THE GREATEST FAITH

Sermon of the Week #200808 – February 24, 2008

Great Is Thy Faith—Matthew 14:28

The story of the greatest faith begins when Jesus went out into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and a woman came out from those borders, and cried saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.”

JESUS HID HIMSELF

However, before she made this pitiful plea to the Lord, she had to find Him first, because Jesus had hidden Himself. Mark tells the same story to us when he says, “Jesus had entered into a house, and would have no man know it.” Sometimes Jesus did hide Himself as in John 12:36 when they could not believe He was the light; He departed, and hid Himself from them. In this particular case, Jesus had just been in a debate with the Pharisees about the silly question of eating bread without washing one’s hands, so He goes out to the borders of Tyre and Sidon to get away from it all.

Then there are other times when God hid Himself. In Deuteronomy 31:18-20 during the farewell address of Moses, he told the people that God said that if they turned to other gods, and broke His covenant after His death, “I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils they have wrought.” Will He not also hide His face today from those who break the new covenant?

But then again we note Mark said in this case although Jesus hid Himself, He could not be hid. This woman who pleads for her daughter vexed with a demon found Him. Maybe James 4:8 could be applied here, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.”

Actually Jesus is like the flask of ointment Mary broke and poured on His head; the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. There are many times in life when the aroma of His presence is felt, and we know that Jesus is here although He cannot be seen. At such times as the celebration of His birth, and concerning the day of His resurrection, people are reminded, Jesus has been here; He cannot be hidden. And the aroma of His presence is certainly evident at the meeting of the saints to observe the feast of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week. This feast will be observed until the last Sunday before the trumpet sounds, because Jesus said this feast shows forth His death till He comes. There is always a reminder that Jesus has been here; He cannot be hid.

VEXED WITH A DEMON

So the woman from Tyre and Sidon found Jesus and asked the question concerning a demon that vexed her daughter. Demons are still in the business of vexing the human race today, and are just as real as they ever were. It is a tragic mistake to relegate demons to Bible times only.

As to their identity, demons were created as angels by God.  We read in Colossians 1:16, “For in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.” Evidently there is a highly-organized invisible world, and we are dealing with it everyday. Like the woman of Tyre and Sidon, we need to pray everyday, “Have mercy on me, O Lord; I am grievously vexed with a demon.”

In 2nd Peter 2:4, the Apostle tells us of the fall of the angels who kept not their proper habitation when he says, “For God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness.” Hebrews 12:22 refers to an innumerable host of angels, and Revelation 12:4 refers to the tail of the great red dragon, dragging one third of the angels that sinned to earth with him.

Then it is Paul who refers and warns about our interaction with these demons when he tells us in Ephesians 6, “Finally be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the powers, against a spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Considering the overwhelming forces against us, it appears the odds are against us. The vexing of these demons day by day will require spiritual armor for spiritual warfare, so that ye may stand against the wiles of the Devil.

The Devil in his wiles may defeat many with the argument that the Bible is not the inspired Word of God. And then he defeats others by telling them the Bible is the Word of God, and so is every other book that claims to be inspired of God, or angels. Again, in his wiles he may defeat some by telling them they are good enough to go to Heaven by their own good works. Then he convinces others that they are so evil that even the Lord Jesus Christ could not save them. He has wiles specially tailored for every person.

Left to our own devices, the dragon and his demons can sock every jock, chill every Jill, and sack every Jack; we don’t have much of a chance against these demons with super intelligence that vex us everyday. “Have mercy on me, O Lord; I am grievously vexed with a demon.”

Paul further encourages us in 2nd Corinthians 10 when he says, “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God casting down strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing exalted against the knowledge of God.” And it is John in his 1st epistle assuring us that, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” So it is a good prayer for us to pray every day, “Have mercy on me, O Lord; for I am grievously vexed with a demon.”

THE SILENCE OF JESUS

The request of the woman from Tyre and Sidon was an understandable request, but the Lord responded to her plea in an unbelievable way. He answered her not a word. It may be surprising to us that Jesus could be silent to such a pitiable plea for mercy.

And besides that, the disciples did not help any when they told Jesus, “Send her away, she crieth after us.” And then Jesus said, “I was not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and to such a rebuff she repeated her request: “Lord help me.”

The woman must have felt like the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 83:1 when he says, “Keep not thy silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God.”

The woman did not give up when Jesus answered her not a word; she preyed on. When the disciples said, “Send her away,” she prayed on. When Jesus said, “I was not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” she prayed on; and then when Jesus would tell her, “It is not fit to give the children’s bread to the dogs,” she prayed on. The silence of Jesus did not silence the prayers of this Gentile woman from Tyre and Sidon.

The silence of Jesus is sometimes devastating to many who have prayed, and a wife, or a husband dies, and they say, “Where was God?” A loved-one is sick unto death, and prayers are prayed; the loved-one dies, and they say, “Where was God?” A faithful Christian is fired from their job; they cannot find work, and they say, “Where was God?”

The question, “Where is God?” has a very simple answer.  God is in the same place He was when Jesus was hanging on the cross dying for our sins, and cried, “My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?” The heavenly Father was silent, but that doesn’t mean He was not there, and it does not mean He did not care. When God is silent He is still working behind the scenes in our lives just as much as when He is speaking.

Actually, the silence of God is more important than we may think. God was silent for four hundred years, between the period of the Old and New Testaments. But He was busy during that time preparing the world for the arrival of Jesus. Paul tells in Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

The method of our redemption is set forth by Peter in his 1st epistle, verse 24, “Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” Then again in verses 18-19, “Ye were redeemed not by corruptible things, with silver or, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as with a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.”

Then the same Apostle Peter tells us how our redemption is applied when he preached the first gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost. Jesus had died on the cross, buried in the tomb, was raised from the dead, and ascended to the Father.

Peter preached those facts, and they that believed it were told to, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Then after the last verse in the New Testament, God has been silent for the last two thousand years. God has not said one word to the human race since the day when the Apostle John wrote that last verse, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with His saints.” God is silent because He has said everything to the human race He has to say. His message to humanity is complete.

However, God will break the silence on one day undisclosed to humanity. Let Paul tell us about it in the last of chapter four and beginning of the fifth of 1st Thessalonians, so hear ye the Word of the Lord, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. But concerning the times and seasons brethren, ye have no need that ought should be written unto you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape. But brethren, ye are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light and sons of the day; so then, let us not sleep as the rest, but let us watch and be sober.” And then as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:57, “Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

TRUTH LORD

And now the most unusual part of this unusual story is what this woman said about the truth. When Jesus told her, “It is not met to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.” To the Jews, a Gentile was regarded as a dog, and Jesus was using a common term known by all. This seeming insult would have been enough to drive most anyone else away, but the woman from Tyre and Sidon said, “Truth Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table.”

This woman said, “Lord, you told me the truth, I am a dog, I am not asking for a loaf, I am only asking for a crumb that falls from Your table.” This meant that she would have to eat what she received at the feet of Jesus; under the table. There is no better place for any of us to eat the bread of life. Such humility amazed the Lord Jesus, and He said, “O woman, great is thy faith, be it done unto thee even as thou wilt.” And her daughter was healed in that hour.

Think of what the woman said, “Lord, you told me the truth.” Jesus said in John 8:32, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” But we may ask as Pilate asked in John 18:38, “What is truth?” Jesus gave the definition of truth when He prayed to the Father for His disciples in His longest recorded prayer in John 17:17, “Thy word is truth.”

It sounds so simple; however, the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:25, “…exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” What the Romans did is being done today. Morality and doctrine is decided by the polls, and by the denominational hierarchy.

This is the reason we mention so many times the words of Peter in his sermon the day the Church began; the inspired apostle said, “Repentance and baptism for the remission of sins.” If I should leave out repentance, I would be changing the Word of God for a lie. If I should leave out baptism for the remission of sins, I would be changing the Word of God for a lie.

Much of mankind seems to hate the truth of the Word, and Jesus summed it up when He said to the scribes in John 8:45, “Because I say the truth, ye believe me not.”

Some may think we need a new message for this new age; however, we need to heed the tender plea in Psalm 100:5, “For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations.”

It is difficult to ignore the warning the Apostle Paul gave in some of the last words of his life when he wrote to Timothy, as well as all preachers of the Word in 2nd Timothy 4:2-4, “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn unto fables.”

The itching ears statement reminds me of one time in a check-out lane of a grocery store; I overheard a conversation of two ladies ahead of me. One said to the other, “My son tells me he has had the itch three times this summer, and he said he enjoyed it all three times.” What better way to say it? People have ears that itch to hear sentimental stories, that make them feel inspired, and they want the preacher to scratch every Sunday, and they enjoy it every time. We could add a postscript to this from Isaiah 30:10, “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, and prophesy deceits.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have enjoyed our little visit with the woman who came out of the borders of Tyre and Sidon; she has taught us many things.