I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter
15. Matthew 15. Last Wednesday night I preached
on this subject, I entitled the message, Great Faith. And one of the passages, if you
remember, I read four different passages of scripture that dealt
with faith. And one of those passages was
from Matthew chapter 15. Now this passage, a very, very
familiar passage of scripture, And it deals with an encounter
between the Lord Jesus Christ and a woman of Canaan. Mark says
a Syrophoenician woman. But this woman was one whose
steps had been ordered by Almighty God. He brought her to this place. It was no chance meeting. Now,
this morning I'd like for us to once again, I mentioned some
things out of this passage last Wednesday, but what I'd like
for us to do is this morning I'd like for us to draw again
from the fountain of God's Word, and I want us to drink From this
precious passage of Scripture, I think the Lord has shown me
something in this passage that I had never seen before. And it was a great, great blessing. Now, I want us to realize that
this woman obviously had been taught of God. She knew who the
Lord Jesus Christ was. She knew Him. And I don't know
when she heard. Scripture doesn't say when she
heard. But I do know this, that the Lord had granted her faith
because the last part of this discourse, that's what He told
her. Oh woman, great is thy faith. But in her coming to the Lord,
she manifested outwardly what the Lord had inwardly bestowed. Now, I want you to hold your
place right there, Matthew. Turn to Isaiah 54. Isaiah chapter
54 has a beautiful truth. Isaiah 54, starting in verse
11. Listen to this passage. Isaiah
54, 11. O thou afflicted. Now let me
tell you who this is talking to. It's talking to the church. But it's talking to every individual
believer. Now this is the word of promise
from the Lord to His people. Now listen to this security.
O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted. Behold, I will lay thy stones
with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."
The Lord's building His church. That's what He's doing. The apostles
said, we're lively stones built up. God Almighty is calling His
people. He calls them out of darkness. They're fitly joined together. Christ being the chief cornerstone. But he said, I'm going to lay
thy stones with fair colors, lay thy foundation with sapphires.
I will make thy windows as agates, and thy gates of carbuncles,
and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord. This woman was taught. All the
children of God are going to be taught of the Lord. And great
shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. Thou shalt be far from oppression,
for thou shalt not fear, and from terror it shall not come
near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake." We're oppressed. We're in a world and we're not
of it. That's what it is. The world, the scripture reveals,
the world hates the gospel of God's grace. Hates it. And hates
God's people. You know, Saul of Tarsus, before
the Lord called him out of darkness, do you know what his purpose
was? To go and get them out of the way. Take them, haul them
back to Jerusalem, put them in prison. Man by nature, His heart is enmity against God. But listen to what the Lord says
concerning all of these that oppress God's people. Verse 16,
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the
fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work. I
have created the waster to destroy. Here's what the Lord said. All
those that oppress God's people. The Lord said, I made those.
He said, all of these, the smith, you know the black smith that's
going out there and making, the Lord said, look, number one,
I made the iron. I made the fire. I made the one
that's forming all of these weapons. He said, I'm in control. That's
what he said. Behold, I have created the smith
that bloweth the coals and the fire, that bringeth forth an
instrument for his work. I've created the waste to destroy,
but listen to what he said, no weapon, that is formed against
thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord. And their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. They're all going to be taught
of God. God's people know who's in control. Well, back in Matthew
15, this woman, she comes and she recognizes. She knows
the Lord Jesus Christ. She's been taught. And here's
the fulfillment of what the Lord had said would happen. John 6,
37, we've read this so many times, but listen, "...all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast down." So He promised that He was not
going to cast out any that came to Him. And He proved it in the
end of this discourse. But now, His dealings with her
were, you know, we read first of all what He didn't say, and
then what He said, and what she said, and you're thinking, you
know, listen, this was an object of His mercy. Now we know that
because the Lord told her, great is thy faith, be it unto thee
even as thou wilt. But before he said those things,
there were some things that she did, directed by the Spirit of
God, and she said that was going to bring total honor and glory
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the first thing that she
did and said, which gives us some great instruction to the
Lord's mercy, is this. The scripture says, chapter 15,
verse 21, Then 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. Now, just consider for just a
second. I want you to hold your place.
