Let us turn to God's Word and
we turn to that portion that we read in the Gospel according
to St. Matthew in chapter 15 and I want
with the Lord's help this morning to direct your attention for
a short while to the words that we have in verse 25 in Matthew
chapter 15 verse 25 then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
help me. These words spoken concerning
the woman of Canaan mentioned previously in verse 22. Then came she and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. And the subject I want to take
up really this morning is that of faith and worship. Faith and worship. See how the Lord goes on to say
concerning this woman at verse 28, A woman great is thy faith,
be it unto thee even as thou wilt. We know that without faith
it is impossible to please God. That whatsoever is not of faith
is sin. Faith then is such a vital part
of our worship. And previously in this chapter
we see the Lord speaking of worship that is abominable in the sight
of God, because it is not sincere. It is not that worship that is
mixed with faith when the Lord speaks to the scribes and Pharisees
there at verse 7. Ye hypocrites, while ye desires
prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth not unto me with
their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their hearts
is far from me, but in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men." Where there is that true worship, it
is rooted always in faith, and faith not in the traditions of
men, but faith in the Word of God, that worship then that is
properly regulated by the Word of God. faith and worship. And what we see with regards
to this woman is something of the nature of her faith in this
whole passage that speaks of the Lord's dealings with her.
We see in her the coming of faith but we also see the overcoming
of faith and I want us to consider those two aspects but first of
all to say something with regards to her overcoming faith see how
this woman initially is refused and ignored We're told at verse
22, Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and
cried unto him, that is, unto the Lord Jesus, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David! My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil, but he answered her not a word. How she appears to be ignored,
and yet we need to be careful we're not to imagine for a moment
that the Lord Jesus in his dealings with anyone is in any sense capricious. This is God. This is God's manifest
in the flesh. This is that one who is revealed
to us in the scriptures. This is that God who is all goodness. As the psalmist says, thou art
good and thou doest good. But now we have to remember here
something of the historical context. Now that the Lord Jesus' ministry
during the days that he is here upon the earth, he is very much
confined to the nation of Israel. As he says in verse 24, I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And previously, in this Gospel,
we are told how having made choice of the 12, he sends them forth
to minister. And what does the Lord say? In
chapter 10, verse 5, verse 12, Jesus sent forth and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles and into
any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. His ministry is confined to that
people, the ancient people of God. You only have I known, says
God, through Amos to Israel, you only have I known of all
the families of the earth, and we are familiar. with the language
of the Psalmist, there at the end of that 147th Psalm, where
we see the same truth, that God's grace in the Old Testament, and
even as we come to the ministry of the Lord Jesus, that grace
is confined to the nation of Israel. He showeth his word unto
Jacob, and his statutes and His judgments unto Israel, He hath
not dealt so with any nation. And as for His judgments, they
have not known them. Praise ye the Lord." This is that ministry then that
the Lord is exercising in accordance with the purpose of God. He is
sent specifically to the nation of Israel. And yet, we see how
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. So, it was that after the Jews
rejected, so this Gospel is to go out to the Gentiles. And this is spoken of in the
Old Testament in prophecies, is it not? That He will be rejected.
and that the gospel will then go out to the ends of the earth. A light to lighten the Gentiles
is that that will come through the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ ultimately. And it is Paul in Ephesians chapter
3 who unfolds that great mystery. This man who was such a zealot
for the traditions of the fathers who was an Israelite of the Israelites,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews. who was of the tribe of Benjamin. How it is this same man Saul
of Tarsus who becomes Paul the Apostle who unfolds that great
mystery of the calling of the Gentiles. We see it there in
that third chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians. Again, There,
in Ephesians 3, verse 5, he speaks of that, "...in other ages, which
was not made known of the sons of men, as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles
should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers
of the promise in Christ by the gospel." He is the one who is
called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. But here we have that
that pertains previous to what God from all eternity appointed. During the course of the Lord's
ministry, He is very conscious that His preaching, His teaching
should be to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And this
woman, she's a Gentile woman, she's a Canaanite woman, And
so the Lord initially, we see, ignores her. She is refused. But she's not only refused, she's
rejected. She's rejected. She's rejected
by the Lord's disciples. What do we read here? At the
end of verse 23, how the disciples came and besought Him saying,
send her away for she crieth after her. Had the Lord ignored
her? Said nothing to her? Well now
the disciples want something more, they want her to be dismissed,
to be sent away. She's rejected. Now that was
true historically, she is of Canaan. And back in Genesis The early
chapters, Genesis chapter 9. The language that we have there
after the flood concerning Canaan who was the grandson of Noah. Cursed be Canaan. Oh, there was so much against
this woman of Canaan. She was from an accursed people. When the children of Israel are
brought into the Promised Land, what are they to do with regards
to those Canaanites who are inhabiting the land? They are to rid the
land of the Canaanites. They shall utterly destroy them,
says God. Namely, the Canaanites. In no way are they to mix with
these people, these sinful people. They are such a wicked nation.
