PT-2 "Intro to "Compassion for the Outsider" (Matt. 15:29-39)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2022 7:50 AM

 

My Worship Time                                    Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to ‘Compassion for the Outsiders’”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 15:29-39

 

            Message of the verses:  “29 And departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up to the mountain, He was sitting there. 30 And great multitudes came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them, 31 so that the multitude marveled as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. 32 And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the multitude, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not wish to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 And the disciples said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in a desolate place to satisfy such a great multitude?" 34 And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish." 35 And He directed the multitude to sit down on the ground; 36  and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples in turn, to the multitudes. 37 And they all ate, and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And sending away the multitudes, He got into the boat, and came to the region of Magadan.”

 

            I want to show a time when the Lord showed compassion on His people even when they had sinned against Him, as we know that His compassion is great, and He has an abundant patience.  Let us look at 2 Kings 13:23 “But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now.”  This took place during the time of oppression under Aram.  One more account, and this time it has to do when Judah had been defeated by Babylon “13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel. 14 Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem. 15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.”  This happened during the time that Babylon ruled Judah, Zedekiah, the appointed Jewish king at Jerusalem, not only rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar but also against God, Jeremiah, and the other prophets.  The priests and the people were also unfaithful and wicked, Yet ‘the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people.”

 

            As we have been studying the book of Matthew for a very long time now we have seen over and over how the Lord Jesus Christ had compassion for Israel, and I suppose that after He was accused of doing miracles through the power of Satan that His compassion was still there but He was indeed upset with Israel and in 70 AD would allow the Romans come and destroy Jerusalem and millions of Jews would die and the rest would be dispersed around the known world for almost 2000 years not returning to have Israel became a nation until May of 1948.  In bringing this about the Word of God was fulfilled as Ezekiel, through the Holy Spirit wrote that this would happen, and even though Israel still does not believe in their Messiah, He still has compassion for them and He still has a future for them knowing that during the tribulation period that what Paul wrote of them will come true “all Israel will be saved.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “After departing from there, the region of Tyre and Sidon where that woman lived (v. 21), Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up to the mountain, He was sitting there.  We learn from Mark that Jesus went around the Sea of Galilee, apparently on the east side, stopping in ‘the region of Decapolis’ (Mark 7:31), another Gentile area.  Although His primary ministry was still to the Jews, the Lord continually reached out beyond the covenant people, giving a preview of the extension of the kingdom into the whole world (cf. Matt. 28:19; Acts 1:8).”

 

            7/31/2022 8:19 AM

 

 

PT-1 "Intro to 'Compassion for the Outsider"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2022 8:52 AM

 

My Worship Time                                      Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to ‘Compassion for the Outsider’”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 15:29-39

 

            Message of the verses:  “29 And departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up to the mountain, He was sitting there. 30 And great multitudes came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them, 31  so that the multitude marveled as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. 32 And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the multitude, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not wish to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 And the disciples said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in a desolate place to satisfy such a great multitude?" 34 And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish." 35 And He directed the multitude to sit down on the ground; 36  and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples in turn, to the multitudes. 37 And they all ate, and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And sending away the multitudes, He got into the boat, and came to the region of Magadan.

 

            A couple of things that I want to say before discussing the introduction to this rather long section of Scripture, and first is that once we complete this entire section then we will have completed looking at the second of four commentary books that John MacArthur wrote on the Gospel of Matthew.  It is no secret that I like listening to his sermons and reading his commentaries in order to better understand what is written in the New Testament.  I have stated that the reason that I like learning from his commentaries is because they are deeper than other New Testament Commentaries that I have read.  Second what we will be looking at here is very similar to the feeding of the 5000 which we studied earlier, with the exception that Jesus is now feeding Gentiles, but does it is very similar manner as He fed the 5000, so there are some deeper meanings that we will be looking at.  Let me first begin with a quotation.

 

“Alfred Edersheim, the great scholar - Jewish scholar - says ‘the Lord ended each phase of His ministry with a feeding. He ended the ministry in Galilee with the feeding of the 5,000, He ended the ministry in the gentile area with the feeding of the 4,000, and He ended the Judean ministry before His death on the cross with the feeding of His own in the upper room, and the Lord always leaves people fed.’”

 

            Now I will quote the very first paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary and then that will end up our short SD for today.  I still have some work on my Sunday school lesson for tomorrow, a lesson that comes from the last several Spiritual Diaries that we have been looking at over the past week or so, the teaching about the Gentile woman who had the demon- possessed child.  I have been teaching through the book of Hebrews for the last year or so and am now in the eleventh chapter, the “faith chapter,” and we saw in our series of SD that were about this woman and what she went through that Jesus told her that she had great faith, which certainly goes along with the people who are spoken of in Hebrews chapter eleven.

 

            “The God of Scripture is a God of compassion.  He suffers with people; He feels their pain and their sorrow and seeks to alleviate it, because He deeply cares for their welfare and happiness.  John 3:16 could be translated, ‘God had such compassion on the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.’  It is God’s compassion for man that, from the time of the fall, has offered the way back to Him.  Jeremiah declared, ‘The Lord’s lovingkindness indeed never cease, for His compassion never fail’ (Lam. 3:22).  The Authorized Version of that verse reads, ‘It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.’  The Lord’s compassion restricts his judgment and extends His mercy, giving fallen mankind opportunity to repent and be saved.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am so very thankful that the God that I serve has compassion on me, something that I don’t deserve.  I am also so thankful that the Lord I serve went through suffering in order to pay the price for my salvation and knows when I suffer and has compassion on me when that happens.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to be able to teach a very small Sunday school class tomorrow, and that my thoughts will be clear and that the Holy Spirit will cause me to teach the things that He desires for the people there to be fed from His Word.

 

7/30/2022 9:18 AM

 

"The Lord's Response" (Matt. 15:28)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2022 10:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  “The Lord’s Response”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 15:28

 

            Message of the verse:  “28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.”

 

            We come to the very last verse in this great section on faith, and as you probably can figure out this will be a very short, but very important SD, because it has to do with a wonderful healing for this woman’s daughter.  I may have mentioned this in an earlier SD, and that is that you have to see from what we have been looking at here that this woman had great love for her daughter.  She cared so much for her daughter that she was taking seemingly difficult words from our Lord to her and she had constantly kept on pace to have Jesus care for her daughter.  I wish women today, in many cases, would care as much for their children as she does, for in today’s society we have throw away children as women and men only care for the pleasures of what it takes to allow God to create an baby and because it may be the wrong sex or because they consider the baby to be a mistake they kill it.  This woman in this story would have never done something like that for she really loved her little girl, and it shows it.

 

            MacArthur writes “After putting up a barrier of silence and then a double barrier of seeming rejection, Jesus heard what He wanted to hear.  Her seeking heart would not give up.  Like Abraham, she grew strong in faith through God’s testing (Rom. 4:20), and like Jacob wrestling with the Lord (Gen 32:26), she would not let go until He blessed her.  She fulfilled the pledge of Jeremiah 19:13-14a “13 ‘And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ‘And I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD.’”

 

            I want to look at some verses that I do not believe that this woman had heard when Jesus preached “The Sermon on the Mount.”  “3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Without having heard these verses, she came with the humble, mourning, meek and seeking heart that God requires for the kingdom entrance.  She exhibited the attitude expressed in Luke 16:16 of vigorously pressing forward into the kingdom in Luke 13:24 of striving, struggling, straining every nerve to enter it, and so Jesus has this to say about her faith:  “O woman, your faith is great.” 

 

            Now as we look at the last part of verse twenty-eight we see that because of her great faith our Lord delivered her daughter from the demon and we read and her daughter was healed at once.  Charles Spurgeon observed, “The Lord of glory surrendered to the faith of the woman.”  This woman kept asking until she received, seeking until she found, and knocking until it was opened to her as seen in Matthew 7:7.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn from this entire section of Scripture that I am never to give up in fighting the spiritual battles of life.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember how this woman fought for what she truly desired for and do the same as I fight spiritual battles.

 

7/29/2022 10:30 AM

 

           

"Humble" (Matt. 15:25-27)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2022 9:59 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                                Focus:  “Humble”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference: Matthew 15:25-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’”

 

            Let us begin by looking at the words “to bow down” (proskuneo) in the Greek, which literally means to prostrate oneself and is frequently translated “to worship.”  So this shows us that the woman is worshiping the Lord by bowing down before Him.  This also shows humility, as it is possible that there is no worship going on, but my thoughts is that there is.  What she did was throw herself at the feet of Jesus and then pleaded with even greater desperation, Lord, help me!

 

            Jesus is actually saying to her something similar that He had said in verse 24 “24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs" (v. 26b).

 

            I want to explain that in the Greek there are two words for dogs, and one means a mangy dog that lives by itself, and the other is “a little dog” kind of what many people have as house pets the ones that come around when the family is eating and begs for food, and this is what Jesus is talking about when He said “throw it to the dogs.”  I don’t have to tell you that many dogs, especially in our country are treated well and probably spoiled.  I can think of a story when my daughter was in Peru on a missions trip and she was up in the high mountains and what she was fed was chicken, but all of the chicken, even the eyes and so she was instructed to just sneak it to the dogs, as she did not want to offend her hosts.  While there she watched a baptism where the ice had to be broken away before the person could be baptized.

 

            MacArthur writes “Even so, Jesus’ remarks were far from a compliment.  The woman knew that children’s referred to Jews and dogs referred to Gentiles, because both figures were commonly used by Jews.  Jesus’ words sounded much like the insults Jews frequently cast at Gentiles and that the woman had probably heard many times before.”  I want to look at Psalm 22:16 which is the Psalm which tells about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ:  “For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.”  This verse is saying that our Lord was surrounded by Gentiles when He was crucified.

 

            As we continue looking at verse 27 we read But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’”  I have to say that this woman was undaunted, and in an incredible flash of her insight she picked up on Jesus’ own illustration in saying what she said in verse 27.  I have to believe that this woman knew that she was sinful and that she was unworthy, like all people born of the seed of Adam, as none of us have anything to offer for our salvation.  Now in this woman’s case she knew that she was not a Jew.  As she did this she demonstrated a complete absence of pride, self-reliance, and also self-righteousness which characterized the many Jewish leaders that Jesus had been talking to before He and His disciples came to this Gentile territory in order to get away.  What this woman was willing to settle with is the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.  This was because that would be enough to meet her needs.  A tiny leftover of Jesus’ great power could heal her daughter, and that was all she was asking for.

 

            We know that Jesus’ priority mission was to the Jews, the crumbs of the gospel did indeed fall from their table and feed humble Gentiles who hungered for the Bread of life, something that is seen in verses 29-29 of chapter 15 of Matthew as Jesus will once again feed many, many people in a miraculous way, this time it will be Gentiles. 

 

            We have one more short verse to look at, and Lord willing we will do that tomorrow as we will look at “The Lord’s Response.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are times in my spiritual life when the Lord causes me to kind of “jump through some hoops” in other words be patient to see what He is trying to teach me.  I suppose that sometimes I fail to get through a hoop and have to go around again before I get through the hoop.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to be a better listener to His Word so that I can get through those hoops without missing them to the glory of God.

 

7/28/2022 10:38 AM

 

  

Persistent (Matt. 15:23-24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/27/2022 8:20 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  “Persistent”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 15:23-24

 

            Message of the verses:  “23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, "Send her away, for she is shouting out after us." 24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

 

            We are looking at “Great Faith” and talking about what it consists of, and the third quality of great faith is it is persistent as seen in verses 23-24.  I have mentioned that I teach a rather small Sunday school class at the church that I go to, and one of the problems with a small class is that when some of them leave for vacation at the same time then the class is even smaller.  My thoughts are that because our class will be very small this up-coming Sunday, and because I am teaching at this time in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews that I will use what I am learning from this section in Matthew 15 as it is all about faith too and then when we convene in a couple of weeks most of the people will return and then I can continue  on the 11^th chapter of Hebrews talking about Able who has a message from the dead.

 

            This truth about great faith is that it never gives up and as we continue to look at this Canaanite women I think that we will all have great respect for her as she certainly does not give up in her quest to have Jesus heal her daughter of demon possession, and I think also she is not giving up in desiring salvation for herself and then later for her daughter. 

 

            MacArthur writes “Jesus therefore tested the faith of this woman by setting up a series of barriers.  Some people have to struggle against strong doubts before they come to fully trust Christ for salvation.  Others have to struggle against the objections and arguments of friends and family.  Still others struggle to believe because they have heard the gospel clearly presented or because they see inconsistencies in the lives of Christians they know.  This woman, however, had barriers placed in her way by the Savior Himself.”  Now we know that Jesus is perfect, for He is God, therefore He can do nothing wrong, something to remember as we go through this section of Scripture found in Matthew 15:21-28.

 

             But He did not answer her a word.  Jesus is silence as seen in verse 23, as sometimes the hardest response to accept is no response at all, and that is what this woman received from Jesus as He did not answer her a word.  It seems that the disciples were getting tired of the screaming from this woman and so they said to Jesus "Send her away, for she is shouting out after us."  Now they have seen many, many miracles from Jesus and it seems that they just want Him to heal this woman’s daughter in order for her to stop screaming, after all they were on a little get-away for some rest and learning from Jesus. 

 

            Jesus did nothing unloving and nothing without a divine purpose that much we know, and this certainly is no exception.  Jesus had put up with enough of superficiality and shallowness, of the pretended faith of those who selfishly got what they wanted from Him, and then they left.  I can think of the ten lepers that He healed and only one, a Samaritan came back to thank Him.  The barriers that Jesus was putting up were not to chase her away but to draw her closer to Him.  Jesus also used this occasion to show the disciples the value of persistent faith and to help them distinguish between the genuine and the superficial.  I can think of a time when they used this with a man who said he was a believer, but then all he wanted was to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit for his own profit.  Jesus would erect barriers that only genuine, persistent faith could handle, and this woman certainly was handling it in a wonderful way as we will continue to see.  Now in Matthew 19:16-22 we see another case that Jesus placed barriers before a young man to test his faith.  This is the story of the rich young ruler and it seems that he did not pass the test like this woman did.

 

            Now we come to verse 24, and some see this verse as a problem, but it really is not a problem:  "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Jesus was saying this to His disciples, but within hearing of the woman.  The hardness of heart suggested by His silence now seemed to be confirmed by His words.  It is unclear of what His disciples though of this comment by Jesus.  His disciples must have wondered why Jesus healed the servant of the Roman centurion and why He offered water to the woman at the well as all of these certainly were not of the house of Israel.  This we know that His primary ministry was still to the children of the covenant.  This was not the time when the ministry would go to the Gentiles and that would not happen until the middle part of the book of acts.  Whenever this did happen we will see that Peter will have some issues with it and Paul would have to have some words to him about his attitude with Gentile believers as seen in the book of Galatians. 

 

            MacArthur concludes “Whatever effect Jesus’ response had on the disciples, it must have been a painful blow to the woman.  Most people would have indignantly said, ‘So much for your God of love, your message of compassion, and your narrow bigoted religion.  I want nothing to do with a God or religion like that.’  But this woman had no resentment or bitterness, only an abiding love for her afflicted little girl and a determination to have her freed from her demonic torture.  She also knew that the gods her people worshiped did not care.  She knew Jesus was the only hope and that she had nowhere else to turn.  She said in effect what Peter had said not long before:  ‘Lord to whom shall we go?” (John 6:68).

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn from this woman not to give up on spiritual things that I desire, and to believe that though there may be barriers that Jesus will help me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord even when testing comes from Him that I don’t always understand.

 

7/27/2022 9:03 AM

Rightly Directed And Reverent (Matt. 15:22b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2022 8:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  “Rightly Directed And Reverent”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 15:22b

 

            Message of the verse:  “O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.”

 

            We can see by this section of verse 22 that this woman knew exactly who Jesus Christ was, and it seems to me that she knew that He indeed is Lord, and that He came from the line of David which the Old Testaments tells us that this is where Messiah would come from.

 

            Now remember that we are talking about faith in this section of Matthew chapter fifteen, and the truth is that “Great faith” must, of course, be directed at the right object, to which this woman was certainly directing it to.  MacArthur adds “Those who believe that somehow, in some way, by some means everything will ultimately work out for the good have faith in an illusion.  To declare ‘Somewhere there’s somebody who hears every prayer’ or ‘I believe in the darkest night a candle glows,’ is to believe in nothing more trustworthy than your own imagination and wishful thinking.  It is unbelievably foolish to put ultimate trust in something or someone you know nothing about.  When John Greenleaf Whittier wrote, ‘The steps of faith fall on the seeming void and find the rock beneath,’ he proved himself a better poet than theologian.”

 

            So what kind of faith is being discussed here by MacArthur here?  Well I believe that he is explaining that that sort of faith is essentially faith in faith, and I believe that this is talking about no faith at all.  Here is an example of this.  Now if a person jumps of an airplane with a parachute this is an act of faith, faith that the parachute will open and that he will land safely, so the faith is in the parachute and also the person who packed it so that it would open up correctly.  Now on the other hand to jump without a parachute while explaining, “I believe,” is an act of stupidity.  Now to say no more than “I believe in love,” “I believe in believing,” or “I believe it will all work out,” is a faith that is therefore pointless and powerless.  It shows no more sense than to go on vacation and leave your three year old son or daughter in charge of the house after telling him or her to look after the house.  “I don’t think so.”

 

            Now to say that faith to make some kind of real sense and to have power then it must be placed in a trustworthy object; and as the Canaanite woman turned her back on all of the idols that she was worshiping and then placed her faith in the Lord, the Son of David she then had her faith in the very God of the universe.  In spite of her pagan background, she heard of the Jews’ Messiah who was coming who was called Son of David.  We see that she reverently addressed Jesus as her sovereign and omnipotent Lord.  This woman had heard of the Messiah’s great power and she also sensed His great goodness, and she treated Him with both dignity and expectancy.  If you remember when a leper came to Jesus after giving His Sermon on the Mount, then you will see that this woman came to Jesus in a similar way.  Now think about the fact that the Jewish leaders had no use for lepers, women and especially foreign women, and yet when one of these kind of people came to Jesus He had time for them.  Let us look at Matthew 8:2, the story of the leper “And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’”  Jesus was willing and He did heal this man.

 

            Now remember where Jesus and His disciples just came from, and that is the Jewish leaders, who had called Him a drunk, a companion of sinners, and a man who was controlled by a demon, and so this must have been refreshing for our Lord to get away from them and then have this woman say great things about Him as she is the one with “Great faith.”

 

            We can see that this woman had a great love for her young daughter, more than he own life, and she came to the only source of help she knew of, the Jewish Messiah.  Now here faith was great because she turned from faith in false gods, dumb idols, and pagan deities to faith in Jesus Christ.  She may have trusted in those false gods for a while but when her daughter became possessed by a demon or demons that all changed.  Why?  Well they did not word for they actually were in bed with demons themselves.  There is a verse at the beginning of 1 Thessalonians that goes along with what this woman experienced as Paul writes “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God,”  Just insert the Canaanite women in this verse where it says “they themselves.”

 

7/26/2022 9:14 AM

Repentant (Matt. 15:22a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2022 8:43 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                            Focus:  “Repentant”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 15:22a

 

            Message of the verse:  “22 And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me,”

 

            I mentioned in our last SD that what we were looking at then was an introduction to verses 22-27, and that today we would begin with the first sub-section of that set of verses.

 

            We know that this woman was a Canaanite woman, and Mark 7:26a adds a bit more:  “Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race.”  MacArthur adds that “she was probably a worshiper of Astarte and other pagan deities that were popular in that region.  The fact that she came to Jesus, a Jewish teacher and healer, indicates she was disillusioned with the idolatry and immoral debauchery that characterized her religion.  In turning to Jesus, she turned from the way of Satan and sin to the way of God, and that is the essence of repentance.”

 

            In this story from Matthew’s gospel and also seen in Marks we see a woman who is fed up with the religion that she had been practicing, probably all of her life.  She now comes to Jesus, who is Jewish, and as mentioned it was the children of Israel who were suppose to have killed all of the Canaanite population after they entered the Promised Land.  To know this truth and then come to Jesus must have meant that she believed that He could heal her demon possessed daughter, and I have to think that it was the Holy Spirit of God who brought this woman to Jesus.  This woman was looking for mercy as we will see as we move along in the text, mercy is something no one deserves and we can see that she knew this as she was not at all demanding of Jesus, simply asking for mercy for her daughter.  “She did not ask Jesus’ help on the basis of her own goodness but on the basis of His.”

 

            MacArthur writes “Mercy is integral to God’s redemptive work for man.  From the time of the fall, man has had no way back to God except through His merciful grace.  It is not surprising, therefore, that in the New Testament and the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), various forms of the verb deed (to have mercy) are used some five hundred times.”

 

            Let us look at some Old Testament verses, first from the 34^th chapter of Exodus and then from the 51^st Psalm and make a few comments on them.  “5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him (Moses) as he called upon the name of the LORD. 6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations." 8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. 9 He said, "If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.’”

            This section of Scripture happens after the sinfulness done by Israel while Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments and so Moses was looking for mercy from the Lord, knowing that the people of Israel did not want God’s judgment, knowing that only mercy was what they needed.  Psalm 51:1 also happens after a sin, a great sin committed by King David as he had slept with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed.  David likewise comes to God asking for mercy as he writes “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “Faith that apprehends the blessing of Christ involves repentance that comes from a deep and sincere sense of unworthiness.  In the book All of Grace (Chicago: Moody, pp. 97-100), Charles Spurgeon wrote:

 

‘Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith.  All the while that we walk by faith and not by sight, the tear of repentance glitters in the eye of faith.  That is not true repentance which does not come of faith in Jesus, and that is not true faith in Jesus which is not tinctured with repentance.  Faith and repentance, like Siamese twins, are virtually joined together…Faith and repentance are but two spokes in the same wheel, two handles of the same plow.  Repentance has been well described as a heart broken for sin and from sin, and it may equally well by spoken of as turning and returning.  It is a change of mind of the most thorough and radical sort, and it is attended with sorrow for the past and a resolve of amendment in the future…Repentance of sin and faith in divine pardon are the warp and woof of the fabric of real conversion.’

 

            “Repentance adds nothing to faith but is rather an integral part of it.  Saving faith is repentant faith.  ‘Repentance toward God and faith in [the] Lord Jesus Christ’ are inseparable (Acts 20:21).  Because they are inseparable, Scripture sometimes refers to salvation as repentance.  Paul declares that ‘the kindness of God leads you to repentance’ (Rom. 2:4), and Peter says that God does not desire ‘for any to perish but for all to come to repentance’ (2 Pet. 3:9). 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “It is a change of mind of the most thorough and radical sort, and it is attended with sorrow for the past and a resolve of amendment in the future.”  I can see 1 John 1:9 in this statement, at least the last part of this statement “If we confess our sins He is faithful and Just to forgive us of our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to continue to bring about a more sensitive heart today, remembering that repentance is what is needed when and if I sin.  Thankfulness for what Christ did for me at the cross.

 

7/25/2022 9:30 AM

The Qualities of Great Faith (Matt. 15:22-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2022 7:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  “The Qualities of Great Faith”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matt15:22-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “22 And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, "Send her away, for she is shouting out after us." 24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" 26 And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." 27 But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’”

 

            What we have going on here is actually an introduction to these verses and then in our next SD we will begin to look at individual verses from this quotation above.

 

            It was Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman that we see a story of faith, faith which our Lord called Great Faith in verse 28.  MacArthur writes “Great faith is, of course, a relative term.  This woman’s faith was not great because it was stronger or more sincere or mature than the faith of many Jews who believed in Christ but because it was based on so little light.  When Peter’s faith faltered and he began to sink into the water, Jesus referred to it as ‘little faith’ (Matt. 14:31).  In general character it was greater than this woman’s faith and surely greater than the faith of the other eleven disciples, who did not even attempt to walk on the water, but it was not as strong as I should have been for that situation.  Peter was a Jew and therefore had the heritage of God’s Word and special blessing.  More than that, he had lived for nearly two years in intimate fellowship with the Son of God.  He had seen virtually every miracle Jesus performed and heard virtually every word He preached and taught.  He had saving faith in Jesus as his Lord and Savior and had left everything to follow Him, but his great privilege and advantage was no guarantee that, under severe testing his faith might not be reduced to relatively little.”

