Ep 30 – XTreme Faith: Answers

Hi there, we’re continuing our series on extreme faith X faith and it’s so exciting to be able to be with you again, we’re gonna go into this discussion that Vicki and I are having on extreme attitudes of faith, extreme answers of faith, extreme actions of faith. And then we’re gonna look at some other uh illustrations from the old testament of of people that were very obscure but had great faith. So we’re wrapping up the whole series on faith and and we’re wrapping it up on extreme faith, great faith Magali pst So come on in and listen to the discussion with Vicki and I hi welcome back to it’s all greek to me with tom and Vicky my Harris and we are now going to continue on extreme faith that we’ve been studying uh the extreme attitudes of faith, X faith, X attitudes of faith, The centurion in Matthew chapter eight and Luke chapter seven And now we’re gonna look at extreme answers of faith. The Serra Phoenician Woman in Matthew 15 and then we’re also gonna look at extreme actions of faith the next time around in Matthew chapter nine in Mark chapter two, uh we’re just thrilled that we can actually talk like this and chat about faith, our attitudes, our answers in our actions. So maybe you want to say something about that. Well let’s get to the side reformation woman because it was an interesting story, I never really understood it in the many years that I read it until you went in to explain to me why Jesus spoke to that woman who had such great faith in him in almost a negative way. Yeah. In fact, as we read this passage, we see that the serra phoenician woman is a gentile, a cane and I, she’s all the way up from from where a tire and Sidon is and and uh he, he speaks in in ways that we’ve never seen The Lord speak like the standing one before and I was so troubled at first and we’re gonna see in the narrative Vicki you go ahead and read it and then we’ll come back and see how what those attitudes were in Matthew 15 21 to 28 jesus went away from there and withdrew into the district of tire and Sidon and a canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out saying, have mercy on me, Lord, son of David, my daughter is cruelly demon possessed, 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. But he answered and said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and began to bow down before him saying, Lord help me! And he answered and said, it’s not good to take the Children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. But she said, yes, Lord. But even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their master’s table. Then jesus said to her old woman, your faith is great, It shall be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed at once again. It’s just such a, you know, it smacks me in the face, it hits me like this is this, jesus? Really? I really had to pray think through and today we’re going to share some of that. Look at some of the thing why I was so perplexed, why I was so troubled by what Jesus said, number one, he did not answer her a word. I mean look at that, he ignores me. He ignores this woman, right? Yes, somebody’s talking to you. I mean many times I’ve been uh in a church and somebody’s trying to get my attention or your attention. Probably somebody said something to you and you left. You never even responded because you were looking at your daughter that was gonna run across the street and was gonna get hit by a car and and the other lady walks away says, what a rude woman, I don’t know all the facts. And here jesus ignores this woman. Now that’s not his motus operandi, that’s not the way he operates as a habit, but in this particular case, he ignored her. And then it says, what did you give us the second one there? But he answered and said to her, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It sounded like racist, racist prejudice, jesus invalidates her, yeah, like jesus, like you’re not the right uh, you know, nation, you’re not the right tribe, you’re not you don’t speak the right language or whatever. Would jesus do this again here in this particular case, Does he really mean this? I don’t think so, but yet we have that in scripture, Jesus invalidates her man. You could get a real uh complex identity complex that I’m not good enough. He won’t talk to me, I’m I’m of the wrong race and and so many people in the world, so many different languages and so many uh, nations and different types of races. And uh, and so people feel like maybe God is like that way with them and they don’t realize that God so loved the world, he loves everyone. And yet sometimes it appeals like he doesn’t. So we’re looking at this to find out what happened yet, that’s what we want to do. And the third one says, he answered and said it is not good to take the Children’s bread and throw it to the dogs now that that’s the part that I really, really got me. What about you, Vicki? I he he literally insults her, He literally insults her and and you have to stop and see what is jesus up to, what’s going on here. And so now we don’t know all the inside stuff that’s going on. We don’t know the relationship that this woman is has with the problem that she has with her daughter and the demonic oppression that she’s been under in possession. And we don’t know the crying and the searching of her heart and reaching out to God in the middle of the night, just, you know, just doing everything she could to get some help for her daughter. But it didn’t seem like it helped. Now we have the other narrative from the synoptic or the other gospel concerning the same story, which is really important for us to understand notice what it says here in Mark, chapter seven verse 24 through 30. Vicky go ahead and read that as well, jesus got up and went away from there to the region of tire and Wendy had entered a house. He wanted no one to know of it. Well, he wanted no one to know of it. He went to the region of tire, that’s way in the coast, by the by the mediterranean