John chapter 5 this morning, John chapter number 5, and you can find it in your notes there, page number 65, I believe. John 5 and page number 65. And I had found that there is a point that is missing in the notes.

So I will, if you want to try to follow along in your notes, that will be fine. I’m probably going to deviate from this since we’re missing something here. But if you want to just write beside it, write along on the side of the page, you’re welcome to do so.

John chapter number 5. Notice the Bible saying in verse number 1, And after this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethsa having five porches, in these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him,

Wilt thou be made whole? The imitant man answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him,

Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured,

It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk.

Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Verse 14, Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. In 1987, a medical alarm and protection company called LifeCall launched a series of television ads

which targeted senior citizens that may find themselves in the undesirable event of sudden medical danger with no person nor phone nearby to assist. The product being advertised was simply a small pendant that could be worn around the neck or wrist so that in case of an emergency, the wearer would simply press the button and immediately be placed into contact with the dispatcher who could give immediate medical assistance. Well, featured in the ad was an elderly lady named Mrs.

Fletcher. Mrs. Fletcher’s unfortunate collapse in the bathroom became famous when she uttered those simple familiar words, Help, I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up. Now, unfortunately, the commercial, though it was serious for the senior citizens,

it also became the punchline for many comedic situations ever since. But it is something that has helped the company because it certainly stuck within people’s minds. People remember the punchline more than that which was being advertised.

And whenever I came across John chapter 5 years ago, I put myself in the place of this man lying upon this bed, upon this cot. And I could see Jesus saying to him, wilt thou be made whole? And the man’s response was, sir, I have no man.

And in translation of today’s vernacular, he’s saying, I’ve fallen. I can’t get up. There are many today that are like this man in John chapter 5.

John 5 is a beautiful picture of one man’s revival. Though John chapter 5 immediately is dealing with a physical revival, it is still a picture of the dynamics that are involved in spiritual revival. In this passage of Scripture, we find one who is like perhaps many a Christian teenager in this room.

You may be laying upon a bed of affliction. You may have a cot of some type of diseased infirmary that you’re not sure exactly what is causing it. It’s like many a teenager that I come across that has experienced a low time within their life.

And it’s a bed that they’ve been lying upon. Sometimes they disguise the bed. They don’t want to admit that they even have the bed.

Some of them just come right out and admit, yeah, I’ve got this bed of defeat. Who cares? So what?

Sometimes it’s the bed of impurity. Remember not too long ago, a young lady was at the altar. She was crying and she was weeping.

My wife came up, put her arm around her, and she continued to cry. We dismissed, or I turned the invitation over to the pastor, walked down beside my wife and the young 14-year-old girl, and I said, is there anything that I could help with? My wife said, tell my husband.

The 14-year-old girl said, I’m pregnant. I can’t tell my parents. What was she saying?

She said, help, I’ve fallen. I can’t get up. Remember the 11-year-old boy who was standing around in the lobby after the service?

And as I was walking out, he came right over to me to stop my path going out. And he said, preacher, can I talk to you? I said, yes, sir.

And he began to cry. I said, what is it? He says, I’m hooked on pornography and I don’t know how to get off of it.

11 years old. Preacher’s son. I remember being in Florida.

A 14-year-old girl at the invitation was crying and crying and crying and crying. I said, young lady, I can’t help you if you don’t at least tell me what’s wrong. She said, I’ve lost my purity.

I just don’t know what to do anymore. I never thought it would happen. It happened.

She was saying, help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. It may not be impurity with some in here. It could be that of intoxication. I remember giving an invitation back in February And there at the altar right to my left There was a young man down upon his knees And he was groaning and mumbling And I remember seeing him just agonizing there He would be upon his face He’d lift up onto his knees Holding his head up And gripping his fist

And shaking his head I kept my eye on him since he was real close to me And then all of a sudden He reached into his back pocket and he pulled out a syringe. And he laid it upon the altar. And he backed away from it. And he said, Preacher, I’ve given this up

week after week after week. And he says, I’m tired of it. I don’t know what to do anymore.

They’re saying, help, I fall and I can’t get up. Remember the young man who came in and said, No, I’m heading to Bible college. He said, but I can’t stop smoking. I don’t know what to do It may not be impurity with some It may not be intoxication with others But it could simply be indifference You know, you’re pretty good You don’t drink, smoke, chew Go with the girls who do You know, you’ve got a pretty good

Set of clothes that you wear You don’t have any problems With where you go, what you watch You don’t know what a television looks like You get confused with the microwave Because it has channels on there You’ve never seen anything like it. But you’re as in bad of a shape as these individuals who are struggling with impurity and intoxication because of your indifference to Bible truth. You’ve been confronted with it externally.

You know the layout of it. You could even regurgitate what you have heard many years, but you cannot produce within your life the performance of it on a regular basis because you’ve fallen spiritually and you don’t know how to get up. This beautiful picture in John 5, Jesus Christ initially focuses on this man’s physical dilemma.

And I, at first, when I began using this, I just simply used John 5 because it was a picture. I love pictures. I love books that have pictures in it.

And my wife reads a lot of books. If they don’t have pictures in them, I’m not interested. If they don’t have pictures I have to read, I usually draw them in there somewhere.

Pictures help. And I find many times there are pictures that God gives us in the Bible that are wonderful tools to help us understand Bible truth. And so when I began using John 5 in this scenario, I thought initially people are going to be bothered because this is talking about a physical healing.

But remember this, anytime Jesus heals somebody physically, it is always for a spiritual purpose. He’s trying to communicate spiritual truth. And in this passage of Scripture, we see all sorts of physical problems existing, no matter what the ailment was.

We find some who were blind. We find some who could not speak. Others who could not walk.

And no matter what their condition was, they all needed a touch from God. And this man was no different. For 38 years, he could not walk. And here Jesus approaches him, initially dealing with the physical,

But as we can see in verse 14, it was Jesus who turned it to the spiritual. And so it is not stretching this, in my opinion, to talk about this matter of a physical revival, to bring it to a spiritual revival in our sense, because that’s exactly what Jesus is referring to. And so this morning, these next moments that we have together, I want you to see three times Jesus speaks in this passage. In John 5, He says in verse 6,

Wilt thou be made whole? John 5 and verse 8, He says, Rise, take up thy bed and walk. John 5 and verse 14, He says, Thou art made whole, sin no more.

Three times Jesus interjects something that is of great importance. And I believe these three phrases will help us to see three dynamics for deliverance. There are three dynamics that are involved in real deliverance. And many Christians are like this lame man in the sense,

You have spiritual life. You have eternal life. You have forgiveness of sins.

And you’re content with that. Perhaps for a number of years, this lame man, perhaps for years he was content that he was just breathing. Perhaps he was content that he was just alive.

Maybe he was excited that he could just be down there by the pool. Maybe he was excited about those whom he could room with that had other problems just like he had. But somewhere a point in time came to where he was no longer content with just physical existence.

He wanted a quality of life that was far greater. And Jesus approaches him with this quality of life. What quality?

