Matthew pt. 56 - Tested Faith

Matthew 15 verse 21, that's where we are.

Matthew 15:21

We have finally come to the only passage and the only time where

Jesus says no to somebody. I've been telling you about it

from Matthew chapter 1. I love to emphasize it because

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

it's, it's, it's quite ironic, I think in the setting of the

Gospel, like I've told you before, if I was to map out my

own year of preaching, even though I, I know how important

healing is and I believe in it, I would never put as many

healing sermons in a year as the gospels actually force you to

preach on healing because they go, OK, that's way too much

healing. Except that the gospels do

emphasize healing that much, which is funny because we're

actually going to go from this passage.

And then right after this, again, guess what happens after

he heals this woman's daughter? Surprise, he heals a ton more

people after that. So next week we're going to have

specifically a Christmas sermon, but after that will continue

again. So it's one of my favorite

passages. It's surprising because instead

of becoming evidence that God does not want to save, instead

of becoming evidence that God does not want to heal, instead

of becoming evidence that God does not want to deliver, or

instead of showing that God's promises come to us

automatically, it's actually more evidence that our own faith

has a necessary role to play in receiving from God.

Not going to have any biblical gymnastics for you today.

Not going to get fancy. Don't have any slick preacher

moves. We're going to read out loud and

we're going to see Yep, Yep, Yep.

And we're going to go through it verse by verse together.

I want to give you some context though.

For context, we're, we're almost certainly in our Lord's last 12

months on the earth before his crucifixion and before his

resurrection. It's probably safe to say we're

even in his last six months or less.

That might be surprising because you're going, man, we're only in

chapter 15, but it goes to 28. Well, when you get to verse,

when we get to chapter 21, we're in his last seven days.

So the whole, so verse 21 is the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday

and then everything else we're getting detailed day by day,

play by play of his last week in Jerusalem.

So it's, you know, we're kind of, we're kind of we get, you

know, 20 chapters of, you know, he of three years and then we

get, you know, 7 chapters of just seven days.

So it really breaks it down. And then, and then we only get a

couple of moments of his post resurrection, you know, because

remember he was here for another 40 days after his resurrection,

but we don't get a lot of that. So our context lets us know that

his timing, where He is, and what he's doing from from

chapter 21 to 28. Like I said, we'll see his last

week, but what is he doing with His time right now?

It's going to be interesting when you see it.

So you're in chapter 15, verse 21.

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of

Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman

from that region came out and was crying.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David, my daughter is severely

oppressed by a demon. But he did not answer her a

word. And his disciples came and

begged him, saying, Send her away, for she's crying out after

us. 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 crumbs that fall from their master's table.

Then Jesus answered her whole woman, great is your faith, be

it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed

instantly. God, we thank you so much for

your compassion and for your wisdom.

You know what we need when we need it, and You're always right

on time. I pray that light and revelation

would come to your church today. I pray that I would make the

appropriate and right applications with your word.

That we would see exactly what You intend for US, open up more

of the treasures of Christ for us, Lord.

That we would love Him more, that we would know Him better,

that we would be more thankful and even more Worshipful.

And I pray that you would build our faith for all that you have

intended for us to receive from you.

And not only as receivers, but as ministers that we would carry

out the gospel message in power to heal the sick, to raise the

dead, to cast out demons, to do the works that you did in

greater works because you've gone into the Father and now

sent the Holy Spirit to fill us and equip us for ministry.

We thank you for it all in Jesus name, Amen.

So where is Jesus going? The Scripture tells us he is

leaving Israel and he goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

So what do we know about these places?

You may remember them from Matthew Chapter 11.

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

I'm going to quote to you from Matthew Chapter 11, verse 21

Matthew 11:21

says then he began to denounce the cities where most of his

mighty works had been done because they did not repent.

Do you remember that Jesus dropping bombs and and

condemning these cities where he's been doing all these

miracles among all of his own people.

And then he steps out of the scene and he's going, you will

be judged harshly. Capernaum, will you be lifted

up? No, you won't.

This is the very city where that had the honor of saying King

Jesus lays his head here, he rests here, he ministers here,

his headquarters is here. And are they?

Did they build their whole culture around him like this is

the moment? No.

So he rebukes them for it. He says, Woe to you, Cherizen,

woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done and

you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented

long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more

bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

That's heavy. And you, Capernaum, will you be

exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to

Hades. For if the mighty works done and

you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this

day. But I tell you that it will be

more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom

than for you. So Jesus has earlier rebuked

certain cities in Israel. But why?

Because they were unbelieving. They were saying, well, we'll

receive those who received received.

But largely there was not repentance.

Largely there was not faithfulness.

Largely there was not love for him.

And now he has gone to Tyron Sidon, these cities that he

clearly showed is like, let me let me try and communicate to

these people some some scummy place with some scummy people.

He references Sodom. They go, Oh, yeah, but Capernaum

and the Capernaites who would have looked at, looked at Sodom

be like, we're so much better than them.

He says it'll be better for them on the day of judgement than for

you. Really.

Don't you know what's happening in Sodom?

Don't you know why it was destroyed?

