A Man with a Positive Confession

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan. And what a marvelous testimony we find in this account of this man who had a remarkable positive confession.

John chapter 9. And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. I'm reading from the New American Standard. And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? Jesus answered, it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents, but it was in order that the words of God might be displayed in him.

We must work the works of him who sent me as long as it is day. Night is coming when no man can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Go down to verse 24. So a second time they called the man who had been blind. This is now after he had recovered his sight, he's been healed.

And they said to him, give glory to God, for we know that this man, meaning Jesus, is a sinner. He therefore answered, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.

They said therefore to him, where did he, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? And he answered them, I told you already, and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciple too, do you? I love this man. Last 10 days I've read this, I don't know how many times and every time I tell you he's one of them.

I don't know his name, but I want to meet him when I get to heaven. He's got a little bit of Solomon in him. He's got a little bit of Saul, Paul in him.

He's got a little bit of Job in him. And they reviled him, verse 28, and said, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is from.

And the man answered and said to them, well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. In other words, you religious leaders better get your act together. You better find out what's going on.

This man opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. And they answered and said to him, you were born entirely in sins, and you're teaching us? He sure was. He sure was.

And they put him out. And Jesus heard that they had put him out. And finding him, he said, do you believe in the Son of Man? He answered and said, and who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have both seen him, and he is the one talking with you.

And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. That's why I call this a man with a positive confession.

Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your presence here tonight. Lord, you've moved our hearts in praise to you.

You've moved our hearts in worship to you. And now, Lord, move our hearts to your word. Open our hearts to receive tonight.

Bless your people, we pray. Bless your word. Anoint ears.

Anoint our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, those of us who are walking in the light of Christ know the importance of maintaining a positive confession, especially in the face of opposition and oppression.

And as I said, what a wonderful testimony of this is portrayed by this blind man, this beggar of Jerusalem, when he has miraculously received his sight. Look what he faced. But let me refresh your memory, or let me call into account, give you the record of what he went through.

First of all, his friends and neighbors and the people who saw him begging every day, some who maybe had assisted him to go to his place where he begged, they disputed after he received his sight, they disputed whether this was in fact the very same blind man that they saw every day. Then the religious establishment and leaders argued against his deliverer. His parents were also afraid to acknowledge Jesus as the source of the miracle.

And in fact, the whole Jewish community tried to get him to deny Christ. And yet in the face of all the uproar, of all the arguments, all the theological debate and the persecution, this man went right on walking in the light that Jesus gave him and maintained a positive confession in a very negative circumstance. Now his positive confession was not in claiming wealth.

It was not in claiming personal prosperity or earthly success. He confessed Jesus even though at first he did not know Jesus. He did not know who he was.

And by the way, I've seen a lot of people who get healed, but they never come to know Jesus. But this man came when Jesus revealed himself to him. He came to know Jesus in a personal way and he worshiped him and he confessed to an unbelieving generation that he no longer walked in darkness, but was in light.

Now this young man who demonstrates one of the most powerful... In fact, John takes a whole chapter which is very unusual. Usually the healings of Jesus cover just a few verses. Probably only Lazarus took more... John took as much time with Lazarus, but here a whole chapter is devoted to this man and his healing and his testimony.

And so this young man, a former beggar, whose parents as well as himself was a member of the local synagogue, he has two sets of eyes that are open to him. First of all, his physical eyes. He was blind from birth and this is the only recorded account in the Gospels of Jesus healing somebody who was born with the condition.

Also in Acts 3, the crippled man at the gate beautiful also was crippled from birth. But more blessed than his physical healing was the fact that the eyes of his heart, the eyes of his spirit, the eyes of his understanding were open and he saw, first of all, the light of the sun, S-U-N, and then he saw the light of the S-O-N. Jesus said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? He said, Yes, I do.

This was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy when he said, Then your light will break out of dawn and your recovery will be speedily sent forth or spring forth. Or Isaiah 60 and 1 says, Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Oh, how this man knew that.

But this man, as we shall see, did not just come into the light and then go on his way as did those nine lepers who were healed and the ten lepers who were healed and Jesus had to ask later, Where are the nine? Only one came back to Jesus. They never did follow Jesus but this fella came into the light but he did something else. He did something more.

