. The light began to dawn across the horizon of his heart.

He began to realize, wait a second, I cannot clean my own life up. I can't clean my own heart up. I need the Lord Jesus to do a cleansing work in me.

But he knew that in order for that work to take place, he would have to obey the Holy Spirit. He would have to come clean with God. That whatever the Spirit of God would say would have to go in his life, it would have to go.

He knew that that was a part of the price for a clean heart. And for him it was too high of a price. Those ambitions, those goals, his life's pursuits, no, I can't give that up!

And so he resisted the Holy Spirit. It's called rebellion. But again, in the goodness of God, there was some meetings taking place.

Not far. In fact, his brother, a preacher, was in charge of the meetings. And so out of deference he went.

And that night the preacher got up and preached on the concept of a clean heart. And the Spirit of God was graciously dealing with this young man. You need to come clean.

You need to give up. All that I say, give up. And that night they had an invitation.

And young person after young person was coming clean with God. But John George Govan said no. And he walked out resisting the Holy Spirit.

He said for the next 24 hours he was absolutely miserable. But because his brother was in charge of those meetings, he went back the next night. But unlike his normal practice, this time he sat as far away as he could in the corner of that auditorium.

And that night they had a testimony time. And person after person from the night before stood up with the radiance of God emanating from their face, testifying to the power of a cleansed conscience and the power of a clean heart. And the Spirit of God bore witness with Govan's spirit that blessing could have been yours.

Had you but yielded, the preaching was given. It came to that invitation time of the service. Many responded.

But tragically, John George Govan was still resisting the Holy Spirit. He just could not come to grips with giving up those goals, those ambitions. He wanted to do what he wanted to do.

The service was about to come to a close. He was in a tremendous turmoil and battle within his soul. His brother had no idea the battle that he was in.

He happened to see him there in the corner of the auditorium and called on him to close the service in prayer. Well, John George Govan said he knew he could not nor would not fake it. And that he was going to have to decide then and there which way he would go.

He stepped out in the aisle and he paused to think it over. And the congregation had to wait while he thought it over. And then John George Govan got down on one knee.

And there with the whole audience to listen in, this young man came clean with God. And issue by issue, he gave those matters over to God. He gave them up.

He surrendered. And he said the last amen. And he walked out of that auditorium into the cold Scottish air and he said to a friend, I have a clean heart.

I have trusted the Lord Jesus for it. And He has done it. Even though I do not feel it.

For friends, it is by faith, not feeling. Hours later when he got on his knees alone with God, then God allowed him to experience a little bit more of all that was happening. But he took it by faith long before that.

And when you study the life of John George Govan, that was a radical turning point. It was watershed. It was life changing.

he went on to be used of God to found the faith mission of Edinburgh Scotland used in the 20's and 30's to train many young people in revival work that literally went across the villages of Scotland in those decades and saw tremendous movings of the spirit in genuine revival in fact it was John George Govan who was used of God to fan the flames of revival in the heart of a young man that had come to their mission by the name of Duncan Campbell who was

then later used of God in the great Lewis revival 55 years ago.

Now, young people, none of that would have happened if Govan would have continued to say no. I wonder who walked out of here last night saying no to God. Govan did that.

But thankfully, he finally said yes. and became a marvelous instrument in the hand of an almighty God. The same can be true for you.

Now our text says at the end of verse 7 that the blood of Jesus Christ, His or God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. You see, the blood cleanses. The purpose of the blood is for cleansing.

Now, there is a legal cleansing that takes place the moment you trust Christ. There's a glorious, what we might call, positional cleansing that takes place. Hebrews 9.22, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission or forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 1.7, in whom Jesus, we have redemption through His blood. even the forgiveness of sins. And it is a glorious reality to come to that point where you trust Christ as your Savior and your sins are put under the blood.

There is that legal cleansing before an Almighty God. Your standing is made clean positionally before God. But the Bible also teaches there is a practical cleansing.

There is a fellowship cleansing, As the legal cleansing has to do with your standing before God, the fellowship cleansing has to do with your walking with God. This is beautifully illustrated for us in John 13, when the Lord Jesus washed the disciples' feet. And you remember the story when He came to wash Peter's feet.

Peter protested. Ah, and the Lord said to him, Well, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. Well, then Peter said, Well, if that's the case, wash my hands and my head.

and Jesus makes a classic statement. He says, He that is washed, past tense, needeth not save to wash, present tense, his feet. In other words, when somebody's had a full bath, okay, he's clean, but as he walks through town, his feet get dirty and so they had the foot washing to wash their feet.

beautifully picturing the whole matter of salvation and then the walk that follows that. He that is washed. See, that's the moment you're saved.

That's the full bath. That's that positional, legal cleansing before God. Needeth not saved till wash.

That's the fellowship cleansing. His feet, because we pick up the dirt and defilement of the way in this world in which we live. This is explained to us theologically in Romans chapter 4, verses 7 and 8.

I love these verses. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Now listen to this, young people.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now what that is telling us is that when you get saved, when you cast your dependence on Jesus Christ to save you from sin and hell, at that moment all of your past sins are forgiven all of your future sins will not be credited to your account. What an amazing statement.

What an amazing clarification. All of your past sins forgiven. All of your future sins will not be credited to your account.

That means past, present, and future, your sins are under the blood. They're covered. But now notice the clarity of that passage.

Your past sins are forgiven. Your future sins will not be credited to your account. That means when it comes to your legal standing before God, yes, you're saved.

You are safe. These future sins will not be credited to your account. But the fact is that's why 1 John 1 is so important.

They do need to be forgiven when it comes to your walk. Though you're safe, though they won't be credited to your account, they're in the way of your fellowship with your Heavenly Father. That's why 1 John 1 is so vital.

Now, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from all sin. The purpose of the blood is for cleansing. So, since the blood is the provision for a clean heart, we must avail ourselves of Christ's provision.

Now, how do we do that? How do we, on a Thursday afternoon, avail ourselves of this provision of the blood to cleanse us? I'm going to tell you something, young people.

There is a provision. You can be made clean. I mean, your conscience can be cleared today.

You can walk out of here with guilt rolled off your back. You can walk out of here clean. I'm not just talking about saved.

I'm talking about as a child of God who's broken fellowship with God. and there's that weight and burden on your heart, you can walk out of here. Cleansed.

How? Verse 7 is going to tell us what to do. Verse 9 will then tell us how to do it.

Let's begin with verse 7, what to do. It says, but if. Notice this is conditional.

Friends, this is not just automatic. This doesn't just happen. You and I are responsible.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light. Now notice, there's what to do.

we're not yet told how to do it we will look at that in a moment but we are told what to do walk in the light now notice the standard for this young people walk in the light as he is in the light I'm going to tell you something that's a high standard we're to walk in the light as he God is in the light look God dwells in the absolute light of his holiness now friends there are created creatures of God the burning ones the

seraphim who surround the throne of God with six wings, two covering their face, two their feet, and with two they fly and they cry out night and day, Holy, Holy, Holy.

And friends, we're to walk in the light. As He is in the light and He dwells in the absolute light of His holiness. Whatever this is talking about, I'm going to tell you, it is a high standard.

Now that's what to do. We'll come in a moment to how you do that. Before we do, look at the promises that are connected to this condition.

After it says, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, it says, we have fellowship one with another. Now we need to ask ourselves the question, who's the one and who's the other? Well, let's back up to verse 5 and let the context tell us.

Look at the end of verse 5. It says, God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him, with who?

You can talk to me. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, with who? God and walk in darkness.

We lie and do not the truth, but if we walk in the light as He, as who? God is in the light. We have fellowship one with the other.

That means the one and the other here is the believer and God. Now let it sink in.

when you walk in the light as He is in the light you are restored back to a place of communion of fellowship with that holy God this side of heaven teenager let it sink in I mean we live in a body that's still mortal flesh sin cursed still has the ramifications there's still the flesh that we deal with and yet the blood of Jesus is so powerful that when you as a child of God positionally and legally safe but when you've broken fellowship with God by

going your own way with self-will and self-dependence and self-indulgence and on and on that list could go but when you get honest about it when you come clean when you walk in the light as He is in the light that blood is so powerful it will come and it will cleanse you it will clean you all up and it will restore you back to a place of intimate fellowship with that holy God, this side of heaven.

There's power in the blood. I mean, to think. You know, when you've been dirty for a long time, when you've been defiled for a long time, when you've been in self-indulgent desires of your flesh and all of that for a long time, that when you get honest with God, as we're going to see, when you walk in the light, that blood will so cleanse you, you are restored back to fellowship with that holy God while we're still on this side of heaven.

That's amazing. But that's what it says, man. Hallelujah.

And it says very specifically at the end of the verse, in the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us, washes us, purges us from all sin. What a tremendous promise. It's really a revival promise.

There's more to revival than this because God wants us to stay right, but this is the way in. This is how you get right. This is how you deal with sin.

Tomorrow we'll talk about how you stay right, how you keep from sin. But there has to be the way in. This is it.

That blood is so powerful it cleanses and restores people to fellowship with the Holy God who dwells in the absolute light of His holiness. So there's what to do. Walk in the light.

Now the question is, how do you do that? What are the steps on this pathway of walking in the light? Verse 7 told us what to do.

Verse 9 will tell us how. Notice what it says. If.

Here's a conditional clause. If we confess our sins. That's followed by a promise.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us. from all unrighteousness. Now notice here, we're asking the question, what are the steps on the pathway of walking in the light?

And based on verse 9, there are two steps. There's the step of confession based on the conditional clause, and there is the step of faith based on the promise clause. Both are vital.

Let's look at them in detail. The first step is confession. You probably know, as it says here in the notes, That confession means to say the same thing as.

And we have to ask the question, to say the same thing as who? And of course the answer is, in the light of Scripture, to say the same thing as God says about our sin. Now, will we let that sink in?

That's pretty amazing. To say the same thing as this holy God in heaven who dwells in the absolute light of His holiness says about our sin. See, this is walking in the light as He is in the light.

It is coming into total agreement with God's perspective. Now, that's going to mean several things. First of all, it means call it sin.

You know, we want to call it everything but that. We don't want to be accurate about it at all. We want to say, well, it was a mistake.

Or, you know, it was a disease. Or it was a syndrome. But we don't want to call it a sin.

That's about as close as people get to calling it sin. They call it a sin-drome. But nobody wants to call it sin.

We come up with some pretty fancy descriptions. Now, if we're going to be accurate, young people, we've got a problem. Because if you're putting two and two together, doesn't Jeremiah say, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? So how are we going to say the same thing that God says about our sin if we have deceitful hearts that we can't know? Well, the next verse in that passage in Jeremiah answers that question.

After it says, who can know it, the next verse says, the Lord. Oh, who tries the hearts? You realize the Lord obviously knows our hearts better than we do.

And there are times when it is appropriate and right and often needful to say, Oh God, would you give me a glimpse of what you see in my heart so that I can say what you say? I'll be honest with you, young people. I've done this before.

God will hear you and God will answer. God will give you a glimpse of what He sees. And when you see it, you will be horrified.

Mortified. Disgusted. Repulsed.

You know what? Then you can begin to say the same thing as. You can begin to confess.

Because now you're beginning to see what God sees. We're so deceived. There's so many illusions from the world and from the devil and all the stuff we buy into that we don't think right.

And we need God to knock all that out so that we can see what He sees. They'll call it sin accurately. Thoroughly.

You know, sometimes we confess our sin, but we only confess part of it. I mean, we know we've been way off, and so we say we've been way off, but there's a lot of specifics to that, and we really don't get honest about all those things. And there is a partial confession.

