"Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered and *said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs." And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my honor and great privilege to study God's Word with you today. We are here because we cannot get enough of the things of Christ. I want to let you know how grateful I am for each of you, for your faithfulness, dedication and commitment to share God's Word with others. People all around the world are desperate for the Word of God. It's a tremendous blessing, but it's a blessing that brings a huge challenge. With more people coming to Christ, pastors and church leaders are asking for more Bibles in their native languages.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my honor and great privilege to study God's Word with you today. We are here because we cannot get enough of the things of Christ. I want to let you know how grateful I am for each of you, for your faithfulness, dedication and commitment to share God's Word with others. People all around the world are desperate for the Word of God. It's a tremendous blessing, but it's a blessing that brings a huge challenge. With more people coming to Christ, pastors and church leaders are asking for more Bibles in their native languages.
Most of the time Jesus' action are very clear to us but for most people, the way Jesus acts in this passage seems to be so out of character for the Jesus we have come to know. In fact, this is the only occasion recorded in Scripture when Jesus reacts with delayed compassion towards someone who was clearly in the middle of a crisis and has come to Him begging for help. Some have suggested He was upset with her for revealing His hiding place, other have suggested it was her nationality, a Canaanite, she was Gentile, and the Jews looked upon the Gentiles as those who were under divine judgment. Or that He was overly tired, having just gone through a difficult time, constantly being misunderstood. After all, no one, not even the disciples seem to really understand Him.
It is interesting that the champions of great faith were Gentiles, those considered to be the outcasts in Jesus' day. One would have thought the opposite to be true, that they would have come from the nation of Israel, God's chosen people. From the beginning, God's plan of salvation was always intended to bring to the entire world through the nation of Israel, however, due to their misunderstanding of the Old Testament Scriptures, the Jews rejected that message. They believed that they alone were the beneficiaries of the covenants of God, so they isolated themselves from the Gentile world and were generally hostile toward them. How often do we reject those Christ has called to be saved because we believe them to be outside of what we think are His boundaries?
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word for us today, there is so much that we can learn from the profound truths contained in this passage, may we meditate on them and apply them to our lives. Lord, we pray for those who have heard the Truth yet continue to reject Christ, we ask that You would work on their hardened hearts as only You can and confirm the Truth in them, that they might be compelled by its power to repentance, embracing Him as Lord and Savior and experience the joy of salvation in this life and the hope of heaven in the life to come. Father, we pray that Your Truth would explode across this nation, and the world, replacing the lies that abound everywhere, for Your glory.
We ask and pray this in the name of our Christ
Amen
Today's Message: Great Faith
Open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 7, verses 24 through 30. I
invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds. I pray that the Holy Spirit would help us to not only hear but make application in our lives what He has to say to each of us today. Mark 7:24-30.
"Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered and *said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs." And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left."
Let's look at verse 24, "Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice."
Once again we see Jesus seeking seclusion to isolate Himself from the frenzy of crowds that constantly surrounded Him, from religious leaders who were unwilling to embrace the truth of God, and were devising a plot against Him to take His life. This was a deliberate withdrawal, well beyond the jurisdiction of the religious leaders of Israel, to the region of Tyre and Sidon, the region of Decapolis, the Greek word for ten cities, which would be the southern mountains of Lebanon today. As far as we know, this is the only time He went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This was not out of fear, as some have suggested, He needed this time to rest and to be alone with His disciples, to prepare them what lies ahead. We don’t know how long He was there, but there were no teaching events recorded in Tyre and Sidon. Mark says, “And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it," which I believe indicates that the assumption is He wanted to focus His attention on training the disciples, making sure they understand. Then Mark says at the end of the verse, "yet He could not escape notice." The news of His miracles had spread, no doubt the people of Tyre and Sidon were among those who had heard of His miracle power. Apparently, this woman not only knows who He is, but also what He’s capable of doing.
