THE “YEA” OF FAITH TO THE WORD OF GOD

Matt. 9:28

Morning Meditation 5/14/17

Verse 28 says, “And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.”

F. E. Marsh said, “Obedience is the ‘Yes’ of faith to God’s Word. When we say, ‘Yes’ in fulfilling the conditions of the Lord’s promises, He says, ‘Yes’ to the prayer of our requests.”

FAITH’S ANSWER—“YES”

“Upon God’s will I lay me down,

As child upon its mother’s breast;

No silken couch or softest bed

Could ever give me such deep rest.

Thy wonderful, grand will, my God,

With triumph now I make it mine,

To ever dear command of Thine.”

There are several Scriptures where the word “Yes” is found in response to the Word of Christ. I will mention three of them and will begin with our immediate text.

THE “YEA” RESPONSE OF THE TWO BLIND MEN

Just before our present text Jesus had raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead. The two blind men had possibly heard of it and had been following Him. I can imagine the despair of being blind and the hope that would be inspired upon hearing of One who could raise the dead. Verse 27 says, “. . . two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.” The word “crying” translates “krazo” and means, “to croak” It is used, “of the cry of a raven, hence, to cry out, cry aloud, vociferate.” It is a present participle which means they continued to do this over and over. It was not a single cry (aorist tense). This shows both their hope and desperation. Needs arise in our lives that motivate us to cry out continually until we see the answer.

Jesus said, “Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.” The Lord’s question was intended to uncover faith. He knew. But we need to hear their answer to His question. Is faith being exercised everytime we pray? Not necessarily. Many of the requests of today have been forgotten by tomorrow. Notice the “ye” which is the plural you. Both were crying out to Him. His question is to both. Then notice the “They” in “They said unto him, Yea, Lord.” Verse 29 records His response in the words: “Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” Did their “Yea” response represent true faith? Verse 30 says, “And their eyes were opened . . .” They made a request. That put the ball in His court. He responded with a question about their faith. That put the ball back in their court. They said “Yea, Lord.” That put the ball back in his court. Then He made a slam-dunk! “And their eyes were opened!” Their “Yea” was the yea of faith. Faith is a “Yea” response to what He says.

THE “YEA” RESPONSE OF THE SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN

Matthew 15:27 says, “And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.” The word “Truth” in this verse translates “nai” which is exactly the same word as the “Yea” in Matthew 9:28. This Gentile woman had just made a bold request that He heal her daughter who was “grievously vexed with a devil.” Jesus’ response is quite surprising. He responded, “. . . I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This confirms that she is not a Jew. Now at this point most of the arrogant people I know would have left the scene crying racial prejudice. And don’t misunderstand me. I hate racial prejudice. But this is used as a phony crutch to a lot of people. This woman made an amazing response. “Then came she and worshipped him, saying Lord, help me.” You’ve got to admit she is sticking with her original purpose.

Then He says something that would scatter the average group of people like a covey of quails: verse 26 says, “But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.” Well, He did it this time. I can just see those racially prejudiced Jews nodding their egotistical heads in agreement with Jesus’ statement. Their chest’s fill with the air of Jewish pride. They are the chosen people which makes them better than us Gentiles. But before they have time to gloat very much and voice their agreement that Jesus should not waste His time on this Syrophenician woman, she replied to His designation of her as a dog, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.” Jesus had made a statement that would wound anyone’s pride. The unexpected answer is “Truth (Yea), Lord.” This is how faith responds to God’s Word no matter how much is damages the pride of the flesh. Jesus is always right in what He says. Now, what compensation did this Gentile woman get because she said, “Yea,” to the designation of a DOG? Read this carefully:

Verse 28 says, “Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” Here Jesus equates her “Yea” response, in humility to His statement to her, as FAITH. And it was the kind of faith that gets what it asks for. Do you think it is possible that faith married to pride is never the KIND OF FAITH that gets an answer? Is it possible that only faith married to humility IS THE KIND that gets an answer? If so, this may be the reason that our prayer for revival in our churches and America is going unanswered. Oh, you say, there is revival in America. Please. Don’t tell me that laughing like an idiot, and barking like a dog, and having a spell like an epileptic is revival!!! It is not what they had in the Book of Acts and this preacher will settle for no less. I believe a Bible revival will line up with the Bible in every aspect.

