SPEAKER_00: Well this morning we return again to the Gospel of Mark chapter seven verses twenty-four through thirty and uh invite you to follow along in your your Bibles with us, beginning in verse twenty-four.
SPEAKER_00: Reading God's holy word.
SPEAKER_00: And from there he that is Jesus arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
SPEAKER_00: And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know.
SPEAKER_00: Yet he could not be hidden.
SPEAKER_00: But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: But she answered him, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to her, For this statement, you may go your way.
SPEAKER_00: The demon has left your daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, we thank you once again for your word.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And we pray and we ask now, Holy Spirit, that you would indeed work in the midst of our midst and in our hearts this morning to take this truth, to take this teaching, to take this woman's faith.
SPEAKER_00: And that, Lord, you would enable us to likewise be emboldened intercessors.
SPEAKER_00: We ask and pray, Lord, that you would show us yourself afresh to us and anew this morning.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So again, it's been a few weeks since we were in Mark, but this morning we return and we continue finding ourselves in the section of Mark's gospel where the disciples have now left, having had uh this uh exchange, uh maybe to put it uh in the lightest terms, uh, this exchange or this contention with the Pharisees and the scribes, and they enter uh Gentile territory.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the reason being that they needed solitude.
SPEAKER_00: They've been on the road for a while, and they need solitude.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus also realizes that the time is coming where he is going to need to go to the cross, and so he he's looking to impart some important teaching to the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: But up until now and up until this point, the the rest and the space that they've needed for this has kept getting interrupted.
SPEAKER_00: Uh chapter 6, 30 through 34.
SPEAKER_00: They're seeking a place in the wilderness because they haven't had, we read, leisure to even eat.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus says, Well, let's let's go and get some rest.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to a desolate place.
SPEAKER_00: And so they hop on the boat and they voyage across the Sea of Galilee, and here they are anticipating the rest that is spoken of and intended.
SPEAKER_00: But their destination is preempted by the crowds who have run ahead of them, and so they come to the place, and and here they are met with the hunger of many people who have taken a long journey and need to be fed.
SPEAKER_00: And so we we read of the miracle of Jesus feeding these many, many mouths.
SPEAKER_00: Having uh dismissed the crowd, he then goes on to send his disciples again ahead of him.
SPEAKER_00: And we read uh that they go by boat to to and head for Ginesaret.
SPEAKER_00: Uh at this point, they're even more exhausted, having uh spent a lot of time trying to head upwind, uh facing a great storm, and and and not only exhausted, but they've been terrified by Jesus manifesting his glory to them on the waters, walking toward them.
SPEAKER_00: And so here they are, they land at the shore of Ginesaret, looking for that same rest.
SPEAKER_00: But here again, they're met with the crowds, those who recognize who Jesus is, and says, I need to go get my friend, I need to go get my brother or my sister or whatnot.
SPEAKER_00: And and they bring them to Jesus and and they want him to heal all those that they bring to him.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're met once again with this great need so that wherever they go, whether it's villages, townships, marketplaces, cities, towns, they're met with this great need of people who desire Jesus to heal, which he does.
SPEAKER_00: And so now they travel at this point into Tyre and Sidon.
SPEAKER_00: They're wanting to remain undetected.
SPEAKER_00: They want the rest that they need.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're they've found their Airbnb, as it were, and they want to nestle down, and so they want to keep it on the down low.
SPEAKER_00: This is the territory where Jesus intends to expound to the twelve the lessons of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're in this house, and and Mark includes this striking statement that we read here in verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think it's verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: But the statement is, yet he could not be hidden.
SPEAKER_00: Striking statement.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think we could preach a sermon on that message alone.
SPEAKER_00: Desperate people go to desperate lengths, go to great lengths in order to find relief.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus wasn't about to hide in the closet.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus invites that kind of boldness and searching.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wish we could stop at this one statement that he could not be hidden.
SPEAKER_00: But it sets the stage for what comes next when this woman comes to Jesus and things unfold with this Gentile woman who has found him.
SPEAKER_00: More personally, she's a mother whose daughter is possessed by an unclean spirit, a demon.
SPEAKER_00: And we can only imagine what that must have been like had she spent many days trying to figure out how to get her well.
