Even this morning, Lord willing,
we'll hear him this evening. And then don't forget, we will
have a Wednesday night service this week. For those who will
come and enjoy the gospel with us. Brother Cody, we're getting your speaker ready
here. Come on. It's good to be with you all
again. If you will turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter
7. Your brethren in Kingsport send
their love and greetings. And on behalf of Gabe and all
of us, we want to express our sincere gratitude for your continued
help with our building. We're very thankful and it really
means a lot to us. Look with me here in Mark 7,
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, but he could not be hid." The Lord Jesus Christ,
he entered into a house, and he would have no man know it,
but he could not be hid. Does that grasp your attention
like it does mine? How in the world could He not
be hid? This is God we're talking about.
This is God Almighty. This is the Sovereign. This is
the Ruler of Heaven and Earth. This is he who has his way in
the whirlwind and in the storm. And you mean to tell me he wanted
to be hidden, but he couldn't? How is that? This is the same
one who walked right through the midst of a people who walked
him up on a cliff and were ready to throw him over the edge, walked
right through him. And here we read he could not
be hid. This is the Lord of glory. How could he not be hid? I'll
tell you why. He did not come into this house to hide. He didn't come to this world
to hide. He didn't come there to be alone. We're not going
to read it, but he had just departed from the scribes and the Pharisees
and the multitude. He would not have them to know
where he was going. We know that multitudes often
followed him. He didn't want him to know where he was going.
But everywhere our Lord ever went, He went on purpose. Everywhere He ever went, He went
on purpose. What was His purpose? The Son
of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. That was his purpose. You see,
he hid himself, I just mentioned it, from the scribes and the
Pharisees. He hid himself from the wise and the prudent. And
he's about to reveal himself to obey. And I sure love this
passage of Scripture. You see, just as he must needs
go through Samaria, our Lord must needs enter this house. The shepherd must seek out his
sheep. The end of verse 24 says, he
entered into a house and would have no man know it, but he could
not be hid for a certain woman. You see that? Why was he here? Why could he not be hid for a
certain woman? He came here for this woman. Our Lord often, He often went
to be alone. And the two things I read of,
reasons that He went to be alone were to pray unto His Father
or to meet up with one of His people and reveal Himself to
them. And that's exactly what He's
gonna do right here. God has a certain, a particular,
a chosen people whom He's purposed to save. And John 10, he said,
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring. And they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. That's why he's
here. Now let me show you something
back in Ezekiel chapter 34. Turn with me. Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 verse 11 For thus saith the Lord God,
behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. We're the sheep. We've been scattered. We've wandered off far from God. And praise God, our Shepherd
came to seek us, and He will find us. Perhaps you are a lost
sheep who's not yet been found. If you're His, He's going to
find you. He will find His sheep. Every single one of them, not
one of them, shall be lost. Why could He not be hid? He had
a lost sheep whom he must find. He came here for her to save
her. Now let's see how she came to
him. This is beautiful. Turn back
to Mark 7, verse 25. For a certain woman whose young
daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell
at his feet." The first thing I want us to see about this woman,
she heard of him and she came to him. We will not come to Christ
until we hear of him. She's about to call upon the
name of the Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How is she going to call upon
him in whom she has not believed? How is she going to believe in
him of whom she has not heard? We must hear. Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. God had given this woman
faith. How do we know? Because she came
to Christ. That's what faith does. Faith
goes to Christ. Only to Christ. Faith runs to
Him. It flees to Him. Clings to Him. We're going to see it. This woman,
she clinged to Him. By the grace of God, she had
nowhere else to go. She ran to Him. She clinged to
Him. For what? For everything. Whatever
it is, brother and sister, run to Him. Cling to Him. If God's given us faith, we will
go to Him and Him alone. She came to him believing, believing
on him, believing that he alone was able to meet her need. How
do we read that God shall supply our need? In Christ Jesus, where
all the fullness of God dwells. All our needs, he is able to
supply. Verse 25 again, for a certain
woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him
and came and fell. at his feet. How did this woman
come? She came falling down at his feet. You know what that
tells us? She came helpless. Absolutely
helpless. Needy. I don't know of one time
in my life where I've physically fallen down at someone's feet.
I don't think I have. But if we're going to come to
Christ, that's exactly how we must come. Absolutely helpless. In my hand, no price I bring.
We cling to Him and Him alone. The only way to come to Christ
is with a need. This woman, she did not come
to Him as the Pharisees did. The Pharisees came causing trouble. They never came
to the Lord with a need. Lord willing, we'll look at this
tonight. The Pharisee prayed. He had no
need of anything. He thought he met his own need. Pharisees, they never came to
the Lord with a need. They never fell at his feet.
You remember Jairus, or Jairus, however you want to say it. He
came to the Lord. His daughter was dying. He came
just like this woman came. He came falling down at his feet. And the Lord raised her from
the dead. We must come to Christ like this woman, as a needy,
helpless sinner. And I love noticing where she
took her place. at His feet. I got to thinking
about this. If our Lord was physically here
in our midst, first of all, I'd be running that pew as fast as
I could. And I pray that all of us would sit at His feet.
Like our sister Mary. Martha, poor thing, just cumbered
about with much serving, running here and there and trying to
do something for the Lord. And I admire her for that. I
really do. Oh, to be a Martha. but O to be a Mary, she hath
chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her. We're
gonna sit at his feet forever, brethren, praising him who hath
done all things well. Verse 25 again, for a certain
woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him
and came and fell at his feet. Verse 26, the woman was a Greek,
a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by nation. And she besought him
that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. This
woman, she came in faith, she came with a need, and she came
for her daughter. She begged the Lord to remove
this unclean spirit, this devil, from her daughter. Lord, save
my daughter. Now I'll just point out, we're
not concerned with the souls of our loved ones until we're
concerned with our own soul. And by nature, none of us are.
But the Lord had obviously done something for this woman, and
she came bringing her daughter before Him. Now, in reading this,
many of the writers suppose that this lady was a widow and that
this young daughter was all the family she had. I don't know. But I do know this. She loved
her daughter. Oh, she loved her daughter. How
do you know? She brought her before the Lord.
She brought her to the only one who could possibly do anything
for her. She cared for her soul. If we
love someone, we care for their soul. It's the first thing we
care for. Lord, save them. Save him. Save her. Please, Lord.
It's the only thing that matters. She came to the Lord believing
that only He could do something for her. You know only God can
do something for you. I can't do anything for you.
Donnie can't do anything for you. Only the Lord can save us. And I pray He would. Now move your bookmark, if you
will, over to Matthew's account. Matthew chapter 15. We won't
be coming back tomorrow. Matthew 15 verse 22. And on this matter of our loved ones,
While we can't save them, there is something we can do for them.
We can pray for them. This woman, she prayed for her
daughter. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. No doubt that speaks of our Lord,
but I believe it speaks of God's people as well. You care for
someone, you pray for them. Never stop praying for them.
Never stop praying for them. Matthew 15 verse 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! My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. She cried, Have mercy on me. Well, I thought she came here
for her daughter. She did. Absolutely, she did. Then why does she cry, have mercy
on me? See, she needed mercy too. She
didn't just come for her daughter. She needed mercy herself. They
both needed the same thing. Mercy. Where would we be without
it? It's the only thing we need. See, our Lord physically healed
many people. You read about it right after
this text. And in chapter 14, He healed many. But this woman
wasn't just interested in a physical healing. She had a need that
went far beyond this physical body. She had a need in her soul. I thought of those 10 lepers. They said, God have mercy on
us. And the Lord, He sent them to
the priests and they were washed and they were physically cleansed.
