We did have a wonderful vacation.
We're very grateful to everybody. Grateful to the men and. The
preaching and teaching and singing and playing and reading and praying
and. Conducting the worship services
and very grateful. Brother Luke is going to bring
our message tonight to help me. Grateful to him for that. Let's all have a word of prayer. Our high and holy heavenly father,
we are so grateful for this opportunity to gather in your name, Lord,
and to, as we just said, conduct worship. Lord, what a privilege it is
to be able to worship you. This is glory, this is heaven
itself, being able to worship you in the person of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. We are so inadequate, Lord, we acknowledge
our sinfulness, we acknowledge our inability to worship you,
we acknowledge our hindrances, we acknowledge the weakness of
the mind and the flesh. Prone to wander, Lord, we feel
it, but we know and believe one day soon all of these hindrances
will be taken away. And Lord, we look forward to
worshiping you in spirit and in truth. And if you would be
so kind, Lord, as to let us have somewhat of a glimpse of that
now, Lord, we would be so grateful. Would you allow us to worship
you today, Lord? Would you allow us to truly bow
before you and praise you and enter into what we have because
of everything that you've done for us? Lord, I do personally
give thanks for the all of the brethren here and the men that
you've raised up to preach to us. And we all give thanks for
every man you've raised up to preach the truth wherever they
may be in this world. It is a great gift to have the
gospel preached, and we are so thankful for it. We pray for
each man who will stand today. Be with them, help them, Lord. Speak through them, give them
liberty and clarity. We pray for each of our teachers
here who are teaching these children. Lord, help them and bless them
and plant a seed in the hearts of these little ones, if you
would be willing. Help us and save us, Lord. We pray for our
loved ones that are going through great trials. Would you be with
them and touch them and comfort them and draw us nearer to you,
Lord, in every way that you see fit to do that. Draw us nearer
to you. Thank you again. We ask all of these things in
Christ's name. Amen. Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew 15. Matthew 15, we'll continue our
study here in Matthew. Let's read verses 21 to 28. Matthew 15 verse 21, it says,
Then Jesus 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 the 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 worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered
and said, It is not meat 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.
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. Now, I've titled this Bible study,
Great Faith. Great Faith. The Lord told this
woman, Great is thy faith. Don't we want great faith? The
disciples prayed, Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. And he told this woman, Great
is thy faith. I've titled this Great Faith.
I want to see a few things about faith and about this woman. I want to use the story of this
woman to focus on the subject of faith. We have looked at this
story before and dwelt on the story. You know, this woman comes.
We're here in Matthew 15. This woman comes and she has
a daughter who's sick and she's begging the Lord. And we've looked
at the story and we're going to look at these verses. But
I want to focus on the subject of faith. I want to talk about
faith for just a minute. And I want to begin by pointing
out that it says this woman cried. That's what it says in verse
22. She cried. And it says in verse
23, she cried. She cried and she cried. Verse 25 says she came and worshipped
and cried. She said. Verse 27 says, she cried, she
said. And then in verse 28, the Lord said
to her, great is thy faith. Great is thy faith. He said,
you have great faith. I would love for men and women
to understand the truth of this subject because people talk about
faith everywhere. Everybody is so lifted up about
their faith and my faith and your faith and everybody's faith.
Let's learn the truth about faith. Let's see what the Lord says
is great faith. Great faith. Clearly by the Lord
saying great is thy faith and giving her what she came asking
for. The Lord was pleased with this
woman. Alright, He was pleased with her. That tells us that
she did indeed possess true faith. Because Hebrews 11 verse 6 says,
Without faith it is impossible to please Him. So she did possess
true faith and this is the reason why. Alright, she had true faith. And here's the reason why. Verse
24, He answered and said, I am not
sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Lord
said, I am only sent to. This is something to know about
the Lord and His ministry on this earth. He came being sent
to. He said, I only do for. The lost
sheep of the house of Israel. That's who I came for. That's
who I'm sent to. I'm not sent to anybody else.
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me. I'm only sent, I'm only sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. She received faith because she
was one of God's chosen, elect people. When He said that to
her, He wasn't saying that He didn't come for her. He was not
telling her, I didn't come for you. He was not saying that.
He was establishing the fact that He came for her. Even though lost, still one of
His sheep of the household of Israel. One of the ones He'd
chosen to draw to Himself with His cords of love. Had she not
been one of His sheep, He would have never acknowledged the great
faith that had been given to her. He would have not done that.
Ephesians 2 verse 8 says, Faith is not of ourselves, it is the
gift of God to us. Us, all who are created in Christ
Jesus. So we know that this woman was
one of his elect and we know that this woman had heard of
the Lord Jesus Christ because verse 22 says she knew exactly
who he was. It says, 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." She knew who he was. She knew exactly who he was.
The son of David is the king. That's who the son of David is. The son of David is the promised
one who would come and reign forever. Isn't that who was promised? The son of David. who is going
to come and reign forever of whose kingdom there will be no
end. This is the king who will sit
on his throne forever and ever. Hold your place right here and
turn with me to Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 13 it says, for whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? People call on this name Jesus
all the time, but it's the wrong Jesus. Paul said that other Jesus, that
another Jesus, not the one who saves completely alone. This other Jesus is the one who
needs our help and he needs our cooperation. They are not calling
on the Lord. The sovereign God of heaven and
earth are calling on someone else. People call on Jesus all
the time, but they're not. Whoever is going to call on the
Lord. Truly calling the Lord has to
believe in Him, has to believe who He is, and where He came
from, and why He came, and what He did, and where He is now,
and what that means for us. Finished. Done. Period. That's what it is to believe
on Him. How's somebody going to believe on Him if they've
never heard about who He is and what He did and all those things?
And how are they going to hear without a preacher of that Jesus? And how is a man going to preach
that God manifest in the flesh if he is not sent? Verse 15,
How shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have
not all obeyed the gospel, For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed our report? Who hath believed our report?
The answer is, whoever has been given faith. And how is faith given? How does faith come to a man
or a woman? Verse 17, it says, faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Hearing this word. So this woman back in Matthew
15 heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign God manifest in
the flesh, only mediator between God and men. And faith was given to her through
that hearing to believe on him. And that faith that was given
to her caused her to do this. Back in Matthew 15, this is what
faith in a child of God will cause that child of God to do.
Do I have faith? Do you have faith? All right,
this is what faith in a child of God will cause that child
of God to do. Verse 21, Matthew 15, verse 21. Then Jesus 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. She came to Him." Faith comes to Christ. You know, people stand up and
say, now come to Christ. The only way we can is by faith,
through faith. Faith comes to Christ. Faith draws a sinner to Christ. That's what it does. It draws
a sinner to Christ. She came to Him. She cried to Him. To Him. Stroll with me through
some verses here. Go with me to Psalm 9. Psalm 9 verse 10, it says, And they that know thy name will
put their trust in thee. For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken
them that seek thee. They'll trust you. They'll seek
you. They will come to you. Not doctrine.
How many times have you heard men, it's evidenced by what they
say, they have come to doctrine. I got it. Election. They've come
to doctrine. You know, you got five points
and three hours and such on so forth. It's not talking about
doctrine. If a man ever comes to Christ, he'll come to correct
doctrine. But he's not talking about doctrine, he's not talking
about denominations. Well I see it, I'm part of your
denomination now. He said you. They'll come to
you. Look with me at Psalm 25. Psalm
25 verse 20. It says, Oh, keep my soul and
deliver me. Let me not be ashamed for I put
my trust in thee. What he's saying is all my eggs
are in one basket. All of my hope and trust is in
you. It's in you. Look at Psalm 44. Psalm 44 verse 6 says, For I
will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hast saved us from our
enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we
boast all the day long, and praise thy name forever. He said my
trust is not in myself. It's not in me. It can't be in
me. I've seen the only place that
my hope can find any assurance and that's in the Lord my God.
It's in Him. Look at Psalm 146. Psalm 146 verse 3 says, Put not
your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there
is no help. There is no help. He didn't say
very little. He said none. There's none. Verse 2, he said, While I live,
while I praise the Lord, I will sing praises unto my God while
I have any being. Verse 5, he said, Happy is he
that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the
Lord his God. That's what faith produces in
a sinner, really. It strips away everything and
it exposes Christ our God. That's what faith does. It strips
away everything and exposes Christ to us. So faith in the child of God.
This particular child of God, if you go with me back to Matthew
15, this faith that this woman received through the hearing
of who He was and what He came to do and what He was willing
to do, who He came to do it for, that faith caused her to come
to Him and to cry out to Him. And this is what she cried. Look
with me at the middle of verse 22. She cried, have mercy on me. That's going to be the theme
of our morning. All right. That'll be the theme of the whole
morning. Have mercy on me. Why would she cry that? It's because her faith revealed
to her and it caused her to believe. that she was a sinner. That's
the reason why. A sinner in need. Listen to this right here. This
is what faith produces in a sinner. A need. That's what faith produces. It produces a need. We ask, do
I have faith? Do I have faith? We always see
the back end of faith, we see the result of faith. We wonder,
well, look at the cause, look at the beginning. What faith
does is it produces a need. It reveals to us what we are
and it reveals to us what we need. Faith does not fulfill
the need, Christ fulfills the need. Faith reveals the need. People think faith fulfills the
need. Well, I've got this problem and
this need. What I need is for faith to fulfill it. Christ fulfills
the need. Faith reveals the need. That's
what faith is. If a sinner ever sees his or
her deep need, if a sinner ever looks at himself or herself and
sees right here a need, and then sees the only one who can fill
that need, it's not me. That sinner will come and that
sinner will cry out to Christ. Faith draws sinners to Christ. What is faith and do I have it?
