SNT 0756 Do You Will?
Do You Will?
Shows the importance of freedom of will with Jesus Christ as an example; because God does not possess, we must have a center of reference for learning, and our only center of reference for truth is God’s Word.
SNT – 756
May 11, 1975
Format: audio
Publication Date: 05-11-1975
Pages: 13
Victor Paul Wierwille was a Bible scholar and teacher for over four decades.
By means of Dr. Wierwille's dynamic teaching of the accuracy and integrity of God's Word, foundational class and advanced class graduates of Power for Abundant Living have learned that the one great requirement for every student of the Bible is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Thus, his presentation of the Word of God was designed for students who desire the in-depth-accuracy of God’s Word.
In his many years of research, Dr. Wierwille studied with such men as Karl Barth, E. Stanley Jones, Glenn Clark, Bishop K.C. Pillai, and George M. Lamsa. His formal training included Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Mission House (Lakeland) College and Seminary. He studied at the University of Chicago and at Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received a Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. Later he completed his work for the Doctor of Theology degree.
Dr. Wierwille taught the first class on Power for Abundant Living in 1953.
Books by Dr. Wierwille include: Are the Dead Alive Now? published in 1971; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today published in 1972; five volumes of Studies in Abundant Living— The Bible Tells Me So (1971), The New, Dynamic Church (1971), The Word's Way (1971), God's Magnified Word (1977), Order My Steps in Thy Word (1985); Jesus Christ Is Not God (1975); Jesus Christ Our Passover (1980); and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed (1982).
Dr. Wierwille researched God's Word, taught, wrote, and traveled worldwide, holding forth the accuracy of God's "wonderful, matchless" Word.
Joh 4:43-50
Joh 4:50-54; 5:1-8
Joh 5:9-14; 3:16; (Joh 21:25)
Joh 5:15-27
_____________________
Do You Will
Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille
SNT 0756 Manuscript
Take your Bibles and go to the Gospel of John, please.
It was a great day in my life, when many years ago, I learned from God’s Word that the true God never possesses. I have what’s moving into avenues and channels of learning among men and women where I was being taught that you just give yourself over to God, and that God will possess you. He will control you. He will make you speak in tongues when it’s right on, and when it isn’t you don't speak in tongues.
And I was beginning to evaluate that. People were saying, well, you just let God take control of you, let Him speak through you. And I was singing songs like “Channels Only”. Have you ever heard that chorus? How many of you have heard “Channels Only”? Well, there are a few of them that have been through the channels. So, it's an old, old favorite gospel chorus, “Channels Only”.
But one day, of course, working God’s Word and seeing men's experiences, the experiences did not line up with the Word. And it was a great day in my life when I learned that the true God never possesses. The adversary, the devil, always possesses. And what a day. That the true God simply makes it available, and man, by the freedom of his will, decides whether he wants what God, the true God, has or doesn't.
It is like setting out a beautiful dinner and people having the freedom to come and eat it.
It was also a great day in my life when I learned from God’s Word that we are what we are because of our believing, and that no person ever rises beyond what he believes. And the reason that you believe what you believe tonight is because of what you've been taught. No person ever rises beyond what they're taught, no person can believe more. You could believe less, but you could not believe more.
And that, in order to believe, in order to learn, there has to be a center of reference outside of the individual seeking.
A little child is born. How does that child learn? You just don't allow that child to lie in its crib and sit around in the corner praying for it to learn. You pick it up and you talk to it. You whisper to it. You rock it. You sing to it. Grandma and grandpa talk to it. Brothers and sisters. Then it goes to kindergarten finally; has a teacher and playmates. All of those teachers, all of those playmates, all of those fathers and mothers, are centers of reference for learning outside of that child. That's how everybody learns. That's how you learned. That's how I learned.
And therefore, if we are taught wrongly, we will believe what? Wrongly. You can't go beyond what you're taught. Knowing the laws of learning, which are just axiomatic. Knowing these laws, most of us have been influenced by a multiple amount of centers of reference for learning. Because every person you meet, every person who talks to you, is a center of reference.
Having been exposed to a voluminous amount of this myself, in many instances what I learned and read at one place… Reading is the same way, you know. If you read a book, that's a center of reference outside of you for what? Learning. So, having been exposed to a voluminous amount of this, both in live person and in reading, my mind was a hodgepodge of confusion. I could quote you many men, quote you many books, but my mind was confused because I did not know what or who was true.
