Great Faith

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

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Turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew tonight, the 15th chapter. I want to talk to you tonight about great faith. Great faith.

And as you turn to the 15th chapter, let me say this in reference to what I'm about to read to you. Who would have ever thought that an unnamed woman from an obscure place, a place that historically was under divine judgment, historically, biblically, it was under divine judgment as we'll hear later, that this unnamed woman, poor, beaten down, devil tormented woman, whom Jesus likened and made reference, likened her to a dog in an indirect sense, that this woman would teach us one of the great lessons on faith that's in the Gospels. Let's read it in Matthew chapter 15 beginning at verse 21.

It says, And Jesus went away from there and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region and began to cry out, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is cruelly demon possessed.

But he did not answer her word. And his disciples came to him and kept asking him, saying, Send her away, for she is shouting out after us. But he answered and said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And she came and began to bow down before him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. But she said, Yes, Lord, that's true.

But even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from the master's table. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, your faith is great. Be it done for you as you wish.

And her daughter was healed at once. Great faith. Now, this is the only recorded account of Jesus going outside of Jewish territory and having done so, performed a miracle.

It says in verse 21 that Jesus went away from there and withdrew. Now, the there refers to the account in the 15th chapter in which he had had a very tense and hostile encounter with the Pharisees. Jesus had been in his ministry about two years and the tension and trouble and resistance to his ministry was beginning to mount.

And he had had one of those encounters with them in which they had put him through the third degree with questions. The answers for which neither the Jews or even Jesus' own disciples appreciated. He had said in verse 8 to them, He said, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.

And after he was finished answering their questions and dialoguing with them, look at verse 12, it says, Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that these people don't like your preaching? Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement? Well, so what else is new? Jesus always seemed to make statements that offended certain people. And Jesus withdrew from those hostile Jews as he always withdraws from those who it says in verse 9, But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. And so Jesus goes away from there and goes out of his way, out of the territory of his primary ministry and finds faith.

He finds faith. Because wherever there is genuine need, wherever there is spiritual hunger, wherever there is the cry, Lord, help me, there you will find Jesus. Thank God that he's always going away from there and going away from the hypocrites and the vain worshippers and where doctrines of men are taught in order to make himself available to this little Canaanite woman belonging to a hated nation and people.

Because wherever you find faith, you'll find Jesus. No matter the problem, no matter the plight, no matter the impossibility of the situation, Jesus and the seeker have a common attraction. Jesus withdrew from them and the hostile crowd and he went into her territory.

And she was drawn to him because they both had something in common. He came from one direction and she came from another. And they have the blessed account of it is recorded for us here in Matthew 15 and also in Mark 7. And I want you to look at this event with me tonight and how this undeserving woman, we might say that in one sense.

In fact, Jesus said she was undeserving. How this woman came in behalf of herself and mainly her daughter and overcame impossible conditions to receive a marvelous healing and a marvelous deliverance. She had many things against her and yet she overcame every obstacle and she went away with a cured daughter.

And tonight she can be a lesson to you and to every one of us tonight. And we'll see in this account that faith makes things possible but it always doesn't make them easy. Faith always makes it possible but it always doesn't make it easy.

Now there were four different things that were against this woman. First of all, her birth and her history was against her. Secondly, the disciples were against her.

Thirdly, it appeared that Jesus was against her. And number four, her daughter was against her. And yet she came against all of those obstacles.

First of all, her birth and history were against her. She was raised a Canaanite, a Gentile, Greek. And she was born and raised in Tyre and Sidon.

Now Tyre and Sidon was once a great commercial trade center, prosperous and proud. They were an ancient people with a remarkable history. They were skilled navigators, builders of mighty ships and mighty cities.

But in Ezekiel 28, judgment was pronounced against Tyre and then Sidon because your heart is lifted up and you have said, I am a god. You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers. Now this woman, therefore, was a product of a ruined kingdom.

She had neither economic, social, or spiritual advantage. History and birth was against her. She was a product of a heritage that was under divine judgment.

Ezekiel also describes Tyre as a glorious ship going to sea full of wealth and wares, but that they would fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your overthrow. Now some of you, I believe, could identify and perhaps tonight can identify with this woman. You know what it's like to grow up in conditions where your birth and your family history and your heritage is against you.

You have nothing going for you in the natural and you're like this woman. Ezekiel 27 and 29, again referring to the prophecy against Tyre and Sidon, says, and all who handle the oars, the sailors and all the pilots of the sea will come down from their ships. And I think of those tonight whose birth and upbringing is against them.

They're like Tyre and Sidon in that their parents who pilot their ship have lost their oars and the ship never sets sail and they grow up and live in a stormy condition all of their life. I think of a young man tonight. He's no longer a young man.

Thank God he's a minister today, but he grew up in a home down south. His father was an alcoholic, but a businessman, an entrepreneur, but he lived a double life and he was an abuser of this gentleman that I'm thinking about tonight. He would come home drunk and he would physically abuse his son, his two sons.

If he didn't physically abuse them, he'd come home at 3.30, 4 o'clock in the afternoon and he would make his sons go to their room and remain in their room for the rest of the night, not permitting the mother to feed them. At other times, he would pull them out. When he didn't beat them, he would pull them out in the middle of the night and make them shower in the middle of the night in the nude, take a cold shower and put them back into their bed.

And when I think of that, I think of Ezekiel's prophecy. Ezekiel 27, 34 says, Now you that are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company have fallen in the midst of you. And I see many that fit this description.

Perhaps your background, your birth, your family heritage has left you broken, bitter, and like a ship that has lost its cargo. And if you're one, if you've experienced parental or social or spiritual disadvantage, then you need to listen further to my message tonight. This woman also had a difficult past.

Not only that, she had a worse present and she had a gloomy future. And yet this woman, in spite of that, has something to teach us about faith. And if you look at this woman tonight and you have certain things that you see that are against you, may the seed of this, may the example of this woman drop a seed in your heart tonight and to know that you can overcome a difficult past and you can come and find healing and deliverance as this woman did.

Life has no questions that faith cannot answer. Hallelujah. Another thing this woman had against her were the disciples.

Verse 23 says, And the disciples came to him and kept asking him and saying, Send her away for she's shouting after us. You see, Jesus had no doubt gone into that territory to get away from what was happening under the pressure of the Jews coming against him and he probably sensed for the disciples' sake that they needed to get away and it was maybe in a resort area away from the crowds and they probably were delighted that they had a time alone with Jesus and now this woman shows up and the disciples say, Get rid of her. Now you see, it's bad enough when your birth or your family history and heritage is against you, but it's worse to reach out for help and to the Lord and to have some selfish or undiscerning disciples say, Send her away because we want to be left alone in the house with Jesus and have him all to ourselves.

Now it's sad to have to say it, but it must be said. Sometimes you go to the church or you've gone to a church for an answer and you end up with additional problems. The streets are bad enough.

It's worse, it's worse if you have to go into the house of the Lord and find disciples who are going to shoo you away and to seek after the Lord, but some unwise disciple keeps blocking your way to the altar. Psalms 109 verse 14 says, Let the iniquity of the fathers be remembered before the Lord because he did not remember to show loving kindness, but persecuted the afflicted and needy man or woman and desponded in heart to put them to death spiritually. This is talking about people who will block your way to God, pastors or workers or whatever.

And the Lord said, the iniquity of the fathers are going to be remembered. Let me give you a name tonight. Let me pull a name out of the news.

Jessica Hahn has been depicted as both a villain and a victim and she's been both. I pray that she will repent of her sin, but you know that Jessica was a church secretary or worker who was turned into a mistress by a so-called Pentecostal minister. Now God is going to hold her responsible and accountable for her own sins.

But Psalms 106 verse 15 describes what is going to happen to that former or that so-called pastor, a wolf in sheep's clothes. It says, let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off his memory from the earth. There have been other young ladies at this altar who have gone to other churches.

They've gone to ministers. They've gone to leaders. They've gone to Christian leaders and they were seduced.

But you see, there are other ways of being seduced and other ways that disciples can send away those whom like this woman who sincerely are crying out for mercy. And you may sit here tonight and one of the things I guess that has amazed me in a way over this last year is the number of people who have come into our church who describe themselves of having been spiritually abused. I was never quite familiar with that term.

I'd heard that term, but never really understood it until we started this church. And some of you sit here tonight. Maybe you've been healed from it.

Maybe you have not. But you've been hurt or wounded and bitter. Maybe even backslidden because you were spiritually abused.

Ezekiel 34 and 5 tells us what happens to those who are abused and seduced and turned away by the shepherd. It says, and they were scattered for lack of a shepherd. And they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered.

And I want to tell you, you can go to, ask those who work in the upper room. Ask those who work on the street. Ask those who see people who come in our street, meaning how many are backslidden, how many were raised in the church.

They became food for every beast of the field because no one ever taught them that it is possible to live an overcoming Christian life and to walk in holiness. And it is possible to be completely delivered from one's sin. Ezekiel goes on.

It goes on here and says in Ezekiel 34 and 4 is a denunciation of false shepherds and shepherds who fleece the sheep and do not feed them. It says those who are sickly you have not strengthened. The disease you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost, but with force and with severity you have dominated them.

And if you've been dominated by a pastor or church or a false teaching or let down by the church, then let this Canaanite woman teach you something about faith tonight. Let her teach you something about coming up against that. As bad as that is, God will not allow any of us to use that as an excuse.

And if you've been dominated by a teaching or a church, then learn how to be dominated by Jesus tonight. And that's what this woman has to teach us. Faith, you see, is not a shelter against difficulties.

It is a confidence of God in the face of all contradictions. And that's what this woman had. So not only was her birth and history against her, not only seemingly were the disciples against her, but worse, it seemed as if Jesus was against her.

Verse 23, after she cried out for mercy, it says he didn't answer her a word. In fact, he was silent so long and she kept crying out that that's when the disciples said, Lord, send her away and the inference might even be that what they said is give her what she wants so we can get rid of her. But he didn't answer her a word.

Now, I don't know about you, but the worst times of my life is when the Lord doesn't answer my phone calls. Now, I sympathize with some of you who try to get through on the phone to one of our pastors and you can't do it. But don't take it personal.

Some people get mad. Well, if you try to get through to us and you can't get through to us, often the reason is is that we're busy trying to get through our own number up into heaven, you know? If heaven has a number, it's 777-7777, and if you can't reach us, we're dialing that biblical perfect number and we're trying to get through to heaven ourselves because we gotta come out here and face you and minister unto you. Yes, even for me, sometimes the Lord does not answer a word at first, and I can identify with King David's prayer, Psalms 13.1. He says, How long, O Lord? Wilt thou forget me forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? He said, I am weary from my crying.

My throat is parched. My eyes fail while I wait for my God. My eyes fail with longing for thy word while I say, When wilt thou comfort me? I don't know about you, but can you identify with this woman? Do you ever feel like her, that the Lord himself is against you? And you've been perplexed by his silence as if he were putting you off? Listen, my friend.

The hardest part of faith, someone has said, is the last half hour. And many a would-be seeker gives up at this point. If the Lord doesn't come running at their first cry, they give up like a spoiled child.

But let this non-religious woman teach you something about how to talk to Jesus. She was not put off. She was not put off by the disciples.

She was not put off by Jesus' silence. She was not put off because the first knock of the door wasn't answered. She was not going to go away that quickly.

You see, I said before, faith makes things possible. It doesn't always make them easy. Not only did this woman have birth and history against her, not only were the disciples against her, not only did it seem that Jesus was against her, but her own daughter was against her.

