Great Faith (Matthew #79) - Bible Baptist Church

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

A desperate mother has exhausted herself trying to help her daughter. She hears about the Lord Jesus Christ and determines that she is going to find him. She does. When she airs out her problem before the Lord and the disciples looking on she is turned down by them all. But she persists. And the Lord explains His specific ministry is to the house of Israel and it’s not right to take bread off the table to give it to Gentile dogs. She agrees that she is a Gentile dog, nevertheless even the dogs eat crumbs off the floor from the table. At that point Jesus is impressed and heals her daughter. Mark 7:24-30

Faith in Jesus Christ (vss 21-22)

Great faith is faith in Jesus Christ.
She hunts down the Lord in desperation. In Mark 7:24 the Bible says the LORD tried to be alone, but couldn’t because this lady found where he was.
This mom seeks mercy for her baby girl.
This heathen mom recognizes Jesus Christ as the Son of David. Seems to be a theme in Matthew that Gentiles recognize Jesus Christ. Even from the genealogy in Matthew 1 where Matthew mentions the Gentile names in Christ’s genealogy. Compare Matthew 1 to Genesis 5 and Luke 3.
Acts 20:20-21 ….Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Was this mother’s daughter healed because this mother kept the law to the satisfaction of God so that her daughter was healed? This lady is a Gentile who was never given any law by God. Galatians 3:5-9 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Persistent faith (vss 23-25)

Great faith is faith that perseveres through offences.
She worships and begs the LORD to help her.
Her faith is stronger than her being ignored and insulted. How about you?
Her faith causes her to NOT be offended. Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
None of what we’re reading was in the Lord’s plans. But the LORD recognizing faith wherever it exists is not a change in character.

Humble faith (vss 26-27)

Faith is humble in the face of rebuke.
Faith is honest in its self assessment.
- Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
- You are exactly what God said you are.
- What do you do when the LORD tells you what you are? Is it, how dare that preacher say that!
- Somethings that pass as preaching today are people being told they are something they are not. That leads to offences, disappointments, frustrations.
James 1:22-25 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (Self deception is insanity. You think you’re something you’re not.) 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (You’d say that guy’s crazy, he thinks he’s a dog. That lady is crazy, she thinks she is a man. YES, that’s where America is. Confusion reigns. People don’t know what they are. Professing Christians love preaching that tells them they are something that they are not.) 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
If you want to see how highly God values humility take a look at 1 Kings 21:25-29. Ahab humbles himself and the LORD says he will forego certain judgment because of Ahab humbling himself.

Faith that gets answers (vss 28-31)

This mom has enough faith NOT to say, well, if it’s God’s will my daughter gets better then she’ll get better. If this mom doesn’t get to Jesus Christ, her daughter doesn’t get better.
She went home and her daughter was sitting up and I imagine she said, Momma, you won’t believe what happened! My headache went away and all the bad thoughts went away and I feel happy. And I imagine she grabbed her daughter and embraced her with tears streaming down her face.
That crumb that fell from the Bread of Life went a long way. It fed my daughter and it fed me.