A quality that says you can be made whole. Whole. Not better.

See, this conference is not about you doing better. This is not about you finding a better way of living. This is about you finding normal Christianity.

Too many of our youth groups exist with a whole lot of humanity. Too much humanity. And what we need is real Christianity and that is revival.

It is a person. It is not an event. It is a person.

It is not a meeting. It is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. That’s why the Bible says in John chapter 1 and verse 4,

In Him was life. That’s why we are told in John 6 and verse 63. The Bible says, It is the Spirit that quickeneth.

The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Because it’s a person. That’s why we are told in John 7 and verse 38,

Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Revival is a person. It’s a life. That’s why we are told in John chapter 8 and verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying,

I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 10 and verse 10, Jesus said, I am come that they might have life, and they may have it more abundantly.

The Bible says in John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. We are told also in John 20 and verse 31, he and that believing, he might have life through his name. Galatians 2 and verse 20, I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. We are told also in Colossians 3 and verse number 3, For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ and God, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear.

Revival is a life. And that is why Jesus could confront this man about the matter of being made whole. Three dynamics for deliverance, number one. I want you to see the first dynamic in verse number 6,

the first statement of Jesus. He says, Wilt thou be made whole? See, the first dynamic of real deliverance Being made whole Not better, but whole Salvation Revival Being made whole The first dynamic is that of confrontation There is a confrontation that will always take place There is a confrontation that will exist Jesus intentionally confronted the lame man And He did so with a question it is interesting to see how the jews utilize the art of questioning and jesus was an expert

questions oftentimes used by lawyers and others in a very uh uh professional business will will take the art of questioning and will lob those out there to try to achieve the purpose of of making a statement and jesus did the same thing he’s asking a question will thou be made whole It wasn’t for Jesus’ own personal benefit. Now, Brother Van Gelder mentioned the matter of knowing the gift of the evangelist.

And one of the things that I began to learn about the evangelist is he’s sometimes harder than the other guys. And I learned under Dr. Jim how to deal, especially when carrying a team, how to deal with problems.

And sometimes it’s easier to, instead of making a statement, though I may be right in my assessment, it’s easier to ask a question. It alleviates the problem. See, part of it is the gifting, perhaps, like Pastor Van Gelderen.

You know, I don’t know of too many people like Pastor Van that can just nail you. I mean, just up one side and down the other. but He does it in such a beautiful way that after you’re bleeding, you’re just so excited about it.

He just made you feel so good about it. I mean, I’ve come out of a session with Pastor Van, and there’s been some brutal times where he’s being of help to me, and it’s almost like my wife would say, what did he say? Well, it’s almost like he said, I’ll never be used.

I’m terrible. I’m just horrible, but I love him so much for telling me that. It was so wonderful.

Now, he didn’t quite do it that way, but it’s just that pastoral gift. He’s just, boy, I’m just loving it. And it will just take layer of layer of layer off and getting down to the problem be of hell.

Now, Dr. Jim, he just looks at you and you just start crying. There’s just something about it’s the gift.

And so, you know, my guys will be late sometimes coming in. And that’s a big no-no. We just don’t tolerate it.

They’ll come in late. And so I would think in my mind, remember, to ask a question. Try not to come at it.

You guys are late. You guys are something’s wrong with you. I’m going to tell you what’s wrong.

I’m going to tell you what to do about it. Instead of going at it that way, I thought I’ll just ask a question. so I sit the guys down I’ll say guys you’re late are you saved well maybe not that kind of question but I’m trying to use questions and what questions will do many times is it will cause us to answer instead of receiving that answer and it does something with inside of us Art Linkletter

was a famous long-running television host and radio and broadcast history in the early 1900s He was one time in a nursing home visiting some of the patients and the residents. And he was talking to this woman. This woman was talking to him.

And he just looked at the woman. He said, ma’am, do you even know who I am? Famous television radio host.

Ma’am, do you know who I am? And she said, no. But if you’ll check in at the front office, they’ll be glad to tell you.

And so you never know what you’re going to get with some of these questions. But what we see here is that Jesus is not asking a question for His own enlightenment. Rather, He’s asking the question for the very purpose of confronting the lame man’s present condition as well as the potential cure. See, if real deliverance is ever going to take place within your life, if you’re going to leave this conference with genuine Bible revival deliverance happening,

It cannot occur without you understanding and recognizing the dynamic of confrontation. See, Jesus questioned this man to reveal. I don’t know if this is in your notes.

Forgive me if these things are not there. But number one, He’s questioning this man to reveal. He’s confronting this man to reveal his defeat. That is why we are told in verse number 6,

Will thou be made whole? He asked not, Would you like to be made better? Would you like to be helped?

He says, do you want to be made whole? The word whole reveals that He is not whole. That is why we find throughout the Bible, in many revival instances, in many a revival message, in many confrontations, questions being used.

Genesis chapter 4, it was God who questioned Adam. Where art thou? Not so that God would find out where He was, but so that Adam would see He is not where God is. That is why we find also Moses asking the people of God in Exodus 32 and verse 26,

who is on the Lord’s side? Because evidently there were some in the youth group that were not. Therefore the question was being asked not so Moses could know and he could put it in his journal, but so that the people of God would see exactly where they were as opposed to where God was. We also find Elijah confronting God’s people in 1 Kings 17 with the very question,

why halt ye between two opinions? Last night’s message, young person, why are you still halting between two opinions? If God be God, serve him, but if Baal, then serve him.

But why are you still halting between two opinions? That’s why we find also God questioning Abraham in Genesis 18, 14. Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Well, why would God ask that question? Because Abraham lived his life. Great father Abraham lived his life at times as though there were certain things too hard for the Lord. That is why we find Jesus asking Peter in John 21,

Lovest thou me? Why would Jesus ask the great Peter? Because Peter lived his life at times evidencing the fact that he didn’t really love him.

Wilt thou? Not do you wish, but wilt thou? He is confronting his will, young person.

See, don’t misunderstand this. Jesus is not asking, do you think you could be made better? Because some of you no doubt have been confronted and you’re sitting there thinking, I can’t do it.

Jesus is not asking, do you think you can? He’s just asking, do you want to be? Do you want to be whole?

Do you want to be delivered? Jesus is not even asking, confronting his education. He’s not saying, what does your alma mater teach?

What does the Bible college, which your youth pastor went to, think? What does John Calvin say? He didn’t ask those things.

He is saying, do you even want to be made whole? Because if you don’t want to be made whole, you’ll never be made whole. If you want to be made whole, you can. he is confronting his will and in this passage as well as in this session as well as in this date and as well as in your life you must understand the importance of confrontation now I hesitated to even get into this because I felt like

you know it’s really not the setting for this but I’m going to do it anyway because I believe that we as preachers have such a misunderstanding of confrontational preaching and if preachers misunderstand confrontational preaching, then no doubt there’s a young person who misunderstands confrontational preaching. The entire purpose of this conference is not to make you feel bad, is not to give these preachers something to do, it is to confront your will, to confront your problem,

and to show you the potential of a quality of life that belongs to Him that you yourself can imbibe and enjoy. So that’s why we’re going to confront. That’s why you’ve heard hard preaching. It was said, I’ve been able to do some research lately,

and I’ve enjoyed the research I’ve done on Dr. Bob Jones Sr. Just trying to understand his makeup in preaching, understanding why he would do what he would do, how he would go about it.

And it was said that Dr. Bob would preach with extreme urgency. One newspaper, I would pick up, I get a lot of these old newspapers in his early meetings in his 30s, in the early 1900s, 1915, 1916, and 17.

newspapers would describe Bob Jones Sr. as a caged lion they said his hair would just flip like a mane on a lion as he would pace back and forth I was able to sit down with a couple of men who sat underneath him Dr. Ed Nelson and Dr. Phil Shuler two different incidences that I was able to interview these men they both said the identical things

they said Dr. Bob Jones Sr. was in his prime whenever there was a problem something would happen on the campus of bob jones university and dr bob jones senior was just almost salivating phil schuller said that he came to a to preach in chapel his first time to preach in chapel and he said something had happened the day before on campus and there was a problem and dr bob jones senior handled it and then he got an anonymous letter the anonymous letter

letter described that dr bob did not handle things the way he should have according to this particular student. Well, Phil Shuler is about to preach and the guy is singing, leading the song, the song leader. And Phil Shuler said, Dr.

Bob Jones Sr. kept whispering to the song leader, hurry up, hurry up, get done. End it on that one.

That’s enough. And he told Phil Shuler, he said, you can come back and preach tomorrow. I’ve got to handle something. He said he got up there with

his Bible and the anonymous letter and he tore them to pieces. When he was done, he was done. He said, on one occasion, there was a problem.

In the early days of Bob Jones University, I understand, after the war, a lot of GIs would come in. And Dr. Bob Sr. got a phone call from one of the local bartenders that some of his students, three of his students who were GIs out of the military were sneaking out of their dorm,

climbing down the wall, going down to the bar. They said that the bartender called Dr. Bob and said, I just thought you would want to know this.

And he said, I appreciate it. Phil Shuler said, I was sitting in my bed studying that night before lights out, and I could hear shoes walking down a floor. I could hear a door open, slam.

Shoes moving, door open, slam. Shoes moving, door open, slam. And he said, it came closer to my door.

And he said, I saw the door open. And there, he said, I’ll never forget, as long as I live, Dr. Bob Jones Sr. with a shotgun in his hand, and Monroe Parker standing beside him trying to wrestle the shotgun out of his hand,

said, Dr. Bob, give me the shotgun, give me the shotgun. Bob Jones saying I know how to use the shotgun leave me alone shut the door went to the next door and Phil Shuler said I am all ears at that point he opened the door he said you men on your feet he smelt their breath and he asked the question how long did it take you to drink down that beer and they fumbled around for an answer

he said that’s how long you have to pack everything you’re taking off this campus he said the men scurried around they were trying to pack and they began to walk by Dr. Bob Jones Sr. out the door and he said no sir you leave the same way you left to go drink that stinking filthy rotten beer you go out the window dr bob stood there as they climbed out the window and down the side and he marched them to the head

to the corner of the campus and they never came back now someone says well that that’s just cruel no he saw that there was a problem and he knew the quality of life that is in jesus christ and he was using his gift he was using that which god had commanded him to do he was preaching he was confronting. He was a confrontational man. Sam Jones, who was a little bit earlier than Dr. Bob

Jones Sr., was the same way. Sam Jones said, I want to be a good man. I want to be a good husband.

He said, but God, please spare me from being a nice preacher. I’ll tell you what bothers me is we go into a meeting and the youth pastor has really worked at trying to be a guidance counselor. He will say, you know, we really love these kids.

And I want you to preach to them, and you’ve got 12 minutes. See, a lot of preachers today are like Dr. Phil and Oprah Winfrey.

They’re trying to motivate their people instead of preaching and confronting the problem. And that’s why the preaching times have cut down almost to 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and we wonder why God’s not doing anything. It’s because all we’re doing is regurgitating some sermonette, And we’re producing a bunch of Christianettes who are still defeated, laying upon their cot somewhere.

And they’ll take their cot after graduation from high school and go off to a Bible college and major in some Bible and get a Bible degree. And go out into a ministry carrying their same cot. And we’re producing generation after generation who doesn’t even know the quality of life that is still in Him.

It’s confrontation. Sam Jones said, if I had 10,000 angels to preach to today, every word I should say would be pure. He said, but our Savior preached to men.

His sermon on the mount would not have had so much in it on adultery if he were preaching to angels. God keep me dead honest when dealing with souls. Sam Jones says, I want to lay my gun on the rail and aim straight.

He says, if I hit you on the side, I did it not on purpose, but I hit you by mistake. He says, because I’m aiming square in the center of your head. Sometimes after a message is over, somebody will say, Preacher, you stepped all over my toes.

I’ll say, I’m sorry. I’m not aiming for your toes. I’m aiming for your heart.

Because we’re confronting the problem. We’re confronting your defeat. One time Sam Jones was conducting a citywide campaign.

Great crowds were there. People were getting saved with the pastor’s thaw. This evangelist is just too hard.

We don’t like this evangelist. And they began to get together, and they decided to pray for their evangelist. Well, that is a sweet thing to do.

And one day, Sam Jones walked into the middle of this prayer meeting of pastors. And he was excited. Here these pastors are getting together to pray.

Until he recognized that he was the object of their prayers. He heard one pastor pray, Oh Lord, please help Brother Jones to use more tact. One pastor said, Lord, would you please help Brother Jones to be dignified in the pulpit?

Oh Lord, would you please help Brother Jones to change his mannerisms? Another one prayed, Lord, would you help Brother Jones to quit being too critical? Well, it was not until the last pastor had prayed that they knew that evangelist Sam Jones was there.

It was when Sam Jones began to pray himself. He said, Lord, I hope you won’t listen to one of these preachers. They don’t preach against sin.

They don’t visit door to door. And they don’t weep over sinners. And they don’t win souls.

And they want you to change me until I’m most like them. Oh, Lord, help these preachers to have sense enough to realize that if you were to answer their prayers, I would be just as worthless and no account as they are. Please, God, don’t make me like any of these fellers.

Why? Because he knew what the problem was, but he also knew what the answer was. Young person, don’t misunderstand why you’re confronted with preaching. See, whenever a young person says, I don’t want to go to camp, I don’t want to go to the holiness camp, I don’t want to go,

it’s because you don’t want to be confronted. You know, someone says, I don’t like the get right with God preaching. I like that phrase, get right with God preaching.

You know why I like get right with God preaching? Because you can get right with God. You know why I preach you must be born again?

Because you can be born again. If I didn’t believe it, we wouldn’t do it. And the very reason that there are churches today that are being built with huge crowds without using confrontational preaching is because people don’t want it. See, they would rather go hear

Oral Ripoff or Benny Chicken or Benny Hinn, whatever his name is. They want to go hear Joel Osteen. They want somebody who can be Mr.

Positive. Joel Osteen reminds me of Mr. Rogers of Religion.

Everything’s beautiful in the neighborhood. I tell you, there’s something wrong when a man can be so positive. More positive than Jesus Christ.

And Jesus, when He cleansed the temple, didn’t sound too positive. And Jesus talking to this lame man didn’t sound too positive. He said, wilt thou be made whole?

There was a quality of life that he was not experiencing. But Jesus not only confronted his will exposing this defeat, but he’s exposing, I believe, a sin in this defeat. Because the Bible says in verse 14, Jesus said, sin no more.

What sin is it, young person, that you’re still struggling with? What sin is it that God has been rattling your cage regarding that you still have not yet gotten right? Some of you perhaps after last night’s message still have not made things right with mom and dad.

You say, well, mom and dad aren’t here at the conference. Do you have a telephone? As your sponsor, the one who brought you, can they not help you dial home to mom and dad?

Will you be made whole? Will you get right with mom and dad? Some of you still haven’t gotten right about the pornography you’re watching.

Some of you are watching trash on the internet. You do it just periodically and you say to yourself I can shake it, but you can’t that’s why you keep going back to it Some of you are still involved in immorality. You’re involved in adultery. You sneak around behind your mom and dad’s back

Somebody said well preacher. I’m not married. I can’t commit adultery Jesus said matthew 5 when a man looks upon a woman to lust after her He’s guilty of committing adultery with her already in his heart And every time you sit down in front of the internet site and you go to some site and you begin to sweat your heart begins to race.

You know you have no business going there. God knows all about it. You’re an adulterer. And the question is,

do you want to be made whole this morning? Do you want to? I’m not asking if you can.

I’m asking, do you want to? God’s not wondering if you can. You know you can’t.

That’s why you’re still in it. But God is simply asking, do you want to be made whole? So if you young ladies still have a problem with what you wear, your dress. I used to go into a Christian school

or someplace, a youth group. I used to be just absolutely amazed at some of the girls who were supposed to be members of the Christian school, members of the youth group, by what they wore. Some of these girls look like five pounds of sausage squeezed into a three-pound bag.

They’ve got enough paint to paint a battleship and enough powder on to blow it up. I used to look at these young ladies the way they dress, and I would think, where’s their brain? I don’t ask that anymore.

Instead, I ask, where’s their dad? Where’s their dad? See, there’s a reason why my wife doesn’t wear certain things is because she’s not for sale.

And I don’t want any man looking at my wife as if she were. And I am responsible for her. There are times my wife will come.

You know, I’ll be with her at the least favorite place upon planet Earth to me. It’s a department store. I’m sitting there in the closest chair I could find to the dressing room.

She’ll come out and she’ll say sometimes, what do you think? And I would just say, and she knows me well enough that she doesn’t question. Because I don’t even know how to explain it at times.

I just know, no. And she’ll say, thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, some young ladies in here, you could never wear some of the things that others do. But deep down in your heart, you would if you could. You won’t to.

One particular young lady came up at an invitation time. She said, Brother Ingram, would you pray for me? I said, what can I pray with you about?

She said, I have got a bunch of magazines in my closet. Magazines about things that my mom is against. I can never wear the things that are in these magazines.

I can never do the things that are in these magazines. I said, why do you have them? She says, because I get to fantasize.

She said, would you pray with me? I said, pray with you about what? I said, are you willing to get rid of them?

She said, no, I’m not. I said, then there’s nothing to pray about. I don’t want you to fill out a card.

There’s nothing to fill out. Will you be made whole? Do you want to be?

Will you? Will you get right? Some of you are still struggling with bitterness, even after last night.

You went to bed with it and you got up with it. You begin to justify and say, no, it’s not me. I’m not really struggling with it.

I think it was just emotion that I was feeling. It’s called confrontation and conviction. And the worst thing you can do is argue with God this morning.

You ought to agree with Him. And some of you are defeated still this morning. You won’t get anything out of today. You won’t get anything out of tonight until you answer the question,

are you willing to be made whole? But, you know, it does not surprise me at the teenagers that are bitter because of the moms and dads and youth pastors and youth pastors’ wives and the pastors and pastors’ wives that are as well. It shocks me at the people that are so easily offended.

You know, I went into one place and the pastor said, if there are any visitors here, would you please stand? I didn’t stand because I was there to preach. I know he wasn’t referring to me.

He didn’t want me to fill out the car. After the service was over, a lady came up to me. I just see in her eyes she had a piece of her mind she was about to give me that she could not afford.

And there she said, Preacher, I’m offended at something you did. I said, Well, what did I do? She said, I teach my boys that they are to respond to whatever is said in the pulpit.

And the pastor this morning said, If there are any visitors, please stand. You did not stand. I said, Ma’am, I am sorry to offend you.

That was not my intent. The pastor, and I explained the same thing I just explained to you. It was bothering me, and I was getting real agitated because right behind her was her husband with his head down.

I was thinking, I wish he would step up here and let us talk and we can get somewhere. And while the mom is just going to town, there are the two boys standing with their hands in their pocket. I said, ma’am, but can I help you after all this is done?

We’re finished with her alleviating her burden. And I said, ma’am, can I give you something? Something that will help you not to be so easily offended. Psalm 119, 165 says,

Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. The reason why you’re so stinking, filthy, wicked in your attitude, and the reason why you get so offended many times against your own pastor, you get offended with what the youth pastor said. You get offended at certain things.

It’s because you really don’t love God. I said, Ma’am, are you going to be back tonight? She said, No.

I said, Where will you be tonight? She said, We have church at home. yeah it wouldn’t shock me if those guys never go to church when they get out of home some of you in here you will justify put a spiritual spin on things I tell you it rots my socks to go into some places where I’ll see women who are standing out in the lobby and they are just tearing the preacher down complaining about what is going on

remember one lady I’m standing she didn’t know who I was she didn’t know that I was the visiting preacher I’m standing out in the lobby and I’m listening. I don’t know why we’re having to sing that song this morning. He knows we’ve not practiced that song this morning.

I can’t believe we’re doing that. Doesn’t he have a clue? What does he think?

We’re going to get there and all of a sudden just put it together. And I’m listening and I’m listening. And then all of a sudden, it’s ready for church to begin.

And she puts the doily on her head. And she steps into the service. I tell you, I don’t mind whatever your conviction may be about some of these things. But I tell you what burns me up is some 500-pound woman who insists on putting something over her head before she walks into the auditorium and plops down on some pew that she’s been sitting in

probably as long as this man has upon his cot and refuses to deal with the sin in his own life, in her own life. There’s a problem. It is called spiritual indifference.

Yet you’ll talk about how much you love God. You’ll talk about it because you’ve had a good family. You’ve got a good youth group.

You’ve got a good church, yet there is sin deep down inside that cannot be touched. There’s sin deep down inside that you can’t put your hands on. But there is an absence of real victory.

There’s an absence of life. You don’t have peace. You don’t have love.

You don’t have joy all the time. You don’t have His. You need His life. You need to be answering the question this morning,

Will you be made whole? Not just better. Are you willing to leave it?

Are you willing to get out of it? Are you willing to be separated from it? Are you willing to be delivered from it this morning? He is confronting this man’s will

because he is trying to expose his own condition. He’s exposing his defeat. But not only is he exposing the defeat, but he’s also exposing his desire.

Do you desire to be made whole? Do you desire to get saved? Do you desire to be delivered?

The lame man was there looking to be blessed. He was looking for deliverance. Jesus confronted him because he was wanting to find out if he really desired it.

See, why did you come to the conference? Because I had to. All right. Though you may not have come here looking to be delivered,

God is here looking to deliver you. Will you be? I’m not asking, would you go home and be a little bit better than you were before you came?

I’m asking, do you want to be made as whole as Christ is? Billy Sunday said, there’s more religion in your will than in your handkerchief. You remember in Luke chapter 15, you’ve got the story of the prodigal son.

But you also have the story of two other things that were lost before the prodigal son. Remember what they were? You have a lost sheep and a lost coin.

Then you’ve got the lost son. Remember what happened when they lost the sheep? Remember what happened when they lost the coin?

They searched for them. But you don’t find anybody searching for the son because he had a will of his own. Young person, when you’re ready to experience revival, you can.

When you’re willing to be made whole, you can. When you’re willing to be delivered, you can. Before the question of how, you must answer the question if you’re willing.

We’re not talking about willpower this morning. We’re talking about will permission. We’re not asking if you have the ability.

We know that that’s not there. But we’re asking, are you willing to let God do what only God can do within your life? Just at salvation, as in salvation.

I can’t get myself to heaven. I can’t save myself. But the question is, are you willing?

Are you willing to be saved? Are you willing to be born again? Sin is always the problem.

That’s why in confrontational preaching we’re hitting the sin. We’re hitting the sin. Hitting the sin.

It’s the same reason some of you have tried witnessing to people in your area. You know the reason why people don’t flock to you when you go out into the street with a handful of gospel tracts asking, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved?

The reason why they don’t ask is because they don’t think that they need it. And the reason why there are young people still in this room who don’t think they need to be delivered, or excuse me, who do not want to be delivered is because they don’t think they need it. You’ve heard the preaching and you’ve let it go right by you thinking that’s for somebody else.

Young lady sitting here, you think the one who needs it is the one who dress worse than you do. Young man, you think the one who needs it is the one that is worse off than you are. But Jesus is asking every single one of us who are not experiencing a quality of life that is His quality of life, that is complete victory over all sin all the time.

Do you want to be made whole? Examine the evidence in your own life. What cot is in your life?

What bed of defeat is in your life? Listen, young person, when your heart is settled with not loving God as you once had, You need to rise, take up your bed and walk. Whenever your earthly interests and occupations are more important to you than spiritual ones, you need to answer the question, are you willing to be made whole? Whenever watching the TV or getting upon the computer is far more important to you than reading your Bible,

then it shows you’re sitting upon a cot of defeat. When you have little or no desire for prayers because you’re on a cot of defeat, when your life is joyless and passionless, it means you need to get off your cot of defeat. whenever you make no effort to win souls you have no burden for lost souls it’s because you’re lying in a cot of defeat whenever you’re at odds with someone else and you have not initiated even making it right

it’s because you’re lying on a cot of defeat whenever your prayers lack fervency and you don’t even come to the prayer meetings in your own youth group you don’t show up for the prayer meetings at your own church it’s because you’re in a cot of defeat whenever your life and within your life sin has been swept underneath the carpet and nobody knows and you think you’re better off, it’s because you’re lying on a cot of defeat.

When your relationship with your family is just coexisting rather than being full of the love of Christ, it’s because you’re defeated. When you’re more concerned about your education and your academics rather than the spiritual condition of your heart it’s because you’re defeated. Whenever you tolerate little sins such as gossip, a critical spirit, jealousy, lack of genuine love, it’s because you’re defeated. Whenever you’re singing in the song services

half-hearted, it’s because you’re defeated. Whenever your hearts are cold and your eyes are equally as dry, it’s because you’re defeated. Whenever you’re not witnessing the regular, evident, powerful moving of God within your own life and ministry, it’s because you’re defeated. When you do not weep and mourn and grieve over your own sin and the sin of those within your own youth group and family,

It’s because you’re defeated. Whenever you’re content to live with ordinary, explainable humanity rather that the dynamic life of Christianity, it’s because you’re defeated. Whenever you’re bored with this service, you’re bored of your prayer service, you’re bored with Sunday school, you’re bored with your teen time, it’s probably because you’re defeated. Whenever your music and your dress has been more impacted by the world

than the Word of God and the Spirit. It’s because you’re defeated. Whenever you’re giving, Though you don’t make a whole lot, but your giving is still measured and calculated.

Rather than being sacrificial, it’s because you’re defeated. Whenever you’re not seeing on a regular basis people drawn to Jesus through your very life, it is because you’re defeated. When you’re no longer moved at nearly 3 billion people upon this planet, still do not know the name of Jesus, and you don’t give a flip, it’s because you’re defeated. Whenever some of you have come here and you’re looking forward to getting home

more than you are getting right with God, it is still because you’re defeated. And those of you who sit here this morning who do not even think you need deliverance, it’s because you’re defeated. I’m not praying you can open your eyes and look right this way. I’ll tell you what I’m praying

and it’s now not the time. And you can unfold your arms too. Someone says, you’re not coming to my church then to preach.

I’m not looking for meetings. In fact, I’m looking to get out of a few. I’m looking for some to experience normal Christianity and be made whole this morning. And some of you are answering the question by your own demeanor, sitting there in your own stinking pew, and you’re content to live ordinary humanity and you will forfeit the life of dynamic Christianity

because you’re not even willing to be made whole. Not only do we see the first dynamic of the confrontation, but number two, would you note the second dynamic? The first dynamic of deliverance is that of a confrontation of your will, But the second dynamic we see in the phrase, verse number 8, rise, take up thy bed and walk.

The second dynamic is a crisis. It’s a crisis. Jesus says to him, that which sounds impossible, rise, take up thy bed and walk.

What is Jesus doing? He is creating a crisis. See, the question was, are you willing to be made whole?

And the answer, in essence, was, I have no man, I can’t. But he said Yes I’m here I’m here every time the angel troubles the water I try to get down into the water But I can’t He was looking for a blessing He was looking for help He was looking for deliverance And Jesus confronted him Asking are you willing to be made whole And Jesus then creates a crisis Jesus gives an invitation See every invitation is a crisis

That is why we give invitations Because God still gives them The crisis young person is not getting up. The crisis is not taking up your bed. The crisis is not going home and getting out of pornography, throwing away your CDs, getting right with mom and dad.

That’s not the crisis. The crisis in John chapter 5 is a crisis of dependence. It’s a crisis of His responsibility.

His responsibility is to depend upon God. See, the invitation time after you’ve been confronted with bitterness, you’ve been confronted with the trash you watch on television, That which you listen to, your attitude. You’ve been confronted about your pride, your indifference.

