The Lord may graciously help
me. I turn your prayerful attention to the gospel according to Matthew
chapter 15 and reading verse 28 for a text tonight. Matthew 15 verse 28. 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. We have before us this account
of this woman in the north of Israel, the Tyre and Sidon was
right up in the north of Israel and we read that Jesus went there
And it seems he was not there for long, and when we look at
the account in Mark's Gospel, in Mark 7 verse 24, and from
thence he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon,
entered into a house, and would not that man know it. So he went
there, as it were, for a quiet time, it seems, in the north,
but he could not be hid. Here we have the Lord Jesus could
not be hid. Yes, surely he could have hid
himself, but I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this one, this woman who had a daughter that was vexed
with the devil came and found Jesus and pleads with him for
mercy and for help. And as we look through this account,
it's quite instructive, I believe, as to how we should come to the
Lord Jesus, how we should wrestle with the Lord Jesus. We had that
before us in the Sunday school this morning. Jacob wrestling
with the angel at Peniel, and how his name was changed from
Jacob, the deceiver, the supplanter, to as a prince has thou power
with God. But it seemed that he was not
going to prevail, but he did. And here we have this woman with
all the difficulties that came in her pathway, and yet she was
able, you see, to prevail and to get to that beautiful word
of commendation that we have in our text. Then Jesus answered
and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Well, let us look then at this
account. So in Matthew's gospel, chapter
21, it says, then Jesus went thence and departed into the
coasts of Tyre and Sidon. It seems after this account in
both gospels, it says that he, after this event happened, he
went back to Galilee. So it didn't seem he stayed here
long. He stayed here as it were to visit this woman. We think of that other time when
when Jesus must needs go through Samaria. And it was that woman
on the well that was going to meet Jesus and that was going
to be a turning point in that woman's life. But this woman
here, this Syrophoenician woman we're told, was one that that
Jesus came and was going to be a blessing to. And behold, a
woman of Cana came out of the same coast and cried unto him,
saying have mercy on me have mercy on me oh lord thou son
of david this was a um the messiah title this was a very respectful
way of speaking to the lord jesus jesus of nazareth was a less
respectful way of speaking to him but here thou son of david
this was coming very respectfully and very honorably, as it were,
putting great honor on the Lord as she said this, O Lord, thou
son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. You see, this was, she came to
Jesus. We had before us on Tuesday,
with our brother James preaching, how we should commit our way
unto the Lord, trust also in him. and he shall bring it to
pass. And so we are to come with our
troubles. We're to come to God in prayer.
And so this woman did this. She came to one that is mighty. She came respectfully to the
Lord. And she came with her great problem,
the problem that was too hard for her. My daughter was grievously
vexed with the devil. So here we have the devil working.
Christ was there. And yet the kingdom of Satan
was active, trying to ruin and trying to trying to break down
God's kingdom. But the gates of hell shall not
prevail against this kingdom. And though it doesn't stop the
gates of hell trying to, but they won't prevail. Ultimately,
they've been defeated, but Satan is very powerful. Well, my daughter
is grievously vexed with a devil. We look in John's Gospel. We have that word in John 6,
verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. So we have this encouragement
to come to the Saviour. And yet, I think this event was
unique in the sense of the only time we read of the Lord having
somebody come to him and not immediately, as it were, dealing
with that person and talking to them and dealing with their
complaint. And so here we have an instruction. We have before us in the Sunday
school, seek ye first the kingdom of God. Ask and it shall be given
unto you. Seek and ye shall find. This
is true. But you see, sometimes there's
a waiting on God. And we need to remember that,
you young people. You to ask God to help you and
to go before you and to be with you, but God doesn't always answer
immediately. It's not because he can't. But
he waits to be gracious. And he tries our faith. As Jacob
wrestled the whole night with that angel. There was a wrestling. It was not easy. It was not just
one request and that was over. There was a wrestling. And how,
you see, we've just been singing a faith of repentance. The life
of a child of God in our souls. There's this communication between
us and God and there's this this faith that we need. We need faith,
and yet we have discouragements. And how do we cope with those
discouragements? You see, we're to keep going.
We're not to give up. You see, this woman could have
easily given up. She could have said, well, if
it's not for me, I'll go back home. But she didn't. And may
this be a comfort for us. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in him. He will bring it to pass. He
did, didn't he? He gave her everything she wanted,
but not immediately. The trial of your faith being
much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire, shall be found under praise and honour and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. Well, she cries, have mercy on
me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And then the next verse, verse
23, starts with this word, but. But is a turning point, isn't
it? Something's going along like this and but goes the other way.
