In our text, the Lord asks this question,
do you believe? What a question. Not, does somebody else believe? I think of when the man He said,
Lord, are there few to be saved? He said, you strive. Just forget everybody else. Do
you believe? Do you believe that I am able to do this? You know what their answer was?
Yes. I've entitled this message. Yes. Have you ever heard, seen, or
experienced something that brought out a spontaneous yes from your
heart? Yes. Do you believe that two plus
two equals four? Yeah, I do. Do you believe that I am able
to do this? Yes. There's a difference between
those two yeses, isn't there? actually an infinite difference.
This that the two blind men said is more of a visceral reaction
relating to the deep inward feelings as well as the intellect. The
word visceral comes from visceral which means the intestines, the
inner organs and the inner organs are supposed to mean deep affection. Now this is a scriptural concept.
I'm not just saying things I've read. In Philippians chapter
2 verse 1, the Apostle said, if there be any consolation in
Christ, any comfort from his love, any bowels and affections. Put on, Paul said in Colossians
chapter 3 verse 12, put on therefore as the elect of God, bowels of
mercies, kindness. The bowels were said to be the
seat of passion, love, anger, tender affections, compassion.
Paul said to Philemon, the bowels of the saints. Are refreshed
by the brother. He said of Onesimus receive him
as mine own bowels. Yay, brother. Let me have joy
in the, in the Lord refresh my bowels. As I said, this is more
of a visceral. Yes. This is more than the yes of
the intellect. This is the yes of the bowels. Do you believe that I'm able
to do this? Yes. This is more than the yes of
cognitive ascent. This is the yes of the heart. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, what's the Bible mean by that? With the heart, man believeth. unto righteousness. What's it
mean to believe with your heart? Well, it certainly does not mean
the intellect is bypassed. You can't believe something you
don't know. That's impossible. The intellect is not bypassed,
but this is more than cognitive ascent. This is the yes of loving
what you're hearing. This is the yes of joy. This
is the yes of the will. You're glad it's that way with
the heart, with the mind, with the affections, with the will,
the whole man with the heart. Man believeth unto righteousness. Do you believe that I'm able
to do this? Yes, I do. I do. I believe he's able to do this,
you know, our whole Faith is His ability. 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I believed. I'm persuaded He is able to keep
that which I've committed to Him. He is able. He is able. Turn with me for a moment to
Mark chapter 7. Verse 27, but Jesus said unto
her, let the children first be filled for it's not meat. It's
not right to take the children's bread and to cast it under the
dogs. And she answered, this was the
response of her heart. And she answered and said, yes,
Lord. If I've ever heard the truth,
that's it. Yes, Lord. That's the response of my heart
to that statement. Yes, Lord. Yet the dogs under the table
eat of the children's crumbs. Now let me set this up with what
took place. There was a woman, a Gentile
woman, She came to the Lord with a great need. Do you have a great need? She
came to the Lord with a great need. Jesus, thou son of David. My
daughter is grievously vexed with the devil, have mercy on
me. That's how she came. with this
great need, and the scripture says, in Matthew's account of
this same event that we're reading of in Mark, he answered her,
not a word. She comes with this great need,
with great respect, asking for the right thing, Mercy, and he
answers her, not a word. She met with a silence. Now, did that cause her to give
up? No. She continued to cry, the scripture
says. Even after he didn't answer her, she continued to cry. Now, let me tell you, when you
continue to cry, when you have no other options, As long as
you have options, you'll go in other directions. But if you
have no other options, you will continue to cry to him just like
this woman did. And you know what he said? His response was, I didn't come, but for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Now here she is crying to him
first. He doesn't answer. She continues to cry. And he
says, and this is exactly what this means. I didn't come to
save everybody. I came to save the elect. That's who the lost
sheep of the house of Israel are. God's elect. That's all
I've come for. I didn't come to save everybody.
What was her response? Did she get angry? Did she say,
this is not fair. No, the scripture says, then
came she and worshiped him. Now, I want you to understand
this. Me and you, we'll only worship a sovereign. If you can manipulate him, if
you could get him to do what you want him to do, you won't
worship him. You only worship an absolute
sovereign. You're in his hand. He can do
with you whatever he's pleased to do. Now, did she say, well,
that's wrong? No, you know what she responded? Help me. If you don't help me, I won't
be helped. That's the only way you come to the Lord. If you
don't help me, there's no help for me. And then he said, it's not right,
it's not meet, it's not proper to take the children's bread,
the gospel of my grace, and to throw it out to the dogs. What's
he saying to this woman? You're a dog. How did she respond? That's the truth. If I ever heard
the truth, that's it. Truth, Lord. Yes, Lord. Same word. Yes, Lord. That's the deep yes of the bowels. Yes, Lord. But the dogs. Eat the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. Yes, I'm a dog, but I'm your
dog. And I'm sitting under your table
and I would be so grateful for any crumbs of mercy that fall
my way. You know what he said to her? Oh woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. Turn with me for a moment to
Matthew 21. Now the next three yeses I'm
going to give are yeses of the Lord. I think it's very interesting
to think of the Lord responding yes. And you know, the scripture
says we have the mind of Christ. And what he responds yes to,
we respond yes to. This is our yes. His yes is our
yes. Now look in Matthew chapter 21. Verse 15. And when the. Chief priests and
scribes saw the wonderful things that he did. And the children
crying in the temple saying Hosanna to the son of David. You know
what Hosanna means? Save, Lord. What a prayer. What a scripture of glory to
Him. You're the Lord. Save. Salvation's in your hands.
Save me. Save, Lord. They ascribe to Him
absolute lordship. Save me. Hosanna to the Son of
David. You know what the scripture says
about these chief priests and scribes? They were sword displeased. How can he let people say things
like that about himself? Who does he think he is? Is he
that arrogant and proud that he would take those names to
himself and not correct those people? I love it in Luke's account
when they said that, the Lord said, if these should hold thy
peace, the very stones would cry out. Verse 16, and they said unto
him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them,
yes. Yay! Have you never read? I love when
the Lord says that to the Pharisees. They'd read every scripture coming
and they'd probably read it 10 times, but you've obviously never
understood it. Have you never read? Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings thou has perfected praise. Hosanna to the son of
David, yes. And you know every believer says
yes. In Luke chapter 10 verse 21,
We read at that time, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid
these things. Who hid them? God did. Who did He hide them from? The
wise and the prudent. The wise in their own eyes. I
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes." That word, even so, that comes
out, yes, is the same word, yes. Now, here's what the Lord said
about this. Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, revealed them unto babes, yes, for so
it seemed good in thy sight. Now, if it's good in the Lord's
sight, it's good. Yes, yes. If it's good in the Lord's sight,
it's good. Now, let me remind you, He's
God and there's nobody like Him. He's holy. He's sovereign. Whatever is taking place is His
will being done. He's all-wise. He's all-powerful. He's too wise to err. He's too
kind to be cruel. And He's too powerful for His
will to not be done. Whatever is good in His sight, Yes. Yes. In Luke chapter 12, this is the
third yes of our Lord. In Luke chapter 12, verses four
and five, he said, but I say unto you, my friends, be not
afraid of them that kill the body. And after that, there's
no more that they can do. But I'll forewarn you of whom
you shall fear, fear him which is able, After he hath killed,
hath power to cast into hell, yea. Yes, I say unto you, fear
him. Now, don't fear anybody that's
able to kill you, and that's all they can do. Fear him who can kill you, and
after that, what he can do with you. He can cast you into hell. Fear him. Now, you know what
that tells me? As long as God is, there's nothing to fear but
him. You remember the saying by, I
think it was Roosevelt at the time of World War II, that there's
nothing to fear but fear itself? No, there's nothing to fear but
God. Fear him. Anybody that can kill you, big
deal. That's all they can do. You're
still gonna stand before God. Fear. Turn with me to this scripture,
John 11. Beginning in verse 23, this is the Lord talking to Martha
after Lazarus has died. And Jesus saith unto her, thy
brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day.
