Date: Sunday, January 31, 2021   Scripture: Mark 7:24-30

Transcript .pdf

Well, this morning we're in Mark chapter 7, we're continuing our study in Mark, and as you've seen, the title of this morning's message, we're going to be looking at The Marks of Saving Faith in Mark chapter 7, verses 24 -30.

DL Moody tells of a time when he was preaching in Philadelphia and there was a young lady in the crowd who had her eyes fixed on him during his entire sermon. After his message, he spoke with her and he asked her this question. “Are you a Christian?”

She answered him and said. “No, I wish I was, I've been seeking Jesus for three years.”

“There must be some mistake,” Moody replied. She looked at him strangely and said, “Don't you believe me?”  He replied, “Well, no doubt you thought you were seeking Jesus, but it doesn't take an anxious sinner three years to meet a willing savior.”  “What do I do then?” She asked. Moody answered her and said “The matter is you are trying to do something. You must just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” She then responded to Moody, “Oh. I'm so sick and tired of the word believe, believe, believe. I don't know what it is.”  “Well,” he said “We'll change the word to trust.” 

She asked “If I say I'll trust Him, will he save me?”

“No. That's not what I'm saying. You may say 1000 things, but He will save you if you do trust Him.”

“Well,” she said “I do trust Him.” But she added “I don't feel any better.

“I've got it now!” exclaimed, Moody “You've been looking for feelings for three years instead of for Jesus!”

This morning we're going to see a woman who sought after Christ. But she wasn't looking for changed feelings. Her seeking was because of her true saving faith. You see faith within Christianity today seems a lot like that woman. And what she was expressing as she's talking there to Moody. Her faith was all about her feelings. Its feelings, feelings, feelings and if she felt something different, well, that must mean it's true saving faith.

Churches today are full of emotional showcases where people come to church because they want to feel better. They want to feel better about themselves. To be built up because, you know, I've had such a bad week. And so I'll try church this week and see if I feel better. And it's all about their feelings they just want or need a little church in their life.

And they come seeking some kind of emotional experience, experience thinking that if they would just cry, or get goosebumps, or feel some kind of warm fuzzy feelings inside of them, well, it must mean that they have faith in God.

What does the Bible say about faith? What does the Bible say about true saving faith? That's the question we must ask.

Is what's going on in the majority of churches today a result of true saving faith? Or is it superficial faith that seeks its own, instead of seeking after Christ?

Well, let's look at this Syrophoenician woman here in our text this morning as she gives us an understanding of what true saving faith looks like. As we work our way through our text this morning, we're going to see four marks of saving faith. Four marks of what true saving faith looks like. We’ll begin in verse 24. Look at verse 24 with me.

“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 where did Jesus get up and go away from? Notice what it says there “Jesus got up and he went away from there.” From where? Where did you go away from Jesus?

Well, if you remember from last week Jesus had an encounter with the crowd where He gave them the truth about the heart. Remember that He was talking about the heart of man. And He said that things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. And then He goes inside a home and He has a personal time with the disciples, where He teaches the disciples about this very thing. That it is the heart of man that defiles a man.

And all of this most likely happened in Capernaum, in Galilee, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, where those Pharisees, if you remember the Pharisees and the scribes, had come out to see Jesus as well. And Jesus had an encounter with them too.

So Jesus leaves Capernaum in our text here this morning, Jesus leaves Capernaum, which is up in Galilee, and He leads over, heads northwest to the region of Tyre. He goes over to Tyre. Now Tyre was about 35 miles northwest of where Galilee was. It was a town located on the Mediterranean Sea.

Again, if you go to the back of your Bible and many of your Bibles have maps there and you can see exactly where it's located there on the Mediterranean Sea. There's Tyre. And often paired with Tyre was the city called Sidon, Sidon. Sidon was located 22 miles north of Tyre on the Mediterranean Sea, and these two cities were powerful cities. Powerful cities. Lots of trade and commerce there in Tyre and Sidon.

But these cities were also heavily Pagan cities. There were Pagan cities, lots of idols in these cities. And Tyre and Sidon were shunned and hated by the Jews, because they were cities that were full of idols. In fact, Josephus, an early Jewish historian, refers to Tyre as one of Israel's bitterest enemies. You were enemies of the Jews because they were idolaters, they worshipped idols, and because it was a Gentile territory up in the region of Phoenicia.

