CHRIST CHALLENGING FAITH

MARK 7:2

A. "THE WOMAN WAS A GREEK, A SYROPHENICIAN BY NATION; AND SHE BESOUGHT HIM THAT HE WOULD CAST FORTH THE DEVIL OUT OF HER DAUGHTER"
  1. If we were to make a list of the clever women of the New Testament:
    1. The woman of Samaria
    2. And the woman of Canaan (both of them alien) would, on any estimation, be high on the list
  2. For each of them have the original touch of human nature:
    1. Each claimed the attention of Heaven
    2. Each of them prevailed in their quest for the water of life - the deliverance from the bondage of Satan B. LET US NOTE, BRIEFLY, THREE HIGH POINTS IN THE STORY OF THE SYROPHENICIAN WOMAN
  3. The burden of the woman:
    1. "My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil" - Matt. 15:22
    2. A mother's love and compassion for her child was out in search for deliverance
  4. The woman's knowledge of the Messiah:
    1. She had heard of the work of mercy of the Son of God - "And His fame went throughout all Syria" - Matt. 4:24
    2. She had faith in His ability to cast out devils; if that were not so, she would not have come to Him for help
  5. The difficulty of the woman:
    1. There can be no doubt that even the disciples were biased toward people of another nation
    2. Also the strong words used by the Son of man in answer to the urging of the disciples
    3. One has, for the moment, difficulty to harmonize the words of the Son of man with His own love for all mankind
    4. Attempts have been made to read this part of the story out of the original, but that is short-sightedness at best
  6. Christ, who knows what is in man, tests men:
    1. To bring out the quality of the faith that is involved; He did that on a number of occasions; Examples: The experience of blind Bartimaeus - Mark 10:46-52; the woman that was troubled with her blood - Matt. 9:19-22 C. WE NOW TURN TO THE LESSONS OF THE STORY:
  7. The place of faith in the mind of Jesus
    1. It is important for us that the Lord Jesus gave repeated and very strong emphasis to faith
    2. In fact, "faith" was the central theme of His messages
    3. Note just a few statements of our Lord on faith - He rebuked the disciples with, "O ye of little faith" - Matt. 6:30; 8:26; 14:30-31; "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel " - Matt. 8:10; "O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt" - Matt. 15:28
  8. He valued the perseverance of faith:
    1. Here is a woman that cannot be denied; her faith ranks among the faith of all who persevered under the severest tests; Examples: Abraham and the sacrifice of his only son Isaac - Gen. 22:1-12; Jochebed, the mother of Moses - Ex. 2:1-14; then we have a panoramic view of the saints as recorded in Hebrews 11
    2. Here faith was so great it mounted all the seeming impossibilities and prevailed
    3. Here then was a very special lesson for the disciples of Christ; I am confident that they understood the meaning of faith in God better than they had before
  9. This experience of the woman of Canaan demonstrates:
    1. That Christ centered faith will never be turned down by the Lord; Examples: the ten lepers - Luke 17:12-17; the thief on the cross - Luke 23:40-44; the Centurion and his servant - Matt. 8:5-10; the woman that gave all her living to the treasury - Mark 12:41-44; then we have the woman that had an issue of blood - Matt. 9:20-22
    2. Thus we have a Biblical example of the faith which brings results
    3. This type of faith was very rare in the days of our Lord and I am sorry to say, it would be very rare in our day - Luke 18:8
    4. It is true we do hear a lot about beliefs but how much do we hear of the faith that cannot be refused


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