The Faith of a Desperate Mother | Mark 7:24-30 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Thank you for singing the way you sang today. Wasn't it a blessing? Oh, I could've kept going. Amen. Amen.

It's a privilege to be in a house that loves the Lord with all their hearts, and I know that you don't just love singing, you love singing the word of God. And because of that, God is honored and we are edified, and we continue to worship in the word of God. So meet me in Mark chapter seven in verse 24. We will read a few verses, and we'll see what the spirit of the Lord has to say to us today. Mark seven twenty four.

And from there, he arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. But she answered him, yes, Lord.

Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. And he said to her, for this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter, and she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Among all the fears and all the concerns that our culture is facing today, none can be more unsettling than that which relates to the safety, the purity, the development of our children. I'm not speaking about the natural concerns and anxieties that we might have for our little ones.

That is not the primary voice of concern that we are hearing across this nation. I am speaking about a disturbing notion that is raising protests from people all across this beloved country. And as you know, there is a a gross level of evil and perversion that is being pushed on in our classrooms, in our libraries, in our media outlets, and they are preying on the most vulnerable among us, the most impressionable. And those who defend such an agenda identify this type of movement as being progressive, as being educational, but anybody who has a basic biblical worldview can attest and discern that, this is something much more cynical, much more concerning, that there is a force behind this propaganda. It's more than a political plan.

It's more than liberal ideas. It's even more than demented people in power who are imposing their twisted lust on those that we love deeply. No. What we see, what we perceive because of what we have in our hands, the word of God, we can safely conclude that at the center of it all is demonic powers at work. Unseen forces influencing the minds of people to adopt doctrines that are deadly in so many ways.

And it seems unprecedented. Right? Like we haven't seen this before. And there are some aspects to that that is true. But the concept, the possibility of unclean spirits harassing, preying on, influencing, tormenting children is no new idea concerning the word of God.

It's throughout the scriptures. And one of the strongest examples of that tragic reality is what we have here before us in this text. Here we have an incident. Here we have a testimony of a young little girl who's under the grip of the evil one. And more than that, we see here that there is lessons, instructions, insights that prove more than just the highlighting of demonic activity.

That is an example more than just what the Lord is able to do over these dark forces, something that we've covered over and over again. No. What we have here primarily is something that I hope will inspire you and it is this, how one's faith properly exercised can actually overcome these forces of darkness in the lives of those that we deeply care for. That's the essence of this story. You have a mother resilient, a mother courageous, a mother fearless, Who goes to great lengths to stand in the gap for her precious little baby.

And it really shows simply that your faith can go beyond what God can do for your own life, but what he can do in the lives of those that you desire to see changed. And my prayer in preparation for this message is twofold. It's very simple. Number one, if you have lost your grip, if you have lost your zeal, if you have abandoned your post in the place of intercession, that you would be freshly inspired by the word of God to put your hands back on the plow and to believe him again that through your faith things can happen. And if you are praying, if you're still believing, I pray that this message would serve would serve you like the hands of Aaron and Er who kept the hands of Moses up while he was standing in the gap for Joshua while he was fighting the Amalekites.

And so what we have before us is quite simple. What we have before us here is a teaching about a woman's faith. A woman's faith that has certain qualities that make it not just faith, but great faith. The best way to go about this teaching is to have Mark's account with Matthew's version open before us. And so I encourage you even from now, go to Matthew 15 and tuck your hand there while you have Mark chapter seven with you because we're gonna go back and forth between these two to get an a holistic view of what's happening here.

And if you don't think that this is worthy of our time, if you don't think that we need to dig into this, I want you to let Christ's concluding statement about this woman and her encounter with Christ to settle the matter. Look there in verse 28 of Matthew 15. What does Jesus exclaim? He says here, oh, woman, great is your faith. Great is your faith.

What about this woman's faith was so great? And why is it important for you and I to know? Well, I can only think of one main reason why it's important to know, because Hebrews eleven six tells us that with him, it is impossible it is impossible to please him without faith. So here's the point. If you are a person in this place who desires, who've experienced the regenerating work of God, and including in that work is this desire to please God, to actually give him joy, to bless him, then you'll be concerned with this message.

If you don't have that ambition in life, then this will mean nothing to you. Absolutely nothing. Though I hope that it will touch you to consider it. And so we we want to know what it is that pleases God. It's faith.

Okay. But there is a measure of faith that Christ commends. There are different levels of faith. And what we wanna strive for is the greatest. Because he is worthy of the greatest.

And so this is more than just examining a woman's faith. This is actually looking at the qualities of great faith. Great faith. And from my personal study, we will draw five qualities of great faith that come from a desperate mother. Let's read again in verse 24.