SPEAKER_00: Did her life revolve around minimizing the hostility, putting out fires?
SPEAKER_00: We read in the Gospels of a boy who was also possessed, and we're told that one of the ways that this particular demon manifested itself was in the terrible and distressing harm of throwing him into fires and water.
SPEAKER_00: And so we can only begin to imagine some of this mother's angst and what may have led her to this desperation that led her to seek Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And like others who had shown desperation before Jesus, uh, that we've already read about Jairus being one.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we we read uh of the Roman centurion, we wrote, we read of those at Genneseret, she comes to Jesus begging, imploring him that he would cast out this demon out of her daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And it may appear at first glance that Jesus' response to her was uncharacteristic and even discouraging as he says to her, Yes, but it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, what we need to understand about this is Jesus is speaking to his purpose, not desire.
SPEAKER_00: And we know that because the term dogs is not the pejorative slang for Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the word to express disapproval, but it's the term for house dog.
SPEAKER_00: And so what is Jesus saying here?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's essentially saying, my purpose is to rest.
SPEAKER_00: I must spend time with the disciples instructing them.
SPEAKER_00: The children, as it were, need feeding.
SPEAKER_00: And what she says next is just a remarkable response to her humble yet persistent trust.
SPEAKER_00: She says, Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs get the children's crumbs.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, yes, I submit to that purpose.
SPEAKER_00: But may that not disqualify me from receiving some of the crumbs of your mercy, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: A humble yet bold response.
SPEAKER_00: And because of this holy persistence, Jesus responds to her and grants her success and what she asked.
SPEAKER_00: And so she returns home to her daughter who has had this evil spirit removed and gone.
SPEAKER_00: A remarkable account of Jesus' power and a humble heart of intercession, looking to Jesus in faith.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's my hope this morning that we would be led to draw strength from this encounter as we seek Christ's heart to grant her request, that we would, by the Spirit's enabling, be known as those who come ourselves to Jesus as pleaders on behalf of others.
SPEAKER_00: And secondly, that it would embolden our prayers for others.
SPEAKER_00: And then third, that we would be spurred on to persist in our intercessions.
SPEAKER_00: And so, first, come to Jesus as pleaders.
SPEAKER_00: It may help to state up front first what is meant by intercession.
SPEAKER_00: Intercession is the simple act of praying on behalf of others.
SPEAKER_00: It is to plead and seek God for his intervention in the lives of others.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Why is intercession needed?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because in the kingdom of God there are wars to be won, there are strongholds to be dismantled, there are sins to be killed, there are fleshly desires to be opposed, all of which lead to death and away from life.
SPEAKER_00: There are those who can't help themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And even in those who the Spirit indwells, we aren't so strong as to be without the need of the prayers of others.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who of us hasn't had the experience of looking back in our lives in the past?
SPEAKER_00: And by grace, the grace that's now been given to us, we can look back and we we can now see that we acted oftentimes in ignorance.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul said that about his own hostility.
SPEAKER_00: Although responsible, we we didn't fully understand what we know now.
SPEAKER_00: There was a blindness.
SPEAKER_00: And yet how blessed we were and we are to have people who interceded on our behalf for God's intervention.
SPEAKER_00: The need is great.
SPEAKER_00: And so to pray, to pray and to intercede is not just a good thing to do, it's a lifeline, it's a life source.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, what's absolutely compelling about this encounter between this woman and Jesus is that she comes on behalf of her daughter, and although her own life was very much bound up in her daughter's life, we note that throughout it all, her daughter says and does nothing.
SPEAKER_00: She's not even present.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, by the mercy of Jesus, she's rescued from the evil that binds her.
SPEAKER_00: If that isn't a compelling motivation to intercede for others, I don't know what else is.
SPEAKER_00: It chases away, you see, those thoughts that can begin to lurk in our minds that there's no use praying for this person or that person because they just lack this desire or understanding.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what what desire, what understanding did this girl express other than being held under the influence of evil?
SPEAKER_00: What did she understand other than what this demon sought her to carry out?
SPEAKER_00: We could say the same about many other instances in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: What ability did Peter possess while lying in a prison cell?
SPEAKER_00: And yet the church prayed boldly for Peter and the things they needed for God alone to carry out, and it was all owing to their prayers that the shackles were loosened, and Peter was soon found knocking on the door of those who earnestly sought his release.
