and departed into the coasts
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 see there in the beginning,
in verse 21, it says, Then Jesus went thence and departed. And
he left somewhere, he left somewhere, he left the Pharisees. Our Lord
had been in Jerusalem, he'd been in the temple and they were watching
him and they were watching his disciples to try to find fault
with him. And they did, they accused them
of being defiled because they ate with unwashing hands. Now
this was disciples who the Lord had made holy by his grace, by
creating them anew in heart. And they are accusing them of
being defiled because they touched something with unwashing hands
and put it in their body. They couldn't hear the law of
God declare them guilty. They couldn't hear God's word
saying they were totally, thoroughly guilty. As all sinners are as
we come into this world, they couldn't hear that and so they
found fought with others and flattered themselves. They thought
within themselves they were righteous and they were always looking
to find fault with others. That's the essence of Phariseeism. That's the essence of legalism,
of will worship, of men looking to the works of their hands.
But Christ declared here it's the sin nature that defiles. It's the sin nature that is Sin
and and that's where sin comes from look back there in verse
17 He says do not yet ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth
in at the mouth goeth into the belly and cast out into the drought
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from
the heart and they defile the man for out of the heart perceive
evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications Thefts, false witnesses,
blasphemies, that's all that's in the sin nature. And that's
all the sin nature produces from the first breath to the last. And that's everything their religion
was, and everything they were doing towards Christ and His
disciples, that's what it was right there. Stealing His glory,
bearing false witness against Him, blasphemy against Him, adultery
and fornication against Christ, All of it. And it was all in
the heart. The Spirit of God has to regenerate
us. He has to create a new man in
Christ's righteousness and Christ's holiness for us to be without
sin before Him. Bring us to faith in Christ,
to trust Christ for all our righteousness. He has to keep us looking to
Christ all our days. All our days. We have to be taught
we're sinners. But apart from the Spirit of
God, man's religion, everything about ourselves apart from Christ
and if he doesn't work this in our heart everything we do is
sin. Our minds are carnal and a mind,
a fleshly man, unregenerate man, his mind is set on carnal things,
on outward things and that's what they were set on. Touch
not, taste not, handle not, how well they were doing measuring
up to the law, they thought, and how bad others weren't measuring
up to it. This was their religion. It's
what it consisted of. So when Christ spoke to them,
and he always, he always, Christ always confounded the fault finders,
and he always defended his sheep. And when he spoke to them and
told them that they were the sinners, they were guilty sinners,
they were self-righteous sinners, and when he told them that, It
offended them because they didn't have a new nature. All they had
was a sin nature. And it offended them. It offended
them greatly. But instead of repentance, instead
of a broken heart, instead of falling down and asking Christ
for mercy, they became offended. They became offended. And then the Lord left them. He departed from them. He left
them. But look where He went. He went
to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. He went outside of Israel. He
went outside of Jerusalem. He left the land of Israel. Not
only did he leave the Pharisees, he left the whole land of Israel
and went to Canaan. He went to a poor Gentile outsider. She's somebody the Jews considered
a Gentile dog. And that's where he went. Our Lord here is showing a contrast,
and we're going to see a contrast in how the Pharisees received
him and how this woman came to him. How when he spoke to them,
they were offended. We're going to see he spoke much
more bluntly to her, face-to-face, directly, and we're going to
see how she responded. First, we see God's grace here.
Our Lord Jesus went into these coasts of of Tyre and Sidon because
there was a certain woman there. There was an elect child of God
there. He went there on purpose. He
knew where she was. He went there for her. He went
there on purpose. Mark says a certain woman was
there whose young daughter had an unclean spirit and she had
heard of him. She came and fell at his feet.
She was a Greek woman, a Syrophoenician by nature or by nation. Christ knows exactly where his
sheep are. And he's going to come to his
sheep, he's going to bring the gospel to them, he's going to
cross their path with his word, and he's going to speak into
their heart and quicken and call them. She had heard, somehow
the gospel had come to her, and she heard it. God had given her
a heart to know him, that he's the only one who could help her.
God doesn't save based on our place. Here's a woman who looks
so different from these Pharisees. This is what our Lord's teaching
here. This woman, look, she wasn't of Israel, she's a Canaan, of
Canaan. It's not based on our place,
it's not based on our race, it's not based on our faith, it's
not based on what men call grace, their grace, pretended grace.
It's all of God's true grace. He chooses whom He wills. She
was a Canaanite. She's of the cursed race. She's
not Abraham's descendants. This woman is of the cursed race. This woman lives in that land
where our Lord said, slay them all. That's where she is. But just like all who God saves,
He saves by His free grace, who He chose by grace, not based
on anything in us, chose freely by grace. She's one of His spiritual
Israel, one of His true Israel. who Christ laid down His life
for, who He justified from all iniquity, and He's coming to
her. He comes into these coasts. You notice here, He came to her
first. That's 50 miles from where He
was in Israel to where He is now. 50 miles. He went walking
that whole way to get to her. And He came to her first, and
then she came to Him. That's how grace works with God.
She had heard of Him, She had heard of Him and by His sovereign
hand He had given her a need for Christ. Whatever the secondary
causes were, it was God who gave her this need. Her daughter was
grievously vexed with the devil. Now, affliction doesn't put faith
in the heart. But wherever God puts faith in
the heart, He is going to send affliction and adversity and
reveal our sins and give us a dire need for Christ. And He never
stops. Never stops. Blessed is the man
to whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee that he
may dwell in thy court. That's what He done here. He
chose this woman and caused her to approach to Him. He said in
John 6, No man can come to me except it my Father which has
sent me draw him. That's what's happening there.
He drew her to himself. He gave her a great need. Made
her hear of Christ. He came to where she was, and
now he's drawing her to Christ. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren. Beloved of the Lord, because
God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you. by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we see grace here
first. All this is of God's grace. Everything
he's doing here, he chose her by grace, came to her by grace,
he had made her hear the gospel by grace, he had quickened her
heart, given her faith by grace, and now he's fixing to show her
mercy. Now secondly, I want you to notice
the spirit of true faith. Verse 22, The second part says,
when she came to him, she cried unto him, saying, have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Now, she didn't come to the Lord
with her hands washed or worry about washing up her hands and
her feet, for she came. She didn't come there boasting
about anything she had done. She came there and cast herself
down at his feet. and cried for mercy. She had
a broken heart. She had a dire need. A dire need. I have a dire need. Do your sins
plague you? Do your sins cause you to groan
under this body of death every day? Do you see your sin? Do you see your failure? Do you
see your fumbling and falling? and you have a need for Christ
to come to him. This is a daily, hourly need
he gives his people. She fell at his feet crying to
him. That's what true faith does.
It's a heart, it's a spirit, it's a brokenness that he gives
where you're at his feet, falling at his feet crying unto him.
She had no ability in herself and she knew that. What could
she do? She knew she had no ability.
She could not do anything. She could not do a thing about
this devil that was in her daughter. So where does she come to? She
comes to Christ hoping that he'll have mercy on her. He's the only
one that can help. She believed him. She believed
Him to be sovereign God. She believed Him to be the Christ,
the Messiah, the Son of David. She came there and she cried,
O Lord, Thou Son of David. You see a great contrast here?
The Pharisees rejected Him. The Pharisees accused Him of
blasphemy. The Pharisees accused Him of
sin. The Pharisees accused His disciples of sin. Why? They did not have a need. They did not see themselves as
being possessed of the devil. They didn't see themselves of
having a sin nature totally vile before the thrice holy God. That's
what they didn't see. But this Gentile came acknowledging
the sovereignty of King Jesus. She came there saying, Lord,
thou son of David. She believed the word. She believed
the gospel. She believed he was the Messiah.