The crisis now is, am I going to trust God? See, some of you have turned the crisis around, and you’ve still gone back to looking at the bed as the issue, the cot as the issue, and you’re saying, alright, I’m going to do it again. I’m going to get rid of this.

I’m going to get right with mom and dad. And you think your greatest crisis is trying to get right with mom and dad. That’s not your great crisis.

Your great crisis is, are you willing to trust God? Are you willing to depend upon God? remember the walls of Jericho come tumbling down remember what God’s people were told to do God told the people to do what he told them to walk around the walls how many times and do what at the end shout that was the whole command that was it and many times I look at that as the crisis of walking around those walls

looking up to see what’s going to come over those walls, looking around to see what people are thinking. I wouldn’t mind it so bad if I were in the middle and there’s guys on every side of me behind me so I wouldn’t be the odd one sticking out. I thought about the guys in the very front.

This is nuts. I can’t believe we’re doing this. And the crisis I used to think was the actual walking, but that’s not the crisis. The crisis for those people were probably in the tents the night before when they were told,

here’s what God wants you to do. Now what are you going to do about it? The crisis is whether or not they’re willing to trust God.

The crisis is whether or not they’re willing to depend upon God. What are you willing to do this morning? Are you willing to be made whole?

Then the crisis is exercise your responsibility and depend upon God. The victorious life to many seems to be impossible. Just like getting up off of this bed and walking seems to be impossible.

Is a life of victory over all sin possible? Can you, teenager, experience victory over all sin on a regular basis? Can you see victory over even besetting habitual sins such as a bad temper, irritability, pride, selfishness, wrong tone, backbiting, lack of love, anxiety, insecurity?

Can you experience victory over all these things? Unfortunately, many Christians, many young people don’t even feel like it’s possible. Many Christians believe that this is something that happens the older you get. Once you graduate from Bible college, once you become a youth pastor or a pastor,

once you get into the ministry, then you can handle these things a little bit better. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, 57, But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It did not say victories because we’re not talking about victory over bitterness, victory over pornography.

We’re talking about a life, a person of victory. We sang the song Victory in Jesus, but when was victory in Jesus achieved? In one of those verses, when was it obtained?

It said, whenever I cried unto Him. You call, He’s there. You draw nigh, He draws nigh. I will love them, Proverbs 8, 17,

that love me and those that seek me early shall find me. Jeremiah 29, 13, you shall seek me and find me when you search me with all of your heart. There’s a crisis.

Will you trust Him? Will you depend upon Him? See, God never gives us commands that cannot be fulfilled.

Never. The Bible is not a book of high standards. The Bible is not a book of conducts that cannot be achieved.

When God says, love all your enemies, He expects you to do it. When He says, forgive as Jesus forgave, He expects you to do it. Whenever He says, give thanks for all things, He expects you to do it.

Whenever He says, worry about nothing, He expects you to do that. When He says, rejoice in the Lord always, be blameless without rebuke, be as holy as Jesus is holy, and to be as pure as God is pure, He fully expects that to be the case. You say, well, how is this possible?

How is this possible? Well, what is man’s responsibility? What does it mean to depend? The word depend that we like to use many times, and you’re very familiar with it, especially if you’ve been around here,

it is really the matter of trusting and obeying. It is trusting to obey. It is the idea of complete dependence upon Him Receive that which only he can provide to do that which only he can do.

Dependence is trusting to obey. Trust is faith. I like the passage in 2 Kings where Captain Naaman, he had leprosy.

He wanted deliverance. He wanted to be healed. He heard about the preacher, Elisha.

And word was sent and the prescription was given back to Naaman. I want you to go dip down in the Jordan. Well, he was bothered.

Why do I have to do this? What, seven times? Why?

I’m Captain Naaman. And why the Jordan? There’s a lot better rivers than this.

And I like what the council has given to him. Now listen, had the preacher said to you to do some hard, some deep, some mysterious thing, you would have enjoyed that. You would have liked that.

You would have been able to go back home and implement that program. But all he said was, trust and obey. and when Naaman did so he found the deliverance that came from trusting and obeying see sometimes we go off to conferences and we’re looking for that great secret that great mysterious dynamic program that we can implement within our lives it’s interesting that Jesus healed this man without any 12 step program Jesus healed this man without any Ben Gay no cane, no hydraulic system

no nurse, no therapy and that’s what Jesus wants to do with you this morning. But He has created a crisis within your life that causes you to choose whether or not you will depend upon Him. By depending, you will trust Him. Jesus could have healed this man, and then He rised, but however, Jesus commanded Him to rise,

indicating that this man must trust. He had no choice but to trust. See, if Jesus had healed the man first, and then the man recognized I’m healed, it’s no problem to rise.

But Jesus is confronting him with the answer. You need to get right with God. You need to get right.

You need to come clean. Some of you still have not gotten right with God about all the things you listen to, all the things you watch, all the things you’ve gotten involved in. And Jesus is still working and confronting you with that will which He has created within your life, that problem which you still have which is called sin, and He’s created a crisis for you to now trust Him.

And He’ll do the deliverance. Hudson Taylor used to describe in his life the defeat. He said, I prayed, I agonized, I fasted, I strove, I made resolutions, I read the Word of God more diligently, sought more time for meditation, but all without avail. See, this conference won’t do any good

unless you recognize these dynamics of real deliverance. Every day, Hudson Taylor said, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me. He said, temptations to irritability, thoughts and sometimes unkind words are all the more difficult to control. Each day brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power, must it be thus to the end he said constant conflict and too often defeat instead of growing stronger I seem to be getting weaker and to have less power against sin

and no longer for faith and even hope were getting low I hated myself this is great Hudson Taylor I hated my sin yet gained no strength against him I felt I was a child of God but to rise to my privileges as a child I was utterly powerless well the answer that he found was not in himself The answer he found was in Christ. That’s why Jesus said to this man who could not for 38 years get off his bed rise.

He had said, I can’t. That’s the whole point. Jesus wants you to come clean with your sin.

You say, I can’t. That’s the whole point. So you depend upon him.

You trust him. Major Ian Thomas, in one of his books, described how he was so frustrated with his defeat. And he finally came to a crisis in his life.

And on his knees, he said, God, I can’t live the Christian life. And he said, I prayed for Christ’s life to be manifested in mine. And he said, for years, I wanted what I got at that very moment.

Peace and power. He said, after I got off of my knees, he said, I did not have one iota more than what I had before I went to my knees. But what I did was, I gave Christ all of me.

I depended upon him. Jesus is saying to you, rise. See, many times we scrutinize faith.

I like what Hannah Whithall Smith says about faith. Faith is just like seeing. Someone says, well, how do I know if I have enough faith?

Well, you have faith if you just exercise it. You know you have faith. How do you know you have sight?

How do you know? Well, I just see. You just exercise faith, you know you have faith.

