Tenacious Faith: Overcoming Barriers to Divine Healing

And for me, this is very, very divine appointment, that the Lord would select this passage, the expository preaching, so we just keep going through the next passage, and the title of the message this morning is, The Tenacity of Faith That Moves the Lord. The Tenacity of Faith That Moves the Lord. The Tenacity of Faith That Moves the Lord. Just in case anyone here, or anyone watching, knows Tenacity, it means like a really, a dominant determination, an extra level, a higher level of determination. [00:01:02]

lots of different examples but let me here's a question what happens it's much tougher this one what happens if God says no what happens if God says no is he allowed to say no yes 100 % he is allowed to say no I'm taking you some examples in the scriptures and these are only a few and there's absolutely loads of them if you want to study it I just squeezed in a few of the most famous ones where he's going to say no to someone but it's because it's something better there's a time when God said no to every two brothers and they picked David and he went through all the brothers no no no no no the one that was out in the field that nobody even thought about God said no to Gideon he said no to ThirteenTh admiration three thousand no no no That's too big. [00:02:17]

And again this is so important. what we're going to look at this morning we're going to look at someone who ends up demonstrating and displaying immense tenacity this lady is an outsider there's no right to any of god's blessings he doesn't have the white by birth he doesn't speak the language that he speaks white with But she has a tenacity of faith. She has a tenacity of love for her child. That's what impressed Jesus. And he actually, it appears, he tests her. He tests her faith. And she passed that test because of her tenacity. And she got her miracle. [00:04:15]

And what we're going to develop this morning is, you and I, by having an unwavering faith and a humble understanding of Christ's authority, you and I will find that we can actually move the Lord's heart. It can lead us to his gracious reward. This is an encouraging thing to know. And that's why God gives us his word. So just ask yourself before I pray, just before I pray now, contemplate or meditate on this. [00:05:14]

So now they're in the area now. But the point here is she is not a Jew. She is an outsider. She is not welcome to be engaging with Jesus. She's not one of the chosen people. That's the point here. Yet, as we're going to see now, the tenacity of her faith overcome and overcame mega obstacles. Let's look at the first point. We'll just keep moving here. The first point is a bit of a mouthful. But the tenacity of faith seeks Jesus despite the barriers. [00:08:29]

So you imagine yourself now in your shoes. You've heard these amazing stories about Jesus. You've heard about what's happening in Israel. It's not happening in your area or it's not likely to happen in your area. You've heard that there were these people that let a disabled man down through the roof and plopped him in front of Jesus and he healed him. You've heard that he even helped the Romans. Who would help the Romans? Who would help the saints do it? So this lady is thinking I'm going to go see this guy. [00:12:19]

and that huge wave of disappointment comes over you which we've all had at some point in our life but Jesus is everything she needs everything that she can get to and she has this striking thought it crosses her mind she says I'll cry to him in his own power I'll cry Lord son of David have mercy on me he's heard a Jewish neighbour maybe repeat the same thing for years he says I'll just repeat it don't know exactly what it means but I'll say it [00:14:40]

Can you relate to that this morning, that you might have a need, and you might need to bring it to Jesus, but you're thinking, I need to do something else, I need to impress the Lord, I need to do something. What he's looking for is tenacity. Her tenacity, her tenacious faith, is seeking Jesus. But what we all suppose it's going to be, she is going to seek Jesus. So let's just think about that now. What barriers would you not say that have taken us from fully pursuing Christ like this? [00:17:40]

The tenacity of faith perseveres through testing. So again let's just try to think, Jesus now he responds to the lady not in the way that she was expecting, not in the way that most people who read the Bible expect or even like. The scholars don't like it, the skeptics don't like this answer. Jesus responds and he tests her, he tests the woman's faith, he's already proved she's got tenacious faith. [00:19:46]

The woman's bold and humble reply shows that she had a persistent faith. She's not going to give up. She had a true need for help. She had a tenacious need with a tenacious faith. Verse 28. And she answered and said unto him, yea, Lord. Yet the dogs under the table keep the children's cries. I wonder why they're laughing now. I don't think they would be laughing now. [00:23:41]

The key point here of all of this is that persistent humble faith will move the Lord's heart. He's looking for it. He's a gracious and loving God, and he will respond and he will reward tenacious faith. So again, as we finish now, let's reflect on 2024. This is the last Sunday in 2024. It blesses my heart that we would all come out this morning to be in God's house on that last Sunday, especially after the busy Christmas season. [00:28:46]

Imagine if we refuse to give up, even when God is saying no. Imagine. In Hebrews 11, 6 it says this. There's a book here where the context is to explain this is the chapter of faith, the hall of faith, the first verse of the famous one, the substance of things hoped for. And then it goes through Abraham, it goes through all the, the hall of faith. You know, if I could be in any chapter, I wouldn't mind being in 11. Good company. [00:29:15]