That's to say, She believed his messiahship, our son of David. She believed him. She believed
who he was. They didn't. They had the law, the prophets.
They had all the advantages he gave to Israel. This woman didn't
have a law. She lived in an idolatrous land
amongst idolaters. She didn't come up under the
law. You know what the Lord said? He said, Israel which had the
law, they didn't obtain to the righteousness of the law. Why?
They did not seek it by faith. They sought it by the works of
the law, by the works of their hand. But the Gentiles, just
like this woman, who didn't have the law, they obtained the righteousness
of the law. How? He came and gave them faith
and they believed on Christ our righteousness. She believed that
he could save his people from the power of the devil. She came
there saying, my daughter's grievously vexed with the devil. That's
the purpose for which the Son of God came. First John 3, 8,
for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might
destroy the works of the devil. That's why he came. Our Lord
Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. The devil
tempted Eve. as being preached to you Sunday
and Adam sinned with his eyes wide open and plunged us into
sin. And ever since then, the devil has been accusing us to
God and accusing us in our conscience and using the law to do it. And
you know how Christ delivered us? He crushed the serpent's
head. You know how? He took away all the sin of his
people. He justified his people before
God so that the devil cannot make one charge stick. with God. Isn't that good news? Not one charge is going to stick.
They're justified. They're righteous. You know what
Christ is going to do for this woman? He's going to have mercy
on her. Why? Because He's satisfying
the law for her. It's just to do it. It's the
only just thing for Him to do. By his spirit regeneration he
comes in and binds the strong man and delivers his people from
the power of the devil. That's the only way we can believe
on Christ. That's the only way we have faith
to look to Christ and trust Christ. It's because Christ takes dominion.
And you're going to sin, you're going to fall, you're going to
try to turn away because you've got a said nature in you. But
he's doing that to show us, brethren, he is the power of God unto salvation. It's not only his righteousness
that makes us just before God, it's his power in us that keeps
us looking to him. That's the only way. Surely he
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. You know why he
healed sick people when he walked this earth? You know why he cast
out devils while he walked this earth? To show a visible, undeniable
manifestation that he has the power to forgive sin through
his precious blood. and deliver us. He bore our griefs
and carried our sorrows. He bore the sins that caused
them. He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed." Oh, what good news. That's why she came to
Him. She believed this. She believed
He was the Savior and the righteousness and the holiness and the wisdom
and the power and that He could save. That's why she came there. We won't come to God unless we
believe Him. We won't come to the Lord unless
we have this need, unless we believe He's the only one that
can save us. Faith that believes Christ plus something else is
not faith at all. That's works. True faith looks
to Him only. He's the only one that can save
me. Then we see our Lord try the faith that He gives. Now
this is for our good. This is for the good of all His
disciples involved here. But He's going to try the faith
He gives. He's going to do it real quickly. It's going to begin. There's a trial when He starts
calling you. There's a trial once He's called
you. And as soon as He brings you to confess Him and brings
you to His feet, the trial's going to start. Why does he do this? Look here.
How does he do it? Verse 23. But he answered her
not a word. She comes there crying out. You
know she's just weeping and vexed. You notice there she didn't say
have mercy on my daughter. She said have mercy on me. Look here though. She comes there
and he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought
him saying send her away for she crieth after us. But he answered
and said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Now, the Lord is not only trying
her faith and he's not only teaching her. He's teaching, he's trying
the faith of his disciples and he's teaching them as well. He
always, when he sends a need and he sends a trial and affliction
and adversity, he's not just teaching one of his people. He's
teaching all his people that are connected with him. And that's
what he's doing here. In Jerusalem, after he declared
to those Pharisees, and he told those Pharisees that they were
self-righteous sinners, the disciples came to him. His disciples came
to him. And they said, knowest thou that
the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? It's as if they didn't want to
offend the Pharisees. Those Pharisees were their kinsmen
after the flesh. Those Pharisees were Jews. They
were natural descendants of Abraham. They were outwardly moral religious
folks who claimed to believe God. And they came to him and
said, do you know you offended them? But the disciples come to him
here and they want to send this woman away. They want to send
this Gentile woman away. Send her away. She keeps crying
after us. She's just a Gentile dog. And he answered and he said,
I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Now I can just picture his disciples thinking, That confirms our request. That's why we're saying, just
send her away. You're not sent but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. But our Lord is teaching here, she is one
to whom I'm sent. My ones that I'm sent to save
are not just in the nation of Israel. I have an elect people
scattered throughout the nations of the world that I'm going to
call. I'm sent by the Father to them.