She prayed in, when she did pray in verse 25, notice she said, Lord, help me. She came at first, when she prayed, she said, in verse 22, have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David, my daughter is cruelly demon possessed. And here she said, Lord, help me.

You see, here was a twofold need. One, of course, was for the deliverance of her daughter, but also the request was to be for her own benefit because she had to live in the house with a demon possessed daughter. And the effect upon this mother, I'm sure, was most grievous.

She says, my daughter is cruelly New American standard. I don't know what the King James says, but New American standard. She says, my daughter is cruelly demon possessed.

In other words, it's as if she's saying it's not right. It's cruel what is happening to me and what I'm having to go through as a result. Now, I know that when some of you mothers come to this altar and when you come for prayer, your need and your problem is really the result of your daughter's problem or your son's problem or your husband's or some family member.

And you may ask the question, when will it all end? And yes, it seems a cruel thing that you may have to go be going through or what you go through because of the devil that's in somebody else. And my heart goes out to you if you're living in a house with a devil. The agony of this woman was compounded because she loved her daughter so much.

Mark's account of the same thing, Mark's version of the same incident says this, it's Mark 7 24. It says, and from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre. And when he had entered a house, he wanted no one to know it.

Probably it was a guest house. Yet he could not escape notice. Let me read it again.

It says he wanted nobody to know it. Yet he could not escape notice. But after hearing of him, a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at his feet.

Now this is interesting to me how it was that this woman got there. Certainly there must have been many more troubled souls in that region. But only this woman found him.

Only this woman overcame the obstacles. It says he could not escape notice. Really what it says is he could not escape her notice.

Why? Because love will always find a way. Faith will always find a way. This woman I believe had sought every cure of edible.

Perhaps some village neighbor had told her about Jesus the son of David, the Jewish son of David. Some friend may have been visiting and marketing in Capernaum that morning when the nobleman's son had been brought to life and the report came back. And she thought to herself, if he can do that for a centurion's boy, could he not so much more do it for me and for my daughter? And so this woman enters the house where Jesus is resting.

Her heart is broken over with her daughter's condition because she loves her so much. And yet she's wondering, how can I continue to bear the curses of my daughter? How long does a mother have to be embarrassed by her daughter's demon-possessed ways? And if you're such a one tonight, if you're such a mother, if you're such a one tonight, this woman, hallelujah, can inspire you. If you're a parent who's able to identify with this woman and you know what it's like to feel both love and anger in the same heart, to feel love in your heart at the same time, to feel all the other emotions, then I want you to know the Lord has an encouraging word for you tonight.

Hallelujah. This woman was up against, her own daughter was against her, but she was not to be denied. She was not to be denied.

In spite of all these things that were against her, she got what she came for when she was in the presence of Jesus. Let me tell you how it happened. She had four things against her, but she had three things going for her.

First of all, she called on the Lord, and then she cried unto the Lord, and then she crawled under the table, as it were. She crawled unto the Lord. She called, she cried, and then she crawled.

First note the call or prayer of this Canaanite woman. It was without success. She crawled unto the Lord.

She prayed. It was without success, but she did call. Look again at verse 22.

Notice how very proper this prayer was. Her theology was correct. She said, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David.

My daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. Now, in spite of being a non-Jew and a heathen woman, she addressed Jesus as Lord and as son of David. And although the prayer was very proper, very correct, there was no response, not a word.

And as I said, the disciples responded to her, but not Jesus. Now, why didn't Jesus respond? Why this apparent insensitivity to her prayer? Now, some people believe that it was a test of her faith. On other occasions, Jesus delayed his answers or appeared not even to hear certain prayers.

But I believe that Jesus did not answer her because she prayed a rehearsed prayer. No doubt she had heard about Jesus before. She probably had asked a hundred questions about him, one of which was, How do you address this Jewish Messiah? What do you say to him? And somebody may have said, Oh, I was there, and I heard somebody, and they prayed, and they cried out and said, O Lord, son of David.

And so she had it down and probably rehearsed that prayer in her mind a hundred of times. O Lord, son of David, thou Lord, son of David. And so when finally she had the opportunity, she cried out, she had all the right words.

But you see, Jesus does not answer to prayers. He does not answer to words and formulas and religious cliches. He only answers to the heart.

This woman was pretending a relationship to Jesus that she did not have. Jesus says to her, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And you're pretending to be by your words and your prayers to be something that you are not.

And Jesus unmasked her pretension as he will ours. If we say prayers that we do not mean and that do not come from a true heart of repentance. I asked one of our workers one day, I asked him about a certain individual who was in and out, in and out.

And I asked him about, I said, how's so and so doing? I noticed he'd come back to the altar and praying again and wants to get back. And I said, how's he doing? And he gave me an interesting answer. He said, oh, he's doing too good.

I said, what do you mean doing too good? Oh, he said, he's got all the right words, says all the right things, but something is missing. And that something was a broken and contrite heart. I've listened to prayers at altars and some of the most impressive and theological correct bore the least results.

And some of the crudest bore the greatest results. We do not receive things by prayers. We receive them by Jesus.

This woman only got Jesus attention when she cried out in humility and in desperation from her heart. Verse 25, but she came, finally she came and she began to bow down before him saying, Lord, help me. And that cry and her faith conquered Jesus.

If you could have seen that woman in her home when her daughter lay tormented by that demon, if you could have preached through the window into her cottage, when her daughter was crying and writhing on the floor, tormented by evil spirits, you could in no doubt have seen this woman pleading for mercy from her heathen gods. She may have had them all lined up there. Like the woman with the issue of blood having tried every other cure, she was determined at last to steal a cure from Jesus.

So this poor mother, whose daughter was only the worst for all her heathen gods, she too was determined at last to come to Jesus and she bows at his feet and she will not take no for an answer. And when Jesus sees that, he looks down at her and I believe there was a smile on her face and he wonders at her faith and determination and he's conquered by the power and the persistence of it, hallelujah. You see, this woman's faith overcame or mastered the own natural shrinking of her heart or the fear that was in her heart.

This was a terrible ordeal for her to go through, her daughter tormented. When a woman loves her daughter as much as this mother did, she shrinks back from calling public attention to herself or to her daughter. And no doubt she'll watch all night, her daughters by her daughter's bedside.

She'll make her home a place of devotion for her daughter. But to cry out in public, to advertise it as it were before her neighbors, this would seemingly be alien to a mother's heart. But in spite of her natural embarrassment, when she hears of Jesus, she goes to the house.

The disciples put her off, but she refuses to be put off and she bursts through the door. And even Jesus himself had probably put up one of those do not disturb signs on his doors. But she's not put off by that.

She knocks at the door. She puts aside all of that and she bows herself at the feet of Jesus. And I can imagine that after she was there, after she had gone through all those obstacles and she found herself bowing at the feet of Jesus, she probably said to herself, how in the world did I ever do this? How did I ever do this? You see, it's hard to understand and explain the actions of faith, but Jesus understands.

And in the boldness and enthusiasm of this woman, he saw faith. It was a faith that prompted her to leave her daughter and overcome her fears, to overcome all obstacles and go into the presence of Jesus. And oh, may this woman teach us how to come crying in faith to Jesus.

Are you like this woman tonight? Have you lived so long with a situation? Maybe it's a personal illness in your own life. Maybe it's a personal problem of your own or of somebody else's. And you've lived so long with an unanswered need that so overwhelms you that you shrink back, you hold back even from praying anymore.

And if this woman could come here tonight to Times Square Church, she would take your hand and she'd say, listen, I understand. I was tormented for years by my daughter's torment. I felt it was cruel.

I felt the gods were cruel to me. But I never gave up hope. And one day Jesus came to my village and I was determined to get inside the house where he was staying.

That's what faith will do. This woman had never read Hebrews 4, 16, which says in King James, let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need. This woman had the cry of faith.

