Our sermon text this morning is found in Mark's gospel, chapter seven, verses 24 through 30. Mark chapter seven, verses 24 through 30. Hear now God's word. And from there he, Jesus, arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. But she answered him, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. And he said to her, for this statement you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter. And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, we seek your help. We are your sheep and you are our shepherd. We cry out, Lord, to feed us. Feed us with your word and help us, Lord, to digest it and that it might strengthen us, that it might increase our faith, and oh God, that we would see Jesus today. We would see Jesus in all his compassion, his wisdom, his power. We ask in his name, amen. In the sixth chapter of John's gospel, Jesus said, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. At first it appears that by denying this woman's request, he's casting her out. But Jesus has a good purpose for apparently refusing her. What is that purpose? That's the question we seek to answer this morning. Up to this point in Mark's gospel, when those who are sick or demon-possessed come to Jesus, he heals them. He casts out the demons. He exhibits to them his compassion, his power. But suddenly this desperate Gentile woman with the demon-possessed daughter seemingly gets the cold shoulder. Why? Is it because Jesus is not able to heal outside of the Jewish community? Is he like one of those local deities of the nations, powerless in foreign lands? Or will he not fulfill her request because she's a woman? or because she's a Gentile, a Syrophoenician? Well clearly these are false because in the end Jesus does grant her petition and he sends her home to find that her daughter's lying in bed and the demon's gone. So what's his purpose then in seemingly denying her request? There's a similar instance of denial and delay in John's gospel, chapter 10, I believe. When Jesus learned that Lazarus was sick, he delayed going to see his friend until Lazarus had died. And his purpose then was twofold. First, he was testing the faith of his disciples and of that of Mary and Martha. Did they really believe in the hope of the resurrection? Did they really know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life? By allowing Lazarus to die, Jesus both proved and strengthened their faith. But secondly, he was illustrating his power and his victory over death. If Lazarus had not died, he wouldn't have that opportunity at that moment. So this death was an opportunity to reveal the power of the gospel. Lazarus was an object lesson, an object of mercy, an object of compassion, yes, but also a lesson. And so is this woman before us today and her desperate situation. By delaying and apparently denying her plea, Jesus has a twofold purpose. First, he's drawing out her faith. Think about it. If he had simply granted her petition, the moment she fell at his feet, her faith would not have this dark backdrop of apparent denial and hopelessness on which it sparkles and shines. But Jesus is resolved to test and to prove that through these trying circumstances, her faith is there and it shines so that both she and we can see its strength and see its character. And so Jesus sets before us this woman and her faith as a great example of faith, worthy of imitation. Do you read this and do you not think, oh Lord, give me this faith. I want this kind of faith. The second purpose of this seeming denial and delay, Jesus is using this as an opportunity to encourage all sorts of people to come to him. In the context of Mark's gospel, he's just been arguing with the religious authorities about true spiritual defilement. The Pharisees, you may know, they taught an external cleanliness, which included a physical separation from those who were uncircumcised, the Gentiles. And here's Jesus, he's arguing that spiritual defilement comes from within, not from without. From the heart, not from what you touch. And it's immediately after this that he puts into practice what he's preaching. He himself physically enters the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon. He allows this unclean woman whose daughter is oppressed by an unclean spirit to approach him. And then notice how he manipulates their conversation in such a way that he allows her and her great faith to prove that the feast of God's gracious covenant is not exclusive to the Jewish people, but that it's given to all who will come to Jesus. And therefore he proves that all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. Both Jew and Gentile, both man and woman, both slave and free, And so here we're taught that Jesus does not refuse those who come to him by faith. Jesus does not refuse those who come to him by faith. And although he may at first appear to refuse us, he may only be testing and trying our faith so that it might shine all the more to the praise of his glorious grace. And we'll draw this truth out this morning by considering two questions. We're asking two questions of our text. First, why does Jesus go away? Why does Jesus go away to Tyre and Sidon? And then second, what was discovered in that region? So why did Jesus go away? Well, there are at least three reasons why Jesus went away into the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon. The first takes us back to Mark chapter six. After the apostles came back from their mission trip, Jesus said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. That was Mark chapter six, verse 31. And they sought rest, but they didn't get rest. The crowds followed them. And up to this point, they're not able to rest. So physically, Jesus and his disciples are exhausted. Exhausted from the ministry. And therefore, he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He enters a home. He doesn't want anyone to know where he is. He's seeking rest. Rest for himself, rest for his disciples. A second reason is safety. The scribes and the Pharisees had come from Jerusalem to investigate Jesus. They found someone who didn't like to play by the house rules, the commandments and the traditions of men. And Jesus labels them hypocrites. He accuses them of worshiping with their lips while their hearts are far from God. He rebukes them for elevating the traditions of men and getting rid of the commandments of God. He corrects their false teaching by telling the people about where true spiritual defilement comes from, that it comes from within, not from without. And by doing this, Jesus is undermining and demolishing the system of religion that the Pharisees had created, the system they had built, the system they trusted in, the system that they taught. And so the religious authorities are boiling with this murderous anger. But it's not yet time for Jesus to suffer and die at the hands of wicked men. It's not his time to go to the cross. And so Jesus escapes this region, to this region, to Tyre and Sidon, seeking to hide from those who want him dead. So he's seeking safety. The first two reasons, he's seeking rest. Second, he's seeking safety. But Jesus has another reason for going to the Gentiles. There's a deeper, there's a theological, a redemptive reason for this trip. This is a symbol and a prophecy that the saving work of Jesus Christ is not exclusive to Israel. At the dividing wall of hostility, which has divided Jew from Gentile, will be broken down in his flesh. By his shed blood on the cross, our Lord will bring near those who are far off. He'll make one people into two, Jew and Gentile, into one body, the church. We know that God our Father has children everywhere, people from every tribe, nation, and tongue, and Jesus is showing us this by going into the region of Tyre and Sidon. Pharisees would never have imagined that a Gentile, a Syrophoenician woman, could be such an object of divine mercy. How could God, they would say, show favor to such unclean dogs, descendants of the Canaanites, whom Israel had been commanded to annihilate during the conquest? So Jesus goes away to this region in order to show us that there are no people groups too depraved, too far off, too far gone from God and his covenant mercies to be redeemed and delivered from sin and adopted into the house and family of God. That God's eternal purposes of redemption include the salvation of unclean Gentile sinners like you, like me. So this is the Jesus of the Great Commission. who sends his witnesses out with the power of the Holy Spirit from Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the earth. And he's the one who enters here, Tyre and Sidon, as a picture and prophecy that his saving mission is for people from all nations. And friends, this ought to encourage us. This ought to encourage us to both come and to go, to come to Jesus by faith and to go out into all the world. as witnesses of his grace and of his power. First, it ought to encourage us to come, to come to Jesus by faith because he has come to earth for the purpose of saving sinners. He went into this region to show that God is opening the door of salvation to those who are strangers to the covenant of promise. The privileges of the covenant of grace are being opened here. He doesn't come to heal and save those who are well and who have no need of a physician. No, he's taken on flesh, he's dwelt among us in order to seek and to save that which is lost. In the words of Psalm 72, he delivers the needy when he calls the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence, He redeems their life and precious is their blood in His sight. Friends, don't be discouraged by your sin or spiritual pollution. Don't let that discourage you from coming to Christ because He's come for the likes of you. It's not Christ's unwillingness that will keep you away from His saving grace. No, it's your unwillingness to come to Him. As Charles Spurgeon said, among the lost souls in hell, there is not one that can say, I went to Jesus and He refused me. Not one. And so see here that Christ has flung wide open the sheep gate and He's calling, our Good Shepherd's calling all sinners to come to Him by faith. to receive salvation. We're encouraged here to come. But second, this ought to encourage us to go, to go out into all the world as witnesses of His grace, of His power. The Pharisees, they're the ones who sought to limit the