So we are thinking about Mark
chapter seven and verse 24 to 30. And as this passage has been
read to us, I'm sure that there is a familiarity with it upon
the part of many of you. But just by way of introduction,
I want to say something about the way in which the Lord was
so conscientious about the way in which he laboured in his ministry. I admire the dedication of the
Lord Jesus Christ as he always appears to be about his father's
business. Indeed, the Lord himself tells
us that the Son of Man came, or is come, to seek and to save
that which was lost. And this is what the Lord spent
those three years of his ministry. doing, accomplishing and achieving. He had come to seek and to save
that which was lost. And I have no doubt, no reason
to doubt, that this is exactly what he was doing when he travelled
from Gennesaret or close by Capernaum here on the shores of the Sea
of Galilee, all of the way to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. He was looking for one of his
lost sheep. He had come to seek and to save
that which was lost and so that was what he was doing on this
occasion also. Just as when he crossed the Sea
of Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes in order to find
that man that was possessed of a legion of demons. Or just as
he must needs go through Samaria in order to meet with the woman
at the well. Our Lord was on a mission and
today's encounter with this dear lady, this Syrophoenician lady
that simply talks about the fact that she came from Tyre and Sidon
which was a border area between a part of the land that we would
now called Palestine and Syria and or also it was the the land
that had been possessed by the Philistines in a time gone past. It was a Gentile area and the
people who lived in that area were Gentiles and so she is specified
as being a Syro-Phoenician. and her daughter had been attacked
by the devil. And this encounter with this
lady is another example of the Lord's purpose and indeed of
the success of the Lord in achieving that purpose that he came to
fulfil. So the first thing that I want
to draw your attention to today is that the lady with whom the
Lord had this conversation, this Syrophoenician woman, was a lady
to whom faith had been given. That might seem a strange way
to begin our consideration of this lady, but I think it's the
best way for us to understand this passage. Faith was given
to this lady before she met with the Lord. Now, we've already
mentioned the initiative of the Lord in travelling to the coasts
of Tyre and Sidon. Travelling all this way from
the Sea of Galilee. It was a distance of about 35
miles. So it would be between 10 and
12 solid hours of walking. Assuming that we walk at about
somewhere between 3 and 4 miles per hour. So that was quite an
investment that the Lord Jesus Christ had made in this trip. Some people say that it was in
order to get away from these scribes and Pharisees that had
come from Jerusalem to watch the Lord and to interrogate the
Lord, with whom he had been speaking just a short time earlier in
the earlier part of this chapter. To be honest, that doesn't really
cut with me as far as an explanation is concerned. This is the God-man
that we are speaking about and there is nothing unintentional
and there is nothing unplanned with the Lord Jesus Christ. So
I continue to think that the Lord's purpose in going to Tyre
and Sidon wasn't to escape from some intrusion by the Pharisees,
but it was to meet an appointment that he had with this certain
woman and to deliver this young child from the oppression of
the devil. Yet as we think about that, it
is also good for us to remember that the work of salvation is
the work of the triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit. That the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit, as it were, unite together in the covenant
of peace, in the covenant of grace, in the covenant of salvation
and purpose, in order to choose, we call that election, to redeem,
that was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and
to effectually call or convert the sinner to faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. So that the Father's choice,
the Son's redemptive work, the atonement, and the Holy Spirit's
regeneration work all come together in the life of every individual
whom God will bring to newness of life. And that's a work of
the triune God. So that if a sinner is brought
to faith in Christ, clearly the Holy Spirit has also been at
work in that lady's life. Here was a chosen vessel, one
of the elect of God, because the Lord Jesus Christ tells us
that she has faith. And here is one to whom faith
had been given. Chosen of God, given faith, now
encounters the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ had
been coming to meet this lady and preparing through these 10
or 12 hours of walking to meet this lady. And the lady had been
prepared by the Holy Spirit to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. I
don't know what means, like what person
had spoken to her about the Lord Jesus Christ. All that distance
away, amongst the Gentiles, in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon,
probably in one of the cities actually, the city of Tyre or
Sidon because She came out in order to meet the Lord as He
went into the vicinity of these two cities. He didn't actually
go into the cities, it would appear. He went into the vicinity
of these cities and she came out to meet Him. I don't know
who she had spoken to. I don't know by whom the spiritual
wisdom that she had had been given, short of it being an immediate
work of the Holy Spirit, that there hadn't been anybody between
to inform her or to tell her. Maybe she had travelled and heard. I don't know. We're not told.
How did she come to hear about Christ? By whom was this spiritual
wisdom conveyed to her? But by the Holy Spirit. But she had faith. She came in
faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. She applied for help by faith. And by faith she persisted. despite being ignored and deflected
several times by the Lord himself. This lady, this dear lady, this
Syrophoenician woman, she knew who to come to for help. She knew where to find him. despite
the fact that he endeavoured to keep his presence there secret,
quiet. And she knew what to say to him. Now we get a more fulsome account
of a conversation that took place in Matthew's gospel. But here
we find in Mark's gospel, this account nevertheless shows us
that the woman knew what to say to the Lord. She knew who to
go to, she knew where to find him, and she knew what to say. And everyone who comes to the
Lord Jesus Christ for help must know the same. Note this. We do not come to the Lord Jesus
Christ for faith. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith. Faith is spiritual life from
God that is informed by gospel preaching. Gospel preaching is
the means that God uses to bring elect sinners, chosen sinners
to Christ. That quickening work of the Holy
Spirit opens up a desire for hearing the gospel, an ability
to hear the gospel, the wherewithal and opportunity to hear the gospel. And when that gospel is preached
and declared it finds a responsiveness in that quickened soul, that
born-again soul, so that we see here is a lady whom the Holy
Spirit had already been dealing with. If we would be saved, we
must come to Christ by faith. Neither is there salvation in
any other. And if the Lord grants us grace,
we shall come to the gospel because in the gospel the Lord Jesus
Christ is to be found and we will plead for that mercy which
we need. You see the Holy Spirit will
convict us and convince us of sin. He will show us our need
of a saviour so that we will know who we need to find. We will know where he is found
in the gospel. and we will ask him for that
which he alone can give. And thus we see the Holy Spirit's
effectual call and the gift of faith preceded this woman's approach
to Christ. She was prompted to seek Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ had
come a long way seeking her. And despite the initial appearances
of this engagement, this conversation that they had together. This
encounter was always going to end well. She came and she fell
at his feet and worshipped him. Matthew tells us that. She called
upon Jesus as Christ. She called upon him as the Messiah,
the son of David. So wherever this woman had been
informed, wherever she had heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and
what he could do and what power was vested in him and indeed
his true identity, this gentile woman from this gentile part
of the land, was better informed than so many people, even around
Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. Wherever and whatever she had
heard, she had heard very well. And I assure you, upon the authority
of the word of God, all who come to the Lord Jesus Christ like
this woman did by faith, will be received and will be blessed
with all spiritual blessings. So the first point that I want
to make today for you is that faith was provided for this Syro-Phoenician
woman. And the second point is this,
that having received that faith from God the Holy Spirit as part
of his work in her life, She exercised that faith. She believed. And then she acted upon what
she had heard and what she believed. She came to Christ. She worshipped
Christ. She appealed to Christ for the
help that she required. She had a great need, this woman.
And she had one single opportunity to have that need met. and she would not let it pass
easily. I started off by saying that
I admired the Lord Jesus Christ's work as he went about his father's
business. Well, there's a lot of admiration
in this sermon today because I admire this lady's determination
too. It's quite extraordinary. Here
she is, she's a Greek, she's a Gentile, she's a non-Jew. And yet she stands as a beacon
of hope for every sinner who trembles at the prospect of going
to the Lord Jesus Christ for help, who fears the possibility
of rejection, and yet who feels the burden and the weight of
their need, of their sin, of their guilt, of their desire
to be with Christ in heaven, of eternal life and salvation
in Him. Everything was against this woman,
and I mean everything, Her location was against her. The obligations and responsibilities
that she had were against her. She had a little girl that was
in agony at home and yet she left her to go and seek out Christ
and go and find Christ. Her nationality was against her.