And listen, the cry of faith will give you boldness to go into the throne of God. Hallelujah. To go boldly and receive his grace.

Hallelujah. Ephesians 3, 12 says, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. Hallelujah.

You know, when I was studying this message, I broke away from it for a bit. And I heard the news about the coming elections. And it reminded me of an incident in my life that took place some years ago.

It was in October. It was during election time. And I got a call at my house.

And after I hung up, my wife said, who was calling? And I said, honey, the White House was calling and they want me to go to Washington to meet with the president. And she laughed and she said, oh, how was Ed? Now let me explain to you what I mean by that. I have a good friend, Ed, personal friend, that we always had a way that he would always get through to me in my office.

When he would call, he would say, Governor so-and-so is calling or Senator so-and-so is calling or some other high-ranking official. And then I would know it's my friend Ed and so the call would come right through. In fact, one day we had a new girl on the switchboard and I was standing right by the telephone.

And he called in and he said, this is Governor so-and-so office calling for Don Wilkerson. And she got all excited. She said, oh, Brother Don, she said, Governor is calling for you.

And I didn't respond. And she got all flustered and excited. She said, Brother Don, the governor is calling for you.

And I looked at her and I said, put the governor on hold. I'm busy right now. And I'll get to him in just a moment.

She didn't understand it. And finally I went to my office and I picked up the phone. I said, hello, Ed.

And so when I said to my wife, the White House is calling, she said, how is Ed doing? I said, honey, it wasn't Ed. It was the White House. She didn't believe me.

I finally started packing some clothes. That was on a Tuesday. I was going to be there Wednesday.

And finally I packed some clothes. And she said, what are you doing? I said, I'm packing my clothes because I've got to go to the White House. And finally she believed me.

And what had happened is that a friend was a speechwriter for President Ford. And he wanted to meet some, he was running against Carter, who had all the evangelical vote. And so finally Ford wanted to meet with some evangelical leaders.

And so David and I were invited. And David was off somewhere. I think he was off, or maybe he was voting for somebody else.

I don't know. No, he was preaching somewhere. He couldn't go.

But I went. And it was a nice experience. And I remember going up to the gate and, you know, giving my name.

And he looked down in there. My name was on the list. And I went in and spent two lovely hours in the White House when President Ford was running for the president.

And I remember Jerry Falwell was there. Other leaders were there. And when he came in, he shook all of our hands.

And when he came to me, he said, are you the gentleman from Georgia? And I said, no, I'm not. I didn't have the presence of mind to say, the other fellow, Carter is the one who is from Georgia. But it was a nice experience.

Had my picture taken and so forth. Something I don't even know where it is today, but someday I'll pull it out and show my grandkids that I met the president. But, you know, if I would go down there today at the same gate, I know where it is, and I would know where you go in, and come up to the gate and say, you know, tell Ronald that Don Wilkerson is here, you'd know about how far I would get.

But you see, for one day in my life, and for two hours, I had access. I had access to one of the highest government offices. But I want to tell you something, that is nothing in comparison to the access that I have daily to the throne of God.

Hallelujah. And this woman, you see, faith gave her access to the throne of God. Romans 5, 1 and 2, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Hallelujah. This woman did three things to demonstrate her faith. One, she mastered her shrinking heart or her fears to call on the Lord.

Secondly, she humbly cried out. She said, Lord, help me. And thirdly, she was willing to crawl under the table to feed on some crumbs.

Look at verse 26. And he answering and said, it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Ouch.

What seemingly a cold word. How cutting. Dare I even say it seems a cruel word.

How would you like to have gone through everything that this woman went through and finally you get a response out of Jesus only to be called a dog. Wouldn't you have been offended? Worse, wouldn't you get up and say, who needs this? We've had people walk out of here for less reasons than that. I don't think we've called anybody a dog yet.

But actually the word Jesus used to call her dog was a word of endearment, not a rebuke. You see, there's several Greek words for dog. One is a vicious dog and one is a cute little household dog, puppy dog.

And that's the word Jesus used. But also the reference, the reason for the reference to dogs is that Jesus had already brought to the attention of the disciples and this woman the fact that he had not been sent to those outside of Israel. In the same vein, he now adds that it would not be proper to take Israel's blessing, the blessing that belongs to the children, and give it to those who do not belong to Israel.

After all, dogs, no matter how dear to their owners, are not children, have no right to be treated like children. And so Jesus said, you are outside. Is it meat to throw? Is it meat? Is it not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs? But notice how she takes his very words, his very words of seeming rebuke and reproach and she turns them into faith.

Verse 27, but she said, yes, Lord, you may be right about that. It's true what you say about dogs and about me. I may be just a little puppy, but even puppy dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from the master's table.

She was saying, as it were, yes, I accept what I'm being compared to. I not only accept it, but I rejoice in it. For certainly good masters and dog lovers do not allow their pets to starve to death.

They permit them even to eat the crumbs that fall from the table. And that's what this woman is saying, and that's why I love this woman. Oh, she inspires my faith tonight.

Great faith is manifested in its call and in its cry and its fact that it is willing to not be denied, that there is no silence or no argument, not even dispensational truth bothered this woman. You know what it was like for her when she heard? It would be like if you needed healing and you had a cancer in your body and you went to some fundamentalist preacher and he would tell you, well, I'm sorry, I can't pray for you because the days of healing is over. Healing happened in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, but it don't happen today.

The dispensation of healing is over. This woman, as she heard it, she said, that may be fine. You can have your theology, but I want my healing.

You see, great faith broke over every obstacle. No wonder Jesus said, probably with a smile on his face, oh, woman, your faith is great. Be it done to you as you wish.

Hallelujah. She came through every obstacle. Now, let me close and give you a couple other illustrations apart from this woman, several other powerful prayers and examples of faith.

Let me tell you about another woman named Hannah who was drunk with desire. She was so consumed by her petition that she acted like she was drunk. Turn to 1 Samuel 1. It's the record of Hannah's cry and petition for a child.

1 Samuel 1 and verse 10. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two.

To the house of the Lord, she's greatly, verse 10, and she greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She was so consumed by her need. She was so consumed by her desire that Eli, the priest who was watching her, thought that she was drunk because she was speaking in her heart, only her lips weren't moving, or her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard.

And she made a vow and said, verse 11, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy maidservant and remember me and not forget thy maidservant, but wilt give thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and a razor shall never come to his head. Now, it came about as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard.

So Eli thought she was drunk, but Hannah answered and said, No, my Lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit. You see, I see her just like the Shunammite, just like the Canaanite woman. Hannah is, as it were, crawling before the Lord.

She's drunk with her desire. And you see, this is what true faith does. Great faith reaches out to God, seeking an answer as urgently as an alcoholic wants his drink.

Hannah was drunk with godly desire. Verse 15, Hannah answered, No, my Lord, I'm not drunk. As you expect, I am a woman oppressed in spirit.

I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Hannah was drunk with desire. She wanted an answer more than as much as an alcoholic wants his wine.

I've often said, and I look at the teen challenge fathers sitting up there, and I used to say when I was preaching to them over there in the chapel, I used to say many times, I'd watch some of them come in, and just not only teen challenge, but this church, and I see some who come in and just so earnestly seek the Lord and cry out to the Lord, and you can see their zeal and their hunger for God. And I would see some others that would be holding back and holding back and holding back, and you just couldn't get them moving to God. And I used to say to them, I said, you know, when some of you fellows were out, drug addicts, some of you fellows that are not seeking the Lord, if you were a drug addict or an alcoholic, like you're a Christian now, I don't know how you ever got high.

You must have been sick a lot. But I know there's some others who come, they're like Hannah, they're drunk with desire. You see, great faith is manifested by intense desire for the object of its desire, and that's the case with Hannah.

And then let me give you one more example, and that's Hezekiah, a man who asked the Lord to read his mail. A man who asked the Lord to read his mail. And some of you can learn something.