I'm sent to lay down my life for them. I'm sent to call them.
And they're not just elect among the Jews, they're elect among
the Gentiles. His true spiritual Israel, this
is a spiritual, one of His spiritual Israel that's been sanctified
by the Spirit and it's coming to Him because she believes Him.
And that's what He's teaching. He's not only trying her faith,
He's teaching His disciples. It's teaching them that they
were mistaken to judge after the outward appearance. They
were mistaken when they were in Israel looking at those Pharisees,
and they're mistaken here looking at this woman. Next we're going to see God-given
faith does not take offense. Like the Pharisees did, God-given
faith takes our place as sinners owning Christ to be all our salvation. Now I'm saying when he's working
in the heart, when he's really working, the Pharisees were offended. She's going to take her place
as a sinner. Watch this. Verse 24, But he answered and
said, I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. True faith is the connection
between Christ and His child. It's the conduit between Christ
the faithful and the faith He's given into the heart of His child.
It's the conduit between us and Him whereby He's going to speak
His word and we're going to be able to discern it and know Him
and believe Him and bow to His word. His word resonated in her
heart. When he spoke, it resonated in
her heart. She said, I'm not sent. He said,
I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And then came she and fell down at his feet saying, Lord, help
me. Lord, I'm a lost sheep. Lord, I'm a
straying sheep. I'm an ignorant sheep. Lord,
I believe you're my shepherd. Lord, help me. His silence didn't turn her away. His Word concerning His sovereignty
saying, I'm sent only to the elect, to the lost sheep, my
spiritual Israel, that didn't turn her away. She didn't get
offended at either one of those. His Word strengthened her faith. His silence strengthened her
faith. His word of sovereignty saying
I am she didn't hear that is I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of that She heard that as oh he sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel That's what faith here Faith doesn't
look at the doctrine of election and say well, what if I'm not
one of God's elect? That's what unbelief always does
you ever notice that when you talk to somebody? It's an evident
token they don't have faith because they always argue against one
of the most blessed doctrines there is, that God chose a people. But true faith hears it as, oh,
God chose a people. There's hope for me. The Lord
chose a people. When He didn't answer her, when
you call to the Lord, He doesn't answer you. I tell you what it
makes you do. It makes you cry more earnestly. It makes you plead for mercy
more. And the Lord does this out of
love. You remember when they came and told him Lazarus had
died? And he loved Martha and Mary it said. And Lazarus, you
know what he did? He waited two days before he
went there. He wanted to make sure that they knew Lazarus was
good and dead and in that tomb. and he was making them long for
him to be there more. He did the same thing when the
storm came and the apostles were in the ship and they looked up
and here he comes walking on the water, he made like he was
just going to pass them right on by. What did they do? Lord! Here we are! Don't pass us by! That's what he's doing. He did it to those on the road
to Emmaus. They got to the house He just
made like He's just going to keep on going. Oh, come in and
dine with us. Don't leave. Did not our heart
burn within us? When He doesn't answer you, He's
drawing you to Him. He's making you plead with Him
more, making you cry to Him more earnestly, making you desire
His mercy more. That's how He strengthens faith.
She came and fell down and said, Lord, help me. Don't you know
that second coming to Him and falling down. Don't you know
she just, she didn't say anything else, just, Lord, help me. What
a good, Lord, help me. Nor was she offended at the sentence
He gave her. She wasn't offended at His silence.