She was a Gentile. The disciples' attitude was against
her, it was dismissive. Her feelings of unworthiness,
her fear of embarrassment or of disappointment perhaps might
have militated against her going and seeking out the Lord. And
yet it seems that all of those obstacles merely sharpened her
desire and her determination. What a beautiful picture that
she is for any sinner feeling a burden of the need of salvation
in their soul. Her need drove her on. And what a need it was. The pain
and distress of her daughter The daughter that she loved hurt
her far more than any embarrassment or rejection could. Here was
a mother who felt her daughter's torment as this young girl wrestled
with her demons. We're told that she was grievously
vexed. And as that daughter cried for
her mother's help, so the mother cried out just as earnestly to
the Lord Jesus Christ. She cried, and listen to this,
this is an important point, and I think that it's just lovely
to pause and enter into the sentiments of this for a moment. She cried,
Lord, help me. Lord, help me. She didn't cry,
Lord, help my daughter. Her daughter's need was her own
need. She so identified with her daughter's
need that it became her own. And she cried to the Lord, Lord
help me. She didn't ask for the Lord Jesus
Christ to come with her. She didn't ask for his attendance
at her bedside. She didn't even bring the little
girl to the Lord, as many did. All she needed was a word. All
she needed was a will on the part of the great physician,
a motion on this one Jesus to give her some hope that all would
be well in the life of this little girl. We speak of men and women as
passive in salvation. And it is true that with regard
to the Lord Jesus Christ's work on the cross and what he accomplished
by his blood, we are passive. We cannot add anything to that
finished work. It lacks nothing that we can
supply. It is full, it is finished, and
it is free. for all for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ died. But the benefits of that great
salvation is received by faith, or are received by faith, and
are experienced through hearing the gospel preached and believing
and trusting and acting out upon that faith in our going to Christ. Faith is God's gift to his people
by which he will be known and all who come to the Lord Jesus
Christ do it by that faith which has been given. But we come because
that's God's appointed way of salvation. The writer to the
Hebrews says in chapter 11 verse 6, without faith it is impossible
to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe. So there is a necessity of faith,
that work of the Holy Spirit must first be implanted before
we can truly go to Christ in faith and receive the benefits
and blessings of salvation. And in John 14 verse 6 the Saviour
says, So having gifted faith to this lady, this lady sought
out Christ. She went to where he was. She
went to hear him speak. She went to see what he would
do for her. She acted upon the faith that
had been given to her. The woman believed. She came
believing. She came seeking help. But what happened next was unexpected
and surprising because we discover that the Lord gives her no answer. So faith was given to this lady,
point one. Faith was exercised by that lady
in her coming to Christ. And the third point is this,
that here the Lord tries this woman's faith. Now as I've said,
Mark's account is a little bit more brief than Matthew's. Mark
says in verse 27, Jesus said unto her, let the children first
be filled, for it is not meat to take the children's bread
and cast it unto the dogs. Matthew enlarges on that a little
bit and he tells us, first of all, that for the first part
of this woman's presence in the company of the Lord, that he
answered her not a word. She spoke to him and he didn't
even acknowledge her. She spoke to him and he did not
answer her. And so she keeps on calling.
She keeps on persisting. Her determination is not suppressed
or daunted. And so her disciples come to
the Lord, and they say to the Lord, Lord, will you deal with
this woman? Will you give this woman what
she's asking for so that we can be rid of her? And there's almost
a sense there of, that the disciples were becoming
exasperated by this woman's persistence. And so they say to the Lord,
Lord, will you just be rid of this woman? They came advocating that she
be given what she sought for. And then the Lord says something,
it's in the 24th verse of Matthew chapter 15. He answers and said,
but he didn't answer and speak to the woman. He answered and
spoke to the disciples. And this is what he says, I am
not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now notwithstanding
the passage that we're looking at in Mark chapter seven, I do
feel that there is a key to understanding this incident in that little
phrase of the Lord that we read in Matthew chapter 15, 24. He
answered and said to his disciples, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Now we have been observing over
the past number of weeks, and I confess it's been months now,
that we have seen how the Lord used all his parables and his
miracles and the experiences through which the disciples were
brought in order to teach them their apostolic responsibilities. These three years of the Lord's
ministry were an apprenticeship for apostles. And the Lord was
teaching them in every situation, in every set of circumstances,
something about their role as ministers of the gospel and apostles
in the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel.
Not least here on this occasion. He was teaching them their worldwide
mission. And I think that's the point
of what is happening here. The Lord was showing his disciples
that when it came to the preaching of the gospel, this message was
not restricted simply to the Hebrews, simply to the Jews. The Lord was teaching them that
it would also be taken to the Gentiles. So that when he gave
them the commission prior to his ascension, go ye into all
the world and preach the gospel, it didn't come as a surprise
that the Lord's view, the Lord's horizons were much beyond the
boundaries of Jerusalem and Judea. That while the Gospel might start
there, it was to the end that it would go from there. It would
go forth into all the world. And the disciples had to have
that broadness of view, that breadth of horizon. And that's
what the Lord succeeded in teaching them here at this moment. He
was teaching them their worldwide mission. That the whole world
was represented in this one Syrophoenician woman. and her little girl. Now do you see what the Lord
did? Do you see what the Lord did
here? He says to his disciples, I am
sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then he
gave this woman all that she asked for. By so doing, he was
teaching his disciples who the lost sheep of Israel really were. Not the Hebrews of the land of
Israel, but the children of the covenant of grace. This was the
fulfilment of those promises that had been given to Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob that we've been reading about with some
of the young people in their section for weeks now, which
are so frequently repeated time after time after time in the
Old Testament. These were the blessings that
would come that were anticipated and expected by the people of
God all through the Old Testament era, that the elect of God in
all the world would be brought to a knowledge of the truth.