 

            Now we have to compare this Canaanite woman as she on the other hand, had been raised in a pagan culture that had been renowned for its wickedness and vileness.  After all she from a country or people that God had told Joshua to completely defeat and kill as seen in Deut. 7:2 where Moses said and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.”  Moses said this but it was Joshua’s job to do it.  This woman had no heritage of God’s Word, God’s blessing, or of His tabernacle, temple, priesthood, or sacrifices.  Therefore, because she believed so much relative to so little revelation, Jesus called her faith great faith (Matt. 15:28).  MacArthur writes “And from her story we can propose  five general qualities that mark all great faith:  it is repentant, properly directed, reverent, persistent, and humble.”

 

7/24/2022 8:08 AM

 

           

PT-3 "The Setting" (Matt. 15:21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/23/2022 10:30 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  PT-3 “The Setting”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 15:21

 

            Message of the verse:  “21 And Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.”

 

            We have been talking about how it is that the Gentiles of Jesus’ day seemed to have less trouble understanding who He was as compared to the Jews, and this should have been the opposite, but because of the cult like teaching of the scribes and Pharisees this was true, to their great shame.

 

            MacArthur writes “But most of the native Gentiles in and near Palestine were less religiously and intellectually proud than their Jewish neighbors.  They had long since lost their military and commercial power as well as much of their religious and cultural heritage.  Their pagan religious systems had repeatedly failed them and not had little influence on their living.  They were empty, in need, and open to help.  Jesus had told the Jews of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum that if Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom had experienced a revelation of God’s power such as they had been witnessing, those Gentile cities would have repented and been spared judgment (Matt. 11:21-23).”   Like I said, this is a very bad commentary on the Jews of Jesus’ day.

 

            We have talked about what Jesus’ first priority was and that was to minister to God’s people, Israel, and to reveal Himself as their Messiah and then to offer them the kingdom; but Jesus extended Himself to open hearts and never refused a person of any race or culture who came to Him in faith.  It is believed that the Lord taking His disciples to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon must have been very refreshing for them because of first of all the climate was better, a bit cooler, and second was that they would not have to put up with the Jewish rulers who wanted to kill Him.  As far as the people they were more open to what Jesus had to say. These people were in darkness, but many anxiously sought for the light as John spoke of in John 1:9-11.

 

            It made no difference as to whether Jew or Gentile, the person who approached Jesus with true faith and humility was always received, and I certainly know that this is true.  The person who came with and empty but open heart left with a filled heart, while the one who came with a filled and closed heart left with nothing.  Here is what Jesus declared in Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give your rest.”  Then in John 6:37 He promised “The one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing:  “The gospel came through the Jews (John 4:22) and first to the Jews, but it was never intended to be only for them.  The gospel ‘is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek’ (Rom. 1:16).  The Great Commission was to ‘make disciples of all the nations’ (Matt. 28:19), beginning with Jerusalem but reaching ‘even to the remotest part of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).  Israel was the channel through which the gospel would be carried to the entire world.”

            Ever since the Lord opened my heart to believe He put a great love in my heart for the Jewish people.

 

7/23/2022 10:52 AM

PT-2 "The Setting" (Matt. 15:21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/22/2022 10:01 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 “The Setting”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 15:21

 

            Message of the verse:  “21 And Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.”

 

            Let us look at another verse in Matthew which causes some interpreters of the Bible to say that Jesus actually not gone into Gentile territory.  “24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Jesus actually said this verse while talking to the Gentile woman.  I don’t agree with those who think that Jesus did not go into Gentile territory.  Let us look at what Mark 7:24 says “Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.”  Now Mark 7:31 “31 Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis.”  John MacArthur writes “It is true, however, that the Lord did not go to this area to minister but to rest, just as centuries earlier the Lord had sent Elijah to the same region to rest at the home of the widow at ‘Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon’ (1 Kings 17:9).”

 

            We learned from Mark 7:24 that Jesus “wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice” (Mark 7:24b).  MacArthur quotes Archbishop Trench: “Like perfume betrays itself, so He whose name is perfume poured out cannot be hid.” Jesus did not purposely expand His ministry into Gentile territory, but many people of that area had heard of Him and had already had gone into Galilee to see and to hear Him in order to be healed as seen in Matt. 4:24-25; Mark 3:8.