She wasn't offended at His sovereignty. And she wasn't offended at the
sentence He gave of her. Verse 26, He answered and said,
Now you imagine this, all your life you've been called a Gentile
dog by the Jews. And naturally speaking, you've
been taught by your Canaanite heathen brethren to hate the
Jews. And here she stands before the
Lord, and the Lord says, It's not meat to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs." She said, truth, Lord. Truth,
Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. Notice she said truth
and she said yet. Truth is faith's amen to God's
judgment of us. Truth, Lord, I'm the sinner. I'm a dog. I got no merit in
me. I don't deserve anything from
you. Truth, Lord. Yet is faith's plea for God's
mercy. Yet, Lord, I need to receive everything
from your hand. Will you be gracious to me? Will
you be merciful to me? Truth, Lord, I'm the sinner.
I don't deserve anything. Yet, would you give this dog a crumb?
Would you be my master and just give this dog a crumb from your
table? Do you see the contrast? The
Pharisees were offended. Under the law, a dog was unclean. A dog couldn't be brought into
the temple. There they stood in the temple, going through
all their religious work, and Christ essentially called them
dogs. When He said, you don't keep
the law, your hearts defile. your unregenerate sinners, out
of your heart is coming this enmity and sin, and you're calling
it righteousness and saying you're serving God. It's rejection of
Christ and rejection of His brethren. And when He said that to them,
they were offended. How dare you call us self-righteous? They were offended. What about this woman? And she fell at his feet and
said, Truth, Lord, I'm a dog. I'm unworthy. I don't have any
merit. I am just a great sinner, that's
all. Yet, would you have mercy on
this dog? Yet, you're the master, and even
dogs eat the crumbs of the master's table. You know what David and
Mephibosheth called themselves? Before their enemies who were
chasing after them, Saul was coming after David. You remember
what he said? Why are you coming after a dead dog like me? Mephibosheth, David calls him
and Mephibosheth thinks David's about to slay him because he
had slain all of Saul's house. And he got to David and he said,
Oh, you're going to have mercy on a dead dog like me? That's
the spirit of faith. That's the spirit of faith. When he pronounces you a sinner,
you say, Yes, Lord. That's all I am. That's all I
am. Isn't that all we are? There's good news for dogs if
you're really a dog. There's good news for dogs. They
titled this Mercy for Dogs. Brother Henry preached a message
called All Dogs Go to Heaven. There's mercy for dogs. She wasn't offended by silence.
She wasn't offended by sovereignty. She wasn't offended by the sentence
of condemnation of being just a worthless sinner that He pronounced
upon her. By grace, faith falls at His
feet, owns ourselves to be nothing but sinners, and pleads for His
grace and His mercy, for Christ to be all our salvation. And
you know what mercy receives? You know what faith receives?
Verse 28, then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great
is thy faith. Great is thy faith. Be it unto
thee, even as thou will. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. Amen. Father, thank you for your word.
Lord, speak into our hearts and take away our heart of offense and subdue that sin nature and quicken
us, Lord, and renew us into the inward man, the new man. Make us on your gospel, on our
places, sinners in need of mercy. Lord, we ask you that you would
please drop some crumbs for these dogs. Be our great merciful master. Lord, we'll take crumbs. We'll take just crumbs from the
children's bread. long as it comes from your hand,
long as it's of your mercy and your grace. Lord, thank you that you don't
give us crumbs. You pour out grace upon grace
upon grace. Perfect righteousness, perfect
holiness, perfect acceptance, completion in you. Lord, keep
us looking only to our Redeemer and help us, Lord. Help us to
have this spirit of faith clinging to you, coming to you continually,
falling at your feet constantly, pleading your mercy continually.
Lord, make us faithful dogs. Forgive us, Lord, our sin. Forgive
us for being offended and thinking ourselves something when we're
not. Keep us, Lord. We ask it in Christ's
name. Amen.