In preparation for this encounter, Mark informs us in great detail of the whereabouts of Christ. We're told here that he went to a home. That's not uncommon. Jesus visited many homes, but what is strange and interesting to us is the location of this home in the region of Tyre and Sidon, which is modern day Lebanon. And why is that interesting?

Because in this mission, for some reason, Jesus goes beyond the borders of Israel and stays within gentile territory. Why? Well, from the impression of this text, it is not for ministry purposes. And we know that Jesus' primary mission was what? To the lost sheep of Israel, not to the Gentiles.

And so from that, we can conclude that Jesus is not there to necessarily do what he did within the boundaries of Jewish country. No. Jesus is there for some kind of repose. He's seeking some kind of solitude. He perhaps is even seeking a place where he can instruct his disciples privately, something that he can barely do within the cities of his upbringing and around Israel itself.

But what's worth meditation here is Mark's additional phrase because Matthew tells us he goes to Tyre and Sidon, but Mark adds something else to verse 24 and it is this, yet he could not be hidden. I love that. And that's to be expected. And the reason why it's to be expected is because the people of Tyre and Sidon according to Mark three, you've been with us in Mark, came to Jesus in Israel because they've heard of him. His influence went beyond the borders.

And you had some of these Lebanese people, right, coming into Israel and seeking for a touch from this Jesus that they have heard of. And so it is no surprise that when Christ comes with his his group of disciples that he was noticed, they they were able to recognize him and as we know the news spread very quickly. He could not be hidden. A commentary for this context but a principle that lives on today. Isn't that right?

Christ cannot be hidden in many places. History has to acknowledge him. Philosophers cannot ignore him. World religions and cults cannot silence him. And you have even those who with all the faces of different faiths choose to use his name to proclaim dishonorable blasphemies.

Christ can't be hidden. They've tried to bury him. They've tried to bury his book. And he still dominates history. He influenced time itself.

And if that is true with the things around our world, how much more true is it when Christ chooses to abide in the heart of the repentant? How much true is it that when Christ lives in the home of your soul, he cannot be hidden? He cannot be ignored? Something happens. Those around you will recognize something about you.

You know, Paul said many astounding things in his letters and one of the things that I believe are just remarkable as a statement. Something that we memorize and the danger of memorization has become familiar and familiarity can rob us of the power of such statements. And he says this, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live and who who lives? It's Christ who lives in me.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me lives in you. What does that mean? Oh, you can have a series of messages on what that means. Christ lives in me. No wonder this man was unordinary.

No wonder he was different. No wonder he interpreted life itself with a different frame of mind. Because this unordinary man had an extraordinary person animating him and energizing him. Christ lives in me. That cannot be a statement made without there being implications, observable implications.

He cannot be hidden. When he is received, things change. When he is received, people perceive. And though there are better days than others, when we walk in the spirit, the fragrance of Jesus surely remains on us. But that's not the main point of the message.

What we have here is this woman now in this setting coming to Christ. And you heard me say that we're gonna look at five qualities of great faith. And here is the first quality of great faith. Number one, faith that is put into action. When the news of Jesus' arrival became known, this woman according to Mark with this very, very, very familiar word in Mark's gospel immediately went to him.

She did not delay. She did not wait. And this is no insignificant detail because it highlights her urgency, and her urgency communicates the high honor that she held for Christ. The great trust that she had in Christ. She came to him as soon as she could.

And I believe it's because this woman knew that the opportunity at hand would be soon quickly lost. It's not very common for Christ to come into this place, and I will not miss on this opportunity. I must find him because if Christ says who he says he is and if he can do what he says he can do what other people says he can do, then I must come to him before I lose this opportunity. I will not wait any longer. And it's clear that she had some level of understanding of who he was as a person because Matthew versions tells us what?

That when she came to Christ, she identified him as the son of David. The son of David. This is a Canaanite. This is a Gentile. This is the one who lived among pagans and idols.

And this is someone who acknowledge and understood Christ in a way that the Jews didn't even acknowledge. The Jews called Jesus many things, and a rarity was the son of David. And yet, this woman confidently approaches Christ and acknowledges his messianic title. You are the one that the old testament foretold. You are the one that was prophesied about I see you as such.

And so with this knowledge, she acts on it. That's the main point. With what she knew, she acted upon and she did not delay. And I'm afraid that the posture of this woman's heart is rarely imitated. Week after week, how many people hear about Christ?

Week after week, how many people hear about who he is, what he can do, the promises and the rewards that await for those who turn from their sin and embrace him? And yet with all of that in our in our free country, how much of what we learn is applied with urgency? If applied at all, let's be honest. Let me give you a test, my brother. Let me give you a test, my sister, if you remember.

I I challenge you at the end of this message, at the end of this message, pause and listen to your heart. What will it say? Will it be something along the lines of, well, that was pretty thought provoking. I never heard a sermon on this Syrophoenician woman like that. Or maybe you won't be impressed at all.

