Let us turn again to God's Word
in this chapter that we've read, Matthew chapter 15. And I want
to direct you for a while this evening to the words that we
find here at verse 25. Matthew 15, 25. Then came she
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Then came she and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. To say something then with regards
to the worship of faith. That's what we see in the experience
of this woman of Canaan, the worship of faith. Previously, we see the Lord addressing
himself to the scribes and the pharisees in the first part of
the chapter and how he rebukes them. In verse 7, ye hypocrites,
well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh
unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Well, Vine is the so-called
worship of so many who only attend to their own ideas, their own
notions with regards to God. The only true worship, of course,
is that which is in accordance with the Word of God. We can
only worship God as he has made himself known, as he has revealed
himself to us here in Holy Scripture and what a remarkable statement
is that that we have in the words of the text. This was a woman
of Canaan and she worships the Lord Jesus and we see something
of the simplicity of her worship. She worships him with a prayer
And a very short, pointed prayer when she simply cries out, Lord,
help me. Is that how we feel as we come
together tonight. What is the prime purpose of
our coming together in this fashion? It doesn't center in ourselves.
God is good. And God has granted to us the
means of grace. And God does minister to the
needs of our souls, the deepest needs that we can ever know but
our primary purpose when we come together in this fashion surely
is to worship God to ascribe to him that that is his due the
God who made us and the God who sustains us and the God who preserves
our lives in spite of all our many provocations in spite of
all of our sins We're spared and in His good providence He
brings us together. And how do we approach Him? Do
we feel we have to come and worship Him in the manner in which we
find this woman seeking to worship the Lord Jesus? With a simple
prayer, Lord, help me. How can I worship God and how
can I render to God those praises that will be pleasing and acceptable? well it must be the worship of
faith and I want to mention just two things with regards to the
faith of this particular woman two simple points really this
evening first of all we see this is a coming faith there's a coming
to the Lord Jesus and secondly we see this is an overcoming
faith well we sang of it didn't we just in the hymn of Watts
Faith has an overcoming power. It triumphs in the dying hour.
Christ is our life, our joy, our hope, nor can we sink with
such a prop. So if we come and ask that God
would help us in our worship, and help us in all our unbelief
and all our sin, as we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, as
we address our prayers even to the Lord Jesus Christ, we will
know that gracious help. not only in coming but also in
overcoming but first of all to say something with regards to
what we see in this passage with regards to the faith of this
woman it's a coming faith and without faith we know it is impossible
to please God for he that cometh to him must believe that he is
and that he is a rewarder of all that diligently seek and
we're told there in Hebrews 11 We have to come in faith. But we have to come. And what
do we see with regards to this woman? Well, she comes. She certainly
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21. We're told how Jesus
moves on. Jesus then 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, O LORD, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with a devil. Christ comes into this particular
region and we are told, Behold, here is something to fix our
sight upon, to consider, that a woman of Canaan she'd come
out of those same coast and cry unto the Lord Jesus and then she speaks the language
of faith very much in the words of the text she worshipped him
saying Lord help me that this woman, this Canaanite woman,
should address such words to Jesus of Nazareth who was a Jew.
What is this? This is surely the coming of
faith, his coming, his believing, and it's interesting how in scripture
that's how faith is defined really. What is it to believe? It's to
come to the Lord Jesus. The Lord says there in John 6.35,
He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
in me shall never thirst. And the statements are quite
plainly parallel statements. And there we see clearly enough
that believing is coming. If you are a believer, you come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and he that cometh to me I shall
in no wise cast out. You say, how can I know that
I'm of the election of grace? How can I know that salvation
is for me? Well, the mark of those who are
the elect, all that the Father has given to the Lord Jesus Christ,
He says, they come to me. And he that comes to me I in
no wise will cast out. but remember how in the course
of his ministry amongst the Jews he comes to his own and his own
alas they receive him not and there in John 5.40 he says ye
will not come to me that ye might have life ye will not come and
in a sense isn't that true of us all we will not come we have
to be made willing to come that the Lord Jesus Christ is
that one who makes his people a willing people thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power or that the Lord would
demonstrate something of that power that we might be those
who come and come even as this woman came to the Lord Jesus
and now the Lord acknowledges her faith What remarkable words
he utters there in verse 28. O woman, great is thy faith,
he says. O woman, great is thy faith,
be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made
whole from that very hour. What the Lord Jesus Christ does
to one who comes. We cannot come to him in vain.