But, you know, partial confession that's not followed through with, to make it thorough, leads to spiritual dullness. Now, there are other reasons for spiritual dullness, but one of the reasons for spiritual dullness is partial confession. And if you're sitting in here, and you are dull spiritually, this may be the reason.

you ask the Holy Spirit to tell you, He'll make it clear. If this is the reason, He'll bring it to mind what's not been confessed. And it needs to be dealt with.

I was talking to a college kid, and a couple of years before he had gotten turned around, and that was a wonderful thing, but he was feeling dull spiritually. He went to his pastor and he said, Pastor, I just feel dull spiritually. And the pastor said, well, why don't you do this?

He said, you know, back in your teenage years, you were rebellious. He said, I know God turns you around and you're in Bible college. But he said, I don't know that you ever understood how wicked your teenage rebellion really was.

He said, why don't you get along with God and ask God to show you? So here's the two truths coming together. The accuracy that you need so that you can be thorough, not just accurate.

This young man told me over a cup of coffee, he said, I got along with God one day. He said, I asked God to show me the wickedness of my teenage rebellious years. And he said, what a day, what a day.

He said, but then I was able to deal with it accurately and thoroughly. And he said, I've never been the same. Today that man is on fire being used of God.

Now years later, several years later, it's a joy. But there it is. We need to be thorough.

But if we're going to call it sin, it needs to be honesty without making excuse. Now we're masters at this. We get honest and then we give the reasons why we did it.

Blame our sister or whatever. That's what happens. We blame somebody else.

I mean, you know how little kids are. Well, yeah, I did this, but… Of course, I'd always point my finger at Jim and we were close in age and whatever, whatever.

But that's what we do if we're not careful. We will go through the motions of confessing our sin and then give excuses as to why we did it. We were masters at it.

Well, Lord, you know, I shouldn't have said that to so-and-so. But, Lord, you know he provoked me. You know what we're doing is we're seeking to get the spotlight off of us.

We're seeking to justify, even though we're getting honest, yeah, I did wrong, but we're seeking to justify why we did wrong. There was a good reason why we did wrong. And so we seek to justify it.

We seek to get the spotlight off of us. In other words, we're seeking to cover our tracks. Do you know what that is?

It's called walking in darkness. And it's ironic, is it not, that it's in the name of walking in the light. I used to do that all the time.

I'd confess and give the reasons why. Because I'm going to tell you something, I didn't want to think of myself as being that bad. I mean, there's got to be another reason why I said this or did this.

It's got to be that person or that person or that situation. You see, we don't like to think of our hearts as that wicked.

we don't want to see ourselves for really what we are and so we want to say well it was this it was this person it was the situation they provoked me and all of that and the fact of the matter is we're trying to say that that really wasn't me we're trying to say well that's not me at all that person drew it out of me that situation they just drew it out of me that's not really me friend that is a lie that person and

that situation simply exposed what was already in you and confession is saying God that's what I am I'm that wicked I'm going to tell you something young person you are not going to get help in these two days if you don't get thoroughly honest with God I mean without making any excuses and it's time you stop blaming your mom and dad and you stop blaming the other kid and you stop blaming this wicked world yes I know that is a wicked world and yes I realize

sometimes other people are doing wrong but the fact is you will answer to God for your choices the fact of the matter is you are not going to get the help you need unless you say God this is just exposed what I really am God that's what I am I'm that wicked now we're getting somewhere it's humiliating but it's honest God gives grace to the humble to the honest it's vital thoroughly, and without making excuses.

Now, friends, we're masters at this. I remember one time writing a letter of apology to somebody that I should, you know, I did wrong, and I wrote a letter of apology. But in my letter, I blamed them.

I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. I mean, it's just tragic. I mean, it's just tragic.

I'd gotten in this tiff, I'll just be real honest with you, I'd gotten in a tiff with another preacher. Say, preachers do that? Yeah.

And tip, of course, is the nice way of saying we got in a fight. And now, obviously, it wasn't a fist fight, but it was a fight. Now, I got in a fist fight when I was a little kid.

But at any rate, this was not a fist fight. This was a carnal exchange of words. And it was carnal.

And the Spirit of God immediately, I mean, just immediately dealt with me. And I remember my first thought was, well, Lord, he started it. Now, I'm not even sure that that's accurate.

He probably would say it was the other way around. But my point is, do we see our own hearts? We try to shift the blame.

We try to get the focus right off it. Well, he started it. And the Lord wouldn't let me get away with that.

He said, okay, okay, Lord, I'll write a letter. Now, here's how the letter went. Now, teenagers, I'm ashamed of this.

I really am. And I want to show you, this is just an example of our human hearts. I said, dear brother so-and-so, you know, because you said such and such.

Jab. You know, because you said such and such, I said such and such. I shouldn't have said that.

Please forgive me. You know, because you did such and such. Do you get it?

Here's a letter that's supposed to be a humble apology, and all I'm doing is blaming him. And I didn't even realize it. I was so arrogant and so deceived.

I didn't realize it. I wrote this long letter, sent it off, and got absolutely no relief. Isn't that amazing?

I mean, no relief. I'm going to tell you something. It was painful.

I tried to preach.

God bring this thing to mind I try to pray God bring this thing to mind I remember arguing with God When I was praying Now Lord why do you keep Bringing that to mind I mean Lord I wrote a letter Lord it was a long letter Well it had to be the way I wrote it I remember one day I was in Minnesota And I was trying to prepare To preach And I God just kept bringing This thing to mind And I finally said Okay God

what's wrong now I was ready to listen took a long time the spirit of God said you're arrogant here you are in the name of apologizing to this fellow and what you did was blame him and when I saw what I had done I caught a glimpse into my heart and I was horrified young people I was appalled I remember saying to the Lord now what do I do and the Lord led me to write another letter I'm going to tell you it was a whole

lot shorter and when I sent that one off the burden rolled away and it's never come back and the Lord has brought about reconciliation which is what we're really after praise the Lord but there it is we've got to get honest without Without making excuses.

