Matt 15:21-28
She Wouldn’t Leave
This is a unique account in the life of Christ.
1. Jesus is outside of Israel.
a. \\#15:21\\ tells us Jesus is in Tyre and Sidon.
b. This is the farthest He will travel from Israel.
2. Jesus is harder with this foreign woman than with any other
person except perhaps the scribes and Pharisees.
3. Notice:
a. \\#15:22\\ She has a demon-possessed daughter.
b. \\#15:23\\ Jesus ignores her pleadings for help.
c. Jesus allowed the disciples to speak against her.
d. \\#15:24\\ Jesus refuses her request.
e. \\#15:25-26\\ Jesus insults her (refers to her as a dog)—
even while she is worshipping Him.
Have you ever felt that God was treating you this way? Ignoring you,
allowing others to do you wrong, even while you are trying to worship
Him?
Well note \\#28\\.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O
woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even
as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour.
I would say that Jesus always wanted her. He just wanted to make
sure that she really wanted Him.
Yet, despite all that Jesus allowed this woman to go through, she
could be driven away; and, ultimately, Jesus answered her petition.
Would you notice three things about this woman?
I. Little was her pride.
A. Most people, if treated in the fashion that the text
describes, would have left.
1. These nationalities were not the best of friends.
2. It would appear to me that Jesus was very rude to her,
almost as if He were trying to drive her away.
3. She wouldn’t leave.
4. She swallowed her pride and continued to seek
the Lord’s help.
B. What is pride?
1. The simplest definition of pride is thinking of yourself
higher—with more regard—than you ought.
a. The Bible does not condemn us for thinking of
ourselves as we ought.
b. However, in God’s presence, it is impossible to think
highly of ourselves.
2. Pride is one of mankind’s greatest scourges.
a. Pride was the first sin:
Is 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut
down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will
ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God: I will sit also upon
the mount of the congregation, in the sides of
the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to
the sides of the pit.
Eze 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of
Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine
heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am
a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst
of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God,
though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is
no secret that they can hide from thee:
b. Pride is listed first the list of seven deadly sins
Pro 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate:
yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood,
c. Because man is an ego driven creature, pride has
become one of his Achilles Heels.
C. The definition doesn’t sound so bad but the ways pride can
manifest itself are.
1. Pride can make you leave when you ought to stay.
a. This story \\#Matt 15:21-28\\
b. This woman was being tested. If she could be driven
away, she would not receive.
2. Pride can make you stay when you ought to leave.
a. \\#Acts 19:14-16\\ Seven sons of a Jewish priest saw
Paul cast out demons and decided to try it.
b. Their problem was that Paul had Jesus and they had
nothing.
c. You might think seven against one is pretty good odds,
but I will tell you that the weakest demon is far
stronger than the seven of strongest men.
d. The demon-possessed man jumped on them and beat the
stuffing out of them.
3. Pride can make you keep what you ought to give.
a. \\#Acts 5:1-11\\
b. Ananias and Sapphira
Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and
to keep back part of the price of the land?
4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and
after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
why hast thou conceived this thing in thine
heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
4. Pride can make us give what we ought to keep. Too many
times I have given people a piece of my mind only to
discover that I could not afford it.
5. If you don’t want pride to rob you of blessings that are
yours and give you troubles that aren’t, humble yourself.
D. This woman either had learned to control her pride or she knew
to leave it at the door when dealing with God. She had
little pride.
II. Great was her faith.
A. Despite the fact that this woman was Greek and not Jewish, was
firmly anchored in the fact that Jesus could help her
daughter.
1. That can not be questioned.
2. What can be questioned is her motive. Why was she so
anchored?
B. There are only two reasons I can think of why a person would
be so trusting of Jesus.
1. True faith - She believed with all of her heart Jesus was
the Messiah, the Son of God, and that He was good and
would help her daughter.
2. True hopelessness - People clinging to their last hope
often cling tightly.
C. While both faith and hopelessness may cause us to cling to
Christ, one is good for you and the other is bad. Most can
Not tell the difference.
1. Different motives
a. Faith clings it believes.
b. Hopeless clings because it has no other choice.
2. Different rationales
a. Faith clings because it sees what God can do.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him… are
clearly seen…."
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith…the evidence of things not
seen.
Hebrews 11:27 By faith (Moses)…endured, as seeing
him who is invisible.
b. Hopelessness clings because it has no other choice.
(1) This kind of hopelessness produces a blind faith.
(2) It is really no faith at all just an unreasonable
hope that the impossible will happen.
(3) Some confuse this with faith.
3. Different goals
a. Faith clings to bring glory to God.
b. Hope clings because it selfishly wants something.
D. So was this woman filled with hopelessness or faith?
1. She answered that question for us.
28 …O woman, great is thy faith…."
2. Where did she get it?
a. I don’t know, perhaps from her parents.
b. However, someone had taught her about the true God.
22 …O Lord, thou Son of David….
(1) She knew the Jews were to receive the Messiah.
(2) She knew that the Messiah would be born through
the line of David.
(3) And she believed and with an unshakable faith.
III. Strong was the woman’s character.
A. Character is the boundary of your behavior, typically the
lower boundary.
B. There is a lot I do not know about trials, but I do know…
1. I do know that testing always comes when you least expect
it and least want to go through it.
a. When you are the weakest…
b. When you are the busiest…
c. When you are the most vulnerable…
d. Perhaps it comes at other times but because we are
stronger, calmer, better prepared, we do not realize
it.
e. But in hard times, testing comes.
2. Trials test your character.
C. This woman was facing a trial.
1. She faced an insulting situation:
a. She needed humility. Humility is putting all others
ahead of yourself.
b. She needed patience. The ability to wait with
anxiety or frustration.
c. She needed perseverance. Perseverance is not
quitting.
d. She needed calmness. Calmness is a spirit of
quietness.
2. Where did she learn these characteristics?
a. The Bible does not say.
b. Most likely, her parents instilled at least some of
them into her.
c. However, I think whatever her parents put in was
intensified for her daughter’s sake \\#22\\.
d. Her love for her daughter built character into her
life.
e. Might I suggest that love for the Savior will do the
same thing for us.
f. That is why Paul said,
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ
which strengthenth me.
3. The problem is that we don’t know what trials we are going
to face today so we don’t know what character we need to
take with us.
a. If you face a moral temptation,
(1) You will need purity, moral sinlessness.
(2) You will need loyalty. Loyalty is faithful to a
person or cause.
(3) You will need discernment. Spiritual awareness
and understanding.
(4) You will need self control. Self control is you
telling your body and emotions what to do
instead of them telling you.
b. If you face a financial temptation,
(1) You will need honesty. Honesty is saying and
doing that which is true and correct.
(2) You will need generosity, sharing what you have
with others.
(3) You will need discipline. Discipline is
controlling yourself in tempting situations.
4. And there are many other situations that you will face
which will require even other traits.
a. Here’s the CATCH - You will never know what kind
of situation you face next.
b. SOLUTION - You must be strong in all character traits.
D. I don’t know that this woman was strong in all of her
character, but she was certainly up to standard on what she
needed for this test.
These three facts about this woman meant one thing, she would not
leave Jesus. She believed in Jesus and she loved her daughter.
These two things gave her faith to endure even what she did not like
or understand. What about you? Will you follow Jesus—no matter
what?
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust
in him….
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