Sometimes people think the virtue is in their faith. One young lady came the other night and she said, you know, you said that works is not the way we ought to live. But she said, if I exercise faith in God, isn’t that a work? And I thought, you know, here’s an unsaved young lady struggling with this matter of salvation,

and she’s thinking of these scenarios that many seminaries are writing about. And I said, young lady, faith is not a work. It’s an exercise of your will.

Faith is not a gift. Salvation is the gift. Revival is the gift.

Faith is an exercise of your will. You exercise dependence upon Him. See, people who are in hell this morning have the same sincere faith that you have sitting in here on your way to heaven. The difference was,

they had a wrong object of their faith. And the reason why some of you have come to meetings, you’ve gone to camp, you’ve been to conferences, you’ve been through revival meetings, and you’ve experienced a moving, but you’ve never experienced deliverance is because you put your faith in the wrong object. you heard the preacher say you ought to read your bible every day so you set out to read your bible

every day and putting your faith in you reading your bible every day and you still do not find deliverance see the deliverance is not this man trying to get up off of his bed and walking it is not positive thinking it is taking god’s promises and jesus had already explained jesus had already demonstrated this man’s weakness jesus says to us john 15 5 without me you can do nothing nothing Philippians 4.13 However I can do all things through Christ

So you go into your average bookstore Where it’s a little bit more book than it is Christian You may find some picture of some athlete Crossing the finish line And underneath you’ll find the words I can do all things dot dot dot Philippians 4.13 See to me that’s heresy Nowhere in the Bible does it teach You can do all things Nowhere But what it does teach is You can do anything that God wants you to do through Him

And Jesus is telling this man to do What is impossible humanly ¿Qué es lo que Dios te ha dado? Every time you find the word believe, you can put the word receive and it will do no injustice. You receive what Christ has promised.

You receive what Christ has provided. And then the Bible says, rise, take up thy bed and walk. The crisis is not only of your desire.

It’s not only a crisis, rather, of your dependence to trust, but it’s a crisis of your dependence to obey. To obey. See, this man could have said, Lord, I believe.

I believe you can. I believe that you can heal me. But he would never have truly believed him unless he got off his bed.

See, sometimes you say, hey, I believe that God can deliver me. I believe that I can live right with my parents. I believe I can have the power of God.

But until you take a step of obedience, you don’t really depend. You’re not depending upon Him. Remember Peter stepping down off the side of the boat in Matthew 14? He said, Lord, if it’s you bid me come,

Jesus said, come! And Peter stepped over the side of the boat and did what no man could possibly do in his own strength. He walked on water.

But what was it that enabled Peter to walk on water? What was it that enabled this lame man to get up? What was it?

Are you thinking? What enabled this man to get up off this bed? What was it?

See, I know we’re back in Wisconsin. I’ve been spoiled being down south. I know it shocks when we go down south.

They actually say amen. I know it shocks you, but they do it. They say amen.

I was in one place where they actually raised their hand. It wasn’t because they had a question either. They were agreeing.

One place they even waved a handkerchief. I was just hoping it was clean. That’s all.

So if you don’t work with me, we have to start all over again. What was it that enabled this man to get up off the bed? What was it?

All right. Thank you for working with me there. I appreciate it.

It was not his faith. The faith did not enable this man to get off the bed. faith did not enable Peter to walk on the water faith did not enable this man to get up off the bed that he had been on for 38 years but Jesus did Jesus did see some of you think if I only had more faith it’s not the size of your faith it’s the object of your faith you can’t this man couldn’t

see if you’ve ever been laying in bed for 38 days you’re going to have a hard time getting out I’ve met teenagers who have tried but you can’t do it without there being physical problems And this man for 38 years was going to try to do something he could never do. It wasn’t because of his faith. It was because Christ enabled him when he places dependence upon him.

So what is obedience? You say, how do I obey? Obedience is really you taking the power of God and expecting God to do it.

All right, God convicted you about your relationship with mom and dad. So what do you do? You trust him, get right, and depend upon him, obey, expecting God to deliver.

See, if you don’t go to mom and dad and make things right, what it says is you don’t believe God. If this man had never rose after depending, had he never rose, he wasn’t really depending. In other words, he depended upon Christ.

Jesus said, rise, take up thy bed and walk. And he’s saying, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. And Jesus is saying, rise, rise, rise.

And I could just see perhaps Jesus say, trust me, trust me. And this man is saying, I’ve tried everything else. I’ve tried it.

It doesn’t work. I’ll trust you. Now think, when did the man know he could get up?

When did the man know he could get up? I used to think he knew he could get up whenever he got up, but he knew he could get up when Jesus said the words. You know you can get right with God because God says be right with Him.

You know you can draw nigh to God because God says draw nigh to me. You know you can be clean this morning from the sin of pornography because God says be pure even as He is pure. because God gives the promise then you can take Him at His word. That’s why God says to Abraham,

is anything too hard for me? Is anything? And as long as you’re holding on to the defeat, as long as you’re tolerating the sin, as long as you’re tolerating the bad, as long as you’re hanging on to it, you’ll never know it.

You’ll never have victory. You’ll never experience it. It is not about you biting your tongue.

It’s not about you gritting your teeth. It’s not about you trying harder. It’s about you trusting Him fully.

Depend. Depend. See, Peter walked on water, and don’t ever think that it was super Peter. If it was super Peter,

he would have never denied the Lord in Matthew 26. If Peter could walk on the water because he was great Peter, then he could have easily kept from denying the Lord, couldn’t he? But it wasn’t super Peter.

It was God. It was the power of Christ. And all Peter did, He just cast his dependence upon Jesus and said, I’ll demonstrate my faith.

I’ll demonstrate I trust you. And young person, you can demonstrate by getting right with God as well. Which is more important?

What is more important? Trusting God or obeying God? Have you ever thought about that?

What’s more important? Trusting God or obeying God? Now, it may be semantics to some, but let me just tell you what I believe.

I believe trusting God, depending upon God is. Because I know in my life I have lived a life of obedience without dependence upon Him and its frustration. Sometimes I go back to a place now where I do not find certain people in the church anymore.

And I’ll ask the pastor what happened to so and so. And they’ll say they got burned out. They were involved in the bus route.

They were teaching Sunday school. But they got burned out. You know what burnout means, young person?

You know why you were on fire for God last year. You went off to camp, came back home. And you were serving God.

And you were confronting those in the youth group. And you were out passing out traction. and you are a right-hand helper of your youth pastor, you are in the choir, all those things that you’ve got burned out.

You know what burnout is? It means obeying without depending. It means you trying to get up off your bed yourself.

And it will leave you frustrated and defeated every time. Augustine, whenever he got saved, was saved out of a wicked life. He came back to his hometown and an old girlfriend came up to him.

He said, Augustine, Augustine. And he ignored her and kept walking. Augustine, Augustine, it is I.

Don’t you remember? It’s I. And Augustine turned to her and said, Yes, I remember, but it is no longer I.

Because he transferred his dependence upon him. Can I show you one last thing? And I’ll wrap this up really fast. I want you to see, it’s not in your notes,

point number three. I want you to see verse number 14. I want you to see this, and you’ll get more of this later today. The Bible says,

Jesus said, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more. There’s a third dynamic in deliverance, and that is a continuation of practice. A continuation of practice. In other words, what I believe Jesus is saying to him,

Jesus turns to the spiritual. He turns to that which is most important to Jesus. He says, You’re made whole. Listen, when you get right with God, young person, if you came clean with God last night, if you came clean with God,

here’s the message. You’re made whole. See, revival is not being made better.

It is being as right with God. Here’s the thing about Christianity. Every page of your tomorrow can be as clean and white as the day you got saved. I used to believe that there are certain times in the Christian life

you can be placed on a shelf never to be used of God again. The only problem with that is, as long as there’s revival in the Bible, you don’t ever have to be a second-rate Christian. You don’t ever have to live on a shelf. And when you experience the deliverance being made whole, the union with Him, dependence upon Him, then Jesus is saying, what got you right with God last night, what can get you right with God this morning,

is what can keep you right with Him after this conference is over. See, a lot of preachers have a whole lot easier time with, rise, take up your bed and walk, and they struggle with sin no more. But Jesus is saying to him, now you apply to the spiritual life, your spiritual condition, that which you apply to your physical, you couldn’t get off of your bed, you couldn’t get right with mom and dad on your own,

you couldn’t stop listening to the trash you’re listening to on your own, Now you live the rest of your Christian life the same way you got right with God in that one particular area. Go sin no more. It’s like riding upon a plane.

You know, I flew over here. I don’t like to fly a whole lot. I don’t.

I just don’t like it. But I do. Someone asked me if I was afraid of flying.

I said, nope, just crashing. And there’s a big difference. I find I don’t always put my weight down on the seat after we get off in the air.

Once we get in the air, then I just kind of let it all down. And if it doesn’t work, don’t tell me I feel good about the way I do it. But if I ever got comfortable upon that plane, and I undo the seat belt and go over to the nearest exit, and I unlatch the 40-pound door, and I toss it out.

And if I were to decide to step out of that plane, I find that there is a law in effect called the law of aerodynamics, or excuse me, the law of gravity. As long as I stay on the plane, there’s another law. It’s called the law of aerodynamics.

I don’t know how it works, but I’m thankful that the plane that I’ve always been on works. And as long as I stay upon the plane and let the plane do its job, I will get from point A to point B, and I’ve done so successfully. I don’t understand how it all works. You don’t have to understand how all of revival works, but if you’ll depend upon Him,

He’ll do what He says He will do every single time. If you’ll trust Him and obey, what do you do when you get home? The same thing you did last night, the night before.

What do you do next week? The same thing you did this week. You keep trusting Him.

Keep depending upon Him. And you keep staying upon that plane. You keep depending upon that power that is greater than you are.

You keep depending upon Him. Like what Galatians 5.16 says, Walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you will depend upon the Spirit’s power, you’ll never sin.

Why? Because He doesn’t sin. 1 John 2 and verse 1, My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not.

It is never God’s will for you to sin. Never God’s will for you to sin. Never, never God’s will for you to sin. But somebody said, well, preacher,

the next couple of verses tell us that God does expect us to sin. It says, if any man sin, then we have provision for sin. It is God’s will that we sin.

No, it’s not. Listen, I get upon the plane. I’ll get on the plane Saturday morning. We’ll have some steward or stewardess come on and do their little dance and all these things

and show me the seatbelts and the mask and all these different things. And then we’ll say, underneath your seat is a life preserver. You can use your seat as a flotation device. I’ve never turned to my wife and said,

hey, I wonder if we’ll get to use it on this flight. I’m glad that there’s provision there, but it’s not the will of this passenger to use it. I’m glad that there’s provision there, but it’s not the will of that pilot I hope to use it. There is provision for sin,

but it’s never God’s will for you to sin. It’s never right for you to go back home and get involved in the same trash that He’s dealt with you about this week. You are healed once you get right with Him.

You’re made whole once you get right with Him. Now sin no more. I’ll close with this. I think that the biggest issue still

is the confrontation of your will. Are you willing to be made whole? Years ago in this area, a preacher closed a meeting. It was before we had the transportation that we have today

and he bought a ticket on a train to ride home. He sat down on the train and he noticed beside him was a teenage boy. The teenage boy had tears coming down his face and you could see him trying to hide the tears and the preacher said, Son, I’m a preacher.

Can I help you? Is there something that you’d like to talk about? And the teenage boy said, Preacher, I need to talk to somebody.

I guess you’re just as good as any. He said, Two years ago, I was living such a rebellious life. He said, But preacher, I was a good kid.

I really was. But I just couldn’t seem to shake some of the problems in my life. And I got so angry.

My parents were always telling me what to do. And I got so mad at one day, I hit my dad and I knocked him down. he said my dad later on that night called me into another room and said son you’re really hurting and damaging the family you’re driving your mom to an early grave son I don’t know what else to do with you we’ve tried everything you’re going to have to leave home and he said the boy said

preacher I was so glad I took everything that I could take and I left home and I knew that I was going to live the life that I always wanted to live He said, but preacher, I’ve experienced everything that I can get a hold of. He says, I found some sins to get involved with that I never knew were even possible. And I had the freedom to do for these past two years everything that I wanted to do.

He said, but preacher, I’m not satisfied. He said, I was walking down a road one day and I heard some singing. He said, it was coming from a tent.

And there they were having a camp meeting. And I slipped into the back and I heard a preacher preach against the sins I was guilty of. And the preacher said that if I wanted to be made whole, that I could come to Jesus that night and I could find healing in Him.

And he said, I didn’t know what else to do, but I went down that old dirt floor. And I went down and I got down on my knees and I cried out to God and I found deliverance. He said, preacher, all I want to do is go home now.

I just want to go home and make things right with mom and dad. And the preacher said, but son, how do you know you’re welcome? How do you know you’re going to be able to go back home?

How do you know that this is not a mistake? He said, preacher, I wrote a letter to my dad. My parents live beside the railroad tracks.

And behind the railroad track is an old apple tree. And I said, dad, I’m coming on the train. If you will let me come back home, would you please tie a white rag to one of the limbs?

I’ll see it. he said preacher if there’s a white rag I’ll get off if there’s not I’ll just trust God and keep going he said preacher we’re several hundred yards away just around the bend he says I can’t I can’t look would you mind looking for me the preacher said I don’t mind looking on that November morning he warmed his hands and the preacher moved the frost off the window and he looked out the window

and the preacher was getting anxious himself and they came around the bend and the teenage boy knew they were coming around the bend he said preacher I can’t stand it I can’t stand it do you see the white flag do you see the white flag do you see it the tears coming down his face and all of a sudden the preacher began to sigh he said I don’t see a white rag I don’t see one white rag

he said but what I do see is an apple tree filled with white rags I see an old man and an old lady Underneath the tree holding a white sheet And they’re waving it as hard as they can Son I think it’s alright if you want to go home I think you’re welcome Young person I think it’s alright If you want to get right with God this morning But will you? Will you? Heads bowed and eyes closed