And then one day, understanding the great principle of learning, I came to a position that The Way Ministry represents internationally. And that is, for those of us who are Christian, our only – our only center of reference for truth is the integrity and the accuracy of God’s Word.
If what Dr. So-and-so says agrees with the Word, we say, praise God. If Professor So-and-so says something and it agrees with the revealed God’s Word, we say, hallelujah. But if what any man says contradicts what the Word says, we don't go with that man, we go with the Word.
It is the Word of God that is our only – and I said only and that's what I meant. It is my only center of reference for truth, for learning, outside of the individual seeking. It is mine. It ought to be yours. And I'm sure it is if you're part of the ministry with us.
The Word of God is our only center of reference outside of the individual seeking for truth. And the will, the freedom of the will that you have to change your opinions, your mind, the freedom of the will you have to believe God’s Word in our day and time, is one of the inherent rights that you should never jeopardize. That's right.
That's why every time somebody is hypnotized, you've given up the freedom of your will. The person hypnotizing you has to be controlled by a devil spirit, and you allowing yourself to be hypnotized, you get controlled by one.
Boy, you see, I just don't let anybody control my mind. Now, I may be stupid, but, boy, it's better to be stupid and have a free will and a free mind than to be the smartest person in the world and be possessed. That's right. Because, boy, I have the freedom of mind, the freedom of will. I can walk in here tonight, totally V.P. Wierwille. Now, maybe somebody does like it? Well, go fly your kite in somebody else's cabbage patch. I don't care. But boy, I've got freedom of will. Don't let anybody touch your freedom of will.
And, ladies and gentlemen, I'll say it once more just so you understand it. Every time a person is hypnotized, you have lost the freedom of your will. I don't let anybody hypnotize anybody when I'm around because, boy, that's one of the great rights God gave to every human being; to have the freedom of will so that you could make a choice by your own will. And not be possessed, not be controlled.
And that's why I'm so grateful for you parents being here this weekend, that you could see the Corps in operation by the freedom of their will. You didn't see the Corps doing things because they were possessed. They didn't do these things for you just because you were here. They did it because they believe God by the freedom of their will. They wanted to bless everybody that came.
There is a record in the Gospel of John that teaches us, with an alacrity and with a sharpness. And it's that record I want to set before you tonight. There are many more in the Word, but this is one of them.
In the Gospel of John, please. Chapter 4. I want to begin in verse 43 because I want to get the chapter 5. In order to get chapter 5, we’ve got to stop in 4, I guess.
John 4:43-45:
Now after two days he [Jesus] departed thence, and went into Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
Then when he was come into Galilee,…
He said, he testified, that a prophet had no honor within his own what? Country. But he went right back. Because it’s not a matter of fact whether you're honored or not honored, it’s a matter of the integrity of what? The Word. Whether they like you or don't like you. It’s God’s what? Word, baby. God’s Word. And Jesus went back to his own territory, to Galilee. Right? Is that what it says? Well, that's what it means.
John 4:45-47:
[And]… the Galilaeans [dechomai’d him] received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, [a courier, a ruler, a top, you know, real fine, fine man in position of authority] whose son was sick at Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him…
The word ‘besought’ means begged. You know, just stayed there and said, oh please, please…
John 4:47-50:
…come down, and heal [my what?] his son: for he was at the point of death.
Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
[And] The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. [and here is the great key] … the man [what?] believed [He believed] the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
He had no proof. He had no evidence. He had nothing concrete to put his teeth into, but he did what? He believed. He believed. He believed first and then he saw. He believed. He believed the word that Jesus had what? Spoken. Did he know his son was healed? Nope. Didn't know anything about it.
But Jesus had said,… Now you read it for yourself.
John 4:50:
Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son [what?] liveth.
The words that Jesus spoke were words that God had given him, therefore they were like God’s Word. Here is God’s Word. It means what it says, and it says what it means. This Word of God, when you read it and you believe it, you get the results of that believing. Otherwise, you just live with consequences all your life.
Jesus said, go, your son liveth. And the man believed. He believed. Is that what it says? Yes. Well, that's what it means. It says so. The man believed.
He didn't have a Western Union telegram. He didn't have a phone call over the ITT Bell system or anything else, knowing that his son was alive. He simply believed that what Jesus said was true. It doesn't say he was possessed, he did what? He believed.
John 4:51:
And as he was now going down, his servants met him, [when he was going home, they ran out to meet him]… and told him, saying, Thy son [what?] liveth.
You see, the Word of God is what? It says it back here. The will of God. Jesus says, thy son liveth. The man believed it. When he started home, the servants met him and they said, your son is dead. No, your son is what? Living.
Then, he was a little skeptical. He wanted documentation so he could show it to the senses world. He was going to have an X-ray taken that the whole thing was healed up, you know.
John 4:52-53:
…[he] enquired …of them the hour when he began to amend. [To be healed] And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the [what?] fever left him.
So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in… which Jesus said unto him, Thy son [what?] liveth: and himself believed, [he believed] and his whole [what?] house.
Right. That's the family, people. You see, in biblical times, in oriental times – oriental is in the background, the Word – whenever the father believed, the entire family believed. That's the way it ought to be. Daddy and Mommy and all the kids. Daddy is the head of the family. He sets the family pace spiritually. He holds forth the greatness of God’s Word. Mom falls in line and all the kids. That's the way God designed it.
The father believed and all his what? House.
John 4:54:
This is again the second miracle… Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
John 5:1:
After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to [where?] Jerusalem.
That's a terrible place to go because that's where the rulers are. That's where the top brass is. All the religious guys are up there. That's right. That's where the Sanhedrin, the 70, the ruling body of Judaism sat. That was the center of all religion of its day, the great center. Jesus went right up to that great center.
John 5:2-3:
Now there… [was] at Jerusalem by the sheep… [gate, it’s one of the gates of the city] a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, [and the word ‘Bethesda’ means mercy. Mercy] having five [porticos or] porches.
In these [five porches] lay a great multitude of impotent [incapacitated] folk,… blind, halt, withered,…
This great multitude that lay there, all of those people were there to be healed. They were all sick. There was something wrong with them. They were incapacitated, impotent folk. Some were blind, some were halt, some were what? Withered. They all had a need, people. Don't just see it? And there were they're believing that someday they might be healed.
It is interesting that all of them believed in healing. All of them. All of them.
One of the great reasons I'm teaching this tonight is because if all of them believed in healing, how’s come all of them did not get healed? That was a problem. I wrestled with that one for a dozen or 15 years, because when you work the Word of God, it finally has to fit like a hand in a glove. When it does not work with that mathematical exactness and that scientific precision, there's got to be something wrong. Or if it's God’s Word, it will have to fit.
Now, many times I did not know the answer, but I never doubted the integrity of God’s Word. I doubted my own stupidity and my own incapacity to understand and know.
I would like to say to you – and you can do this if you like, if you don't want to do what you like anyways. The last phrase of verse 3, “waiting for the moving of the water”, and all of verse 4 are deleted from the most ancient original text.
I’d like to go to verse 5.
John 5:5:
And a certain man [It doesn’t even give his name. It just says, a certain what? man] was there, [among all the rest of those]… [he] had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
Thirty-eight years he had been sick. Thirty-eight years. Thirty-eight years. Do you get that? So if you're 19 in here tonight, it's twice as old as you are. He was sick 38 years.
Ask yourself a question. How much believing would you have left in your life if you had had sickness for 38 years? You'd been sick for 38 years. How much believing do you think you'd have left to get healed the 39th year? Not very much, I guarantee you. Because some of us are sick three months and we haven't got any left. This fella, 38 years. You know, some people sick for one day and they say, oh, my God. What’s the matter? God dead?
Thirty-eight years. Verse 6.
John 5:6:
When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, [boy, here it is] Wilt [wilt. Do you will to]… be made [what?] whole?
Do you will to be made whole? Where would your will to be made whole be after 38 years? See it? That's the question he asked. Where’s your will? What do you really will? After 38 years, do you still will? Where’s your will? Where’s your will?
Well, I don't know if I’d have had much left after 38 years, do you? I marvel at these records. Thirty-eight years he’s sick. Jesus said, how’s your will?
Jesus knew he couldn't possess him. Jesus knew the true God couldn't take over. That he’d become a channel. He says, how is your will? Do you will to be made whole?
And, ladies and gentlemen, there's a lot of difference between being delivered and being made whole. Ten lepers came to Jesus once. They were all ten healed. Jesus said to them, go show yourself to the priest. They all did. One returned to give thanks, and the Word of God says that one was made what? Whole. Were they all healed? Yes.
Ladies and gentlemen, there's a lot of difference between being healed and being made whole. To be made whole is to be made whole mentally, physically, spiritually, financially, and every other way. That's wholeness. And, by the way, that's the meaning of the word salvation. The word is sozo, and it means to be made whole.
Jesus Christ is the complete savior. He's the whole savior. He came to make men and women whole; physically, mentally, spiritually, in every other category of their life. But we've lived so far below par – P-A-R. And you see, it's almost a disgrace that we call ourselves Christians because we have done nothing but degrade the truth of Christianity – if Christianity is what the Word of God says it is. And, ladies and gentlemen, if it isn’t what the Word of God says it is, then who’s going to define it? I'm not going to listen to Henry Boloko, I guarantee you. It's what the Word says.
How is your will? Thirty-eight years. Jesus asked him only one question. He didn't say to him, when’d you graduate from Harvard? He says, how’s your will? Do you will? Do you will?
Boy, people, I don't know if you can appreciate that. It just sends showers inside of my inner self. To have will to be delivered after 38 years? And the impotent man answered and said, yes, sir, I want to be healed. I've got the will.
No, he didn’t. He never answered the question! He was so beautifully human, like most of us. Jesus asked him a question. Do you will what? Made whole. Right? The fella could’ve said yes or what? {No.} He didn't answer it. He didn't answer it. Didn't answer it. Just so human.
You know, God put you right on the carpet. You know, if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, thou shalt be saved. But, Lord, I don't believe that. I don't feel any different. Man. Do you will to be whole?
He never answered. He said, Oh, sir, you know, Jesus, I haven't got anybody to intercede for me.
John 5:7:
… I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool:…
But, you know, I stepped down to get healed, you know what happens? Somebody else gets there before I do.
Jesus never asked him about stepping down. He never asked him a thing. He says, how’s your will, baby. See? Man, how's your will? And he did the beautiful psychological trip which we call rationalization – that's for you intellects. The rest is them, it’s just plain cop out. Just didn’t want to face up to it.
Now, between verse 7 and between verse 8, there's a lot of deleted material and instruction that I know from the truth of the Word and how the Word operates. Because the man did not answer the question at all. And in order for a man to be delivered, he has to will to be delivered. And Jesus asking him that question, and man giving that answer, Jesus brought him around finally so that Jesus could say unto him in verse 8,
John 5:8:
… Rise, take up thy bed, and [what?] walk.
He could say to him, get up by the freedom of your… Rise, take up your bed. And this is not a bed like you think of a bed, it's a quilt or a blanket like thing. That's was their bed. Take up thy quilt, or your blanket and walk.
And immediately… Immediately. That's why it's a miracle of deliverance.
John 5:9:
And immediately the man was made [what?] whole,…
Not only physically, but mentally. And, ladies and gentlemen, that's why there has to be a lot more between 7 and 8 than what's written in the Word. The reason there isn't more written is, like the Word says; this is written that you may know eternal life and the greatness of God. That's why.
1 John 5:13:
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
A lot of things Jesus Christ did that are not written. Says in the Word, if everything be written that he did, all the libraries of Harvard couldn't hold it, or something. I forget what it says but, you know, it does say that. End of the Gospels. That there just wouldn't be room. That's a figure of speech saying there’d be a voluminous amount of material.
You know, Jesus Christ taught for three years, day in and day out, night after night, week after week. Well, I think of the junk I talk about for three years – not a big enough place here at headquarters to put it. Imagine Jesus Christ, the Son of God, speaking three years. Rapping with these people a voluminous amount of material. It never says in God’s Word that this is all Jesus Christ spoke, or this is all he did. But it does say that this is what he spoke and this is what he did. The extras are not always stipulated.
John 5:9:
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and [what?] walked: and on the same day [oh, no. No. It] was [what?] the Sabbath.
Oh, people, that's terrible. That's awful. He did not do it on the right day. It couldn't be kosher then. That's right. The wrong day. You know, you can do it on Sunday and Monday, but don't you do it on the Sabbath.