That wasn't happening in Capernaum.

No, a much greater sin was happening in Capernaum.

The direct rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ to his face.

I thought that was filthy. It was bad enough that the Lord

destroyed it with fire from heaven, and yet it's not as bad

as it gets. It gets way worse to reject the

Lord of glory when He has come to show you His great grace and

mercy, when you meet Him with pride and arrogance or

stubbornness and hard heartedness, that's going to be

a real problem for you. So these low places, Jesus has

now left Israel. So when we're looking at Israel,

it's kind of, if you bear with me, a little bit of a standing

up rectangle generally. So Tyre and Sidon are on the on

the north of Israel. So he is, he's left, he's

hundreds of miles from Jerusalem at this point and he's gone to

visit Tyre and Sidon up until this point.

What have we seen in the scriptures?

We've seen a desperate father plead for his child, the leader

of a synagogue. He was a devout Jew whose

daughter died. He was tested, but Jesus told

him, don't be afraid, just believe.

We've seen another father plead for his son.

He asked Jesus if you can do anything, Lord.

And Jesus quickly corrected the man's if and changed it to no,

no, no if you can believe. And now we see a desperate

mother, tested, seemingly ignored by Jesus, then told no

by Jesus to ultimately receive her victory from Jesus again,

He's gone to a dark place, a wicked region, cities that are

not Jewish. These are not Jewish people.

So the disciples, it's very possible and also very likely

that they've never been here before.

It's very possible and very likely that until the Lord takes

them out of Israel, that they've never been out of Israel.

They're Jewish boys and they've been around Jewish people.

They're they're very young as well, likely teenagers, probably

20. How do we determine these

things? Well, we determine these things

because we just know what history tells us about rabbis

and how they who they would call unto themselves.

So it's possible maybe Peter was the oldest, you know, Peter was

married, but still they might be on field trip with Jesus going

Jesus, our mom's not going to want us to be here entire

inside. And we've never seen anything

like this. We haven't been in places like

this before. And Jesus says, this is where I

choose to go and this is where I want to be now.

So here they are in this situation, and we're in verse

22. Behold, a Canaanite woman from

that region came out and was crying.

So Canaanite, not a Jewish woman, she cries out, shouting,

pleading, have mercy on me. O Lord, son of David, my

daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

The Jewish audience, remember who Matthew wrote to.

Matthew's primary first audience, the letter he wrote

was to the Jews. So he's saying, hey, Jews

remember all these prophecies and they're going, yeah.

And he goes, Jesus fulfilled it. And they go interesting.

So over and over Matthew keeps showing the Jewish reader, but

this shouldn't be lost on us either.

With this Canaanite non Jew woman is using messianic Jewish

language to honor the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the Jewish audience wouldn't miss this.

We shouldn't miss it either. She calls him Lord.

First of all, that term could have been used in a lot of

contexts. It could certainly apply to God,

but it could also apply to anyone who you would want to

just come underneath and to, to just show submission to

acknowledge their authority. So, so far, so good, but it's

not as perfect as it could be yet because we don't know.

Are you just being respectful to the rabbi or are you, do you

understand the Lord that you're actually talking to?

Thankfully, she goes farther and she clarifies the whole thing.

She says son of David. Now that's different.

You've just communicated something much of oh, Mr. so and

so. OK, there's a lot of Mr. so and

so's in the world. Son of David.

That's interesting. That ain't nothing.

That's something to be the son of David is what it is to be

David's descendant. To be a descendant of David is

to be the king of Israel. And specifically son of David is

language that is referencing the Messiah.

She's saying, I know who you are and I am coming to you in that

way. I'm not saying, hey, I hear

you're the Jewish rabbi who does magic tricks.

Could I please have a magic trick?

She's heard testimonies, She's heard something.

That's how faith comes by hearing about the word or

hearing the word of God. So now she knows like he's here,

he came all the way here. Well, he's my answer.

I'm going to go to the son of David, to the Messiah and to the

Savior of the world. What are we seeing here?

Well, Jesus is always king, but who he is to you will determine

what he does for you. Amen.

He's always king, but the question is, is he your king?

She's saying I know who you are and I honor you appropriately

Already we're seeing and and we need to recognize that

everything's not happening automatically.

Do you think there were a lot of people who had need and Tyron

Sidon? I mean, all throughout is, but

it's kind of crazy that, you know, this long into his

ministry that there's anybody left who needs healing.

I mean, when you read over and over, it's like in thousands

came and he healed them all and you're like, dude, what did that

look like? What did that day look like?

I mean, did he just wave his arm?

Did he do one at a time? I mean, we get plenty of certain

instances laid out throughout the gospels where where we see

him healing different people in different ways.

Sometimes he spits in the dirt, makes mud and rubs it in your

eyes. Sometimes it it looks different.

You never know what's coming. Sometimes he just touches you.

Sometimes he just speaks. But healing all these people,

How many people had a need but didn't receive?

But how many people came to Christ with their need and then

didn't receive? You see, today we finally come

to our answer. It's 0.

Was she tested? Absolutely she was tested.

