Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel – The Two Traits of a Dog That God Cannot Tolerate

Our church fathers for today's liturgical service.

Have chosen a reading from the Gospel according to St. Matthew and chapter 15 verses 21 till.

The end of the chapter which is verse 39.

It is Matthew chapter 15 and verses 21 to 39 inclusive. The Lord Jesus is trying to send a very profound message to all of us by mentioning two things in these beautiful golden verses. While the Lord was walking with his disciples, a woman came from the south of Lebanon, from Tyre and Sidon or Sidon. And it is in the south of Lebanon. That was the ancient world back then.

She was a Canaanite. And the word Canaanite refers to the real Arabs. And the true Arabs are the Gulf region. These are the true Arabs. The Saudis, the Qataris, the Emiratis, the Bahrainis. This is the true Canaanite, the true Arab world. So she was a Canaanite coming from south of Lebanon. In other words, she was back then from the pagan world, not an Israelite, not from the 12 tribes of Israel, a totally outside the circle, a total stranger, a rejected person, in other words. So she comes to the Lord Jesus and she begs him, To heal her daughter. Because she was suffering immensely. She was demented. So she asked the Lord Jesus. And it is the first time ever. She is meeting Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As far as his

humanity is concerned.

He is a Jew. He is from the tribe of Judah. From the Israelite world.

So to her, this is unheard of, unknown. It's not in her custom. So she goes outside of her comfort zone. And she would have been blamed immensely for this. And probably persecuted for it. But she came with faith. Faith, my beloved. That's the first point. She comes and says, she's crying out and saying, Lord, have mercy, son of David.

Have mercy on my daughter. She is suffering immensely.

She is demented.

The Lord Jesus ignores her completely. The disciples come to the Lord. They say, Lord, she is yelling and making a big deal.

Why are you ignoring her? Just grant her her wish and let her go in peace.

The Lord Jesus says, I was not sent but to the lost sheep from the tribe of Israel.

She kept on yelling and begging the Lord.

And then the Lord says to the disciples, It is not good to take the bread of the sons and give it to the dogs.

It's a harsh word. It's not right.

It is not good to take the bread from the sons, the Israelite world, and give it to the dogs.

Yes.

The women, the Canaanite women replies to the Lord and says, yes, Lord, also dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the tables of.

Their masters and be filled.

And the Lord turns to her finally and says, great is your faith, woman. Her daughter was healed on the spot without going to her house. without going and putting his hand on her daughter. Because of the mother's faith, the daughter was healed. That is a form of intercession, yeah? If people on earth intercede and others get healed, how much more those who are in paradise, in the presence of the Lord, truly in the presence of the Lord, how much more when they intercede, we get.

Healed, my beloveds.

But the Lord Jesus says, it is not good to take the bread of the sons and give it to the dogs.

The woman said, yes.

I'll accept to be called a dog. But as long as I am at your feet, Lord Jesus, let me be that dog. It is better than being a human yet distant from you. I'd rather be a dog and call the dog for as long as I am with you, Lord. But what was the Lord Jesus meaning when he said, it is not good to take the bread of the sons and give it to the dogs? Is the Lord Jesus calling people dogs?

Of course not. What does that mean?

Well, to understand what the Lord means, we need to go to Psalm 22. You see, the Holy Bible explains itself clearly. by itself. So when we go to Psalm 22, Psalm 22 begins with the very, very first verse. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now, King David wrote this psalm, but obviously the Holy Spirit is speaking through King David. It is the Lord Jesus here. It's not King David who was crucified. It was Christ in the end of times. So Psalm 22 talks about the crucifixion.

Of the Lord Jesus.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is the cry Christ cried out while he was nailed on the cross. Now, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When the Lord Jesus asks a question, It is a rhetorical question. For he is God. He does not need to know through a question. He already is the omniscient, omnipresent God. He knows everything. He knows all things. He does not need to ask. But it was a rhetorical question, meaning the answer was in the question.

In other words, the way we need to read it properly is this way. My God, my God, you had to forsake me. Now, why was Jesus Christ forsaken on the cross?

For four reasons.

Now, what did the Lord Jesus do? He took our place. The cross was meant for me and you. The cross was meant for all of us. The cross is for the sinners. Christ is the sinless. So since He took our place, He took upon Himself our sins. Therefore, He had to be forsaken in order for His heavenly Father to accept us.

The forsaken. So why was the Lord forsaken? Four things. Where do we find those four things?

In the same Psalm 22 verses 20 to 21. Verses 20 to 21 answer verse 1. Same Psalm 22. My God, my God, you had to forsake me for four reasons. Number one, verse 20. Deliver me from the sword.

That's one.

Number two, and From the power of the dog. Oh, there is the dog. And from the power of the dog.

Number two. Number three. Save me from the mouth of the lion. Number four.

And from the horns of the wild oxen. So four things Christ was forsaken. One, for the sword. Two, from the dog. Three, the lion's mouth. Four, the horns of the wild oxen.

What is the sword? God's judgment. God's judgment was upon all of us.

Because God said to Adam, the former Adam, the day you eat from the forbidden tree, surely you shall die from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now we ate from that tree, we broke God's word and God's word is justice. Therefore, God's just judgment had fallen upon all of us. And what is God's judgment upon all of us? The day you break my word, you will die 100%. And what kind of a death is it? It is the death where your spirit separates from the Creator God. That is the true death and that is the eternal death when the Spirit separates from the Creator. So the judgment was the sword upon all of us. The Lord Jesus took us. our place and took that judgment upon Himself in order for us to

be delivered from the sword.

Judgment.

The other one, save me from the lion's mouth. The lion's mouth, the grave of You know how the lion swallows, so as the.

Graves swallow all of us.

Save me from the grave, O God, because I'm trying to live and I'm trying every way possible under the sun just in order to prolong my life on earth, yet I am unable to escape death. Death brings me down to the lion's mouth, the grave, and I am swallowed by it.

The grave is empty for Christ is risen. Amen.

Overcame the lion's mouth. Now, what are the horns of the wild oxen? Well, there is two horns. One horn is called death and the other horn is called hell. You see, sin made death enter. And when death entered our human nature, death took us to hell. Psalm 23, where King David is saying, Does death.

Have a shadow? Yes. What is the shadow of death? Hell.

Therefore, hell is much more powerful than death. If somebody dies, It is possible for them to come back from the dead. But if somebody ends up in hell, it is impossible to come out of hell.

Christ did it.

He entered death and by His resurrection stepped on death. And when He rose from the dead, He took with Him those who slept on the hope of resurrection.

Who were captively held in Hades.

So even though I end up in hell, King David says, the Lord will take me out of there.

Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want anything.

And since the Lord is God, then with God, the impossible is made possible.

Now I'll come to the dog.

It is not good for us to take the bread from the sons.

And give it to the dogs. Yes, master.

Even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's tables and get filled by them.

What is the dog here? The dog represents the flesh.

Actually, when you read verse 20, It says, save.

My own from the power of the dog.

My own in English, it's not 100% clear. But when you go to the original text, it says, save my own.

Yes, correct. It is in a way correct.

My own means my only beloved. Now, which is the only beloved to the Lord Jesus?

The church.

The church is His beloved. And the only beloved, the only bride, the one and only. When we speak and say churches, that is theologically incorrect. Because Christ does not have churches. He has only one church because the church is his bride and the Lord has only one bride and one only.

There are no churches. It is one. We divided the church. But to Christ, it is one. And will always be one because St.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that the church is the body of Christ. Question to every Christian. How many bodies does Christ have?

Only one. And Christ is the head to this body.

So deliver my beloved one from the power of the dog. Deliver my beloved church. The church represents the body. Now the dog represents the body. The Lord ignored this Canaanite woman when she was begging Him for mercy.

The Lord did not answer her. He spoke to the disciples.

What the Lord is saying to all of us, we are this Canaanite woman. When you live for the body, when you walk for the body, and when you follow this body, I will hear you not.

Because I do.

Not listen to every person that lives for the flesh. In other words, if you are living for the world, if you are living materialistically, if you are living in the physical realm, for the physical realm, no matter how much you try to get to me, I will hear you not.

Because I do not give what the body desires, I give the spirit, not the body.

If you're living for the flesh, you are living for the lust of this world.

You have no place with Christ. I'll give you two characteristics of a dog. The Lord cannot stand. Are you ready? Come on, are you ready?

The dog barks at everyone that passes him by. You're a man, you're a woman, you're young, you're old. You are in a wheelchair, you are not. All he knows is just barks. Whoever comes and goes, it.

Is always barking, barking, barking, barking. That's what the dog does all the time.

The Lord says, if you are living in a worldly way, flesh, body, If you are living for this world in a materialistic way, you will live and do things like the dog does. All you do is talk about people.

Wow, wow, wow, wow.

Did you know, did you know? Did you know so-and-so just got married? Did you know so-and-so just got divorced? Did you know so-and-so just dumped her boyfriend and now she's got another one? Did you know our next door neighbor, they just bought a brand new car.