scope of God's grace. They said, oh, you must be a Jew, you must conform to our ways, observe our traditions, our commandments. You must clean yourself up externally, make yourself look good. And only then, if you're good enough, can you receive God's grace. That's not grace, is it? That's legalism. That's law keeping. And as Jesus made clear in the previous passage, their system of religion doesn't go deep enough. It won't cut it. It focuses on the externals while the human heart, which is the source of defilement, is left unchanged. Friends, what Jesus offers us in the gospel is not a list of ceremonies and regulations through which we get to be right with God by painting over our polluted hearts. No, instead, he offers his own sufficient saving work, a perfect obedience, an acceptable sacrifice for sin. He offers us a new heart. And so, by this, we are encouraged to go out as witnesses of the gospel, because this gospel is a complete salvation, and it's offered by a complete, sufficient Savior. And isn't that worth sharing? Isn't this good news to get excited about and to go out and to share with people? Any person, no matter who they are, no matter what they've done, can find all they need in Jesus and in his saving work. And so we don't have to wonder if our neighbors, our friends, our family, our coworkers are qualified to receive the gospel. We don't have to wonder if they're potential objects of divine mercy. We know they are. By entering into Gentile territory, Jesus is trailblazing. He's making marks on the map for future mission and ministry of the church. What Jesus implies here by his actions, he makes explicit in the Great Commission. And so by this we're reminded that our mission and our ministry must always reach outside of the family of faith, beyond the borders, beyond the covenant community, to those who are presently far off, strangers to the covenant of grace, without God in the world. Jesus went to people such as this, and so must we, his body, his church. To the highways, to the byways. And so Jesus left the region of Galilee as a symbol and prophecy that God's program of redemption is being extended to the nations. That's why Jesus left. He left for rest, he went for safety, but ultimately he went to show us that the gospel is for all people. But what was discovered there? What did he find in the region of Tyre and Sidon? Verse 24 says, he could not be hidden. He went for rest, he went for safety, but he's found out, he can't be hidden. News about his person in power preceded him. He's found out by the residents. And one of these residents is this Syrophoenician woman who's desperate. And why is she desperate? What's happened to her? Well, her little girl, her little daughter is possessed by a demon. And she comes to Jesus, she falls at his feet, and it's in this position of humble desperation and grief that she begs him to set her daughter free from this spiritual oppression and this physical danger. And in the subsequent dialogue, Jesus discovers her great faith. That's what he finds in the region of Tyre and Sidon. Of all things, he discovers great faith. Her great faith is discovered and it's preserved here in the scriptures as an example for us to follow. It's commendable, it's precious, it's triumphant, and it's drawn out by the Lord Jesus like a diamond from the rough so that we might turn it about and see its multifaceted brilliance. And these shining qualities and characteristics ought to be sought and found in our own faith. And again, we should pray, shouldn't we? Oh God, give me this faith. I want faith like this woman. So what are its qualities? We'll focus on five. Her great faith is persistent, it's humble, It's agreeable, it's argumentative, and it's triumphant. So first, great faith is persistent. As we consider this, think about your own faith. Think about your own relationship with the Lord. Do you see these characters in your faith? Great faith is persistent. Despite apparent refusal, she persists. Like Jacob, she wrestles with God, and she says, I'm not gonna go away until you bless me, until you grant me my request. I'm here to stay. She's like that widow who's persistent, constant, pleading in the ears of the governor, finally wears him down. Great faith doesn't knock on the door of grace once. It knocks day and night, continually, until the door opens. It's persistent, despite apparent refusal. When you pray, do you continue to pray for what you're asking? Or is it the one and done? Do you continue to plead with God for your children? Do you continue to plead with God for that unbelieving neighbor? Do you continue to plead with God to release you, to free you from that particular sin? She's persistent despite her own unworthiness. Jesus calls her a dog. And she's willing to take this title upon herself and even use it in her next petition. She doesn't let the truth of her condition as an unclean Gentile or her status as a sinner deter her from her mission. She persists in begging. It's like a person whose credit cards decline and they just keep swiping it. She's not gonna let her bankrupt condition close her mouth to the Lord. And so great faith is persistent despite personal