In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ exchange with a Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7. Pastor Babij discusses the woman’s great humility, understanding, and faith as she comes to Jesus with her request. When people truly understand and accept Jesus as He is, like this woman does, instead of as they imagine Him to be, that is when they become saved. Pastor Babij also explains how Jesus’ response to the woman draws attention to His great compassion as well as God’s ultimate plan to bring the good news of salvation to all people of the world, both Jew and Gentile.
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hey good morning let’s take our Bibles morning and turn to Mark the gospel of Mark chapter 7.
um and we’re going to be looking at verses 24.
through 30 this morning before I start I just wanted to say that I’m a little stiff this morning I’ve concluded that playing with your grandkids is a dangerous task I was on the rope that we have around our tree and I’m on it showing them how to do it swing and the whole thing came down on top of me and I fell and I’m all twisted up so uh if I fall over today just keep keep going and uh have a word of prayer and leave but I’m I’m a little uh stiff today so anyway uh just pray for me as I continue to uh share the word this morning so I’m going to be looking at verse 24 to 30 not the whole section this is Lexi part one of uh astounding infinite mercy and let me read that section and follow along with me Mark chapter 7 beginning in verse number 24 and I’ll end in verse 30.
and it says Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of tire and when he had enter a house you wanted no one to know of it yet he could not Escape notice but after hearing of him a woman whose little daughter had an unclean Spirit immediately came and fell at his feet now the woman was a gentile of the syrophoenician race and she kept asking him to cast out the demon out of her daughter and he was saying to her let the child let the children be satisfied first for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs and she answered and said to him yes Lord but even the dogs on the table feed on the children’s crumbs and he said to her because of this answer go the demon has gone out of your daughter and going back to her home she found the child lying on the bed and the demon having left let’s pray Lord this morning as we just put our eyes upon and put our minds upon this passage of scripture help us to see any of the things you want us to so Lord we can put ourself there and see how we do when we put ourselves up against not only your disciples but this woman and I pray Lord that you would help us to understand what she understood that you have a plan and your plan is going to be carried out and your plan is for the whole world and I just ask you Lord that as we think of these things you would make us people who are concerned about those who are still lost so we would always have a passion in our heart for Souls knowing that they need the truth of the Gospel to be rescued from the Wrath and Judgment of God and I ask you this in Christ’s name amen now Jesus for the third time departs from Galilee again to get some distance from the crowds and the hostility of the Jewish leaders Jesus had wiped out the distinction in our last passage between clean and unclean food and taught that a person is not defiled morally by what he eats even if his hands are not ceremonially washed he said defilement is not physical it is moral and it is spiritual Jesus was saying in our last Passage we are what’s wrong it is what comes out from the inside that is what’s wrong it’s what’s in our heart that is what’s wrong it is the self-centeredness of the human heart it is the sin that resides there in fact these evils that come out from the Heart Is What Makes Us unclean and that was what the Lord brought forth to us last week the only match for our defiled unclean impure Hearts is Jesus Christ’s atonement in the place of Sinner it cost him his blood and it is the only thing that can deal with the problem of our evil defiled heart through Jesus Christ at infinite cost to himself God is willing and able to clothe us in costly clean garments so because of Jesus and his finished work on the cross God does not give us what we all deserve he doesn’t give us what we all deserve and remember we all deserve hell we all deserve to be separated from him forever and because he doesn’t give us what we deserve that’s called God’s mercy God not giving us what’s our due not giving us what we deserve because of our sin because our defiled hearts and so far we have seen in the narratives before this that there have been issues of purity the woman in the with the impure flow of blood Jesus dealt with her the impure hearts of human beings from last time and now we see an impure people group at least this is how it’s viewed by the Jewish leadership and the Jews in general and of course that group of people is referred to as Gentiles and so from this passage we get the sense that Jesus has an incredible amount of Mercy towards people and he has an incredible amount of goodness towards people and we see Jesus displaying that Mercy and that goodness to people whom the nation of Israel wouldn’t even give the time of day two at least the Jewish leadership wouldn’t because they viewed people outside of Israel as impure and so the point that I want to stress today is this that Jesus Mercy his mercy-filled mission is for the dogs and I’ll explain what that means in a second so Jesus is