So why did Jesus go there then? Why did Jesus head 35 miles from Capernaum and head over to a Gentile region of Tyre, where it's full of idols. Why would He go there? Well, remember what Jesus was trying to do with the disciples before He fed the 5,000. You remember a couple of weeks ago when we talked about Him feeding the 5,000 people He wanted to get away with them and spend some time with the disciples. That was His purpose in trying to get away, but the crowd saw Him. They followed Him.

Jesus wants to get away with His disciples, and that's most likely what He's doing here is, He heads over to Tyre.  He wants to get away with His disciples. He's got more to teach these guys. That's why it says in the middle of verse 24 and when He had entered a house He wanted no one to know of it. He didn't want anybody to know that he's there in Tyre. His disciples are there with Him. He's going to spend some time with His disciples, but He doesn't want anybody else to know that He's there because He's going to be teaching these guys. This was a private teaching, a private time with His disciples.

But there was another purpose for Jesus going to Tyre. Not only did He go there for some private time with His disciples, but remember what Jesus’ purpose in coming to Earth was? He came to do what? To save sinners from their sins, right? That was His purpose. He came to die for the sins of the world. 1 John 2:2 tells us. And this message of the gospel was never meant to stay in Israel with the Jews, but it was to spread from Israel and go out into the world.

And Jesus has to teach these guys the gospel is going to go forth, even to the Gentiles. These guys are there as Jesus is in this home teaching them in this private time and they're about to meet a woman, and see first-hand what true saving faith looks like in a Gentile woman. In a Gentile woman. Not a Jew, but a Gentile.

And what would their mission eventually be? What would these guys be sent out to do? To go and take the gospel to the world, not just to stay huddled with the Jews, but to go and take it out to the Gentiles as well. They needed to learn that. That's why Jesus came. Yes, He came to save the Jews. He came as the Messiah of the Jews. But He came to give the gospel to the world. They needed to learn that lesson. And so Jesus has to prepare them for this.

And although He goes away with these guys for some alone time, it was difficult for Him, because look what it says at the end of verse 24 “Yet He could not escape notice.” Remember, Jesus was popular. He was a popular guy in His day. The crowds knew all about Him, they followed Him and wherever He went when they heard Jesus was in town, they all wanted to come and see Him. He's a popular guy. They knew His power to heal and cast out demons.

If you remember back over in chapter 3 verses 7-8 it says this “Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.”

And so, even as Jesus was there on the Sea of Galilee, they are gathered around the Sea of Galilee. Multitudes of people came out to see Him, and even people from Tyre and Sidon. They came to see Jesus. So word is out, word’s out in Tyre and Sidon people had already seen the works that Jesus was doing and word got around and there was a woman in Tyre who had heard all about Jesus. And what did she do? She believed. She believed in Him. She knew who Jesus was.

Either she was a part of that crowd back in Mark chapter 3 who had gone to the Sea of Galilee to go listen to Jesus preach. Either she was a part of that crowd, or when that crowd from Tyre and Sidon came back to Tyre when they came back, they began to spread the news and she heard what? There's a savior. And she believed in Him. She put her faith in Him.

And although Jesus is trying to get away with His disciples at this time, Jesus has a divine appointment with a woman of faith, a Gentile woman. Which leads to our first point.

1.    Our first Mark of True Saving Faith is that it is Reverent Faith.

What kind of faith did this woman have? If this woman is a Gentile woman who has faith in Christ, what did her faith look like? First, she had a reverent faith. Look at verse 25.

”But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet.”

Notice what this woman does when she hears that Jesus is in town. She comes and she falls down at His what? Feet. She comes to fall down at the feet of Jesus. Now this would have been shocking for these disciples to see this happen because women didn't do this. It was unthinkable in the eyes of Jews for a woman to come and bow down before Jesus. This was unthinkable for any Jews to see this happen, why?

First of all, she was a woman. Women…women were perceived as inferior to men back then, and so a woman would never approach a man like this and fall down at his feet. This wouldn't happen. And secondly, she's a Gentile. The Jews despise the Gentiles, right? They thought if they rubbed shoulders with the Gentile, they would become what? Unclean. They become unclean.

So there's a woman, and she's a Gentile as well, and she comes and falls down at the feet of Jesus. This is mind-blowing to these guys. In the minds of Jews, this was something that was unheard of, especially for a rabbi to allow a Gentile woman to remain in his presence. It was unheard of. They knew who Jesus was. He is a rabbi. He's a teacher and He's there to teach them. And here's a Gentile woman bowing down at the feet of Jesus. And for Jesus a rabbi to allow a Gentile woman to come and bow before Him was unheard of.

Doesn't He know who she is? But this woman had a reverence for Jesus. She showed it by coming and falling down at His feet. She revered Him. Her reverence was also seen in how she addressed Him, and in order to better understand this, I want us to turn over to Matthew 15, turn in your Bibles over to Matthew chapter 15. In Matthew's account, Matthew gives us some other details that Mark doesn't give us.

But as we look at Matthew 15, we'll be in verse 21 and we'll look and see what Matthew has to say about this Syrophoenician woman. In Matthew chapter 15 and verse 21, it says:

 “21 Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 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.”

Now what's interesting here is Matthew tells us that this woman was a what, a Canaanite woman. She's a Canaanite woman. Even worse, right? You study the history of the history of Israel and what do you know about the Canaanites? Enemies of Israel. Right? They are the they are the enemies. This woman is a descendant of the Canaanites, who are enemies of Israel.

But notice how she addresses Jesus. What does she say? Have mercy on me, Lord,  Son of David. This woman didn't have a superficial knowledge of Jesus. It wasn't some kind of superficial faith. It wasn't just all about her feelings. She knew who Jesus was, and she calls Him Lord.

Why does she call Him “Lord?” Because she has a high view of Jesus and a low view of herself. “You’re Lord!”  And she cries out for mercy. Have mercy on me. But notice what she calls Him. What's the title that she uses? Son of David. She calls Him the Son of David.

What is the Son of David? This is a messianic title for Jesus. She recognizes Him as the Messiah as the savior of the world. Now here's the amazing thing, she's a Gentile woman, right? So she didn't grow up in the synagogue. She didn't grow up learning the scriptures like the Jews did. But she heard about Him, and she heard He's the Son of David the Messiah who has come to save the people from their sins. And she recognizes Him as that.

This woman was probably knee-deep in Pagan worship, because that's what they did as Gentiles, as Gentiles living in Tyre. Idol worshippers. She's knee-deep in Pagan worship, but she had heard that Jesus is the Son of David, that He is the Messiah. And what did she do? She believed. She believed in Him.  She had a fear of Jesus knowing who He was. She had a reverent faith. That's the first mark of what true saving faith is like. A reverence for Jesus, a fear of Jesus.

And this is what is lacking in many of our churches today. There is no fear of Jesus. Jesus is just a warm fuzzy teddy bear and they think, oh, if I just come and and muster up these warm fuzzy feelings, well, it must mean I have faith. If you just play the right notes on the keyboard it will  really hit me inside, and I'll begin to maybe cry a little bit, and I'll begin to have these warm fuzzy feelings inside of me, which which must mean I have true saving faith, right?

But it's not. There's no reverence for Christ.

I was in a church one time,  had called itself a church, and they had a coffee shop in the lobby and everyone went and got their coffee before they came into church. And everyone sat in there without Bibles open, but with a coffee in their hand as they were sipping on their coffee. Like it was entertainment for them. There's no reverence for Christ.

But true saving faith has reverence for Christ, a fear of who Christ is, and that's what this woman had as she came and bowed down. She says, I don't care that I'm a woman. I don't care that I'm a Gentile. You are the savior of the world. You are the Son of David. I will give my life to You. I know who You are and I revere You and I fear You. And I want from You Jesus, I want You. That's what this woman had. She had a reverence for Jesus.

2.    Back over in Mark chapter 7 in our text, we’ll look at our second Mark of Saving Faith. Not only is it a reverent faith, but secondly, it is a Persistent Faith.

True saving faith is a persistent faith. Mark chapter 7 verse 26 look at what it says there.

“26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.”

Now as we read back up in verse 25, this woman's daughter was demon possessed, right? There's this daughter. She's got a demon in her and this woman knew that Jesus had the power to heal her daughter. And so what did she do? She begged of Jesus. She begged Jesus to heal her daughter, but here's the interesting thing… Jesus wouldn't give her an answer.

Jesus didn't give her an answer, so what does she do? She kept asking. She kept begging Him. In fact, in Matthew's account, he tells us in Matthew chapter 15 and verse 23, “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.”

Jesus, get her out of here. This woman is getting annoying and she keeps begging and asking, and Jesus, You won't answer her so just get rid of her. Send her out of here. This woman won't give up. She won't give up. She's adamant about getting Jesus attention and begging of Him to heal her daughter.

Why? Because she knows He has the power to do it. And she won't stop until her daughter is healed. She's persistent. Spurgeon says “it was a faith of that immortal kind that nothing can kill.” Silence couldn't kill it. What does she do? She continues to beg and beg, and beg and plead.

Now what's interesting here is Jesus is silent with this woman, right? And it sounds like Jesus is kind of shunning this lady and not giving her the time of day. It almost seems like He's not being compassionate toward sinners, right? Jesus just answer the poor lady….don't you have compassion on her? Don't you care about her? It seems like that, but that's not the case. That's not what's going on here.

Jesus knows this woman, and Jesus knows this woman’s need. Of course He does. Of course He knows the need of this woman. But remember why Jesus went to Tyre. He went to go and teach His disciples lessons. Go and teach His disciples some lessons and they needed to learn a lesson here with this woman. What are the lessons?

1. First they need to learn that Jesus came to save all sinners, not just the Jews. But He came to save all sinners. Yes, His ministry was focused on the Jews. Yes, that's where He spent His time with Israel. But He came to save all sinners. But what's their response to this woman? Get her out of here. Tell her to go away, Jesus. She's getting, she's getting annoying. Get rid of her.

Look, they needed to learn. That if they're going to go and take the gospel to the world, they can't be shooing people away. Right? I know, I know, I understand she's not a Jew, she's not one of us. But the gospel is to go forth to the world, and that's going to be your job, guys to go and take the gospel to the world. Learn from this woman. Learn here.

2. A second lesson that they needed to learn was what true faith looked like. They needed to realize this… “Boys, you see this woman? She here has true saving faith. Guys, you see this woman's faith. That's what true faith looks like.” They needed to learn this. And what did her faith look like? It was a persistent faith. She wouldn't give up. She's persistent. Persistent in her faith in Christ.

In what ways can we be persistent in our faith? How about through prayer? How about through prayer? Do you pray and beg and plead with God to answer your prayers? Are you persistent in your prayer life? Or do you give up easy? “Well, God, I guess you're not going to answer me so just move on.” Sadly, we do that. But true saving faith is persistent faith.

We need to heed the words of Jesus who says “ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7)

What is Jesus saying there? Come to me, come to me, come to me, plead with me, beg with me, get on your knees before me. True saving faith is persistent faith. It doesn't give up. And that's what we need to learn from this woman. She has persistent faith.

Or how about when trials come when trials come in our life? True saving faith doesn't give up. We're going to encounter many trials in our lives, but true saving faith continues to trust in Christ through those trials. You see, God uses trials in our life. To make us realize where we're at in our faith. He uses those and He uses them because He wants to strengthen our faith.

And sadly, trials reveal for a lot of people that they're not really saved. Because they go through a trial and what do they do? They give up. “Well, I I tried the Jesus thing. I tried the church thing but it just wasn't working for me.”

You know why? Because it was all based on your feelings instead of in the truth of God's Word. It wasn't a true saving faith, and that trial just makes it obvious. It makes it obvious that they weren't true believers in the first place. But God uses trials in our lives as believers to strengthen our faith. Don't give up. True saving faith is persistent faith. It doesn't give up.

3.    Third Mark of True Saving Faith is that it is a Humble Faith. It is a humble faith. Not only is it a persistent faith, but it is a humble faith.

Look at verse 27.

27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”

Now what does Jesus mean when He says this statement here “Let the children be satisfied first”, what is Jesus talking about here? Let the children be satisfied first. Well, Matthew helps us understand this over in Matthew's account, where he says that Jesus told the disciples “…I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24). I was sent to Israel…that is Jesus was sent to save the Jews. That was His mission. That was His initial mission as He came as their Messiah as the savior of the Jews.

But the Jews were to be a light unto the world. That was always their purpose. That was the purpose in God choosing them and God choosing Israel. It was for that nation to be a light, for Christ. A light into the world for the gospel. And so Jesus comes to save them. The time would come where the gospel would go out to the Gentiles, but Jesus’ mission was there to the Jews. To come to the Jews to help them recognize and see that He is their Messiah.

