I just noticed that our final
hymn is God Shall Alone the Refuge Be, which includes too wise to
be mistaken, he too good to be unkind. I love this hymn very
much and I quoted it last Lord's Day evening at Gordon Road. They don't use Gadsby's, they
use the Christian hymns, so it's not in that hymn book. then afterwards
somebody, I don't know if he was trying to test me or something,
he said do you know who wrote that hymn? So I said well Samuel
Medley at least I knew the answer to the hymn but it's a lovely
hymn which we'll sing at the end. This morning and going into this
evening I want to think really about the words from Matthew
chapter 15 from verse 21 to 28 concerning this Canaanitish woman from verse 21 to 28. I won't
read those verses again in Matthew 15 but there is a parallel passage
in Mark chapter 7 and I'll just read those words in Mark chapter
7 and from verse 24 to 30 and from thence he arose and went
into the borders of Tyre and Sidon and entered into a house
and would have no man know it but he could not be hid For a
certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard
of him, and came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek,
a Syrophoenician by nation, and she besought him that he would
cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto
her, Let the children first be filled, for it is not meat to
take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dog, And
she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord, yet the dogs under
the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said unto her,
For this saying go thy way, the devil was gone out of thy daughter.
And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone
out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. I'll sort of mainly focus on
the passage in Matthew 15 that we read from verse 21 to 28 is probably going to be sort
of this morning and then developing the fort for this evening as
well. But we'll see how we go for time
and everything this morning, how far we get. But let's begin
then with this lady that I mentioned. Verse 21 and 22, then Jesus went Thence departed into the coast
of Tyre and Sidon, and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of
the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me,
O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil. When we read about the disciples
of the Lord, they're often described aren't we as weak in their faith
oh ye of little faith and we would think that in a
way quite surprising because you think well the disciples
who were with the Lord and saw the miracles and heard the things
that he said well if anybody's faith would be strong it would
them but with this woman who was received
at the end she was commended for her faith this woman she was given you've
got to give her top marks for her persistence as we shall see
and as we've read concerning this lady she wouldn't say no
for an answer from the Lord but it's amazing to think isn't
it of this woman who had faith and she'd come from perhaps an
unexpected region who's not of Israel she was a gentile she
was an outsider but we read that she had a measure
of faith no doubt she had heard something about the Lord and
what he had done but perhaps it was based really on externals
in the past But she came to his feet from
afar and then she asked Jesus to heal her devil-inflicted daughter,
knowing that he could. And I love it there in verse
22 where she says, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. And that's something that we
need to plead before God. Lord, be merciful to me. Don't treat me as I deserve,
but have mercy upon me. And that was her request. Have mercy on me. Reminds us, doesn't he, of Luke
18, verse 13, the publican. you know, the Pharisee and the
Publican, the Publican all that he said. God be merciful to me,
a sinner. And that's what we need to plead
from God, isn't it? Have mercy upon me, upon us. J.C. Rahr read this yesterday,
said concerning making some comments on this
particular passage and about the mercy and the grace of God
he says it is grace not place which makes people believers so she was not in the sort of
she'd come from an area that was unexpected for the Lord to have an influence
as it were. She was an outsider and yet there
was, it's not because of where she came from that counted. And
we need to not rely on the fact, well, because
we live in this country, which, well, it's not really a Christian
country now, but it's had the influence of Christianity. Well,
because I live in the right place, then I'm all right. No, we mustn't
think of that. Nor must we consider, well, because of the church or the denomination
I'm in, I'm all right. Or because my parents were Christians,
therefore I'm all right. Now we each need, don't we, the
individual mercy and the grace of God. We need God to be merciful
to each one of us as we are sinners, aren't we? it's remarkable isn't it how
the Lord did this work in this life of this woman and we see
it other times other occasions in scripture where those sort
of outside saved and God does a great work in their lives like
with Ruth coming from that heathen area of Moab. But what is key for everyone
is What do we think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Matthew 22, 42
says, what think ye of Christ? And that's it, isn't it? We have
different views and opinions or whatever, so many things.
But what do we think of Christ? Because we read in Hebrews 9,
27, it's appointed unto men Once to die, but after this,
the judgment. So that's to be taken seriously
for each one of us, isn't it? You know, we're individually
created by God, made in the image of God, fearfully and wonderfully
made. But we are created, we will die
unless the Lord comes back first. And then there's the judgment.
And that's for each one of us. and so we need to answer the
question think about that question what think ye of Christ and answer
it in the right way that well he he is my saviour that i am
that the Christ shed his blood for me that i am realize that
i'm a sinner that i'm forgiven we need to have these thoughts,
don't we, of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not just, well, he was a good
man, he did lots of good things and things like that. Some do.
No. Is he our Lord and our saviour? So do we know the mercy and the
grace of God? Have we experienced that in our
lives? And do we know more of it? Are we growing in grace? That's a good thing, isn't it? To grow in grace, not just to
be saved and that's it. No, may the Lord work in us that
we grow in grace and that the evidence that we are the Lords
is more and more apparent to those, not that we become in
this life perfectly holy. We'd be far from that. But may our prayer be that God
will work in us holiness and that we'll be as holy as a sinner,
a fallen sinner can ever be. with this woman didn't she she
she was concerned about her daughter my daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil it reminds me reminds us doesn't it of a concern that
we have for our families and we are concerned about our families
and praying that they will get on well in life and settle down
well in a good job or in a stable relationship and be financially
comfortable but concerned about those things. But what about
the state of their souls? and where they will spend eternity
is that concern there. And I know that it's not easy,
is it, talking to family members about the Lord? Perhaps they're
the hardest people to talk to about Christian things, your
family. But if we can't talk to them, let's talk to the Lord
about them. Yes, often, isn't it? Perhaps
a complete stranger. You can talk about the law to
them quite happily or more easily. But it's harder with your family. But here was this lady having
a concern for her daughter, grievously vexed with a devil. But how did the Lord Jesus deal
with her? And there's three headings that
I have. We might get through the three
this morning. We might have to go into the
this evening. And the first one is apparent
silence. Apparent silence. which we have in verse 23, but
he answered her, not a word. She cried, but Jesus remained
silent. Though he heard her, he remained
silent. Silence is a great trial. Samuel Rutherford said, the silence
of God is the bitterest ingredient the Christian has to drink in
his cup of sorrow. Now most people are quite happy
for God to be silent. As long as they've got food,
as long as they're healthy, as long as they've got enough to
get by on in life and things are going on tickety-boo then
they're quite happy with that we don't want God to interfere
in our lives and perhaps there's many people like that yeah I
don't need God I've got I've got a nice house I've got a nice
car nice family good job and good salary and so on I don't
need God I'm quite happy for God not to interfere in my life
as long as God leaves me alone lets me get on with my life well
that's okay with me so many say perhaps when something then does
happen in their lives with health or losing the job or something
like that or death of a loved one. Well that will interrupt
that and then they might sort of then think about God a bit. They might not think of God perhaps
in the right way but it might make them think about things. In a sense believers should not
want God to be silent. and it's a trial when God appears
to be silent there was a time when Luther considered God dead
at one point Luther considered that God was dead and it was
his wife who convinced him otherwise but sometimes isn't it in life
that You know, we struggle with that, don't we? And we sort of,
why isn't God doing something? Why is God silent? Why is he not acting? And there's many verses like
from the Psalms. This thou hast seen, O Lord,
keep not silence, O Lord, be not far from me. Psalm 35, 22.
How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy
burn like fire? Psalm 79, 5. Psalm 35, 17. Lord, how long wilt thou look
on? Rescue my soul from their destructions,
my darling, from the lions. And then we have Psalm 73. Truly God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet
were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was
envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is
firm. They are not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride
compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness.
They have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt and speak
wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set
their mouths against the heavens and their tongue walketh through
the earth. Therefore is people return hither,
and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say,
how doth God know? And is their knowledge in the
Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly,
who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. Verily I
have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been
played, and chastened every morning. If I say I will speak thus, behold,
I should offend against the generation of thy children, When I fought
to know this, it was too painful for me. So here was the song. How do these people get away
with this? Why isn't God doing something? Why are these people just getting
away with what they're getting away in? My situation is precarious,
and yet these people seem to, have such a good time and no
problems. But the final verse in that section,
verse 17 of Psalm 73, was a turning point, wasn't it? Until I went
into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. So then
there was a change then in focus and thinking when he considered
the end of them. compared to the end for himself. So why is God sometimes silent? And I'm sure perhaps there's
a couple of thoughts here. One, to glorify himself and to
strengthen faith. In John 11, We read about Lazarus. We all know the story of Lazarus.
From verse 3 of John 11. Therefore his sisters sent unto
him, that's the Lord Jesus, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest
is sick, referring to Lazarus. When Jesus heard that, he said,
this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha,
and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard, therefore,
that he was sick, he abode two days, still in the same place
where he was. and of course he died we read
later verse 21 of that chapter then said Martha and to Jesus
Lord if thou has been here my brother had not died so there's
kind of like a silence there you know that Lord didn't do
anything and Lazarus died but it was for the glory of God and
we we read on don't we of the raising of Lazarus in that chapter but I mean if we'd heard about
somebody seriously ill of a loved one of ours I mean we would we
would go straight away wouldn't we you know we need to just down
tools and just go and be with that person or see
how we can help the family at this time. Winslow, I can't come
just yet. You know I'm sure that we would
do all we could to go straight away. But this with Lazarus was for
the glory of God this delay. of course delays with God are
not denials. Very often we often pray about
things and we shouldn't use sort of God as a kind of like a magic
wand. We pray about something and then
immediately we get an answer. Now often we have to wait and
we are to pray pray on to be persistent in prayer just
as this woman as we see was very persistent and so it is isn't it it's good
to pray the lord wants us to to pray and very often isn't
it that we don't get an answer to our prayer not maybe in the
way that we want or not for a long time I think it was George Muller
prayed for the conversion of his brother I think it was and
he prayed many years for for him and then George Muller died
but his brother was converted afterwards so tomorrow I'll even
see the answer in our lifetime. But we are to pray, aren't we? We are to wait on the Lord. Wait.
There's a verse in Isaiah that says about waiting on the Lord. And it's reiterated. Wait, I say, on the Lord. It's
said twice in the same verse. It's important, you know, you
wait on the Lord. It's important that you do that.
We live in a society where there's so much instant, isn't there?
And people don't wait. But may we learn to be patient
and to wait on the Lord. So a parent Firstly, apparent
silence. And then secondly, we have apparent
rejection in verse 24. But he answered and said, I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The woman had earlier cried,
calling Jesus son of David, which was a title Jews used for the
Messiah in verse 22. she was a gentile a Syrophoenician
which we saw in the reading in Mark who was not of the house
of Israel. So is this woman trying to gate
crash the Jewish religion and their privileged position by
speaking as a Jew When Christ was upon earth, his earthly ministry
was mainly amongst those of Israel, but his priestly atoning ministry
was for Jew and Gentile. I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men, all men of different nationalities
and all sorts and conditions, will draw all men unto me both
Jew and Gentile. And so this incident paves the
way for this as we shall see mercy extended to the Gentiles
as well as to the Jew. The disciples did not care about
this woman But the Lord did. I mean the
disciples didn't. They rejected her. Send her away. Don't have anything to do with
this woman. Just send her away. So they rejected her. But Jesus
didn't reject her. Although it might have appeared
that she was being rejected. As I said, she was persistent. She was not going to be put off.
She was not going to be put off. She worshipped God. Her faith
was maturing. She came when seemingly rejected
and worshipped God. She called for Jesus to help
her. And she wouldn't let that go. Lord, help me there in verse
25. it was really about her daughter
but now she there in verse 24 Lord help me so in a sense as
a focus has changed from the daughter to herself as well Lord help me and so as I said earlier about
our salvation and our relationship with with the Lord. It's something
to be personal, isn't it? You know, we are all answerable
to God. Personally, one day, stand before
the throne of judgment seat of Christ. And we need not fear
that if we are the Lord's. We have nothing to fear. but we've been each wonderfully
created by God, sustained by him. But may it be that we personally
realise that we are sinners and that we are in need of forgiveness
and that comes through and only through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was a simple cry there
in verse 25, wasn't it, when she said, Lord, help me. It wasn't
anything sort of very theological or anything terribly academic
or elongated it was just a simple Lord help me and that's what
it is isn't it when it comes to our relationship with the
Lord when it comes to what we know
and believe it's quite simple really isn't it in a way there's
a lot of complicated things about theology and about the Bible
and certain passages and things like that. But when it comes
to our salvation, it's, you know, we're sinners, hell-deserving
sinners. We need forgiveness, we need
a saviour, and that's Jesus Christ, and there's only, he's the only
one who can save us. I am the way, the truth, the
life, said not one of, many ways. and the life. And that's just a simple cry,
isn't it, to the Lord. Lord, help me. Lord, save me. And just as that one that I mentioned
earlier, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Just seven words. But they were better words. than what the Pharisee was saying. I'm not like that man. I've done
this. I've done that. That's what he
said. And then the publican just said,
Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. Just seven words per pen. Far
more meaning and power than what the Pharisee said. so apparent silence and apparent
rejection and then thirdly apparent insult in verse 26 he answered
and said it is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs perhaps a final test of her faith calling her a dog
now that was a bit of an insult in bible times to call somebody
a dog Dogs were wild animals then rather than pets that we
think of dogs now. And Jews often called Gentiles
dogs as a sign of superiority. This woman had realized she was
an unworthy sinner. And do we? Do we realize that
we are unworthy sinners? We can't save ourselves. We can
only be saved by the Lord Jesus. We can't save ourselves. And
she needed to realize her vileness. God shows us the depth of our
depravity as he matures us. And that's good to realize the
extent of our sin. only then to realise that we
can't in any way save ourselves and that the only one who can
save us is the Lord Jesus who suffered and died and shed his
blood for us, whose blood cleanses from all sins. So she admitted, didn't she,
that she was a dog, a vile sinner, She was saying, yes, God, you're
right about me. I am that. And do we admit to
God? Yeah, I'm a sinner. Hell deserving sinner. Well,
God knows all about us anyway, so we can't fool God. We can't
in any way hide from God or pretend otherwise. She passed the test
in her reply, described as her master stroke. But Lord, may
I be thy dog? Surely, Lord, please extend your
favor to Gentiles. Don't want much, just crumbs. I'm sure if we have other milk,
then I'm sure we have more than crumbs. crumbs wouldn't sort
of be terribly satisfying, which are their crumbs. He said, I
don't want much, just crumbs. But as we mature, we realize
more our sin, our dependence on God, and the long-suffering
nature of God. Like this woman, plead with God. As I said earlier about men all
the ways to pray, and not to faint. And as Pastor James said
about Jacob, I will not let thee go except thou bless me, wrestling
with God. And sometimes that's what we
need to do is to wrestle with God. But we know that The daughter
was made whole as well and then faith and stronger faith given
to this woman and her daughter was healed as we saw in the account
in Mark. But her faith is commended. Her faith is commended. There was this apparent silence,
apparent rejection and the apparent insult. And yet she was commended for
her faith. And this evening, I want to sort
of think about the Lord Jesus Christ. In his case, it wasn't apparent,
but in his case, it was actual. He experienced actual silence,
actual rejection, and actual insult. And there's many scriptures
that we can look at regarding that. And with ourselves, I'm
sure that we've been there in life, that we have known ourselves
actual rejection and actual insult and actual silence in life. And we perhaps prefer not to
think about it. But let's remember that our Lord
experienced it and responded remarkably to it and gave such
a commendation to this woman. And that's the thing, isn't it,
with us? Whatever we've been through, whatever people have
done for us, do we know that we're right with God, that we're
saved, that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord, that we know our
sins are forgiven, and whatever anyone has done for us, or done
to us, or thought about us, or said about us, or whatever. We
know that we are the Lord's, that we're saved, that we're
forgiven, that we'll be forever with the Lord. And no one can
take that away from us. If God be for us, whom or what
can be against us. Nothing at all. May it be that
indeed we know the Lord for us. And just as this woman was commended,
may it be that one day that we will have that commendation,
well done, good and faithful servant, enter in to eternal
life. And it's all of the grace of
God, isn't it? All of the mercy of God. And
may it be that we know that we're right with God through Christ. And may it be that that will
just help us through life with all that comes our way in life. May the Lord bless to us these
thoughts. Amen. Our closing hymn is hymn number
seven from Gadsby's. God shall alone the refuge be
and comfort of my mind. Too wise to be mistaken he, too
good to be unkind. Hymn number seven, the tune 211. Please. Yes, I daily vow to rise to be
Mr. through this gospel of my mind. Devised to be a sacrificial,
devised to be with sacrificial. Namo Shakyamuni. All is calm, all is bright, All
is peaceful, in the way. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us
all, now and for evermore. Amen.