putting before his disciples and before us that his mission is for All Peoples All Nations and Jesus may very well be wiping out the distinction between clean and unclean people see viewing one people group as clean and another people group as unclean is incorrect and Jesus is is changing that incorrect he’s making that what’s seen as incorrect as being correct the way he will bring it across and so the point is is that all human beings are unclean and until we come to Jesus we’ll remain unclean but when we do come to Jesus then we will be cleansed in fact the same passage of scripture Matthew refers to this section of scripture and to this woman as when she says have mercy upon me son of David So this section of scripture is really about the mercy of God and we can find Jesus and his disciples in Gentile territory and look with me at chapter 7 in verse number 24. the first part of that verse says and from there he arose and went away to the region of Tire now this is very important um in our text because tire is a major marketing and Agricultural Center on the coast and as me being in Israel not too long ago about a year ago uh Israel is a very beautiful country as far as the weather is concerned it is just nice all the time and even in the daytime it’s Pleasant at night uh many times you don’t even need a coat or a jacket it’s got Pleasant weather a much of the time and so being on the coast right off the Mediterranean the the beaches and the shoreline is very very beautiful and so Jesus goes there and of course he goes there for some rest uh but it’s it was known as a notorious Pagan part of that region they were steeped in idolatry and paganism there was a a level of unbridled wealth in that area because of the the shipping lanes and the and so a lot of wealth came through tire and tire was remember a two-day Journey Northwest of Galilee in Syria so Jesus and his disciples walked a two-day journey to this part of the country and this is exclusively Gentile territory tire was inhabited by Pagan Gentiles and its history with Israel was very Rocky in fact Ezekiel uh told us and Zachariah told us they actually prophesied against her and in two cases this territory was considered unclean for a Jew to even be there so yet Jesus is deliberately ministering to Gentiles in the presence of his disciples all right that’s what he is doing so this is a turning point in Jesus mission and it’s the future mission of the disciples because the mercies of God are displayed as being extended to a group of people that is considered for the most part unclean it was one commentary Tater who says said that from a socio-religious perspective Jesus visit to tire universalizes the concept of messiah in terms of geography ethnicity gender and religion in a way entirely unprecedented in Judaism so in other words this savior is not just for one nation Israel he is for all nations and of course the point is that we should be also for all nations and View All Nations as in great need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to rescue them Jesus is so well known that his message and Ministry overflowed into Gentile Pagan territory in fact if you notice in our text there’s just no place where Jesus can just blend in he is recognized everywhere notice in verse 24 the second part of that verse and when he had enter a house he wanted no one to know of it yet he could not Escape notice so even in this part of the country he’s well known the message has gone far and wide without even him being there but there’s something else I think I want to stress here in Mark is that Mark is impressing upon us or emphasizing that of the humanity of Jesus see we are all too familiar with the god-man concept which is a true concept but we’re too familiar with it because when we come to passages like this we have to understand that Jesus is not just a supposed man he is not a a man who is a phantom he really was you a human being and so Jesus could not in this case hide himself um he was known everywhere and could not escape the notice of the people so here is Jesus trying to take refuge in someone’s home and of course the assumption would be it’s probably a gentile hometown which most likely and of course we know Jews would never enter and here he is trying to seek Refuge there in someone’s home and in a very short period of time a woman comes bursting into the house I want you to I I want you to meet this woman today there’s four characteristics about this woman that’s worth noting and like I said remember Jesus is also ministering to women which you did not do either so he’s breaking all kinds of boundaries all right and he of course that doesn’t make him favorable in the eyes of the Jewish leadership at all and not at all and yet that’s what he’s doing and he’s teaching us and he’s teaching his disciples something very very important about his mercy and about his goodness and about his mission here’s the first thing about this woman she was a Greek woman who had a keen ear if you notice in verse 25 it says but after hearing of him a woman whose little daughter had an unclean Spirit now see see this woman was hearing of him remember the phrase that Jesus been saying to the people if you have ears anyone who have ears let him hear well here’s this woman a pagan idolater who has ears she’s listening to what’s going on she’s getting the reports coming out of Galilee out of Northern Israel and she’s eating them up she’s thinking about them she’s falling in love and sense with Jesus from a distance see what she heard she actually believed