It's a turning point. You might imagine that the story
would read, she's asked that my daughter is grievously vexed
for the devil and the Lord Jesus would reply to her and deal with
her complaint. But! There's a change, you see. He doesn't do what she's expecting.
He does something different than what she's expecting. But he
answered her, not a word. It's hard, isn't it? This woman
coming respectfully to God with a great problem, and he answered
her, not a word. Not a word. How do we square
this with all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Well you see if
we don't press on you see she could have said well it doesn't
seem like he's listening to me. It doesn't seem like he wants
to help me. Does she go back? The nature
of faith you see is the object of faith is Christ. To whom else can we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. In Psalm, I think it's Psalm
4, it says, there'll be many that say, who shall show us any
good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. There's nowhere else to go. But
he answered her, not a word. May this be an encouragement.
You might say, well, it doesn't sound much of an encouragement.
But you see, this woman obtained the blessing. Don't forget that. But she went through some difficult
trials. Think of those of you who have
perhaps read Christiana, the follow on from Pilgrim's Progress. Christiana had a lady go with
her called Mercy. And when they got to one of the
doors, and Mercy was always thinking that perhaps she didn't have
quite the call that Christiana did, and that she would be left
out. And anyway, the others went through this door, and she was
left out, and she was knocking at this door. And it seemed that
that door would never open, and she fainted at the door. And
yet then the door was opened, and they said inside, the knocking
was so strong. She felt so weak, and yet, you
see, we're to knock on, ask, and it shall be given unto you.
Seek, and ye shall find, but not immediately necessarily,
although God is sovereign. He can immediately deliver. It's
not that he's limited in some way that he cannot immediately
deliver, but you see, he waits to be gracious. You see, you
think of that refining pot. where they do the gold, the way
they refine gold ore is they put the ore, that is the gold
with the impurities into that melting pot, the heat comes on
and as the heat gets up the impurities come to the top. And you see
it needs time for those impurities to come to the top and then they're
removed so that then all those impurities are taken away. 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. And then the disciples, they
get speaking. And his disciples came and besought
him, besought Jesus, saying, send her away, for she crieth
after us. It doesn't seem she was crying
after them, but they seem to think that she was, that she
crieth after us. And they didn't want to be bothered
with this person who needed Jesus. They didn't want to be troubled
with her. So what is she going to do? Well, then Jesus speaks, you
see, to, in reply it seems, to the disciples who said, send
her away. But again, in verse 24, it begins
with but again. There's another, if you like,
a negative, another difficulty. But he answered and said, I am
not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Remember, this is a sign we read
from Mark's gospel. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician
by nation. She was not for the house of
Israel. She was not an Israelite by birth. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's interesting in Matthew
10, Matthew 10 and verse 5, we read
those words, Jesus is sending out his disciples. And these
12, Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, go not into the
way of the Gentiles and into any of the cities of the Samaritans,
enter you not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. It seemed, first of all, in the
ministry of the disciples, it was more specifically to the
Jews. And then it was going to open to the Gentiles, to every
kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue. And really, in one sense, it
hadn't quite opened. The gospel, as it were, hadn't
opened that wide as it were at this time. And yet she was seeking
to know the blessing. It was going to truly be to every
kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue. But he answered and said, I am
not sent, but unto the lost she. of the House of Israel. There are some that are concerned
very much, and this can be a stumbling block. How can I come? What happens if I'm not one of
the elect? If I'm not one of the elect,
how can I come? Well, I would suggest that this
woman in Scripture, if anybody had a reason to think that they
couldn't come to Jesus because they were not elect, this woman
would be top of the list. She'd come to Jesus, and Jesus
had turned around and said, but he answered and said, I am not
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And by
nationality, she wasn't one of the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. By grace, she was. She was a
part of the kingdom of God, and she was a lost sheep in that
sense. but not in a nationality sense. And may this be a comfort for
us tonight. This woman kept pressing on. She did not let this be a barrier
for her seeking the Lord. And may I lovingly say to you,
you young people, this great doctrine of election, the elect
in love of God to his people, should never be used as a barrier
to say, well, I can't come because I might not be elect. She pushed
right through that because she had such a pressing need. She
would not let God go. And this woman proved that she
was truly elect according to the according to the purposes
of grace. But it did not get in the way
of her pressing on with her great need. But he answered and said
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What's she going to do now go
back home. But she's got this daughter vexed with the devil.