And these were the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Not some
narrow nationalistic view, but those who were the children of
Israel, the heirs of the promise. And only then does the Lord turn
to this woman, and he tells her, it is not meet to take the children's
bread and to cast it unto dogs. Jesus' words have seemed harsh
and unfeeling to some people, and it's hardly the gentle, sensitive
response that one might expect from our Saviour. But remember
what we talked about earlier when we spoke about the tender
mercies of God? Is He really calling this lady
a dog? Let me just say something about
that, if I may. When the Lord Jesus Christ looked
at this lady, He loved her. He loved her with a love that
is beyond our comprehension. He loved her with infinite love. He loved her unconditionally. He loved her everlastingly. He loved her with such genuine
goodness as he would soon supply her with everything that her
heart desired. and much more. There was no insult
or disrespect in the Lord's words. And yet for her own sake, and
for the disciples' education, and even for our education today,
there must needs be a delay in blessing her. There needed to
be a pause It was desirable that this pause entered into the conversation. So that, like Jairus, when the
Lord paused to help that woman who reached out and touched his
garment in the midst of the throng, and they came and they said to
Jairus, don't bother the master any longer, your daughter has
died. There had to be that pause. Or Martha. When Lazarus, her
brother, succumbed to death before the Lord arrived, while he was
still ill, there had to be that delay so that the events could
run their course. Waiting upon the Lord was for
her greater good. Waiting upon the Lord was for
His greater glory. So the Lord would still have
his people wait upon his good and perfect timing. That's our
lesson today. He tried this woman's faith and thereby he proved it to be
genuine, to be precious by the short delay that he imposed.
And this lady's faith has gone down in the history of the church. It graces the pages of the everlasting
word of God as a shining example for all time because the Lord
showed how precious her faith was. So those are three points
then. Faith was given to this lady.
Faith was exercised by this lady. Faith had to be tried in this
lady. But fourthly, faith was vindicated. True faith does not let go. True faith does not give up. When it meets obstruction, it
endures. It might take a beating, it might
take a battering, but faith perseveres. It overcomes in the end. It prospers under the duress
into which it is placed. Hearing the words of the Lord,
having met with the attitudes of those around about her, this
woman might have turned on her heels and walked away. benefit
would her daughter have had if she had done that? So hearing
the words of the Lord, she thought to herself, the Lord said, it
is not meat. It is not meat to take the children's
bread and cast it unto dogs. That was what she heard. But she heard, it is not meat. And she said to herself, That's
not a no. So that gave her hope. John Gill. John Gill says, she wisely lays
hold upon and improves in a very beautiful manner in her own favour
what seemed to be so much against her. Isn't that beautiful? She wisely lays hold upon and
improves in a very beautiful manner, in her own favour, what
seems to be so much against her. And as I read the words of this
lady, I think even the Lord rejoiced to hear her speak the words that
she did. She said, yes, yes, Lord, yet
the dogs under the table eat. of the children's crumbs. May
we not learn from this also? When we meet with opposition,
when we meet with barriers or disappointments or trials in
our Are not all these under the overarching purpose and providence
of God? Might we not think that this
delay in getting what we are seeking is part of God's wise
dealing with us to prove and test our faith and show how precious
it is? May we not interpret these things
as this woman did, despite the evidence, or apparent evidence
to the contrary, as means to the end of Christ blessing us? Our portion in this life might
often seem to be merely crumbs, but if they are crumbs from the
Master's table, how blessed they will be to us. Paul does tell
us that it is through much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom
of God. That was true for this Syrophoenician
woman. Why should it be any less true
for you and for me? Here's just a final thought and
then we're done. When the lady got home, she discovered that
the devil was gone. The devil had gone. The devil
had gone because he had served his purpose. by driving this
dear lady to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the
devil was dismissed. Go, get out of here, you've done
your job. The Lord granted her all that
she asked. In fact, Matthew says, let it
be as thou wouldst. So she got everything she asked
for, everything she asked for. Verse 30 says, and when she was
come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter
laid upon the bed. Do you see the loveliness in
this? She returned home from the presence
of the Saviour, believing that her daughter would
be healed. And when she returned home, hanging
as she was upon the Saviour's word, she found it to be so. May the Syrophoenician's experience
be our example to trust the word of the Lord Jesus Christ also.
Amen.