Will your faith be tested even by the Lord?

It is absolutely and entirely possible that the Lord will test

you. I don't have time today to

unpack how I'm how I want to distinguish between trials and

tests. That's just language that I use

just for the sake of understanding, whereas I

categorize trials. I said I don't have time.

Here we go. I categorize trials more of this

thing was intended to destroy you.

This thing is happening because the world is broken.

The devil is bad and you're stupid.

Or I typically say where I'm stupid times a little more

offensive than talking about you now.

So the trial, the tribulation, this is something's going wrong

and it's not supposed to, but it is because things are broken.

This thing is harming me and it's and it's whole mission, or

maybe it's not even having a mission, but it is just, it's

not a lesson from the Lord. This is just this thing's

happening and it's bad, it's difficult and it's terrible.

Can the Lord get me through it? Of course he can and he will.

Then there's something else called a test and I categorize

this as this is the Lord's deliberate and personal test for

his servant, for his servant, for his servants advantage and

for his servants blessing. What's an example?

God tested Abraham, I want you to sacrifice Isaac.

That's a test. That's not Isaac got ran over by

an ox cart and broke his leg and now Abraham's like, I'm not sure

what we're going to do about that's the world is broken and

bad things happen. Lord, will you heal my son?

This is different though. God is testing Abraham and says,

will you give me Isaac? Will you sacrifice your son for

me? That's a test.

And he goes, well, he was the promised son.

But Abraham obeys the Lord, and of course, he still receives the

fullness of his promise. And ultimately Isaac isn't

sacrificed. So the Lord is testing this

woman. The Lord will test your faith as

well. What else do we see is going on

here about this woman? This woman understands good and

evil. She comes to the good to be rid

of the evil. Simple stuff.

Thank you pastor. Obvious demons are still

oppressing people today. Demons are still possessing

people today. They have no authority over

God's people and we are commanded to drive them out

under the authority of Jesus. Remember the disciples have

already cast demons out. They came back rejoicing.

They said even the demons obey us in your name.

And Jesus responded very unimpressed and he said don't

rejoice because demons obey you. It's not a big deal.

Rejoice because your names are written in the Lamb's book of

life. Rejoice because your names are

written in heaven. That's why you should rejoice.

Of course demons obey you guys. What else would they do?

Did you minister in my name? Do you go in my authority?

Yes, Lord. OK.

Like again, it's it's not a big deal.

It's like your children coming in and say, look, I killed a

spider. Like of course you did.

You're big. They're small.

You stepped on them. This is the perspective that the

Christian should have. And yet often times we need to

grow in this area of ministry. In the West, a lot of our demon

possessed people are put in mental institutions.

A lot of them are in prison. And then often times anyone

who's left, we categorize it almost always exclusively as

mental illness. Mental illness is a thing.

The brain could be sick just like the body could be sick.

And also demon possession seems to be a common thing in the

scriptures. So I think we could sometimes be

naive and go, well, what's your perspective on all that, Pastor?

Well, I'm not naive enough to say there's a demon behind every

door. And I'm not naive enough to say

that there's not. That's my perspective on the

supernatural. And I'm not, I'm not naive and I

don't care what anyone thinks. I know it's sometimes it's

popular as Christians be like, everything's not supernatural.

Yeah. OK.

And then other times you could err on the other side.

We go, everything's natural, like it is what it is, literally

whatever it is, it is. And what I need is wisdom to

know how to walk and how to move and how to minister in that

circumstance. And the Lord wants to bring

that. So this woman understands good

and evil. She comes to the good to be rid

of the evil. She cries out, have mercy on me.

O Lord, son of David, my daughter is severely oppressed

by a demon. Verse 23.

But he did not answer her a word.

Why is the Lord ignoring this woman?

He didn't answer her. Please, please, please help me.

Lord Son of David, I know who you are.

I know you're the Messiah. Why didn't he answer?

Doesn't he love this woman? Doesn't he love her daughter?

Doesn't Jesus? Didn't he come to destroy the

works of the devil? Hasn't he come to set the

captive free? Hasn't he come to give abundant

life? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

He's shown His nature and His character repeatedly, and He

reveals it here again. But we see even more of our

Lord's ways and even more of His wisdom in this moment.

The Lord is testing this woman, and the Lord is testing her

faith, testing her for what is the question?

The Lord is testing for sincerity.

The Lord tests for hunger. The Lord tests for depth.

The Lord tests for faithfulness. There are all kinds of reasons

that the Lord would test. Like we said throughout

Scripture, we see the Lord test certain individuals.

Why does He do it? The Lord tests to draw out

someone's best. He tests to purify something.

He says there's some gold there, but I want to strengthen it.

I want to make sure there's no impurities.

So he applies the heat and he applies the heat, and he applies

the heat and the gold liquefies. And what happens?

The impurities float to the top. And the Lord says, ah, this is

pure. This is stronger than ever now.

It is a gift to the gold. It is a gift to you when the

Lord tests your faith. It is a gift to Abraham when the

Lord tests his faith. It's a gift to Moses when the

Lord tests him. You look at the Lord, he's not

flighty, but he is testing his people.

