Matthew chapter 15 Just want to read a few verses
I'm not gonna Read the whole chapter. Of course Matthew chapter
15. This is the details concerning a Specific event When our Lord
came to this world Matthew 15 Matthew records these words then
Jesus went thence and and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a woman of Cana 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. But he answered
her not a word. His disciples came and besought
him, 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 is not meat. to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. She said, truth, Lord, yet the
dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as
thou wilt. and her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. And Jesus departed from thence
and came nigh to the Sea of Galilee and went up into a mountain and
sat down there. I have preached from this passage
the past 40 years, I don't know how many times. This, not just
the passage, that's not what I really mean, it's certainly
included, As I sit and begin to work on
this message, of course my wife will attest that I work and make
a few notes and I go back and I redo and I redo and you write
and you write, but every time I, not with this passage, this
event, you see I have to, oh God remind me, this is an account
of a literal person. that came to our master when
he came to this world, begging, begging for mercy. This is not
a Bible story. It's a literal account. And as
I sat there on several occasions, times when I just kind of sat
back in my seat, I just closed my eyes and I try to visualize
this in my mind. Try to read this over and over,
see this happening in front of me. What I want us to do this morning,
I want us to take our place as spectators of this grand event. When I say spectator, don't misunderstand
me, I don't mean For us, like we're some kind of ball game,
and we're all yelling and screaming and waving our hands. I'm talking
about, here we are in a court of law, and a very serious trial's
taking place. Something of great consequence
is on the line, and here we are watching the evidence as it's
presented And Wade, remember this really happened. And I want you, by God's grace,
I want you to see in your mind's eye and listen. Listen as I walk
us through this event. As I walk us through this event,
we're going to see this happen over and over and over. What we will see is faith forced
into the open. Faith forced into the open. I dare say this, although I have
to admit, I cannot absolutely prove this from the scripture.
This is my opinion, but I don't know at least from scripture,
of one secret disciple of the Lord. Craig, there may have been
some that truly knew him, but every account I find in this
book, when the people who have faith, when the people to whom
God's given faith encounters the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it jumps out on them. It comes out into the open. David,
and this won't be an exact quote, but he said, when I kept silence,
you know what happened to me? My bones roared within me. Think about it. Here's the first
thought. See Jesus. And that's the way the book puts
it. We'll read it in a moment. See Jesus. That's simple. See Jesus. I see him, here he
is, there he is. I don't know what he looked like.
I know my mind thinks certain picture of him, but that's not
what I'm talking about. I see Jesus, but see him now,
he leaves one place to go to another. Is that just filler? You see
what I'm saying? Is that just filler? Or is God
the Holy Spirit absolute in every word he moves someone to write
when it's inspired one? It's there for a reason. Look at it. Then Jesus went thence
and departed into the coast of Tyre inside. So I see him. He's leaving. And there he is,
by all accounts, what I see in scripture, he did not travel
around in some grand entourage and large chariots with white
horses all adorned. He just walking from here to
there with his disciples, walking from here to there. So I see
him. And he leaves then, so he's just walking. He's walking, he's
walking, and he arrives. Can't be much truth. I mean that
may be fact What's there? What's there? What's in that?
Well hold that thought Hold that thought now look and Behold you
see it and verse 22 and behold Matthew's saying something amazing
took place. This is not just an everyday
normal. Somebody come up and said, Lord,
I've got a bad back. Will you help me out? No. And
behold, a woman of Canaan. Now, everyone here probably already
knows this, but I was taught by my pastor, Earl Cochran, years
ago, don't assume everybody already knows everything. teach, preach
to the people that maybe they don't know anything. Because
even when we know a lot, the book tells us we know nothing
yet as we ought to know it. So we can always learn more because
we have never discovered, and I dare say never will until maybe
we get to glory, all that God is, even all that his word is. Behold you see it and behold
a woman of Canaan. She's a she's a Gentile She's not even a Samaritan and
I must be blunt here I'm not going to use the political Milk sock Language of the day. She wasn't even a half-breed.
She wasn't a Samaritan. She wasn't part Jew and part
Gentile This woman was Gentile Now, you know how the Jews felt
about the Gentiles back then, don't you? And behold, a woman
of Canaan came out of the same coast. So she was right there. You see
it? She was right there. She came
out of the same coast. Now, I stopped for a moment.
I remember, I thought, here she comes. And she cried unto him. She didn't come up passing the
note. She didn't give it to somebody else. She said, please take this
to the master. Did she? She started crying out. Now here's
this, at least Christ and his disciples are there. We know
that. And I just think, I don't know this for sure, but I think
there were probably other people around too. But that's not really
the point. She starts screaming out. She wails for mercy. Have mercy on me, O Lord. This Gentile makes this thou
son of David. That means more than she had
somehow been allowed by the Jews to take a trip to the temple
and check the genealogical records. Somehow this Gentile woman, God
had sent her the truth of the gospel through nothing more than
the Old Testament scripture. I don't know how, but somehow
she'd heard this man, Jesus of Nazareth is who? The son of David. And you know what that phrase
meant in that day? The Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one
of God. Most Jews didn't know him to
be that. They called him the son of who?
Joseph, remember? But this Gentile, Jesus, oh Lord,
have mercy on me, oh Lord, thou son of David, and she wasn't
even crying out for herself, per se. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil, and I close my eyes, and I see this happen. And if it were not for the fact
that I've already read the passage over and over and over and over
again, I thought if I was reading it for the first time, I'd close
my eyes and, oh, now, geez, if you look back at what he'd just
been doing where he was, he'd been healing multitudes. Healing
multitudes. You see, when he leaves, he goes
back to somewhere, and guess what he starts doing? Healing
multitudes. So you think, well, he's about
ready to act, right? He's about ready to act. But
again, behold, a Gentile woman approaches. She wails out for
mercy. But here's what I was talking
about, her need. Think about this. Her need forced her faith
into the open. You ever been there? Now, if you say, well, I've got
a need, oh, I'm so convicted, and you can still just stay at
home, just smile, watch the TV, chew your bubble gum, eat your
meals, you don't know what need is. This woman couldn't be quiet. She had a daughter that was grievously,
I don't even know what that means. I think of that, remember the
Gadarene demoniac? I think of something like that,
as a wild man. She's got a need. Her face makes
her cry out, oh, Lord, have mercy on me. Their need. You got a child that doesn't
know God? That ever bear upon your heart?
But I can't keep bothering God about that. He's the one that
chose. He's the one that elected. Pardon me, but don't be stupid.
God delights in his people crying out to him. We can't get it done. God, you got to do it. Her daughter had a serious problem. You got anybody that's got a
serious problem? It's okay to cry out for mercy. Don't let knowledge of some so-called
doctrine keep you from the feet of the master. Now what about
this? You ever felt your own need? Your own need. But look, there's
another point. And behold, Gentile woman approaches. She wails for mercy. And what
I don't say, the indication, I'm not a Greek scholar, but
I know how to study those who are, the indication is not that
she screamed out one time, she just kept crying, crying and
crying. Here she is wailing for mercy.
But not only did her need force her faith in the open, but her
messianic hope forces her faith in the open. Here he is. This
is the one that those Jews' religious books have been speaking about
for hundreds of years, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the coming seed
of the woman, thou son of David. Have mercy on me, a Gentile. Probably. I see this. Probably. She'd never been to synagogue
a day in her life. Why? She wasn't welcome. Even
if she did go to the temple in Jerusalem in that day, there
was a court of the Gentiles. They had to stay out there, even
if they were Jewish proselytes. They weren't allowed to go inside
where all the other Jews were. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, thou
son of David. She's, her faith just, she can't
keep silent. You're the Messiah. You're my
only means of hope. But wait. Close your eyes. Here she is. I see her there. She's wailing
for mercy. And watch what transpires. But
he and his disciples. See verse 23? But he answered
her not a word. It's almost like, why did he
say he didn't answer? Right? Wouldn't that say the
same thing? No. No. He answered her what not a, what
the implication is. Not the doctrine of scripture,
but the implication is he may have looked in her direction
and then just turned right away and kept on doing what he was
doing. Now that's tough enough. Wouldn't you think that'd be
tough? Look, but he answered her not a word, and his disciples
came and besought him. They were begging him, saying,
send her away. She crieth after us. The master, here's the way you
could put it in the English, from the Greek, the master is
absolutely silent toward her. Didn't give her the time of day,
as we say. And on top of that, the disciples
were not silent, were they? I picture it in my mind. A couple
of them goes over and one of them gets him by the tricep. You hear this? This Canaanite woman, she's bothering
us. She's crying out after us. Send her away. Huh? You see, send her, not Lord,
give her what she wants and get her out of here. No, not even
that. Send her away. Ever had somebody God providentially
brought into your life and your first thought was, well, I wish
they wasn't here. I wish God would cause this circumstance
to just stop and to be all over with. I'm embarrassed by this.
Ever been there? Enough of that. The disciples
were there. He's absolutely silent toward
her. The disciples, they're not silent. They have incredulity
against her. She's raining on our parade. How often I see myself there.
Just like those disciples. But they, hold on, see it now.
Close your eyes. See that there's Christ. He leaves
one place. He goes to another. He arrives. Here comes this woman. She cries
out for mercy. He don't pay her no mind at all.
Disciples, get her out of here. The master now responds. He says
something. And he responds to all this commotion,
and believe you me, it was a commotion. She's wailing out for mercy,
they're begging him, get her out of here, send her away. Look what he says. But he answered
and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Whoa. Whoa. I can see, yeah, I see it now.
I'm not sick but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Maybe one of those disciples still had him in the arms, Master,
come on. And he makes this statement, I can see glee light up in their
eyes. They're happy now. Bless God, she's gone, right? He gonna send this Canaanite
woman back See it? Hmm? Yeah, she's gone. But she's not gone, is she? Ah,
I can see me in my religious state. Well, how dare Christ
talk to me like that? Huh? But when you got a need, a real
bonafide need, and you realize that the person you're dealing
with is none other than the Christ of God, then your faith will
come out into the open. And you won't be able to help
it. You won't be able to help it. Now she's not gone, bless
God, he cannot be deterred, this blessed woman. Even by what some
may have thought when they heard this. I know when I first read
this years ago, I thought, whoa, that's tough. Even by what some may have took
to be a racial overtone with her, her faith would not relent. It
would not quit. Christ said, up until now, the
kingdom of heaven suffereth what? Violence. But do you know what
he said? The violent take it by force. That's a metaphor. It was a figure of speech translated
from the Greek into the English. It's kind of like this. They
won't give up. They know they need something,
and they won't quit. They'll seize it by force. That's what this woman, she wouldn't
quit. She would not relent, her faith
forces itself into the open. But he answered and said, I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then
came she and worshiped him. I could see it in my mind's eye.
She got down in the dirt before him. Lord, help me. If I didn't know this story,
this account, I closed my mind. All right, now, now Christ, now,
now he's gonna do something, right? Come on now. Three times a charm, right? This
ain't about luck, folks. Huh? But he answered and said,
after she worshipped him, Lord, help me. But he answered and
said, it is not meat. It's not proper. It's not right
to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. You survey the scene? Can you at least, not literally,
but close your eyes and see this happening? It's not right. I mean, I could
take it that, I see this at least in my mind. I'm not saying this
is dogma. I see this in my mind. He's now looking at her when
before he didn't even answer a word. And he said, it is not
right for me to take the children's bread and cast it to a dog like
you. That's what I see in here. And
I will tell you, that's what the flesh sees in here. Ain't
none of us flesh good enough to see the truth behind who God
really is and what he's doing. The flesh never sees it. Man. Survey the scene. See the event
unfolding. He insults her. Hold that thought. Hold that
thought. Remember, we've got two thoughts
to hold. One from verse 21 and one from this thing of dogs,
dogs. Now, flash forward, but not in
the account. Flash forward to now. Now, today, in our DNA. Do you see man-centered religion
wince and gasp when they consider an account like this? Do you hear their incredulity
against the master? They're not mad at this Canaanite
woman. How could the master do that? I thought he said, come unto
me, all ye that labor in the heavy laden. He did. But bless
God, he's gonna make you labor and heavy laden first. You don't
come up with that on your own. I didn't work that up within
myself. He's gonna put you there so he can bring you out. He can
bring you out. He'll put you between the proverbial
rock and the hard place. Why? To call out that great blessing
that he gave you called faith. He's going to call it out into
the open. Well, you can't help yourself. You just can't help
yourself. Remember, we flash forward to
our day. How can Christ be like that? I hear that a lot about the Christ
I preach. That can't be Jesus Christ, right? You ever heard that? It is. It is. I'm not here to try to
logically argue people into God's being sovereign. He's sovereign
whether we believe it or not. And I'm his servant even if I'm,
listen, nailing him to a cross. Right? Because even those men
that nailed him to the cross that pummeled him before they
did so, that beat him beyond physical recognition. They were
doing exactly what God's hand and God's purpose determined
before to be done. They were the very servants of
God, even if they went to hell for it. And I can see our day. That can't be God. It is. Now, let's go back to the tired
and saddened event. Think about it. Close your mind's eyes. He was
just transpired to come all the way up to this, to where he said
this. But he answered and said, it is not meat. It's not right.
It's not proper to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. She
knew what he was saying. Even if religion tried to say,
well, you got to really understand the context. No, just look at
the evidence. We're at trial here. How would
you vote? Come on, be honest. Was our master really ignoring
her? Flashback to verse 20. Then Jesus went fence. You see that? Just that little,
small race. Then Jesus went thence. He leaves one place to go to
another. And think about it, he's walking,
he's walking, he's walking, and then it says, then Jesus went
thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and
behold, and behold. Now I'm not real familiar with
the area, but I did check this. But I'm gonna try to illustrate
it. Where was this fence from which
Jesus left? Where was it? So let me illustrate
it. Anybody here ever walked from
right here in this spot all the way to the north, east, the northwest
edge of the city of Carthage? Anybody here ever done that? You ever drove to Carthage? Huh? In your fine automobile with
either heat or air conditioning, 55 to 70, just easing right along? Huh? It's at least 35 miles. Now turn to chapter 14, verse
34. And when they were gone over,
they came into the land of Genesaret. Now we're getting the context.
Jesus was in one place and he went to the land of Genesaret.
Genesaret is in the northwest, I'm saying that a little bit
for y'all, northwest side of the Sea of Galilee. 35 miles northwest is the coast
of Tyre and Sidon. Now look at chapter 15. Then Jesus departed thence."
Where was he at? Genesaret, 35 miles away. As a matter of fact, Tyre is
here on the Mediterranean. Sidon is almost 20 miles north
of Tyre. Since he was on the, in the coast
of Tyre and Sidon, he was somewhere between the two. That puts it
at maybe 45 miles. So he starts, he leaves Genesaret
and starts walking. See it? He just walking. It's
hot. It's dusty. He's just walking
and walking. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into, you see that? This woman shows up. See the
evidence? Can't take but just a few minutes
to go through this, can it? I mean, as quick as you could
read this, it pretty much just expanded three or four times.
That's all the time this took to happen. Look at verse 29. And Jesus departed from thence
and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee. He walked at least 35
miles dealt with this one woman, turned around and walked 35 miles
right back to where he came from. He wasn't ignoring her. Bless
God, he went there for her. She was the sole purpose. You
say, but preacher, didn't something else happen? It doesn't tell
us, so I'm not gonna say it did. The Holy Spirit wrote it this
way for a reason. He went all the way to the coast
of Tyre and Sidon for this one woman that at first he wouldn't
even say a word to. Then secondly, he talked about
some kind of thing about Israel, and then talked about casting
Israel's bread to the dogs. How far did he come for you? Huh? You think Jenezeret to the
coast of tired Simon is all he did for you? For me, he left
the annals of glory where Proverbs 8 said he was daily, daily the
Lord's delight. And he came all the way down
here to this and confined himself for about nine months to the
womb of a virgin. and then lived, was born with
sweat and blood and tears, and suffered scoffing and mocking
at the hands of men, and ultimately, crucifixion on a tree. He did
all that, Penny June. If you believe him this morning,
he did that for you. That makes Genesaret to the coast
of Tyre and Sidon seem like what? Nothing. But it was something
to that woman, wasn't it? At that time, bless God, it was
everything to that woman. So no matter how much you know,
how little you know about all of this grand purpose of God,
if you've ever met him, you've met somebody. And if you meet
him with a dire, insatiable need that only him can quench, then
if you got faith from God, you'll cry out, have mercy on me. I'm not super sensitive about
seekers. Oh, we just don't want to hurt
anybody's feelings. Unless God, you'll never be saved until God
hurts your feelings. When God puts you in the dirt
and begins to show you what you really are, it's going to hurt. It was gonna hurt. 35 miles he walked. Gave this woman
what she needed, and then turned around, walked all the way back. So now when you read God's book,
don't just pass over some things as though, well, that's just
filler. That's a good filler to me, huh? Think about how far he came.
Think about what he did for you even now. My brothers and sisters,
I was in a, I was in a fundamental, I told one of the ladies here,
a fundamental Bible-believing, KJV, soul-winning, pre-millennial,
on fire for Jesus' church, born and raised in it. up at a holler
in West Virginia. Didn't even know anything about
sovereignty, never even heard the word. They kept that kind
of stuff from us. They wouldn't even tell us about
it. They wouldn't even, if you mentioned even a primitive Baptist,
they'd go, don't listen to them. Never would tell you what their
problem was, just don't listen to them. One day, God sent a man that
didn't know a lot of himself, but God Almighty had saved him.
and turned him on, and I'm saying it that way, it's a modern day
phrase, and turned him on to a man named Henry Mahan. And
that man just happened to show up at that place I was a member
at from my youth. You think that was coincidence,
huh? God sent a man from a Genesaret
all the way to the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and then you know
what? Both of us had to leave after that. Because when God
Almighty conquered my soul, they wouldn't have neither one of
us stay there. The master was not ignoring her.
No, no. But did not Peter write that
the trowel of your faith being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth? You see, if you got true faith,
God will try it. It's not a path of easy street. It's a path of trouble and need. And he'll constantly be bringing
you down. So your faith comes out in the open. Bringing you
down, your faith will come out in the open. Somebody says, well, you're sounding
like it's your faith. Well, bless God, if he gives it to you, it's
yours. Ain't it? It says faith is the gift of
God. If he, Johnny, if he gave me faith, it's mine. It's mine. Oh, how about this? Was the master
excluding this woman on racial grounds? No. You know this. I'm just gonna read. I'm not
gonna have you turn to this. Listen. Here's part of the evidence,
part of the evidence of God's word. He was in the world, speaking
of Christ. And the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But as many as received, as many
as received him, to them gave he power, that is both right
and might, it means both, to give him power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were
born not of blood. So it is nothing to do with your
race whatsoever. Not of blood, nor the will of
the flesh. It's not even based upon what
you are by nature, because that's our problem, not our hope. Not
of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man. Somebody
else can't beg it for you. Think about it. It was this woman's
faith that blessed her to have her daughter healed. Was it not? Somebody says, what happened
to her daughter? And from that very hour, she was healed. No, he didn't exclude her. Think
of this, I'm not gonna have you turn, just listen. Listen to
what the word of God says. The Apostle Paul writing to some
believing Gentiles, Gentiles now, these dogs. Look at what Paul said, and if
some of the branches were broken off, talking about Jews, And
if some of the branches be broken off and thou, being a wild olive
tree, were grafted in amongst... God didn't give us our own olive
tree as Gentile. Bless God, he put us into Jewish
blessing. What did our Lord say to the
woman? Well, salvation is of the Jews. I've said this in a lot of places.
Some people don't like it. You will either bow to a circumcised
Jewish man or you will perish forever. Because Jesus Christ
is a Jew. And he's the Lord and master. Somebody says, I don't like it
to hear it like that. If you've got faith, they'll say, that's
what it is. If that's what he truly is, and what did the book
say about him? On the eighth day, he was what? Circumcised. You're going to battle a Jew.
You're going to battle a Jew, or you'll perish. I will battle
a Jew. No, look. and were grafted in among them,
and with them partakest of the root and the fatness of the olive. Think about it, we're not just
getting the scraps. We're a part of them now, you
see. Are we correct? We're not just getting the scraps.
Bless God, we're grafted right into the actual olive tree Christ,
and we're partaking of the root than the fatness of it, no. Our
master was not excluding this woman on racial grounds, hogwash. But I tell you what, he was pleased
because the faith he had given her, he's pleased to bring it
out into the open. And the only thing that brings
faith out into the open is what? Trouble, need, trial. Here's the last thought. Was
the master insulting her as a dog? Does anybody wanna answer that
right now publicly yourself before I finish? I wouldn't advise it
yet. Was our master insulting her
as a dog? Fact is never an insult. You hear what I said? Fact cannot
be an insult. Because even if the fact is based
upon something you are or did as a fault, It's not an insult,
it's called T-R-U-T-H, truth. Well, I'm insulted by that human
depravity, total depravity, not if you know you are one. Oh,
embarrassed by it, ashamed of it, yes, but not insulted by
it. But he answered and said, it
is not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And
she said, that's true, Lord. Truth, Lord. But here's that
faith popping out into the open. Yet, I have no reason, she thought,
well, he's going to call me a dog. No. No. But when he gives her the truth,
she fesses up to it. You see it? But look at it. Yet
the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their, their master's
table. Yes, Lord, I'm a dog, but I'm
your dog. You own me. You are my master. And I know this is not the way
she was thinking, but it's all, this is how, you're my master
whether you like it or not. But aren't you glad that God
didn't dislike it? He chose it to be before the
world began. He chose me as his Gentile dog
before this world ever even existed. Hmm, no. He wasn't insulting
her. By her own words, he was telling
her the what? T-R-U-T-H. Truly, her faith was forced into
the open. Now consider this. I ended up
right here. I was limited to 30 minutes this
morning, so I had to take a little extra. Couple things. One thing unbelief cannot stomach.
You know what that one thing is? You ever thought about that?
One thing, the one thing unbelief cannot stomach, it will not stomach,
it dare not stomach, was one thing. You ever figured out that
doctrine, what that doctrine is? It was fairly simple. T-R-U-T-H. Unbelief can't stomach truth.
Oh, it may not run off mad and scream and whittles it. Don't
know about that. And then the preacher preaches
another area of truth. And it says, well, I don't know
about that. And then the preacher, the next
Sunday or maybe a Thursday, preaches another truth. Well, I just don't
know about that. And after all these that's pile
up and that's pile up, you know where they end up? Out those
two doors back there. Because I can't stomach the one
thing, T-R-U-T-H. But truth does what for faith? What do you think truth does?
It forces it out into the open. And she said truth Yet the dogs
eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus
answered and said unto her, now here is the master, the master
of the Lord. Here's the one who spoke this
very universe into existence. Oh woman, great is thy faith. You ever wish Christ had just
said that to you? You, you yourself, you see it?
Look at this, see the scene, see the court? See him saying
to her, great is thy faith. Why don't he say that to me?
Do you have faith? Do you believe him? Do you? He has. Great is your faith,
it says it all in this book. It's evidence written down, inspired
by God. What else do I need? Just faith. Just faith. Heavenly Father,
may your word, not my words, but Lord, may your word strengthen
us and guide us. May even me be pleased to call
one out of darkness in the light of Christ's name. Amen.