 

            MacArthur writes “In His omniscience Jesus was not surprised at being discovered or of being drawn into ministry.  Many Gentiles, illustrated by the Roman centurion, were more humbly receptive than the Jewish multitudes, who often too Jesus’ healings as a matter of their rightful heritage.  In their thinking, the Messiah belonged exclusively to Israel, and He was obligated to serve, heal, and liberate His fellow Jews.  It was that proud and self-righteous attitude that drove the multitude to try to force a crown on Him (John 6:15).”

 

            The Gentiles were less “religious” than the Jewish people, and in a sense that was good because the Jews of Jesus’ day were not following what the Old Testament had to say as I am learning in my study of Hebrews that they were actually involved in a cult during the time when Jesus was on earth, trying to get to God by their own works and efforts which is something that God will never accept because He is the One who has provided salvation through His One and only Son, and so works to get to God were totally out, but works after becoming a believer is what God desires.  Notice the following familiar verses “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” These three verses describe how we are saved and then what we are to do after we are saved and you dare not get the cart before the horse for that will not work.  For the Jews and many others today their “religion” got into their way of becoming a true believer in Jesus Christ.

 

7/22/2022 10:30 AM

 

           

 

PT-1 "The Setting" (Matt. 15:21)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/21/2022 9:36 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “The Setting”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 15:21

 

            Message of the verse:  “21 And Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon.”

 

            Jesus’ ministry had mostly been in Galilee, but now because of all the pressure that has been placed on Him and His ministry and also I think because He and His disciples had not really had the time to get that get away trip that had been planned ever since the disciples had gotten back from their short missionary trip.  So now Jesus is actually going into the Gentile country, which I believe is part of modern day Lebanon. 

 

            The pressure was not all a bad kind of pressure as part of it came from all the multitudes that were following Him where ever He had been traveling as many were convinced that He was their long awaited Messiah.  As the people saw and recognized the miraculous powers that He had and knew that the Messiah would also have these powers that is one reason that they thought He was their Messiah.  The problem was that these people did not realize why it was that He had come to planet earth, and that was to die for them, but they missed those prophecies found in the OT books like Psalm 22, and Isaiah 52-53.  They were looking for someone who would destroy Rome, but that will not happen until the next coming when He comes in power and glory, where He will reign from David’s throne for 1000 years.

 

            Next Jesus was under the pressure of possible arrest and execution by Herod Antipas, who thought Jesus was John the Baptist coming back from the grave after he had killed him.  This can be seen in Matt. 14:2.  I guess that they did not lack insane leaders at this time of history either.

 

            It was from the Jewish leaders that was giving the most pressure on our Lord at this time during the beginning of His third year of ministry.  In Matthew 12:14 we read about the scribes and Pharisees of Galilee who wanted to destroy Him.  In 15:1-9 we saw that Jesus had embarrassed the Jewish leaders who had come down from Jerusalem.  John MacArthur quotes Alfred Edersheim who commented, Jesus “was saying distinctly un-Jewish things,” ‘and even the enthusiasm of the multitudes cooled rapidly when He began to make clear what allegiance to Him demanded (John 6:60-66).”

 

            So we see here that Jesus withdrew from the frenzy of Galilee and traveled northwest “into the district of Tyre and Sidon,” out of the land of Israel and beyond the jurisdiction of both Herod and the Jewish religious leaders.  This “district of Tyre and Sidon” was the Gentile territory of ancient Phoenicia, and as mentioned modern day Lebanon, which is on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  Perhaps He and His disciples spent most of their time while there in the foothills of the mountains, as this would have been refreshing from the heat of Galilee. 

 

            As I mentioned the reason for going here was to get away from the pressures that were mentioned and also to spend time with His disciples for after all Jesus was teaching them some of the things that they would need to know for the time was not that far off when He would go back to heaven and it would be eleven of these men who would be the ones who humaningly speaking would begin the church age, and then a bit later on Paul would become a large part of spreading the gospel to the Gentile people.  Let me make one thing clear and that is that Jesus did not leave because of fear for He is God and does not fear anything.  Jesus knew what was before Him, His crucifixion and so as stated He wanted to prepare His disciples for when He would be gone from earth.

 

7/21/2022 10:03 AM