Look at 2 Kings chapter 19. Hezekiah received word. He received from a messenger a letter from the king of the Assyrians, Sennacherib, said, we're going to attack you.

In verse 14 of 2 Kings 19, it says, then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messenger, and he read it, and he panicked, and he fell apart emotionally and spiritually. No, it doesn't say that. It says that he went up to the house of the Lord, and he spread his letter out before the Lord.

He said, here, Lord, you read this. I can't handle this. You see, that's what you do with bad news.

That's what you do with earth-shaking letters. You go up to the house of the Lord, and you spread it out before the Lord, and he said, Lord, read my mail. I know a father who prayed for his son for years, a wayward son.

He'd get letters. He'd get reports about his son, and he'd lay the reports out before the Lord, and he had a place where he went to pray. He'd lay out the reports, and then he'd open the Bible to Acts 16, and he'd hold it up before the Lord, and he'd say, Lord, here, you read your own mail.

It says right here, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house, and he prayed that so long, he put his finger on it, and he'd say, there, Lord, read it right there. That's what you said, and that's the way he'd pray. He prayed that way so long, there was a hole.

There was a hole in the page. It had been worn through from his finger, and God answered that father's earnest cry because that man is a missionary today. That son is a well-known missionary in South America today, and after Hezekiah prayed, Isaiah came to him saying in verse 20, he said, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because you have prayed to me about Sennacherib, king of Israel, I have heard you.

I don't know what Hezekiah said. I like to think that when he prayed, and he said, Lord, look at this mail. Look at this bad news that I've got.

Would you read this? Would you read this? And God, just all I want is one angel. All I want is one angel. I'd like to think that's what he prayed because this is what happened in verse 23.

It said, Then it happened that night, that night of Hezekiah's prayer, that night when he spread that letter out and that threat, and that night that he prayed that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacherib, king of Israel, departed and returned home.

I'd go home too if one angel wiped out 185,000. I think I'd go home because I'd hate to see the rest of the army if one angel did that. And my friend, if you've got that kind of bad news, spread it out before the Lord.

Hallelujah. Pray unto the Lord. Seek his face.

Receive your answer. Hallelujah. This woman has something to teach us as well as these other examples about great faith.

And tonight, if you have a need, you're burdened down like this woman is, if you'll just cry out, say, Lord, help me. Lord, teach us faith. Teach us faith.

Oh, we're becoming a, we are, I believe, a church of prayer. Let's become a church of faith. Hallelujah.

Let's believe that God is going to intervene in the situations in our lives. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Let's stand together. Let's stand together. Praise you, Lord.

Praise you, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Lord. Glory to God. Lord, tonight we pray.

We pray, Lord, tonight to some people that need a miracle in this meeting. Like this Canaanite woman. Lord, they've got things that are up against them.

They're coming against many things. But, oh, God, may they break through to you tonight and have that same cry as she had, Lord, help me. Lord, help me.

Honor their faith tonight. Honor their faith tonight. Lord, let some miracles happen around this altar.

Let it happen this night, we pray. And tonight, if you're here in the balcony and down below and you need a miracle in your life, maybe you're backslidden. Maybe you're away from God.

Maybe you're personally tormented and you need healing, you need deliverance tonight. Would you overcome? Would you step out in faith and cry out to the Lord? Lord, help me. Lord, help me, and he will.

But if you're overburdened because of the torment of somebody else in your family and you've prayed and you've prayed and you've grown weary in your prayer, let this woman tonight lead you to the altar. Let her lead you to Jesus tonight and in faith reach out and say, Oh, God, I need a miracle. My family needs a miracle.

My daughter, my son, my family needs a miracle. Will you come? Would you come and let that happen here tonight? As we sing, would you step out from the balcony down here, step at this altar as we sing? Fall to the ground tonight. Come and say, Lord, if there's disobedience in my life, I surrender to you.

What wilt thou? What sayest thou unto thy servant? What will you do?