Now I feel for some of you young people, because in some situations, as we heard last night, you may have a failing father. You may have a carnal situation. You may have unsafe parents.

I understand that, but that still does not give you an excuse to sin. As was clarified last night. So, we've got to call sin, sin, accurately, thoroughly, without making excuses.

But if we're really going to say the same thing that God says, God says give it up. You know, a lot of times we confess our sin. All we're really doing is confessing our guilt.

I mean, we don't like the way we feel. Do you like the way you feel after you sin and all of a sudden now you feel guilty? Nobody likes that.

We don't like the way we feel, so we go through the motions of confession to get rid of this feeling of guilt. But we still want the sin. One man came to a preacher.

He said, Preacher, I need help. He said, I've got a problem with an impure mind. Anybody like that here today?

And he said, I know it's wrong. He said, I confess it to God and, you know, all that. And the next day I go to work and some lady who's dressed him honestly walks by.

He said, by the end of the day, I'm all defeated again. This preacher wisely looked at this man and said, Sir, I want to ask you a question. You said the night before you confessed your sin.

He said, Yes, sir. He said, I've got to ask you a question. The next day when you went to work and that lady walked by dressed improperly, in your heart, did you cry out to God for help?

The man immediately hung his head and said, Well, no, I didn't want help then. Do we get it?

you see what that was saying is he was confessing his guilt the night before he didn't like what he felt he still wanted the sin made obvious by the fact that the next time he had an opportunity he gladly and quickly took it you see this is called surrender when somebody waves the white flag they're giving up and so the idea of confession if we're saying the same thing that God says it's not just agreeing that the sin wicked and wrong and all of that, it

is saying, I give it up.

But down deep in our heart of hearts, we're knowing, well, wait a second. I can't. You know, I can't do this on my own.

I need help. That's the point. Now the surrender's bringing us right into faith where we're saying, God, I give this up.

I don't reserve the right to ever go back to this, but God, I can't do this on my own. I need you. All right, that's faith.

And that's the heart that's going to cry out for help when the temptation comes and get it. Give it up. Sometimes people come and they confess their sin and they get up from their knees and walk away saying, well, I'm sure I'll do it again.

Well, you will. You just gave the ground. No, give it up.

You see, sometimes in the back of our mind we're thinking, well, if the circumstances are such and such, I'm sure I'll do it again. You're ahead. Just a matter of time.

You have given the ground. You have not giving the issue up, you're still hanging on to it. I'm going to tell you something, teenager, there's great freedom when you finally give it up.

That relationship, that disrespect, that impurity, that secret habit, when you finally go to God and say, God, I'm sick of this. And God, I'm not just sick of the feelings of guilt. God, I don't want to sin anymore, but God, it's beyond me.

I need you. Okay, now you're going to get deliverance. It's like what we heard about in Brother Bobby's testimony earlier.

You see, surrender the issue. Don't just ask for deliverance. In other words, don't play tug-of-war with God.

One man told me, he said, yeah, man, I developed this bad habit of cursing, you know, when I was in the military, and he said, I kept asking God to take it away. God, deliver me. He said, God wouldn't do it.

He said, finally, a friend of mine said, well, God's not going to play tug-of-war with you. Why don't you let go of your end of the rope? Then ask God to deliver you.

And the lights went on for this guy. And he told me, he said, man, I told God, God, I give this cursing habit up. God, I let go of my end of the rope.

No more tug of war. Now God, deliver me. And he said, God delivered me.

And hallelujah. You see, he gave it up. So it's crucial to call it sin, give it up.

Now thirdly, make it right. See, we're going to say the same thing that God says. The back page there in your notes.

We're going to say the same thing that God says. God says, if you sin privately, obviously, we need to get it right with God. But if you sin personally, that is, if you sin against another person, you need to go to that person and make it right.

James 5, 16, says, confess your faults one to another. Now, the implication is you've sinned against another person and they know it. I'll be honest with you, that's going to be obvious.

Most of the time, that's going to be obvious. Now, God says, confess your faults one to another. When's the last time you did that?

My friend, let me tell you something. I believe one of the greatest hindrances to revival in America is we're too arrogant for this point. We think we're hot shots.

We think we're better than the world. God's about ready to let us crumble. We think we're better than other nations.

We think we're better than other people groups. I've been in foreign countries where Americans have been staying at the same place I've been staying, and they talk down to the people as if they're a bunch of idiots. What a tragedy.

Please pardon my expression. It's condescension. It's arrogant on the part of the Americans.

I'm going to tell you something. and that arrogance has bled right into our own Christian culture. God says, no, you go to that person, you humble yourself, and you make it right.

He says, I don't care if they did start at first, you make it right about your side of it. Now, that's confession. What did Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount?

Bring your gift to the altar, and there you remember that someone has ought against you. You know what that means? You did something.

You said something. And therefore, somebody has ought against you. Jesus said, leave your gift at the altar.

Go first and be reconciled. Then come back and offer the gift. Now look, if we think of the whole analogy to bring in our whole body as a presentation, there's the gift on the altar in the fullest sense.

But there you remember that someone has ought against you. Don't you even try to step into absolute surrender until you go first and be reconciled. Then you can come back and offer that gift.

you know some of you are not really able to step into absolute surrender until you get right with your parents God told you to last night as Pastor Schultz said there's phones, they'll work out, you can make it happen right away but it's necessary go first, be reconciled, then come back and we wonder why we don't have any power and don't have blessing I'm going to tell you something young people when God began to deal with me. The revival road has been a long road.

For me, it began when I was 30 years old. Tragic. I wish it began when I was your age.

But I was self-righteous. What my brother Wayne preached on this morning, the sins of the converted life, that was me as a teenager. A self-righteous, self-dependent, legalistic, pharisaical, because of self-dependence teenager.

Everybody said, oh, he looks good. Look at the PK. Look, he does all these things.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it was self-dependence, and God said it's a filthy rag. And the revival road began for me when I was 30.