So he tells, he tells Moses, that's it.

I'm going to kill them all. I'm sick of them.

I'm mad at them and I'm going to kill him and Moses, like Lord,

Lord, Lord, like, hang on, let's, let's, let's think this

out for a second. You know, I don't want everybody

to say about you that, you know, you have delivered them from

Egypt, but you weren't strong enough to deliver them into the

promised land. And Lord, the other thing is

like, if you're going to kill them, then kill me first.

And the other thing, So what's he doing?

Was the Lord angry at his people?

Absolutely. He was angry at His people.

There's a lot of evidence that he was angry at his people.

And still, what's he doing? He's strengthening his servant.

He's strengthening and testing Moses.

He is growing and maturing Moses.

Why? Because Moses is going to need

it. Moses, buddy, you're at the

beginning of the beginning. I bet Moses is was probably glad

in that moment when he comes down off the mountain after

meeting with the living God and coming down with his law to find

the people worshipping false gods once again that they were

just delivered from. They're going, we're having a

godless wicked festival to celebrate a golden calf.

And God's going, I'm going to kill him.

And Moses going, no, no, no. And the Lord goes, let me

strengthen my servant, I'm going to kill him, Moses.

No, Lord, don't do that. And building the heart of a

shepherd inside of Moses even more, because he's going to,

He's got a lot of shepherding ahead of him.

You're at the beginning, Moses. You're at the beginning also.

You're not going to go into the Promised land personally because

of your own sin. But he doesn't tell him

everything at once. What's he doing?

He's strengthening the spine of a servant, building his

conviction, building his resiliency.

The Lord is faithful to deliver, and he reminds him.

What does he remind the Lord of? His own word.

Of his own word, Remember, Lord, which you said to Abraham and

Isaac and Israel. Remember, Lord, what's he

reminding me? Did the Lord forget his word?

No. What is this?

This is friendship. This is the this is the one who

walks with God. And this is what the Lord is

looking for. He's looking for fellowship and

friendship. But Moses was being tested.

So the Lord does test to draw out someone's best wise parents.

You've done this with your children.

You challenge your children's thinking.

They say something, it might even be good and true.

But what do you do? You, you, you come at them with

an angle that you know they're going to be hit with at some

point in their lives at some point in the future.

And they say, well, I think this and you go, I share their

conviction. I believe what they believe.

I'm glad they believe it. But I, I question how much

foundation there is under it. I question if they know why they

believe it. So I do this to my boys all the

time. I hear them say something and I

go, is there are there roots under there or or is that are

they mimicking daddy and mommy? Praise God for that.

I want that. That's a good thing, not sorry

for that. And also let me make sure the

foundation is properly there. I don't want them to just match

the paint color. I want them to have the

foundation that needs to be in place.

So I'll ask a question that'll sometimes trouble them.

They go, what's he saying? Is he on my side or not?

I'm just going stand on your own 2 feet.

You got this. Do you know where this leads?

Do you know what this means? What am I doing?

I'm testing my sons to strengthen my sons.

It's for their good. I believe what they believe.

I want what they want for the reason that they want it.

But I still want them to be strengthened and to be grown

through it. So you might do that to to even

represent views other than your own temporarily, but you're

doing this with skill and with love, to test them, to purify

them, to strengthen them, and to reveal a more complete truth to

them. Our God does the same for us.

And this is what Jesus is doing for this woman.

He is drawing her out and he is drawing her in.

Jesus has done this over and over and over.

We've seen it throughout the Scriptures.

He makes an extreme and polarizing statement.

Why? To divide and to sift.

Well, I don't want to be divided in the bad direction.

Good news. You get to cast your vote in

which direction you're divided onto.

You get to pick. The Lord didn't say I'm cutting

the line right here. The Lord said I'm setting the

standard. What will you do with the

standard? Well, I'm walking away.

Eat my flesh and drink my blood. This is a hard saying.

Who can bear it? I'm out of here.

It's yours. That's your vote to cast.

It's your loss, but it's your vote to cast instead.

What does he want? He wants you to be drawn in.

He did put up a barrier though, because they literally didn't

know what he was talking about when he said you have to eat my

body and drink my blood. They thought he meant eat his

body and drink his blood. They thought he meant

cannibalism. So in all fairness to them.

And yet Peter and the 12 going. I don't know what that means.

Are you leaving too? It's a great time.

If you guys wanted to leave, where would we go?

You have the words of life. That's the right answer.

And because you're sticking around, you'll get to hear the

full truth unpacked. You'll actually share that meal

with me, my last meal, where I turn the message of Israel into

the cup of the new covenant in my blood.

And they'll go, oh, will you stick with him long enough?

Will you walk with him? Will you press in when he goes?

Here's the standard and go. I have to step around that.

You're not getting away from me, Lord.

Like Elijah with Elijah. Elijah tested him.

He's he's following the prophet. He's following he, he.

So Elijah is the prophet. He has Elijah his helper.

Jah and Shah, That's what we confer to them henceforth.

So Jah tells Shah, you follow me.

And he goes, OK, I'm following you.

I'm welcome with you. And then it's revealed that Jah

is going to be carried up and JA tests Shah and tells him, hey,

why don't you go do this? Why don't you go do something

else? And Elijah says, there's no

chance, there's no way in this world that you'll be caught up

into heaven without me standing there.

I will be present with you until the end.

And Elijah goes, settle for yourself.

Do whatever you're going to do. He's not going make sure you

stick with me. Make sure you get a double

portion of the anointing. Make sure you get my mantle on

you. Make sure, make sure, make sure,

make sure you do what you're going to do.

I'm going to do what I'm going to do.

What is that? That's a test to purify, to draw

in, to pull closer, not to push away.

This is what the test of the Lord does.

Notice when it's a test of the Lord, there's always reward.

There's always reward. There's always blessing, trials

and tribulations. Sometimes it's just like, well,

that was miserable and I'm glad it's over.

That wasn't a test from the Lord.

Then a test from the Lord is I am purifying you deliberately to

reward you and strengthen you continually.

That's how I categorize those. Again, we can't do a full unpack

on that today. Still in verse 23, he did not

answer her a word. Why?

Because he's testing her and his disciples came and begged him

saying send her away for she's crying out after us.

So his disciples, they've seen it all before.

They know exactly what's about to happen here.

They've got a track record with Jesus for years now.

They know literally every single person who's ever come to him

for anything has received from him.

So they know, they know something's going on here.

We don't know what he's doing, but can you send her away?

She's annoying. We're not supposed to be hanging

around Canaanite women. We're good Jewish boys, whatever

their motive was like, can you just, can we get her out of

here? We were, we were having a meal.

We were doing whatever we were doing in this house.

And now she barges in. She's not going to shut up.

Can you just send her? Lord, compassionate disciples

that they are, Can you just get this over with more quickly?

Get her out of here so she'll leave us alone.

Verse 24 And he answered, so he's answering them.

I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

That's interesting because what he's doing is he's making the

test more difficult for her. He's been ignoring her and now

she hears him say to the disciples like she's not even

standing there potentially. I was sent to the lost House of

Israel. Boys, you know this.

What's he doing? Testing her, drawing her in?

But it's an interesting statement because he says I will

send only the lost House of Israel, which makes which makes

all of us go wait a second. I seem to remember a certain

centurion. I seem to remember a certain

Roman killer, a Roman oppressor who you blessed his servant and

you rewarded his faith. So really, Lord, what?

You were only sent to the lost House of Israel.

Our Lord comes first to Israel, but thankfully not only to

Israel, which is why he'll soon be telling his disciples to go

into all the world and make more disciples, which of course is

how you and I got here as non Jews today.

And by the way, do you remember what impressed Jesus with the

Roman centurion faith? I haven't found faith like this

even in Israel. So that was his complaint about

everybody else. My own people don't believe.

And you got these outsiders coming and going.

I know who you are. I know who you are.

I know your nature and character.

How? How?

They don't know the Scriptures like the Jews do, but they know

enough about God somehow, some way.

And they have a trust and an expectation.

And by their faith they're placing a demand on Him.

They won't be shunned. They won't be dismissed.

This woman certainly will not be dismissed so easily.

She is not put off at all by what the Lord is saying, But

Jesus does here what he's done many times, says something

divisive, says something polarizing, so that the hungry

and the humble will press in further.

He knows that some will turn away.

He doesn't want them to. But that is the test.

Remember, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and

come follow me. What's the motive?

Did he offer that guy ultimate treasure?

Ultimate treasure? This guy could have been a

disciple of Jesus and walked with the Lord throughout his

ministry. Come on, like how insane is it?

But he went away sad because he had a lot of money in his bank

account. He thought he had great wealth

and he hung on to his dung. He hung on to the refuse, He

hung on to the trash when he could have walked with the King.

And he thought, well, that's a big sacrifice for me.

No, it's not. You can't sacrifice for Jesus.

In one sense you can, because you can feel pain and

crucifixion of the flesh. But in the other sense, you and

I could never sacrifice for the Lord, because sacrifice implies

loss. You and I can never lose.

When we choose Him, we always gain, we always get better, and

we always get more. So go sell everything you have.

Give to the poor. Come follow me.

The Lord's motive is to refine. The Lord's motive is to clarify.

The Lord's motive is to strengthen what's already there.

You're hanging around the teacher, you're hanging around

the rabbi. Will you press in to really be a

disciple or are you content with, I'd like to hear a sermon

every now and then from the Lord.

But you know, I'm not like devoted, like, you know, Jesus

person or something, like I'm not going to go off the deep

end. So where does she do when she

hears, Oh, he's only come for the law.

First he ignored me, and now he's clarified why he's ignoring

me. Oh, he's only come for the lost

House of Israel. Keep going.

Verse 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, Lord help

me, What is she? So Jesus ignores she's, she's

speaking. He speaks and now she comes and

kneels before him, bowing down before him.

Lord help me. That is a good posture and that

is a good prayer. Let's see where it gets her.

Verse 26 and he answered, it is not right to take the children's

bread and throw it to the dogs. So here we have a woman in the

floor begging in front of Jesus. And what analogy does he make?

What reference does he draw? He refers to dogs.

So there's some, there is some important clarification to make

here because it seems like the Barb goes really deep here, but

actually it's actually a kindness that he's showing.

So the Jews often times referred to non Jews as dogs.

There was two different words that you could use for a dog. 1

is like the mangy, wandering, roaming lost dog.

This is The Dirty, filthy one that you go get out of here, you

mutt. Nobody knows you, nobody owns

you, nobody loves you. You're filthy.

The other dog is the beloved house pet.

So non Jews know that many Jews refer to them as dogs in the

racial sense. Like we're better than you.

You're a bunch of dogs. That's not the one that Jesus

uses here. Instead, he uses the the warmer

tone. So Jesus is not using a

different Jesus is not using a racial insult.

He's using the word that would refer to this beloved household

pet. So he's not shaming her away,

and he actually does show a light of hope and tenderness to

her. And of course, at the same time,

he has also just raised the stakes again and made her test

more difficult because it was still a more clear and

deliberate no. So he did say no, but he was,

hey, look, I can't take the children's bread and give it,

you know, to the puppies in the house.

So he ignored her. And then he goes, I've only come

to the lost children of Israel. And that she was Lord begging in

front of him and pleading eyeball to eyeball.

She's at his feet looking up at him and he's looking down at her

and he goes I can't take the the children's bread and and give it

to the puppies. So this is her her third

rejection. She is very wise.

She is very humble. She doesn't get offended.

Verse 27 yes, Lord, what did she do Immediate agreement.

Like we were saying, what part of the body of Christ are you?

I don't care. Did you say I'm in the body of

Christ? Then I rejoice, I celebrate.

It's good enough for me. What's your position?

Position under Jesus. That's all I know.

That's good enough for me. That was the only place I ever

wanted to be. Count me in.

I love it and I'm thankful for it.

Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs

that fall from their master's table.

Wow. Very wise woman.

Very humble woman. Not offended, not discouraged.

She receives his terms and adapts herself to them.

I'll take whatever terms you set.

You're the master. I can't.

I can't give the children's bread to the dogs.

The dogs will take the crumbs, Master.

And he's going you. I love faith.

I love faith. I marvel to lack of faith.

And I marvel when I see real faith.

You have passed the test. You have walked all the way

through. I put some barriers in front of

you for your good, to draw you in, to draw you near, to

strengthen you, to purify you, to bless you.

What a humble and godly woman to take this approach to the

Master. This is something we should

learn from her. You cannot receive from God when

you're mad at God, and if you think God has personally created

your circumstances, you will often be mad at God.

She knows there's a devil. She's come to Satan's enemy so

that Jesus will bind the strongman and take this woman's

daughter out from Satan's house. She goes with boldness.

We should do the same. We go to God with gratitude and

with boldness because we know who He is.

So going to God with boldness is not based upon your personality.

I've got a bold personality, Irrelevant.

I've got a shy personality. Also irrelevant boldness to

approach. The throne of grace is based

upon the grace of God. It's based upon his nature.

It's based upon his character, not I've got an outgoing

personality. So I'll just kind of barge in

there and say, hey, Lord, here's what you're going to do.

No, no, you're going to go to the Lord with wisdom.

You're going to go to the Lord with kindness.

You're going to go to the Lord with grace.

You're going to go to the Lord with gratitude, but you're going

to go to the Lord reminding him of his word like Moses.

Lord, remember what you said. I didn't write this script,

Lord. I didn't make this up.

I know who you are, I know what you've done, so I know what

you'll do. We go to God with boldness

because we know who He is. Do you want to have influence on

authority above you and anywhere in life?

These are good principles. You do it.

You don't do it with demands and commands.

You do it with submission. And your boldness isn't based on

you. It's based upon the nature and

the character of the one that you're appealing to and your own

desperation and hunger. You will be strengthened by God

and God will be glorified when you come to Him in this way.

Remind Him of His own word and adapt yourself to it.

I need to qualify myself. Whatever you say I am, I need to

obey. Whatever you expect.

That's the category that I need to put myself into.

If you call me a dog in your in your house, then I say yes.

So that means you feed me and you water me and you make sure

that I am dewormed and all the other things that we need as a

as a dog in the Lord's house. You take him at his word and you

go and the Lord goes. The dog does get taken care of

by the master. What is that?

What are you? You're you're pleading to his

nature and his character. Don't think for a second that

she is wringing something out of Jesus that he doesn't want to

give. That's right.

How do we get it from the Lord? And he's going, all right, I

give up. How stupid.

That's not what that's not what's happening.

So we remind Him of His own word.

We adapt ourselves to it. Yes, Lord, even the dogs eat the

crumbs from the fall from the Master's table.

Then Jesus answered her. Verse 28.

Oh woman, great is your faith, be it done for you as you

desire. And her daughter was healed

instantly. The test is passed and Jesus

rejoices in it. Great is your faith.

That's what he always points out.

You lack faith. Where was your faith?

Why don't you believe? Only believe.

That's great faith. That's great faith.