Or will your heart turn to the Lord in hopeful confession and utter something along the lines of, oh, God. If that is what great faith is to you, I want it. You see the difference? Do you hear the difference between hearing truth and letting your faith connect with that truth? You see the difference between it reaching your ears and it coming down into your heart and possessing the seed of your will and your affections?

There's a great difference. Hearing something about Christ is not the same as linking your faith with it. And linking your faith, activating your faith is not some passive thing that awaits emotional stimulation to engage in. It's a conscious choice. If this is true, I will believe it and I will act on it.

And whatever this truth demands will demand my obedience. That's faith. Whether your emotions accompany it or not. What we do with what we hear greatly matters to God. Greatly matters to God.

And ultimately, our faith is demonstrated and materialized with exactly that. Here's what I will do based on what I just learned. Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. What kind of command is that? That's a command that indicates that we are very susceptible to just being hearers.

This woman was not such a person. She heard about Christ. She knew something about Christ. And when the opportunity came, she moved on it and she said, this is my faith. That's the basis, not just of great faith, that's the basis of faith.

Faith without works is absolutely dead. It's lifeless. It has no breath in it. And so we see this woman who acts on her faith and oh, there's a desperation. Oh, there's an urgency.

Oh, she prioritizes this moment. And this is something that Jesus will recognize as great because it will be built on, which brings us to the second point. Her faith was not only acted on. The second element, the second aspect of great faith is seen here. Her faith was humble.

Great faith is humble faith. And here in verse 25, we see here that this woman not only came to Christ, but fell down at his feet. And in Matthew fifteen twenty two, we realize that there's a fuller picture provided about her humility and it is in her statement. She says the first thing she says when she comes to Christ. She says, have mercy on me, oh Lord.

Have mercy on me. So you have the physical posture of humility and you have what is abiding in her heart overflowing out of her mouth. Have mercy on me, oh Lord. This woman's faith was great. Know this, because her request was presented on the basis of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer alone does not guarantee God's ear. It's the heart behind the petition that determines whether we win his attention or not. And there are so many clear and explicit verses about that, but one of the most striking teachings is from the Lord himself. From the Lord himself who gives a teaching about prayer that inspires those who are discouraged, but also provides warning and gives us a fearful possibility of what can happen to prayer, to what we do with prayer. And this is where if you don't have the ESV, it will be more clear, but if you if you do still, you can still follow along, but quickly go with me to Luke 18, and I want you to see a verse.

There's actually a phrase in a verse that is often missed. And if you have something like the King James or the New King James or the NASB, it's it's gonna be more obvious. Luke 18 in verse 11. Jesus teaches about prayer, and he teaches here in this chapter about the Pharisee and the tax collector. And he compares and contrasts the two.

And here in verse 11, we have the Pharisee. And it says, the Pharisee standing by himself prayed, thus, God, I thank you that I am not like the other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Okay. Do you see the annotation there by the word prayed if you have the ESV? See the number one there?

When you look at the reference, you'll notice that there is an additional phrase and the additional phrase is something that was actually added by those translations that I just mentioned to you. And it is this, prayed with himself or prayed to himself. You see that some of you are nodding your head because you see that. Prayed with himself, prayed to himself. The ESV for some reason translates it as standing by himself prayed.

Whereas the other translations would say standing, prayed with himself or prayed to himself. There's a big difference. I don't think that this is being given to us to indicate that the man prayed inaudibly or that he prayed at a distance. There's something here that distinguishes his kind of praying. It was self congratulatory prayer.

It was a recitation of his own goodness and his own righteousness and his own worthiness. It was words packaged, yes, to deliver to God, but ultimately for him to open up himself and to enjoy himself. What you have here is a man essentially you ready for this? In his praying, talking to himself. God didn't recognize it.

God didn't hear it. Oh, sure. He addressed God in it, but how much of our praying can actually be addressed to God but for other people to hear? Do you see? He prayed to himself.

And I read that and I thought to myself, Lord, how many people who are actually praying are in reality talking to themselves? What a frightful, miserable possibility. I don't want that. Look at this, we're told that this man came to the temple. We're told that he stood.

We're told that he took him time to, I guess, verbalize something, some kind of spiritual discipline, and the Lord overlooked it completely. This man's fruitfulness and the effectiveness of his praying was as good as somebody talking to themselves in a room by themselves. Wow. How do we assure ourselves that this is not something that we fall into? How do we assure ourselves that our prayers will actually reach the throne of grace instead of just remaining in the chambers of our own heart?

Well, you don't have to fear. Jesus gives us the key. And it's not with this Pharisee, it's with the tax collector. And you scroll down and you see in verse 13, but Luke eleven eighteen rather verse 13, but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And we're told later that this man went away justified and the Pharisee didn't.