And how many turned back and gave glory to God and came to
Him and fell at His feet and worshipped Him? How many? One. You know what I believe that
means? Our Lord physically healed ten. He only saved one. This woman, I promise you, she
wasn't just interested in her daughter being physically healed. She needed herself and her daughter
to be spiritually saved from their sin. And that's what we
need. There's just one thing I need. What do you need? We need mercy. See, we've sinned
against God and we deserve to die in our sins. Mercy is not
getting what we deserve. Pardon for our sin. Is that what
you need? We're about to have a little
baby. What does she need? She needs a lot of things that
Lord willing we're going to provide for her by the grace of God.
But there's just one thing she needs. That's the mercy of God
in Christ to put away her sin. Like that poor publican cried,
God be merciful to me, a sinner. I'm just a sinner. Lord, save
me. The only place we're going to find God's mercy is in the
Lord Jesus Christ because He took our place. He suffered the
wrath of our sin. Our sins were laid on Him and
He bore it all for us. Praise God. The Lord came here
for this woman. And we see how she came to Him.
Now we know we come to Him because He first came to us. No man can
come except the Father draw us. We love Him because He first
loved us. Alright. Now let's see how the Lord answered
her. She came as a mercy beggar. How's
our Lord going to deal with this poor woman? Matthew 15 verse
23. But He answered her, not a word. Does that surprise you like it
does me? I still can't get over this. Here she comes crying exactly
the way we're supposed to cry. Exactly the way we will cry if
God ever quickens us to life in Christ. And then he didn't
even answer her. How do you explain that? Is this
the same one who stood still for blind Bartimaeus when he
cried the same thing? Is this the one who told that
thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise? Is this
the one who healed that leopard? Immediately his leprosy was cleared.
Lord, if you will. Is this the same one who did
these things? Yep. Then why didn't he answer
her? Let me ask you this. Did he have
to? You pray for God to save you.
Does he have to? Does He owe it to us to do anything for us? Have we earned His favor? Well,
I did this, now God's going to... No! We've earned His wrath! He didn't have to do anything
for her. And He doesn't have to do a thing for you or me. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. It's His to give. You give a
gift to somebody, you decide where that gift goes. I believe
you do, don't you? He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. He didn't know it to her, but
He's going to show it to her. Oh, that makes me rejoice. See
what he's doing by not answering her immediately. He's trying
her faith. Our faith must be tried. The
life of a believer is not easy. I know you've heard it mentioned
a million times, but as a believer, it just gets harder and harder.
Many of you have experienced that. It gets harder and harder. He's going to try her faith.
Now here's what's going to happen. One of two things. Either she's going
to get offended. This is a hard saying. I can't
take it anymore. I'm going away. Either that,
or she's just going to keep on crying unto Him. When we hear the Gospel preached,
we can either run and trust in ourselves. No need of God. Forget it. I'll just help myself.
I'll just go my own way. I'll establish my own righteousness.
Or, we'll keep on crying, Lord, have mercy on me, save me, hear
my humble cry. Verse 23, But he answered her
not a word, and his disciples came and besought him, saying,
Send her away, for she crieth after us. What'd that woman do? She just kept on crying. She kept on crying. See, that's what a true sinner
is going to do. That's what a desperate, helpless, needy sinner is going
to do. They're just going to keep on
crying because that's all we can do. Like Peter, we have nowhere
else to go. To whom shall we go? Those poor disciples, they just...
Lord, send her away. We're getting tired of her. We
can't take it anymore. She's driving us crazy. Send
her away, please. I thought of that unjust judge.
This woman came. She was crying to the judge.
And finally, he just said, I'm just going to give you what you
want, so you'll just leave me alone. You'll quit coming to
me. Aren't you so glad our Lord will never get weary of our continual
coming unto Him? He said, come to me. It gives
Him joy when sinners come to Him. Disciples said, just send her
away. Let's move on. Let's go on to the next scene. Was our
Lord going to send her away? Not a chance. Not a chance. Isaiah 65, 24 says, and it shall
come to pass that before they call, I will answer." I already
told you, the Lord came here for her. He's here for her. He may not have answered her
word yet, but he came here for her. He's going to hear her.
He's going to save her. Before they call, I will answer.
And while they are yet speaking, I will hear. He may not have
physically answered her yet. But He heard her. He heard her. And He's going to answer her.
We need to remember, as we go through this life, God's delays
are not denials. God may not give us what we want
right now. He may not give us what we want at all. But I can
tell you this, He's going to give us what we need. And we
need to trust Him. Trust Him. God give us grace to trust Him.
Verse 24, disciples said, send her away. But He answered and
said, I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He told His disciples, I'm not
going anywhere. I've got unfinished business.
I came here for this woman. But we need to notice We already
read this woman was a Greek. She was a Gentile. We know she
was a lost sheep, but she's not of the house of Israel. She's
not a Jew. She's not a Jew. She was a Gentile,
heathen woman. Let me show you something. Romans
9, turn with me if you will. Romans chapter 9, verse 22. Romans 9, 22. What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath
called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Verse 25, he saith unto Hosea,
I will call them my people which were not my people, and her beloved
which was not beloved. It's not physical Israel. It's
not the physical lineage of Israel that shall be saved. They're
not all Israel which are of Israel, but all spiritual Israel, all
of God's people, all God's elect chosen in Christ, all of them
shall be saved. In Christ, there's no difference.
We read it in Colossians 3. There's neither Jew nor Greek,
bond nor free. Christ is all and in all. See, the house of Israel is the
house of sinners. Israel was Jacob. Jacob was a
sinner, wasn't he? It's the house of sinners. Christ came to save
sinners. This woman, she'd be the first
to tell you, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Back in our text,
Matthew 15 verse 24. But he answered and said, I'm
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then
came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. What a prayer. Lord, help me. She just heard him declare the
gospel. I'm sent for the lost. Did she
get offended at that? No. She worshiped Him. If God has
saved us, when we hear the gospel, we're going to hear what we are.
We're going to hear that we've sinned against God. We're going
to hear that this flesh is nothing good. It's a rotting flesh. It
ain't getting any better. And by God's grace, we'll do
what this woman did. Worship Him. We'll worship Him. Lord, help me. She said, You're
my only hope. I'm trusting in you, Lord. What
a place to be. I pray that if you've not, God
would bring you to this place. I pray he'd bring me to this
place right where this woman was, right at his feet. Lord,
help me. Look at verse 26. But he answered and said, it is not meat to take
the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. This woman's already had a couple
chances to get offended. He didn't answer her, told her
she's lost. Now he says you're a dog. It just wouldn't be right
for me to bestow this goodness to you. No, it wouldn't. You're unworthy. Yep. I know. I'm unworthy. I told you, this flesh is just
going to say this, a hard saying. And we'll go away. Will you also go away if left
to ourselves? Yes, we will. Gone with the wind. See, it's the grace of God that
teaches us what we are. Are you offended when God calls
His people dogs? Does that offend you? You want
to be His dog, don't you? It's God's grace that reveals
to us what we are, and it's God's grace that causes us to believe
Him. "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my
fear relieved.'" How precious did that grace appear the hour
we first believed. It's my favorite part of the
message right here, this woman's response. Verse 27, "'And she
said, "'Truth, Lord.'" Don't you love that? "'All that He
has said unto her, Such a hard, that's such a hard message, isn't
it? Such a hard thing to receive. That really hits us where it
hurts, doesn't it? Crushes our pride. Truth, Lord. I believe everything you said
about me. Amen, Lord. But even still, I come to you. Fall down at your feet. Got nowhere
to go. She said, truth Lord, yet the
dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. She said, I'm just a dog, but
you're my master. Would you be my master? We don't make him Lord, he is
Lord. And when he reveals to us that he is our Lord, what
a blessing. Then we come unto him boldly
and beg him for mercy and grace. And I love this too. Our Lord
said it's not me to take the children's bread and cast it
to the dogs. She didn't ask for bread. She
said, Lord, would you please just let some crumbs fall my
way? We need to be content with whatever
he's pleased to give us because he don't owe us anything. If
he wanted to eat the whole steak and including the fat, that's
his right. He didn't have to let it fall
down to the floor. Depth of mercy, can there be
mercy still reserved for me? Can my God his wrath forbear
me, the chief of sinners spared? I can't help but think of Mephibosheth
reading this text. You remember David, King David.
Saul was his enemy. And yet he purposed in his heart,
he said, is there anybody left of the house of Saul that I may
show kindness unto him for Jonathan's sake? And Ziba came, he told
him, he said, yeah, Jonathan has a son. He's lame on both
his feet. Mephibosheth, shameful thing. David said, fetch him, bring
him to me. And he brought him to David.
And Mephibosheth, just like this woman, he fell down and did reverence. And David told him what he was
going to do for him. He didn't tell him, now Mephibosheth, you're
going to have to fix your problem. You're lame. You're going to
need to walk on your own. He said, you're going to eat
at my table, but you're going to have to get there yourself.
That's not what he said. He said, you're going to eat at my table.
And at the very end of that chapter, you know what it said? It said
he sat and ate at the king's table continually. It said he
was still lame on both his feet. What was Mephibosheth's response
to David's kindness unto him, to David's mercy? Here's what
he said, just like this woman. He said, what is thy servant?
I'm your servant. What is thy servant that thou
shouldest look upon? Forget everything else he did
for him. Who am I that you should look upon me? Such a dead dog
as I am. That's what he said. What is
man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that
thou visitest in. This woman, she took her place
at his feet as his dog. Mephibosheth said, I'm just a
shameful dog. What faith, what faith. Why does God show kindness unto
us? Just like David, for Jonathan's
sake, for Christ's sake, we're saved to the praise of the glory
of his grace, not our own. that we might be to His glory,
trophies of His grace. Now look here in our text, verse
28. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as
thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. The Lord had mercy on her. And
He healed her daughter. We read in Mark's account that
she went home and she saw her daughter sitting on the bed. I just want to close by considering
this real quick. Our Lord commended her faith.
Great is thy faith. What was it about her faith that
was so great? Her faith was in Christ. All true faith is in Him. Only
in Him. She heard of Him. She came to
Him. She fell down at His feet. She
prayed to Him. She cried to Him, have mercy
on me. When confronted with the truth
over and over again, she just kept crying to Him. She didn't
leave. She worshipped Him and kept praying
to Him alone. Lord, I come to Thee. O Lamb
of God, I come, I come. Great is the faith that God gives.
And that great faith looks to Christ alone forever and always.
Our faith is in Him. Oh, to be like this woman, to
be the master's dog. Don't you want to be His dog?
I pray that God would give us this great faith. Amen. Let us
pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you so much to read
of your mercy to sinners. We know that's what we are by
your grace, and we know that we don't deserve anything but
your wrath and your judgment. But Lord, we find great comfort
in knowing what you've been pleased to do for those who can't help
themselves. I pray that each soul here might
be like this woman, that we might be your dog, that we might need
you. Lord, everyone in this world
by nature, we don't need you, we don't think about you, we
don't have any care or any concern for the only thing that matters.
Lord, I pray that you would do for us what we could never do
for ourselves, that you would make us hunger and thirst after
you. We know that you meet our need
in Christ, We come to you pleading Him, His blood, His righteousness
for the redemption of sin, forgiveness of sin. Lord, save us for Christ's
sake. Have mercy on us for His sake,
for His honor, His glory. Lord, we bring our lost loved
ones before you like this woman, and we beg you to save them as
you've saved us. Lord, keep saving us. You are
such a great God, so glorious, so merciful. Please show mercy
to sinners for Christ's sake. Forgive us of our sin. Bless
us and keep us, Lord. Cause us to rejoice in Thee and
Thy wonderful works. Amen. Thank you, Brother Cody. Let's
turn in our other hymn book. Number 31, oh how merciful. And let's stand and sing it together.
Number 31 in this little hymn book. When I was lost in sin and shame,
How Thou let me take the blame. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me. And see the sinfulness of sin. Blessed Lord have mercy on me.