sea there and whoa, he wants no one to know that he’s going into this house yet. He could not escape notice it says. So people saw him go because he had an entourage, he had his disciples with him, right probably following him. But after hearing of him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came out and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a gentile of the sire finish in 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 first for it’s not good to take the Children’s bread and voted to the dogs, but she answered and said to him, yes lord, but even the dogs feed under the table 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, the demon having left her. Now again, there’s so much more information here And I love what it says that he was saying to her in verse 27, let the Children be satisfied first the Children here is a is a statement concerning the Jews, the Israelites. In fact in Matthew chapter 10 before Matthew chapter after rather Matthew chapter eight where the story is found about the centurion, where Jesus is actually talking to a centurion and and after in Matthew chapter 15 where the with this woman is coming to jesus, the Seraphim asian woman to get the help for her daughter, Jesus had told his disciples in Matthew chapter 10, do not go by the way of the gentiles and yet here he is breaking his own protocol, going to a tire, going to that whole region and I wonder what the disciples were thinking when that was going on and of course you have jesus giving them all this information not only for her and for her daughter and the people that were listening, but also for his disciples. Now he’s bringing his disciples into a gentile home, which they weren’t supposed to go anyway. And he’s and he’s addressing a gentile woman with this incredible complex problem, and he uses the word first. This is so important. Because what does the bible say about the gospel is supposed to be to the jew first, and also to the gentile. That’s right. Sometimes it says, you know, and this woman didn’t get offended because he ignored her, right? She didn’t get offended because he was invalidating her because you’re not of the right race, you know, she had great faith, great faith, she didn’t get offended even when he said to her, you know, I can’t take the food from the table and give it to dogs. And she and she was knew that it was referring to her. How do we know that? Because she said, yes Lord, but even the dogs, they take the crumbs that fall from the table. How about giving me a crumb. You know, she’s like saying, how about giving me a crumb, no offense, but she’s talking, she realizes this is the God that I’ve been praying to, this is the God that I’ve been crying too, I would become a doormat, I would become a dog, I don’t care about me, oh God please deliver my daughter and jesus heart, what was broken, He must have heard her prayers and had to travel there to get to her to deal with her problem. Exactly. That’s exactly what I was thinking and just think when we have these huge problems in our life and sometimes you pray for something and it gets worse and you’re like Lord the message was from my heart something different. And then I’m gonna trust you God, I’m gonna keep praying, I’m gonna keep reading your word. I’m not gonna grow weary and well doing, I’m gonna seek you and trust you because you have my best interests at heart all the time. And so this is what this mother did. Just incredible. I’m a mother of five Children. If one of my Children were hurt somebody could say anything to me and I say yes but please help me. Yeah it’s exactly what she did. And he said to her great love and he said to her because of this answer. You know her answer was so powerful that jesus christ focused on the answer. He wasn’t focusing on anything else because of this answer that was the foundation the root the cause of his response. Now go the demon has gone out from your daughter and going back to her home she found the child lying on the bed. The demon having left her. It says now you have to see where galilee is. Over here where the blue uh where the blue is inside of that square box. But but side an entire way by the by the sea, the mediterranean sea there you see that and they’re up here. He traveled all that distance to go to between the ceremony Asia it’s called. She’s referred to as the Seraphim asian woman. And this is this he did on purpose before he actually met her because he knew what was gonna happen there. Isn’t it beautiful? He leaves the comfort of of Cap Ernie. Um He leaves the comfort of all of this and goes into a place stealth undercover. He didn’t want anyone to know. He went into the house and it wasn’t his normal way of doing things. This he was not going to the gentiles first. He was going to the jews. And so uh and then you have these other verses that we could get into and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations. Always beginning in Jerusalem, Beginning with the Jews. Why don’t you read a couple of verses there now John 422, salvation is of the Jews. That was to the woman at the well when he said that she was saying yeah, but you know we have this and he said salvation is of the jews. Why is that significant? Because Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah comes, that’s where jew comes from, Judah. So you have to be a uh hebrew the senate of Abraham. You have to be a from Isaac and from Jacob, a descendant of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. And you have to be not just any Israelite but you have to be a jew from the tribe of Judah and salvation comes from the jews. Why? Because the messiah jesus had to be from that tribe Judah see and so and not just this is really specific. You know that God says salvation is not just you know, hebrew Israel, no jew, jesus christ was of the tribe of Judah. The sector genesis says will not depart from where Judah, that’s right and for it is the uh and then uh in romans 1 16, that’s