Just turn back to Matthew 11 20. Now, where was the Lord Jesus
Christ? The scripture says He departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon and a woman came out. Same place,
came out of the same coast. Where was she from? She was from
the area of Tyre But now look at Matthew 11 and verse 20 to
22. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! If the mighty works which were
done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, They would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of
judgment than for you." Now here's what he said. The gospel, generally
speaking, had been withheld from Tyre and Sidon. Mighty works
that were done in Chorazin weren't done in Tyre and Sidon. And the
Lord said if they had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented. That still amazes me, Neil. Not only does the Lord know what
would and would not happen, what could have happened. What could
have happened if He would have permitted it. You see what I'm
saying? He said, if I would have sent
the gospel to Sodom and Gomorrah, Those cities would still be there
today. My friend, do we have any inkling
of the mercy of Almighty God that has been shown us to reveal
His Son unto us? These things could be said of
anybody sitting here. If I would have sent the gospel
to Marvin, he would have repented and he'd been alive spiritually. Does the potter have the right
to do what he will? Yes, he does. Is he obligated to send the gospel
to anybody? No, sir. He said, I'm going to
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on
whom I'll have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
will it, nor of him that run it, but of God that shows mercy. The Lord did not generally send
the gospel to the cities of Tyre and Sidon. He said, if I would
have sent there, they would have repented. But this woman was
from there. She was from the coast of Tyre
and Sidon and she came out. So somewhere along the line,
and I can't explain this, I don't know. There's a lot of things,
I just cannot, I don't have an answer for. The Lord said it
and that ended it. But this woman had heard, because
faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. This woman
cried unto Him saying, have mercy on me. Mercy is for helpless
folks, those who can't help themselves. If I can get out of my own mess,
then I don't need any help. I got this covered. But if I
can't do it, I need some help. David said, you know, Psalm 6,
to have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me,
for my bones are vexed. This woman was from a place where
the Lord revealed that the gospel was not generally openly manifested. But out of every nation and kindred
and tribe and tongue, God Almighty is going to pluck his brands
out of the fire. He's going to have His people.
He's got His people and He's going to call His people. So
this woman was one that needed mercy. Secondly, we're taught,
according to her plea, who He is. When she addressed Him like she
did, this is for us. This is for us. She addressed
Him who He is. But listen to what she said,
O Lord. Verse 22, Thou Son of David. You know what she referred to
Him as? Your God in human nature. That's who You are. Thou Son
of David, Matthew 1.1, listen to this, the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. This is how He's addressed by
two blind men in Matthew 9.22, Thou Son of David, have mercy
on us. Remember old blind Bartimaeus
in Mark 10.47, listen, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
this is what he says, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
that's what somebody told him. It's Jesus of Nazareth that's
passing by. He began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou Son of David,
I know who you are. Whoever said that Jesus of Nazareth
was coming by, They didn't know who you are, but I know who you
are. Have mercy on me. He is the Lord of glory, and
those taught of God recognize and acknowledge Him as so. God's
people speak with respect unto Him who is worthy of all respect. Never, never, never, must a believer
ever speak in a flippant manner concerning Him. When we speak
of Him, may we speak of Him with honor and respect and dignity. Jesus, Thou Son of David, have
mercy upon me. And then thirdly, from this woman,
we learn something about prayer. The scripture said in that 22nd
verse, she said, my daughter is grievously vexed with the
devil. Now this woman, she had a need
and her daughter was demon possessed. And she came to the Lord and
she expressed her need to him. She told him, my daughter, is
grievously vexed with the devil. Now, she knew who He is. She knew who He is. She knows
who He is. This is the Son of David. This is the Messiah. This is God in human flesh. The Word made flesh. And He is the omniscient One.
He knows all. There's nothing that He doesn't
know. The Lord's never learned anything. There's no need of
His children ever thinking that there's something of which He's
not aware, but she came to Him and she expressed her need. Philippians 4, 6 declares, be
careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. He's
going to be inquired of. Remember, you go back in Ezekiel
36, and look at all these things that the Lord's promised. He
said, I'm going to do this for you, and I'm going to do this,
and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to... Yet. For all
these things, I'm going to be inquired of. You're going to
ask me. He'll put it upon our hearts
to ask. Brother Henry made this comment when she came and asked
the Lord. He said this. He said, don't
fret, don't murmur, don't be filled with anxiety over things. Boy, I tell you what, I'd do
well to listen to this. I may need to go back and read
these comments again. He said, take your burdens and
your cares and your problems to the Lord in prayer. In everything,
let your requests be known to God and do it with thanksgiving. He said, we should never come
to the throne of God for mercy except we be thankful for the
mercies that the Lord has already shown. That makes sense. We come and we ask and He said,
when you ask, express thanksgiving for that which He's already done.
This woman came and she expressed her need. My daughter's sick.