He walked on in the light and he kept on confessing his healing and his deliverance and his miracle when he could have easily got discouraged given the opposition that he came up against the whole Jewish community opposed him. You see, it's one thing to come out of darkness and into the light of the truth. It's another thing to walk on and on and on in that light.

Colossians 1.13 says, For he delivered us. Here, this is our testimony. This is your testimony tonight.

For he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. This refers to our initial coming to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. But the preceding verse in Colossians 1.10 talks about where we go from the point of salvation.

Listen to it. In fact, if you were to ask me, Pastor, would you give me some of the key verses that captures the philosophy of the Times Square Church? Here's one of them. Underline it.

Mark it down. Put TSC beside it, if you will. Times Square Church.

Put those initials beside this verse, if you will, because here's part of the philosophy. Here's we believe in all the truth, but especially this exemplifies what we're all about here in the church. Paul said, We have not ceased to pray for you that you be filled with a knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

That's what I'm talking about tonight. Walking in the light. That's what that means.

To please him in all respects. That's holiness. Bearing fruit in every work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. There's that word again, light. Paul says that salvation qualifies us or embarks us on a journey.

It is a journey of walking in the light. We may call it holiness. We may call it other things.

Here I refer to it as walking in the light, which among other things means that we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, endeavoring to please him in all things. And this message therefore is about confessing about true biblical confession, positive confession, because only those who walk in the light, only those who walk in the truth, only those who are endeavoring to please him in all things, only those people have a true biblical positive confession. Now look at me how this blind beggar received his sight.

Not only in coming into the light, but that he kept on confessing the light and walking in that light. Now first of all note, if you will, his pool of Salome experience. Jesus sent the man, as we will see if you look in verse six, Jesus sent the man to wash in a popular known pool of water.

There he washed his eyes and he came back seeing. But first Jesus did something relatively crude, certainly unusual, and that he made clay out of his own spit, put it over the blind man's eyes and thus making him doubly blind, if you please. Look at verse six.

When he had said this, he spat on the ground and he made clay of the spittle and applied it to the clay and applied the clay to his eyes. Then Jesus sent him away to the pool of Salome to wash out the mud and when the mud was gone he could see. Now what was going on here? Why this mud in the eye routine? Why did Jesus not simply speak the word to him and say you're healed? Why put him through this seemingly poor, hygienic, even embarrassing application of mud in his eyes then sending him off to another place where the man is healed when Jesus is not even there? Now of course it was worth it to go through all that for his healing.

When you're desperate you'll do almost anything if you want help. And this man did not argue. He didn't resist.

But you must admit that Jesus' methodology was very perplexing. Well, we anoint with oil but we haven't used spittle yet. Now for our purposes and instruction there was significance to the mud in the eye routine and his washing at the pool of Salome.

Now first of all there isn't much speculation as to the meaning of Jesus applying this mud. You see spittle was used in those days to effect cures. It was very common.

Spittle was thought to be a preservative against the poison of serpents. It was also thought to be by the ancients something that would be a protection against epilepsy or that you apply it to leprous spots and they would be removed. People believed that if you had a crick in your neck you put spittle on it that it would cure you.

Have you ever seen the football players? They put mud, they put dirt underneath their eyes. I've never been able to figure out why they do that. It must be some ancient symbol of the ancient warriors or some macho symbol.

I don't know what it is or whether they think they're going to effect a cure and win the game. I don't know. But spittle was thought to have certain cures.

Also, and this is very interesting, the ancients believed that the spittle of certain distinguishing persons possessed certain curative qualities. Can't you just see it right now? Back on the table we're selling, we put all five of pastors together. We call it the power of five.

Or I can see some TV evangelist right now. I wonder why one of them, I think of one right now. Bob, you know exactly who I'm talking about.

I saw him this week. He sent out a thing. He said, put your hand on this paper and trace your hand.

Put your sins under it and trace your hand on it. Send it to me. I'll put my hand over it and I'll pray for it.

And the next thing you'll know, you'll get a letter from him asking you to send $100 and he'll send you his own personal spittle in order to heal you. But Jesus did not need any medical or medicinal aid to help cure the man's blindness. And yet Jesus never did anything without a purpose and without it have spiritual meaning.