she as a pagan heard about all that Jesus had done and believed in Jesus wondrous power to help her that is to cast out an unclean Spirit from her little daughter and we can say this woman had a king ear of faith she had an ear to the ground she had her ear to the ground concerning Jesus and all he had done and she had heard all about this from a distance but it was affecting her in her heart now she’s put up actually against Jesus own disciples who should remember up to this point understood far more than they did but they didn’t remember where we left the disciples last time they’re still stuck on understanding the feeding of the five thousand we’re in chapter 6 verse 52 it says for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves but their heart was hardened see this is they had not grasped the significance of the miracle they had not learned the miracle of who Jesus was Jesus disciples were still dull of mind and dull of heart they were not yet ready for the to grasp a fuller truer understanding of Jesus and his uniqueness they weren’t ready for that yet here are the disciples there in now Pagan territory and this Pagan woman is grasping who Jesus is now look at her posture the posture that she uses to approach Jesus in verse 25 she’s a gentile woman and she comes humbly in her approach where it says in verse 25 immediately came and fell at his feet so she displayed the characteristic of a true disciple she had she approached Jesus with humility and she actually bows down before him in a posture of worship yet in verse number 26 we see that she is a gentile and a syrophoenician of the cyrophoenician race meaning that she was unclean and she was unworthy she is not qualified to approach a rabbi because of who she was however that did not hinder her religion did not hinder her the history between this part of the world in Israel did not hinder her cultural boundaries did not hinder her her gender did not hinder her nothing hindered this woman in fact Matthew the same uh narrative in Matthew she’s called the Canaanite woman from the region so she was in other words she was far away from citizenship uh the citizenship of Israel as as she’s as far as way as anyone could be she knew it she knew she was unworthy but she heard the message about Jesus she knew that Jesus was merciful she knew that Jesus was good and she had an opportunity so see her humility is now bound up with boldness and persistence in verse 26 it says this and she kept asking him her persistence it’s concluded by her persistence that Jesus was not only able by his power to help her but that he was willing to help her because of his goodness matter of fact in Matthew she was so persistent that the disciples said to Jesus please she’s crying out just send her away she’s being a nuisance but of course that’s not what happens that’s not what happened happens at all what Jesus Does in our text is that he throws out to this woman a metaphor and he just puts it out there because it seems awful strange for for it to be where it is and sometimes you read it and you say I don’t understand what this is talking about so at first glance you may think that Jesus just gives her an odd and even a harsh response put your eyes on verse number 27.
and look what he says to her he was saying to her let the children be satisfied first for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs now come on that’s going right over your head right even today it would be hard if we didn’t know some things to unpack that so how is it that a syrophoenician woman gets it now we’ll see how she gets it in a minute but let’s unpack that first what’s what is it talking about here well Jesus is instructing and informing This Woman’s Faith as to the nature of his mission on Earth that is what he’s doing see the children in our passage are the Jewish people The Chosen children of God the children’s bread refers to God’s provision his spiritual food that is the Jews would be the first to deserve God’s care well God gave the Jews his word God gave Moses God gave the prophets God gave the sacrificial system and God gave Jesus who was a Jew to the people so so that he’s given that to the nation of Israel so he is saying listen to Jews would be the first to deserve God’s care before anyone else the bread from God’s table is meant for his people so his people are sitting around the table and they’re eating the spiritual food that has been given to the nation of Israel all right and then Jesus says to them if that’s my mission and that’s what I came to do then it would not be right to throw away or let that be eaten by the dogs so the picture the the picture in the mind is there here’s the Jews the nation of Israel sitting around the table they’re eating off the spiritual food of the Lord that he has given them over time and some of that is trickling off the table onto the floor right that’s the picture he gives us and then it says at the end of verse 27 and it says it would not be good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs now dogs was an unclean animal uh not like maybe we would view animals today the dog scavenged for food usually in garbage dumps and they were shunned by the Jews the Jews did not have dogs as pets or anything like that the Gentiles were often referred to as dogs and therefore unclean in any case to be called a dog was derogatory it was it was a term of contempt for example when it’s used in the New Testament like in Philippians it’s talking about false teachers in chapter 3 where it says Beware of the dogs because of the evil