And what was what was the key that swung open the doors of heaven? It was this man knowing that he deserved absolutely nothing that he asked for. That's the difference. If there's gonna be any self awareness in your praying, let it be an acknowledgment of your absolute unworthiness and God's willingness out of his kindness to grant you what it is that you are seeking him for. And if we come with the confidence of our own merit and the false notion that we are deserving of what God can give, as though we're doing God a favor when we come to him.

Alright, Lord. Do you want us to pray? Okay. Here I am. Let's see what you can do.

Uh-uh. Uh-uh. No. You're gonna be praying by yourself and to yourself. The no we're no better than the Pharisee in this story, but this woman this woman reflected the attitude of the tax collector.

I am not appealing to my own holiness or my own godliness. I'm not coming in my arrogance to assume that just because you are God and you have this power that nobody else has, that you have this responsibility to do something for me, I am appealing solely upon your mercy. In other words, if you're not merciful to me, there is no point in me praying. Might as well pack up my stuff and go, and never show my face in the temple again. The prophet Daniel was and is one of the most recognized men of prayer in redemptive history.

And the Holy Spirit gives us one of the most astounding prayers ever recorded in all of Holy Writ. And there in Daniel nine eighteen, you don't have to turn there, this is how he concludes his prayer, for we do not present our pleas to you because of our righteousness. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. It's your mercy. It's you being willing to give me what I don't deserve.

And so if you come to the Lord, great, but come to him broken. Come to him needy. Come to him with a realization that apart from him, overlooking your sin, overlooking your faults, overlooking your inconsistencies because you are clothed with Christ, then there's no praying. There's no point to it at all. But if you do have that, you'll arrive that much closer to great faith.

Faith that has action. Faith that is humble. Thirdly, what makes this woman's faith great that makes us inspired to see great faith? Her faith was persistent. Verse 26 of Mark.

Now the woman was a gentile and we're told there in the second part of the verse, she begged him begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. The persistence is here in the begging. In other instances, the Lord is willing and has answered prayer, answered requests, answered pleas almost immediately. But he knows exactly what to do with each of us. And for most of us, if not all of us, if our faith is gonna be great, if it's going to be stretched, if it's going to grow, then it must be met with some kind of challenge.

There must be adversity. There must be something that demands us to lean in, demands us to push forward, demands us to to to shine a little bit brighter as things get grimmer. And in this woman's case, what she experienced that called for greater faith is something you're very familiar with. I'm sure of it. I'm no prophet nor am I a son of a prophet.

But I have a feeling. What was she met with that caused her to beg? Sound in Matthew fifteen twenty three. But he did not answer her a word. But he did not answer her a word, and his disciples came and begged him.

Now the disciples are begging, saying send her away for she is crying out after us. Many reasons why we grow faint in prayer, and I think one of the most devastating blows to consistency is divinely ordained delay. When God chooses not to answer as quickly as you would like. And how discouraging is that when you give days and weeks to something only to see no change. Only for the Lord to seem to be indifferent or maybe even in our gross interpretation distracted.

But I looked at the store and I thought to myself, there's another perspective on this. If I'm experiencing that suspenseful silence from the Lord, I should not see this as a discouraging thing, but as an opportunity. What do I mean by that? If it was not for this delay, we would not have this display of great faith. Do you realize that?

It was through the Lord choosing not to answer that this woman was able to be pulled into greater heights of trust, into greater heights of worship. The Lord's silence here is not a sign for her to give up nor is it a sign for you to give up. See it as an opportunity to even give him more pleasure. Look at it this way, when he chooses to remain mute, it only pulled something more out of her, and it is no different for you and I if we choose to give faith in that moment. What happens here in Matthew fifteen twenty four?

It Says in 23, he did not answer a word. Look at what happens. She doesn't decrease, she increases. She doesn't pull away, she moves forward. She doesn't stop, she succeeds.

In verse 24, he answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him saying, Lord, help me. And he answered, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs? She said, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

K. You're not gonna answer me. Things actually look like they're going in the opposite direction. I'm sure you felt that too. I felt it.

It's as though my prayers are putting things in reverse. And yet this woman still has the faith to call him Lord. You're silent. The answers are not coming the way I thought they would come. Lord.

Lord. You're still Lord. I think for many people when they don't see God doing what they want, they they reconsider the lordship of Jesus Christ. Now here's this woman reinforcing it. Doubling down.

Remaining absolutely unshaken. And I'm sure you noticed something here that's not easy to ignore, that we have to address. Jesus' reference to dogs. Right? All the enemies of the gospel love to use this text to show some kind of fault in the savior.

So So let's look at it. It's not a derogatory term. It's not a term that the Jews often use to identify the Gentiles. No. If you look at the Greek, it's a unique word and it's a word that describes a little dog, a household pet, something that was cared for by families.

And so Jesus here is not speaking about necessarily her identity as a dog, more so as an analogy of priority. That if you're you're in a house, the food is gonna come to the children before it comes to the animals. And the response of this woman gives us the assurance that she understood the illustration. The Gentiles are second. In this period of redemptive history, in this part of God's program, the Jews are to receive a chance in accepting their Messiah.

And so she sees that. Right? Because even Jesus alludes to that. It says here about the children being fed first. This is not an outright denial.

This is a matter of delay. And this woman saw that and she in this place recognizes what Christ is saying. And that's again something that is unfamiliar. Unfamiliar in the sense that Jesus experienced so much of the Jews who did not understand his sayings. And here's a woman with great insight, she was able to perceive it.

And based on what Christ said that positions her not as the priority, not only did she understand the saying unlike many of the Jews, she was willing to accept it. How much of the encounters that Jesus had with the leaders of the Jewish people especially aroused arrogance and pride and self righteousness? Not so with this woman. So as Jesus resists in a way, all it does is highlight her humility even more. Highlight her faith even more.

You and I have the same opportunity. Remember that again. That's a conscious choice. Okay. Lord, if if and I'm gonna be challenged here, then I'm gonna continue to pray, and I will continue to trust in you.

She accepted it. Okay. I'm second place, let me be second place. I'm not even gonna argue for the full meal. Is there crumbs left for me?

Do you have any crumbs? Anything from the table that I can have because the crumbs of your mercy are enough for me. If your power comes to me in crumbs, I know that it's enough to heal my daughter. Do you see the faith? Doesn't it move you?

Aren't we inspired? Yes. And you should be. But what did it require? Delay.

What did it require? Not immediate genie like answers. Resistance, time, pressure, circumstances that seem to contradict. And then in that moment, we have an opportunity to demonstrate and develop a beautiful thing of worship. This woman here essentially saying, I may be wrestling for an answer, but you are still Lord and I'm not going anywhere.

Now, I don't think that point is new. You know this point, prayer, perseverance, prayer, persistence, don't give up praying. We all know that. K? I'm sure of that.

But over the years, I've heard a very common question, and usually from those who actually do pray, and this is a question that I really appreciate, a question that I've thought about. And the question goes something like this. Well, when do I know when to stop? How do I know that God's silence in this season of prayer is him demanding more faith from me or is it him just asking me to move on? Do I continue?

Do I intensify? Do I put more energy into this? Is there any indication? Is there anything in the word of God that instructs me to know when to cease praying? You know what's fascinating?

That is not even an instruction in the Bible. The emphasis is always to continue, to strive, to be fervent, not to give up, to ask, seek. The there's very little to work with that would encourage and or entertain the concept of calculating and estimating when it is that we should stop. You see the opposite. To continue to press on.

But it's still a valid question. It's still a valid question. And here's the thing, according to my own studies, there are one, maybe two instances in all of the Bible where you get an explicit command from God not to pray. And it's not given in didactic literature. It's given in a unique instance.

Does anybody know one specific, the clearest example where someone was told not to pray? Jeremiah. I want you to see it for yourself in Jeremiah seven sixteen. This is not the only time Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord not to pray, but it is the first one. And notice what the Lord says to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah seven sixteen. As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them and do not intercede with me for I will not hear you. That is the most explicit example of God telling a servant not to pray. You go to the New Testament, you see the exact opposite. So how do we reconcile these two things?

Well, it's not clear, but this is what I believe we can make of it. That if you want to know when it is that you need to cease praying for something, one, you're gonna ask yourself, is it even according to the will of God? Many of us are praying about something that God has already made clear. Okay. Should I keep praying?

Yes. You should have stopped praying a long time ago, actually. God made it already clear. His word says what it says. Besides that.

For the unknowns, right? For the gray areas, For for things that are not necessarily mapped out in the bible concerning my life. How do I know? Well, based on this and the rest of scripture, I think the best way to know is when God lets you know. When he makes it abundantly clear whether you should move forward or not.

And he can do that supernaturally. I believe that. And more often he does it providentially where you will know and the spirit will give you wisdom to know, k. This is where I stop. Let me give you an example.

If you're praying about that person being your spouse, if you're asking the Lord, is this the person I am to marry? And that girl gets married, you can stop praying. K? You you don't need to know. Should I stop praying?

It's done. Move on. There's somebody else. Alright? Many examples.

We can we can we can look to that. How do I know if I keep praying for healing? How do I know if I keep praying for his healing? Well, you keep praying. You keep praying until God heals or God takes him home.

You keep praying. And I think that is the attitude that the the Bible gives us and calls us to. Persistent, immovable, constant prayer until he makes it known. Here's another example with Paul in second Corinthians 12 in verse eight. Three times I pleaded with the Lord.

Three times I pleaded. He was speaking about the thorn in his flesh. Three times I came to God and he said to me. What did he say to me? Right?

Then he tells him about how his grace is sufficient. I wonder if the Lord did not speak to him three times, how many more times Paul would have prayed? It's on the third time that the Lord chose to reveal and says, look, this is not going anywhere. My grace is sufficient for you, this is staying, but you're gonna know my power in your weakness. And so I see another example there.

Paul kept praying until some kind of answer came. Some kind of clarity, some kind of revelation. And this woman was persistent. She believed. And even in Christ answer that seemed to be a no.

It wasn't really a no. Remember, it was the children must be fed first. And so she saw an open door there with those piercing eyes of faith. Okay. Fine.

But there's still crumbs. Can I have some? That doesn't offend God, it moves God. Persistence. Did you lose your persistence?

Did you receive clear indication that you should stop or did you just lose heart? Persistent faith is great faith, but it's not the only thing that makes faith great. We see here in Matthew now, in the same verse that I quoted to you about the Lord not answering her word. Look at Matthew fifteen twenty three for the fourth mark of great faith. It says here, but he did not answer her word and his disciples came and begging him saying, send her away for she is crying out after us.

So this is close to number three, but it's not really. Number three is her faith was persistent and the battle with her persistence was mainly between her and the Lord. But here in point number four is her faith was immovable. Immovable not by her own doubts, not by her own sense of discouragement, but by outside forces. This is actually my favorite point.

Her faith was immovable. So what happens here is that this Lord, that this woman is clearly coming to the Lord in a way that's very, very obvious. And so obvious was that the disciples were right there, and they they were engaging in this moment. They were aware of it, and it annoyed them. I don't know how she did it, but I just try to imagine there's the Lord slightly leaning over to the other side, and here's this woman trying to get his attention, and there are the disciples around saying, when is this woman gonna stop?

We came here not for this. All of that kind of stuff is back there in Israel, we're here on a little vacation, and and and Lord do something please. You gotta put an end to this. And I and I realized here that this woman was not just challenged in her faith by silence or by bleak hope, it was confronted by the lack of spirituality of the disciples of Jesus Christ. Imagine coming to Jesus with your problem hearing those who traveled with them, those who were closest to him treat you in this way.

Express how annoying you are. That your presence is actually a pesky thing and that you just want her to go away whether her problem is solved or not. Imagine being a gentile, holding her from a distance of this messiah and what he could do. And when you were visited by his representatives, this is the kind of stinking attitude they give. Is it a strange concept for those who claim to follow and serve Jesus to demonstrate disappointing behavior?

Answer, no. No. It's not a strange thing at all. It's unfortunately too common. That's exactly what this woman is facing.

You know what's so sad is that that's all it takes for people to lose faith. That's all it takes for people to cut their commitment with Christ just because some of his disciples treated you or said something about you. Right? Your parents come to church, hallelujah, amen, when they go to when they go home, they cuss and throw things at each other. This is Christianity.

This is Christianity. Mom and dad come in here, amen, brother, how are you in the car? They were eating each other alive. This is Christianity. Or you come into this place and you see people worshiping, you see even people maybe in ministry, and then you go on their social media during the week and they look no different than the heathen.

They post worldly things. They look worldly. They sound worldly. This is the same person at church in here? Is this what Christian I don't think I want anything to do with this.

If this is Christianity, especially if they're serving in ministry teams, no thanks. Or how about this one? This one might hit close to home. Forgive me. You know, my friends don't go to prayer meeting anymore.

Not really worth it. If they go, I'll go. But they haven't been in a while. I think I'll just hang out at home. It's not great faith.

That's bottom of the barrel faith. That your commitment to the cause of Christ vacillates based on your environment, namely the people around you. Here you have these disciples begging Jesus to send this woman away. Can you imagine that? You know, one of my first exposures as a born again Christian when I went to a meeting, as I went there freshly fresh out of the oven, saved.

And somebody in this room can attest to that because they were there with me. There are people there openly making fun of me during that time. I'm not trying to, like, pour on that. This is not, like, counseling session. I'm just trying to make a point.

I couldn't believe it. This happens. This happens. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna let your faith be dependent upon what other people claim to be disciples of Jesus do to you?

Nothing of the sort with this woman. This woman did not allow the poor attitudes of others, even Christ's closest followers to deter her. Her eyes were on Christ. Her eyes were on Jesus. Her eyes was on his power, his character, his word, his will.

And so she stayed laser focused on him and him alone. And that is what great faith entails, that you stay the course no matter what other people do with their with their lane. You just stay the course. And you trust that as Christ sees your conviction being unmoved, that commendation is on the way. Commendation is on the way.

Immovable faith. Not dependent upon people grow or not grow. Whether people are consistent or inconsistent. What What people are hypocritical or faithful. Who cares?

This is Christ in me. I will be held accountable before the Lord. He's worthy of my worship. Let the world go in a different direction. Let people in my church go a different direction.

This is between me and my master. Is there a mutual accountability? Yes. Is there a call for us to look at each other and to call each other out when we need to? Yes.

Does that mean that we should tolerate people's sin? No. But your faith is your faith. Is it immovable? We see here the last and final point of great faith and it's really perhaps to us a strange characteristic but it has biblical verification.

Great faith is not only faith that moves in action. It's not only a faith that radiates humility. It's not only a faith that is persistent. It's not only a faith that is immovable. It is a faith that knows how to stand in the gap.

There are only two places in all of the New Testament where Jesus identifies somebody's faith as great. Here, we see it in Matthew 15, we see it in Mark seven, and we see it also in Matthew chapter eight with the centurion. What do both of those things have in common? Yes. They were Gentiles.

I understand that fully. I'm fully aware that what made these people's faith great is that they were outsiders who showed more trust and belief than the people that you would expect it from. But there's more to it. There's something about these two instances, right, where you have the Roman centurion and this woman coming to Christ. And I believe one of those things, additionally to the fact that they were Gentiles, is that they sought God for someone else.

The Roman centurion for his servant, this woman for her daughter. And I think we can learn from this and what we can learn is that the Lord is deeply moved and pleased when he sees us exercising our faith on behalf of someone else. And this is where the message comes full circle. Right? What you have here is a a young girl tormented by a demon and you have a mother who comes with absolute trust in the Lord that she can experience his grace.

And we don't know the details of her condition, but it was enough for her as a mother to discern this is not erratic behavior. This is not some psychological disorder. This is Satan attacking my baby. And so she obviously, discerning that, knew where to go. Evidently, whatever she tried to do in the natural had no success.

It came to no avail. And so with what she knew, she came to Christ and she said, I have no strength. I have no strategy. I have no solution. You have to step in.

Give me some crumbs. You need to do something here. As I was meditating on this, I thought that perhaps many parents are feeling the same. Many uncles, aunts, grandparents, you've done everything that you can and all you're really doing at this point is witnessing someone that you invested so much in slipping away into the hands of the evil one. Their minds being infiltrated by demonic doctrine.

Satan's agents being sent to entice them away from the will of God that you would hope that your son or daughter would walk in. And you've done your part. Years of VBS. Years of Sunday school. Years of personal discipleship.

To come to what? And so you're discouraged and even more discouraged because whenever you sit down with that teenager, whenever you sit down with that college student, you have these serious conversations and you try to be as as discerning, as gentle as possible and all you're met with is blank stares. Like you could talk about anything else in the world and and their eyes will light up. When it comes to faith and Christ and his word, his will, you're talking to a hollow shell. Maybe even worse with others.

Resistance, rejection, mockery. And there's this almost panic as you're seeing somebody become a vessel for the evil one instead of a vessel for God. Let me quote JC Ryle to you, and I hope this encourages you. Quote, even when they, being your children, even when they will not let us speak to them about religion, they cannot prevent us speaking for them to God. That is right.

Be like this woman. Alright. You're not going to let me talk to you. I'll talk to God for you. They're up against something when you do that.

Let me encourage you that it's going to be a lot more difficult for them to sin when you do that. Let me tell you that there will be, like Lot, divine interruptions even though while they live in Sodom. That's that's the whole point. I love that story about Abraham and Lot. Here's a man who does not know whether he wants to evade judgment or stay with the people that are gonna experience judgment.

And we're told there in Genesis that it was because the Lord remembered Abraham that Lot was delivered. Not because of Lot's faith, Abraham's faith. Have you lost that hope? Are you seeing them going wayward? Do you see no sign, no pulse of life?

Are you praying? I'm not trying to beat you here over over your head with a bible, say you better be praying. I'm trying to give you hope. I'm trying to get you excited not to condemn you into the closet. Are you praying?

Have you called upon heaven's resources? Have you called upon the Holy Spirit as an agent to come and to knock on their hearts, and in a holy way to haunt them until they realize their need? Great faith knows how to intercede. Great faith says, I'm not just believing what God can do for me, I'm believing that what I can do yes, poor little me, what I can do in prayer because of God's greatness and mercy can change somebody else. That moves God.

You believe that if you pray for so and so, I can do it. Watch me do it. It's a wonder to God. It's a spectacle. It's something that he actually praises.

You know what's so sad? The opposite is just as much as a wonder to God. Let me prove that to you in Isaiah fifty nine sixteen. We're told in that verse, he saw about God. He saw that there was no man.

He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede. When Judah was going to hell in a hand basket, you know one of the one of the things that made God wonder as he looked down? Who's interceding? Who has the faith? Who has the heart to actually believe that if they stand in the gap in prayer, I can do something?

And it says here that no one, no one, no one to intercede, he wondered. How is it that nobody's taking advantage of this weapon? How is it that nobody is actually boldly coming to my throne and believing that I can do something from my throne? How is it? He wondered.

But in this case with this woman, he wondered of her faith because in love she came in prayer. You know, someone cleverly made a contrast between Mark chapter six and Mark chapter seven. In Mark chapter six, you have another mother who influenced her daughter for evil. Remember Herodias? She encouraged and stimulated her daughter to sin for her selfish pleasure.

And then you come to Mark chapter seven and you see a completely different mother. One who came in love for her daughter and prayed for her. You know, this week we were away for a funeral, had a chance to sit with some of Joelle's family members to hear different I was just hearing different testimonies. You know, the one thing I came away with those conversations is that those saints, those early saints, the saints that had less distractions in life, they prayed. They prayed.

That's what I took. They prayed. Very simple people. Nothing fancy. No big churches.

But boy, did they have testimonies. And the common denominator was they prayed a lot. They prayed a lot. One of the stories I heard was how one of the men, whenever a guest would come over, he wouldn't do anything before they prayed together. If anybody came over if you're going to somebody's house, you're gonna pray with that guy before you do anything else.

And I thought to my he jokingly said, that made some people not wanna go over to his house. But they had testimonies. They had stories. And I was convicted. I was convicted.

And one of the things that touched me as well was from one person who said, to this day, I'll never forget waking up every single morning as a teenager and hearing my father in the other room pray. And the way he prayed, some mornings made me weep the way he talked to God. Father, mother, what kind of legacy are you gonna leave? Look at this woman. She prayed.

Look at her What she made her daughter worldly. She made her daughter sin. She encouraged her daughter to go out to dance in an evil way before an evil man. And you come to this mother. While her baby was sick, she went and prayed.

Oh, I'm sure that when she came back home and she found her daughter lying on her bed that they had an amazing conversation of that encounter with Christ. I wonder what the relationship became like after they learned of a mother's faith and a daughter's need. Be encouraged. Today, you and I can graduate in faith. You've been given the curriculum.

You've been given the answers. You got a cheat sheet. You and I can know great faith by five simple elements. I'm sure there's something you can add, but let me give you five from this chapter again. Faith that is acted upon.

Let me remind you of the test. What will your heart say when we say amen today? Will it say, well, pastor did better than last week. Will you say, Lord, if that's what great faith is, I want it. Are you humbled today?

Because Christ is attracted to humility, or is there a part of us that says, I believed in you. I walked away from my family. I walked away from my sin, and this is how you're gonna treat me. You're praying to yourself. Persistence.

The hardest thing. Trust me, it's hard. The persistence. Have I given up? If I've given up, why did I give up?

And here's the beauty of it. If you get back if you get back, he is so merciful to hear. He does not condemn us. He does not frown upon us. He encourages us.

He knows how fickle we are. He knows how frail we are. And from time to time, he knows. That's why we have his word. That's why we have sermons like this to remind her, hey, get back.

Her faith was immovable. Immovable. The disciples didn't influence her, even the fact of her gentile neighbors. Imagine that. In a pagan place, she comes to Christ.

What she was essentially doing was turning her back on these idols. They do nothing. I'm coming to the living God. So you have enemies of this God and you have people who claim to be for this God being your enemy. What are you gonna do?

Say I'm never gonna go to church again and watch Facebook live and that will be my church. That's not the will of God. And her faith was so big, so great that it could not stay for herself. I believe that my faith connected to God's mercy can touch that person. I'm gonna pray for my son.

I'm gonna make through my prayers and God's goodness him absolutely miserable in his sin. A praying mom is a scary mom. Trust me, I know. And so be encouraged. Leave this place to say, great faith.

Lord, this is what I desire. Enable me by your mercy to be able to do and to walk in it, to grow in it, and he will do it. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Lord, we thank you for this word. Oh, we bless you, Lord. We bless you. Thank you for reminding us what great faith can do. Thank you for reminding us that great faith is not dependent upon societal status, not even based upon knowledge.

Just by taking you by your word and remaining there in your word. Lord, we ask that if names have come to us, that you would help us to target them again. Lord, we ask that when we feel weak, that these words would remind us again that in those moments of testing and trials and delays and circumstances that contradict what we're asking for, that in those moments is an opportunity to say, I will give you my faith still. I will give you my worship still. I will acknowledge my unworthiness and your worthiness still.

And in those moments where I don't see what I need, I will ask you for the crumbs. And, Lord, we pray that in the disappointments of people in the church, of believers, of family members, help us put our faith in you, not them, you, you alone. And to be a testament to the world, a watching world that you are worthy of our devotion at all times, in all places. Lord, a word like this can easily condemn, but that is not our desire. We pray to be inspired.

Not our obedience from this place would be from love. Help us to hear your voice of love and to give you back our love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Let's stand together and worship the Lord. Shall we?