He that cometh to me, he says, if we will but I will in no wise
cast out. He hears, he answers. But what
does this woman do? It's not just a matter of her
coming. It's not just the coming of faith.
There's also the confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. How does
she address Him? There in verse 22 she says, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. Or she's addressing
Him as the Promised One, the Messiah. David's son, David's
greater son. We can think of another who confessed
him in the same manner. Remember, lying Bartimaeus, how
he addresses the Lord Jesus. The record that we have there
in the 10th chapter of Mark. And it's the same form of address
that Bartimaeus is using. He is the Lord. He comes to Jericho and there's
this blind man, Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, sitting at the highway,
side begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. Now they charge him to hold his
peace, to be silent, but he would not. He cried them all a great
deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me and he does not cry
in vain Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called and
we've looked at that passage previously and the contrast with
one that we read of earlier that rich young ruler how different
it was with him verse 17 When Jesus was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked
him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one, and
that is God. And the difference you see. Oh
yes, the young man is very respectful. He calls him Good Master. But
clearly, from the Lord's response, when he says, Why callest thou
me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. He does not recognize that this is the Son of God.
He doesn't recognize that this is David's greater son, as was
the case with Bride of Bartimaeus, as is the case with the woman
of Canaan. And also when he comes It's not
so much that he is asking for mercy or asking for help. No,
he wants to know what's good thing. What good thing must I
do? He speaks of his doings. He's
not coming then in that spirit of faith, in that spirit of true
worship. But this woman, all she confesses
the Lord Jesus. Christ asked that question, doesn't
he, later here in chapter 22, what think ye of Christ, whose
Son is He? And they answer, well, He's the
Son of David. He is the Son of David. But He
is more than the Son of David, He's also David's Lord. He is
both the Son of Man, descended from David, but He is also the
Son of God, the Eternal Son of God. and those who know Him you see,
they know they can address their prayers to Him we know He is
the mediator between God and man but it's not improper to
address our prayer unto the Lord Jesus Christ because He is God,
He is the Son of God that Christ is God I can avouch and for His
people cares since I to Him have prayed and he has heard my prayers
says the hymn writer or we can pray to him even as this woman
prays to him and as Peter on another occasion prays to him
when initially walking on the waters then being aware of the
boisterous wind and the waves of the sea he begins to sing
and he cries out Lord save me or we can address our prayers
to him but Peter doesn't just address prayer to him, doesn't
he? He also confesses him. He confesses him. Here in the
next chapter, that's a remarkable confession that Peter makes.
Now what? The Christ. The Son of the Living
God. That's who the Christ is. He's
the Son of God. In the fullness of the time,
God sends forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law
He is never anything less than the eternal Son of the eternal
Father, even in all the days of His humiliation. And that
is the Lord's response to that great confession of Peter's.
Blessed art thou, Simon, by Jonah, flesh and blood hath not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. There is to be
confession. The confession of who Jesus of
Nazareth is, and the woman confesses it. Have mercy on me, O Lord,
thou Son of David. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. With the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation, we are taught. If we come to Him, we are to
confess Him. How do we confess Him? ultimately make a public
confession, of course, in believers' baptism. We desire to be identified with
Him. What an identification it is
to be buried with Him in the waters of baptism and to rise
with Him in newness of life. The language that the Apostle
uses there at the beginning of Romans 6. Where there is faith,
there is a coming to the Lord Jesus Christ there is a confession
of the Lord Jesus Christ and then ultimately of course there
is worship there is worship and that's what we have here she worshipped him the word that's
used literally means to make obeisance to do reverence holy
and reverend is thy name says the Psalmist to his God it's
interesting in the accounts the same account that we have in
Mark's gospel Mark 7 and verse 25 we're told she fell at his
feet that's worship she fell at his feet she worshipped him remember in John 18 when they
go into the garden of Gethsemane to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ
and he says to them who seek you and they say Jesus of Nazareth
and he declares three times doesn't he? he says I am He I am He I
am He but of course in each of those verses where he makes that
declaration that he is in italics in the authorized version, which
indicates, as we've said many a time, that the word is really
quite superfluous, we might say. It's been added by the translators
as they understand the sense, trying to bring out the sense.