my life’s verse. I’m not ashamed of the gospel of christ because it is the power of God Vietnamese, who not notice what it says for salvation and to everyone in the world to whoever believes, but to the jew first and also to the greek El iness, this is beautiful. Hey, this was so great going through some of this material with you Vicki and uh being able to share this with you. Listen, we all have questions. I mean we read stuff and we said what does that mean that? And you have to dig further, you have to study further, you have to look at the context, you have to look at where is he, where is this woman? The Seraphim Asian woman, it wasn’t in right there in the area of galilee and you have to ask, you know, what is the context of the, of the whole passage, Who’s speaking to who and what words are being used. All of this is so very important. And we’re gonna look on and see in a little bit that Cap Ernie um is so important and we’re gonna go right into that in a little bit. Well, you’ve been listening to this discussion about the surf phoenician woman and the incredible answers that she gave even to the point of breaking the heart of jesus and and showing him that she’s willing to go all out so that and she believes in him and she’s been praying to him and when he, you know, it seemed like he was ignoring her, insulting her and even uh invalidating her that she didn’t let anything stop her from her faith and just just went all the way down to the floor. Lord. Yes. But even a dog gets crumbs that fall from the Children’s table. I just, it just broke my heart and to hear jesus and to see the actions and the words of jesus was incredible right now we have up on the slide here about how jesus left where he was in galilee and went all the way to the east, right by the coast on the mediterranean seed, see entire inside to the ceremony. That’s where this woman came from. That, that’s why she is referred to as sierra phoenicia phoenician woman in in the up there. And it’s just amazing to me that she had already been talking to God. She had already been praying. It was the reason why Jesus went up there and brought his disciples with him. I guess it was a training session for them to see that he is not just the God of the jews, but the God of the gentile that he was seeking to go into to reach the lost, that God so loved the world. It wasn’t just the jewish people, but he used them in a very special way. We’ll see that towards the end that God had a plan for his people and we see that when he went into the house, he went in privately, it says He didn’t want anyone to know, but people knew because he was going there with an entourage. And so let’s just pick it up from here and see what it says in Luke 24 47. And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. See it had to go from Jerusalem to the rest of the world. It was always the jew. First, it was always Abraham Isaac Jacob and then Judah and all of those that came at the prophets and and God is always telling us that he’s got a plan a time sequence and a geography that he wants us to work by Salvation is of the Jews, 4 22 We mentioned that with Vicki romans 1 16. I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It’s the power of God on the salvation that everyone who believes to the jew first and then also to the greek. Elena’s and uh in romans 29 through 11. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil of the jew first and also of the greek but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good to the jew first and also to the greek. For there is no distinction of partiality with God. Even as it’s saying this, it’s telling us God is not partial. He has a plan just because he makes the husband the head and the wife is supposed to be subservient to the husband doesn’t mean he’s partial to men and not the women. He has a program, a plan the way he’s working and the same thing with this in terms of the ethnic people of the world. He went to the jew first. They were gentiles. Abraham was living in er of the Kalderans. He was a heathen. God spoke to him called him, he obeyed him and he became the first hebrew or have a cross the rivers and went over And and God began to speak to him further his word and promised him a seed incredible. After 25 years? That promise was fulfilled romans 31 then what advantage has the jew or what is the benefit of circumcision? It asks us in romans 31 in romans nine, we have the answer. Who are Israelites to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises whose are the fathers from whom is the christ according to the flesh? Who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen Matthew 10 5 through six. These 12, jesus sent out after instructing them. Do not go in the way of the gentiles. Now this is very important. He told him not to go to the gentiles but yet in gent in the Matthew 28 in verse uh 17 18 19 and 20 he gives them the great commission says go into all the world and all the ethnos, all the countries of the world and make disciples of all nations. And in mark 16 15, he says go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature very, very powerful. He had told them. Do not go in the way of the gentiles. Do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is really fascinating because later on in Acts chapter one verse eight, you shall receive Vietnamese when the Holy spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses both. That means that the same exact time. Both in Jerusalem samaria judea and to the uttermost part of the earth. You see God had always planned that. But he is, he is unfolding his plan to us like this Matthew 15 24. But he answered and said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel luke 24 49. And behold I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high and acts 13 46 paul and Barnabas uh spoke out boldly and said it was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiated it and judge yourselves unworthy to eternal life. Behold, we are, we are turning to the gentiles and in Matthew 21 43. Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people producing the fruit of it first. Corinthians 10 30 to give no offense either to jews or to Greeks or to the Church of God. All of these verses are indicating God’s plan to the jew first and then also to the gentiles. I’m telling you the truth in christ I’m not lying. My conscience testifying with me and the holy spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I would consider that I myself were cursed, separated from christ for the sake of my brethren. My kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites here it is to whom belongs the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service and the promises whose are the fathers and from whom is the christ according to the flesh, Who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Now listen, look at all these things that the jewish people bring to the table, they are Israelis, they come from Abraham Isaac Jacob and then Judah, the Jews come from the Israelites. One of the 12 tribes was Judah, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants, all of the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple services and the promises whose are the fathers and from whom is the christ according to the flesh, jesus christ physically had to come through the Israelites, Abraham Isaac Jacob and then Judah more specifically who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. And so when you think of the fact that jesus was living in Cap Ernie um and by the way the material you’re about to see comes from uh the God questions app phenomenal app, I want you to go on your web on the internet and just put God questions dot com or dot org rather and you’ll see clearly All the questions over 600 50,000 questions that you can ask if you have questions about something in the Bible got questions dot org. He was in Cap Ernie um and uh Cap Ernie um is right there by the sea of galilee and Capernaum Iem is featured in the new testament but never mentioned in the old testament. Calpurnia was a city located on the northwest shore of the sea of galilee, Sea of Tiberias, the sea of genocide or the lake uh lake of genocide. All those four names are about the same body of water there the sea of galilee, Cap Ernie um was the chosen home city of jesus after he was driven from Nazareth by the religious officials in luke. Four Cap Ernie um was also the home of Peter and Andrew and where Jesus called them to follow him? Matthew four jesus also found Matthew a tax collector in Cap Ernie um and called him to follow Jesus and Matthew 99, jesus referred to Cap Ernie um often and did many of his miracles there. Matthew eight, he also taught in the synagogue and although Cap Ernie um had been the site of so many proofs of jesus identity, the people they refused to believe just because they saw a miracle after miracle, they refused to believe what their eyes were telling them. He included it in a denunciation of several cities. What do you chorus and what do you bet Seda for if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in tire and Sidon, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes But it will be more tolerable or bearable for Tyron site at the judgment than for you and you Cap Ernie um will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades or hell. Uh It was in Cap Ernie um that jesus healed the centurion son. It the nobleman’s son, Simon, Peter’s mother in law and the paralytic in Cap Ernie um Jesus cast out the unclean spirits raised Lazarus, his daughter to life, healed the woman with the bleeding issue. The people have kept per diem heard and saw what jesus did and said. Yet they refused to believe we can speculate as to why would believing uh would cost them too much? Would it disrupt their comfortable religious life? Would it challenged them to repent of sin and pride, Love the unlovely and give up all to follow him. Cap Ernie Um had a greater opportunity than most cities to hear and believe in Christ and the residents would be held to a higher standard of judgment Luke. 10 verse 12 and Matthew 1124. Likewise, we have, we will be judged according to the light we’ve been given. That’s very important to remember if God 13, if God did not spare Cap Ernie um due to their lack of faith, he will not spare those today who have heard the message, seeing the evidence and rejected his son the Lord jesus christ. The city of Cap Ernie um represents many who have been exposed to the gospel. Many enjoy going to church and consider themselves christians by association. The familiarity with jesus and his word gives them a false sense of assurance that they are right with God. When in reality Jesus will one day say to them away from me, you evildoers, I never knew you. It is incredible that two out of the three X faith illustrations that we used were in Cap Ernie. Um here was this beautiful city that Jesus had his headquarters in his disciples lived at most of most of these miracles were done there and yet that town refused to accept him as Lord and savior. What are you gonna do? You maybe jewish, you maybe gentile. It really doesn’t matter. You may have grown up inside the church, you may have been baptized and gone to a christian day school and you do some incredible stuff with the church. You may even be a song director. Listen, I know of a song director in boston when I preach the gospel that came forward and trusted christ, I knew of a piano player in Georgia when I first started preaching who came forward and put his trust in christ today. If you hear my voice got says don’t harden your heart for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It’s simple. You cry out to God, oh dear jesus be merciful to me a sinner. Father. God forgive me and come into my heart and save me. I believe christ died for me was buried and rose again from the dead. God bless you until next time with. It’s all greek to me with tom and Vicky.