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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. Jesus calls her faith GREAT!
Faith to find Jesus Christ (vss 21-22)
- Great faith is faith in 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? No.
- This heathen mom recognizes Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
- The LORD tried to be alone, but couldn’t because this lady found where he was. She hunts down the Lord in desperation. This mom seeks mercy for her baby girl.
- Her faith is faith to find Jesus Christ. She does this physically. You’re going to have to find Jesus Christ spiritually today because he’s not walking the earth.
- God will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: This is the method of seeking out glory, honor from God, eternal life in Jesus Christ.
Faith to overcome offenses (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.
Faith that is humble (vss 26-27)
- Faith is humble in the face of rebuke. We all get hurt when the Holy Spirit points out an area of life that we love, but he hates. The question isn’t whether you got your feelings hurt, but did those hurt feelings cause you fail of faith in Christ? Humility means your feelings got hurt.
- 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!
- 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.
- God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Faith that God approves of (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.