Well, do I see Christ to be my only hope? Do I have something
in me that causes me to want to run to Christ and never leave
Him? By faith, through faith, God's
people come to Him and they cry out to Him and they keep crying
out to Him. Then Jesus 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 the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us." She's crying after Those who speak of him
and minister of him, those who are the ambassadors of him. She'll
go to anybody who can point her to him. She cried and cried and
cried. Have mercy on me. Faith is what
begins that cry in a center. Until a center receives faith,
that cry is not there. And then faith is what keeps
that cry in a center. As long as we're in this body
of deadness, sinful deadness, we're going to need to cry out
for mercy. We're just going to need to cry out for mercy. I
need mercy today. Yesterday's mercy gone. I need
it brand new today. This woman came to Christ. This
woman cried out to Christ. This woman kept on crying out
to Christ. Verse 24. But he answered and said, I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." I'm
not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Well,
there it is. There's that hard election. You hear that hard, mean election? There's that mean election that
won't save anybody. Even those who are crying out,
help me and save me. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. It is her election that's causing
her to beg her Lord for mercy. The only reason she's begging
the Lord is because he chose her, chose to redeem her. It's
only because he gave faith to her and called her to himself. That's the only reason she's
begging and crying out to him right now. She is only responding
to the work that he's already done in her, crying out, coming
to him, crying out to him for mercy. That's not the cause of
our salvation. That's the evidence. That's the
result. That's the ending result of what
God has already done for us. Listen to this right here. This
will prove it. We've already stated what she
was doing. She came to him. She cried out to him. Listen
to this verse right here. No man or woman can come to Christ
unless they are drawn by the father to come to Christ. Election is not what keeps men
and women out. Election is what includes a man.
Greatest thing that God the Father could have ever done for us. No man or woman can come to Christ.
People say, well, I'm coming to Him. Well, that's only because
the Father's drawing you to Him. So it's not what keeps men and
women out, that's what includes a man. Verse 24, 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, help
me, help me. If you came for your lost sheep,
let me be one of them. Don't we find ourselves asking
that? If you have sheep on this earth that you're going to eternally
redeem, let me be one of them. I find myself saying that all
the time. Please let me be one of them. Help me, have mercy
on me, save me, even me, even me, let thy blessing fall on
me. Faith is what gives a sinner
hope that he or she is included into the adoption of Christ.
Faith. Faith says, all right, this is
what faith says, when faith comes, When the Spirit brings faith
and faith comes and faith whispers into the heart of a child of
God, this is what faith says. He only came for needy sinners. And then we say, I'm a needy
sinner. Could it be me? Could your mercy
please be on me? Let your blessing fall on me. Just listen to this. Don't turn
with me. This is Romans 8. This is verses 14 to 17. As many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry. You have already received the
Spirit of Adoption whereby, it's through that Spirit of Adoption,
it's through what the Spirit is saying, whereby we cry, Abba
Father. That cry is the last thing that
happens. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. How does it
do that? It says the children of God are
vile, wretched sinners. And that's what you are. And
we say, Amen, that is what I am. And if that's the promise of
God, I believe it. The Spirit itself bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then
heirs, heirs of God join heirs with Christ. If so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. The Spirit brings faith and that
faith reveals Christ. It reveals the object of Christ,
the ability of Christ, the will of Christ. This man receives
sinners. Isn't that glorious? the mercy of Christ, the redemption
of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. It reveals how all
that we need is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and
then in return we come to Him. We beg of Him, we bow to Him. That's what faith produces in
a child of God. Verse 25 says, Then came she
and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and
said, It is not meat to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. And she said, And I love this. She said, Amen. Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs which
fall from their master's table." Faith caused her to believe that
she wasn't worthy. Truth, Lord, you're right. I'm
nothing but a dog. Faith causes us to believe whatever
God says. Truth, Lord, whatever God says. We look at what this word has
to say about us, and I tell you what it does not say. It doesn't
say, you are a fine, upstanding citizen, and God is happy with
you. It says the exact opposite, and
God's people say, amen, truth, Lord, I believe. I believe. Faith caused her to believe she
wasn't worthy, but faith also caused her to believe, according
to his word, If she asked, she was going to receive. She said, I'm a dog, but even
the dogs get the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
I'm a dog, but I'm yours. You're my master. I'm looking
to you. No matter what, I'm looking to
you. As Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. 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. Faith looks to Christ. It trusts Christ. It believes
Christ. Abraham believed God being fully
persuaded that what he had promised he was able to perform. That's
what he believed. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. That's what faith produces
in a sinner, a total reliance on Christ. Faith removes all
reliance from self and lays all of it on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me close with this statement,
okay? If we could ever stop looking
to ourselves and only start looking to Christ,
we would have great faith. That leper came to him and said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. That was great faith. In response to that great faith,
just like this woman, the Lord said, I will be thou clean. I already have. You are clean,
know it, realize it. Lord, it's not our will, it's
your will, but if you will, you can. That's great faith. Lord,
increase our faith.