I understand the doctrine of the resurrection. I understand
that on the last day, God is going to cause everybody to be
raised from the dead. I know that. Jesus saith unto her, I am. the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? I know you've got the resurrection
down, Pat, but do you believe that I am the resurrection. It's not an event. I am the resurrection. I am the life. My life is the life that God
will accept. My life is your life if you're
one of mine. I plead only his life. Nothing
else. I am the resurrection. I am the
life. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me. Notice the order. You gotta live
to believe. You gotta be given spiritual
life to believe. Whoso liveth and believeth in me shall never
die. Believest thou this, she saith unto him, yea, Lord. Yes,
yes, I believe you're the resurrection. I believe you are the life. Your
life is the only life. Yes! Yes, I believe thou art the Christ.
I believe you're God's prophet. I believe you're God's priest.
I believe you're God's king. I believe you're the son of the
living God. Now, let me ask you a question.
I'm not asking if you believe you're saved. I'm not asking
you if you believe you're one of the elect. I'm not asking
you if you believe the Christ died for you. I'm asking you
this. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the son of the living God? Yes, Lord. I believe. Now, after the Lord had been
raised from the dead, good old Peter said, I'm going
fishing. Now, I don't believe he meant
I'm going Fishing today. I believe he's saying, I'm going
back to being a fisherman. I've had it with this disciple
business. I'm going back to the way things were. And some fellows
went with him. James, John, three or four of
the disciples, I mean, they all followed in line. Peter was a
leader and they followed his lead. I'm going fishing. And you know the story how the
Lord, They said, children, have you caught anything? No. Throw the net on the other side. And they brought in a great load
of fish. And they knew it was the Lord at that time. And the
Lord had prepared them breakfast. But at that time, the Lord asked
Peter this question. And I want you to put yourself
in Peter's place. The Lord asked Peter this question. Lovest thou me? Lovest thou me? Note the question, not Simon,
are you sorry about your denial? Not Simon, even after your denial,
you still went bad and started going back to fishing. Simon,
how could you do such idiotic things? Not Simon, have you learned
your lesson? Not Simon, do you promise you
will never do this again? Not Simon, are you sufficiently
humbled? Simon, lovest thou me? Do you love my person. Yes, Lord. Do you love me for
who I am? Yes, Lord. Do you love my lordship? Yes, Lord. Do you love my sovereignty? Yes, Lord. Do you love my independence,
how I have no needs? Yes, Lord. Do you love my holiness? Do you
love my justice? Do you love my grace? Do you love my mercy? Do you
love my immutability? Do you love me? That's the question.
Do you love my person? He asked him this three times.
And I love the way Peter ends up on the third time. He was
grieved the Lord asked him three times. And he said, Lord, you
know all things. Now there's a lot. In that statement,
I can't fool you. You know me as I really am. You
know how sinful, how weak, how contradictory I am. You know it. I can't try to act
before you. I can fool other people, but
I can't fool you. You know all things, and you
know that I love You're a person. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians.
This is actually the scripture that inspired this message. Do you love me? Yes, Lord. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 20, for all the promises
of God in him are yes and amen unto the glory of God
by us. Now, this is the yes of strong
agreement. This is the yes of strong affirmation. All the promises of God in him
are yes. Now, what led Paul to make this
statement? We'll look up in verse 17 of
second Corinthians chapter one. When I therefore was thus minded,
did I use lightness, fickleness, or the things that I purpose,
do I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should
be yay, yay, and nay, nay, yes and no to the same thing? Now,
if I would summarize the great majority of preaching that I
hear, it's yay, nay preaching. Yes and no to the same thing. Now, what do I mean by that? Is salvation really all of grace? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. But, there's always a but, but
you have to accept it before it will do anything for you. Now, if there's something you
must do before, it's no more grace. You see, that's saying
yes and no to the same thing. Yes, it's my grace, but no, it
won't save you unless you accept and receive this grace. Is the
blood of Christ enough to make you without fault before God?
Well, yes, it is. Of course it is. The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Yes, it's enough. But,
there's always a but. You know, it's the nature of
a goat to but, isn't it? But. Yes, the blood of Christ
is enough, but you need to accept and receive his forgiveness before
he can forgive you. It won't do you any good. Yes,
he died for you, but it won't do you any good unless you do
what it takes to make it work for you. That's yes and no to
the same thing. Is God sovereign? Yes. But man has a free will. That's
yes and no to the same thing. If man has a free will, God's
not sovereign. He's not sovereign over man's free will. That's
ridiculous. That's foolishness. That's absurdity. Yes and no
to the same thing. Does God the Holy Spirit give
life? Yes. But he can't give life unless
you let him, unless you allow him to let God have his way.
Wow, that's ridiculous. That's yay and nay preaching. That's saying yes and no to the
same thing. It's just not so. There is no
truth in that. No truth. Let's go on reading. Verse 18, but as God is true,
how true is God? Well, the scripture says with
him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He is absolutely
true. As God is true, our word, our
preaching toward you is not yay and nay. You see, if preaching
is yay and nay, it's nothing. It's nothing. For the son of God, verse 19,
Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and
Silvanus and Timotheus was not yea and nay, but in him was yea
for all. A double L all. the promises
of God in Him. Every promise God has for the
sinner in Christ Jesus. You see, salvation comes because
of the promise of God. ALL the promises of God in Him
are YAY! YES! and AMEN! and to the glory of God by us. Is salvation really all of grace?
Yes, period. Does the blood of Christ actually
put away sin and make me perfectly clean before God? Yes, period. Does God the Holy Spirit give
life? Yes. You know, when you were
first conceived, did anybody ask you about it? Well, it's
ridiculous, isn't it? It's ridiculous. God didn't ask
you if you want to be born again. He birthed you into his kingdom
through the preaching of the word. All the promises of God
in him are yes. The only no is no man comes in
father, but by me. Now that's a good no, isn't it?
All the promises of God in him are yay and amen to the glory
of God by us. Now I've got two more. Turn with
me to Revelation 14. This is the yes of the Holy Spirit.
And remember, whatever God says yes to, every believer says yes
to, without exception. Verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write. Now that's so, write it down.
Aren't you thankful for what God has written down? Well, I am. This is not up for
debate. Write this down. What? Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works
do follow them. Now this is the yea of the Spirit
of God. That's His response. Blessed
are the dead. The best day of my life. is the
day I die. You know why? I'm going to be
without sin, without sorrow. That's what it's talking about
when it says they'll have rest from their labors. That's not
talking about, well, I've worked so much for Christ. I don't have
to work anymore. Now I get to rest. That has nothing to do
with that. The struggle, the labor every
day, the labor with sin is no more. Once I die, I'm brought
into Christ's presence, made exactly like him. No more trouble,
no more tears, no more sorrow. Yes! Yes, saith the Spirit. Their works do follow them. They don't come out in front
as the cause, they don't walk along the side as evidences,
as grounds of assurance, but they do follow them. And I think
this is the best example of somebody where their works follow them.
Here's the best example in the scripture, I think, Lot. Let me tell you one thing Lot
did not do. Lot didn't look back. His wife did. He looked only
to Christ. And his works followed him in
that sense. Now, the last one is found in
Revelation 22. Verse 20. He which testifieth these things. This whole book, I know he's
talking about Revelation, but this whole book is his testimony. And this is a testimony I want
to hear. You know, people have these Personal testimony nights
when everybody gives their testimony, I despise those things. I don't
want to hear them. I don't want to hear your experience.
I want to hear what God says. I don't want to hear about what
you, anytime somebody gives a personal testimony, you write this down,
they're doing it to make themselves look better. Every time, without
exception. Here's the testimony I'm interested
in. His testimony. He which testifieth these things
saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. That even so is the same word
translated, yes. Surely I come quickly. Yes. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Now, the Lord tells us I'm coming
quickly. And he's coming quickly any way
you look at it. It might be he comes for you. When you die,
he's coming for you. He may be, what if he came back tonight? What if the Lord returned right
now? Could you say yes? Even so. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. I love that scripture. Brethren,
it does not yet appear what we shall be. And when John is speaking
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, when he talks about
being in a glorified body, he said, I have no idea what that
means. When he talks about being in a sinless state, he says,
I can't even imagine what that means. It does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we
shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Behold, I come quickly. Even so, come Lord Jesus, when
he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found,
dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before
God's throne. Now I know that I speak now as
a spokesman for all of the elect with regard to everything in
the gospel of Christ. Yes. Even so. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, by thy grace, we say what those blind men said
to you when you said, do you believe I am able to do this?
Yes, Lord. Lord, by your grace, the response of our heart is
yes. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.