He literally says to them on those three occasions, I am,
I am, I am, and they fall backwards. Or they fall backwards. They
don't fall before him. They don't fall at his feet.
It wasn't an act of worship, they fell away from him, they
couldn't touch him. They come to arrest him, but you see, remember
what he says when he's there in the Mount of Transfiguration
with those three favoured disciples and they see both Moses and Elijah
speaking with him in the Mount of Transfiguration. And what
is it that they talk of? His decease. is deceased which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem. He accomplished his own death,
the Lord Jesus. It was a voluntary sacrifice
that he made. No man taketh it from me, he
says. I have power, I have authority
to lay it down, I have authority to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father. He is God. And as God, he makes
the great sin atoning sacrifice when he offers himself and dies
in the room instead of his people. And now this woman, oh, she worships
him. She falls down at his feet. This is faith. This is the evidence
of saving faith. Do you want to worship the Lord
Jesus Christ? To bow down before him, to fall
at his feet? Think of John. There on the Isle
of Patmos, when he sees the glorified Christ, when I saw him, I fell
at his feet as dead, he says. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying, fear not. I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, amen. And behold, I'm alive forevermore
and have the keys of hell and of death. Is that how we come
together tonight? we gather in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ who we come to worship Him without faith
it's impossible to please Him oh God grant that we might have
that coming faith that confessing faith that worshipping faith
but it's not only a coming faith that we see in this woman it's
also an overcoming faith it's an overcoming faith all you may
have observed as we were reading through the passage how she was
initially ignored and refused 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 But he answered her not a word. But he answered her not a word. Do you think the Lord Jesus is
hard-hearted? No, this is the one who goes
about doing good, the one who has compassion upon the multitude. The Lord Jesus is never capricious. He doesn't take up his creatures
as playthings. How significant it is then that
she cries out and in the cry there's the confession of him
but he answered her not a word. Is this really the action of
one who is God? What does the psalmist say concerning
God? Psalm 119 and verse 68 they were
good and do us good God does good things what are we to make
really of the statement that we have here the Lord's response
to this woman at the beginning of verse 23 he answered her not
a word we have to remember that his ministry is really confined
to Israel he goes on to say that doesn't he when he does speak
in verse 24 his answer is I am not sent but unto the lost sheep
of the house of Israel that's what the Lord says when
he sends out his disciples back in chapter 10 we have the names
of the twelve apostles and we are told he is twelve, Jesus
sent forth and commanded them say go not into the way of the
Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter you not
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is the Lord's ministry you
see, he sent to the lost sheep of Israel. You only have I known
of all the families of the earth how they were people so peculiarly
blessed of God they're under the Old Testament dispensation
and when we're reading the Gospels previous to Christ's crucifixion
and resurrection and ascension we're still under the Old Testament
dispensation really again the language of the Psalmist he sendeth
out his word He showeth His words unto Jacob, His statutes and
His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any
nation as for His judgments they have not known them. Praise ye
the Lord. It's not until Christ has accomplished
all His work, as I was saying, that the word is to go out to
the Gentiles. That is the great mystery that
was not yet revealed. And the remarkable part, of course,
that the apostle Paul plays in the outworking of that mystery. He is called to be the apostle
to the Gentiles. And he speaks of it, doesn't
he, when he writes to the Ephesians, there in Ephesians 3. He says, which in other ages
was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of
his promise in Christ by the gospel. Unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. It was the
promise that God had given back in the Old Testament, but it
would only be fulfilled really in the fullness of the time. And now we have it there in prophecy
in Isaiah 49. God says, it is a like thing
that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserve of Israel I will also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation
unto the end of the earth." It was not yet that time, you see.
Christ had not yet accomplished His work. He must be obedient,
and He must be obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross, in the outworking of the eternal covenant. And when Christ
has finished His work, when the Father has raised Him from the
dead and He's ascended and been received into the highest heavens
and shed abroad the Holy Ghost. And so initially, this poor woman,
she cries out, but He answered her not a word. All the Lord
was silent. The Lord was silent. but worse than that she's one who is rejected certainly
by his disciples he answered her not a word and
his disciples came and besought him saying send her away for
she crieth after us oh she not only ignored but she's
rejected this poor woman there was so much against this
woman at this time and yet she is a woman of faith and not just
a coming faith but we see so clearly what sort of faith is
this, it's faith that overcomes every obstacle and there were
many obstacles against her her nationality was certainly very
much against her she's not only a gentile she's a Canaanite behold The
woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts. Go back to the beginning. Remember
what happens after the floods and the sons of Noah and the curse that comes upon
Ham and his son. Cursed. Cursed be Canaan. curse became. They were the people,
weren't they, that dwelt in that land that God had promised to
Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob. And when God is fulfilling
his promise to those patriarchs, when Moses brings them out of
Egypt and leads them through the Red Sea into the wilderness,
and then there's the wilderness wanderings, and ultimately it's
Yahshua who takes them into the promised lands. But what of the
Canaanites? Well, they're told, aren't they,
they shall utterly destroy them, namely the Canaanites. They were
to be destroyed, they were a wicked people. Cursed be Canaan. And then the language that we
have later in Zechariah, In Zechariah 14, 21, there shall be no more
the Canaan in the house of the Lord forever, it says. What hope
could there be for this woman? She was a woman of Canaan. And
that was a cursed people. The nationality stands against
her. And certainly those words that
the disciples speak, they have no sympathy for her. As we said,
they simply asked the Lord to send her away. She's a nuisance. She keeps crying after us. The words of the disciples are
against her. And the Lord's silence. In many
ways, surely this was the worst of all. He answered her, not
a word. But what does the psalmist say? Look at the language that we
have there in the opening verse of Psalm 28. No, not Psalm 28. Wrong reference. What is the Psalm? Certainly not Psalm 28. But the words of these, Unto
thee will I cry, O LORD, my rock, Be not silent unto me, lest if
thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down to the
pit. I can't remember what psalm it is. I'm looking at Job. Probably
it is Psalm 28. If it is, it's the opening verse of
that particular psalm. Yes, it is. Psalm of David, Psalm
28. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord,
my God, my Rock. Be not silent unto me, lest if
thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the
pit. All the silence of the Lord,
all these things are so much against this poor Canaanitess
woman. And so it goes on, she's not
only one who's rejected, or appears to be rejected, but what reproach?
Or what reproach when the Lord begins to speak to her? What
does He say? Verse 24, I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She's not of the house
of Israel. Is it possible that she could
be of the sheep of Christ? Christ is the Good Shepherd who's
come to save His sheep. Could she be a sheep of the Lord
Jesus Christ if she's not of the house of Israel? But then see what else the Lord
says to her. In verse 26, it is not me to
take the children's bread, He says, and to cast it to dogs.
He draws a comparison between sheep and dogs. And the implication here is she's
not one of the sheep, she's a dog. She's a dog. And in the law it
says thou shalt not bring the price of a dog into the house
of the Lord thy God for any vow. That would be an abomination.
That's an unclean animal, a dog. How is it possible for this woman
to have such a faith that will overcome all of these obstacles
that keep rising up against her is it possible that she could
overcome such a response by the Lord Jesus and by his disciples
well she could and we see it in verse 27 she said truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table all but those words when
she says truth Lord what is she doing she's bowing down to the
authority of the Word of God even when that Word of God seems
to stand against her what do we see here we see such
humility in this woman she's acknowledging her unworthiness
she is not worthy that the Lord should take any account of her
does he not remind us in some ways of the language of the prodigal
when he's brought to his senses and he returns to his father's
house what does he say to his father? I am no more worthy to
be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants I'm
not worthy And yet I think the language of this woman is even
more profound than that of the prodigal. He had sinned away
all his inheritance. But this poor woman, how she
is humbled before the Lord Jesus. How she is made to feel her utter
unworthiness. Would she not say in the language
of David against thee, The only of thy sins, and done this evil
in thy sight. Oh, she feels herself to be such
a sinner. She feels herself to be just
that. But that's what we have to do,
isn't it? We have to come in all humility. If the Lord will
hear us and answer us. We have to deny ourselves. If
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, says the Lord
Jesus. Self-denial. Confession of our
own sin and our own unworthiness. We have to venture to be nothing
at all. Nothing at all. How the Apostle Paul once thought
he was something. He was a pharisee. He was the
son of a pharisee. Touching the righteousness of
the Lord, he was blameless. Oh, he had such a pedigree. He
was the Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was of the tribe of Benjamin.
Everything was for that man. And yet, he had to be brought
to that confession that we have there at the end of 2 Corinthians.
In 2 Corinthians 13, isn't it? Or is it chapter 12? Though I
be nothing. That's what he says. though I
be nothing, a zero, a cipher, nothing at all. That's what he
had to be brought to. That's what we all have to be
brought to. That's what this woman was brought to. She says
truth, Lord. How remarkable her response is
in the language that we have there in verse 27 because she
says a little more than truth, Lord. She says, yet the dogs
eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. You see, faith's a strange thing,
isn't it? It can find encouragement even
in that which is so discouraging. That's what faith does. It hovers
about the Word of God and it finds some encouragement somewhere
in the Word of God. Isn't that what faith does? It
will ransack the Bible. He knows this is the truth of
God's Word and isn't God's Word for sinners? Really, you know,
the Bible is such a simple book, isn't it? It really is profoundly
simple. It speaks of sin and salvation.
The salvation for sinners, that's what the Bible tells us. All
faith does have an overcoming power. and how he triumphs in
the dying hour when all seems utterly lost that's when faith
begins to triumph the wise man says to the hungry soul every
bitter thing is sweet and we see that really in this woman
those are bitter words really that the Lord has spoken He says, it is not me to take
the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she turns it
around and says, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from the master's table. No wonder the Lord responds,
O woman, great is thy faith. Well, that's how the Lord answers
her in verse 28. Great is thy faith, be it unto
thee, even as thou wilt, and her daughter was made whole from
that very hour. Oh, do we possess, friends, such
a faith as we see in this woman. How she worships him. How she
worships him, saying, Lord, help me. As I said at the beginning,
that's a language of true worship. And what do we see here? We have
a prayer, and it's such a short prayer, and yet this prayer is
the evidence of great faith. That's what the Lord says. She
only says, Lord, help me, and He says, great is thy faith. The prayer is a short prayer.
The faith is a great faith. You know, don't despise short
prayers and broken prayers. Don't despise it when you feel
your prayers are such weak, beggarly prayers and they're not getting
anywhere at all. We're not answered, are we, for
how much speaking. The Lord Jesus takes our poor
prayers and presents them before the throne of grace and our poor
prayers prevail there in the high courts of heaven what we
see here surely in this woman is how the coming faith leads
on to an overcoming faith and the promise that the Lord gives
there at the end of Revelation 3 addressing that church at Odyssea
to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even
as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne
that's the promise to those who have overcoming faith that we're
going to sit down with the Lord Jesus Christ in his throne and
amongst those who will be there seated with him in that throne
is this blessed woman behold the woman of Canaan Oh, how she came and worshipped
Christ, saying, Lord, help me. Oh, the Lord bless His word to
us. Amen.