Lesson 719

(Lesson 719)(08-08-13) Today's lesson on faith takes us to the example found in Matthew, 9:29. Our reference will involve Matthew 9:27-30, "And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. 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. Then touched he their eyes, saying, according to your faith be it unto you, and their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, see that no man know it."

In this example, Jesus used both the words "faith", and "believe", in His conversation with the blind men. Believing, by definition, is an exercise of faith. Ones faith is expressed through his willingness to "believe".

In this example, Jesus first asked the blind men, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" After verifying that the men did indeed "BELIEVE", Jesus said "according to your FAITH be it unto you", after which both men received their sight.
Did the blind men heal themselves? NO!! The exercise of their faith allowed the power of God to heal them ("according to") that faith.

Jesus placed no further requirement on these men except that they not speak of what had happened.

There's some significance in Jesus' telling those men to "see that no man know it.", in that, further reading in this chapter tells us that they directly and immediately disobeyed what Jesus instructed them to do. Did they lose their sight again because of it? No. Therefore, one could easily assume from this demonstration, that disobedience is not tied to whether, or not, one maintains the fruits of ones faith.~