and i invite you to turn in the scriptures to mark chapter 7 mark chapter 7 remember the context here in mark chapter 7 that jesus had just given a great explanation about the true problem for mankind the true problem being the problem of the human heart i'm curious how you took that last week the human heart out of that heart look at the list that jesus says proceeds out of it in verse 20 where you have evil thought sexual morality theft murder adultery coveting wickedness deceit sensuality envy slander pride foolishness that's all coming out of your hearts how do you take that. You receive that. Let's now consider today this account of the Syrophoenician woman from Mark chapter 7 beginning at verse 24. And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet now the woman was a gentile a syrophoenician by birth and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter and he said to her let the little children be fed first for it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs she answered him yes lord yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. And he said to her, for this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter. And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Last week, we studied the awful confrontation in chapter 7 that took place between Jesus and the scribes and the Pharisees. And to remember to set the background here a little bit that entire struggle that is captured for you in mark chapter 7 was over the issue issue of ritual cleanliness and cleanness how could somebody be clean they had come to jesus remember they had traveled from jerusalem to jesus uh some of these scribes they had come to jesus furious over the fact especially as they were observing him and watching jesus and his disciples that they were not washing their hands properly when they ate bread and we studied we studied the the history of that of what had developed in israel years and years of traditions the talmud the mishnah all of these writings of the jews had been so stacked over the word of god that the bible became buried and nobody ever got to what the Word of God said or understood the original intention of God in His law. It was a tragedy that had happened in Israel that their traditions buried the Word of God. And you saw it in their dead, lifeless worship. They had developed a system of confidence in their externals. They had developed a system of confidence in their own morality of maintaining the good moral life according to the tradition of men, Jesus said, not the elders. But in erecting these fences around the law of God, which they did, remember all these traditions built around the law of God, fences to protect the tradition from going bad again as it had in the past, they ended up fencing Jesus out Himself. They were full of religious devotion. Oh, don't get it wrong here. These were very religious, committed people. They did everything they were supposed to do according to the tradition of men. But nothing was being done out of genuine, born-again hearts by the Spirit of God. Big problem. They thought that through outward observance, they would be right with God. They thought through all of their rules and ideas and laws that they had erected over and against the word of God that they would be right with God and be good subjects and good members in his kingdom. Good moral upstanding people. You looked at them and said good good people good people and Jesus gives a blistering indictment. Oh it's blistering. The worst coming in Matthew chapter 23 where he just nailed them for their hypocrisy and called them whitewashed tombs even here saying in in in Matthew or Mark chapter 7 that essentially what had happened was that their traditions had ended up suppressing the commandments of God so that they could make the commandments of God of no effect they found a nice way a fine way around the commands to do them and the strangest of things had happened that in keeping them they were justifying themselves before god and jesus would come along and say listen god knows what's in your hearts you justify yourselves before men but god's looking right on the inside and that was jesus's indictment of these people so jesus gathers the multitudes around him and he essentially says listen up i'm going to correct this right now your observance of human traditions over the word of god will never cleanse you it isn't going to happen because it's not what goes into a man remember what he said that defiles it's not what you do to take in what did he say it's what comes out of you now i don't hope you caught it last time he wasn't he was making something very clear about your natural experience you know that right you all use the restroom you know what comes out of you is defiling this is what he's saying here it's what comes out it's not the food you put in it's what comes out defiles you you know that he was using that common experience to teach people about the heart the human heart so we studied last time and we read there a minute ago of what comes out of the human heart look at all that defilement that's just pouring out of your heart so jesus was here really correcting for the multitudes a dangerous approach to god of coming and erecting our own traditions that actually produces in worship dead spirituality going through the motions in worship keeping the tradition to the t thinking you've done something to please God, and never really coming to him with the kind of heart he wants. How would you know? How would you know? Well, this is something that Matthew records. There's something I thought was very fascinating, and Mark, remember, is on a jet tour, the book, immediately, immediately, immediately. You get to fill in the blanks with Matthew, and I think some of that is intended, but Matthew records what I believe is crucial to understand the placing of this Syrophoenician woman right after this incident. Crucial. I want you to listen to this. Hear and understand, it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person. And then he says this, then the disciples came to him and said, do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? They're ticked off, Jesus. They're offended that you said what's coming out of them is impure. Yeah, they're offended. Well, what we now have is this awful confrontation, remember, with the Jews over ritual cleanliness. Jesus now encounters the most unclean woman in the next scene. Here's the shock of the whole thing. She understood what Israel did not. she understood what her greatest need was. And she didn't bark about that. She didn't argue about that. She didn't just understand it. She comes in such radical contrast as the Pharisees came to catch him. She comes in such radical contrast to Jesus demonstrating before everyone believing, trusting, resting faith. And it's a marvel. Just a marvel. I really have been wanting to preach this all my years. You know, this is the first time in 12 years I've been able to preach the Syrophoenician woman. But I always read it. I always read it. Someday, someday, someday. You're the day. This is what Jesus was calling us to through this woman. So we're going to look at this shocking encounter, this perplexing challenge by Jesus. And then the believing response all with the goal that we would respond to Jesus the same way. The exact same way. Now, after this awful confrontation at the beginning of chapter 7, after Jesus had made it perfectly clear that the problem with humanity, the problem with all of us, is that we have a dead, sick, twisted heart inside of us. And again, the heart being the center of who we are. everything about us. From here we read, after he gives this great explanation, we read that he gets up in verse 24 and he leaves to the region of Tyre and Sidon. If I had time, I'd map this out for you. It's really fascinating. This is a big tour. This is a big trip. They didn't have cars. Miles and miles and miles that he heads deep in the Gentile territory. In fact, he goes to a place that had really, if you look at the history of this, he goes to a place that had been the introducers. These people had introduced Baal worship into Israel. It's a fascinating move that sort of jolts our minds to think about the reasoning for his departure. I had to think about that. Why does he, because he only does this, I mean, it's so rare in the Gospels that He leaves the region of Galilee and Judea and His teaching and does something like this so far away from the center of it all. I gave a lot of thought to that. What was the reasoning for this? And since it's a fascinating move, I remembered that already in Mark, He had taught us that when Jesus and His disciples were not received, they were to move on. They were to move on. They were to shake the dust off their feet and move on. And it would be at one point, he said, after he had done all these works and all these miracles and all these powerful things, it will be more tolerable, remember he said this, for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for these people who saw all this and rejected it. In fact, he said, woe to you, Chorazan, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the miracles that were performed and you had been done in, ready? Tyre and Sidon. They would have repented long ago and sat cloth and ashes. If they had seen what you saw. Well, here we are. He's in Tyre and Sidon. We're getting a glimpse into the future here. We're getting a glimpse into Psalm 87. We're getting a glimpse of what you just sung out about in Psalm 87 that would anticipate this day. That would anticipate the day going into Tyre and Sidon to the hostile peoples and the nations. And this would be the whole program of Acts, you know, that it would start in Jerusalem, Judea, to the ends of the earth it would go. And that message of the gospel, as you see that program, would always begin with the Jews. And when the Jews rejected it, when the Jews turned from it, it went on. It went on to the Gentiles. This was the program. but it had always been that it was intended that the gospel would be a blessing to all the nations in the earth promised to Abraham promised to father Abraham in Genesis 12 this was always intended that the Jews should be the blessing to the nations and that's gonna be really important for you to hold on to as you see what about happens here Mark has the goal of explaining the gospel to the Gentiles and to tell the Gentiles that it's for them well here we're seeing an early glimpse of the plan but it's a really important point to stop and say jesus does not keep his work in one place forever when the word of god gets buried in human tradition and this is a danger we always have to be cautious about in the church today because we have churches in revelation that were warned against this stuff when the when the when tradition buries the word of god so that the word is no longer being heard and you create dead worship with dead people with dead hearts all going through the motions the lamp stands can be pulled even though you could have the greatest praise band ever really important and this happens all the time today all the time and it's captured here um i can't help but to think that when jesus faced this kind of opposition that he turned to his disciples and he said remember what i said when we get this kind of rejection to shake the dust off your feet we're heading to tyrant side we're heading to tyrant side this is exactly what i was talking about now he had just been criticized for breaking the tradition of the elders with all the ritual purity the most unclean region now he heads to in jewish eyes in fact this was being one of the few times it happens jesus was mostly in the region of judea and galilee rarely went outside but upon facing this you'll notice we read now as we enter into our text today that he enters into a house and wanted nobody to know about it but that was impossible because everyone knew about him he here he is in tyre and sidon on this long journey and we read that when they heard all that he was doing and i want you to think back to mark 3 when jesus was doing all of these miracles and all of these healings and preaching the kingdom of god and preaching with power mark 3 told us something that sets this up listen to mark 3 when they heard all that he was doing many people came to him from judea jerusalem idumea and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. These people all knew about him. They had seen him. They had heard him. Many of these people sat at his feet and listened to his preaching. I believe you have one here. I believe you have one. Comes this mesmerizing section of Scripture. Read in verse 25 that a woman whose younger daughter had had an unclean spirit heard about him and she came and fell at his feet. this woman had a daughter who was tormented by an unclean spirit. Who knows what the Spirit was doing in this little girl. Whatever it was, it was awful. Mark goes on to explain to us that this woman was a Greek. She was a Syrophoenician by birth. You know what Matthew says about her? She was a Canaanite. Fascinating. Canaanites throughout history were the most unclean and despised, you know. They were the reason the Jews had all these laws about washings and rinsings and 30 chapters in the Talmud and a whole volume there on hand washing. Now the remarkable thing about this is this woman had her own temple to go to with all of her idols. She had all the idols and the gods of the past, the bells and the asterisks. She had all. This was her history. This was her people. I don't know if she had tried at all. I'm sure she had. but not now she had heard and she doesn't go there verse 26 and think of the contrast to them coming from jerusalem to assault jesus she coming from titan where he is now to him she comes to him and the text tells us that she came to jesus and notice how mark phrases it the verb there's interesting she kept asking please cast the demon out of my daughter more? Please? More? What a moving scene. A nobody, an unclean Gentile. Jews weren't even to talk to him. Rabbis especially, not to them, or women. She's doubly unclean in every way according to the jews tradition now the word for uh here continued to beg begging jesus should stand out to you because what that means is that he was silent in fact if you read matthew this is what you get in the matthew account listen to what he records a woman of canaan came from that region and cried out to him saying have mercy on me oh lord Son of David. Boy, theology is getting better and better here. Have mercy, son of David. Oh Lord, would you show mercy? My daughter is severely demon-possessed. And here's what Matthew says. But he answered her not a word. So you can picture this. They're walking. Comes to this house. She comes. Maybe she's crying out from the outside. Actually, it says here that he goes on walking, and when we compare the text, dragging at his feet, face down, prostrate, begging him. Can you hear it? Lord! Mercy! Mercy! She keeps going. Lord, mercy! Mercy! Lord, my daughter, mercy, please! Nothing. Not a word. What in the world is going on here? When you compare with Matthew, we're able to fill in the blanks, that the disciples get angry about this. Lord, tell her to knock it off. Send her out of here. Send her away. She just keeps begging and crying after us. So kind. Right? do they care i think you're getting to the intention here of jesus a little bit then comes the most perplexing response of jesus something that i we've not seen from him in the gospels after all this silence after all this begging he finally looks at his disciples after they say get rid of her get rid of her he says to them now she's standing here begging i was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of israel huh i was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of israel what do you think the disciples said at that point yep amen move her on mercy keeps getting it mercy so finally at some point now mark picks us up there Jesus turns to her and he says, let the little children be filled first. For it's not good to take the children's bread, the little children's bread, the children's bread, and throw it to the little dog. What in the world is that? I'm going to be honest, that has always severely troubled me. That's why I wanted to preach this passage. That sounds so insensitive. That sounds so, I mean, is that uncompassionate? And that should, the response is meant to make us all pause for a minute. It's meant to make us stop for a minute because it's so uncharacteristic of Him. Of what Mark has been telling us about His compassion on the multitudes. Remember, He just fed 5,000 of them when it welled up within Him of compassion. Does He not care for her? And here's the problem. I can't read it and make Jesus compassionate, which is what most pastors and preachers do. Most commentators work really hard to make Jesus sound nice. Got to in America. And they say, well, wait, He chose the word for little dog, not the big