But their time hadn't come yet. It hadn't come yet for the Gentiles. That was to come. But this woman is there and this woman hears Jesus say to the disciples, and Matthew tells us that she came up and bowed down before Jesus and says, “Lord, help me.” She hears Jesus talking with the disciples to say I only came for the House of Israel. She hears that, but it doesn't stop her… she comes to Jesus and she says, Lord help me.

Now here's the amazing thing. When she hears that Jesus says “I've only come to the House of Israel,” what was that her opportunity to do? Leave, right? “Well, not me… all right I'm out of here, not a part of the House of Israel. I'm a Gentile.” But she doesn't do that. What does she do?

Says when Jesus says “it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” What Jesus here is saying, is that basically the same thing that He told the disciples. That He came for the House of Israel. That's what Jesus is saying here. And what He's -- what He's doing here- is when He refers to the dogs, notice that there “it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” The dogs there He's referring to as the Gentiles. That's what Jesus is doing. He's referring to Gentiles as dogs. Now, it's not this like “mean aggressive” type of dog. It was more like a little puppy kind of dog. But He still refers to them as dogs, the Gentiles.

Why? Because compared to the Jews, the Jews saw the Gentiles as what? Dogs, right? Who are the children? “It's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” Who are the children? The children are the Jews, right? That's the Jews. And what's the bread? The bread is the gospel and the ministry of Christ.

And He's saying it's not good to take the children's bread. I came for Israel and it's not good to take that bread and throw it off to the dogs because my mission is to come and save the Jews. But that didn’t turn her away. And Jesus knew it wouldn't. He knew this wouldn't stop her. And she comes and responds with a humble response.

Look at her humble response. Look at what it says there. “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.” She didn't deny her position as a dog. “Wait Jesus, you're calling me a dog? Do you know who I am? You don't know me.” Wasn’t her response.

She understands her position, her low position, her desperate position, her brokenness as a Gentile woman. And she realizes yes, I'm a dog. And as a dog, all I want are the crumbs. All I want are the crumbs -- I'll take whatever spills over from your ministry to the Jews Jesus, I'll take it. The crumbs are enough. This woman knew that just a small amount of Jesus power could heal her daughter.

Just the crumbs of His ministry was powerful enough to heal her daughter, and she humbled herself before Jesus, to beg of Him to heal her daughter. True saving faith is humble faith. Realizing and recognizing that you aren't good. That none of us are good. That's why we need a savior.

We have to recognize that there is nothing good within me. We have to recognize that we are nothing without Christ. True saving faith is a faith that is totally dependent upon Jesus, not some quick fix emotional feeling throughout the week. That's not true saving faith.  True saving faith recognizes that even this faith that I have is not because of me, and it's not even about me. The faith that I have is a gift that's given from God and I'm to use this faith to give glory to Him. That's true saving faith, a humble faith.

4.    Finally, the fourth Mark of Saving Faith is that It Is an Obedient Faith.

It is an obedient faith. Look at verse 29 and look what it says there in verse 29. “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.”

Jesus sees her faith. And Matthew tells us that Jesus says to her “Oh woman, your faith is great.” Your faith is great. Never had Jesus said this about a Jew. Study the gospels. Never once did He say that about a Jew. He did say it about a Roman centurion in Matthew chapter 8. He said to him that he had great faith. And He said it about this woman here too. She had great faith. This woman had great faith at that moment when Jesus said the demon has gone out of your daughter.

And look, when Jesus answers her and the demon is gone out of her daughter, notice she didn't question Jesus. She doesn't come back with a question, “Well can you please give me a sign, Jesus? How am I going to know how am I going to know that the demon has left? Look, Jesus, I don't want to make the trip all the way back home just to find out my daughter is actually not healed. Give me a sign, Jesus. Help me to know.”  She didn't say that.

She didn't even ask Jesus to come with her. “Well, Jesus. You know you gotta be there to touch my daughter, so that way the demon will leave. If You're there, Your presence is, you know Your presence is needed Jesus.” She didn't say that. She knew the power of Jesus’ word.

And she knew that moment when Jesus says your daughter is healed, her daughter was healed. She believed. And what does she do? She obeys. What does Jesus say? Go. Go. Go home. And immediately she went home. She believed, she believed and therefore she obeyed. “Trust and obey. For there is no other way. To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” (song lyrics)

Simple. It's gospel truth. We must obey true saving faith is obedient faith. Her request was answered at that moment that Jesus said it, and she needed to obey Christ and do exactly what He commanded her to do.