workers Beware of the false circumcision so they were considered to be dogs in a derogatory way and then in revelation 22 it talks about the unclean who never believed in Jesus and end up outside the presence of God and this is what it says in revelation 22 outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying is outside and they can no longer get in they don’t have a chance anymore to get in they’ve rejected the truth of the Gospel however the word used here is an offshoot of the word dog it actually reads little dog we can get the word puppy from it see such are kept by the Gentiles in their homes here a little dog is not an owner-less dog that roamed the streets and scavened for garbage these were dogs with owners who were allowed in the house and were fed by throwing them scraps from the table or anything that the children dropped under the table it is noted that the children ate with their hands and then they wiped their soiled hands on chunks of bread because they had no napkins or those kind of things that they use and then they would fling the bread away to the floor and the house dogs would come and eat it in fact there’s many pictures that they have found of this very thing in Gentile cultures where the dogs would be on the table eating scraps in fact if you have a dog where does a dog usually end up after you’re eating they’re like you know vacuum cleaners oh let the dog get it right if you have a dog if you had a dog you know that happens they end up there all then fast one of their favorite places under the table I didn’t like that with our dog I still don’t and um in other words Jesus was saying to this woman that the divine plan and Mission must work out among the Jews first he’s saying to them I came to fulfill scripture to show Israel that I am scriptures promised Messiah I have come to fill fulfill what Moses and the prophets and the Psalms said about me that I have come to fulfill the role of high priests Jesus was not only the priest but he was the offering that never happened before the priest never offered themselves they offered an animal Jesus becomes the priest high priest and the offering he says that I have come to fulfill all the shadows in the pictures and the types from the Hebrew scriptures see in other words he is saying to The woman there is an order to my mission first and the order must be Israel first now to make this a little more clear turn over or turn back to Matthew chapter 15 verse 22 to 24 because there is of course a distinction made there but the same text the same narrative is found there in Matthew chapter 15 verse 22.
and it says this in verse excuse me verse 22 of chapter 15.
it says in a Canaanite woman from the region came out and began to cry out saying have mercy on me Lord son of David my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed verse 23 but he did not answer her a word and his disciples came and implored him saying send her away because she keeps shouting at us and then notice how Jesus answers in Matthew but he answered and said I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel that was his her his answer as recorded in Matthew of course a different theme coming through Matthew then Mark Mark being servant Matthew being Jesus Christ being King all right so this is what response he gave to the woman now what do you think she would do with that go turning back to Mark chapter seven what do you think she would do with that now of course me reading it the first time I had no clue what was talking about until I of course investigated a little bit more dug into a little more got some of the information that filled it in so I began to understand it and then once you understand you say okay I got it I know what’s going on here well the woman’s response was a respectful response see she gets Jesus metaphor she’s in fact the first person to understand one of Jesus parables she heard and comprehended her distress about her daughter did not Dull her ears or darken her mind concerning the word of Jesus and the things she was hearing about him so she gives a confession in verse number 28. look what she says and how she answers Jesus Mark chapter 7 verse 28 but she answered and said to him yes Lord in other words I get it and then she says this but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs see this is her confession she recognizes Jesus as being in charge and she presents herself as a servant and being entirely at the mercy of the master she understands and accepts all that Jesus implies without questioning him without rationalizing his word in other words she being a gentile recognized the right Jews have to first partake in God’s blessings she gets it in fact remember the Apostle Paul what he said in the first chapter of Romans for I am not ashamed of the gospel for is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes for the what the Jew first and also to the Greek or to the Gentile to the Nations see Jesus the the mission is is was still the same so just in other words as little dogs in Gentile homes would eat the crumbs that were thrown or fell from the table by the children who wait she was begging like one of those little dogs for a few crumbs which dropped from the floor in other words she was begging that some of that spiritual food that Israel had would fall on the floor and it did because they should have taken the the message to the Nations and they did not they excluded themselves and cut the Nations off but what God gave them was overflowing there was always Crumbs from the spiritual food of God on the floor always because there was so much of it it’s like one commentator put it like this and he he puts uh himself in the scenario and and she he gives her response this way okay this is the woman I understand I’m not from Israel I do not worship the god that the Israelites worship therefore I don’t have a place at the table I accept that but there is more than enough on the table for everyone in the world and I need mine now that’s what she’s saying I need mine now but she’s saying it in such a respectful way she’s saying I can’t wait for the plan to go to the Gentiles I need it now I’m in desperate need give me what I don’t deserve on the basis of your goodness on the basis of your mercy you know what happens Jesus because of his Mercy will make sure that she will not be denied the crumbs now let me just back up for a minute and just give you a sense of what’s going on here because there’s theology involved with this passage too because if we look at the book of Romans and you could turn there if you like because in the Book of Romans it gives us a sense of God’s Great Plan of Salvation and part of that Plan of Salvation is that Israel as a nation is going to be cut off from the natural olive tree that’s how it’s given in the picture and then the Gentiles are going to be grafted in in other words Israel’s rejection of the Messiah at least at first is going to be the blessing for the rest of the world now can’t go into all of it but I do want to just give some highlights that Gentiles were wild olives they were the Wild Olive branches grafted into the natural Olive Tree in order to share the blessing that belonged to Israel in Romans chapter 11 in verse number one in other words see God has not cast off his people but only set them aside for a time where it says in Romans 11 1 I say then God has not rejected his people has he may it never be for I too many Israelite and the descendant of Abraham of The Tribe of Benjamin see in other words God’s dealing with Israel brings blessing for everyone who who does it bring blessing for for the remnant of those who believe on Christ they’ll obtain pardon for the world in general because it will receive the Gospel as it’s receiving right now in the times of the Gentiles the gospel is being preached all over the world also in the end Israel when they at last will be spiritually renewed in their land according to the prophecy of Ezekiel where the glory of the Lord will return back to the land and Israel will come alive the dry bones will come alive and they will be converted and of course God’s blessing will bring them back in graft them back in so in other words hardening has come upon Israel just in part or just until the full number of the Nations shall come in now if you’re there in Romans look at verse number 25 of Romans chapter 11. for it says this very interesting passage of scripture in Romans 11 says this in verse 25 for I do not want you Brethren to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation and this is what he says that a partial hardening has happened to Israel then notice until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in so we know right now is Jews and Gentiles are being saved individually all over the globe but nationally in their land they are not converted they are pagans in their land they are secular in their land they have not been uh the spirit of God has not Fallen upon them in their land yet uh and it’s not going to happen until the fullness of the Gentiles has come has come in and so again back up to chapter verse number 23 of this chapter it says and they also if they do not continue in their unbelief will be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again verse 24 and if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild Olive Tree and we’re grafted contrary to Nature into a cultivated Olive Tree how much more well they see what will these who are the natural branches be grafted into her own Olive Tree so in verse 26 so all Israel it says will be saved as as it is written the deliverer will come from Zion he will remove ungodliness from Jacob and this is my Covenant with them when I take away their sins now that has not in the land happened yet see the Apostle Paul is confessing his belief in the full conversion of Israel in the land and explains that from it the greatest and the Most Blessed effects will flow out to Mankind in fact even right now if we look up to verse number 12 of Romans 11 it says this now if their transgression that’s the Jews Israel is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles how much more will their fulfillment be and then in verse 15 for if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world what will their acceptance be but life from the dead he is giving us In this passage Annie’s this woman is getting this mission that it must first come to the Jews the Jews reject the bona fide offer of Jesus Christ they are cut off from their The Olive Tree they are set aside partially that time the mission goes to the whole world the Gentiles and Gentiles and this we are living in the times of the Gentiles right now Gentiles are being saved everywhere you go they’re being saved you will most of you are Gentiles you are here today because the gospel came to you and you believed it because that’s God’s plan and so it’s going all over the place and it’s going it’s penetrating into the Muslim world the Arab world is getting the gospel and you know what I it’s amazing you go talk to an Arab about the gospel they’re open they’re ready to listen they’re ready to discuss spiritual things you talk to a Jew about the gospel and they’re closed like you can’t believe it why is that you’re saying the same things but they’re not getting it they’re not getting it the reason why is because it’s not time it will become time that they will get the truth so she is simply this woman from syrophenicia is simply saying can I have my blessing now can I have my riches now can I have my Mercy now before it gets to that part well of course that part was going to come sooner than she thought but nonetheless Jesus just revealed to this woman the great plan God’s Great Plan of Salvation for all Humanity and she submissively accepts it and rightly understands it as it is given and of course what is that what is that called you know that’s called faith she came to Jesus and she received him just the way he is she received the message just as she understood it which is was rightly understood and what does Mark say about her in Mark chapter 7 well her faith is duly noted in both Mark and Matthew and I want to look at both of them in Mark her faith is rewarded notice what Jesus says he said to her because of this answer well we saw what the answer was in our our chapter here because of this answer and of course what was the answer in verse 28 and she answered and said to him yes Lord but even the dogs on the table feed on the children’s crumbs she put herself in the equation says I’m a gentile dog and there’s plenty of stuff under the table that I can go get and Jesus says to her because of that answer go your way the demon has gone out of your daughter of course there’s a lot more going on there and in Matthew chapter 15 verse 28 she is her faith is praised in this way it says this in Matthew 15 28 then Jesus said to her o woman your faith is great it shall be done for you as you wish and her daughter was healed at once so Jesus does the miracle from a distance her request her petition was granted wholeheartedly and because she asked for it and because Jesus is good and because God is extremely merciful he did not withhold it from her and what did she do she simply trusted what Jesus said look at verse number 30 of chapter 7 and going back to her home she found the child lying on the bed and the demon having Departed now it’s interesting in the grief he uses the perfect tense of the verb having Departed and it implies that the demon is now out and went out before this time that he was already gone so the child is freed and resting and the demon is gone and Restless and why is that because of Jesus Christ this is one of the first times that he cast out a demon from a distance he didn’t go with her to her home see that’s faith to believe his word and everything he says without all the proof matter of fact you can stack up proof from those from the floor to the ceiling with people and they still won’t believe it must be God’s spirit that convicts someone of the truth of the word of God and of the mission of Jesus Christ it must be the spirit of God so see in other words Jesus abounds in infinite Mercy by extending the message of the kingdom of God across geographical and ethnic and gender and religious lines because he is not a savior for just one nation he is a savior for all nations and so because of that we are left with the unfinished work of Jesus Christ Jesus did come to the Lost House of the sheep of Israel but he left the work of the disciples to the Gentiles all right to go to the Gentiles he raised the Paul the Apostle Paul to go to the Gentiles specifically so there’s an unfinished work that has been done and been given to us as a mandate by God to bring this message to the peoples of the world and it becomes real clear in the second chapter of the book of Acts and in the second chapter of the book of Acts remember this is the day of Pentecost the day when the spirit of God was poured out upon the people of God and Supernatural communication was known was given to people to understand the message in their own language and it becomes clear that in the list of people in Chapter 2 18 different people groups are actually mentioned in Acts chapter 2 and verse number eight and it says this and how is it in verse 8 of Acts chapter 2 that we each hear them in our own language to whom to which we were born and who were they parthians medes elamites residents of Mesopotamia Judea Kappa Josiah pontus Asia Persia panphilia Egypt the districts of Libya around which which side which is Cyrene visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes Christians Arabs we all heard them in our own tongue they heard the message of the good news of Jesus Christ in their own tongue that’s a bunch of people from Persia from northern Iraq from Iran from Western West of Egypt we have the African nations mentioned here all on the coast we have Jews that were there we have the proselytes that were connected to the Jews everybody’s there all these groups of people are there why is that because now the gospel is going to all groups of people all nations all over the world and it’s still continuing to this day so for Israel in general it was a sign that the plan of God will now extend beyond them that did not sit well with them that did not sit well with the Jewish leadership not necessarily the general population of course the general population was sick of the Jewish leadership and they wanted something more and God of course was going to get it to them and so in other words we really do see that Christianity is not just an optimistic view of life it’s just not a matter of certain morals and conduct