I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Mark. Mark chapter
7. Mark chapter 7. For the sake of time, I won't
read all of Mark 7. I'll make reference
to a few verses out of it. But from the beginning of Mark
7, we find the constant animosity and rebellion and resentment
of religious hypocrites against the Lord Jesus Christ. All they wanted to do was argue
and debate and find fault. Now this is a mark of an unbeliever.
Look at verse 1 and 2. Then came together unto him the
Pharisees and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his
disciples eat bread with defiled or common, that is to say with
unwashed hands, they found fault." What they wanted to argue about
was hands that wasn't washed. That was the issue. Look at verse
5 to 9. Then the Pharisees and scribes
asked him, why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of
the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and
said unto them, well, hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites?
As it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. How be it in vain do they worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men? For laying
aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men
as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things
you do.' And he said unto them, You reject the commandment of
God that you might keep your own tradition. I want you to look at Matthew 23.
Hold your place here in Mark. Matthew 23, 25. Here's a mark of a hypocrite. Mark of an unbeliever. Matthew
23, verse 25. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you may clean the outside of the cup of the
platter, but within they're full of extortion, excess." Listen, it is absolutely useless. to argue with one that will not
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't argue with them. We don't fuss. We don't argue. Here's what we're commanded to
do. Preach the gospel of God's grace and wait upon the Lord
to bless according to His will. I'm not talking about if someone
has a legitimate question and they want to ask you and you
open up the Word of God and you tell them, let's see what God
has to say. But the moment that they say,
I don't want to know what this book's got to say. I want to
know what you have to say. Just close the book because we
don't have anything else to say. If the Lord does not give a new
heart through the means of the preaching of the gospel of God's
grace, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? This is the power of God unto
salvation, the preaching of the gospel. Well, they argued and
fussed and won't talk about washed hands and washed cups and washed
plates. all these traditions. And the Lord spoke to all the people. That's round 14, verse 14 in
Mark 7. And He began to tell them that
were listening to this conversation He'd been having with the Pharisees,
these lawyers, these scribes. And He explained to them He said,
listen, it is not what goes in to a man that defiles him. It's not what a man eats. It's
not if he washes his hands. He said, what comes out of a
man's heart evidences what that man believes. Look at verse 20. He said, that which cometh out
of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of
the heart of men, perceive evil thoughts and adulteries and fornications,
murders, thefts, covetous, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile the man. If you want to know what a man
or woman believes, listen to what they say. That's what they
believe. A believer is going to honor
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to speak of His honor
and His glory and His grace. And an unbeliever is going to
speak of Him disrespectfully. So we consider the source. Don't
argue with them. Show them what God has to say,
and if they're going to take an issue, let them take an issue
with God's Word, because that's where the issue is. That's where
the problem is. They won't hear Him. Well, after
the Lord had spoken with these Pharisees and scribes, these
lawyers, as to who they were, after He talked to them, after
He told the people, He said, out of the abundance of a man's
heart, his mouth is going to speak. Something happened that was amazing. And if you want to know what
the Lord did, when they were going to rail on Him and fuss
at Him and argue with Him and try to back Him up in the corner,
if you want to know what the Lord did, He'll give us a good
indication of what we ought to do. Now let's look at verse 24. And from thence, He arose and went into the borders
of Tyre and Sidon and entered into a house and would have no
man know it." He left him alone. He left him
alone. Well, don't you think that he
should have stayed there and maybe tried to talk to them and
maybe try to stimulate their thinking. He left them alone. He left them to themselves. The very one that men shall surely
stand before and give account. And the books are going to be
opened. This incident that we just read about right here is
going to be brought up again. In the day of judgment, it's
going to come to light. The books are going to be opened.
And the Scripture says they're going to be judged out of the
books. Can you imagine? But I want you to look at these
precious words. Our Lord walked away. When these Pharisees and
scribes wanted to argue and complain and fuss about washing hands,
this, that, and the other, he walked away and went to another
place and went to a house, and the Scripture says, and would
have no man know it. But, latter part of verse 24,
he could not be hid. He could not be hid. Why? Look at the next verse. For or because a certain woman
whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came
and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, Syrophoenician
by nation, and she besought him that he would cast forth the
devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, let
the children first be filled, for it's not meat. Take the children's
bread and cast it unto dogs. She answered unto him, yes, Lord,
yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
He said unto her, For this saying, Go thy way, the devil is gone
out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her
house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon
the bed." Here was a certain woman, and
she didn't come to argue. This woman was a poor woman. Now she may have had money. She
may have had money, may have had lands, may have had all kinds
of trinkets, but I tell you what, this woman was poor and needy
in spirit. her daughter was possessed of
a devil. And all the medicine in the world,
all the doctors in the world couldn't cure her daughter of
that plague, of that demon that was in her. And here the Lord had been pleased
to cross her path with the truth. say, how do you know that? Well, it says the woman was a
Greek, Syrophoenician by nature. Now, I've got in my margin here,
it says Matthew chapter 4. I want you to turn over there,
Matthew 4. This instance spoken of here,
Matthew 4, verse 23, 24. How this woman came to here. Matthew 4, 23-24, Jesus went
about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of sickness, all manner
of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout
all Syria, brought unto him all sick people that were taken with
diverse diseases and torments. those which possessed with devils,
those which were lunatic, those that had the palsy, and healed
them. The Lord had been pleased to
have his fame known through her neck of the woods, where she
lived. This woman, the scripture says, Heard of Him. That's what back
in Mark 7, 25. So we know according to the scriptures,
she heard. She heard of Him. Heard of Him,
how He had healed these demon-possessed people. People that were just
overrun. Faith cometh by hearing. Men are not born with faith.
All men have not faith. It's given unto you to believe. No one is born in Adam with faith. But faith cometh. It's a gift
of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. I would highly, highly recommend
Hear God's Word. Hear. Hear. You must hear. You must hear. You must hear
often. Do you realize the miracle of
God's grace, you that know Him, that you've heard the Gospel?
That God Almighty would cross your path with the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ? This woman, the Scripture says,
A certain woman, she heard of Him. And then it says in verse
25, Mark 7, "...and came." It came. Some didn't. But I tell you this, the Lord
Jesus Christ said, John 6, 37, "...all that the Father giveth
Me shall come to Me." I can tell you who's going to
come to Christ. All that the Father has elected.
He said, all the Father giveth me. Electing grace assures that all
of God's sheep's coming. They're going to come. All that
the Father chose before the foundation of the world and gave to the
Son, they're coming. And I tell you how they're going
to come. They're going to hear the gospel. And the Spirit of
God is going to bless it. God Almighty is going to give
them a new heart. Not this old heart. This old heart, what's
flesh is flesh. And this old man within is the
same old man that every one of us was born with. And it's an
old man that hates God. No love. No love in the old man. Dead. He's dead. There can be
no love in a dead man. But Almighty God imparts, He
gives a new heart. Life. And Christ dwelleth in
His people. That old man can do nothing but
rebel against God. And that new man can do nothing
but obey God as he is in Christ. That which is born of God sinneth
not. And this woman came. And I'm going to show you in
just a minute why she came. She came. And the scripture says,
latter part of verse 25, and she fell at his feet. She worshipped
him. You know why she worshipped him?
Because she knew he was the Christ. I'm going to show you that in
a minute. Hang on. Hang on. I'm going to show you that. She
worshipped. Let me tell you a little bit
about this woman. This woman was an outcast. There was no
There was no promise given to that woman. She was a woman who
was a Gentile, Syrophoenician by nature, spoken of by the Jews as dogs,
that's all they are, dogs, dogs, a sinner. The ones that Jews had no dealings
with. And she did the only thing that
she could do. Now here's a woman that the Jews
don't want to have anything to do with. The disciples in one
of the other accounts asked the Lord, said, send her away. She's
bothering us. She's seeking after us. She was
seeking the Lord. Here was a woman that was nothing
more than one that the Jews looked at as worthy of being cast out. And the Scripture says this woman, verse 26, a Greek, a Gentile,
She besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her
daughter. Now let me ask you this, what
did this woman have to offer the Lord? She's a dog. She's just a Gentile
dog. One that no Jew, no self honoring
Jew would have anything to do with. She had no offering to
bring. What's she going to bring? What's
she going to bargain with? Let me tell you what this woman
had. She had one thing. Her heart was broken. And right here she had some hope.
This woman was broken. I want you to hold your place
and turn to Luke, Luke 4. Luke 4. Luke 4.16. Luke 4.16-19. Our Lord, He came
into the synagogue one Sabbath day. Scripture says in Luke 4.16,
He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His
custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day
and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. Here was a woman now. What did
she have? Him, anything. sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight
to the blind, set at liberty them that are bruised, and to
preach the acceptable year of the Lord. This woman came to
the Lord. She besought the Lord that he
would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. She asked, what
scripture says. She besought him that he would
cast forth that demon. Lord, my young daughter's got
a demon. Lord, would you cast that demon
out? I want you to hold your place
right there and turn to Matthew 15 concerning this account. I
want you to look at something. Matthew 15. Verse 22, 23. Matthew 15, verse 22. Matthew 15, 22. And behold, a
woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. I'm going
to tell you something. She's addressing him as the Messiah. Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou
Son of David. You're the promised one. You're
the one the scriptures prophesy. The Spirit of God has revealed
to me who you are. I know who you are. You're the
Christ. You're the Son of the living
God. And I'm going to ask you something. My daughter's got
a demon. Would you cast it out? Like that
leper. That leper didn't come to the
Lord and said, if you can. No, no. Oh, he can. Leper came
and said, if you will. I know you can't, but would you?
Scripture says that she cried, Lord, thou son of David, my daughter
is grievously vexed with the devil. She poured her heart out. And you look at the next words.
But he answered her not a word. He just looked at her. Oh my. Turn back to Mark 7, 27
now. How our faith is going to be
proven. He didn't say anything to her.
Surely, he would answer her immediately. Surely, he would relieve her
immediately, immediately of her anxiety. But he thought not best. He didn't say anything to her. Silence. Then the Lord spoke. Matthew revealed that. Mark didn't
say anything about him not say anything, but Matthew did. So
the Lord didn't say anything to her at first. But then he
said, verse 27, Jesus said unto her, let the children first be
filled. For it's not meat to take the
children's bread and cast it to dogs. Now, let me tell you something. He was stating a truth there. Let the children be first. Let
them be filled. Let them eat first. It's not
fit to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. This was
an object of his mercy. You know that. We're going to
read that in just a second. You read this story before. This
is an object of His mercy, but that truth is still so. This woman, here she was, broken. Broken by grace, broken by mercy. This woman had no promise because
of heritage. She was a Syrophoenician. Canaanite,
Gentile dog in herself. She had no ability. And I tell
you what, she didn't have any pride. The Lord told her, let the children
be filled first. It's not right, not me. Take
the children's bread and give it to the dogs. And she answered
in verse 28, and said unto him, Yes, Lord, Yes, sir. You look up the word
Lord. You're going to find the word
sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. She said, yet the dogs,
now don't you look something right here, under the table eat
of the children's crumbs. Let me ask you this. If there's a dog under your table,
I can just about tell you without any reservation, that's your
dog. I'll bet you there's not a person in here that just let
a stray dog just come in, just get under their table and just
leave it alone. You're going to get to know that
dog for you. That dog was under the table.
She said, yes, sir. Yes, Lord. Yet the dog's under
the table. That's where we've heard men
rightly say, I take my place as a dog, but I'm yours. I'm
your dog. The dogs under the table eat
of the children's crumbs. Now this was an object of His
mercy. This was one that the Father
had given Him. I'm getting to it. I'm getting
to it. Prove that. This is one that
the Lord Jesus Christ had everlastingly loved. This was one that the
Father gave Him in electing grace. This is one for whom He died,
right here. And she heard about Him, and
she came to Him, she bowed before Him, she asked Him, and He tried
her faith to prove to her His faithfulness. First, He didn't
say anything to her. He gave the truth. He said, it's
not fit, not right, not meet. Give the children's bread to
dogs. That's not right. That's not right. But I'll tell
you one thing. He's not going to leave her there.
He won't. He spoke to this woman. He told her it's not fit and
she took her place like every child of promise does. Every
regenerated sinner does. They will gladly own the title. I am in myself a dog and I know
it. I have the most disrespectful
thoughts. I have the most disrespectful
words. Grease me, grease me, but by the grace of God, I'm
his dog. I'm your dog. I'm a dog. She said, Lord, The dogs under the table eat
the children's crumbs. She had the same attitude Jacob
had when the man, the Lord himself, wrestled with Jacob and said,
let me go, and Jacob said, I can't, unless you bless me, I can't
let you go. Many of them walked away when
they heard the saying of the Lord. That's a hard saying. The
Lord asked the disciples, will you go away also? Will you leave? Peter said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe
and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living
God. Let me ask you this, you that believe. Could you go and
hear another God preached? A God that tries, a God that
wants to but can't because man won't let him? Will you go away? If you can, you will. But if
you know him, you won't. Not because of your faithfulness,
because of his. Kept by the power of God. And he said unto her, for this
saying, for this saying, go thy way, the devil is gone
out of thy daughter. Now I told you a minute ago in
closing I was going to prove that this woman was an object
of his eternal purpose to show mercy. Turn back to Matthew 15,
that's this account. Again, we've looked at it a couple
of times. Matthew 15, verse 27 and 28. He had said to her in verse 26,
he answered and said, it's not me to take the children's bread
and cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord. Yet
the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
faith. Great is thy faith. Be it unto
thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. You want to know how I know that
she was an object of God's mercy? She believed Him. How do you
know she believed Him? The Lord said she did. Great
is thy faith. And when she was come to her
house, she found the daughter gone out and her daughter laid
upon the bed. Omnipotence Himself had spoken. It's just like that dead young
man laying in that coffin, being carried out in that city of Nain.
And the Lord spoke to that dead young man. He was dead. And He
said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. He spoke this word And
that girl was healed. And her mama, who was a beautiful,
beautiful picture of intercession. There's a whole other message
right there. Interceding for her daughter, beseeching for
her daughter. That girl was healed. The Pharisees
and scribes, all they want to do is argue. And the Lord left
them. But He couldn't be hid. He could
not be hid. You know why? Father's will must
be done. There's an object of His mercy.
She believed Him. The Lord pronounced her to have
believed Him. Great is thy faith. Be it unto
thee. The Father's will must be done.
All that the Father giveth me. This is the Father's will which
He sent me. And of all that He sent, I should
lose nothing. Father's will. He couldn't be
hid. His sheep must be gathered. John 10, 16, he said, another
sheep I have which are not of this fold. She was a Syrophoenician
woman, Frank. A dog, just a dog. Other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. He couldn't be hid. He must save
his own. Lord, if you will, bless these
words to our heart, send your Holy Spirit, call out your sheep,
save according to your eternal purpose for Christ's sake.