I love the Lord Jesus Christ, I think beyond perhaps any man living today, but do you know why I like him? Because he just broke every rule and regulation. The rule said you can't do it on Sabbath day. So what’d Jesus Christ do? Did it on the Sabbath. He didn't particularly break the rule, but a man had a need, right. The need always takes precedence over the day, ladies and gentlemen, and over the place. That's the greatness of it.
And, oh, how I praise God that Jesus Christ had the audacity, the courage, to stand for truth. He ministered to that man who had been sick for 38 what? Years. Ladies and gentlemen, if you were sick for 38 years, would you care what day of the week you got delivered? Isn't that a trifling little argument – that you don't do it on the right day, or that it wasn't done at the right location? Maybe the right doctor wasn't there, and you weren't counting your beads in the right way? Oh, my goodness, how terrible. Right? Oh, boy.
John 5:10:
The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured,…
Now, they didn't talk to Jesus, they talked to the man who was made whole. And the word ‘whole’ is sound. The word ‘sound’ is cure. To do a cure, to do a cure biblically is to remove a cause. That's the doing of a cure. Now, every doctor knows that. Most Christians never thought about it. So I know from the Word that he removed a cause, that's why it has to be a what? Cure.
Now, there’s some sicknesses that you don't have to remove any causes, then it can't be cured. Whenever it's a cure, a cause has to be removed. You get a splinter underneath your fingernail. To remove the splinter is removing the cause. When the cause is removed, the symptom will disappear. That's doing of a cure.
Every deliverance a devil spirit’s caused is a cure in the Bible, because the people are possessed by a devil spirit. And when you take the devil out, the cause is removed, the symptom will what? Cure. And the little pendants will quite wiggling, and the people quite floating, and the clock will quite striking 13 at 10. You know, a lot of these things. That's what it’s talking about.
John 5:10:
[Jesus] … therefore said unto him … was cured, [the Jews said it,] It is the sabbath day: [It’s the Sabbath day.] it is not lawful for thee to carry [your] …bed.
You know, your couch, your blanket. That’s not in order. It's not legal to do it.
It's really interesting. I see this happening all the time in our ministry too. There's a young person just took the class for the first time on Power for Abundant Living. And, boy, the following week, some theologian or somebody is on top of them and say, “Look, you believe Jesus Christ is not God?” I feel so sorry for my kids but, boy, I sure thank God they tell them at least a little bit of what they know. And then they say, “Well, show it to us in the Word.”
They picked on the man that was cured here. If they’d have come to Jesus, he’d have put both feet in their mouth. That's right. But see, they got to pick on that little person who hasn't had all that training. That's like… I feel sorry for you. All the thing I'd say to people if you gave them the book on Jesus Christ is not God, say, well, this is what the ministry stands for. And they say to you, well, do you believe it? Just say, yes. Then you say, well, read it yourself. They'll say, well, how? Explain this to me. You say, I'm not here to explain it. It's written in the book. That's what we believe.
Don't try to explain it. They want to explain, let them come to me. I can handle them. That’s right. You don't expect kindergarten students to be playing pro ball. That's right. But I expect you to believe God’s Word. And, ladies and gentlemen, it’s only one verse of scripture you need to know, and that's John 3:16. And even those people that criticize you will most likely recognize that that's in the Bible. And that says,
John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only [what?] begotten Son,…
He ought to know who His Son is.
Mrs. Wierwille and I have two, and we know both of them. And I'm not God. It seems to me if God had one, He ought to know. Shouldn’t He? Oh, people.
John 5:11-12:
He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.
Then [answered]… they him, What man is that [What man was it? Didn't say what God, it said, What man is that who]… said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
And he that was healed didn’t know it. That's what I call love, don't you? He didn't know it.
John 5:13:
And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away,…
Conveyed himself away, the words are in the text, ‘turned aside’, ‘gone out’. That’s all.
Thought of this this afternoon, these words, because I knew I was going to teach it tonight. When I came in at the last minute before the 5:30 dismissal of the group here, I walked in and I conveyed myself away immediately when it’s over with. Because, after I prayed for our people and I blessed you, you know what I did? I just walked around that coffee table, walked right back out. Back here into the executive lounge.