Again, when we come to the prophecy of Zechariah, how he speaks against
the Canaanite. There shall no more the Canaanite
be in the house of the Lord. Her very nationality stands against
her. Behold, a woman of Canaan, we
read, came out of the same coast. Oh, she's so rejected, not only
her nationality, But then the very words that the disciples
speak, they don't want to know her, they want the Lord to dismiss
her, they want to be rid of her. Send her away, they say. Send
her away, she crieth after us. But then also there is the awful
silence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely in many ways that was
the worst thing of all. She cried unto him. and we're
told the answer to not a word. When the Lord is silent, when
there's no answer to the prayer, how awful it must be. Oh, we
see how the psalmist felt something of that in Psalm 28, he says,
unto thee will I cry, O Lord, be not silent unto me. lest, if thou be silent, I become
like those that go down into the pit." The Lord was silent. How she must have felt. So rejected. So rejected. And then, not only ignored and
rejected, but also, how she is reproached. Even when the Lord
utters those words in verse 24, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Is there not a contrast there
in what she goes on to say in verse 26? Or he says and then she responds,
he says it is not me to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs and she said truth Lord Yet the dogs eat of the
crumbs which fall from their master's table. The contrast
between the sheep and the dogs. The Lord Jesus is sent to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. And He knows His sheep. And they
follow Him. And it is unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. But what of the dogs? What of
the dogs? These were unclean animals, rejected. There was a commandment back
in the law, thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore or the price
of a dog onto the house of the Lord thy God for any vows for
even both are an abomination in the sight of the Lord. Or the price of a dog, it was
abominable. is not to be presented when any
would come into God's house with a vow to worship the Lord how
this woman is so reproached and yes the amazing thing is and
this is where we begin to observe something of a great faith she
can overcome even this reproach And that's what we see in the
way she responds to the words of the Lord. When she utters
that single word, truth. When Christ said it's not meat
to give the children's bread to the dogs. She acknowledges
the truth of it. Truth Lord, she says. Yet the
dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Or can we not here, friends,
observe something of a great humility? Who is she? What is
she? That the Lord should take any
account of her. She acknowledges her unworthiness. It is right that He should, as
we might imagine, treat her as one below notice, one to be ignored,
one to be rejected, one to be reproached. He has no real claims. But isn't this really the language
of those who are truly the children of God? Or do we not see that
in the language of David in the Psalms? In that Psalm from which
we sang in the Metrical Version, that familiar 51st Psalm, David's
great penitential Psalm. And what does he say there, against
thee, the only of thy sins, and on this evil in thy sight? Oh,
many, many times in the Psalms we see David so conscious of
his sin, his unworthiness, and that David is the man after God's
own heart. Why, this woman is one who possesses
a faith similar to the faith of David. She acknowledges her sin. Truth
Lord! But then she can go on to say
something more. The dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. Such humility in the response
of this woman. And how important is that humility?
She has no claim upon the Lord Jesus. She can only beg of Him.
Or Christ says, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. She's denying herself. This is one of the marks of those
who are truly the disciples of the Lord. They deny themselves.
Let him deny himself, says Christ, and take up his cross and follow
me. How she is ready here to venture
to be nothing. And this is what Paul was brought
to. We know that. Though I be nothing, he said.
Though he was that one who, as we see at the end of 2 Corinthians,
was so highly favoured and blessed, caught up to the third heaven.
And yet, oh how the Lord humbles him, that thorn in the flesh.
And he is made to feel a nothing, a zero, a cipher, in the very
presence of his God. And so too with this woman. Whatever
the Lord says, it's true. She is not worthy of his notice
and yet we observe here something of her faith and the overcoming
nature of her faith. That's the thing that stands
out so clearly. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table, she can say. And these
are words of real faith. Matthew Henry says, our faith
can find encouragement even in that which is discouraging. That's
overcoming faith. Even a discouraging word is made
an encouragement. Faith has an overcoming power. It triumphs in the dying hour,
says Isaac once. Overcoming faith. why this is
a victory that overcometh the world even our faith remember
what the wise man tells us back in the book of Proverbs out of
the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet or where there's
a hunger you see and the thirst after God and after the ways
of God and after the word of God what we want is for God to
have dealings with us This is why this woman perseveres, although
the Lord appears to be ignoring her. She will not take no for
an answer, she perseveres. She continues to cry and to call. And what a prayer it is that
she is brought ultimately to utter before the Lord. Here in
our text this morning, verse 25, Then came she and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. It's a short prayer and yet it
is the prayer of great faith. Isn't that what the Lord says?
Verse 28, a woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as
thou wilt and her daughter was made whole from that very hour. A short prayer don't imagine
that because one can stand in a pulpit and make long prayers
and be very articulate in prayer that that's the all important
thing the important thing friends is always is a reality in our
prayers even our short prayers how at times words do so utterly
fail us we were looking only on Thursday at those words in
Psalm 55. Those of you who were present
on that occasion, we had that great text. It's been much on
my mind these past days. What a text it is. Verse 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord
and He shall sustain thee. Ye shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. But when reading through that
psalm, and one read the psalm through, I
didn't read it on that occasion, we read rather from 1 Peter chapter
5, but looking at the psalm, I was so struck subsequently
by what David says in the opening two verses of the same psalm.
The psalm is a prayer, give ear to my prayer O God. and I not
thyself for my supplication attend unto me and hear me I mourn in
my complaint and make a noise that's what David's assessment
was of his prayer it was simply making a noise always when words
fail us you see words fail us what can we say we just make
a noise we groan we sigh And that's all we can do. We can't
really begin to express ourselves adequately. And surely when we're
in such a spot as that, how precious are these short pity prayers. Simply to utter the words, Lord,
help me. Three words. Oh, and yet such
personal words. There's a me there. There's my
me. but there's also that address
to the great God, the Lord, the unchanging Jehovah, Lord help
me. It's a wonderful prayer that
we have here and Christ acknowledges the great faith that lies behind
those words. Now it's interesting when we
compare that with what we're told at the end of chapter 14
concerning a short prayer of Peter's remember there at the end of
that previous chapter we're told about the Lord is walking on
the sea towards the disciples who are in the ship and bold,
impulsive, impetuous Peter is soon out of the boat and he's
walking on the waters toward the Lord and then he's so conscious
of the waves and the wind and he begins to sink and his prayer
is similar to this woman's prayer verse 30 there in chapter 14
beginning to sink he cried saying Lord save me again three words
but now not the word help but another precious word Lord save
me and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him
and said unto him O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
Interesting. The Lord says to the woman, O
woman, great is thy faith. And yet to Peter He says, O thou
of little faith. Now the Lord, He's not rebuking
his prayer, is He? The Lord is rebuking him for
his lack of faith in that he takes his eye off of the Lord
and begins to be aware of the circumstances he is in he's aware
of the great storm that's all about him and he says his eye
is deflected from the Lord that he begins to think there's a
doubt there's a doubt also of course we have to remember that
this man had many greater privileges than ever the Canaanite woman
had why he was a disciple of the Lord he had been with the
Lord, heard his ministry, witnessed his great miracles. Very different
characters really. And that's why there's a difference
in the way in which the Lord speaks to Peter in contrast to
the encouraging word that he utters ultimately to this woman,
O great is thy faith. Be it unto thee, even as thou
wilt. It was great faith, as we sought
to say. It was a faith that would overcome.
Overcome every obstacle. Nothing could stand before the
faith of this woman. When she was ignored and apparently
refused. When she was rejected. When she
was reproached. None of these things could prevent
her. from laying hold on the Lord
Jesus. It's an overcoming faith. But then I said two things with
regards to that faith that is so necessary if we're going to
be those who are true worshippers of the Lord. Without faith we
cannot please Him. But before we know anything of
the overcomings of faith we must know the coming of faith and
that's what we see in this woman so let us turn from her overcoming
faith to consider something of her coming faith what do we read
in verses 21 and 22 she comes to the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus
went thence, and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast, and
cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O LORD, thou Son
of David! My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil." Now we're told to behold this sight in verse
22. The Lord comes into the coast
of Tyre and Sidon and consider what meets Him. Fix our eye here,
this woman of Canaan. She comes out of those coasts
and where does she come? She comes where Jesus is. In our text we're told she then
came she, then came she. and worshipped Him, saying, Lord,
help me. This is the coming of faith. Remember, in Scripture, real
faith is a coming. Well, real faith is a looking.
Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for
I am God and there is none else. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, looking away onto Jesus, looking only
onto Jesus. Faith is a looking, but faith
is also a coming. As we see in John chapter 6 and
verse 35, "...he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and
he that believeth on me shall never thirst." Why, the coming
is the same as the believing. It's not It's not a physical
coming, it's not a local coming faith. It was certainly a physical coming
that we have with regards to this woman. The Lord is present
here upon the earth in the days of his incarnation. He's there
as a real man. and in a physical sense he comes
into this area the coast of Tyre and Sidon and she very literally
comes where he is in a physical sense but it's more than that
you see as we see it there in John 6.35 He that cometh to me
shall never hunger he that believeth on me shall never thirst. That's not a physical thing.
That's a spiritual coming to the Lord Jesus. To eat His flesh,
to drink His blood, to know a real partaking of Him, a real union
and communion with Him. How the Lord speaks of faith
in terms of coming. All that the Father giveth me,
He says, shall come to me. And he that cometh to me, I shall
in no wise cast out. We only have to come, we come
in faith. Now the Lord says to the Jews
in John chapter 5, Ye will not come to me that ye might have
life. Oh, if men and women are left
to themselves they never come to the Lord Jesus. They cannot.
They are dead in trespasses and sins. And when the Lord begins
to deal With us do we not have to learn that awful doctrine
of total depravity, that we are dead, that we are impotent, that
we can do nothing. How the Lord's people have to
be made, a willing people. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. That's the promise that is given
to the Lord Jesus in the everlasting covenant. His people are made
a willing people. And that willing people, what
do they do? What's the evidence of their willingness? They come
to Him. Those who don't come, they're still in that awful state
like those Jews that the Lord speaks to, ye will not come to
me. Man's will is not free, he doesn't
have that spiritual liberty to come of himself. Or the Lord
must make His people a willing people. And this woman was so
willing to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. for surely this is one given
to him by the Father all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me you see and how the Lord Jesus acknowledges her faith
here in verse 28 a woman great is thy faith great is thy faith
on another occasion in the gospel we read of the centurion who
comes to the Lord Jesus concerning his sixth servant. And what does
the Lord say concerning the Roman centurion? Again, a Gentile,
you see. The Lord says, I have not found
so great faith, no, not in Israel. All these Gentiles. All of these
incidents that we have recorded in the Gospel, as I said, When
we think of the Lord's ministry, initially we're to see it in
terms of the Old Testament, where God's grace is confined to this
particular people, the nation of Israel. They are a typical
people, they're the type of the people of God, and the Lord's
ministry is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as he
says in the context here, And yet we have these intimations
throughout the gospel that with the coming of the Lord Jesus,
the grace of God is going to extend now to the ends of the
earth. It's going to embrace sinners of the Gentiles. But
there's a gradual unfolding of these things in the course of
the Lord's own ministry. But he speaks, you see, of that
centurion. The Lord hath not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel. Or this woman, this Canaanite
woman, great is thy faith. She comes. Oh, that's the important
thing, friends, that we come. She comes to the Lord Jesus.
But what does she do in her coming? She also confesses. She confesses
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in verse 22, She addresses him. How does she
address him? Have mercy on me. Oh Lord, thou
son of David. Or she is addressing him as that
one who is the promised one, the Messiah, the Christ of God. We have mentioned later of the
two blind men. and there coming to the Lord
also in chapter 20 verse 30 behold two blind men
sitting by the wayside when they heard that Jesus passed by cried
out saying have mercy on us O Lord thou son of David and the multitude
rebuked them because they should hold their peace. But they cried
the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.
And Jesus stood still and called them and said, What wilt ye that
I shall do unto you? And they said unto him, Lord,
that our eyes may be opened. And Jesus had compassion on them
and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received
sight, and they followed him. Why, again, you see, there is
the overcoming of faith in these men. when the multitude are rebuking
them and telling them to hold their peace, but no, their faith
will not be denied. But how is their faith expressed?
It's the same confession, O Lord, Thou Son of David. They are acknowledging
that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Christ of God. And how important
that is with regards to worship. We have it. We have it in that
man that was born blind. The whole 9th chapter of John's
Gospel tells us of the Lord's dealing with this particular
man who was cast out of the synagogue, excommunicated as it were, from
the nation of Israel. And there the Lord finds him. Verse 35 there in John 9, Jesus
heard that they had cast him out. When he had found him, he
said unto him, Dost thou believe I am the Son of God? He answered
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus
said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped him. Again we have it you see. where
there is that real faith and that true confession of the Lord
Jesus Christ thus I believe on the Son of God and the man says I believe and he worshipped him
all the confession that these people are making It's that acknowledgement
of the deity of the Lord Jesus, that He is God's. That He is
God's, manifest in the flesh. God standing before them, having
the presence of deity. Oh, what thinking of Christ,
whose Son is her. That lovely hymn that we sometimes
sing of John Newton's 1149. What think you of Christ is the
test, to try both your state and your scheme. And what does
Newton say, so guilty, so helpless am I, I durst not confide in
his blood, nor on his protectionary lie, unless I were sure he is
God. He is God. And this is what this
woman is confessing, as she worships him. It's the
same confession that we have in the next chapter, chapter
16, Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi. Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. All blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah,
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Why this woman, though a Canaanitish
woman, from that accursed people, the Canaanites, that wicked sinful
nation, and yet favoured with such a revelation that she confesses
the Lord Jesus. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. O have mercy on me, she says,
It's the same prayer, is it not, as that of the publican there in the
temple together with the self-righteous pharisee, the condemned pharisee,
who is the man who goes to his house, the justified man. Why?
It's the publican. And the publican's prayer, as
he smites upon his breast, with his eyes cast down and cries
God be merciful to me a sinner have mercy on me oh Lord thou
son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil in her prayer
she confesses the Lord Jesus she comes to him she confesses
him and ultimately she worships him that's what we see in our
text Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me. The word that we have is literally
to make obeisance. It's one of those compound words,
two words married together. She bows down, she prostrates
herself. she reverences him. In Mark's
account, in Mark chapter 7, it says, she fell at his feet. That's
worship. To come prostrate, not in a literal
or physical sense, but in our souls, to feel so much our unworthiness
that we should ever imagine for the moment that we
could worship God. Were you in our very natures
are such dreadful sinners and yet we are called to worship
the great God, the Holy One of Israel, a God before whom the
sinless angels must hide their faces, they veil their faces
and they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy. Or do we come like that prostrate?
It was John's experience when he saw something of the glories
of Christ on the Isle of Patmos, when I saw him, he says, I fell
at his feet as dead. Oh, are we made friends to worship
like that, to fall at his feet? What does John say? How does
John continue there? I fell at his feet as dead and
he laid his right hand upon me. and said fear not I am the first
and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am
alive forevermore amen and have the keys of hell and of death
oh how the Lord responds you see he laid his right hand upon
John he raises John up and he utters that blessed word fear
not don't be afraid John He's the first, He's the last,
He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the beginning and the ending.
He's the one who was dead and now He's alive. He lives in the
power of an endless life. All authority is given unto Him
in heaven and in earth. And so too with this woman, how
the Lord ultimately takes account of her. as she comes and worships
Him. Great is thy faith, He says,
be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Oh, when we come, you see,
in this spirit, friends, and worship the Lord, we can have
that assurance that we will not seek His face in vain. You'll
hear our prayer when we cry, Lord, help me. When we say, Lord,
save me, we won't utter those words in vain. He's being acknowledged, you
see. For who He is, He is God. Remember what the Lord says to
Satan when the great adversary comes to tempt him there at the
beginning of his earthly ministry. After he's baptizing, he's led
of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. We
come to the end of those temptations. And what does the Lord say? Get thee hence, Satan, for it
is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve. We are to worship the Lord, the
Lord God, Him only. And this woman, she is worshipping
the Lord Jesus Christ as God. Oh, let us be those then who
would come and worship Him. And how do we worship Him? Why? We come in all the simplicity
of faith. I've spoken of a coming faith and a overcoming faith,
but all the simplicity of it. What a blessed act of worship
this is. She worships the Lord Jesus Christ
by uttering three words. Lords, help me. Oh God, help us to worship Him
in that selfsame spirit. Amen.