SPEAKER_00: This is the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: All right, good morning, church family.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a guest with us this morning, we are really grateful that you are here.
SPEAKER_00: Let me introduce myself.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Jason Smith.
SPEAKER_00: I have the awesome privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist Bernie.
SPEAKER_00: Church family, turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 7 as we continue our walkthrough, our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: If you do not have a Bible, there is a Bible in the uh rack in front of you.
SPEAKER_00: You can keep that Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We place that there for you so that you can have a copy of God's word as a gift from us to you, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Keep that.
SPEAKER_00: We would love that.
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't that baptism amazing this morning?
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
SPEAKER_00: You can give a hand clap of praise.
SPEAKER_00: So awesome to see just lives and families changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your spot in Mark chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: So on May 18th, 1980, an earthquake triggered the catastrophic eruption of Mount St.
SPEAKER_00: Helens in Washington State.
SPEAKER_00: Traveling at more than 300 miles an hour, the blast devastated nearly 250 square miles in a matter of minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Trees were flattened, ecosystems drowned.
SPEAKER_00: Fifty-seven people lost their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Superheated gas and debris swept across the landscape, killing almost everything on the surface and burying beneath volcanic material all along the ground.
SPEAKER_00: It was gray, barren, lifeless.
SPEAKER_00: One could stand there in the aftermath and wonder, how could anything ever live here again?
SPEAKER_00: But then something remarkable happened.
SPEAKER_00: Within just a few weeks, scientists began to discover that amidst all that devastation, signs of life began to return.
SPEAKER_00: Spiders, scavenging beetles, plants that had survived beneath the soil and the snow.
SPEAKER_00: And before long, that landscape of gray ash and fallen trees, tender shoots began to appear.
SPEAKER_00: And that little patch of green says that, you see, there is hope beyond the devastation.
SPEAKER_00: Restoration on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, that's the picture that I want in our mind as we turn to Mark's gospel this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Because for the last several chapters, okay, we've watched Jesus walk through the world that is devastated by sin, demons, disease, death.
SPEAKER_00: But everywhere that Jesus goes, we see that the world is not the way that it is supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: But everywhere, green begins to appear.
SPEAKER_00: Demons flee, the sick are healed, the dead are raised.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning, Jesus is going to take us somewhere unexpected, outside of Israel, into Gentile territory.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're going to see when we get there is that the restoration is spilling over beyond Israel's borders, even to those outside.
SPEAKER_00: So listen, as I read in Mark chapter 7, beginning in verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus got up and he went away from there to the region of Tyre.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had entered a house, he wanted no one to know of it, yet he could not escape notice.
SPEAKER_00: But after hearing of him, a woman whose little little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Now the woman was a Gentile of Syrophoenician race, and she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: But she answered and said to him, Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to her, Because of this answer, go.
SPEAKER_00: The demon has gone out of your daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.
SPEAKER_00: Again he went out from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee within the region of the Decapolis.
SPEAKER_00: They brought to him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored him to lay hands on him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself and put his fingers into his ears.
SPEAKER_00: And after spitting, he touched his tongue with the saliva, and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, he said to him, Ephatha, that is, be opened.
SPEAKER_00: And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.
SPEAKER_00: And he gave them orders not to tell anyone.
SPEAKER_00: But the more he ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.
SPEAKER_00: And they were utterly astonished, saying, He has done all things well.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, as we come to your word this morning, God, we say that we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We say that we long to be near you and to be taught by you.
SPEAKER_00: We long to have your heartbeat, Jesus, because here in this passage, you pursue the lost.
SPEAKER_00: You pursue those that are outside.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, we want to be those type of people because you pursued us when we were outside.
SPEAKER_00: When we were lost, you came and you found us, and we rejoice in that truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, teach us and stir our hearts this morning for those that are yet to come in to your fold.
SPEAKER_00: We love you, and we pray all of this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Recall where we were the last time we were in Mark, because Jesus was charged by Pharisees who came all the way from Jerusalem to meet him, and they look at his disciples and they charge Jesus and his disciples that you are unclean because you do not hold to our ritual hand washings.
SPEAKER_00: Now, immediately, and Mark wants you to feel that, immediately it seems like Jesus leaves that argument and goes directly into Gentile territory.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus got up and he went away from there to the region of Tyre.
SPEAKER_00: Like Elijah, he's leaving Israel to enter a territory with a long history of paganism and pride and prophetic judgment.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus isn't coming to bring judgment.
SPEAKER_00: After his lengthy travels, we are given one singular account.
SPEAKER_00: A woman whose daughter is demon-possessed.
SPEAKER_00: And she's so desperate that she finds Jesus and falls at his feet.
SPEAKER_00: Mark gives us very specific details.
SPEAKER_00: He does not want us to miss the fact that she is a Gentile woman of Syrophoenician descent.
SPEAKER_00: Now that is from the same region as Queen Jezebel and Baal worship.
SPEAKER_00: And her daughter has an unclean spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You have to ask yourself, how long have they lived in this torment?
SPEAKER_00: You see, Mark wants us to understand something about this woman.
SPEAKER_00: She has no religious pedigree.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't grow up in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: She's from the wrong place, and her family is a mess.
SPEAKER_00: And yet when she hears that Jesus is near, she runs to him.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, Jesus came for someone like you.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel like you're an outsider at church, but you are not an outsider to the mercy of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now this woman does the only thing that she knows to do.
SPEAKER_00: She keeps on asking him to help her daughter.
SPEAKER_00: But then Jesus gives us a very unexpected answer.
SPEAKER_00: Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
SPEAKER_00: Now, before you spiral in disgust, I need to make sure you understand exactly what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: First, the word that Jesus uses for dogs is not the wild scavenger kind of roam the street type dog.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's the dog, it's a small dog in the home, a pet.
SPEAKER_00: But you rightfully say, well, okay, but he is still calling one group children and the other dogs.
SPEAKER_00: That is correct.
SPEAKER_00: Israel had received the covenants and the promises, and through Israel the Messiah came.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Paul will later say the gospel is to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
SPEAKER_00: But don't miss one other very important word that Jesus says: Let the children be satisfied first.
SPEAKER_00: First.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say the Gentiles will never eat.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Let the children eat first.
SPEAKER_00: Which means the Gentiles are going to eat.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the nations were always part of God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus' response could have greatly discouraged this woman, right?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says the Messiah has come and Israel must be fed first.
SPEAKER_00: You must wait your turn.
SPEAKER_00: But she isn't deterred.
SPEAKER_00: She isn't discouraged.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, she responds with courageous faith.
SPEAKER_00: Watch what she says.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what she does?
SPEAKER_00: She humbly accepts Jesus' categories.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't argue that she is one of the children.
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't try and take Israel's place at the table.
SPEAKER_00: But she also understands something else about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That there is so much goodness in him, so much mercy, that there is so much power that she doesn't need to take anything away from the children, that there is enough for her too.
SPEAKER_00: Even the crumbs are enough.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, I don't need the whole loaf.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that there is enough power in even one crumb from your table to set my daughter free.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's faith.
SPEAKER_00: And Matthew tells us that Jesus marvels at her faith.
SPEAKER_00: Oh woman, your faith is great.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says to her, Because you have responded in this way, go.
SPEAKER_00: The demon has left your daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus doesn't go to her home.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't lay his hands on her daughter.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't even need to be in proximity to the demon.
SPEAKER_00: No, rather, from miles away, Jesus simply speaks, and Satan must let her go.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the blessing of God's kingdom is beginning to spill over to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: Now hold on to that thought, and I want you to look at this map with me.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Because we're told that Jesus next goes to Decapolis.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't just go straight from Tyre to there, right?
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we're told he goes to Sidon and then to Decopolis.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't take a direct route.
SPEAKER_00: This is very odd, but when you pay attention to it, you realize that his entire journey is through Gentile territory.
SPEAKER_00: So then after describing this remarkable journey, Mark slows everything down because as he gets back to Decapolis, there is one Gentile man, a man who cannot hear and can barely speak.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself and put his fingers into his ears.
SPEAKER_00: And after spitting, he touched his tongue with the saliva.
SPEAKER_00: And after look, and he looked up into heaven, and with a deep sigh he said to him, Ephatha, that is, be open.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what I want us to notice is how demonstrative Jesus is with this miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: He just cast out a demon from miles away.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need to do any of this.
SPEAKER_00: He takes the man away from the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine being this man.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Think about how incredibly personal this is because he cannot hear what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus looks him right in the eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And like a doctor who's diagnosing where the problem is, Jesus sticks his finger in his ears.
SPEAKER_00: You can barely speak, and Jesus touches your tongue.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus looks to heaven and with a deep sigh, not in frustration with the man, but but caring and feeling the weight of the brokenness.
SPEAKER_00: Standing before him, Jesus looks out up to heaven and says, be open.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, do not miss the tenderness of Jesus here.
SPEAKER_00: And yet he is never too powerful to be personal.
SPEAKER_00: He's never too powerful to be personal.
SPEAKER_00: He communicates to this man in a way that he understands.
SPEAKER_00: Because he touches the very places that are broken.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 35, we're told, and his ears were opened, and the implement of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.
SPEAKER_00: Now, church, I need to show you something about the way that Mark ends this whole section.
SPEAKER_00: Because 700 years before Jesus ever opened this man's ears, the prophet Isaiah told us that this day would come.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Isaiah 35.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: It says, strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way.
SPEAKER_00: Say to those with fearful hearts, be strong, do not fear.
SPEAKER_00: Your God will come.
SPEAKER_00: He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution.
SPEAKER_00: He will come to save you.
SPEAKER_00: Then the eyes of the blind will be open, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
SPEAKER_00: And he will, and the lame will leap like a deer, and the mute tongue will shout for joy.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear it?
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah said there was coming a day when the ears of the deaf would be open, and the tongue that could barely speak would shout for joy.
SPEAKER_00: In church, that's exactly what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Mark uses an incredibly rare word to describe the man's speech impediment, and that's the same Greek word in the translation of Isaiah 35.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Mark doesn't want us to miss it.
SPEAKER_00: He is pointing backwards and saying, Jesus is fulfilling Isaiah 35.
SPEAKER_00: But what did Isaiah say it would mean when this started happening?
SPEAKER_00: What did Isaiah say the meaning of that was?
SPEAKER_00: Behold, your God will come.
SPEAKER_00: He will come to save you, and then the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
SPEAKER_00: See, I Isaiah didn't only predict that there's going to come a day when a deaf person's going to hear.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Your God is coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: And when he comes, the broken creation will begin to be restored.
SPEAKER_00: But I need to tell you what happens immediately before this passage in Isaiah 35.
SPEAKER_00: I need to describe to you the devastation of Isaiah 34.
SPEAKER_00: Because in Isaiah 34, God's judgment has fallen.
SPEAKER_00: The land is desolate.
SPEAKER_00: It's gray and barren and devastated.
SPEAKER_00: But then you turn one page to Isaiah 35, and what does it say?
SPEAKER_00: It says that in the desert, in the wilderness, they will rejoice and they will shout for joy at the blossom, at the growth that's coming up.
SPEAKER_00: You see, green begins pushing through the ashes.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah says that that judgment will not be the final word.
SPEAKER_00: That God is coming to restore that which sin has ruined.
SPEAKER_00: And then 700 years later, a Gentile daughter who's tormented by an unclean spirit is set free.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, that's green.
SPEAKER_00: That's pushing up.
SPEAKER_00: A man who can't hear, suddenly he hears the voice of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's green, that's pushing up.
SPEAKER_00: A tongue that can barely speak begins praising Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's green in the midst of the desert.
SPEAKER_00: But church.
SPEAKER_00: Where is all of this happening?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It's not in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Gentile territory, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: You see, remember what the woman said?
SPEAKER_00: To Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Or sorry, you remember what Jesus told the woman?
SPEAKER_00: Let the children be satisfied first.
SPEAKER_00: But she didn't wait passively, did she?
SPEAKER_00: She didn't sit back and go, well, I guess that's no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: She believed that there was more than enough bread for her to.
SPEAKER_00: And she was right.
SPEAKER_00: That the blessing is spilling over.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Mark wants us to see.
SPEAKER_00: That's why look at where Jesus goes.
SPEAKER_00: He goes outside of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And he seeks a desperate mother whose daughter is tormented by a demon.
SPEAKER_00: He seeks a death man.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he came to save them too.
SPEAKER_00: He came to save them too.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when Jesus goes to the cross, he will not merely die to redeem people from Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He will purchase himself a people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation.
SPEAKER_00: People like this desperate mother.
SPEAKER_00: People like this deaf man.
SPEAKER_00: And people like you.
SPEAKER_00: Friend, maybe that's you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You sit in church, but you still feel like you're on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you didn't grow up in church.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you think everyone knows the Bible better than you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your life has been marked by things that make you wonder whether someone like you could ever belong to God.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came for someone like you.
SPEAKER_00: And the fact that you are hearing the good news this morning means that the crumbs have made it all the way to you.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, how are you going to respond to them?
SPEAKER_00: Now, church family, those of us that have tasted that good bread, the question is, is do we have the heart of Jesus for those that are still on the outside?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about the contrast that Mark has given us, right?
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees traveled from Jerusalem to Jesus to argue about who was unclean.
SPEAKER_00: And when that conversation ends, what does Jesus do?
SPEAKER_00: He gets up, he travels into Gentile territory to the unclean to bring mercy, to bring hope, to bring restoration.
SPEAKER_00: But oh, how easily the religious self-righteousness produces isolation.
SPEAKER_00: Stay away from those people.
SPEAKER_00: Their lives are a mess.
SPEAKER_00: They don't believe what we believe.
SPEAKER_00: They don't live like we live.
SPEAKER_00: But do you see the heart of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: You see, the gospel is so good that it overflows.
SPEAKER_00: It spills over.
SPEAKER_00: It moves toward the outsider.
SPEAKER_00: It brings the good news into hopeless places.
SPEAKER_00: And so, beloved, the question for you is: is that reflected in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Has the mercy that came looking for me made me merciful towards them?
SPEAKER_00: Do I actually know people who are far from God?
SPEAKER_00: And do I pray for them?
SPEAKER_00: And do I invite them into my home?
SPEAKER_00: And do I speak to them about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And do I move towards them?
SPEAKER_00: Or have I slowly built a Christian life where I never have to encounter them?
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys remember back in Mark chapter 5, the last time that Jesus was in the Decopolis?
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember?
SPEAKER_00: Because the account was the man who was possessed by the legion of demons.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember?
SPEAKER_00: And after Jesus cast out the demons into the pigs, the whole community wanted nothing to do with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They begged Jesus, get in the boat and get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: But the man who had been set free, he wanted to come with Jesus too, didn't he?
SPEAKER_00: And what did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: He says, uh, listen.
SPEAKER_00: Go home.
SPEAKER_00: And you go and tell everyone you meet, everyone who will listen what the Lord has done for you.
SPEAKER_00: You go tell.
SPEAKER_00: So now that Jesus comes back to this region, what do we find?
SPEAKER_00: We find as soon as Jesus enters that they are bringing to him the broken.
SPEAKER_00: They are coming out to meet Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Church, that's our job.
SPEAKER_00: That's our job.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: It's not our job to heal the deaf ear or to loosen the mute tongue.
SPEAKER_00: It's not even our job to restore lives.
SPEAKER_00: It's our job to bring them to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's our job to share what He has done for us and to bring them to the one that can do the same thing, change their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_00: King Jesus, there is no one like you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you found us and you pursued us.
SPEAKER_00: When the scripture says, while we were your enemies, while we were fighting against you, you died on the cross, you loved us, and you sent your spirit to pursue us and to open our eyes to the truth of your love.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray right now, everyone under the sound of my voice, if there is anyone here that does not know you as Lord and Savior, King Jesus, I pray that today that they would hear the good news, that they would know that you pursue them.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, through your spirit, you are calling them to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray that they would hear this good news and that they would fall down and repent of their sins, that they would realize there is there is no other name given under heaven by which men must be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, I pray for us as believers that our hearts would be stirred up for the outsider.
SPEAKER_00: For those that are not in here right now.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they think differently than us, maybe they vote differently than us, maybe they've experienced so much different about life, and they they don't function in our circles.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that this passage stirs our heart as a church and as individuals to go.
SPEAKER_00: To be so mindful of those that you have given us relationship with at work in our neighborhood, those around us.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, that we would be bold and courageous because your love and mercy for us spills over.
SPEAKER_00: Spills over and pursues those who are on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: We pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Church family, the praise team is gonna come lead us in two songs of response.
SPEAKER_00: As always, we give time for you to respond to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: However, the Spirit of God has moved in your heart, you must be obedient in your response.
SPEAKER_00: I can never tell you what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: I can encourage you to do it.
SPEAKER_00: You can sit there, you can fill out one of those response pads and list out things that you know you need to do this week.
SPEAKER_00: You can stand and you can sing in faith.
SPEAKER_00: We'll have ministers down here at the front who would love to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: But let us let God's word stir us up to faith and to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We can't hear this message and be like, yeah, that was a good one, let's go eat, right?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: We must be stirred up to faith and obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand with the