And then fourthly, we learn something of the Lord's wisdom in dealing
with His people. This woman cried out to Him. She said, Have mercy on me, O
Lord, Thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Look at verse 23. But He answered
her, not a word. Oh, may we learn something on
how to deal with God's silence to us. In the cloud of His silent providence,
may we never forget that His love for His people is always
the same. He said, ìIíve loved you with
an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee.î Though the Lord was pleased to not say anything to her, He
was speaking volumes to this woman. He excited her need. I mean, I'm talking about not
in a jubilant way where she was just so happy. I mean, He was
bringing her down farther and farther. This is the Lord of
glory, the One that said, He that cometh to Me, I will in
no wise cast out. And she came to Him and addressed
Him in the right way, with the right spirit, With the right
title? Lord, Thou Son of David, God,
God help me, help me. And he didn't say anything to
her. Oh, but I can tell you this,
his heart was toward her. I mean, I keep going back to
that last thing. He said, Woman, great is your
faith. Be it unto thee as thou wilt. You know, you want to know
what's going to happen in the end? I can tell you this. You
can go back and read in the book of Revelation, and here's what's
going to happen. In Him, we're going to win. We're
going to win. We're going to win. There's a
war that is within and without. And I know that. And there's
troubles within and without. I know that. But I'm going to
tell you something. We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us, gave Himself for us. And I know, now, right
now, what's apparent to her right now is that He's ignoring her. And there's no other place to
go. But I can know this, when He seems to frown upon us, it's
always for our good. Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth
and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. his dealings with his people.
Now, he did not deal with everybody like this. I know that. So the
thing is, is that, you know, we might fall into a trap of
thinking that the Lord only acts in a certain way. Well, he said,
my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways,
saith the Lord. I'm going to go back to what
Brother Scott said. Who's running this show anyway?
Who's in charge here? And fifthly, we're taught of
God's sovereignty and distinguishing grace. She came to the Lord and
she said, Lord, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. He didn't say
anything to her. The Scripture says in verse 23,
"...he answered her not a word, his disciples came and besought
him saying, send her away for she crieth after us." Now I don't
know, I don't know. I don't know if when he didn't
say anything to her, did she say something to the disciples?
I don't know. I don't know. But the Scripture says when they
said to the Lord, send her away for she crieth after us, what
can we do? If the Lord's not going to say
anything, what are we going to do? Verse 24, He answered
and said, I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
When He said that, He was speaking of God's distinguishing grace. He said, I'm not sent. but unto the lost sheep of the
house of Israel." How often have we read John 10? I'm not going
to refer to it. I'm going to read it. I'm not
sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. John 10. Jesus walked in the temple in
Solomon's porch, then came the Jews round about him and said
unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt, if thou be
the Christ? Tell us plainly. Jesus answered
them, I told you, and ye believed not the works that I do in my
Father's name, They bear witness of me, but ye believe not, because
ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand." Now, I'm going to tell you something. Whenever she came to the Lord
and she received no answer, something happened. Whether she
spoke to the disciples, I don't know. They said something to
the Lord, send her away. She's crying after us. And he
answered, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Now I can truthfully from Scripture
tell you this. When he sent his disciples out
to preach, he commanded them, he says, not to go in the way
of the Gentiles, but rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. But based upon his dealings with
Gentiles, different ones, here's one of them right here. I can
tell you this, I am absolutely convinced, and I'm going to tell
you why. I'm not going to make a statement and not back it up.
I just don't want to do that. The house of Israel was concerning
his spiritual Israel. He knew who they were. The disciples
didn't know, but he did. But now, the scripture says that
the Lord came to seek and to save that which was lost. And
what was lost? Well, his spouse, his church. one to whom He had betrothed
Himself eternally. And hear the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is why I say, He said, I'm
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. John
10.15 says this, As the Father knoweth me, even so I the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep. And of the sheep I have
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one foal and one shepherd." Sixthly, we see the attitude
of a believer. Look at Matthew 15, verse 25. Then came she, and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. You know the amazing thing I
was looking at her beginning prayer, verse 22. She cried unto
him, here's what she said, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, thou Son
of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And she says in verse 25, Lord,
help me. Lord, you know my needs. Lord,
You know my need greater than I. Lord, help me." Here was a
woman who against hope, against any natural outward manifestation,
apparent hope, who against hope believed in hope. She believed
in Christ. She believed, He is my hope. He is her rest. While discouragements
abound. Think how she must have felt
when the Lord said to her, it's not meat to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. I'm sure she'd heard that before,
been called that before. But you know what? She admitted
it. What believer, what believer
will not admit what he is? You tell a believer, you just
dog. Right here. You're just a wretched
sinner. Right here. And they'll say you
don't know the half of it. You just think you know. You
knew what went through my mind. You knew the attitudes I had.
You knew the thoughts that I had. You don't have a clue. This woman bowed to the fact
that she was a dog. That was truth. It's not fit.
It's not to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. But I'm telling you, this woman,
by the grace of God, from the One who had promised not to leave
nor forsake His own, she said in her heart, just like Job 13.5,
though He slay me, Yet will I trust in Him." I have
no other place to go. Job says, yet will I trust in
Him, but I will maintain my own ways before Him, kept by the
power of God through faith. That's the only reason. She didn't
get up and say, I guess everything they ever said about you, you
know, concerning the Jews, I guess it was right. I guess you don't
have compassion. No, sir. An unbeliever, they'll
get mad. They'll get mad. You let God
be set forth as He's revealed in these Scriptures, and an unbeliever
will say, that's not the God that I worship. That's not the God that I love.