It was an awakening to the futility of flesh dependence and the necessity of the Holy Spirit. And that was the beginning of much other truth that had to come and still needs to come. But it's been a wonderful journey, I'll tell you that.

But I'm telling you, when God began to deal with me about some of these truths, oh man, I had to go to talk to so-and-so. And I had to go talk to so-and-so. Oh Lord, not that one.

Oh, you know Lord, He really blew it too. But, you know, okay Lord, okay, I'll just bring up my side of it. And I was having to get right with this person and this person.

And where I could, I talked to them personally. Where I had to, I made phone calls. And in a couple cases, I wrote letters.

For a period of two or three years, God was bringing stuff to my mind that I hadn't thought of for years. I mean, honestly. Oh, man.

Something would come to mind. Oh, wow. Yeah, I did do that.

I did. Oh, I never made that right. Oh, Lord.

Is that what you're telling me to do? And I'd have to make. And, you know, for two or three years, God brought all this stuff to mind.

Then it was done. Unless a new issue occurred, but at least the past was done. I tell you, that's glorious.

You take care of it right now, your list won't be near as long as mine was. But the point is, it needs to be made right. Go make it right.

I was preaching in a meeting, and a teenager was there. Young lady, she was dressed very, very worldly, but praise the Lord, she was there. She was part of the youth group.

And we dealt with this truth, and man, God got a hold of her heart, gave the invitation. A number of people came, but she came. I remember her.

She was right over here to my right. She was on her face. I mean, she was sobbing before the Lord.

And she was coming clean. Well, she knew that she had to get right with a girl at school. She went to a public school.

This was an unsaved girl. But she went to that girl, and without pointing the finger at the other girl, she got right about her side of the equation and apologized and asked this unsaved girl to forgive her. Then she asked the unsaved girl to come with her to the service that night.

She came. In fact, this church girl brought two unsaved teens that night. When they walked in, the church girl was so different in her appearance, so wholesome, so feminine, so modest.

I couldn't believe it was the same girl, but it was. And she came and she brought these two unsaved kids and she sat them down on the front row in that service. That night, God worked.

Both of those unsaved kids moved in the invitation and came to trust the Lord while they were being dealt with. The service came to an end. She was down there wiping her eyes.

I said, are you the one that came last night to get a clean heart? She said, yes, I am. I said, you have just experienced what it is to have a clean heart and a filled life.

And God has used you. Man, hallelujah. That's wonderful.

I think of a lady who came to me on a Friday night. She said, preacher, I've got to tell you. I've gotten right with three people.

She says, I've got one more to go and I'm going to have a clean heart. The pastor told me later, that's the most self-righteous lady in this church. She's the one that always is telling everybody else what's wrong with them.

He said for her to be doing this is an absolute work of the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to tell you, it was. When I was back three years later, that lady was three years down the revival road being greatly used of God.

Man, hallelujah. God was knocking that self-righteousness right out of her. Well, praise the Lord.

How about it, young person? What do you need to go to and make it right? Is it mom and dad?

How about the siblings? How about your teachers at school, Sunday school? How about the youth pastor?

Make it right. Go humble yourself, and even if somebody else was wrong too, you get honest about your side of the equation and make it right. It's vital.

It's just crucial. And then publicly, based on the same truth, if we've sinned against a group, we need to get right with a group. I think of a meeting that took place several years ago in the Fiji Islands.

Some of you know Corey Mears. And he had had his pastor from the States come over. They had two services a night.

You can get away with that in foreign countries. And they had a wonderful week. They had more visitors than they'd ever seen before.

They had more people saved than they'd ever seen before. It was a wonderful time. And some of the people came and said, you know, Pastor, we need to extend this meeting.

We shouldn't stop this. God's working. He said, I think you're probably right.

He prayed about it, and they extended the meeting the next Tuesday. The Lord stirred him as he was praying, and with the fact that something unusual was going to happen that night, that night he got up to preach. He preached for ten minutes.

That was unusual, but that was not the main focus of what was going to be unusual. And he said to his people, he said, Now, folks, we've had a wonderful time. God's worked.

It's been wonderful. But in order for us as a congregation to experience the full blessing of what God has for us, some of you need to get right with the congregation, and you know it. Now here's the invitation.

Best I remember it, he had a microphone at the front. He said, you come right now, you get right with the congregation. Well, try that in America.

You know, the first one to come was a teenager. The most popular guy in the youth group came and confessed the sin of fornication. You know, that is a sin against the church.

It's a church discipline level sin. Then a man came and confessed to stealing $400 out of the offering. That thing broke wide open.

Ladies were coming, confessing the sin of gossip. I'm going to tell you something. That's a public sin because of its wildfire spreading nature.

There was a teenager that came up. He was weeping. He kept trying to say something.

He couldn't get it out. He was just so choked up. There were ladies there saying, Look, we don't know what you've got to confess, but just go ahead and confess it.

We're ready to forgive. That service lasted until 11 o'clock at night. That's just like what you read about in Jonathan Goforth, by my spirit.

That's the real deal. Do you know that that church, the next week, went out on their street preaching ministry, a ministry they were about ready to give up on because nobody ever stayed and listened when they preached. But the next week when that church went out to preach on the streets, 200 people stayed and listened as they preached the gospel.

Why? Because an entire church family had come clean with God and with each other. They had clean hearts and filled lives.

And now God was overflowing. and working. Who is it that you need to get right with?

Some of you need to get right with your youth group. Some of you need to get right with your church. See, that's the first step.

It's called confession. Call it sin. Give it up.

Say, God, I'm not going to play tug-of-war anymore, but God, this is beyond me. I need you to step in and deliver me and then make it right.

young person where you need to go make it right you won't regret it you know when i've gone and made things right as the spirit of god has led me i haven't regretted that what a blessing people that i used to be at odds with you know and and their bitterness would build up and so when god taught me some of this revival truth and i went made matters right now we're now we're it's like we're best buddies you know god can do amazing repair work

so there's the first step confession i'm going to tell you that's not the only step because the verse doesn't stop there.