it is not merely a religious system that we all should adhere to Christianity is about Jesus Christ it is about what Jesus began to do and to teach Christianity is not necessarily just a teaching it is a person and what people need today is they need to know him and they need to come into a relationship with him that’s what they need and that’s what the church is supposed to do the church is supposed to take the gospel to those who haven’t heard it yet see people need like this Pagan woman to submissively accept and rightly understand Jesus mission for Jesus is a merciful god he doesn’t give us what we deserve when we come to Christ and then when we come to Christ we find out how good he is how kind he is how willing he is to pour blessing upon his children it’s our turn to then just trust him at his word and serve him with our lives because he says I will bring it to pass everything I say will happen and this kind of faith that we find in this woman is something that is very very pleasing to Jesus Christ very pleasing to Jesus Christ and just thinking about goodness how powerful it is uh in the the life of a person um I was reading an article about um something that happened in 1878 not too far from here right in the town of Princeton that one day all of Princeton shut down all the shops shut down and it wasn’t because a president died or it wasn’t because of a war hero came home it was because their beloved theologian Charles Hodge had died in fact from that we know that Charles Charles Hodge did a lot of writing he matter of fact he wrote a three-volume Systematic Theology that is still a standard today and people will say that Hodge’s greatest Legacy was not his writings but three the three thousand students he taught throughout the years and most of them became pastors missionaries and church leaders and perhaps the best illustration of Hodge’s impact on his students was on graduation day at the Seminary he began a kind of a thing they did every year a tradition in which it continued way past his death uh with other professors and it would go something like this that after they prayed and pronounced the graduating class the graduating class would make a circle around Charles Hodge he would be in the middle and they sang several hymns like all hell hell the power of Jesus name and then making a tighter Circle they would cross their arms and hold each other’s arms real tight and then they would sing blessed be the tide that binds our hearts and Christian love followed by a doxology and then Charles Hodge would close in prayer he would shake each one of their hands and all went their separate ways to minister the gospel they understood the mission they understood now that they’ve learned these things what they needed to do now when Charles Hodge died the entire town of Princeton closed down to honor their beloved Son they would call him at a funeral on June 22 1878 a former student gave the funeral address and said when do allowance is made for his intellect and learning that is to be noticed but then he says but his chief characteristic his chief power was his goodness Christ was enshrined in his heart Christ was the center of his Theology and life the student said the world shall write upon his Monument great but we students right upon his Monument good because he did what the Good Shepherd wanted and they knew it and they were equipped to go into a world and preach the gospel so see the mercy and the goodness of God is still doing that it is still motivating us to go forth and bring the message of the Gospel to the world to our family to our friends to our our office workers to everyone that we can and so I pray that that would be would happen to us that we would be that those kind of people that we would have this kind of Faith to be able to continue on Christ’s mission uh to bring the gospel to a dark world and maybe more specifically today to a world that’s been closed down for a long time and that’s the world of the Muslims and the Arabs they need the gospel too so see Jesus Christ is cleaning up our minds and say you cannot say that one people group or another people group is unclean or all unclean and the only thing that can cleanse us is the gospel so let’s bring the gospel to all kinds of people and not be judged judges of them but let’s be merciful passionate and kind to them with the message that can save them amen let’s pray Lord I Thank you again for your awesome Mercy Lord I Thank you that you did not give those who come to you in faith and repentance you don’t give to them your judgment you give to them your mercy you give them what they don’t deserve your grace your salvation and Lord I am so thankful for that in fact we know Lord even in the Book of Romans chapter 12 as we give ourselves up as a Living Sacrifice the motivation behind that is Mercy because of the mercy of God and I pray Lord that would be something that we would think about every day as we wake up that we would offer ourselves that as these Living Sacrifice which is our reasonable Service as Believers but we would do it considering you did not give us what we deserve and Lord I pray that would so humble us it would so put us in a frame of mind that we would be ready to use our gifts to build your church and to use our voices and our lives to minister to the lost people of this world and desire in prayer to bring them the gospel that could save them and rescue them I pray that for myself and for all who sit here today we give you the glory Lord for what you have and will do and I prayed this in Christ’s name amen