These are the things that he marvels at.

It's all you see him marveling at throughout the gospels.

No faith, great faith. No faith, great faith.

It's what impresses him. It's what he loves, it's what he

likes, it's what he wants. It's what he expects to see.

Do you really believe that Jesus did something that he didn't

want to do? Do you really believe that Jesus

just did something that he wasn't supposed to do?

Was he? Was he sent only to the House of

Israel and he's not allowed to do anything else?

He's supposed to obey the will of the Father.

Did he just disobey the Father? Of course not.

He's revealing the full will of the Father.

This was a test for her good. If this woman had walked away

after Jesus told her that her daughter couldn't have the

children's bread, do you think that her daughter would have

been healed and delivered? No.

Why would it? Why would her daughter have been

healed and delivered? If Jesus said if he had sat

there in silence and she just goes well I'll move on, she

wouldn't have received because it was her faith that pressed

in. She pressed Him and she was

rewarded. How often has my faith been

feather light and paper thin? Far from being tested by my

Lord, I've often just been moved into doubt just by looking at my

circumstance. Withering, withering, small

faith, weak faith, not trusting, not standing.

We have to. We have to make sure we avoid

condemnation over that, but we also have to be honest about

that. We've talked much in our church

about faith, how faith is not a formula, but faith will always

find an action when it's real in the heart.

I have no doubt that many of us could get an A+ on a paper test

regarding the promises of God. Is it God's will to blank?

Is it God's will to blank? Is it God's will to blank?

And yet that paper test does not guarantee the fulfillment of

those promises in our day-to-day life.

Why? Because this brain can have

possession of knowledge that this heart is not walking in

revelation of and is the revelation knowledge of the

heart that actually brings the promises of God to bear in our

lives. And this one must be contended

for. This one can be learned once and

locked in. This one has to be renewed with

the Word and with the promises afresh all the time.

And I've just answered why we don't see what the Scriptures

promise us. Did you just say it's our fault

1000 times? Yes.

Allow me to be that preacher who said that thing.

Now, can you apply that to a million categories?

No, there's, there's a lot more nuance, I suppose.

And yet I will not unsay what the scriptures have plainly

said, that faith is how we press in and receive the promises of

God. Amen.

So I am saying what I am saying and I'm not saying what I'm not

saying, and we can talk through details in particular scenarios,

all without condemnation, but the Word is the final answer.

Let the Word of God be found true.

Let every man, pastor, Christian, be found a liar.

Because God's ways are right and best.

But pressing in does something. Pressing in moves us, it changes

us. And this is where how we receive

the promises through faith and patience.

We receive the promises, that's how.

Because if faith was an instantaneous thing, then there

is no period of standing. There is no period of trial.

There is no period of testing. It's well, God said it Well then

how did you ever even have the problem to begin with?

How did anything ever happened? How did anything ever go wrong?

The Lord wants the friendship. He wants you, his Moses, to come

up the mountain. He wants you and me as the

Canaanite woman to come sit at His feet and to press in and to

fellowship with him and get to know Him and allow Him to bless

us and strengthen us. I know a testimony of a man.

He was miraculously healed of an incurable blood disease and a

heart defect when he was 16 years old.

And he didn't have healing preaching or teaching or

anything else. He just had his Bible says, his

16 year old. He would have strong days and he

would have weak days. So some days he wouldn't even be

able to talk. And other days he would have

fuller strength. But he was slowly dying.

His family knew it. The doctor knew it.

The preacher who would sometimes come and visit recognized it.

But one day he was reading his Bible and he found a promise for

healing in his Bible. And it it just landed in his

heart. And he's going how that how that

get there? That's that's a problem.

Is that right? Is that real?

So he begs his mother send for the pastor so that he can come

and tell me if this is what I think it is, if this says what I

think it says. The short answer, surprise, yes.

So the minister finally comes. I forget how long it takes him

to come. I remember if it was a few days

or longer. But the minister finally comes.

And the day that the minister came, the young man couldn't

speak that day. So he was frustrated.

But he, he, he, he was able to, to hold his Bible and but he was

just gesturing and shaking and but he wanted to ask the pastor,

does does this mean I can be healed?

And he's just, all he could do was mumble.

He said he was just, all he could do is make sounds.

And he said he was a pitiful sight.

And the minister patted him on the head and said, it won't be

long now, son. And that was it.

That was the that was the, the visit from the minister that

day. He said later he said, I thank

God that I couldn't speak that day.

He said because based off the way the the minister ministered

to him, if you could call that ministry, I pray God would let

me get run over by a bus before I would ever minister to anyone

that way. But he was thankful that that

man didn't speak to him about the Scriptures that day because

this boy goes on to gain strength and to stand on God's

promise. When he regained strength after

a few days, he just said, you know what?

You know, nobody answered this for me, but I'm going to take

Jesus's words and assume that they're true, which is always a

good way to approach the Bible. And he said, I'm going to assume

they're true for now, and I'm going to assume they're true for

me, and I'm going to assume they're true for today.

And yet, reading them, he still saw it.

Well, OK, he still didn't know. What do you do though?

