The Bible Baptist Church, located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky, would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor, David Edmondson. In Matthew chapter 15, verse
21, we read, Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the
coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the coast, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy
on me, O Lord! Thou son of David, my daughter
is grievously vexed with a devil. But 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 am
not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then
came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it's
not meat, it's not fit to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. When this woman of Canaan
came to the Lord Jesus, he didn't even acknowledge her. He answered
her not a word. And it was not that he didn't
hear her, and it was not that he despised her person or her
petition. Why then? Well, he wanted to
see how bad she wanted her request. To try her faith and her importunity. This woman was a Gentile. The
Jews believed that Gentiles were dogs. And that's obvious from
the reaction of the disciples in verse 23, who were Jews. Send her away, Lord, she crieth
after us. Why, she followed them everywhere
they went. You see, she would not be denied. There was no getting
rid of her. The first thing the Lord informed
her of was just that. She was a Gentile dog, unworthy
of a response. She was not of the house of Israel. And the Lord's personal mission
was to go to the Jews. It was only when the Jews turned
their back on Christ and crucified Him that the handwriting of ordinances
was nailed to the cross and the wall of partition between Jews
and Gentiles was broken down. It was after our Lord's death
that the Great Commission bade all of His disciples, Jew and
Gentile alike, to go into all the world and to preach the gospel
to every creature. So the Lord here tells this Canaanite
woman, I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. But this Gentile dog would not
be denied or ignored. In Mark's Gospel account, it
says that the Lord entered into a house and would have no man
to know it, but he could not be hid. For a certain woman,
whose daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came
and fell at his feet. And then in verse 25 of our text,
Then came she, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. It's called importunity. The
word importunity means persistence, even to the point of annoyance.
This woman was ignored by the Lord. The disciples petitioned
the Lord to send her away. Do you know what most of us would
have done? Why, we would have got offended, mad, or hurt, but
not this woman. She came and worshiped the Lord. She with importunity came and
begged for help. And it was then that the Lord
added insult to injury. And in verse 26, but he answered
and said, it's not fit, it's not right to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. Yet this woman was most desperately
resolved. She would not leave without the
blessing. It was out of love for her child
that she came, and she wasn't seeking a blessing for herself.
So let's talk about the things that every dog of the Lord will
do. First, they'll take sides with
God against themselves. The Lord Jesus said, I won't
help you because you're a dog. I've already told you why I came
and I've already told you who I came to help. And she agrees
that he's right. She knew that it was lawful,
that it was right for the king of kings to do what he wills
with his own. She said, truth, Lord, you just
told the truth. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
A dog is what I am. In Mark's account, she said,
Yes, Lord. In other words, I'm taking sides
with you against me. I agree with you. There is no
argument, controversy, or opposition with the Lord Jesus. Truth, Lord. Yes, Lord. That's her only answer
to him. The natural heart rebels against
what the scriptures say about it. The whole head is sick and
the whole heart faint. And the child of God says, truth,
Lord, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? Who can trust it? And the believer
says, yes, Lord, that is exactly right. We've sinned against light
and knowledge. We are infinitely worse than
what we even perceive. We deserve condemnation and damnation. We're ruined and we're ruined
utterly. But a believer takes sides with God against themselves
and say, truth, Lord. Yes, Lord, that's correct. Secondly,
even dogs know they get the crumbs from the master's table. This
Canaanite dog, this Canaanite woman says, yet But, and regardless
of all that, me being a dog, the dogs eat the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. The dogs under the table eat
of the children's crumbs. She said, I know I'm a Gentile
dog. I know it's not right to take
the children's bread and give it to a dog like me. I know that
I don't deserve it, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yet,
or but, a single crumb that falls from your bountiful table is
more than enough and all I need. This woman says the dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And what she's
saying here is, Lord, you are my master. She's saying, I'll
always follow you. I'll follow you like a dog follows
their master. That brings me to the third thing.
Christ is all and in all to his dogs. As a stray dog picks up
with a stranger and follows him home, you can shut the door on
them, but if they've taken you to be their master, you can shut
every door and they'll wait for you on the doormat. You can kick
them to the street, but if you've become their master, They'll
wait in the street until you come out, and then they'll follow
you wherever you go. Is this not our case as the master's
dogs? O believer, God's dogs will never
stop following their master and coming to him. They follow at
the heels of mercy. They bow and crouch at their
master's feet. Grace falls down to dogs from
where? From above. from the throne of
grace, from the table of bounty, from their master's table. Every
good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning. Fourthly, God's dogs get comfort
out of their misery. This woman was saying, I'll gladly
be a dog because I shall get crumbs. And she draws waters
of comfort from the deep well of misery. We've all broken God's
law and we've all offended Him. We're nothing but sinners. But
it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save His dogs. I can have comfort in knowing
that I'm of the kind that Christ came to save. The Lord did not
come to seek and to save those who did not want seeking and
saving. And that's what this woman did.
And because of that, she received mercy. And then lastly, the fifth
thing, every dog, God's dogs, has its day, and they do so in
a good way. All God's dogs, every one of
them, will have their day. How so? Well, first she had heard,
somewhere, someone had told her about the Lord Jesus, and why
He was the one who healed every disease that was brought before
Him. And she thought, this must be the Messiah. But this woman
had been brought up as a heathen. The Messiah was for the children
of Israel. but her false gods had failed
her. She tried her priests, but they
could not help her. She had many difficulties. She
was a Canaanite. She was a Gentile dog, but she
no doubt had been made aware of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
which said, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise
to reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust. Romans 15, 12. So she thought
to herself, I'm a Gentile. I'll go to Him and I'll trust
in Him. And many today suppose there's difficulty in bringing
Christ to save a sinner, but there is none. The difficulty
is not with God, but with you and me. This woman heard that
every dog who has Christ as their master will be received and fed. This woman believed. All God's
dogs will believe. They've been made to believe
in the day of God's power. And this woman came. Every sinner,
every dog will come to Christ in the day of His power. Our
Lord said, no man, no sinner, no dog comes to the Father, but
by me." This woman would not be denied. She was ignored, kicked,
and the door was shut in her face, but she was persistent
and would not go away. She waited on her master to show
her mercy. This woman agreed with God against
herself. She took God's side, even if
it was against her, and she confessed as to what she was, a dog. She bowed to Christ as her master. Her mourning was turned to joy. Her sorrow was turned to laughing. Salvation and deliverance was
hers. And this is how all God's dogs
come to Christ. This is how God saves sinners. What did the Lord say to this
dog? 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. Are you a dog? A dog will hear. A dog will believe. A dog will come. A dog will not
be denied. This woman agreed with God against
herself, and every believer does the same. They'll confess they're
a dog, they'll bow to Christ, As their master, their mourning
will be turned to joy, their sorrow turned to laughter. This is how dogs come. So again,
I ask, are you a dog? If you are, rejoice. Every true
dog that needs the crumbs from their master's table will get
them. And every dog, every single one,
will have their day. May God be pleased to make it
so, for Christ's sake. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m., Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.