What's it to you?

Mind your own business. Do not stick your nose where it doesn't belong. Stop barking at people's lives. Mind your own life. Stop talking about people. Stop gossiping about people. Because gossip will lead to judgment. And the Lord says, do not judge lest you be judged. Mind your own business. Don't be like a dog. Pre-occupied with people's affairs. A person that is busy with people has.

No time for God.

And the Lord says, if you don't have the time for me, why should I have the time for you?

You see, the problem is, it is not in the doctor. Dr. Adel is the best doctor in the world.

But the problem is, when I as a patient, when I go and Dr. Adel says to me, are you okay? If I say yes, the doctor can't help me. I need to confess that I am sick so that the doctor can do something.

About my sickness.

The Lord Jesus says, if you do not confess your sin, how can I heal you?

I'm ready to heal.

But the doctor cannot heal unless you as a patient confess that you are sick and acknowledge that you are sick. Then and then only you are consenting to me to enter your life and heal it completely. So if you are too busy with the world, you have no time for God. God can't help those who do not give their time to him.

Cannot tell them.

I was watching this video a long time ago there was this preacher and he put it so beautifully they they brought him for an interview without telling him that the other person present in their interview is an atheist he didn't know and it was live So when they went live, afterwards he realized the other person sitting opposite to him was an atheist. So the atheist jumped at that Christian preacher. And he said, you believe that the blood of your Jesus Christ forgives the sins of all people and the world he said yes of course he said well there's plenty of sinners in the world where's that blood forgiving sins and healing and fixing The preacher replied to him, he said, do you believe there is

a soap factory?

Soap. He said, yes.

He said, do you believe there are people working in the soap factory?

He said, I believe so.

He said, well, even though they are working in the soap factory, but they are still dirty. You see, if you work in the soap factory, it will not clean you until you take the soap and apply it to your body. Then the soap will clean. If you believe there is blood of Jesus Christ ready to heal, if you do not believe in that blood, if you do not apply it upon you, the blood cannot save you.

You will still remain filthy. And dirty. So. The Lord says.

Do not bark like a dog. Mind your own life. Stop talking about people.

Number two. You're going to say. Oh Bishop. That's kind of yucky. But I'm going to say it. The dog. Is a very unique animal. When it eats something and then.

Throws it out, vomits it out, the dog goes back and eats its own vomit. You find that in the dog. The dog eats, throws it out, and then goes and eats it again. And don't we do that, the same thing as the dog does?

We sin.

We go and repent and ask for forgiveness and we go back and sin the same thing all over again. We eat our own vomit. I've sinned in this particular way. I went and asked the Lord Jesus to forgive me. I went back and sinned the same way again. I asked for repentance and I sinned again. And I asked for repentance and I sinned again. How many times are you going to repeat the same sin.

Over and over and over again?

If you are going to live in this sinful way, the Lord cannot hear you.

And cannot heal you.

When you come to the Lord Jesus, there has to be a change of heart, of mind.

Of your ways.

You cannot come to the Lord and keep the same friends who take you to the wrong places for the wrong reasons.

And then say, Lord, why aren't you healing me?

You have chosen to remain in your sinful life. The Lord can't heal. You need to walk away. Can't keep on repeating the same mistake over and over again. You need to get up, dust it off and move on. Leave it behind you. That's why the Lord was not listening to her. At the beginning. Because the Lord says, a worldly person is too preoccupied with the world, no time for God.

How can I help them?

A worldly person sins over and over and over and again and again and again and keeps on repeating the same mistake.

But he still comes back and asks for forgiveness.

Like I forgave you and you went and did it again and I forgave you and you did it again and I forgave you. The hundredth, the tenth, the millionth time, next time I'm going to break you. I can't keep on forgiving you. Because my blood, yes, I gave it for free. But let me tell you one thing. You step on my blood, I'll step on you.

Actually, my dad will. Not me.

I gave my blood for my dad. This blood is too precious for my dad. Anybody steps on it, my dad will break them. This is why when the Lord God went to Moses in Egypt... And he said, you take the blood of that animal that you've just sacrificed, the Passover lamb. You take that blood and apply it to the sides of the door and the top of the door, not the foot of the door. Because that blood was symbolic for the blood of the Lamb of God.

God says to Moses, this blood in the end of times is my son's. It is the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that passes you over from death to life, from slavery to freedom, from a slave to the son, from hell to heaven. It is the blood of my son. You better apply it. to the top of the door and the sides of the door. You apply it to the foot of the door. Anyone steps on it, I will break that one. This blood, nobody steps on it and gets away with it.

