In this sermon, the preacher recounts the story of a mother who approached Jesus in desperation to heal her demon-possessed daughter. Jesus initially ignores her, but she persists in her faith and humility, and Jesus commends her for her great faith. The preacher emphasizes the importance of taking steps of faith, both in small and big matters, and how these steps can lead to greater things. The sermon also highlights the disciples' struggle to understand divine grace and mercy, and how Jesus spent three years teaching them these concepts. The preacher encourages the audience to have a humble spirit in the presence of the Lord and to trust in His promises, even when their faith feels small.

Our last time together, here on earth maybe, but if I don't have the joy of seeing you again down here, I pray that I'll have the joy of seeing you with him up there. It has truly been a richly rewarding weekend for myself. I can tell you that from the bottom of my heart that all of you have been a real encouragement to me this weekend. I've been so encouraged by the feelings of friendliness that you've all shown toward myself and my family, and to see the spirit that is among us as we're gathered here this past four days. I pray that as you've been an encouragement to me, that I have in the ministry been an encouragement to you. It has been a joy for me to present the Word of God to you, and I will always hold this time that we've shared together very dear in my heart. Most of us in our conversations, you know that I am not a full-time worker, commended to the Lord's work, but I know the Lord full-time, and that's more important. And we labor for Him out there on the battlefield. I thank the Lord for this great work here at Turkey Hill. But I would remind us this morning as we begin to think of the time that we need to pack up and we've got to go back down in the valley again. Back to that place where the rubber meets the road, where we live. You know, it's great to be out here and to kind of have a little mountaintop experience, isn't it? A little rest. It's been great. But you know, we don't always live here. Some are fortunate, they do. Isn't this a wonderful place to stay? Man, I'm starting to think about retirement sometime, and I think, hmm. But anyhow, as we go back, as we leave this place, we'll carry with us some good memories and good fellowship, some things from the Word of God. But we want to remember to pray for one another. Because even here, while we've been here this weekend and seemingly in a time of sweet fellowship with the Lord, Satan's been at work. Satan never gives up. Wherever there's a work for the Lord going on, rest assured, Satan's there. He may use any one of his wiles, any one of his devices to render you ineffective for his namesake. And remember, if he can render you ineffective but for a short while, it's a time that you will not be using for the glory of the Lord, to do his work. Satan never gives up, and he won't quit. So as we go forth from this place, let us always carry with us, what is the mind of my Lord? This will be our last study together, our seventh study. We're again going to study a woman from whom just a few verses is written. But it's a tremendous lesson for us in the walk of faith. It's about a woman who had faith. We'll see some good lessons in this, I pray. But for a little preview, let's turn in our Bibles this morning to Ezekiel. Ezekiel, the 26th chapter. Ezekiel, chapter 26. We'll read the first few verses. Now it came about in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, because Tyre has said concerning Jerusalem, Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken, it has been opened to me, I shall be filled now that she has laid waste. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. Matthew, the gospel of Matthew, chapter 11. Matthew 11, verse 21. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to the heavens, will you? You shall descend to Hades. For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Mark, chapter 3. Mark, chapter 3. And verse 7. And Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Erumea, and from beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude heard of all that he was doing, and came to him. We turn now to the seventh chapter of this same book. Mark, chapter 7. For our study. And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre. This is speaking of our Lord Jesus. And when he had entered a house, he 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 the demon out of her daughter. And he was saying to her, Let the children be satisfied, for it is not good to take the children's bed and throw it to the dogs. But she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs. And he said to her, Because of this answer, go your way. 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 departed. May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word, and let us pray. Again, our Father, this morning we come into your presence, and truly, our Father, we thank you so much for the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. We think of Him who loved ones, and He worked with them, and He fellowshiped with them, and He showed them so many lessons, the twelve that were His disciples. And we think of the lesson that they learned the day they met the Canaanite woman. And our Father, we pray that the lesson they learned might be ours also this day. Bless to us now this study as we ask in the name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now in our opening study, we noticed that as we went back to the book of Ezekiel, the Tyre and Sidon, usually when these places are referred to in Scripture, except with maybe an exception in the time of David, judgment, divine judgment. It was an ungodly area. It was one of those areas in which when the people of Israel were to enter, they were to go in and possess the land, and they were to kill, destroy everyone, man, woman, child, and all that was there. But we see that the people of Israel were not obedient to the Word of God. They went in, they took the land, but they did not do what God had commanded them. They did not destroy every man, woman, and child. And we see because of their disobedience that there was a people here that were heathens. They did not know God. They did not want to know God. They did not love God. Nor did they ever have a desire to love God. They were heathens. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His three years of earthly ministry, practically never in His time here left the region of Israel. But we notice that one time we have recorded in Scripture, in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, that our Lord Jesus Christ leaves the area of Israel and makes a journey. I would bring this to your attention that Tyre and Sidon from the Sea of Galilee is not a short trip. It was a several days journey from the Sea of Galilee, where He was, to the area of Tyre and Sidon. It depends upon where He went. It is not given to us exactly the spot where He went, but we can consider it was very near Tyre or Sidon or in between. It would have been a several days journey for Him. He left that area. My question is why did our Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself said, and even recounted to the Canaanite woman, I am come to speak to the household of Israel, not to anybody else. These are the ones I come to speak to. But yet our Lord Jesus Christ makes a trip of anywhere from 40 to 50 miles one way to meet a woman. I can't see it any other way. There is no recording of any other acquaintances that He met at that time. There is no other examples given to us or studies given to us of our Lord Jesus Christ relating with any other people or interacting with anybody else during this trip. I am sure He must have, but the important thing that He wants for us to study is His relationship with this Canaanite woman. I would stop and ask you to think about this. Here is our Lord Jesus Christ with the twelve. He says, My message is to the household of Israel. And one day they are by the Sea of Galilee and He says, We are going for a walk. I can see Him saying, Again? They traveled up and down the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea along the Jordan River, up and down. Our Lord's earthly ministry. Going for a walk, men. Okay. Where are we going? We are going up to Tyre. Can't you see Peter? We are going. Where? Tyre? That ungodly area? Yes. Why? Oh. There is some work to do there. But Lord, there are no really good Jews there. You know, the godly ones are down here with us. Well, let's go anyhow. And can't you see them after they traveled for a couple of days? Lord, are you sure you know what you are doing? Are you sure we have got to go here? And I am sure that as they passed through the areas of Tyre and Sidon, and they saw the ungodliness, they saw the idolatry, they saw the wickedness of this area, that they looked at their Lord and said, Do you really want us to go here? Are we really? Are we really some purpose for us being here? And the Lord continued on. Now, we notice that during our Lord's earthly ministry, in this early part of his ministry, that these disciples, they have a hard time understanding divine grace and mercy. And yet, our Lord, he works with them for three years, teaching them grace and mercy from God. And here is to be one of the finest lessons that they can learn. And I have often wondered, did they learn the lesson? They arrived. And our Lord does not want to be noticed because already some people had come down from this area and had heard him in his ministry by the Sea of Galilee. And as soon as he entered, no doubt the message had gone before him as they had seen that he had come. Here is the man that heals. Here is the man that performs those wonderful miracles of healing. And I'm sure the word went out in the area round about. There was that day a woman who heard. A woman who heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who heard of Jesus Christ come to her area. She came. Why? Because she had a burden. She had a heavy burden. A very heavy burden. For it says that she had a demon-possessed daughter. A demon-possessed daughter. One in whom demons, satans, spirits resided. A demon-possessed daughter. This woman, I have no doubt in my mind, was continually looking for something or someone who could heal her daughter. Nothing to me could be more tragic than to see a body filled with demon spirits. I'm sure all of you have read many stories, many encounters. I'm sure that many of you have had heard or have had in your presence men who have worked with demon-possessed people. I remember hearing Brother Dan Smith from Canada, not the one at Emmaus, but the one from Canada who was a long-time missionary in the area of India and Ceylon, which is now Sri Lanka. And I remember him recounting one time when we were speaking with him of the horror that filled his life and his encounters with demon-possessed people. We read of our Lord's encounter with other people that were demon-possessed. We think of the maniac of Gadara who one day met the Lord Jesus Christ and the demons were cast out. And the rejoicing that was in that man's life. And our Lord said, Go and tell what great things God has done for you. But here was a woman who carried a burden, but she never gave up hope for that daughter. There always was within her, maybe someday I will find something that will help my daughter. Why? She could have taken that daughter and sent her someplace, exiled her away from her because she may have been a terrifying spectacle, a dangerous girl. We don't know, it doesn't say. But that woman loved that daughter. And when you love someone, hope never fails. Love never fails to hope that somewhere there's a cure. Someone to help my daughter. And when she heard, no doubt she had heard before of this man of Galilee, and now he's here in her area. And she comes immediately. Notice the intensity of purpose. She came and noticed that she cried out purposely. She cried out, Son of David, have mercy on me. Have mercy! Now we may overlap a little bit from the same episode that's recounted to us in Matthew chapter 15. So if you don't find it in Mark 7, go back and read