And probably the most simple explanation for requiring the man to go wash the month from his eyes was to give the man an opportunity to do something, to obey a command and demonstrate through his obedience that he wanted to be cured. Jesus often did that. He would say to those who were obviously sick and need, he would say to them, do you want me to heal you? And he looked for some response or he gave them some command or he told them go.

And as they went, they were healed. In this case, they gave a man something to do. But I believe also the clay in the eye was and is a sign that Jesus did not only want to heal the man's physical blindness, but also that he wanted to get rid of the sin in the man's heart.

Now Jesus said that sin was not the cause of the man's physical blindness, but still he was morally and spiritually blind. And you see clay represents the earth. It represents the fact that we are made of the dust and the dirt of this earth.

And Jeremiah was given that vision of a potter's clay and he said it was marred in the hand of the potter. And so we are marred vessels and we have clay over our eyes. The world, the flesh and the devil cover our eyes and blind us to the light of the gospel.

And the blind man needed to get rid of the clay of sin as much as the physical blindness of his eyes. And when Jesus asked him, Do you believe in the Son of God? And he answered, Who is he? Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, You have both seen him and he is the one who is talking with you. You see the man saw Jesus with physical eyes and then the clay of sin was removed and he saw Jesus with the eyes of his heart and his understanding.

He said, You have both seen him. This is the sight, this is the light that you now need to walk in once the mud is cleared from your eyes. And as I said, I've often seen people get physical healings.

I've seen them get financial blessings. I've seen the Lord do other things for them or the Lord to meet some other need. But then they do not walk in the light as he is in the light.

You see, what does it profit a man if he sees the whole world of colors and beauty and persons and places or whatever one may have a positive confession for but does not know or see Jesus and therefore loses his own soul and does not get the mud out of his eyes. Jesus sent the man to wash off the mud in the pool of Siloam. And it says, look at verse 7 and Jesus said, Go wash in the pool of Siloam which is translated sint.

And he went away and washed and he came back seeing. Now the reason, there's another good reason that he sent him specifically. Jesus could have said, Now go anywhere and wash.

Go anywhere and get water. But he specifically went to the pool of Siloam and Siloam means sint. And let me tell you about that pool because there's something very interesting about it.

The pool of Siloam was located just inside the southeast portion of the city. The city wall. And it is connected, it is associated with one of the great human feats, engineering feats of the Old Testament.

During the reign of King Hezekiah he commissioned that they would build an underground tunnel or aqueduct to carry water from a certain spring located just outside the city wall. Now that spring which was called the Virgin's Fountain was the only means of water supply for the entire city. And Hezekiah in order to guarantee or protect the city from a possible siege in which the enemy would capture that spring and cut off the water supply to the city he had a tunnel cut underneath and through the walls of the city creating this amazing aqueduct.

And the tunnel was no small feat. Without modern equipment, without electronic equipment they cut through solid rock in a zigzag manner a distance of 583 feet. The aqueduct was at different heights at different places but it averaged about anywhere from 2 to 6 feet high.

And when it was completed and in fact they started at both ends and they worked towards the middle. And in fact in about 1880 archaeologists found an inscription on the wall that when the two different crews who were working away by hand heard the other crew and knew that they were just about to break through they made an inscription on the wall stating the fact that they could hear the other ones working. And they broke through and when it was completed it meant that water from the spring went through the channel and emptied into the Pool of Siloam which was an open air basin.

Siloam therefore you see that's why it means scent. And you see every Jew who knew history and who looked at the Pool of Siloam and knew that the word Siloam meant scent understood the significance of the word. You see that water was sent through much labor through much sacrifice, through great sweat and hardship and the Pool of Siloam contained water sent into the city to literally save the city and save the people from destruction.

And to say therefore that the Pool of Siloam contained water that was sent was really an understatement. I mean you could stand at the pool and somebody would say what's the name of this pool? And they would say scent. They said scent what do you mean? And then they would tell the story of those engineers that worked during King Hezekiah and then they would say oh I understand it now no wonder they called it scent.

That water really was scent. Now the point is this if you know Jesus if you're walking in the light it's because Jesus has washed the mud out of your eyes at a pool where he performed a miracle to send you living water. He sent you to the pool and in the pool there is living water and he sent it hallelujah through great sacrifice and great circumstances for you to be able to have your eyes washed and for you to be clean hallelujah.

Hallelujah. And just as Siloam contained the waters from a spring called the virgin fountain and their blinded eyes were opened so there is cleansing from the true Siloam which is Jesus the one sent from the father as a cleansing stream hallelujah. And there is no clay however thick or however long it's been on your eyes no longer no matter how heavy it may be upon your eyes there is no clay that the true Siloam Jesus is not able to wash away and cleanse out of your life hallelujah.

That water flowing from the virgin fountain is a type of a cleansing stream that flows from the throne of God and when we step into it the same thing spiritually happens to us has happened physically to the blind man. Look at verse 7 if you have your Bibles open again and he said go wash in the pool of Siloam which is translated sent and he went away and listen here is the word for some of you tonight and he went away he did it he washed and he came back seeing hallelujah hallelujah isn't that what happened to you? Isn't that what has happened to you? Turn with me to Ezekiel 47 just for a moment there is a picture of this this spring of living water in fact the prophet saw it it's a river it says and he brought Ezekiel 47 and he brought me back to the door of the house and behold water was flowing from under the threshold of the house towards the east from the house facing east and the water was flowing from under from the right side of the house from south of the altar my friend that's talking about your cleansing stream that's flowing from the throne of God hallelujah it's a river it's a river and on and down verse 3 and when the man went out towards the east with a line in his hand he measured a thousand cubits and he led me through the water and the water reached his ankles and some of you are ankle deep tonight and when I'm this healing stream and then he measured a thousand and led me through the waters the water reaching the knees and some of you may be knee deep tonight in verse 5 and he measured a thousand it was a river that I could not ford for the water had risen enough enough water hey folks let me tell you something there's enough to swim in there's enough to swim in don't just stay ankle deep just don't stay knee deep there's enough to swim in look at it enough to swim in a river that could not be forded and he said to me son of man have you seen this have you seen it and then he brought me back to the bank of the river and look at verse 9 and it came about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes will live and there will be many fish for these waters go there and others came fresh so everything will live where the water where the river goes everything will live where the river goes hallelujah that's the river that comes from the throne of God that was represented in the pool of Salome there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins where sinners plunge beneath that flood and lose all their guilty stain hallelujah you see there's blood now in the pool of Salome and all of the clay can be and must be washed away the picture that Ezekiel gives us there in Ezekiel 47 is that a superficial dip is not enough a superficial cleansing or washing will not do it in order to see clearly in order to walk in the full light of the brilliance of Jesus you have to get all the mud out of your eyes you know the reason that so many Christians do not have clear spiritual vision you know so many in Bible you hear this in counseling so many I hear so many people tell me I just the word I read it but I don't understand it or other people say I'm confused well sometimes not always but sometimes it's because there's still mud in the eyes and that's why you can't see clearly that's why you can't get clear revelation from God there may be residues of sin some of it we may even call blind spots things that you're not aware of that have to be dealt with Jesus ended up in this chapter in verse 39 he said for judgment I've come into the world for judgment in other words I've come to reveal the mud in your eyes and in your heart that those who do not see because of that mud or sin may see you see judge your sin and you'll have 20-20 vision spiritually speaking you see some people wash only enough to see through little people's they watch just enough just enough to get by they want just enough mud cleansed to say they're saved or to see their way out of some deep habit or life controlling problem but they do not stay in long enough to be thoroughly cleansed and my friend he wants to wash you completely and if you have to be like Naaman in the Old Testament who was told to go and dip seven times then my friend dip seven times until you get cleaned all the way hallelujah now next note how this man was tested after Shalom came the attack against him and against Jesus going to Shalom to wash was the easiest part that was a glorious part this man never would never believe after he came back what would happen to him facing the oppressors was a test as to whether he would walk in the light and confess what he possessed Ephesians 5 and 8 says do not partake with them meaning the ungodly and the unholy for you were formerly darkness but now you are light in the Lord walk walk as children of light Psalms 89 and 5 said how blessed are the people who know the joyful sound O Lord they walk in the light of thy countenance you see it's one thing to come into salvation it's one thing to have the initial experience in the pool of Shalom but as soon as you go forth to proclaim your sight there's going to be all kinds of questions and resistance and ridicule and attacks and oppression and persecution that you're going to face as soon as you come out of the pool of Shalom this poor fella is put on trial a religious court is set up to try to bring him down to deny what has happened to him he had to face attack after attack and had to maintain a positive confession against those who wanted him to deny that