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Matthew 15:21–28
Intro: Does anybody in this room have a need in your life?
I suspect that everyone under the sound of my voice has many needs.
In fact, I would go a step farther and say that most people in this room today have one or more major needs in their lives and they do not see how that need can be met.
Some people are looking at devastating family problems.
Some are looking at financial difficulty.
Some are looking at a problem with a child.
Some are looking at their own souls and realizing that they are lost.
Some looking at disease and wondering what lies ahead.
Some are looking at their parents and realizing they won’t be here forever.
I could literally stand here all day and not exhaust the list of problems that people are facing today.
In the midst of your problems, you need someone to help you.
You need someone you can turn to for your solution.
You need God to work in your life.
You don’t need Him to lift every burden, just the heaviest.
You don’t need Him to move every mountain, just the highest.
You don’t need God to give you the whole loaf, just a crumb.
That is the situation we are looking at in this passage today.
Jesus is approached by a mother who is in a desperate situation.
She needs something in her life.
She comes to the Lord and as she does, she is not asking for the whole loaf, she is just asking for a crumb.
She knows that a little crumb is better than nothing.
As I preach this text today, I want you to get something from it.
I want you to know that there is hope for your situation today.
No matter what it is you think you need today, God holds the key to it.
I want to take this text and the plight of this poor woman and share a few thoughts that teach us that A Crumb From His Hand Is More Than Enough.
I. v. 22 THIS WOMAN’S PETITION
A. The Reason She Came—This woman came to Jesus because she was concerned about her daughter.
The child was demon possessed and was probably acting out in violence and anger.
She needed help in a desperate way.
B. The Reason She Cried—The word “cried” speaks of one “crying out, shouting after another.”
This woman was following after Jesus and His disciples shouting to Him for the help she needed.
Why was she so frantic?
She was heartbroken over the condition of her child and she was determined to get her child the help she needed.
C. The Reason She Called—In recording this same event, Mark tells us in Mark 7:25 that this woman had “heard of Him”.
Perhaps she had heard about how Jesus had healed all manner of diseases; about how He had opened the eyes of the blind and unstopped the ears of the deaf; about how He had driven the demons from other people.
She may have heard about how Jesus had gone over into the country of the Gaderenes and had delivered the man possessed by a legion of demons.
She may have said, “If He can deliver that man from a legion of demons, surely He can deliver my daughter from the grip of one devil!”
This woman came to Jesus because faith and hope had been sparked in her heart.
She needed something that society had not been able to provide.
She was looking for something that her dead religion had been powerless to give her.
She needed a solution that she had not been able to provide by her own self-efforts.
She was desperate and she saw Jesus as her only hope!
(Note: How many of you can identify with this poor, anxious mother?
Perhaps you are dealing with a child that is out of control.
Perhaps you are at your wits end over some situation in your life and you need help.
Perhaps you have exhausted every means at your disposal and do not know where to turn for help.
Maybe what you need is salvation.
Or, maybe what you need is restoration and forgiveness.
Whatever the need in your life may be today; you should take a lesson from this woman: Get that need to Jesus!
Regardless of what you face in your life today, the answer will be found in Him!
He can move your mountain; meet your need; save your soul; forgive your sins; touch your loved ones; you name it, He can do it!
But, you have to get it to Him! Don’t be afraid to call on Him; He invites you to come, Matt.
11:28; Isa.
55:1–3.
You do not have to bear this burden alone!
Bring it to Jesus, He cares, 1 Pet.
5:7; Heb.
4:15; and He can help, Heb.
4:16.)
I.
This Woman’s Petition
II.
v. 23–27 THIS WOMAN’S PERSISTENCE
(Ill.
This woman comes to Jesus for help and when she doesn’t get the response she imagines, she stays after Jesus until she gets what she wants.)
A. v. 23–27 The Obstacles Of Faith—To see that her need was met and her daughter was healed, this woman had to overcome many obstacles.
It seemed that she met resistance to her request at every turn.
Yet, she persisted until she achieved her goal.
Let’s examine the obstacles she faced and overcame by faith.
1.
She had to overcome Race—Verse 21 tells us that this woman was from Tyre and Sidon.
Verse 22 adds that she was a Canaanite.
This tells us two things about this mother.
First, she was descended from a cursed people.
When Joshua led the people of Israel into Canaan, they had been commanded to totally destroy the Canaanites, Deut.
7:2.
She was a member of a doomed race.
Second, she was from a region known for vile religious practices.
This woman had two strikes against her from the very start.
2.
She had to overcome Religion—She came to Jesus and called out to Him and said, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David”.
Here she was a Gentile mother crying out to the Jewish Messiah.
She had no right to come to Jesus through the door of Judaism.
She was a Gentile and He gave her the response she deserved: “He answered her not a word,” verse 23.
3.
She had to overcome Racism—When the disciples see and hear this Gentile calling out to their Messiah, they react by telling Jesus to send her away!
They wanted nothing to do with her.
She was not one of their people!
In their eyes, she was different and that was enough to justify them not caring about her at all.
4.
She had to overcome Rejection—As Jesus speaks to this woman, verses 23–26, His words appear harsh to our ears.
His words must have shaken her to the very core of her being.
His words probably broke her heart.
First, he simply ignores her.
It is as if He turns an indifferent ear to her cries for help.
Then, He tells her that His whole purpose in coming to this world was to reach the lost sheep of Israel.
When she persists, Jesus tells her that she is a dog and does not deserve the children’s bread.
The disciples rejected her and now it appears that Jesus is rejecting her too.
5.
She had to overcome Reality—The realities of this situation are harsh!
Her daughter was possessed by a devil.
She was a member of a doomed race.
These religion men did not seem to care about her or her situation at all.
It must have appeared to her that her situation was hopeless.
(Note: Some of you are looking at some of the same barriers today.
You might be a lost person and you know you need Jesus; but you feel like you have no right to come to Him.
You know you are from a doomed race.
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