No, the God that I love would never treat anybody like that.
A believer would say, Lord, by your grace I'm still here. By
the grace of God you've kept me. Oh, how our hearts rejoice
as we behold the miracle of God's grace to His people. But in closing,
I'd like to just make just a few closing statements. And what
prompted my heart to make these statements right here was what
our Lord said to her in verse 28. Oh woman, great is thy faith,
be it unto thee even as thou wilt. As I began to muse upon
these scriptures again for this message, I began to look and
see this woman as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, how so? This woman,
a type of Christ? You know, the Lord said to the
two on the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses, all the Scriptures,
He expounded unto them those things concerning Himself. Now I'll tell you this, we see
a picture of Christ, you fly to it. You see Him honored, you
see Him glorified, you see Him praised, you don't go wrong there. You see Him. Now I've just got
a few statements concerning why I see this woman as a picture
of Christ Himself. This woman was where she was
exclusively on behalf of another. She was there not for herself.
She said, have mercy on me, my daughter. My daughter. One born from her loins. One
that she loved. One that was bound to her. Her
daughter was the subject of her plea. Did not our Lord come into
this world made of a woman, made under the law, made flesh? For who? For the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. For all that were chosen in Him
from before the foundation of the world, For all that had been
everlastingly loved by Him, eternally bound to Him in electing grace,
is it not for them that He ever liveth to make intercession? On their account, on their behalf,
for their good, His honor. Have mercy on me, my daughter,
my daughter. She was there on behalf of another. Secondly, this woman, for the
sake of her daughter, was totally humbled, brought
down. She owned herself as being a
dog. What did the Lord say concerning
Himself? I'm a worm. I'm a worm." Had
not the Lord said that, who in their right mind would ever say
it? He who has made sin, he who humbled himself and made
himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant,
and made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as
a man. He humbled Himself, became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, according to the everlasting
covenant of grace on behalf of His people. He humbled Himself. This is the Lord of glory. The
one that the angels look into concerning His substitutionary
death, His giving of His life for His people, God Himself,
whose blood, the blood of God shed, Acts 20, 28. The blood
of God humbled Himself. Thirdly, the
Lord answered this woman, She asked Him, not a word, but what
did she do? She worshipped. And she said,
Lord, help me. Help me. I want you to listen to the prophetic
words of our Lord Jesus from Psalm 40. Verses 7 and 8, Then
said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart. So I know, I know who's
speaking these words prophetically. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of years before he ever came, this was the Lord speaking. But
I want you to listen out of Psalm 40, same chapter. Verses 12 and
13, he says, For innumerable evils have compassed me about."
This woman was compassed about with evil. She said, a devil
has got my daughter. My daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil. The Lord says, my iniquities
have compassed me about. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me so I'm not able to look up. They're more than the hairs
of my head, therefore my heart faileth me. Who said this? The Lord Jesus. Be pleased, O
Lord, be pleased, Jehovah, to deliver
me. O Lord, Jehovah, make haste to
help me. Here is the servant of Jehovah. The man, Christ Jesus, God-man,
the Son of David. Totally God and totally man. A man who humbled himself. And as a man suffered the totality
of God's judgment, a man died. The blood of God
was shed. I can't delve into the depth
of this, but I can tell you this. Our Lord cried unto His Father
and said, Lord, make haste to help me. Help me! Help me! Here was our surety as He bore
the immeasurable burden of our sins and sorrows at Calvary.
And it is impossible for us to comprehend that which He bore
in our stead. But I can tell you based on Scripture,
His cry from the cross that's recorded in Psalm 40, may we
read these words with thankfulness and humbling ourselves before
Him as He sets forth that which He cried. Then in closing, she was commended for her faith. Oh woman, great is thy faith,
be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very
hour. This woman walked by faith that
had been given her. She was not the author of it.
But there's one and one alone of whom it is said, this is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. You hear him. He alone is the faithful servant
of Jehovah. And knowing of his faith, his
faith, listen to what Scripture says, knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, that means man is not justified
by what he does. This woman had been given faith
and the Lord commended her for it. But concerning the one of
whom she's a type, concerning his faith, knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ imputed to them. His faith, His righteousness
imputed. Of Him alone can it be said concerning
Him, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt." What did he pray in John 17, 24? Father, I will. I will. That those that thou
hast given me be with me where I am. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
servant of Jehovah, the one that cried from the cross, Lord, help
me. The one that humbled himself,
made himself of no reputation, the one who said, I do only,
always, those things that please Him. I do nothing but what pleases
the Father. The Father said, I'm pleased
with Him. Great is thy faith, be it unto
thee as thou wilt. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.