Matthew 15. I didn't read it for the sake of time. It's the same incident. Matthew 7, 21 to 28. But anyhow, he accounts, Mark accounts, that this woman came. Here was one in whom possibly, possibly here is one who had the answer. But you notice how she came. She comes and she falls at his feet. She had been continually beseeching him. Son of David! Son of David! Have mercy! Have mercy! But then we notice that our Lord is strangely silent toward this woman. Now I find it a little bit hard to understand. Our Lord has walked somewhere between 40 and 50 miles to encounter this one woman. I think our Lord purposely left the Sea of Galilee and went to this one area because he had an appointment with her, according to the divine counsels of God. He came and the woman comes and he's silent toward her. And the disciples, you know them, they've got to protect the Master. All this riff raff. They want to get close to our Master. We're going to stand up there and protect him. Get her out of here! Get her out of here! And they say, tell her to get lost. Tell her to go away. She's always bugging you. Lord, exercise a little of your authority. Tell her to take a hike. You know, our Lord, I can just see the smile that comes to his face. He looks at those disciples and he says, will they ever learn? Will they ever learn? And you know, sometimes I think our Lord sits in heaven on the throne and he looks at us in our exercises of faith and how little they are. How little we exercise our faith. And I think sometimes there's a smile on his face. He says, will they ever learn? Will they ever learn? All that I have for them if they will partake the step of faith, that they will walk with me one step at a time. We laugh at the disciples, but we're just like them. We're just like them. Get rid of her. And he's silent. He's silent toward her for a time. But then something changes. It's not son of David anymore. It's Lord. Lord. Lord. And then something changes with our Lord. He says, woman, don't you know? My message My message is not to you. He tells the disciples. My message is to the household of Israel. They agree. Yeah, that's right. Send her away. But the woman is intense. She says, I will not leave. And she comes and prostrates herself before him. She falls at his feet. There's the posture of the Christian. The intensity of purpose and recognition of the whom we address. If we're going to walk the walk of faith, we must recognize, first of all, whom it is with which we walk. It is one thing to call him Savior. Jesus my Savior. But it's a different thing. It's a completely different thing to address him as Lord. She subjects herself because in a faith walk there is no pride. She knows where she should be. She fell at his feet and she pleaded for mercy. Sometimes we need to learn that lesson ourselves. We need, we so often hear preaching, we must boldly come into the throne room of grace and present our petitions before God. But I would have you to remember that when you come into the throne room of grace, it is still him who is the King of kings and Lord of lords upon the throne. And before the throne, we prostrate ourselves. We fall at his feet and we address him as Lord. Lord, he is our Heavenly Father and he wants us to come as his children. We came to him as sinners needing mercy and to be shown grace. And we addressed him as the lost to a Savior. We meet him as servant coming before his master and Lord. We come as children before the Father. But always in the walk of faith, we never forget whom we address. He is Lord. He is Lord. This woman came. I don't know what revealed it to her that this son of David was not a mere man. But something changed in her outlook. For she came to him first of all as a healer. Just another man of flesh and blood. But something changed. She looked at him. I don't know what was revealed to her. But it was no longer flesh and blood son of David. It was Lord. And she prostrated herself before him. And our Lord reaches out to her. As we look at the context of the message between the two. He says 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. You know, as we stop and think about that, at first glance we say, what in the world did he mean by that? It is not good to take the children's bread. Let the children be satisfied first. She understood. This truly was the Messiah. This was the son of God made flesh and come to be the Messiah of Israel. And he came unto his own. They must be satisfied first. His children must be satisfied first. And she understood that. It is not good to take the blessings of the children and throw it to the dogs. Can you imagine this woman's position? What our Lord has just said to her, as a Gentile, as a Gentile, the Jews consider them nothing more than dogs. Jews would go out of their way to stay away from the Gentiles. Anything they could do to belittle a Gentile was perfectly in order. They wanted no dealings with them. If they were, it was only to usurp their power over them. But nonetheless, our Lord says, we can't take the blessings of the children and give it to the dogs. She says something very strange. Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs. Boy, what a dynamic statement. She says, Lord, I'm not here looking for the loaf of bread. I'm not even looking for a slice of the blessings of Israel. All I want is a crumb. Just a crumb. A crumb because I know that the people of Israel have not rejoiced in all that You've given to them. They're so greedy for the things of themselves that they've neglected to understand that You've given them a feast. And they just more or less clear the table with their hands and brush the crumbs aside. All I want is one of those crumbs that Israel rejects will You pour it out on me. Not a loaf, not a slice, just a crumb. In that moment, our Lord Jesus Christ looks at her and He says, Woman, because of this answer, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter. And going back to her home, she found a child lying on the bed, the demon having to party. Man, what power! I wonder what she thought when the Lord told her go home. Go ahead and go home. Your child's well. She might have grabbed him by the arm. Well, it's not that I don't believe You, Lord. It's just that I want You to go with me in case You didn't get it done long distance. Maybe if You're closer to her and lay Your hands on her, then it'll work. It's not that I don't have faith. And isn't that just like us? Isn't that the answer? So often we want to have Him right there by the arm. In case something goes wrong, He can interject Himself. It's not that we don't trust, Lord, that You can do these things. It's just that, well, you know, in case something went wrong, I wonder why He referred to so many in His words, O ye of little faith. If He were to come and speak to us today as a group, would He look out upon us and say, O you of great faith? Or would we hear that striking condemnation that He gave to others, O ye of little faith? I'm here to tell you I'm sorry, but I probably have to stand among the latter. Not a great faith. Unlike the Jews, I'm always looking for a sign. I'm always praying, Lord, give me some kind of sign. Am I going the right way? Am I doing the right thing? Just give me a little reassurance. And He says, listen, it's a walk of faith, not by sight. It's a walk of faith. You believe in things not seen. For if we see it is no longer faith, it is sight. I'm sure that if I ask you, do you believe that there is a heaven? You'd probably say yes. Ever seen it? No. How do you know it's there? Well, our Lord said so. He said He was going to prepare for us a home. He says, and I will come back and take you, that you may be with me forever. We believe in heaven. That's a hope. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty of life, sometimes our faith is so small we're afraid to take those steps of faith. Maybe it's a step of faith to do a work for Him. Maybe it's a step of faith to start a work for Him, to speak to a soul. Any type of step of faith that you can think of. All of us have those in our lives. We say, if I only had the strength to do this. If I only had the faith, wouldn't it be great? And our Lord comes back and says, oh ye of little faith. Can you imagine the disciples as they sat there that day watching this incident? What is He doing? Why did He do that? What did He say? Crumbs? Table? Dogs? What's going on here? Did they understand it all? I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they didn't. I think they probably missed the whole thing. But I'm sure that on the way back from Tyre and Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, I'm sure there was some interesting conversations between the disciples and our Lord. When He gets to the point of talking about faith. When we have those episodes of faith and the Lord works with us, do we take time to savor them and to learn from them and to grow by them? We don't know what happened with this woman after this incident. But we know she took the step of faith. She didn't take the Lord and say, it's not that I don't believe you. Come on, go home with me. I want to check this out and make sure you're true. She said she went home. Did you imagine what she felt when she walked into that room and there lays her daughter thrown back on the bed? It doesn't say that she was lying there fast asleep like a normal little child. She was literally thrown back on her bed. I'm sure the mother with some momentary fear would walk over and touch her. And the little girl would open her eyes. And those eyes would show something completely different than she'd ever seen before. They were changed eyes because they were eyes that had been affected by the words of the living Lord Jesus Christ. And I can see her taking her arms and putting them around Mom. Hi Mommy. Where you been? And I can see the tears streaming down that mother's face as her child had been restored to her because she took a step of faith. What a challenge we see for us. Is it the dynamic things that only that we're willing to take the step of faith or is it the little things? And for us it's to learn that the greater things come because we take the smaller things first. We take those small steps of faith. And then our Lord emboldens us and we take larger steps and longer steps and greater steps. And we say, Lord, I never want to go back to crawling around as a little baby. I want to do as Enoch did. I want to walk with you. Dear ones, this morning learn the lesson of the Canaanite woman. You must remember to whom you come. Lord. And it is with a spirit that is humbled in his presence to bow down before him and to do it with an intensity of purpose day by day, moment by moment. Not just in times of crisis. Enoch's life was a walk daily with the Lord for 300 years. We need to learn the lessons of faith that God so richly provides for us in his word. May this word that we share this weekend encourage your hearts as you return again to your homes and your service for his namesake. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, again our hearts are drawn to thee. We thank you for being a great God. We thank you for giving to us a faith. And Father, we would pray that our faith might be growing day by day for your namesake. Lord, for those who are laboring for thee in the fields, and there are moments of discouragement and despair. Father, we pray that thou art the God of all comfort. Come in and draw yourself so close to them. And to help them remember that thou art the strength of their life. Our Father, for those who are saddened, who are saddened in spirit, Lord, we pray help them to learn to rejoice that they are a child of God, that you love them and that you care for them. Lord, we pray strengthen us all in our various walks of faith for thy namesake. We thank you for all the various areas that are represented here and for the service that is going on in each life. And Father, we pray help us to be good servants for thy namesake. We again commend ourselves to you for this day. We pray traveling mercies for everyone who is upon the road. And our Father, we just again thank you for this good weekend together. Bless us now we part. For we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.