THE “YEA’ RESPONSE OF PETER TO THE QUESTION OF LOVE

John 21:15 says, “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.”

This passage has been an illustration of grace to me for several years. Peter has denied the Lord. He weeps as a backslider while his Lord and Saviour dies on the cross. These are not words of criticism. It is just a fact. Now after the resurrection, we discover that Jesus has not changed His attitude toward Peter. He started with Peter in John chapter one where He named him “a stone” (John 1:42). It was not because he was a stone. Jesus named him what he would eventually become. It is what Jesus intended to make of Peter.. Jesus continues to work on Peter after the resurrection and Peter’s denial does not alter His attitude toward him. He says, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” The “Yea” of Peter’s answer is the same “Yea” that we began with. It is the response of FAITH to what Jesus said. It is not emotions responding, it is FAITH responding to what JESUS IS SAYING. Peter is ready to listen and respond to what Jesus says. The rest of this passage indicates this.

Contrast this with Matthew 16:22 where Peter openly disagreed with Jesus about His soon coming death on the cross. And compare it to the Lord’s prophecy of his denial in Matthew 26:34-35 where he argued with Jesus about his coming denial. Peter no longer argues with Jesus when his love is questioned. His response is “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” This puts the “knowing” in the Lord’s court and the “believing” in Peter’s court. Peter says, “Lord, you are the One who knows, I am ready to believe what you say when you say it whether it makes sense to me or not.” Peter uses this word “Yea” twice in this passage. This word “Yea” is only found 34 times in the New Testament.

Faith’s response to what Jesus says puts the ball back in Jesus’ court. What does He do with the ball? His answer is, “Feed my lambs,” a slam dunk!

“Now, Lord, I don’t want you to use Peter until he has suffered a little because of the way he treated you. I just believe he will have to pay for this sin of open denial. How can You tell him to feed your lambs before he has proven to us all that he is really sorry? Lord, you just told him to ‘feed my lambs’ even before you asked this question two more times!” Does this sound like a conservative Bible believer or what?

Was Peter’s “Yea” a real response of faith? He said it in verse 15 and verse 16, and in answer to the third question about his love, Peter didn’t say, “Yea,” he said in verse 17, “Lord, thou knowest all things . . .” Would you say that that is a FAITH RESPONSE to Jesus or what? True faith says “Yea” to all that Jesus says, and knows it is true, no matter how unreasonable it may seem to our normal way of thinking.

Jesus says, “Do you love me Peter,” and Peter responds, “Yea, Lord, by faith I say it. I have discovered that You do know all things. I thought I knew myself but I have discovered I didn’t. So all I can say to your question is, “Yea, Lord.” Jesus said, “That’s enough. Feed my lambs.” If you don’t mind, I am going to have a camp-meeting spell right here on the computer before God and everyone!!! Hallelujah!!!

Where did Peter ever suffer for the wrong of his denial of Christ? We are not left to doubt. Luke 22:61-62 says, “And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.” He suffered the bitter tears of repentance. Peter discovered that this is all it takes. Jesus paid for his sin of denial on the cross. Grace forgives and restores. It sounds like easy grace. It is. God has no problems with the disciple who falls and repents. The problem is with those who sin and deny it. The problem is with those who sin and say, “everyone else is doing it.” The problem is with those who do not respond in faith to Jesus when He says, “You are wrong. You need to get this thing right,” and they just keep procrastinating. We need to ask ourselves the question, “Is our faith a “Yea, Lord” faith?

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White