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On January 7, 1855, Charles H. Spurgeon, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows:

It has been said by someone that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

“There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumb line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God….

“But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe…. The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.”

“And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.”

These words, spoken over a century ago by Pastor Spurgeon (at that time, incredibly, only twenty years old) were true then, and they are true now. They make a fitting preface to a series of studies on the nature and character of God; the God we seek to know.

Soli deo Gloria!

As we prepare for Christmas this year, approximately a month away, I would like for us to consider what it means to know God. We should understand that knowing about God is different than actually knowing Him. Therefore, we’re going to take a break from our study of Matthew’s Gospel to concentrate on on the meaning of knowing God.

Several years ago, I preached a series of messages on the topic Knowing God. What does the title “knowing God” mean? How does this ongoing discipline of knowing God occur? Who is responsible for knowing God? What particular people are to passionately pursue the discipline of knowing God?  

To “know” (Hebrew – ‘yode’; Greek – ginosko; oida) biblically means to understand, to be familiar with, to recognize, and to possess information. The object believers in Christ are to understand, to be familiar with and to possess information of is the One, True God of the Scriptures. 

Please notice that the word “knowing” is a present active participle. I am using that word deliberately. Believers never arrive at a complete knowledge of God prior to heaven. We are always on an active, informative, progressive, and passionate journey of continuously knowing, and understanding God.

This journey of knowing God is not only about who He is, but also about what He does. What is God like? What are His attributes and is there any one attribute greater than others? What does God hate? Does God hate? What are the many things God has chosen to do?

In what or who does He delight? Is there any way that believers in Christ can make God love them more? Is there any way believers in Christ can make God love them less?

Is knowing God exists sufficient to save an individual from God’s wrath? If not, what can or does save a sinner from the wrath of God. Is God a God of wrath?

As you can see, there are many questions surrounding the subject of knowing God. Our goal is to acquire biblical answers. I encourage you to read, meditate and even memorize Jeremiah 9:23-24. Let’s begin.

²³ Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, ²⁴ but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23–24 (ESV)

Soli deo Gloria!

³² Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” ³³ And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ³⁸ Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹ And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.” (Matthew 15:32–39 (ESV)

Biblical scholars have debated whether Matthew’s recounting of Jesus’ feeding of the four thousand is the same miracle as the feeding of the five thousand that Matthew previously recorded (Matt. 14:19-21). The consensus is that these two chronicles are separate and distinct miracles.

First, Jesus feeding the five thousand occurred in Galilee (Matt. 13:53; 14:22). Mark recorded that Jesus’ feeding the four thousand occurred in the Decapolis (Mark 7:31-37). This was a Gentile populated area. Therefore, the first supernatural feeding was to the Jews. The second was to Gentiles. The amount of people, five and four thousand respectively, did not include women and children. Jesus fed proportionately more people than the initial number indicates.  

Second, the first miraculous feeding involved two fish and five loaves of bread (Matt. 14:17). Today’s text indicates that the disciples had in their possession seven loaves and a few small fish (Matt. 15:34).

Third, the remnants for loaves for the first miraculous feeding were twelve full baskets (Matt. 14:20; John 6:13). The remnants for the second miraculous feeding were seven full baskets (Matt. 15:37).

In both instances, the people had their fill and were satisfied (Matt. 14:20; 15:37). Both illustrated that Jesus is the Bread of Life (John 6).

“The evidence compels us to take these stories at face value -— descriptions of two different, miraculous feedings. The five thousand were clearly Jews because the group followed Jesus from Nazareth and other surrounding towns (Matt. 13:53–14:21). On the other hand, the four thousand were probably Gentiles. Just prior to feeding them, Jesus healed many of the four thousand who then “glorified the God of Israel” (15:29–31). Jews could speak of the Lord this way, but it is more likely that Gentiles would say such things as the Jewish crowds in Matthew do not use this title elsewhere. More importantly, Mark locates the events of today’s passage in the Decapolis (7:31–8:10), a region of ten predominantly Gentile cities east of the Sea of Galilee,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

The purpose of Jesus’ miracles were not just to suspend the laws of nature; laws He Himself created (John 1:1-3). Rather, Jesus’ miracles purposely displayed His person, power and presence; not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. This miraculous power continues today in the preaching, and conversion of souls, of and by the Gospel.

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 Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17 ESV)

By grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, every believer in Christ is a result of God’s miraculous work.

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁹ “Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. ³⁰ And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, ³¹ so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:29–31 (ESV)

It is important to observe the geographical context of Matthew 15:19. Matthew records that, ““Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee.” The sentence indicates that where Jesus went on from was the area of Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 15:21). Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee. The distance between the two Phoenician cities and the Galilean area is 177 miles.

How long would it have taken Jesus and His disciples to make this journey? The average foot speed for most adults is three miles per hour, or twenty minutes per mile. Dividing 177 by 3 equals 59. At an average foot speed of three miles per hour, it would have taken Jesus and His followers approximately 59 hours to make the 177-mile trip to Galilee from Tyre. This is roughly a 2.5-day journey. As John Wayne would say, “A good stretch of the legs.”

Upon arriving at Galilee, Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there. Mark 7:31 says that Jesus was in the region of the Decapolis. The Decapolis was a term meaning “ten cities” that designates a group of Hellenistic (Greek) towns predominately located on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. The area was probably the area known in the Old Testament as Gilead, and includes what is today northwest Jordan and southern Syria. Matthew recorded Jesus’ earlier visit to the Decapolis in Matthew 8:28-9:1. These inhabitants were Gentiles.

As before, the crowds brought the sick and infirm to Jesus. These included the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others with various maladies. All these conditions evidenced the consequences of the fall of man into sin (Gen. 3:1-7). The people place these sick at the feet of Jesus and He healed them all.

What was the response of the crowd?  They wondered (θαυμάζω; thaumazo). They were astonished and marveled at what Jesus had done. They then glorified the God of Israel. It would be these same people, who were 4,000 men plus women and children (Matt. 15:38), that Jesus would feed with seven loaves of bread and a few, small fish (Matt. 15:34).

“Jesus’ ministry in this area reveals that the kingdom is for Jew and Gentile alike. His miracles here figure predominantly in the prediction of the Messiah’s reign in Isaiah 35. Christ’s work here shows that His blessing is for the nations, which may explain why His Jewish disciples had trouble conceiving that Jesus would feed unclean Gentiles (Matt. 15:33). Even Peter struggled to believe that the nations could become full citizens of God’s kingdom (Gal. 2:1–10).” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

Jesus, as the Bread of Life (John 6), is so not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles (Romans 1:16-17). Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

²⁵ “But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.” (Matthew 15:25–28 (ESV)

Jesus and His disciples initially refused the Canaanite woman’s request for her daughter’s healing (Matt. 15:21-24). However, she persisted. She came and knelt before Jesus. Knelt (προσκυνέω; proskuneo) means to prostrate oneself in worship. She continually said, “Lord, help me.” The woman not only acknowledged Jesus as Lord by her words (Matt. 15:22), but also by her behavior.

Jesus responded by saying,” “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” The reference to dogs (κυνάριον; kunarion) refers to a family pet and not a stray on the street or alley. Jesus invoked the image of children being Israel and the family dog being Gentiles. Ministering to Israel came first before Jesus would minister to the Gentile nations.

However, the woman responded by saying, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” The woman understood the metaphor Jesus used. She did not deny its significant meaning. She knew she was a Gentile but she pleaded for God’s gracious provision for her daughter.

Jesus said, ““O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” The word great (μέγας; megas) means surprising. Faith (πίστις; pistis) is trust, commitment, dependence and worship of Christ. Jesus acknowledged that the woman’s faith in Him was astonishing. Jesus granted her request and her daughter was immediately healed. Like the healing of the nobleman’s son (John 4:46-54), Jesus did not have to be with the woman’s daughter to heal her daughter.

Jesus took the opportunity to test her faith, which explains His delay in granting her request. This behavior is not unusual with God. Abraham and Sarah had to wait a long time for the LORD to grant their heart’s desire (Gen. 21:1-5; Rom. 4:18-21).

“Jesus delayed to heed her requests in order to test her faith, that is, to refine it as silver is refined and purified. He wanted to give her faith an opportunity for more glorious expression. He aimed to strengthen it by means of the answer He had given her is vs. 24 and 26. She would now begin to realize, far better that if He had immediately healed her daughter, what an extraordinary blessing she was receiving,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.