“… conveyed himself away”, that means he turned aside, went back, went away. The man was healed. He just healed the man. The man was delivered. The man believed he was delivered. Jesus Christ walked away. And the man didn't know who did it.
John 5:13:
… wist not who it [what?] was:
Isn't that something? Isn't that beautiful?
Jesus Christ didn't come along and say, now look, before God's going to deliver you, you better put your tithe on the altar. Before God’s going to deliver you, you better hang in here with us and be a member of The Way ministry. Nope, he didn't say anything like it.
The man had a need. Jesus Christ had a revelation, he ministered. He brought that man up, he ministered to that man's need and the man got delivered. He hadn't joined a church, ladies and gentlemen.
It's hot in here. Have we got an air conditioning system in this place? Turn it on. There it goes. Praise the Lord Get you cooled off a little.
John 5:14:
Afterward [after it’s all over with] Jesus [found]… him…
Well, it's the only way. He didn't know who Jesus was, so Jesus had to do the finding, right?
John 5:14:
Afterward Jesus [found]… him [where?] in the temple,…
That's right. He went right to the temple after he was delivered. And Jesus found him in
John 5:14:
[And] Jesus [found] him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come [upon]… thee.
Now, here’s a record of a man who perhaps had this particular infirmity for almost 30 years because of what sin had done. Now, not every sickness is due to your sin. You could be sick, you could be in this category because of your what? sin, but all sickness is due to sin. There never was any sickness until after there was sin. Read Genesis.
But it does not mean it's your sin. It could be sin in society. And, boy, we got it today. One of the reasons we're not seeing the great deliverance that I'm waiting to see in our country and world is because of the massive amount of unbelief in our society. Hardly anybody believes in the integrity and accuracy of God’s Word, and the power of it.
In the early church, they believed. And even the shadow of Peter, it says in Acts. As Peter was walking down the street, the shadow of Peter would pass over people and they'd be healed. There is no healing power in a shadow of Peter or the shadow. No healing power. The healing power is in believing. And they believed in those days that when Peter walked down the street, the man of God was walking there. And even the shadow of that man of God was so blessed and such a blessing, they believed that if that shadow passed over them they'd be healed, and they were healed.
Boy, oh, boy. We certainly haven’t risen to that time, have we? In your community or ours here at New Knoxville. That’s right.
John 5:15-16:
The man departed, [in verse 15] and told the Jews that it was Jesus, [who]… had made him whole.
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and [they] sought to slay him, [why? What’s it say?] because he [did it on the what?]…sabbath day.
Were they interested in people? No. Were they interested in that man who had suffered for 38 years, that he was delivered? One would have thought logically, class, if they had any decency about them, they'd have stood up and said, well, praise God you’re delivered. Thirty-eight years, sir, sick. Then he's delivered, and the religious leaders legislators are mad about it.
Somebody’s got to be screwed up someplace, class. Royally screwed up. Right? That’s right. Why, sure it's right if you've got an ounce of brains to think.
These were the heads of the temple. They were the religious leaders. One would have thought they'd have welcomed the man with open arms and said, well, praise God you're healed. You’re delivered.
But no. They said, who did it? Who did it? He said, I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? You got healed. You ought to know. Darn it. What's the matter with you?
He said, well, I don't know who did it. But you said it was the Sabbath. Yes, Sabbath.
John 5:16:
… [they] persecute Jesus, and [they] sought to [kill]… him,…
What a record, isn’t it, for religious leaders. You're not going to have much trouble with the accuracy of God’s Word among the unbelievers. You know where your problems are going to come from? The religious leaders in your community. Because they have freedom of will, many of them, but they do not will to change.
Do you will to be made whole? Do you will to change?
If I don't will to change, you know what's going to happen? I'm not going to change. If I'm stupid, I'm just going to stay what? Stupid. That’s all. It’s in the will. Do you will to change?
One of the reasons this ministry has caught fire and moved so dynamically among the young people is because the young people were willing to do what? Change. Older people have a little fossilization trouble at times in the upper stories, and they no longer have a will to what? Change..
Ladies and gentlemen, when you don't have a will to change God Almighty can't do a thing about it. He could rise again from the dead, he could raise other people, and if you didn't will to change you never what? Change. That's right.
John 5:16-17:
[The Jews] sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath…
… Jesus answered them, [now they got it. Jesus answered them. He talked back to them] My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his [daddy. His what?] Father, making himself equal with God. [and the word ‘equal’ means in the family of God. God was his what? Father]
They said also that God was his what? Father. God was his what? Father. Jesus Christ was not God. He said God was his Father, and they wanted to kill him more so. If Jesus Christ, he had said he was God, they’d have got out all the “Shoot’em up Tony” guns and rifles and axes and hammers and sledges. They’d have had him right... He never said he was God. Even they said, he made himself to be the son of God, God was his Father. And because that God he said was his Father, because of that they wanted to kill him.
Had he said Jesus was God, ma'am, all hell would’ve broke loose. That would have been unforgivable. You have to live today to believe that kind of junk. They knew better than that. That’s right.
John 5:19-27:
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he [what?] will.
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into [what?] condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Boy, what a tremendous record. Here's a man who's impotent, sick for 38 years, and the one thing Jesus wanted to know is, do you will to be made whole? He did not possess him, he didn't control him. The true God never possesses. The true God never controls. You're never a channel for the true God. You're never a medium. The true God never does anything through you. It works within you to will and to do His what? Good pleasure by your believing.
Do you will to be made whole? He brought him to that place that he willed. Why were not all the rest of them healed? Because Jesus Christ had no revelation to minister to the rest of them. In all those porches lay a whole multitude of the sick and impotent folk. They all believed in deliverance, but only one was healed.
Why? Did Jesus Christ not love the rest? Sure he did. Then why was one healed? Because only one at that moment could rise to that place of believing. Do you will to be made whole?
Now, it doesn't say that nobody else rose up later, but at that particular time there was only one who willed to be made whole, that's why only one was delivered. They all believed in healing, but only one was made whole because only one could rise up to that believing privilege to be made whole, and is that one that Jesus ministered to. And he had been impotent and incapacitated for 38 what? Years. He never possessed him, he never controlled him. He never took advantage of him.
And what a great day it is in our lives when you too learn, like tonight, that you, by the freedom of your will, decide how far you're going to go with God. Are you going to believe God’s Word or are you going to believe what people say about it? Are you going to will to believe God's Word, or you’re just going to will to believe what others say?
You're going to believe something, because everybody believes. The question is not do you believe, but what do you believe and whom do you believe? And knowing that all learning requires a center of reference outside of the individual seeking, I challenge you to believe God’s Word as that center of reference outside of you for truth. Not Plato, not Aristotle, not Socrates, not Freud or Playboy or anything else, but what? The Word. The Word.
I said to you parents this morning, bless your hearts, do you know that that Thomas Paine said he would live to see the day that nobody read the Bible or believed it? Ladies and gentlemen, historically, Thomas Paine is dead and gone, and there are at least a few of us that still read it, and we're still living.
The Ingersolls are gone, but the Word of God still lives, ladies and gentlemen. And our God is alive tonight. We've got the proof of it because we got the manifestation. We're born again of God's spirit. We have Christ in us the hope of glory. And, ladies and gentlemen, we’re heaven bound and all hell is not going to stop us from getting there.
And no matter what men may say, think or do, this Word of God is going to be fulfilled, that every jot and tittle of it's going to be fulfilled. That's why The Way ministry burns people's hearts again, because it is God’s Word and it speaks to our day and our time. And we are again saying to people all over the world, thus saith the Lord.
There’s only two things they can do; they can either believe it or reject it. That's right. But, praise God, at least they have the privilege to say yes or no. And I thank God for that freedom. I'm even thankful for the man’s freedom who decides to go to hell. I feel sorry for him, but, boy, he has the right. If a man wills to go to hell, well, bless God. I thank God for the freedom you got to go. I’d sure feel sorry for you when heaven would be such a more glorious place to spend more time.
But the freedom of the will. Do you will to be made whole?
I don't know any greater record than this. There are others in there, they're all great, but this one just sets it like a diamond. Thirty-eight years. That's what blew my mind. I got people three months can't stand it anymore. This man, 38 years, finally got to the place that he was able to do what? Believe. By the freedom of his will to be made what? Whole.
Maybe there's still a little opportunity for some of us, right? The joy of believing, the joy of changing. Do you will to really believe God? Do you will to be made whole? You determine how far you're going to go with God and the things of God.