Jesus had done it and my friend this is the test of every believer you've come into the light now you gotta walk in it and part of walking in it is to maintain a positive confession in the face of opposition now this man made a positive confession in the face of three different attacks first of all his neighbors and his friends did not believe in his healing look at verses eight and nine the neighbors therefore and those who previously saw him as a beggar were saying is not this the one who used to sit and beg others were saying this is he still others were saying no but it's like him in the meantime while they're all arguing he's standing there I'm the one I'm the one yes I'm the one he kept saying I am the one now it may come to a surprise to some of you that when you begin to walk in the light and you begin to lay some things down in your life that others are not going to take you as seriously as you think that they should I've seen drug addicts alcoholics homosexuals I've seen others get delivered and I've seen them go back home I've seen them go back to their wife and they thought that everybody was just going to rejoice in their healing and deliverance and they found out that there was no applause there was no hand clap there was no congratulations there was nothing but skepticism and that can be very discouraging listen don't expect everybody to believe you if like the blind man after his healing you keep saying I'm the one I'm the one I'm the one you say to him I used to be blind I used to be bound I used to be bad now I see I'm walking in truth and you know what you get you get an argument I remember a young convert told me he said I got saved I was away from my family about four months finally I was going to go home and he said I dreamed I was excited about the day I was going to go home he said the Lord changed my life and he said I had this dream this prayer that we were all around the table we just finished our spaghetti dinner he's Italian and they all around the table and I had a chance to give my testimony and after I gave my testimony they're all going to get down on their knees and they all going to get saved and he said you know what happened he said I finally got home and yes they all were gathered to welcome back the prodigal and yes mother put out the fatted spaghetti mother put out the best you know whatever linguine ravioli whatever you know and he said yes we finished and yes I gave my testimony and then he said nothing happened they all said oh that's nice you needed it yeah you you you really need this and he said they totally rejected me and he said I got so angry with me he said I blew my testimony it took me six months to recover because he kept saying I'm the one and they weren't impressed you see the test of everyone walking in light and walking in righteousness and holiness is to maintain a positive confession when others do not believe you or take you seriously and I've seen some get discouraged I've seen them give up because others didn't fall down and repent when they shared their testimony or sometimes we have this thing in us as zealous Christians and new Christians that we're bound and determined once we're saved that we're going to sweep everybody else along with us and we play a game I call ready or not here I come I'm going to save you I'm going to save you whether you like it or not because I'm I need I need you to get saved and listen I've seen some cases in some cases you're going to have to walk in the light for months and years did you hear me for years before your family are going to finally know that it's real that you're walking in light and if you depend too much on the encouragement or enthusiasm of friends their enthusiasm over your testimony to keep your going you may be disappointed for it the Bible says we walk by faith not by sight hallelujah job says nevertheless the righteous shall hold on to his way he'll hold on to his positive confession regardless let others debate is it real or not real or so forth you just keep walking in the light then this man had to maintain a positive confession even though his own family did not support him now this sounds like I just said this but you gotta you gotta follow me on this listen to his parents as they try to maintain an uncommitted and neutral position regarding his healing you see here he is their their their son this ought to be the most joyous time in their life he has he's now seized and they know how he was healed they know who did it but they do not have the courage to stand up to the Pharisees and acknowledge Jesus as healer listen to it verse 18 the Jews therefore did not believe it of him that he had been blind and had received a sight until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight and questioning them saying is this your son who you say was born blind then how does he now see the parents answered them and said we know that this was our son we know that he was born blind but how he now sees we do not know that wasn't it they knew attacked the healed man faced was from religious leaders the worst attack you'll face if you're walking in the light and living a life that's holy and uncompromising will come from within the body of Christ this man was shocked and appalled by the treatment he received from theologians and from the religious establishment simply because he was walking in the light I've read it to you before he said how many times you want to hear it you hear it again are you going to get saved and he wasn't afraid to tell the religious establishment you're not even say you don't even know this one you don't even know Jesus if you're walking in the light if you're walking in holiness be careful that you do not develop a holier-than-thou attitude humility is a fruit of holiness but if your spirit is right and your walk is clean and pure before God sooner or later you're going to run into other Christians compromising Christians they have been raised on compromise and they may resent the light that you are walking in and they may turn on you and come against you and you'll be totally shocked and surprised by it but my friend as we move into the end days you're going to come and face it more and more and more you see there are some people who have walked so long in moonlight they don't know what it is to walk in sunlight you know moonlight Genesis calls it the lesser light and so many people have are so accustomed to lesser light living in other words the philosophy is that every man sins and don't no man can be totally clean and there's a philosophy of compromise and you'll run into it and you talk about living clean and living in total victory and why and that's what it means to you to walk in the light and they'll dispute you on it they'll come against you on it in fact let me share something else with you this may be a digression and not maybe not really a digression but I just feel led the Lord just dropped this into my heart Sunday morning when I was sitting on the platform I find Christians that fall under five kinds of spiritual light they walk in five different kinds of spiritual light and let me take this on quickly first of all there are some who walk in candlelight theirs is a religion of the special occasion to this so-called Christian Christ is not a light you walk in it's a special event you participate in at a holiday or a holy day Christ is a candlelight dinner to be enjoyed or endured once in a while but never taken seriously enough to actually live your life by the light or truth of Jesus Christ when Israel backs with that's alright somebody will take care of it amen that's hey the truth folks the truth is getting through praise the Lord man Lord we pray for him Lord just deliver him we come against the spirit that binds him in the G in Jesus name Lord you can take him to the pool of Salome and clean him hallelujah you know when Israel backslid they no longer were practicing their faith on a daily basis they were not walking in the light but you know what they always it happens in all religious movements you keep the festivals you keep up the religious form and that's why in Amos 521 he said I hate I reject your festivals nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies in other words he said you sit at your candlelight services but your hearts are far from me so there's some people that walk in candlelight secondly there are some Christians who all who live by what I call stage lights we've turned off these some of these stage lights here but we have a lot of stage lights some people want to walk by stage light or what I call Broadway lights and I refer to those who are always looking for and living off of experiences they go from meeting to meeting wherever there is a happening wherever there is the bright lights of a big meeting a big crusade a big name evangelist or big-time religion you'll find them there if somebody advertises miracle crusades signs and wonders or whatever appears to be sensational and unusual and exciting there is that Christian who is always looking for the Broadway lights of a Christian experience and they go from bright light to bright light but they never stay anywhere long enough to grow in the word and in the spirit and my friend if you live off of those experiences you'll die by those experiences and that's why we are we preach the Word of God to you here in this in this meeting we have praise and worship and we believe in experiences but my friend it must be based upon truth this is not just a church of the bright lights or the Broadway show Saul was converted in a blazing light acts 9 3 says and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him but listen he did not live off of that initial light in fact the light blinded him and in his blindness the Lord revealed his rebellion and his sin to him and you see the very people that run to big meetings and bright lights are the very ones who also run when God tries to wash the mud out of their eyes thirdly there's others that want to live in and by and only they want to live under the spotlight please follow me carefully this is the Christian who will go anywhere they can be pampered and stroked and coddled and bottled and babied and given lots of attention they only see their own needs they're obsessed with their own problems are always wanting and needing to be in the spotlight and paid attention to now listen my friend I'm glad I'm glad that when when I have a need that the Lord puts the spotlight of his love and his mercy upon me and he pays attention to me and so will we at this church when you're in need but the goal is not just to get attention the goal is to get healed and to move on and to walk in the light I remember when I used to get sick man I'd be sick for four or five days and after I'd get up out I I'd say to myself you know I wish I'd be sick again you know you know why because when I was sick I'd get all kinds of attention all kinds of attention you know I had food brought to me and all kinds of loving care and so forth and then I'd get better and it was back to normal you know and I want sometime I want to extend it and you know I've seen Christians just like that in fact I dealt with a sister one time and I finally told her and I told her in a loving way I said sister the worst thing I believe that could happen to you is if God would heal you because if God will heal you you'll lose you have used that all of your life to get sympathy and get attention and your self-image is so wrapped up in your pain and in your suffering and getting attention in the spotlight that is on you that God would heal you you'd lose all of that she looked at me be very careful don't seek a spotlight of human sympathy come to the light of healing and wholeness and move on in the Lord and others are looking for and seeking to walk in floodlights floodlights are very very bright and some people walk around carrying a whole set of floodlights because they are looking for the perfect church now if you come to Times Square Church thinking that you have found the perfect church you have set a standard of expectation that not one of the pastors or the congregation can live up to including yourself now I believe that you love and appreciate the Times Square Church but we don't want this to be a candlelight church a stage light church a spotlight church or a floodlight church we only want it to be a sunlight church s-o-n Jesus is the star the spotlight the eternal light that shines here hallelujah that's the light that we're going to walk in here that's the kind of people that we believe God is going to give us finally let me close some final thoughts about this man with a positive confession note that his positive confession was based on the truth a truth that no man no argument that could take from him the fact that he now knew that he had received his sight not only received it but he walked in that light in the face of his friends who opposed him his neighbors who opposed him his parents who didn't have the courage to stand up to him the whole Jewish community all the distractors and skeptics all they knew is what they didn't know their whole experience was based upon what they didn't know verse 29 says we do not know where he is from and over and over again they say we do not know everything they knew is what they didn't know and that's the truth most unbelievers will they know everything they don't know their whole argument is based upon ignorance and blindness they argue against the light based upon their blindness but this man had something that nobody or nothing could take from him he could walk in the light he said one thing I know hallelujah that whereas I was blind now I see hallelujah I remember talking about street meeting in Red Hook I remember just comes to me years ago in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn when we were first starting our outreach ministry and street work and we had this young Jewish convert from Williamsburg was saved and back then as soon as they were saved we let them go out in the streets because we were new and innocent and we didn't know the power of the drugs yet and so we you know we we didn't realize what kind of temptation we were submitting some of the young drug addicts to and so we took them out in the street right away and learn it later we learned that you got to wait and disciple them and they got to get a little stronger in the Lord but he was out there with us just newly saved a week or two weeks and some universally student got a hold of this young man and realized that he was a little weak and tender in his faith and he start throwing all they did to him exactly what they did to this blind man through all kinds of questions arguments you know all the questions can God make a stone so heavy that he can't lift you know all the typical arguments that are thrown at Christians and he's getting hit left and right and over and over again they say I'm sorry I don't know I'm sorry I don't know and finally this young Conrad he was disgusted he said sir he said listen you've been asking me all kinds of questions I got one question to ask you he said I've been a drug addict for many years I came from a Jewish background the only thing I knew about Jesus was that you used him as a curse word when you were angry he said I came to these people and they told me that if I would get down on my knees and ask Jesus to come into my heart that he would change me he said I got down and I invited into my heart and he said and it happened just like it was promised and he said now I know Jesus now I know I'm free from drugs and he looked at this young man he said sir if you're so smart why don't you explain that to me and you see there may be doctrines you do not understand and others may be way ahead of you in understanding biblical prophecy or the gifts of the Spirit you may not know the meaning of justification and regeneration and sanctification or eschatology but let me tell you something you don't have to take a back seat to anybody if you have this positive confession one thing I do know that whereas once I was blind and I walked in iniquity I walked in ungodliness and now I see and now I walk in truth my friend that's the one thing that you do know Paul said if I speak with the tongues of men and angels and I know philosophy or religion or theology and all the latest popular teaching in the body of Christ and do not have love and do not walk in the light I have become a very noisy gong and a clanging cymbal and much of what is happening in the church today is evangelical or charismatic gonging it's the gong show if you please Paul said if I have the gift of prophecy or we might say tongues and we believe in prophecy in tongues he said and I know all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith to name it and to claim it so as to remove mountains but do not have love and do not walk in the light I am nothing Paul said true positive confession is not just being able to say the right words it's being able to write live the right way and walk in the truth and listen if you're all caught up in faith language hear what the Word of God says if I have all faith as to remove mountains and do not love and do not walk in the truth he says we are nothing after all is said and done the one thing that's going to demonstrate our faith and our positive confession is this are we walking in the light as he is in the light if so the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness hallelujah hallelujah are you a man or a woman tonight with a positive confession oh may God encourage you to walk in the light of that confession shall we bow in a word of prayer hallelujah hallelujah Lord Jesus speak to some people worship there is no church revival without a house or a home revival and there is no home revival without a church revival