The woman was reverential, earnest, loving, humble and hopeful. She was also persevering in her God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Divine love is so infinite and marvelous that it even praises a human being for exercising a gift – in this case faith—with which this very divine love has endowed her, and which apart from that divine activity could not have gone into action at all,” concludes Dr. Hendriksen.

Soli deo Gloria!

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²¹ And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:21–24 (ESV)

Following the Jewish leaders refusal to hear Him (Matthew 15:1-20), Jesus went to the pagan territories of Tyre and Sidon. It was there that He met a Canaanite woman. She confessed Christ as the “Lord” and the “Son of David.” Both were titles for God and the Messianic expectations of God’s people. Ironically, it was a Gentile who recognized Jesus as Lord even though Israel’s leaders did not.

The Gospel of Mark reveals further information concerning the woman. Mark 7:24-26 says, “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. ²⁵ But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.”

The title Syrophoenician means that the woman was a native of either Tyre, Sidon or Syria. While Jesus immediately answered the religious leaders (Matt. 15:3), Matthew records that Jesus did not answer the Canaanite woman. He did not even speak to her. Neither did the disciples.

However, while the disciples did not speak to the woman (see John 4:1-9), they did speak to Jesus about her. They said, ““Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” The disciples were commanding Jesus to dismiss and reject the woman. The reason they gave was that she was screaming after them. In reality, she was crying out only to Jesus for mercy and help for her daughter. The disciples showed a callous lack of sympathy and compassion to someone in desperate need.

Initially, Jesus appeared to be just as unsympathetic. He said to her, ““I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

“Jesus rejects her pleas to heal her daughter at first, telling her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (vv. 23–24). These words are not to be taken as a rejection. True, Jesus was sent to preach the Gospel of the kingdom first to the Jews, but He did not ignore Gentiles. In fact, He healed some men outside of the covenant community before meeting this woman (Matt. 8:28–34). Jesus is testing her to determine whether she will cling to Him steadfastly,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

Have you ever been interrupted by someone who needs something from you immediately? How do you react in that circumstance and situation? Do you feel pressured to comply with their request when you haven’t had time to consider their request?

What principles can we glean from this portion of Scripture? We’ll soon see when we resume out study in Matthew’s Gospel when next we meet.

Soli deo Gloria!

¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:15–20 (ESV)

Following Jesus’ discussion concerning tradition vs. the teachings of Scripture (Matt. 15:1-14), the Apostle Peter said to Jesus, “Explain the parable to us.” A parable (παραβολή; parabole) is a saying or proverb often containing symbolism. Parables are often compared to allegories. Peter demanded that Jesus explain or interpret His previous statements to the Pharisees and the scribes.

Jesus replied, ““Are you also still without understanding?” The personal pronoun you that is in the text is plural. This reveals that Jesus spoke to not only Peter but also to the rest of the disciples. He challenged them with His question. The phrase without understanding (ἀσύνετος; asynetos) refers to being senseless or foolish. It can also mean stupid. Jesus was being pretty direct with the men. His tone appears to be harsh.

“The “parable” is not at all hard to understand, but it was hard for even the disciples to accept. Years later, Peter still found it hard to accept that all foods are clean (Acts 10:14),” states Dr. John MacArthur.

Jesus then said, “¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.” The Lord’s point was that true defilement was not because of what goes into one’s stomach. Rather, it was what comes out of one’s mouth, because one’s speech reflects the true condition of one’s soul.

The Lord provided further illustration by saying, “. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person.” Rather than appealing to tradition, as the religious leaders had, Jesus appealed to Scripture in describing true defilement (Exodus 20:12-17).

“Wicked schemes reveal themselves in wicked words and deeds. Matthew mentions several of these, arranging them more or less according to their sequence in the second table of the Ten Commandments,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen. “By no means are all of the items mentioned necessarily associated with spoken words, but all of them come from within; from the heart.  The action is from within, outward.”

Mark’s list is twice as long (Mark 7:21-22). The important point, or moral, is the same in both gospels; “To eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Believers in Christ must focus upon the things that really matter and not on trivial, ritualistic externals. Have an undefiled day.

Soli deo Gloria!