SPEAKER_00: This is something we can all give ourselves to, no matter our gifting, no matter our station in life.
SPEAKER_00: I like the words of uh Spurgeon on this.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot all argue, but we can all pray.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And we note again, this woman didn't seek Jesus because she was able.
SPEAKER_00: She sought Jesus because she was desperate.
SPEAKER_00: May we never forget that intercession is the means that God has given to us for intervention.
SPEAKER_00: And so when it comes to intercession, there are two simple questions that arise when we seek the help of another.
SPEAKER_00: The first is, are they able?
SPEAKER_00: The second is, are they willing?
SPEAKER_00: Are they able?
SPEAKER_00: Are they willing?
SPEAKER_00: Both of which are true in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Is he able?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he occupies the heavenly throne.
SPEAKER_00: All authority has been given to him.
SPEAKER_00: He is not limited by time, he's not limited by place.
SPEAKER_00: His spirit is powerfully moving to renovate and work in the hearts of fallen people.
SPEAKER_00: He is able.
SPEAKER_00: Likewise, having given his life to purchase sinners by his blood, he has certainly showed us he is willing.
SPEAKER_00: It's not owing to us, you see, it's owing to his power, his intercession, his intervention.
SPEAKER_00: It's not owing to our dutifulness, it's not owing to our power, our piety, but his name and his name alone.
SPEAKER_00: His power, his mercy, his grace.
SPEAKER_00: The name above all names.
SPEAKER_00: And so knowing that his office in heaven is one of intercession, let's continue to come to Jesus as pleaders.
SPEAKER_00: But I think we also need to understand that if we want to be great interceders, we can't neglect to pray for our own hearts first.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not learning to pray for your own heart, you're not going to be effective at interceding for others.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the reason is that the person who is learning how to keep their own heart to God is the person suited to intercede for the hearts of others.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so where have you gone in the midst of accusation and a guilty conscience?
SPEAKER_00: To have found peace at the cross means you know what's required to intercede for others.
SPEAKER_00: Have you been fearful and needed to keep your heart to Christ in the face of many fears or even tears?
SPEAKER_00: Then you can pray effectively for those facing the same.
SPEAKER_00: Has your heart needed Christ and discouragement or setback?
SPEAKER_00: Well, then you have plenty of experience to pray those same comforts for others.
SPEAKER_00: Who are you interceding for?
SPEAKER_00: How has the Spirit brought you comfort and life?
SPEAKER_00: Come to Jesus as pleaders with those same things for others.
SPEAKER_00: Pleading those things on their behalf.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first thing.
SPEAKER_00: The second, may our petitions be humbly emboldened.
SPEAKER_00: We know that this woman's faith was a bold faith.
SPEAKER_00: It was humble, it was submitting to the purposes of God, and yet it was also unwilling to leave empty-handed.
SPEAKER_00: Although her child's case appeared hopeless and desperate, this girl had a praying mother.
SPEAKER_00: And where there's a praying mother, there's always hope.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us, I think, can testify to someone standing in the gap, as it were?
SPEAKER_00: Standing in the gap on our behalf and seeking the Lord for us.
SPEAKER_00: You may not have been aware of it at the time.
SPEAKER_00: You may not have even appreciated it.
SPEAKER_00: But perhaps there were many prayers lifted up for you.
SPEAKER_00: How thankful we can be that there are people who interceded for us.
SPEAKER_00: Even when we wanted nothing to do with Christ, or helpless to do anything for ourselves, he heard their prayers and intervened, and his event intervention brought us life and saving faith.
SPEAKER_00: Having had the joy of hearing many of your testimonies and after inquires classes with the elders, many of you, that was through a believing parent, the intercession of a parent or parents.
SPEAKER_00: And while Jesus was the one that they came to for help, you were the subject of their prayers as they pleaded your name.
SPEAKER_00: We just witnessed that right in the vows this morning in the baptisms.
SPEAKER_00: We heard the parents up here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: One of the vows was to pray with and for their children.
SPEAKER_00: In infancy, in youth, and adulthood, again, we see the power here of a praying mother, but not only a praying mother, but a praying father or friend.
SPEAKER_00: 19th century uh pastor George Mueller, uh, many of you know of, he established care for many orphans in England.