Verse 25, "But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet." This woman doesn't wait at home hoping that Jesus will pass by, no she acts and immediately goes to Him. Perhaps she had been in those crowds that had been following Him, she was certainly familiar with Jesus because Matthew tells us she's a Canaanite, which is worse than a Gentile because they were cursed by God. There weren't supposed to be any Canaanites left, God commanded these vile, idolatrous, sinful people to be obliterated. Yet when heard Him being there she shows up and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us." But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"
Verse 26, "Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter." She knows that she has no access to the covenant promises, she has no worthiness to ask Him for anything, He doesn't owe her mercy. Still she knows He’s the only one who can help her. He isn't lacking compassion, He's shown compassion on many faithless people before. I believe there is a lot more wrapped up in His barriers through which she must persist, an element of humility, brokenness, and repentance. This woman understands she's not worthy, she's relentlessly begging for mercy. That's what saving faith looks like. Remember the publican in Luke 18, who was in the temple beating his breast, saying, "‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’" Repentance is the key that opens the door to God's grace. I believe that we all ought to learn something here about what we deserve, we deserve Hell. What we need is mercy! Jesus said in Luke 13:24, "Strive
to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to
enter and will not be able." The narrow door, that's the only way in.
Verse 27, He finally answers her, "And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." First He ignores her, now He compares her to a dog? No, He's using an analogy. He loves to draw people into His parables using things they would easily relate to. No parent would take sure the food for the children and give it to the dog, no matter how much he begs. The priority is to feed your family, but when the dog keeps begging, looking at us those big sad eyes and we give eventually in and give them something. He's saying the Jews have a priority over Gentiles; to the Jews first, and also to the Gentile. In other words, this is not the time for salvation truth to go to the Gentiles. I love her persistence, she doesn't just give up, you aren't going to get rid of me with that analogy. Notice, she doesn't care if she is making a spectacle of herself, she continues to beg for mercy to extend beyond the borders of Israel. She isn't offended, instead she humbles herself before the Son of God and begs to benefit from the overflow, so that the meal at the table of the Lord is not interrupted. This is a foretaste of the blessings which would come to the Gentiles, now poured out to us freely, without exception.
Verse 28, "But she answered and *said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs." She's acknowledging she's not worthy, outside of the covenant promises, that Jesus was to feed the children of Israel first, so she merely asks for the crumbs that fall from the Master's table. True saving faith cannot be discouraged. Keep this in mind, all Gentile salvation has flowed from the covenant promises given to Israel. They were intended to be the means of salvation to the world, not the end, we see this all through the gospel. The same message that saves the Jews saves the Gentiles. There is only One Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. John 6:51, "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." Even the crumbs from the Master's Table are more than sufficient to meet even our most difficult needs.
Verse 29, "And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter."
Her answer was evidence of true faith. She came to to the Lord, in meekness and humility, penitent, desperately seeking, and He responded, she received the blessing! What a beautiful picture of true saving faith, a faith that is humble, penitent and persistent, that sees Jesus for who He really is and refuses to let go no matter what the obstacles may be. Matthew adds He said "O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once." He has such tremendous power over demons and the kingdom of darkness, He doesn't need to be present, His power is omnipresent!
That brings us to verse 30, "And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left."
In Closing..
We are living in a generation that has a sense of entitlement, believing nothing should be withheld from us, we deserve to have whatever we want, in fact, we demand it now. Unfortunately, like much of secularism, it's made it's way into the church, with the "name it and claim it" theology. We only need to remind God of His promises, telling Him what we deserve for our
faithfulness to Him. Allow me to remind you, this is the antithesis of what Scripture teaches. Faith isn't demanding, it acknowledges our unworthiness before a Holy God, it humbles itself before Him, anticipating compassion believing that the Lord will never turn away from those who trust in Him.
While this message is a very simple one, it's meaning is profound, helping us to understand what great faith looks like. When
people needed the church the most, pastors wanted to play it safe,
trusting government rather than God, which has contributed to decline of
the church in America. When a cultural shift in sexuality and gender
dysphoria began to affect innocent children, once again pastors proved
themselves to be spiritually weak, deciding to remain silent or affirm
such wicked behavior rather than to
speak God's Word boldly and risk offending a depraved culture, we should
not be surprised the congregation followed, becoming spiritually weak
and faithless. Great faith will never turn away from God when it's uncomfortable, it will fearlessly trust in God and in Christ alone and relentlessly push through the barriers.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen