Matthew 15:22-28
22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
The Gospel of Mark tells us she was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. (Mark 7:24-30) But I see two interesting points of the encounter that I would like to point out.
#1 - Jesus did not say that He came to save every soul on the planet, He said He was sent ONLY to the lost sheep of Israel.
#2 - Jesus said that she had great faith. Where did she get that faith? Was she born with it? Did she develop it? Is it something she had and didn't exercise until this point in her life? The answer to all these is an emphatic NO. The ONLY reason she had faith is because God gave it to her. Paul tells us that faith, along with grace, and salvation are all gifts from God and granted in different measure to different people. (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 12:3). Paul also tells us elsewhere that not all men have faith (2 Thessalonians 3:2).
Bottom Line, unless God gives a man faith, he has none and everything he does is sin (Romans 14:23). When God quickens a lost man’s soul, He does it through faith, the faith that God gives him (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 12:3) as a gift. God then gives him belief (John 6:29, Philippians 1:29), repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), and understanding (Luke 24:45, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 2 Timothy 2:7). The formerly lost man will now exercise that faith, believe, repent, and come to Christ (John 6:37).
Jesus raises up EVERY man God draws (John 6:44), NOT every man who “accepts” the drawing.
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