SPEAKER_00: He was known for his bold faith and prayer life, his earnest prayer life that sought to see God's goodness in the land of the living.
SPEAKER_00: And we asked, he was asked toward the end of his life on what grounds he firmly believed that his prayers would be answered.
SPEAKER_00: The context in this case was uh his continual prayers for the salvation of five friends.
SPEAKER_00: And his answer was this there are five conditions which I always endeavor to fulfill, which I have assurance of an answer to my prayer.
SPEAKER_00: First, I have not the least doubt, because I am assured that it is the Lord's will to save them.
SPEAKER_00: For he wills that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, and we have the assurance that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
SPEAKER_00: Second, I have never pleaded for their salvation in my own name, but in the blessed name of my precious Lord Jesus and on his merits alone.
SPEAKER_00: Third, I always firmly believed in the willingness of God to hear my prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Fourth, I'm not conscious of having yielded to any sin.
SPEAKER_00: For if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me when I call.
SPEAKER_00: And fifth, I have persevered in believing prayer for more than fifty-two years for some.
SPEAKER_00: And they shall continue, and I shall continue until the answer comes.
SPEAKER_00: You notice, humble, according to the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And a clear conscience, but bold, appealing to the heart of Christ in faith, believing his willingness to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Given that it's Father's Day this morning, may I address the men specifically, and yet this certainly doesn't apply only to the men.
SPEAKER_00: Keep praying for your children.
SPEAKER_00: Keep interceding for your children.
SPEAKER_00: This fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever fellowship you might belong, you might not even be a parent at this point in time.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't mean that you can't pray according to your heavenly father's heart and pray fatherly prayers.
SPEAKER_00: May we make it our aim that there not be a day there where the Lord doesn't hear from us the names of children, youth, and adult children in our midst and in our homes, lifted up to his ear.
SPEAKER_00: It's true, yes, we can't give them a new heart.
SPEAKER_00: We can show them the way of life, we can educate them, but we can't change their hearts, loves toward God.
SPEAKER_00: But prayer is one thing that we can do.
SPEAKER_00: Even if they won't let us speak to them about God, they can't keep us from speaking for them to God.
SPEAKER_00: And so may we may we pray for those who are responsive, and may we pray for those who are unresponsive.
SPEAKER_00: Keep their names up to the Lord's ear by day as they come across your mind and your heart and you think of them.
SPEAKER_00: As they come upon your thoughts even by night, even though you might be burdened for them.
SPEAKER_00: Plead their distresses.
SPEAKER_00: And prayers are not only a necessity for children, they're a necessity for adults.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have someone fighting for your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Do you have someone who is in your corner, who is going to Jesus, lifting up your name, after going seven, eight, nine rounds in the world?
SPEAKER_00: So that you're not in it, so that you're in it, but not of it.
SPEAKER_00: You might be inclined to talk to everyone else.
SPEAKER_00: But are you talking to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: That's infinitely more important, friends.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, may we make use of our heavenly intercessor.
SPEAKER_00: May your faith be emboldened to pray and to plead the Lord's kindness and mercy upon others.
SPEAKER_00: Use his promises even as a battering ram to open heaven's doors and to draw down heavenly blessing upon them.
SPEAKER_00: Use the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: Pray according to his will.
SPEAKER_00: May we not look back in our older years and wish that we had made more use of the office of our heavenly king and brother.
SPEAKER_00: Be emboldened to intercede.
SPEAKER_00: And then third, may our request be brought home by persistence.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus honored persistent intercession.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: This woman didn't give up in despair after Jesus first responded.
SPEAKER_00: She continued to press in and press on.
SPEAKER_00: She prayed on.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't lose heart.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes we say in our prayers, your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a beautiful statement and heart posture.
SPEAKER_00: We ought to exercise a humble submission before God.
SPEAKER_00: But let's check our intentions when we say those kind of words, because what can lie behind that virtue is a subtle unbelief that keeps us from giving ourselves to persistent prayer.
SPEAKER_00: The problem with the lack of persistent hope is that oftentimes the purposes of God are not known without a period of waiting, of wrestling, of persistent knocking.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus said the statement of the Father, you remember that he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_00: What had taken place prior to that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he had already spent much time agonizing in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And likewise, what did this woman before us know of half-hearted intention?
SPEAKER_00: Desperation, you see, is hungry for answers and relief.
SPEAKER_00: And they know only one place to go, and to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't look to carry out a task or an exercise, it looks for intervention.
SPEAKER_00: And so if we ask, let's be looking for the answer.
SPEAKER_00: Expect great things at the hands of God.
SPEAKER_00: Look out for wonderful blessings from his hand, and you'll find how ready he is to give those blessings for which we ask him.
SPEAKER_00: I say that aware that there remain unanswered petitions in many hearts here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, the desperate heart that is looking to Jesus and knows him to be the only source of help doesn't let time answer for them.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas we might fear a missed appointment by having to wait for Jesus' answer, let's not equate waiting with a denial.
SPEAKER_00: All right, continue to persist in faith.
SPEAKER_00: But the waiting may, behind the waiting may actually lie hundreds of communications from Jesus to the Father on our behalf and behalf of those for whom we pray, for our eternal benefit and that of others.
SPEAKER_00: If crumbs of mercy removed an evil spirit for this woman, how much more mercy does he have for us whom he has made as children?
SPEAKER_00: And even as I say that again, let's also remember that deliverance has its depths.
SPEAKER_00: All right, present deliverance from circumstances are one thing.
SPEAKER_00: But the state of our soul with a view toward our final deliverance is another.
SPEAKER_00: Surely we can trust that if God in his wisdom must delay something in the present, we can trust him that he is working things out for our greater good.
SPEAKER_00: A delayed deliverance is working toward even greater deliverance, which we will one day enjoy.
SPEAKER_00: It's because Christ was not delivered that we will one day be completely and fully delivered now that we are found in him.
SPEAKER_00: And so his death was the greatest intercession of all and reminds us of all that still awaits.
SPEAKER_00: And so I come and close back with George Mueller.
SPEAKER_00: And in November 1844, he wrote this.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals.
SPEAKER_00: I prayed every day without a single intermission.
SPEAKER_00: Eighteen months passed by before the first of the five.
SPEAKER_00: We might say it was his pick five.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you know that language.
SPEAKER_00: Eighteen months passed before the first were saved.
SPEAKER_00: Five years went by, and another was saved.
SPEAKER_00: Six years passed before the third came to saving faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then a long time passed with no sign of change.
SPEAKER_00: The last two still remained unconverted.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a man, uh Pastor Charles Parsons, in an interview toward the end of his life.
SPEAKER_00: He asked him this question.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Do you spend much time on your knees?
SPEAKER_00: Mueller's response was, I've been praying every day for 52 years for two men, sons of a friend of my youth.
SPEAKER_00: They are not converted yet, but they will be.
SPEAKER_00: How can it be otherwise?
SPEAKER_00: Shortly before his death, one of the two men that were remaining came to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then in March 10, 1898, Mueller went on to heaven praying firmly in faith, thanking God in advance for the salvation of those for whom he had paid.
SPEAKER_00: And within months of his passing, the last friend on his prayer list came to rely on God's mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but that puts energy in my tank.
SPEAKER_00: What more do we need to keep on persisting, to keep trusting, to be, to be fervent and lifting up the names and the needs of others before our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And if the day draws long and your time draws short, may it comfort you to know that because our Lord and Savior is still in heaven interceding, even our prayers can outlast us and meet us on that great day with success.
SPEAKER_00: May we come to Jesus as pleaders.
SPEAKER_00: Pray emboldened petitions and persist in faith until we're all delivered home.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
unknown: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Thankful for interceders, thankful for your faithfulness, thankful for your Holy Spirit that continues to work in us even in the times when we might lose heart, to continue to press on and intercede for others.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, we pray that you would do a work to make us pleaders and bold interceders.
SPEAKER_00: That you would strengthen us, Lord, to be faithful and persisting for those who need your intervention.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, may we see much more of your mercy as we come to your throne of grace.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, we thank you and it all for the greatest and surest hope that gives us confidence when we pray, knowing that you are indeed our faithful and good interceder, and that you ever live to intercede for us.
SPEAKER_00: We praise you and we thank you for your work and your office that brings us nigh to you and gives us much grace.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray and thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.