Mark 7:24-30 Precious Crumbs for the Dogs

Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church

From J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”

House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text

Mark 7:24–30 ESV

And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Pray

Map of the Region

Introduction

Mark is one of the Gospels - it tells us how we can be reconciled to God and gain eternal life

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (ESV)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Introduction

Mark is one of the Gospels - it tells us how we can be reconciled to God and gain eternal life

Preceded by John, Jesus came from Galilee

John got the people’s attention

Jesus began his ministry

Signs and wonders demonstrated His lessons

Cripples, diseases, resurrections, casting out demons

Created food from nothing - controlled the weather

Knew He was going to the cross - trained His disciples

Last week, Jesus gave us an understanding of where sin comes from

This week, Jesus demonstrates what true faith is, and breaks down the evil of Jewish pride and prejudice

We know nothing about this woman, mentioned here, other than what we read here.

Syro-Phoenicia - a gentile

Her name, history and background, how she came to hear of Jesus in this gentile area, the Lord does not share with us

The few facts we have here though, are full of important instruction and we need to pay attention

Firstly, this passage should encourage us to pray for others

This woman must have been deeply troubled by her daughter’s condition

much loved daughter possessed by an unclean spirit - a demon

The bible does not tell us how this demon was afflicting the girl. She was not in her right mind. Likely uncontrollable. Daughter could not be taught - no medicine could heal her affliction. She must have been as good as dead and her mom was beside herself

Somehow, heard of Jesus, begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter

She prays for one who could not pray for herself - does not stop until the prayer is granted

By prayer, she gets a cure that no human could give her - daughter is healed. No one could diagnose or treat

Daughter could not speak for herself - her mother spoke for her

Case seemed hopeless, but a praying mother meant that there was hope

Very important truth - this is not the only case where someone prayed for another and the prayer was answered

Many cases of intercessory prayer in the Bible - many have benefitted - the paralytic, centurion’s servant - Jairus daughter - great examples

God is moved to do great things for souls, when friends and family pray for them.

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

Fathers and mothers - remember this woman

We cannot give our children new hearts

We can teach them the Bible, show how to live

Cannot give them a will to turn to Christ for salvation, or a mind to love God

One thing we can do - pray for them

Pray for the salvation of rebellious sons and daughters, who are selfish, love sinful activities and the world - love sinful pleasure more than God

God hears these prayers and often blesses them

Children who are prayed for, are almost never lost forever

We need to pray more for our sons and daughters

Even when they will not let us teach them about God, they cannot stop us from talking to God about them

Mark 7:27 ESV

And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Secondly, we need to keep on praying for others

On her first try, this woman appeared to get nowhere with the Lord

She did not give up - she kept after Him

She pressed her case, with imaginative arguments - wouldn’t take no for an answer

Pleaded for “crumbs of mercy” rather than none at all

Through her holy persistence - she succeeded

Heard these joyful words: Mark 7:29 “And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.””

We need to be persistent in our prayer.

Can’t get cool or indifferent - think its of no use

Satan is trying to keep us from praying - fills our minds with reasons to give up

He does this with all prayer, but especially for intercessory prayer

We often put in too little effort, get discouraged and quit. we want instant gratification

If we don’t get an answer right away, we give up

We see those we are praying for continuing in self-destructive behaviour and sin, so we give up

We conclude its all useless, so we give up

We need to remember the case of this woman

She prayed and did not lose heart, in the face of real discouragement

But she went home rejoicing - let us, by God’s grace, follow her example

Bringing it home

Do we know how to pray for ourselves?

First question we must ask ourselves

If you don’t pray about your own soul, you can’t really pray for others

To be prayerless is to be without God, Christ, or hope - the person in this condition needs to wake up, and call upon God

Do we pray for ourselves? - then we must pray for others

Then let us pray for others also - don’t be selfish

We need to pray and name those we love before God continuously

We need to pray also for the worst, the hardest, the most unbelieving - keep going year after year, in spite of continued unbelief?

God’s time for their salvation may be some time in the distance

We may not see the answer to our prayers - the answer may not come in ten, 15, 20 years - may not come until we are praising God in heaven, far away from this world

This is the greatest kindness - to speak for them to Jesus

When we stand before the Lord at the judgement-we will see that one of the greatest links in bringing people to Christ, has been the intercessory prayer of friends and family

Questions and Announcements

Closing Prayer