Now imagine her walk home. When she left home, what was going on with her daughter? Demon possessed. But when she comes back home, what's going to happen with her daughter? Completely healed. Think about that walk home for this woman, knowing that her daughter was healed. Because she came to Jesus and begged and pleaded with Him and then left in obedience to go home. And she did exactly what Jesus told her to do and she gets home and she sees that her daughter is lying there completely healed. Look what Jesus says will happen, happens. All we have to do is what trust and … Obey. Trust and obey.

Listen true saving faith is obedient faith we can't claim to have faith and then do our own thing. If we say that we trust in Christ, then we must obey Him no matter what the cost, no matter what the cost is, we are to obey Him. We don't stop and question Him “Well Jesus, I mean, do you really understand the situation that I'm going through?” 

Jesus says obey. It's simple. Just obey. We make it harder than it needs to be, right? But it's really simple. Just obey.

In closing, some of you are here this morning.

Looking at the faith, of the faith of this woman. And you may be thinking to yourself “Wow, I don't have that kind of faith. I don't have a reverent faith for Jesus. I don't have a persistent faith in Jesus. I don't have a humble faith before Jesus. I don't have an obedient faith to Christ.”

What should you do? Repent. And put your faith in Him. Put your trust in Jesus.

How can you know if you have true saving faith? Here's a few questions for you to answer.

1. Number one. Do you revere Christ? Do you have a fear of Christ? He will judge you one day. Do you fear Him?
2. Number two, do you pursue Christ? Do you live your life in pursuit of Christ and who He is?
3. Number three. Do you see yourself as a bad person and therefore humble yourself before Christ? Because the Bible says no one is good. No, not one. No one is righteous. No, not one. What must we do? Humble ourselves before Christ.
4. Number four. Do you seek to obey Christ? Do you obey Him? Or do you want to live life your own way?

Notice what this is all about. It's not about you. It's about who? Christ. It's all about Him. It's not about your feelings. It's not about your emotions. It's not about your spirituality or your success in life. Or it's not about how God is going to bless you? True saving faith is all about Christ. It's about Him and surrendering your life to Him and giving everything over to Christ.

Do you desire Him? Do you submit to Him? Do you care about His Word and living a life in obedience to bring glory to Him? Examine yourself. Examine your heart. Examine your faith.

And if you don't have true saving faith this morning, come to Christ. Turn from your sin. Turn from your ways and come to the Savior who died on a cross to redeem you, to give you eternal life. Come to Him this morning.

It's not about your feelings, it's about Jesus and give your life completely and totally to Him. Now just quickly in the beginning of the sermon, as D.L. Moody was talking to this woman and talking about the feelings that this woman had. Does that mean that the Christian life is without feelings and emotions?

No, of course not. If you've never cried for the salvation of a friend or a loved one, you're probably not saved. Because when we realize and recognize the truth of God's Word, do we get emotional?  Absolutely, we do.

Are we led by our emotions? No we're not. We're led by the Word of God. But we get emotional. We rejoice.

This morning is we were in equipping hour talking about creation. “And now all of creation brings glory to God” that causes our heart to rejoice. Sure, we're emotional people, but we're not led by our emotions, we’re led by the truth of God's Word.

True saving faith doesn't seek after emotional experiences, but it seeks after the truth. The truth Himself, and who is that? Jesus Christ. That's where our faith needs to be grounded, and that's what true saving faith is.

Let's pray. Father. Thank you for a time this morning in Your Word. What an amazing woman. Gentile woman that we have to learn from. This woman who came in total, complete faith in You. She was persistent. As she came and begged seeking an answer from You. Father, I pray that our faith would grow and that we would have faith like this woman. That we would humble ourselves before You that we would have a fear of You. That we would realize and recognize You are the God of all creation. You are the God who gives life and takes life. Father help us in our lack of faith. And help us to grow and to learn from this woman what true saving faith looks like. Father, thank you for your son, the Son of David, the Messiah, a savior of the world who came and died on a cross for our sins. And help us to live lives that are fully dependent upon Him. Thank you for this time in Your Word this morning and how it helps us to grow, help us to stay grounded and rooted in Your Word. We pray in Christ name. Amen.