How is she going to solve the problem. She needs Jesus. But look at this, in verse 25,
then came she and worshipped him. Worship, that was the response
of this woman. Not anger, or not saying it wasn't
fair, or why have you said this, or why have you given me these
troubles? But then she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
help me. Isn't this encouraging for us?
In our troubles, in our disappointments, we've prayed about something.
We've asked the Lord to do something and it just seems that the devil
would be so quick at supplying all manner of reasons and to
discourage us. And yet, you see, she came and
worshipped him. The nature of faith. This one
receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And yet, you see,
he showed himself as it were, a separation between her and
him at this time. Why would the Lord do this? The Lord sometimes, as it were,
exercises our faith. Think of it like this. You have
a young child, a toddler or something, and They're playing with their
toys in a room and the mother goes into another room just to
make a cup of tea or something. The little child looks around,
where's mummy gone? And they can be crying because
mummy's gone. She's just gone in the next room.
She's not gone. She's just gone in the next room. But to that
little child, she's gone. And they cry. And you say, well,
that's normal for a little child. But if you had an older child
doing that, you'd say, there's something wrong with that child.
Look, your mom's just gone into the next room. She hasn't left
you. And so as we grow up and mature, you see, we get to realize
that, yes, your parents can go off, or you go to school, and
you come back to them. And you say, yeah, we trust them,
as it were. There's a maturity. And so we
need that maturing of our faith so that, as it were, your parent
can go in the other room and you can't see them for five minutes,
but that doesn't mean they've gone. It just means you can't
see them for five minutes. And you see, the Lord Jesus is
maturing our faith so that we lay hold of him when we cannot
see him. We lay hold of him when we cannot
feel his presence with us. But we know he has said, I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee. Then she came and worshipped
him saying, Lord, help me. How she put everything as it
were in the hands of the Lord. And though he had not at this
point done anything to help her, but she comes with that pleading,
that strong pleading that he would do all for her. I think of that word in Habakkuk,
at the end of Habakkuk, Habakkuk 3 verse 17. Although the fig
tree shall not blossom, neither shall the fruit be in the vines.
The labour of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield
no meat. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold and there shall be no herd in the stall. Yet I will
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk
had a desire to praise God whatever
happened. Not just for the, when the sun's
shining, not just when everything's going well as it were in an earthly
sense, but we praise God because of who he is. That he is great, that he is
mighty, that he is, indeed, the saviour of his people. Then came
she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. You see, when you look at what
this woman had come for, her problem was not actually her,
in a sense, it was her daughter that was grievously vexed with
the devil. And we pray for others, don't
we? We pray for our children and others, and it's absolutely
right we should. But sometimes, you see, it becomes
so personal between us and God. Lord, help me. She needed help
herself. Yes, her daughter needed help,
of course, but she needed to be right herself. He thought
of that this morning with Jacob, you see. He was about to face
his brother with those 400 men. But he had a bigger problem to
get right with first. He had to get right with him
and his God. And when he got right with him and his God, his
brother was no problem. Our greatest thing to get right
is with our relationship with our God. You see, it becomes
personal. Lord, help me. Simple prayer, isn't it? But
very real. And she was not offended. I mentioned in prayer that beautiful
word in Psalm 119, verse 165. Great peace have they that love
thy law, and nothing shall offend them. This woman could easily
have got offended. She could have easily said, well,
if this is the way he treats me, if this is what you say is
the Messiah, I'm going somewhere else. But great peace have they
that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. The object
of faith kept pressing toward the mark. You see, we think of
this similarly in a way as it was with Joseph with his brethren.
We spoke of last year when I was going through that lovely account
of Joseph and his dealings with his brethren. To start with,
they could only see that Joseph was a spoken roughly to them. They didn't think that Joseph
was so for them. But you see, he was really he
was bringing them to that place of repentance, and there's an
acknowledgement here as well with that, that she had to come,
you see, and be humbled before her God. But you might think,
well, surely the Lord will turn and bless her now after she's
worshipped him and said, Lord, help me. But then Jesus gives
her a further test, a further test, but, another but, Another
opposite to what you'd expect, naturally speaking. And may this
be a comfort for you as you're praying over things and praying
for the blessing. That if unto Jesus thou art bound,
a crowd about him will be found, attending day and night, a worldly
crowd to din thine ears, and crowds of unbelieving fears to
keep him from thy sight. But press on. Don't let these
thoughts of it, whether you're elect or not, this woman pressed
on. She had a problem. You see, if
we get so tied up with these ideas of hyper-Calvinism, this
lady had a problem. And she knew that this one was
able to help her. And she pressed through the crowd.
Whether she was of the House lost, chief of the House of Israel
or not, she had to leave. She wanted him to deal with her. And she said, sorry, but he said
under her, it is not meet to take the children's bread and
to cast it to dogs. You might say, well, this is
really almost insulting. This woman is now being spoken
to as a gentile dog. But he answered and said, it
is not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs. And you might say, well, you
see, if she was a very proud woman, she'd say, I'm not going
to be spoken to like that. I'm not going to be spoken to
like that. I'm going somewhere else. Is she going to humble herself
before the mighty hand of God? Or is she going to walk in pride?
Is she going to take offence? Well we see in verse, let me
just turn to Job 23. Job 23 verse 4. You see here, Job says, O that
I knew that I might find him, Job 23 verse 3, that I might
come even to his seat. I would order my cause before
him. I would fill my mouth. with arguments. You see, Job was in that situation.
He couldn't find his God. And in a sense, this woman in
the New Testament, she could not, she was coming to the Lord,
but she couldn't seem to lay hold on him. He seemed to be
putting reasons and barriers which would stop her coming,
it seemed. It seemed to her that perhaps
he was against her. But he answered and said, it's
not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.
Well, as Job said, I would order my cause before him and fill
my mouth with argument. She takes the Lord and argues
from his word and pleads for mercy. And she said, truth, Lord. She doesn't disagree. She doesn't
say, well, no, I'm not a Gentile dog. No, don't speak to me like
that. I'm quite a well-to-do person. No. She said, truth, Lord. You see this is the great thing
we need to come to in confession in our prayers. They all declare
I nothing am. There needs to be a realisation.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. God is
great. And we're to humble ourselves.
We cannot come with our pride, with our self-importance. We'd
be like Naaman that was upset with Elisha because he wouldn't
come out and call the blessing on him. He wouldn't go and wash
in the river Jordan. He was far too great for that.
But that servant said to him, if the prophet had bid thee do
some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much more
wash? and be clean. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God.' And she said, Truth, Lord! Yet the
dogs, the little dogs, eat the crumbs which fall from the master's
table. And she was willing to be one
of those little dogs. Not willing to be a child, not
declaring that she's some great child at the table, but just
willing to be one of the dogs. Similar in a sense to what we
had this morning. That prodigal son, he was willing
just to be a hired servant, just to be there in the father's house.
And she's saying, look, truth, even if I'm just one of those
little dogs under the table, I'll still receive some crumbs.
And I'm satisfied with that. Humility. She said, truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. So she pleads, you see,
I would fill my mouth with arguments, as Job said. Well, then we come to verse 28. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. You see, now she has such
a commendation. Really, the Lord Jesus gave to
this woman such a positive response at this point. And so easily
she could have gone away, couldn't she? She could have been offended
and she'd have gone away and said, if that's how he treats
me, I'm not coming there. Great peace have they that love
thy law, nothing shall offend them. She humbled herself before
the mighty hand of God and she received the blessing. She wasn't
put off by that she wasn't the right ones from the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. She says, I need mercy. She obtained
mercy. And she found out that she was
elect according to the foreknowledge of God. She was one of those
who was loved with an everlasting love, that Jesus had gone up
into the north of Israel. It seems almost just for this
lady. And yet the trial of your faith
being much more precious than gold that perisheth. So it's
a maturing of our faith, that we may have that, that we may
not just, as it were, treat God as one that just immediately
responds every time, although he can, if that's his will, but
that we may trust him. He is faithful. Commit thy way
unto the Lord. Trust also in him. He will bring
it to pass. He brought this to pass for this
lady, didn't he? Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Great faith. Great trial
of faith, wasn't it? But it was great faith. Surely
It's an encouragement for each here to press on. Ask and ye
shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened. There's these many hindrances
and many reasons why it might say, no, no, you can't go. You
can't go on this way. But she pressed on. She obtained
the blessing. She had claimed a high commendation
from God. There was just a few people that
Jesus said things like this to. He spoke of John the Baptist
as the greatest man, and he also spoke of that centurion. I've
not seen such great faith, no, not in Israel, but this woman
was one of the highest people that Jesus commended for their
faith. because she was willing to humble
herself under the mighty hand of God, willing to be nothing,
willing to confess that she was, as it were, a Gentile dog, that
she was unworthy to receive the blessing, and yet she must have
it, yet she desired it. Like those two on the road to
Emmaus, when Jesus made as if he had gone further, when they
got to Emmaus. But they constrained him and
said, abide with us. They weren't willing to let him
go. They constrained him. May we be like those Cleopas
and his companion, constrained. Like Jacob said, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. He said he wouldn't let that
angel go. The angel said, let me go, the day breaketh. I will
not let thee go except thou bless me. That true deep desire. You see, and
the Lord was not disappointed with this. The Lord loves, as
it were, that strong longing of his people. Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Not, well, I'll
have it if it's available and easy, but if it isn't, I'll go
somewhere else. No. Those that hunger and thirst
after righteousness, they need, to whom else shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. Great is thy faith, be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. She received everything she needed,
everything she required. but she received a blessing in
her own soul too. And so Jesus, you see, he deals
with his people. Yes, we have these problems in
our lives that we come to God with, but he needs to get us
right with God. It became her. Lord, help me. May that be a prayer for each
here. Help me. Yes, I've got all these reasons
why it seems that he won't, but Lord, help me. She wouldn't go
away. Like that one, we have those
stories of the woman with the unjust judge. She wouldn't go
away, she kept on encouraging. So we're encouraged, you see.
Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall
bring it to pass. He shall work, he shall deliver
his people. And she was gonna prove what
a blessing it was. How was this going to be, you
see? She obtained the blessing. But it's hard, isn't it? In verse
23, but he answered her not a word. There was a silence. She'd come
with her problems, with her difficulties, a silence. But you see, she was going to
obtain the blessing. But as we think of this, there
was a silence that this woman received from the Lord Jesus. I want to go to another silence. When our Lord Jesus Christ was
standing in the place of sinners. My God, my God, why has thou
forsaken me? You see, this woman received
an apparent silence, an apparent rejection. It was only an apparent, it wasn't
the real thing as it were. It was just a short term thing.
But you see, the Lord Jesus at Calvary didn't receive an apparent
silence from his father, rejection from his father. He received
the entire wrath of God. against him for his, in the place
of his people. The wrath of God was poured against,
out against his beloved son. Against this one who was going
to, this Lord Jesus Christ who was going to, who said to her,
great is thy faith. How was he going to give that
wells of living water to this woman? because he was going to
purchase that salvation for her at Calvary. Because he was going
to stand in her place. He was going to be the saviour
of sinners. He was going to receive the true
wrath of God against sin. You see, God's people only receive,
as it were, a sense of their rejection for
their sin. But he received the reality of
it. He took their sin. He took their
load. He bore it away so that they
may never endure it. You see, so when we come with
our sins and we're sorry before our God for our sins, that curse
is taken from us. We feel, as it were, something
of it, but then we see it put on another, and it's put on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so we think of one here that
was able to say these words of comfort to this woman, this Syrophoenician
woman, because he had endured the substance of the rejection.
He came unto his own and his own received him not. He was
there at Calvary bearing the sins of his people so that this
woman would not know any ultimate rejection. So his people, when
they come to him, he would be able to be that fountain of living
waters to them, because he had purchased. You see, as it were,
he opened the storehouses to her. O woman, great is thy faith,
be it unto thee even as thou wilt. The storehouses were open.
But how were those storehouses filled? How does Jesus have a
storehouse of grace to give to his people? because he's purchased
that at Calvary. At the price, his own heart's
blood. He stood in their place. He's received the wrath of God.
And therefore, you see, we come unto one that is mighty, one
that is able, and one that delights to save his people from their
sins. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith, the encouragement, and
may the Lord Encourage you as you pray on, as you seek on.
Don't be discouraged. Don't think, well, I might not
be the elect. This woman had every reason to
think that she wasn't the elect, but she pushed on. She had a
case and she must be heard. She must have a savior. She would
do anything for him to help her. was willing to say, truth, Lord,
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the master's
table. And she obtained the blessing. And may we obtain the blessing
and all through what Christ has done for his people in Christ. Amen.