HOFC Sermon Archive: Part 39: Gentile Blessed for Her Faith

The House of Faith Church establishes and oversees places of worship, conducts evangelism worldwide, supports missionary activities, and licenses ministers as instructed in Matthew 28. The House of Faith Ministries is an IRS-registered 501(c)(3) & 170(b)(1)(A)(i)—tax ID:35-2206435. #houseoffaithministries #houseoffaithchurch #worship #godheals #newtestament #jesuslovesyou #churchfamily #godsword #loveoneanother #holy #godislove #church #jesus #god #bible #christian #love #faith #jesuschrist #gospel #prayer #christ #christianity #pray #holyspirit #godisgood #hope #blessed #fruitofthespirit #armorofgod #spiritualgifts #servingthelord

SERMON TIMELINE

1. Introduction

2. John the Baptist

3. The Baptism of Jesus

4. Temptation of Jesus

5. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus I

6. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus II

7. The First Disciples

8. A Teacher with Authority

9. At the Home of Simon and Andrew

10. Jesus Cleanses the Leper

11. Jesus Heals the Paralytic

12. Jesus and the Tax Collector

13. Jesus Questioned About Fasting

14. Of Wine and Wineskins

15. Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath & Resurrection Sunday 2025

16. Hard Hearts and Hard Thoughts

17. Three Responses to Jesus

18. Jesus Appoints the Apostles

19. The Family of Jesus

20. The Unforgivable Sin

21. The True Family of Jesus

22. Parable of the Four Soils

23. How Well Do You Listen

24. Parable of the Growing Seed

25. Parable of the Mustard Seed

26. Benefits of Private Teaching

27. Jesus Calms the Storm

28. Who is Afraid of Jesus?

29. The Touch of Jesus

30. When Familiarity Breeds Contempt

31. Principles of Evangelism

32. Weakness in the Seat of Power

33. The Need for Rest

34. Feeding 5000

35. Jesus Walks on Water

36. Healings at Gennesaret

37. The Danger of Traditions

38. The Source of True Defilement

39. Gentile Blessed for Her Faith

Today is Sunday. October 19^th, 2025

ANNOUNCEMENTS

October 31, 1517 – Reformation Day

Martin Luther translated the Bible into German for the common man to read, and renewed attention to preaching, sacraments, and pastoral care, and posted the 95-Thesis beginning the protestant movement.

October 6, 1536 – 19 years after Martin Luther

The English priest, linguist, and English New Testament Bible Translator from Oxford, William Tyndale, was tied to a stake, strangled to death, and his body burned for translating the Bible into English, his last words “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Three years later, King Henry VIII authorized the translations he had killed Tyndale for and The Great Bible of 1539 was created.

October 16, 1555 – 16 years after The Great Bible

Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, also from Oxford, were burned at the stake by Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary, who ordered the Marion persecution of non-Catholic protestants) for refusing to accept the Catholic tradition that the bread and wine magically turn into the literal body and blood of Jesus, and for rejecting the pope and his apostolic succession authority equal to the Bible itself.

Thank God for those who gave their lives to bring this book to you which holds the key to forgiveness, salvation, and the promise of life everlasting.

That’s what I think of every October since I became a Christian.

INTRODUCTION

Last week, Jesus just confronted the Pharisees about ritualistic washing before eating, and how that was not scripture, but tradition of man, and that true defilement is not from what you eat, but from what is in your heart.

Later, when He was alone with the disciples, they asked Him about His teaching, to which Jesus responded with Mark 7:18-23.

“Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) ²⁰And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride [arrogance], and foolishness. ²³All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

Bringing us to where we are today, with Jesus and the disciples leaving the region.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE

Mark 7:24-30
“²⁴Now Jesus stood up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He was wanting no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶Now the woman was a Gentile [Greek], of Syrophoenician descent. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not proper to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹And He said to her, “Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.

She was a Gentile of Syrophoenician descent, meaning she was a person whose ancestry was from the coastal region of Phoenicia, specifically within the Roman province of Syria.

Many Christians today take their faith and its privileges for granted. Like we talked about a few messages ago, familiarity breeds contempt. However, Christians, especially Gentiles, should never lose sight of the grace that has been shown to them.

We have privileges through Salvation that were long bestowed on the Israelites. Such as a covenant relationship with God, by the Holy Spirit, through Christ Jesus, in the New Testament.

We also have all of the blessings that accompany that relationship, which have become available to all who come to God with faith in Christ.

As Jesus preached in the beginning of Mark 1:15, “Repent, and put your trust in the gospel.”

Today, we read of a Gentile woman who was blessed for her faith.

I. THE NARRATIVE

a. THE SEARCH FOR PRIVACY

i. Jesus had traveled about 40 miles from Capernaum

ii. Arriving in the region of Tyre and Sidon, also known as Syrophoenecia

iii. Jesus sought privacy, and probably rest for He and the disciples

b. AS USUAL, WORD TRAVELED FAST ABOUT JESUS

i. We read that a woman, hearing that Jesus was in town, came to Him about her daughter who was possessed.

ii. She was a Gentile of Syrophoenician descent.

iii. Notice in Mark 7:26, she “kept asking” Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter.

iv. In Matthew 15:22, the record of the same account, we see she even referred to Jesus as “O Lord, Son of David!”

1. In Matthew 15:23, we read that Jesus ignored her at first, and she began pestering His disciples.

2. The disciples said to Jesus, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.”

When we seek the Lord, is it with the same faith, submission, determination, and persistence?

c. THE “LIMITED COMMISSION”

i. In Matthew 15:24, we see Jesus explain that He was sent “except” to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

1. I’ve spoken before about the “limited commission” and what Jesus and the disciples were first commissioned to do.

ii. The “limited commission” came before the “great commission”

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile [Greek].”

Luke 24:47 “And that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

iii. Remember, Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament, which was to come as the Messiah, first to the Jews who were supposed to be awaiting the coming Messiah, then to the rest of the world!

Isaiah 49:6 “He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to cause the preserved ones of Israel to return; I will also give You as a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Psalm 67:1-2 “God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us—Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.”

Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

iv. After the cross, the “great commission” commenced taking salvation into the whole world through the gospel.

Ephesians 3:6 “The Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

Acts 11:18 “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.”

v. Jesus’ mission was to fulfill prophecy concerning Israel’s Messiah. After the cross, the limited commission ended, and the great commission began to include, and Jesus says, “all the nations.”

vi. When Jesus responded to the woman, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not proper to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

1. Jesus is saying in a parable, Israel must be first, for they are already at the table of the Lord. He then tests her by saying it would not be proper to take the bread (bread of life, Jesus the Messiah, Himself) from the awaiting children to give to the family dog.

2. This may sound harsh, but He was testing her to see if she responded in contempt. Instead, she understood the parable and responded, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”

a. She acknowledged Him as Lord and responded within His parable.

vii. Scripture tells us Jesus admired her answer, and even comments in Matthew 15:28, “…Great is your faith! Let it be as you desire.”

1. And her daughter was healed.

d. HER RESPONSE

i. Her response revealed FAITH, as well as HUMILITY.

ii. And by calling Jesus “Lord,” she acknowledged the right for Him to refuse her request.

II. GENTILES BLESSED IN SCRIPTURE

a. BLESSED THROUGH FAITH

i. The Roman Centurion at Capernaum

1. Matthew 8:5-13

ii. Cornelius, the first Gentile to be converted to the gospel in Acts 10:1-6

iii. The first Centurion ate “crumbs”, the latter was first to “sit at the table.”

b. GENTILES ARE BLESSED NOW BY FAITH

i. We are no longer aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers from the covenants of promise. We now have hope in Christ.

ii. Brought near by the blood of Christ, Ephesians 2:13

iii. Reconciled as one body in Christ, Ephesians 2:14-17

iv. With access by one Spirit to the Father, Ephesians 2:18

v. Fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, Ephesians 2:19-22

vi. TRUE to the promise of Jesus in Matthew 8:11-12, Gentiles can now sit at the table!

c. ARE YOU MAKING GOOD USE OF YOUR BLESSING?

i. Are you refusing to come to the table?

1. By not obeying the gospel?

2. Mark 16:15-16 Jesus now invites EVERYONE!

ii. Are you refusing to eat at the table?

1. Through disobedience and neglect?

2. This was the mistake of many of the Jews

a. Matthew 8:11-12

b. Matthew 21:43

iii. Are you only eating crumbs?

1. Through apathy and neglect?

2. This was the problem with two of the seven churches in Revelation, Sardis and Laodicea.

a. Revelation 3:1-2

b. Revelation 3:14-19

Romans 11:21-22 “for if God did not spare the natural branches [children at the table], He will not spare you, either. [the dog] ²²Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.”

CONCLUSION

Remember the way you were before Christ. Think for a moment on what your heart was filled with, what occupied your mind and thoughts. The things you said and did, and desired.

Now think of the blessings we now enjoy in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit of God ever-working within us to change our lives.

Renew your minds. Cast down vain imaginations that exalt themselves against the teachings of Christ.

Repent, and place your faith in the gospel that saves. Jesus is asking we sit at the table.

Romans 11:17 “some of the branches were broken off [Jews], and you, being a wild olive [Gentiles], were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the rich root of the olive tree…”

Ephesians 3:6 “The Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

Ephesians 2:19 “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.”

1 Peter 2:10 “for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

What are you doing with that mercy from God?

NEXT WEEK: “Part 40: He has Done All Things Well”

Want to learn more about Salvation?

CLICK HERE!

Support The House of Faith Church in Sharing the Gospel Worldwide

Over 20+ years in ministry | Nearly 2 Million Sermons Downloaded by Ministers Worldwide. Nearly 1,000 sermons available online | Over 280 Countries Reached with the Gospel

To give, please visit: https://www.ps127.org/tithes-offerings

To give through PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/AARR79FG22QN8

HOFC Sermon Archive

Give to Support this Ministry

Friday, October 24, 2025

Part 39: Gentile Blessed for Her Faith

No comments: