Turn with me in your Bible to
the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15, please. It's been a few years
since I preached from this text, ten years to be exact. I was
a bit surprised by that. It was 2013. Let me say by way
of introduction that dogs in the Scriptures is a common term
used by the first century Jews in reference to the Gentiles. The Lord from the cross in Psalm
chapter 22 said, For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of
the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my
feet. And this was the Lord referring
to the Roman Gentile soldiers who, like a pack of dogs, surrounded
our Lord at the foot of the cross. And metaphorically speaking,
dogs in the Bible represent worthless, vile, and offensive sinners. The prophet Zephaniah compares
wicked sinners to wild dogs, hyenas, who devour their prey
and leave nothing at all for the next day, hungry for more. Ezekiel said that Jerusalem's
princes, leaders, were like wild dogs, ravening the prey to shed
blood and destroy souls. Our Lord said, don't give that
which is holy to the dogs. Neither throw your pearls before
the swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn and
tear you to pieces. Paul was quick to remind believers
to beware of dogs, for they were evil doers and false believers. Philippians 3.2. Peter said that
sinners are like dogs who return to their vomit, and swine that
is washed returning to the mud. Meaning that by nature, every
man and woman is self-defiling. And this so accurately expresses
the filthy nature of sin signified by vomit, mire, and dirt. We are fitly, properly compared
to dogs and swine who cannot be otherwise unless our natures
are changed and altered by God Himself. As soon as we eat the
defilement of sin and regurgitate it, we return to eat it again,
and as soon as we're washed from the mire and the dirt representing
the filthiness of sin, we are quick to return to the filth
again. So I hope that this introduction
gives you some idea of what we are by nature. By birth, nature,
and practice, we are dog. Do you find that offensive? I
hope not. Because that's who the Lord came
to save. He came to save sinners' dogs. In the Scriptures, the
Lord associates dogs with pigs, murderers, idolatry, witchcraft,
prostitutes, violence, evil, worthlessness, foolishness, greed,
deception, and even sinful religious leaders who love to destroy the
souls of innocent people. And there's not one verse in
the Bible that speaks of dogs in a positive way, but there
are over 50 verses putting dogs in a negative light as jackals,
wild dogs, wolves, hyenas, and other canines. Now I'm endeavoring
to make the point to you of how a dog is seen in our Lord's day,
because I want us to better understand what our Lord was saying here
in Matthew chapter 15 to this Canaanite woman whom he called
a dog. Remember, Mephibosheth, Jonathan's
son, he referred to himself not only as a dog, but as a dead
dog. And I suppose if there's anything
considered less than a dog in the Bible, it'd be a dead dog.
And yet, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, came unto King David,
he fell on his face, And he did reverence, saying, What is thy
servant, speaking of himself, that thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I? That was Mephibosheth's opinion
and assessment of himself. And friends, it takes a miracle
of God's grace, a divine revelation from God to show us what he showed
Mephibosheth. Okay, Matthew 15, verse 21. Then Jesus went thence, and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan,
a Gentile dog, 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 a devil. But he, the Lord Jesus, answered
her, not a word, And His disciples came and besought Him, the Lord,
saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But He answered
and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Then came she and worshipped
Him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it's
not meat, it's not fit, it's not ripe or proper to take the
children's bread and cast it to dogs. And she said, truth,
Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the master's
table. You know, when this woman of
Canaan came to the Lord Jesus, he didn't even acknowledge her.
He answered her not a word. And it wasn't that he didn't
hear her. And it wasn't that he despised her person or petition. Well, why then? Well, to see
how bad she wanted her request. to try her faith and her importunity. This woman was a Gentile dog.
That's what the Jews believed they were. And it's obvious from
the reaction of the disciples who were Jews that that was the
case. In verse 23, they said, send
her away, she crieth after us. But she followed them everywhere
they went. She wouldn't be denied. There
was no getting rid of her. The first thing the Lord informed
her of was just that. She was a Gentile dog unworthy
of a response, not of the house of Israel. The Lord was sent
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Look back a couple
pages to Matthew chapter 10. Hold your place in 15 and we'll
come right back to it. But in Matthew chapter 10, verse
5, We read these 12, speaking of
the 12 apostles, Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, now
look what he commanded them. 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. You see,
the Lord's personal mission was to go to the Jews. It was the
divine purpose of God for Christ to keep the law blameless. He
had to in order to be our perfect righteousness. And if Christ
had taken the message of the gospel to the Gentiles, at least
at this point in time, he would have disobeyed God, his father,
and offended the law of God. It was only when the Jews turned
their backs on Christ and crucified Him that the handwriting of ordinances
were nailed to the cross and that wall of partition between
Jews and Gentiles was broken down. And it was after our Lord's
death that the Great Commission bade all His disciples, Jew and
Gentile alike, to go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature, not just Israel alone, but the whole world. But
that couldn't occur at this time. Now, back in Matthew 15, verse
24, the Lord tells this poor sinner just that. He said, I
am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But this Gentile dog would not
be denied nor ignored. In Mark's account, it says that
the Lord entered into a house and would have no man know it.
But he could not be healed because this woman had followed Him.
She saw Him go into the house. It says, for a certain woman
whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him. She heard
of Him and came and fell at His feet. Then here in verse 25 of
Matthew 15, we read, Then came she and worshipped Him, saying,
Lord, help me. Now that's called importunity. The word importunity means persistence,
even to the point of annoyance. She was annoying. I had someone tell me just this
week that he didn't believe that there was any need to pray about
something more than once. He said, after all, the Lord
heard us the first time. Well, actually, the Lord heard
us before we asked. But that doesn't keep us from
asking again and again. In Luke chapter 11, the Lord
Himself talked about importunity. It's the only time the word's
used in all the Scriptures. I won't turn you there, but the
Lord gives us an illustration with a parable, and allow me
to paraphrase. He says, if you go to a friend
at midnight, and you ask him to borrow bread, because you
have another friend that's coming from a far place to visit you
unexpectedly, and you don't have anything to offer him to eat
or to give him to eat. So you go to your friend's house,
regardless of the hour, you knock on the door, and you tell him
that. And you hear your friend from inside the house say, hey
man, it's late. I'm in bed, my children are asleep,
the house is all locked up, the security system is all set, and
I can't give you any break. Now remember, this is your freedom.
And it says with men there is a There's a limit to what we
can ask of them that they're willing to do. But this is what
the Lord said word for word. He said, though he will not arise
and give him because he is his friend, yet because of importunity,
persistence to the point of annoyance, he will rise and give him as
many, speaking of the loaves of bread, as he needed. And then
the Lord said, so I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given
you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. I would say that encourages importunity,
wouldn't you? Even though mere friendship would
not influence this man to rise, to wake up, to rise, to give
him at this inconvenient time what he needs, this man's persistence
surely would get him up. And this shows the force of importunity. Even when the fear of God and
the regard of man have no influence, as they should, perseverance
in seeking help and mercy and grace with earnestness will prevail. This woman was ignored by the
Lord. The disciples petitioned Christ
to send her or what? Do you know what most of us would
have done? Well, we would have got our feelings hurt or offended
and got mad. But not this woman. No. She came and she worshiped the
Lord. She with importunity came and
begged for help. And it was then that the Lord
added insult to injury, verse 26. But He answered and said,
it's not meat, it's not fit to take the children's bread and
to cast it to a dog. This woman was most desperately
resolved. She would not leave without the
blessing. She was out She came out of love for her child. She
was not seeking a blessing for herself. She was seeking a blessing
for her daughter. And if the Lord healed her daughter,
that would be a blessing to her too. Because she said, Lord,
help us. And it's here that we see the
first of five things that God's dogs will do. I titled this message,
Every Dog Has Its Day. First, she took sides with God
against herself. That's something all God's dogs
do. They take sides with God against themselves. The Lord
Jesus said, I won't help you because you're a dog. I've already
told you why I came. I've already told you who I can
help, and you're not one of them. I came for the children of Israel.
It's not right for me to take their bread, the children's bread,
and cast it to a dog. And she agrees that he is right.
She knew that it was lawful for the king of kings to do what
he will with his own. Truth, Lord, she said. You just told the truth. I'm
a dog. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
A dog is what I am. In Mark's account, she said,
yes, Lord. Full agreement. I'm taking sides
with you against me. How many people today would do
that? No, they'll be quick to fly hot and start defending themselves. She said, I'm taking sides with
you against me. I agree with you. There's no
argument, there's no controversy, there's no opposition with Christ.
Truth, Lord, yes Lord, is her only answer to Him. The natural
heart rebels against the Scriptures, what the Scriptures say about
it. The Scriptures say the whole head is sick and the whole heart
faint. And the child of God says, true
Lord, I agree with that. The heart is deceitful. The Scripture
says the heart's deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? Who can trust it? And the believer
says, yes, Lord, that's exactly right. We've sinned against light
and knowledge. We are infinitely worse than
even what we perceive. We deserve condemnation and damnation. We're ruined and we are utterly
ruined. And we take sides with God and
say, truth, Lord. Yes, Lord. That's correct. That's correct. And it's here
that we have the second thing. Even dogs get the crumbs and
those crumbs are enough. The Canaanite dog says, yet,
but, Regardless of all that, and I
agree with all of it, the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from
their master's table. The dogs under the table eat
of the children's crumbs." She said, I know I'm a Gentile dog. I know it's not right to take
the children's bread and give it to a dog like me. I agree
with that. I know that I don't deserve it.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. But a single crumb that falls
from your bountiful table is more than enough and all that
I need. A woman doesn't say the dogs
eat the crumbs that fall from the table. She says the dogs
eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. What she is saying here is, Lord,
You're my master. You're my master. She's saying,
I'll always follow you, like a dog follows their master. That brings us to the third thing.
Christ is all and in all to his dogs. You know, I don't know
if you've ever had a stray dog follow you. We had one show up
at the house one time. We wound up, I told the kids,
don't. Show that dog any attention.
Don't give that dog, whatever you do, don't give that dog anything
to eat. I don't want that dog around here. They went off to
school and what did I do? I gave him something to eat,
went out and bought him a bed to sleep on. And it was the best
dog I ever had. But Christ is all in all to His
dogs. And as a stray dog picks up with
a stranger and follows him home, I'm telling you, you can shut
the door on them. But if they've taken you to be
their master, you can shut every door, and they'll wait for you
on the doormat. You can kick them to the street,
but they'll wait in the street for you to come out. And then
they'll follow you wherever you go. Is that not our case as the
Master's dogs? God's dogs have never stopped
following their Master and coming to Him. Never. They follow at
the heels of mercy. They bow and crouch at their
Master's feet. Grace falls down to dogs. From where? From above. From the throne of mercy. From
the table of bounty. From the Master's table. Who
holds to the life preserver the tightest? The one who's most
afraid of drowning. There's no scarlet sin which
Christ's blood cannot wash away. We hold to Him with a death grip. And when we do, we can by no
means perish. Every good and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of
His own will, God's own will, beget He us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. And that, my friends, includes
dogs. Just a few verses before, in verse 7, James wrote, If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and abradeth not, and it shall be given him. Let him ask in faith. Nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like
the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let
not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."
You know what James is talking about here? He's talking about
importunity. Importunity in faith. Not wavering. I'm going to believe God. I'm
going to believe Him now. I'm going to believe Him tomorrow.
I'm going to believe Him forever with His help. And what happens
when a sinner, a dog, asks for something in faith? James says,
it shall be given them. The fourth thing that God does
for all His dogs is this. God's dogs get comfort out of
their misery. The Lord called her a dog. She
agreed. Yes, I'm a dog. But the dogs
eat the crumbs from the masters. She could see the silver lining
in the black cloud. The Lord threw her a bone and
she cracked it open and got marrow out of it. She could see the
silver lining. She was saying, I will gladly
be a dog because I shall get crumbs. She draws waters of comfort
from the deep well of misery. We've broken God's law, friends.
We've offended Him. We're nothing but sinners. And
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came into
the world to save dogs. You remember that movie? I think
it was a cartoon, All Dogs Go to Heaven? Well, all real dogs
do. All God's dogs do. If I'm a sinner,
a dead dog sinner, as my pastor used to say, I can have comfort
in knowing that I am of the kind that Christ came to save. The
Lord didn't come to seek those who didn't want seeking. Christ
did not come as the great shepherd to find those that were already
in the fold. He came to seek those that had
gone astray. And what did he do when he found
them? He put them on his shoulder and brought them into the fold.
Grace and mercy are undeserved. We say that all the time. You
know it so. It ceases to be grace and mercy
if it's deserved. Mr. Spurgeon once told the story
of a beggar who knocked at his door, clothed in rags. And Mr. Spurgeon gave him some
money, some of his clothes, and a pair of shoes. And the man
put them on and he went away happily. And just a little bit
later, Mr. Spurgeon had to run an errand
and he went out and he saw that same man with those old ragged
clothes back on. And he thought, why? And then he realized that
the man, the more ragged that he looked, the more charity he'd
get. And it's the same with you and I. If we are to come to Christ,
we don't put on our good works of so-called righteousness. Our
ruin is our plea for mercy. Our poverty is our plea for godly
charity. Our need is our motive for the
great position. Go and let your misery plead
for you. On the battlefield, those who
are wounded the worst get the immediate and urgent care of
the physician. One with a finger shot off would
not get the immediate attention of one who had no legs. We come
to Christ as lost and ruined dogs. We make the very wants
and the needs, the very argument as to why the Lord of mercy should
show mercy to us. That's what this woman did. And
because of that, she received mercy. And that brings me to
the fifth and final thing. Every dog, God's dogs, has its
day in a good way. That worldly idiom, that's what
we call it, means that everyone will I look it up. It means that
everyone will be successful or lucky at some time in their life. This is said often to encourage
someone at a time when they're not having any success or luck. Well, worldly success is way
overrated. And there is no such thing as
luck. There's not. It all comes by
the sovereign providence of God. But all God's dogs, every single
one of them, will have their day. How so? First she heard. Somewhere, someone
had told her about the Lord Jesus. Well, He's One who heals every
disease. There's no disease that He can't
heal. Well, we've seen blind eyes give insight. We've seen
deaf ears hear. We've seen lame feet and legs
walk. We've seen the dead risen. He's healed all kinds and manners
of disease. And she thought to herself, this
must be the Messiah. But this woman had been brought
up as a heathen, as a Gentile dog. The Messiah was for the
children of Israel. The Lord had made that clear.
And her false gods had failed her. She tried her priests, but
they couldn't help her. She'd had many difficulties.
She was a Canaanite. She was a Gentile dog, but she
had no doubt been made aware of the words of Isaiah that said,
there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign
over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. And she thought,
there's hope for me. I'm a Gentile dog, but there's
hope for me. I'll trust in Him. I'm going
to go to Him. And I'm not going to be denied.
If He tells me no, I'll, like Bartimaeus, cry all the more,
Lord, have mercy upon me. Are you hearing me, dear sinner?
That's what we do. There's no difficulty in bringing
Christ to a sinner. There's none. The difficulty
is bringing the sinner to trust in Christ. The truth is this. There's nothing between the Savior
and salvation but ourselves. The difficulty is with us. The
road to Christ, the city of refuge, has been kept clear of debris.
Christ has leveled every mountain. He's filled every valley. He's
made the road clear for you to the very throne of God. The difficulty
is not with God, but with you and with me. So first she heard
that every dog who has Christ as their master will be received
and fed. Isn't that good news? Secondly,
she believed. She believed what she heard.
Do you believe what you're hearing? All God's dogs will believe.
They've been made to believe in the day of His power. Thirdly,
she came. Every sinner, every dog will
come to Christ in the day of His power. Our Lord said, no
man, no sinner, no dog comes to the Father but by me. So then
I've got, being the dead dog that I am, I gotta get to Him
in order to be brought to God. Fourthly, she would not be denied. She was ignored, she was kicked,
the door was shut on her, but she was persistent and she would
not go away. She waited on her master to show
her mercy. Fifthly, she agreed with God
against herself. She took God's side, even if
it was against her. She confessed as to what she
was, a dog. She bowed to Christ as her master. Her mourning was turned to joy. Her sorrow was turned to laughing. Salvation and deliverance was
hers. This is how all God's dogs come
to Christ. This is how God saves sinners.
What did the Lord say of this dog? Verse 28. Then Jesus answered
and said unto her, O woman. He didn't call her a dog then.
O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt." And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. This is a gospel story. It's
my story. I'm a dog, but I'm God's dog. And every dog has its day in
a good way. You know, every day is a good
day when we have Christ as our master. Brother Scott Richardson
once said, I haven't heard any bad news since I heard the good
news. And we haven't had any bad day since the day the Lord
saved us. Do you see what this woman saw?
Do you see that you're a dog? If so, be of good cheer. Let
your misery be turned to comfort, because even the dogs under the
table eat of the children's crumb that fall from the master's table. God's dogs never go hungry. The
crumbs that fall from Christ, the master's table, are handfuls
of purpose from the kinsman redeemer himself. I'm blessed to be God's
dog. I am. And so are you, if you're
one of His. May God be pleased to make it
so, for His glory, our good, and for Christ's sake.