dogs. Dog's a dog, and I don't like the little dogs sometimes any more than the big ones. What in the world is this? He just called her a dog. When you have something like this, Jesus is doing everything contrary than you think. Why did he come to Gentile territory in the first place? And then you start to realize when his disciples begin the questioning process here that it was a real moment since things are escalating after this past rejection, it was a real moment now for Jesus to get these guys on board with what he's doing. They need to understand the ministry. This would be one of the greatest moments of their training. I believe that. It's not for the little dogs. Not for them. Remember back in chapter 5 when Jairus' daughter was dying and it was a big rush to try to get Jesus to come down and heal Jairus' daughter. And along the way, this woman with this flow of blood stops the whole procession and the whole multitude. And Jesus stops when once He knew she had touched Him and energy had gone out from him that he stops and he makes a big moment of this. And everyone's anxious. Everyone's wanting to move to get to Jairus' daughter. Everyone wants to see the miracle. And Jesus stops and he says, who touched me? And everyone's bothered. What do you mean who touched you? Everyone's touching you. You can't ask that question. Everyone's touching. Who touched me? Kept asking, who's touching me? Who touched me? He knew who touched him. He was making a moment of it, wasn't he? he was making a moment of it because when she had touched him she was the only one who had truly touched him even though everyone was touching him as the great miracle worker and he wanted every eye that moment on that woman for then he was demonstrating something about her and it's the same thing he's demonstrating here here is a lowly unclean woman screaming out for mercy and jesus won't stop he won't respond and then he calls her a dog he said come on pastor answer this what is this what scene did jesus just come out of the children of israel had just assaulted him for doing and touching and being unclean and being everything a part of what was unclean himself and what was the most unclean thing to a jew dogs gentiles what they called them this was the common way they described gentiles they're dogs in the last section he chided his disciples and he said listen are you still without understanding do you think something is made clean by what goes in taking foods and washing it's what comes out of the heart that's made that that that is unclean and the heart needs to be made clean. Jesus, the Pharisees got really offended at that. Jesus, the Pharisees got really offended what you just did and characterized their hearts about, what you said about their hearts. Very fascinating, isn't it? Still without understanding these disciples, still not understanding how one is made clean, still not understanding the gospel. In other words, they're not yet getting that what truly defiles someone before God, they're not understanding how someone then is truly made clean. And I would suggest that after years of preaching justification by faith alone, we have the same struggle in the church today, isn't it something? Still to this day, you tell people justification by faith alone, and you get blank looks, do people even understand it? But they need to, they're the pastors. And they're going to go out and be the ones who have to understand this to be heart cleansers through the Word as they preach it. To preach that cleansing. So what does this mean? The disciples here, notice this. She's called a dog. In their minds, she's a dog. She's unclean being a Gentile. They would have been in agreement with Jesus. Get her out of here. She's unclean. Was she unclean now in what you just heard of, dear disciples? It's not what's outward. Is she unclean by being a Syrophoenician? Apply it. Jesus just said, it's not what you are outward that makes you unclean. He's leveling the playing field. He just did. But it's inward. And if that was accepted, then she's not unclean by being a Gentile merely, is she? But what needs to be cleansed is not made possible by what's brought in from the out. But by what God does. By washing with the Word. Peter will learn this, remember, in Acts when Cornelius is there and they have to understand in Acts the Gospel's going out and he will have to learn we cannot call unclean what God has cleansed. You say, well, why was Jesus treating this woman so roughly? Let me give you the answer. To illustrate for you faith. To demonstrate true faith. Could she get into the kingdom without being a Jew? Could she get into the kingdom without being ceremonially washed? Jesus plays the role, I think, for a minute. We're so unused to the way Jesus is in the New Testament. We read Him so wrong sometimes. There's more sarcasm in Him than you would ever know. Boy, he'd make American Christians real nervous, I promise you. Jesus plays it. Could somebody like this enter the kingdom, disciples? Of course not. Get her out of here. He says, you're right. It's not fitting for the unclean to enter. You're right. I'm not giving what's holy to the dogs. He looks at her. You're a dog. She won't stop begging. Mercy! Mercy, Lord! She's humble. She believes, son of David. She keeps crying out. She's a beggar. You're a dog. That can't get her off his back. Pharisees were just offended by his assessment of them. Jesus looks at her. Why would I give it to you, a dog? I wonder if he said that looking at his disciples. Here she is. why would I give it to you a dog? He's right. This is where I would have loved to have seen facial expression. It's the one time I would have loved to have seen facial expression. Don't imagine it, right? You know it's for the little children. It's not right to take what's holy and give it to dogs. He made a big moment of this. Oh, he made a big moment of this. But now in front of the disciples, listen to her response. Here's the glorious moment of this. This is so wonderful here's the response yes lord yet even the little dogs need to eat from the children's crop you calling me a dog is not going to shake me i'm not going anywhere i know what i am i know i'm a dog i agree with you i'm a dog call me it again salvation's of the jews i know i have no claim to it i have no right to this i i have no privilege to make me worth of this my ethnic heritage puts me out puts me not in line to receive this i'm nothing i am a little dog i agree with you but you know what when all the masters and their people feast together and all the finest guests are there and all are in their best robes and places there's got to be so much benefit from that table. I'll be like the little dog that licks. There's that experience. I'll be like the little dog that comes under the table and licks the crumbs. I'll be that little scavenger. I can't cleanse myself. My daughter's a mess, but I believe you can do it. Doesn't a master feed his dogs? Doesn't a master feed his dogs? Isn't that table so great? There are leftovers. Think of the leftovers now in the meal that he fed the Jews. Twelve baskets of leftovers. Aren't there leftovers? They didn't understand about the leftovers. What I'm saying to you, Lord, is I need your help. You see, she came believing he was the answer to her misery. And it wasn't just that he was some miracle worker. She believed in him as the son of David. She believed in him. She heard his teaching. She heard us preaching, and she came out in faith believing. And do you hear her spirit in this? If this were our day, and Jesus tested a woman like this, in good feminist style, you would hear, how dare you talk to me that way? Who do you think you are, you chauvinist? I promise you this would be hate speech today. Lord, dogs need to eat too. in verse 29 jesus says and a goal accomplished for this saying go your way your daughter's been healed matthew says jesus said woman mega great is your faith great is your faith and by that saying that jesus recognized that she was in the midst of all this ritualistic mess she was the one who had the truly cleansed heart you get it now she was the one who had truly been cleansed from the heart by faith she had been washed see how important this was for the disciples this morning what if his ministry would have looked like the ministry of the scribes and the Pharisees let me let's just just for a minute play that role can you fathom it what if he would have bowed to what they wanted and made Judaism what they wanted it to be and what it had become what if he would have accepted that being clean was merely a Jewish identity thing what if by all these outward rights and acts and human traditions they could somehow build a system that would cleanse themselves before God and Jesus honored that can you imagine that ministry just for a moment imagine if that is what jesus's intention was i say that because many people in christianity still believe that through outward observance and traditions they're going to get into heaven what if jesus jumped on the bandwagon of a works righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees what if he did what kind of ministry would it look like well to answer that what if we did what if our christianity became about cultural observance so that no one could enter our group could you imagine what we would create? Nobody would ever really get in. We'd build our own system of laws and righteousness so that no one could ever get into the club. You'd create the worst kind of dead religion. No joy, no excitement, no desire to worship. You would be here with your mouths, but your hearts would be miles from here, ready to get out. You'd have an attitude of complete indifference to the lost you'd have an attitude of self-reliance self-complacency confidence in the tradition itself coming to the house of the lord only worried about us never coming to the lord like this that's what you would build and this is what jesus was illustrating for the disciples that if the kind of apostate religion of judaism won the day in israel the gospel would have been completely lost and it would have only been for Jews who could ritualistically do it through the human traditions of men. It would never break out to the dogs. Never break out to the dogs. But what is the truth of the Christian Gospel? A true Jew is not one outwardly. A true Jew is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not through ritual observance in the letter of the law. So that the praise is not from men, but from God. That means that when the heart is cleansed by faith in Christ, you are a true child of God. You are a true Jew. Understand that? Little did she know that in reality, little did the disciples know that in reality, Jesus had come to Tyre and Sidon because she was one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. To teach his disciples that the lost sheep of the house of Israel would be gathered from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. That's what you sang in Psalm 87. These are the hostile peoples. They're the Jews. That's Israel. So that when Paul wrote against those who would assault our liberty in Christ by erecting all these human traditions, by trying to establish a righteousness that comes from the law. You know what he called them? Dogs. That's what I read in Philippians. Dogs. True