And this is where you and I want that formula.

Hey, give me the script that I can lock in and go, OK, what did

the guy do next? Well, the the point is he got

the word of God into his heart. And when the word of God is in

your heart and when the word of God is in my heart, it will find

its appropriate application. It might drive you to the feet

of Jesus. It might cause you to be like

the the centurion. And Jesus says, all right, I'll

come to your house. And he goes, no, no, no, no.

You just say the word. You just say the word.

You don't have to come to my house.

What do you think you're doing? You don't tell Jesus what to do.

And Jesus goes, I love your faith.

So it's not, it's not a boldness based upon you.

It's a confidence in Christ. I know who you are.

Oh, you have all authority. I'm a man under authority.

I have men under me under authority.

But you are the authority. You just speak it and the thing

will happen. Our faith matters.

So thankfully, this young man, his faith was made strong in the

word of God when nobody else would stand with him.

And he was healed and strengthened.

He becomes a a pastor and preacher lived to 80 some years

old before he went home to be with the Lord.

What did what did the Lord do for him in that season?

The Lord revealed his hunger. The Lord revealed his own

confidence in him. I'm going to close with Luke

Luke 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18. Luke chapter 18, verse one.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought

always to pray and not lose heart.

Everybody say not lose heart, I use heart.

He said. In a certain city there was a

judge who neither feared God nor respected man, and there was a

widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Give

me justice against my adversary. For a while he refused, but

afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor

respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will

give her justice so that she'll not beat me down by her

continual coming. And the Lord said, Hear what the

unrighteous judge says, And will God not give justice to his

elect, who cry to him day and night?

Will he delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice

to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of

Man comes, will he find faith in the earth?

So of course our God is just. Our God is not uncaring or

unkind like this wicked judge. But his point is, even a wicked

judge, when pestered, will deliver what his responsibility

it is to deliver. Jesus's argument is not that

your God is a wicked God who you must pester.

His argument is how much more will your loving Father give to

those who pursue and seek Him? This woman comes to Jesus back

to the the Canaanite woman. She comes to Jesus in a

particular moment in His ministry, which is why she gets

the particular response she gets, because He was first

called to the lost House of Israel, but he was not only

called to the lost House of Israel.

Which is why you and I, Canaanites and worse and beyond,

can come to the Lord right now, today, without delay.

We can press in, we can pursue. Jews do not have a special

access. The only people who have access

to God are people who are under the blood of Jesus.

That's it. So any Jew who's worshipping

according to Old Testament standards, which are extremely

few by the way, Side note, modern Jews are not operating in

in the Old Testament covenant for the most part.

It's just a a cultural thing, but the only people who have

access to God are people who have been given access by the

blood of Christ. And how have you received that

access? By God's grace through your

faith. God wants to save the whole

world. Is the whole world saved,

Church? No, but by faith, the whole

world can receive the grace of God.

We can receive all the grace of God.

If even an unjust judge will reward persistence, how much

more will God answer you, His people, His children?

Healing is the children's bread, and you are the children of God.

You eat from the master's table and you say, well, what if I

wasn't? What if I was a dog?

Well, even the dog, Then even as a dog you have right to claim

provision, protection, whatever it is you need, and yet you're

not a dog. You are a child of God.

The question remains, will the Son of Man find faith on the

earth? More specifically, will the Son

of Man find faith in you and this woman?

We see the fullness of what Jesus has taught us to do

earlier. Ask, seek, and knock.

Is it the begging that gets the work done?

It is the praying with a persistent heart that changes

you and I. It is the praying with a

persistent heart that shifts our perspective to actually see what

the Lord has already provided. This is, these are the means by

which the Lord has chosen to grow and mature and work through

us. There's mystery here, Church.

I cannot decode it for you. I have not decoded it all for

myself. There are things I think that

are out of our jurisdiction. And I just say, praise the Lord

for his beautiful mysteries. And yet, what do we see?

What do we know for sure? We know that our faith matters

and our faith needs to look like something asking, seeking, and

knocking. So be encouraged when the Lord

seems silent and know that He's drawing you in.

Be strengthened when the Lord, when the Lord seems slow and

know that He wants to build you up and stand firm on His word.

Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find knock and

the door will be opened. God, we thank you for your word.

It's so powerful, it's so refreshing and so encouraging.

We pray that you would show us and bring us revelation and

light. Help us to know you more, Help

us to enjoy you more deeply, and help us to be a people of a

deliberate and bold faith that pursue You even though you seem

to deflect at times. Your purpose is for our good.

You don't test us to condemn us. You don't test us to reject us.

You test us to purify us, to make us more like you, to make

us more humble, to make us more hungry, to make us lean in.

It's all that you've done and all that you've said.

And God has trials and tribulations and difficulties as

all the results of the curse. Those things also come.

We thank you that you deliver us from evil.

Strengthen your people. God help us to to truly believe,

not just to know with our heads, but to leave with, but to

believe with our hearts that we would receive the fullness as we

ask, as we seek, as we knock. Draw us near as your friends and

as your children. We love you, we thank you in

Jesus name and now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.