Nobody.

But the Lord, even though He ignored that Canaanite women at the beginning, but He came back to show those who thought they were the children of God, Those who thought they had faith in God, those who thought they were special to God, he wanted to put them to shame by this Canaanite woman. So in other words, the Lord is hitting two birds with one stone. He is saying to those who are faithful, you better be careful lest pride engulf you and you think you are someone special to God. You are not any better than anyone else.

Don't ever humiliate or degrade any other human being just because you are a strong believer in Jesus Christ. That strong faith you did not make, I gave it by my grace, by my precious blood.

It is not your doing, it is God's doing.

So do not be boastful about something you had.

No hand in it.

So when you are a true believer, when you are a church comer, when you read the Holy Bible, and when you pray and you love the Lord Jesus, and I mean from the bottom of your heart you love Him, you better come with fear and trembling and saying, Lord, have mercy on me, I the sinner.

I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your mercy.

I thank you for allowing me to be so close to you in your holy church, in your holy presence. Lord, I beg you, do not let me veer off because I'm a sinner. I'm too weak. I can't handle this. I can't preserve it, protect it. Lord, have mercy on me, I the sinner.

Have mercy, Lord.

So, the higher you go in faith, you better put your head at the feet.

Of the Lord. Come down and humble yourself.

Because those disciples thought God has chosen them.

She is a Canaanite woman.

She is like a dog. The Lord says, I'm going to show you who the dog is. A Canaanite woman from Tyre and Sidon, in that particular region, they use their god was Satan, by the way.

And they used to worship Satan, Baal.

Baal of the Old Testament represents Satan. So their god was Satan. She grew up knowing one thing. follow Satan, worship Satan. She only heard there is a great preacher and teacher in the land of Israel. His name is Jesus. He's a miracle doer. She said, he's the only one who's going to save my daughter. Only by hearing about him.

She never saw him. And when she went to him, you know what she called him? Lord.

A Satan worshiper meeting Jesus Christ for the first time in her entire life.

She calls him Lord.

And do you know what the Holy Bible says about the Lord? And the Lord is God. So she said, you're my God from now on. And if there is anyone that can heal and deliver my daughter, it's you.

You are God.

I'm not looking up to heaven. I'm looking at you because you are God. What kind of faith that puts the entire Israelite nation to shame? So if you have faith, don't ever look down at people. Because God will humble you, will break you, and will make.

The dog a saint.

He says, woman, I just said it is not good to take the bread of the sons and give it to the dogs.

She said, yes, yes, master.

Dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from the tables of their masters and get filled. I am happy to be called a dog as long as I'm with you. It matters nothing else for me. As long as I am at your feet. Let me be that dog. I am grateful for that.

Wow.

And the sons will not humble themselves to that level. She surpassed Simon Peter. She surpassed Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew.

And she surpassed all of us. This is why. The Lord Jesus does.

Not look at what kind of uniform you are wearing, does not look at the place you are standing.

He looks at your heart, my son and my daughter.

Just because you're a bishop, standing up on this holy altar does not make me better than anyone.

If anything, I'm the least of all.

It is the grace of the Lord that brought me here and made me worthy to stand.

I'm a nobody. I'm a nothing. If it wasn't for the Lord, I'm the number one sinner. The number one. The Lord wants two things. Have faith in Him.

And humble yourself before him.

Have faith in him.

And humble yourself before him. Don't say I did. Don't say I built. Don't say I preached. Don't say I healed. Don't say I brought people to Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

I'm a nothing.

You're a nothing. All of us are nothing. It is the Lord who did it. I just want to be at your feet Lord. Even if you call me a dog. It's music to my ear. It's better than Bach and Beethoven playing together. It is music to my ear. Where is this faith in Christ? This tangible faith. This Pure faith. It's a first time encounter in her entire life. She called him Lord. She bowed before him in worship. Where were the Israelites who thought they were the chosen people of God? This Canaanite woman left them for dead. Let me tell you this. I pray that all of you make it to heaven. And then by the grace of the Lord, like I'll come last, you know. But I pray when we go to heaven, you will meet people.

The Lord will remind you of this moment.

You will meet people that you met on earth. You will meet them in heaven.

And you're going to say, whoa, what is this guy doing here, man? Like I thought this guy was going straight to hell. And hang on, he's got a better place than me.

Wow. Wow.