unworthiness. And she's persistent despite the fact that Jesus says the table is reserved. Again, Spurgeon, he said her mouth was not closed by exclusive doctrine. which appeared to confine the blessing to a favored few. That is, she doesn't let the fact that she's not a Jew keep her from crying out to the Jewish Messiah. It's true that she's not a Jew according to the flesh, but her persistent faith indicates that she is a true child of God, a child of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but according to faith. She's one of these wild olive branches that has been grafted into the vine. There are some who hear the gospel. Maybe they hear it in a reformed church and they hear the doctrines of grace, they hear about election and predestination, and therefore they don't persist to follow Jesus. They don't continue to cry out to him. They give up pursuing Christ saying, well, I'm not elect. They let the exclusive doctrines of the Bible keep them from pleading for mercy. And then they blame their damnation on God and on His exclusivity. But in reality, folks, the blame lies with them and their sin and unbelief. We can flip this around, can't we? Likewise, there are those in the church who will not persist in missions, not persist in praying for the salvation of their neighbors, not persist in sharing Christ because of the doctrine of election. When in reality, that should be what motivates us. This too is a sin and it's a lack of faith in God's saving power. Great faith is persistent. This is the faith of the elect. Well, secondly, great faith is humble. You notice this woman's posture. She falls on her face before Jesus. When's the last time you fell on your face? She falls on her face before Jesus. She's at his feet. This position of humility, of desperation, There's the words of that hymn, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. That's the spirit in which this woman comes to Jesus, a spirit of humility, a spirit of desperation. Great faith is an absolute surrender to Christ and to his mercy. It looks nowhere else. When Jesus suggests that she's a dog under the table, she doesn't bristle with pride. I don't know about you, but I'd probably be offended by that. She doesn't feel entitled here to his mercy. No, she has a broken and contrite heart. Her great faith is this empty plate, ready to receive the children's crumbs. Not the feast, the children's crumbs. She acknowledges her low condition. She doesn't pretend to be something she's not. Do you have this faith? Do you have a humble faith? Desperation makes us humble. This woman has no other hope than Jesus. She's putting the full weight of her trust in the Redeemer's hands. Remember what she's asking for. Her daughter is in trouble. Her daughter is oppressed by this demon. It's this absolute surrender. Have we humbled ourselves before the Lord this way? Have we confessed our unworthiness in such a way? Has our sin and our spiritual pollution made us desperate? As the law of God thunders in our ears, do we see that we need grace? And so great faith is never proud or boastful like the Pharisees. No, it's always humble and thankful, beating our breast. Be merciful to me, a sinner. Give me what I don't deserve. Third, great faith is agreeable. Look at verse 28. When Jesus speaks his parable about the children and the dogs, she agrees with him. Yes, Lord. She doesn't dispute the word of the Lord. Great faith takes God at his word. It agrees with everything God has said, even if those things are painful to accept. Do you agree that you're a dog? Do you agree that you're a leper, an outcast, a rebel, a transgressor, a sinner? Great faith agrees with God's word. It says amen to what God has said. And this woman agrees to the order of God's redemptive purposes. The covenant of grace comes first to the Jews. Yes, she says. That's true, great faith thinks God's thoughts after him. It submits to the mysteries of salvation. Many today would say, oh, that's not fair. Or, I don't like that. Or, you know what, I would have done it another way. But she says, yes, Lord. Again, Spurgeon. He said, she assented to all the Lord's appointments. That is the faith which saves the soul, which agrees with the mind of God, even if it seems adverse to herself, which believes the revealed declarations of God, whether they appear to be pleasant or terrible, and assents to God's word, whether it be like a balm to its wound or like a sword to cut and slay. Great faith says, yes, Lord. Are there portions of scripture that you avoid because you don't want to say yes, Lord? Well, fourth, great faith is argumentative. It's argumentative. Now, this might sound like it contradicts the previous quality. Can someone be both agreeable and argumentative at the same time? Parents, can children be both agreeable and argumentative at the same time? Maybe two seconds apart. This woman agrees to the Lord's sayings. And then she uses it to argue for her request. She says, yes, Lord, yes, I admit, it would not be right to give the dogs the children's bread. But, here's where she gets argumentative, but is it not true that while the children eat bread, there are crumbs that fall to the dogs? It's on this