dogs are those who sit in worship with hearts defiled, smug attitudes who never come to Jesus with this kind of broken and contrite heart. True children look like this woman. Now that challenges us this morning. Look at the contrast that's drawn for you. I didn't draw it. The Lord drew it. The Spirit drew it. Do you see the two ways people came to Jesus? You've got the Pharisees and the Jews on the one hand who came with this kind of attitude and heart, dead heart. But Jesus says, in vain do they worship me, teaching as commandments the doctrines of men. But then in the next breath, he shows us someone whose attitude to the presence of Jesus was one of, I don't care how far I have to stand outside. If I can just put my ear up against the door and hear, I'll be there. I don't care what position I'm in. Listen, you could give me the cheap seat in the house. Put me in the bathroom if you have to. She's a woman that needs to be the female bathroom. Put me in the bathroom. Give me the cheap seat. Give me the crumbs that fall off this table. Just the crumbs. I need your help, Lord. I need you, Lord. I don't want to be anywhere else. as opposed to those who sat in the seats, the best seats, content, self-content, yawning, disinterested in the gospel of salvation, confident in their status and privilege, who never in all their years of church going ever once bowed the knee. Think about this. Ever once, even in their closets, bowed the knee and said to Jesus, I need your help. It's hard for those who have everything to become beggars. But do you understand that Jesus just said she was the true Israel? Have you ever bowed the knee and asked Jesus for help? I was listening this past week to a pastor talk about preaching to the heart. And I hear this all the time. I never quite know what to make of it. I agree we have to preach to the heart. And I agree there's a great challenge to take the abstract truth of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection and just say, Jesus lived, Jesus died, Jesus rose again. Believe it. I understand that you could say that, but many churchgoers have not really accepted that as truth for them. And there are endless ways pastors try to think about how do I bring that home to the heart in a way that really, really, really gets there. The more I do this, using all the colorful illustration I could, whatever word pictures I could throw at you, I realize that it's going to take a great work of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, to give life to a heart. Because the heart to first be broken has to be first given life. And I believe there's something always to the fact that it was in these Gospel accounts that those who came to Jesus always came to Him understanding their lives were a mess. Look at their lives who came to Jesus. Look at all their problems. And you see, something has to be broken in your life to come. Or you'll never see him. So that I could say to you today that the most wicked place in America is your human heart. Or I could use Calvin's line, you're all like vermin. Or I could say Isaiah 64, 6, all your righteousness is a filthy rag. You know that's a menstruation garment, right? And I could test you with that. And you could say, you're not telling me anything, Pastor. I know. I know what I am. Keep going. I know what I am. Or you could say, I'm offended by that. I'm tired of this. Tired of hearing I'm about a sinner. Tired of hearing about all my need. I just, let me out. See the two spirits? It's right in front of you. This is why the gospel changes lives. Instead of I'm getting tired of this, I'm towing the line. I've done everything right. I've kept my kids in whatever, right school, responsible with my money, family's healthy. I'm doing it all as I should. I've got the t-shirt that says life's good. Will people like that ever come like the Syrophoenician woman? I believe it'll show itself in your life and your desire to be here every Sunday and your desire to understand what you need and your desire to come and worship Jesus and receive from Him the most precious statement when I get to say as a pastor one of the greatest privileges, your sins are forgiven. I want to be there. Mercy. Not a one-time shot. Mercy. Jesus intends that for you. That's the goal. That's why He gave you a treasure this morning in His gospel and in Him. Those who know that way of coming will most certainly have said to the Lord in the course of their lives and today with bended knee, prostrate hearts, Lord, help me. And he says, I'll never refuse anyone who comes to me like that. Let's ask him that now. Gracious Heavenly Father, we bow the head in humility today confessing we're Pharisees. Confessing that this is something that we're inborn with. And that we need the help to see it. That out of the heart proceeds all this stuff. And we don't argue with you. We know it. You've tested us with that. And we say, mercy, Lord. Because to whom else shall we go? For the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that has the words of life, said Peter. And so to your feet, Lord, we fall. bowing the knee and heart today, bowing the heart, asking for your help and to take away stony hearts so hard to you. And give us life that we might believe with the same trusting, resting faith as this woman. Thank you for encouraging us with this today. And thank you that it's your intention to give us help and to bring us into a land and a place, the heavenly Zion, where we will see all tribes, tongues, people, and nations saved by the same message of grace that has gone out to the ends of the earth. Thank You, Lord, for this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.