It goes on to say he is faithful. I mean, to do it every time and just he's righteous in this. If you're his child, because legally your sins, as we saw are under the blood past, present, future, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The second step here is faith. I'll come back to that in just a moment. But now notice faith has to have a basis.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, the specific statement of God. And here's the specific statement that he is faithful and just to forgive. That word forgive means so much, but in all that it means, it means to release.

And friends, when you and I get honest with God, God releases us from what we owe. Suppose somebody were to borrow some money from you. Not that you have tons of money, but maybe you do.

And so they borrow some money from you. I understand teenagers today have more money than you might think. But nonetheless, somebody borrows 200 bucks from you.

Now they owe you that 200 bucks. And after a while, you decide to just forgive them of that debt. What do doing?

You're releasing them from what they owe. Now, young people, let it sink in. When you and I get honest with God, when we come all the way clean, He is faithful and just to release us from what we owe.

Hallelujah. What if this weren't true? We couldn't pay it back.

It's a marvelous truth. There's release. But not only is there release, there's removal.

And to cleanse us. there's that word cleanse again and to cleanse us from all unrighteous cleanse purge wash you see there's a removal now I understand that there are certain sins that have consequences that may be long range my father used to say good old Chicago illustration you know well you might get in a fight and in your fight somebody cuts your arm off he said well okay you can get forgiven you're not going to get your arm back.

I understand there are some sins that have the kinds of consequences that are continuing. But I'm going to tell you something. When it comes to your heart before a holy God, that blood of Jesus is so powerful, it can cleanse you.

I mean, it can wash away the stain. It can remove. I mean, your heart is made clean before God Himself.

And when God says it's clean, friends, it's clean. the blood of Jesus makes your heart clean before a holy God what an amazing truth clean I'll tell you what there's a lot of you walk out of here with a whole lot of anxiety and worry totally gone from your life if you knew you were clean and here's a great promise that blood cleanses it washes it purges it cleans us all up hallelujah then it goes on to say as we already saw in verse 7.

You're restored back to fellowship. So there's a release. There's a removal.

There is a restoration to fellowship. Okay, so what's the second step? It's faith.

Based on what God says, take it. Take that clean heart by faith. This is what struck me in 2001 and was revolutionary.

I'd confessed my sins for years. I'm one of the introspective types. and God had to knock that out of me, and so forth.

But I'm telling you, I would confess, confess, confess, and think, oh, man. No, no, no, God wants us to confess and say, praise God, I'm clean. I'm going to tell you something, young person.

You can walk out of here today. I'm not talking tonight. I'm talking this afternoon.

I mean, you can walk out of here clean, washed, cleansed. Why? Because God promises it.

If you can be saved and know it based on the promise of God, you can have a clean heart and know it based on the promise of God. You can be cleansed. I'm going to tell you something.

There's something powerful about a clean heart. I mean, there's something powerful when you know God has been true to what He said. You fulfilled the condition.

You came clean. You were honest. You didn't hold anything back.

You were accurate. You were thorough without making an excuse. Then the blood of Jesus has cleansed.

You are released. You are restored. You can take it and say, I have a clean heart.

I'll tell you what, that's wonderful. And you can take it regardless of how you feel. That's even more wonderful.

Because if you're waiting on your feelings, then you're no longer dependent on God's Word. So forget the feelings. You just take it by faith.

You know what happens? That's what I used to do. I'd do something wrong and the Lord would convict me and so I'd confess it.

And the next day, the accuser of the brethren would come along and say, you can't get off that easy. You better confess that again. And when I did, I was listening to the wrong person.

And when I confessed it again, I was saying that God didn't do what He said and I took a step backward into unbelief and began to spiral down. I don't know how many times that happened to me. I'm going to tell you something.

If you're of the introspective type, you've got to get a hold of this.

I would be pummeled confessing the same old thing I mean without a new issue but just that same thing over and over again I still don't feel anything, let me try it again forget that that's miserable oh the truth is God has been true to his word when you have been thorough when you've been honest and you haven't made any excuses and you just said God that's what I am the fact is when you've come clean you give it up, you make it right where that's

appropriate that blood of Jesus cleanses you.

You are restored. You're right with God. And you can take it.

You don't have to keep confessing it. One dear lady in Kansas City told me, she said, I'll preach here. That repeated confession thing on the same sin without a new…

She said, I've done that for 50 years. And she sighed and she smiled. She said, oh, what freedom.

Man, hallelujah, she's exactly right. You know, because Satan wants you to just keep feeling guilty. You know why?

You will never go forward in the spirit-filled life until you know you're clean. You will never go forward in victory until you know you're clean. The clean heart is prerequisite to the filled life.

Young people, this is vital. So if the devil can con you into thinking, well, you're not clean yet, you better try it again, and you get all this guilt, I'm going to tell you something. Take God at His Word.

Just take it. What a blessing. I'm telling you, what a blessing.

It says here, thinking you will have to wait for several days or weeks for God to bless you again is unbelief. You know, sometimes we confess our sins and we get up from the invitation or whatever, it might be on our own, but maybe at church, and we get up and think, well, you know, it'll be about two weeks before God will bless me again.

I'm going to tell you something, that is blatant unbelief, saying that God didn't do what He said, And it's also a meritorious thinking that if you're good for two weeks, God will bless you again. Young person, that is so wrong. God doesn't bless you because you earn it.

You and I don't earn anything but hell. It's only of His mercies that we are not consumed. Our only merit is in the merit of Jesus Christ.

What this means is when you come clean with God, that blood cleanses you right then and there. You are restored back to fellowship right then and there. Which means you don't have to wait two weeks.

You can trust God to use you right then and there. And He will.

I'll tell you what This is a blessing I'm sure every pastor Every youth pastor Knows what it's like Man here you are You're all excited You got a message from the Lord Man you're ready to deliver this thing And you're excited about it And you're stirred in your heart And you're burdened for your people And all these things And five minutes before the service starts Carnal so and so Comes up and hits you up With carnal such and such and though you fake it on the

surface, down deep, it irritates the fire out of you.

Sounds like I'm speaking from experience. I tell you, it's a blessed thing to be able to bow your head and say, God, He didn't see it, but you did. That was a wicked, wicked response.

Oh, God. But Lord, I thank you for the cleansing power of your blood. And you stand up and preach as if it never happened.

I'm going to tell you something that's powerful. You don't have to wait two weeks. No, take God at His Word.

Just take it. I remember walking out of a meeting. I dealt with this.

A kid came up to me afterwards, teenager, shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said, I have a clean heart. Man, hallelujah. How about you, teenager?

I don't know how many times I've had people, adults, ladies, men, teenagers, afterwards say, Oh, preacher, I have a clean heart. I remember when this second step really came home to me that you could actually take it by faith. Man, I wanted to shout.

I mean, I had a clean heart and knew it for a change. All the other times that I confessed, I had a clean heart, but then I walked away from it when I'd confess it again and step back into unbelief. Just take it by faith.

So we see here as we bring this to a close, walking in the light is not sinless perfection. It's immediate confession. and immediate confession accesses immediate forgiveness so that the highway of holiness is the highway of lowliness.

It's that heart that says, oh God, if I blow it, God, if I misstep, oh God, immediately shine the lights in so that I can immediately deal with it so that you can immediately cleanse me and restore me and set me back up so that I can keep walking. That's the heart. See, it's the devil's lie to say, oh, you've blown it, you might as well wallow for a while.

You do that, you'll end up in the slough of the spawn. Learn to deal with it immediately. I mean immediately.

Old Samuel Rutherford of years gone by said, you know, the closer you get to God, the less you sin. You know, that's true. But he said, the closer you get to God, the more you realize your sinfulness.

Please don't shut down on me yet. If you don't mind. He said, the closer you get to God, the less you sin.

But the closer you get to God, the more you realize your sinfulness. In other words, you get closer to light, you'll see more dirt. You may be thinking you're going backward, when really it's because you're going forward.

You're just getting closer to the light. Like the husband says, hey, honey, I cleaned the house. She comes home and turns the lights on.

The young person, the truth is, you get closer to the light, God will show you things that you would not have seen earlier. There are things right now you're blind to. But if you'll respond to the light that you have, you'll get closer to the light, and then you'll begin to see what you need to see, and you can deal with the rest of it.

That's how it works. I want to ask you, young person, do you have a clean heart? I'm not just asking if you're saved.

Do you have legally a clean heart? I mean, fellowship-wise, do you have a clean heart? Do you know it?

I think of a conference I was in as a teenager who was really in rebellion rock music, the whole thing nine yards, wrong friends, everything and God nailed her in that conference it was wonderful, she got right with her dad she got right with her mom and a year later I had a meeting in her local church and she said She said, you know, I got right with God at that conference a year ago. She said, man, it was great for a month.

She said, for one month. She said, I didn't listen to rock music. She said, I got rid of my rock music.

She said, I didn't listen to it. She said, for one month. She said, I went to my public school and I was declaring the gospel.

She said, I was witnessing. She said, for one month. She said, I was doing great.

And she said, then I crashed. And she said, well, I just decided it didn't work. I said, what do you mean didn't work?

For one month, you saw victory. What do you mean it didn't work? You didn't know what victory was for a solid month before.

It worked. And if you would have come clean when you crashed and burned after one month, you would have gotten the cleansing again to stand back up and keep going and no excuse to wallow for these 11 months.

do you get it young people do you have a clean heart what to do walk in the light as he is in the light how to do it confession and faith what's confession it's saying the same thing that God says that is call it sin accurately thoroughly without making an excuse give it up and make it right and then by faith take that clean heart and walk out and say I have a clean heart I have trusted the Lord Jesus for it and he has done

it regardless of how you feel Let's bow our heads for prayer.

With heads bowed and eyes closed, young person, I want you to be honest with God today. I wonder who it's a preacher. God's nailing me.

It may have been last night. It may have been this morning in the first session. It may have been the second session.

But you'd say, I know good and well there's some issues in my life and I need to come clean with God, I'll admit it. Would you raise the hand right now? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Amen. God bless you. Are there others?

Preacher, I know God has spoken about some matters and I need to come clean with God. Yes, I see that. God bless you.

Are there others? All right, let me get real specific. We talked about confession.

We talked about calling it sin. We talked about being accurate. I wonder who would say, No, preacher, when you talked about going to God and saying, God, would you give me a glimpse of what you see so that I can say what you say, I know I need to do that.

That was for me. Would you raise the hand, please? Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Amen. God bless you. Amen.

How many would say, preacher, I know I need to do that, but I'm not going to raise my hand because I'm afraid to do that. I'm just being honest with you, preacher. That's where I'm at.

Would you raise the hand? All right, I see that. I appreciate that honesty.

Now friend, I'm going to tell you something You don't have to be afraid of a good God We fear God in the right sense of reverence But the fact is When God shows you what you need to see It will be for your good and edification So ask Him to show you And you'll find that you'll be glad Because then you can deal with sin And get the clean heart I wonder who would say Preacher, you talked about being thorough and I know good and well

I've confessed some things but it's partial and God knows it's partial and I know it's partial and that part was for me.

Would you raise the hand please? Yes. God bless you.

Amen. God bless you. Yes.

Yes. Amen. Alright, several more.

I wonder which preacher you talked about without making excuses. And you'd say, you know, God's speaking to me and I'm one of those that, yeah, I occasionally confess but I'm always making excuses. I'm always blaming somebody else for the situation.

Never thinking that I'm really that bad, but this was just provoked out of me. Now I see that it's really just how bad I really am. And it's time I get honest without making excuses.

That was for me. Would you raise the hand, please? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

God bless you. All right, thank you. Yes.

Now, we saw, secondly, you need to give it up. In other words, there may be some issues, and God says give them up. It may be obvious issues that are sin issues, or it may be things that are not intrinsically wrong, like in the case of John George Govan.

But God says, give those things up. And down deep you know it. And you'd say, preacher, that point is for me.

I need to come to that point of real surrender, of no longer playing tug-of-war. Not just confessing guilt, but confessing sin. I need to give the sin issues up, or the self-issues of self-will and self-ambition up.

That part was for me. Would you raise the hand, please? Yes.

Good, a number of hands. God bless you. I appreciate that honesty.

I wonder who would say, Preacher God nailed me on that part about making matters right. And I know good and well there's some people I need to go to and I need to humble myself and I need to make matters right. And regardless of what they did, I need to get honest about my side of the equation.

Whether it's your parents, whether it's somebody else, and you'd say, God spoke to me, I need to make matters right. Would you raise your hand? Yes.

All right, a number. God bless you. Appreciate that honesty.

And we saw, as well, the need to take that step of faith. I wonder who would say, preacher, you know, I confess my sins, but then I fall right back into that routine of listening to the accuser of the brethren, and I keep confessing the same sin without a new issue, which means I'm stepping backward into unbelief. No wonder I have no peace and joy.

That part about just taking that clean heart by faith, that was for me. Would you raise the hand, please? All right.

God bless you. Amen. Let me ask this.

Who would say, preacher, I know I'm not perfect, but by the grace of God I can say that I have experienced what you're talking about, and I can honestly say as I sat here this afternoon that my account is up to date. I can actually testify at this very moment I have a clean heart. There's not a new issue that I need to deal with, and I can give testimony to that.

Would you raise your hand, please? All right, we've got a problem. A few of you have raised your hands as I've gone through issue by issue by issue.

A few of you have raised your hands saying, yes, you know, I'm already right with God. There's a big bunch that's just sitting there. I'm going to tell you something, young people.

God knows you, and He knows you by name, and He actually loves you.

and you can keep saying no and pay the rebels price or you can wake up and say God it's time I wake up and start responding to you would you have mercy and even if you don't feel a whole lot don't wait for a feeling the word convict means to convince if the spirit of God is convincing you you need to get right with God then you need to get right with God regardless of your feelings I wonder who it's a preacher I haven't raised my

hand yet for anything and I'm in that middle group that's just sitting here and I know good and well I'm on that road to paying the rebels price and it's about time I wake up and I'll admit it would you raise the hand alright I see that God bless you God bless you young person anyone else there's another one over here God bless you that's two anyone else back over here yes amen God bless you that's three I say, preacher, I've just been sitting here.

I haven't responded. It's about time I respond. God is speaking to me.

I don't want to go down that wrong road that ends with such an awful price. I want to wake up now. And I just feel numb to everything, but I'm aware that this is where I'm at and I need to start reaching out to God.

I'm going to tell you something. If you'll draw an eye to God, He promises to draw an eye to you. Man, hallelujah, what a good God.

You know a young person, He prefers to revive you than to judge you. But if you don't draw an eye, then you're going to leave Him with that one option to judge. Far better to draw an eye to Him so that He can revive.

Who else would say, Preacher, God is speaking to me. It's time I stop playing games. I need to get honest.

Yes, God bless you. Amen, teenager. And over here and over here.

God bless you. Back over here. Now there are others.

Say, God has spoken to me and I need to get honest. I want a clean heart. A young person, don't buy the devil's lie that things are right when you know down deep they're not.

But I'm going to tell you something. They can be made right. You can be made clean.

You can actually have a clean conscience and a clean heart. The decks can be cleared. And you need to come to that point where regardless of what anybody else does, regardless of what your siblings do, your friends do, your parents, anybody else, I'm going to go to God and find out for myself who He is.

And you will not be disappointed. He's a good God. Who else is a preacher?

God's speaking to me. I haven't raised my hand yet. I'm going to raise it now.

I need to get right. And I'm going to ask this as well, since I don't know many of you who is a preacher. I'm not even saved.

If I drop dead, I drop into hell. Please pray for me. Would you raise the hand?

Now, Lord, we need wisdom. I don't really know how to bring things to a close here. I pray, Holy Spirit, you'll continue to guide us.

Now, Lord, I thank you for a number who have been honest about various issues. Lord, I pray they'd follow through on that. Lord, I thank you for those that could testify that they have learned this truth before and they're walking in it and have a clean heart at this moment.

But praise the Lord. Lord, I thank you for six or seven that have gotten honest that you really are speaking to them. And now they have admitted it.

Oh, God, do a deep work. But Lord, I sense there are others that are holding out. Oh, Spirit of God, would you do what man cannot do?

Lord, would You knock down the strongholds of wrong thinking and cast down the vain imaginations so that each one sees the truth of Your Word with its full weight. Oh God, that they might respond. Lord, do a deep work, I pray.

with heads bowed and eyes closed if God has spoken to you I sense ought to do this at least would you just come leave your seat find yourself a place here at the front there's plenty of room you get on your knees and you meet with God right now would you come right now teenager if God has spoken to you Amen take your time young people Be thorough. Let me say this, young people. We do have some counselors at the back.

In some cases, it would probably be a help to you to have somebody talk to you. Let me encourage you along that line. Young people, if God spoke to you about that part, about making matters right with somebody, and you need to make a phone call, you head to the lobby right now.

We've got some folk there that can direct you to your phone, And you can take care of that right now. Wouldn't that be a blessing? I encourage you to do that.

If that person happens to be in the auditorium, then I encourage you right now to go to them. What better time than right now to go to them and make it right? If you need help in any way, young people, there are some counselors in the back.

It may be of immense value to you to go out and let them help you, specific counsel if you need that. On the other hand, the message has laid out much of the counsel for us, the nature of the case. If you need to make a phone call, you head to the lobby right now.

We'll have folk that can help facilitate that right at the present time.