basis, O Lord, that I plead for such a crumb. Whether she knew it or not, she's declaring and arguing for the grand designs and purposes of God. God chose Israel as his covenant people for the purpose that through them the Gentiles would be blessed. Let's go all the way back to Genesis, all the way back to Abraham. Abraham was told by God, in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Children, do you know what that promise was about? That promise was about Jesus, and about the saving gospel going to all the earth. Gospel comes first to Israel, but it was always God's intention that it would be handed down to the Gentiles. And so great faith is always argumentative, It pleads the promises of God. Lord, have you not said? Lord, will you not do? It always looks to the purposes of God. Great faith is argumentative. And fifth, great faith is triumphant. Jesus has pulled this great faith up to the surface. He's reeled it in from the bottom of her heart, as it's come up, it's getting clearer and clearer, as a fish is coming up to the surface. We see it, we hear it, it's persistent, it's humble, it's agreeable, it's argumentative, and folks, this great faith, this saving faith, gets the victory. It's triumphant. Jesus says to her, for this statement, you may go your way, the demon has left your daughter. She goes home, she finds a child, lying in bed, the demon's gone. No more demon. It's here that Jesus commends her expression of faith. He says, for this statement. We're not saved by our faith, we're saved by faith in Jesus. It's Jesus who saves us, but faith is that instrument. Faith is that empty hand by which we receive and we rest in Jesus. But truth-saving faith never fails to unite us to Jesus. It never comes up empty. It's always triumphant. Do you have this faith? This faith in your Lord Jesus? It's important to note that this woman had only heard reports of Jesus. She heard of him. And she went to him. Now, we're not told what she heard, but whatever she did hear, the Spirit blessed it. Faith comes from hearing. And her hearing of Jesus, her hearing of the good news, produced this great faith. The Spirit worked in her heart this great faith, and her tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And this confession, this is her triumph. It's confession of faith. She receives the grace of deliverance for her demon-possessed daughter. But here's the thing, friends. As great as this grace is, This grace of having her daughter delivered from this demon. As great as it is, it's truly only a crumb. It's truly only a crumb. It's a foretaste of the eternal deliverance from sin and spiritual defilement that Jesus has come to secure for us through his life, through his death, through his resurrection. Because of her faith, In the Lord Jesus, she has received so much more than a crumb. And because of our faith in the Lord Jesus, if you are a believer, we have so much more. We receive a place at the table. Unworthy dogs like her, like us, we're welcomed to the table as sons and daughters of God, children of our Heavenly Father. We enjoy everlasting life with Him. And is it not true, friends, that we have received so much more revelation about Jesus than this woman had? Look at this. We have the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. What did this woman have? She had some reports about Jesus. We have the scriptures. They tell us about Jesus. They tell us about his life, his death, his resurrection. They tell us about his work, his person. Will you not go to Him? Will you not fall at His feet? Will you not beg for mercy and pardon? Persistently, humbly, being agreeable and yet argumentative, knowing that Jesus will not refuse those who come to Him by faith. He's willing and able to give us much more than the children's crumbs. He's willing to give you a place at the table, to put His name upon you, to receive you into the number of the children of God. And friends, this is good news. It's good news worth sharing, knowing that Jesus will not refuse those who come to Him by faith. Let's pray. Our Father, we have witnessed a great and saving faith this day. It's the fruit of your grace and love to this Syrophoenician woman. Please, Lord, grant such an enduring, saving faith to each one of us here today. Would you produce in us this undying persistence, this self-denying humility, this agreeable assent to the truth, and this arguing and reasoning from your word, from your covenant promises. And Lord, would you give us this sweet triumph of victory in Jesus, our Savior and our Lord. We thank you, merciful God, for breaking down the dividing wall of hostility and making us all one new man in Christ. We thank you that you've commissioned your church to fulfill the great commission to make disciples of all nations and Lord that you give us such a wonderful gospel to declare. Oh, fill us with your spirit and strengthen us with your power in our inner being so that Christ might dwell in our hearts through faith and that we all might be rooted and grounded in love and strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God and be faithful witnesses of your grace. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.