The Lord is going to say, the only one who judges truly is me, my son, not you. Because I am the God of hearts. I look inside, I don't look outside. You see, your judgment was based on external matters, but my judgment is based on internal matters. And what is internal is eternal. So my daughter, I'm saying it with love and humility. If you're spending one hour on your face to make it look beautiful, you better spend 10 hours on your heart to make it more beautiful.

Because the face will fade, but the heart will live forever. If it's beautified for Christ.

No one will remain young forever.

Forever. No one will remain beautiful forever.

No matter how many ironing and stretching of the skin, you will age. But the heart will be renewed like an eagle when it's given to Christ. The heart will never age. Make your heart, your inside, beautiful for Christ. Focus on internal matters, not external. And forget about the internal. Don't live for the flesh and forget about the Spirit.

Because you will starve the Spirit. And before you know it, the Spirit will die inside of you. It will be suffocated by the toxicity of the flesh.

Love the Lord. Live the Lord. In faith and humility. I like to talk. I always say, People sometimes give me watches as a gift. I'm very grateful for that. And you know what?

I don't want to say no thank you because it's not nice. Especially if it's an expensive one. I can sell it later on. And people give me watches. And that's beautiful.

I love them. I love them for giving me the watches. But you know what? I don't wear it for one reason. Because....

I want the Lord to remind me always that I am in His holy presence. And when I am in His holy presence, there is no time. Time ceases when you are in the presence of your beloved. My son, when you are with your sweetheart, do you sit in that restaurant with your sweetheart and every two minutes you look at your watch and you go, oh my goodness, time is not moving Come on, man.

It felt like an eternity. It's only 15 minutes. You never look at the watch because you are in the presence of your sweetheart. Where love is present, time is absent.

The last time you will ever look at the time You will never look at the time when you are with your sweetheart because the last thing you want is time to take you away from the love of your heart. Is Christ your love? Is Christ your heart? Is Christ your life? Then when you are with Him, time ceases.

What is eternity?

Timeless.

There is no time. Why there is no time in eternity? Because eternity is all love.

There's nothing else.

So where there is love, there is no time. So even if I want to look at the time, I see nothing. Because I want to be with my sweetheart. His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

These are the bottom of his sandals.

You know here? That is the bottom of the sandal. I'm kissing it. I'm licking it. I'm eating that dust that's stuck on the sole of that sandal.

Now I'm cleansed. I wish he makes me his sandals. So that way I'm stuck with him.

Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is a belief in the person of Jesus Christ. That is why Christianity is based on love. Because it's to do with a person, not law. Religions are based on law. Where there is law, there is no love. Law says you break me, I break you. I don't care who you are, what you are.

You can beg that police officer who pulled you over for speeding till kingdom comes.

Officer, please, I beg you. I was in a rush.

I wanted to eat the Assyrian dolma or the Italian pizza and it was waiting for me. There was a barbecue at my parents' house and I was rushing. I was like, tough luck, mate. You broke the law. Pay the price.

There is no love. You don't say to the police officer, I love you, officer, please. I love you. He says, what? I'll break you. But when that police officer pulls you over, happens to be your sweetheart.

He's going to say, my darling, I've got the camera here.

Everything is recorded. I can't wipe the penalty, but my love, I'll pay it for you. That's what Christ did He says there is a.

camera in heaven recording everything I can't just delete it but because you are my love I'll pay you're fine.

I'll pay it and he paid it with his blood with his life happily happily Love the Lord Jesus. And whatever He says to you and whatever He does to you, trust Him. It's all good.

You may not know it now. You may not realize it now. But later on, you will for sure. And you will thank Him forever for it.

Trust Him. Amen. Let's bow our heads, my beloveds.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, amen. Our good God and full of mercy, our good God and full of mercy, whose grace and mercy is poured upon all. Pour, my Lord, the compassion of the delightfulness of your love upon your servants and again transform them in the hope of renewal to the life of repentance. Renew in them your Holy Spirit by whom they are sealed for the day of salvation. Purify them by your compassion from all flesh and spiritual blemishes. and assure the hope of their faith by the aid of your grace, and instill the walks of their behavior.

In the paths of righteousness.

Please them along with the saints in your kingdom by the assurance of the hope of their faith in the adoption as your children and in the joy of your absolving mysteries. Empower them by the aid of your mercies to observe your commandments and fulfill your will to confess, worship, and praise your holy name, the Lord of all, Father and Son and.

Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

May the Lord Jesus forgive us and make us worthy to come and receive Him in the true body and the true blood of Christ.

Amen. God bless you. I love you. But Jesus Christ of Nazareth loves you the most. God bless.

You

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel – The Two Traits of a Dog That God Cannot Tolerate

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