Mark 7:24-30 Precious Crumbs for the Dogs
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Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church
Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church
From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”
From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”
House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text
House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text
And from there he 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.
Pray
Map of the Region
Map of the Region
Introduction
Introduction
Mark is one of the Gospels - it tells us how we can be reconciled to God and gain eternal life
1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (ESV)
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Introduction
Introduction
Mark is one of the Gospels - it tells us how we can be reconciled to God and gain eternal life
Preceded by John, Jesus came from Galilee
John got the people’s attention
Jesus began his ministry
Signs and wonders demonstrated His lessons
Cripples, diseases, resurrections, casting out demons
Created food from nothing - controlled the weather
Knew He was going to the cross - trained His disciples
Last week, Jesus gave us an understanding of where sin comes from
This week, Jesus demonstrates what true faith is, and breaks down the evil of Jewish pride and prejudice
We know nothing about this woman, mentioned here, other than what we read here.
Syro-Phoenicia - a gentile
Her name, history and background, how she came to hear of Jesus in this gentile area, the Lord does not share with us
The few facts we have here though, are full of important instruction and we need to pay attention
Firstly, this passage should encourage us to pray for others
Firstly, this passage should encourage us to pray for others
This woman must have been deeply troubled by her daughter’s condition
much loved daughter possessed by an unclean spirit - a demon
The bible does not tell us how this demon was afflicting the girl. She was not in her right mind. Likely uncontrollable. Daughter could not be taught - no medicine could heal her affliction. She must have been as good as dead and her mom was beside herself
Somehow, heard of Jesus, begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter
She prays for one who could not pray for herself - does not stop until the prayer is granted
By prayer, she gets a cure that no human could give her - daughter is healed. No one could diagnose or treat
Daughter could not speak for herself - her mother spoke for her
Case seemed hopeless, but a praying mother meant that there was hope
Very important truth - this is not the only case where someone prayed for another and the prayer was answered
Many cases of intercessory prayer in the Bible - many have benefitted - the paralytic, centurion’s servant - Jairus daughter - great examples
God is moved to do great things for souls, when friends and family pray for them.
James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
Fathers and mothers - remember this woman
We cannot give our children new hearts
We can teach them the Bible, show how to live
Cannot give them a will to turn to Christ for salvation, or a mind to love God
One thing we can do - pray for them
Pray for the salvation of rebellious sons and daughters, who are selfish, love sinful activities and the world - love sinful pleasure more than God
God hears these prayers and often blesses them
Children who are prayed for, are almost never lost forever
We need to pray more for our sons and daughters
Even when they will not let us teach them about God, they cannot stop us from talking to God about them
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.”
Secondly, we need to keep on praying for others
Secondly, we need to keep on praying for others
On her first try, this woman appeared to get nowhere with the Lord
She did not give up - she kept after Him
She pressed her case, with imaginative arguments - wouldn’t take no for an answer
Pleaded for “crumbs of mercy” rather than none at all
Through her holy persistence - she succeeded
Heard these joyful words: Mark 7:29 “And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.””
We need to be persistent in our prayer.
Can’t get cool or indifferent - think its of no use
Satan is trying to keep us from praying - fills our minds with reasons to give up
He does this with all prayer, but especially for intercessory prayer
We often put in too little effort, get discouraged and quit. we want instant gratification
If we don’t get an answer right away, we give up
We see those we are praying for continuing in self-destructive behaviour and sin, so we give up
We conclude its all useless, so we give up
We need to remember the case of this woman
She prayed and did not lose heart, in the face of real discouragement
But she went home rejoicing - let us, by God’s grace, follow her example
Bringing it home
Bringing it home
Do we know how to pray for ourselves?
First question we must ask ourselves
If you don’t pray about your own soul, you can’t really pray for others
To be prayerless is to be without God, Christ, or hope - the person in this condition needs to wake up, and call upon God
Do we pray for ourselves? - then we must pray for others
Then let us pray for others also - don’t be selfish
We need to pray and name those we love before God continuously
We need to pray also for the worst, the hardest, the most unbelieving - keep going year after year, in spite of continued unbelief?
God’s time for their salvation may be some time in the distance
We may not see the answer to our prayers - the answer may not come in ten, 15, 20 years - may not come until we are praising God in heaven, far away from this world
This is the greatest kindness - to speak for them to Jesus
When we stand before the Lord at the judgement-we will see that one of the greatest links in bringing people to Christ, has been the intercessory prayer of friends and family
Questions and Announcements
Questions and Announcements
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer