That's our whole purpose here
this morning, to give unto Him all the glory due unto His name. All of it. It all belongs to
Him. Let me give you a thought. I'm going to be coming out of
Matthew 15. Let me give you a thought that gives me much comfort. Much comfort. And it's this.
I am His responsibility to bring home. Christ being my surety,
and this thought really gives me comfort as I go through this
life, I'm his responsibility to bring home. Boy, that's secure,
isn't it? That's secure. There's my security. Jesus Christ himself is my security. In Matthew 15, Let me start reading in verse
21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Cana 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, and this is the title
of the message, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. My, what a cry. Lord, help me. But he answered
and said, it is not me or fit or proper to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord, Yet
the dogs eat 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. Let's pray. Our Father, bless
your word to our spiritual nourishment this morning. Enable us to feed
here this morning up on Christ. Give us an understanding. Enable
us to grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Enable
me to preach in the power of your spirit. Enable the people
here to hear. To hear your voice in the message.
Lord, to hear you speak. Help us, Lord. Lord, help us
this morning. Father, in Christ's name I pray,
and amen. What a contrast. If you read
the first part of this chapter, the Pharisees and the scribes
come to the Lord and ask Him what He's doing and why He's
transgressing the tradition of the elders and so on. So what
a contrast between the self-righteous Pharisees we find in this chapter
and those scribes and this Gentile dog It's a Gentile dog. The one came to straighten him
out while the other came for mercy.
Mercy. The one came to instruct the
Pharisees and the scribes. They came to instruct the Lord. She came to beg. She came to
beg. One came with pride and arrogance. The other came with a broken
heart and a great need. All who come, come one way or
the other, either a Pharisee or a Republican, a sinner. Verse 22, And behold, a woman,
a Canaan, came out of the same coast, and cried unto him, saying,
Have mercy on me, O Lord, And notice how she recognizes him. Thou son of David, my daughter's grievously vexed
with the devil. A great need. A great need. Now here's something worth beholding.
When it says behold, it means give attention to this. Don't
just let this go by. Don't let it just go over your
head. It's kind of like in the Psalms
where it says, Selah. Pause and think about this. Pause and give
attention to what's going on here. You and I have the privilege
of watching God deal with a sinner. Watching Christ is watching God.
We're going to watch Him deal with this sinner. And what we
are going to see here, and it's worth beholding, is a master
and his dog. He called her a dog. Would that
offend any of you? Ladies, would that offend any
of you? This woman was a Canaan. She
was a Greek. She was a Syrophoenician. She
was a Gentile. She belonged, now listen, she
belonged to a cursed people. You see that in Genesis 9, 25. Cursed be Canaan. She was a descendant
of Ham. But let me tell you this. everyone,
absolutely everyone whom God saves, He saves from a curse, a law curse. I'm not talking
about some stupid voodoo curse somebody tries to put on you.
There's only one curse that's real. There's one curse that's
actually real and it's the curse of the law. Cursed is everyone
who does not continue with all things written in the book of
the law to do them. I haven't done that. I know I
haven't. And no one else has either. Those Pharisees thought
they did. Paul at one time thought he did. Those Pharisees said at one time,
we'd be not sinners. Well, then you don't need Christ. Sinners need Christ. Sinners
need Christ. Everyone whom God saves, He saves
from a curse, a law curse. Now she comes and cries to Him
for mercy. Scott Richardson said one time,
we are just mercy beggars, that's all we are. Mercy beggars, that's
what we are. She's asking for something, now
listen, she's asking for something she does not deserve. We can beg for mercy, but we
cannot demand it. It's something I don't deserve.
I don't deserve God's mercy. I don't deserve God's grace. And she recognizes His Lordship
over all. Thou art the Sovereign. She knew
that. This woman had been taught of
God over in Mark chapter 7. It says she heard of Him. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Well, there stands the Word of
God talking to her. She heard of the Word of God. Well, she
heard of Him. And she heard of like that woman with the issue
of blood. She had tried all those physicians and was none the better,
but rather grew worse. And then she heard of Him. And
she didn't let anybody in that crowd stop her from coming and
touching, if I can but touch the hem of His garment. And this
woman heard of Him and she heard of His Lordship. She believed
Him to be Lord. She believed Him to be the Sovereign. She knew in her heart all things
belonged to You. You have rule over all. You have rule over all. And my
daughter's situation is desperate. Every one of us is born into
a desperate situation. lost enmity with God in our minds
what says in Romans we are born with a natural enmity to God
we do not listen we do not naturally love God we naturally love ourselves
and that which promotes ourselves that's what we naturally love
It takes a supernatural, it takes a divine work of God for me to
love God. It takes a love of God shed abroad
in my heart for me to love God. That's what it takes. And she
says, Lord, she recognizes His Lordship over all. You are the
Lord, you have authority over all. And let me tell you something,
this is when worship really happens, is when you worship at a sovereign
throne. You and I have never worshipped
God until we worship Him in His sovereignty. I remember when
I first heard my pastor Henry Mahan. I heard him on television.
And when I heard him, I heard the gospel and I heard that God
may save me and He may not. Before that, I heard God wanted
to save me. He just wanted me to accept Him. And then one day I realized I
heard the gospel, He might save me and He might not. He doesn't
have to. It's not what are you going to
do with Christ, it's what's Christ going to do with you. That's
the real matter. It's what is He going to do with
me. The Armenians, false religion
has it turned the other way. What are you going to do with
Jesus? What are you going to do with
Him? No, what's He going to do with you? You're in His hands.
The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of God and
His Christ. They belong to Him. All things
were created by Him and for Him. And by Him, all things consist
or are held together. This world right now is held
together. You've seen it on television.
This earth is hanging in space. There are no strings attached.
There's nothing. It's not like it's on a tether. It's hanging on His Word. It's
His Word that we hang on. I'm not afraid of a meteorite
or something getting cut loose out there in the universe and
coming at us. You know, that's just for television. That gets
the ratings up. There's absolutely nothing going
on. It's under the sovereign control of Christ. And this Syrophoenician
Gentile knew it. And those scribes and the Pharisees
who read the Scriptures daily missed it. That's scary. That's scary. Philip, have I
been so long a time with you and you've not known me? That's scary. She recognizes
Him to be the promised Messiah. She called Him Son of David.
She recognizes this is God in human flesh. This is the Messiah.
Son of David. God taught that woman something,
didn't He? He taught that woman something. She asked for mercy. That's what
she's asking for. She's asking for mercy. She needs
His mercy. She needs his mercy on herself,
but she's asking for mercy on her daughter. This should stand
as an example to every believing parent. This ought to encourage every
believing parent in here. This ought to encourage us to
seek him to save our children. Lord have mercy on my child. One time in the scripture, there's
a man who brought his son to the disciples, his foment and
mouth being cast down, and he was possessed of the devil. And then that man came to the
Lord and cried to him, and he said, and the Lord said, bring
him to me. Oh, I love that. Bring him to me. Oh, he looked at his disciple,
oh, you have little faith. But bring him to me. And I've
used that scripture so many times for myself and my own two sons.
Bring them to me. Bring them to me. Just keep bringing
them. Keep bringing them before the
Lord. Keep bringing them. Let's go back here. She said her daughter was grievously
vexed with the devil, but he answered her not a word. He answered her not a word. Well,
here's a great opportunity. Two things here. He's going to
try her faith. Faith has got to be tried. Untried
faith is no faith at all. And when she heard of Him, now
we're going to see what she heard and what she really believed,
who she really believed. And the second thing here, He
demonstrates His sovereignty. He'll answer when it's time to
answer. It's written over in the book
of Job. He gives no account of any of his matters. God is not
answerable to me. I present my request before him
and then what do I do? I wait upon the Lord. I wait. He answers her not a
word. He doesn't encourage her because
he's going to try her faith. Here's the thing. He doesn't
answer a word. She's discouraged and yet he's
the one who's keeping her hoping. He's keeping her hoping. And his disciples came and they
besought him saying, send her away. Send her
away. She cries after us. She's crying
after us. You see, He answers her not a
word. In His silence, in His silence, she's going to feel
her unworthiness in His presence. She felt it when she got there,
but she's really going to know it after getting there. He just
stands there. Here's this desperate woman crying
for a child, and the Lord just stands there in silence. And
I know I know the longer he is silent, the more unworthy she
felt in his presence. Then she cries to his disciples
to speak to him for her, and they handle it badly, like we
usually do. Like we usually do. She cries out, he said here,
she cries after us, send her away. Can you imagine that? Send her away. She's crying after
us. It may be they asked him to give
her what she wanted and send her away. They were embarrassed
of this woman. You ever embarrassed anybody?
I'm sure there have been people embarrassed of me and my family. They were embarrassed to have
this Gentile woman, these Jews, this Gentile woman get this dog
out of the house. That was her attitude, like my
dad. He doesn't like a dog in the
house. He couldn't stand having a dog in the house. That's the
way they were. Get this Gentile dog out of here. Get her out
of the house. She cries, they said, she cries
after us. Don't flatter yourself. She's
crying after him, not us. Us, she knows us can't do a thing
for her. All I can do is stand here and
preach the gospel. I can't save you. I can't save you. No other preacher
can either. It's Christ that can save. It's
Christ that can save. And what I need to do is say
what I need to say, shut up and sit down and get out of the way.
Don't call people to the altar. That was my first experience
of it. I'll never forget. I went to the altar and cried,
did all that stuff you're supposed to do, except Jesus, my personal
savior, blind as a bat. Blind as a bat. The Lord, thank God, the Lord
Jesus Christ does not send sinners away. He calls sinners to Himself. All you that labor heavy laden,
come to Me. Come to Me. You know what He
said to His disciples concerning the Pharisees? Leave them alone.
The last thing you want God to do is leave you alone. You don't
want to be left alone. The Lord never sends sinners
away. Never. This woman is crying for mercy.
She's crying out of a great need for her daughter. My daughter
is grievously vexed. I need you. I need you. I need your help. I need your
help. And notice what he answers. See,
at first he answers her not a word. He's just silent. Silent. Then he answers and he says this. I believe he's saying this to
his disciples here in verse 24. But he answered and said, I am not
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The first
word she heard was election. The first thing she heard come
out of his mouth was election. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. That's what I'm sent for. She knows that she was not an
Israelite. Boy, he keeps, he doesn't make
this easy on her, does he? It's not this easy believism
we hear today. Uh-uh. No, it's, it's, it's not
that. She knew she wasn't an Israelite.
She knew she was a Gentile woman. She knew that. And this is another
trial of her faith when he says, I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Real faith is going to be tried.
It's gonna be tried. And let me tell you this, real
faith keeps believing in the face of all discouragement. Real
God-given faith will keep believing. It'll keep coming in the face
of all discouragement. It'll keep coming. Notice some
words here. I am not sent, yet I am sent. I'm not sent, but yet I am sent.
But He was sent. Christ was sent by the Father
into this world to redeem. Did He do it or did He not? Absolutely
He did it. He's the Redeemer. Salvation
is not an attempt, it's an accomplishment. He spoke about the death, He
should what? Accomplish. It was an accomplishment for
Him. He came to establish a righteousness for His sheep. I don't have any
righteousness of my own. Self-righteousness is just another
form of sin. That's all it is. He came to
shed his blood for lost sheep. So if this Gentile woman ends
up saved, what was she really? A sheep. A sheep. A sheep. No, she's just a dog. She's a
Gentile. Get her out of here. No, he first
said, I came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And then he deals with this woman and he saves her. I believe this
woman saved. He was on a mission. Jesus Christ
came here and He was on a mission, a purpose, and He came to accomplish
full salvation for a bunch of lost sheep. He came to find a
bunch of lost sheep. He came to redeem a bunch of
lost sheep. He didn't come here to walk around
and just do some good, teach us, give us some instructions
and leave. That's not what he came for. He came to save. He came to die. That's why Peter
said, No, Lord, this can't... He said, Get behind me, Satan.
He came to die. He came to do what you and I
tried to avoid. Death. He came to die that you
and I might live. Live. Came to save sinners, lost sheep. lost sheep. Then in verse 25,
then when she heard this, I tell you what, the preaching
of election does not discourage a lost sinner. It does not discourage
you. You can't run one off. You can't
run a sinner off. I heard an old man say one time,
if you want to find out who loves you the most, your wife or your
dog, put them in the trunk of a car. Let them out an hour later,
see which one comes to you. You can't run them off. You cannot
run a dog off. When I was growing up, we had
a dog, a collie, and it would follow us everywhere we went.
And we'd be going up the road, and we'd throw rocks at him,
not trying to hit him, but throw rocks in his direction to keep
him from following us. We'd be going two or three miles
away. We didn't want him to get on the road. That dog would go
down the field, down by the creek, and then follow us. I mean, we
just couldn't run him off. I could not make that dog mad.
I was his master. He knew it. I was his master.
We have, right now, we have a big old golden retriever, about a
125-pound golden retriever, and about a 60-pound 10-year-old
granddaughter. And that dog doesn't know she's
10 years old. That's his master. She's his master. And she'd get
that dog to do anything. Do anything. This is what we got going on
here. That's what we got going on here. When he said this, then came
she, when he said he was not sent but to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel, then she came and she worshipped him saying,
Lord, help me. Help me. You don't have to be
a theologian. You just need to be a sinner
in need of mercy. You don't have to know all the
doctrines. You have to know the one who is the doctrine. All doctrines bound up in Christ.
He's the doctrine. You wanna talk about election?
He's the elect. Behold my elect in Isaiah 42. Oh, you can't run a sinner off
in need of mercy. She said, Lord, help me. Can
you say that? Is that hard to say? Lord, help me. That's probably one of the greatest
prayers ever prayed. Peter, when he walked down the
water and started to sink, he said, Lord, save me. Save me. I don't understand it. There's
a lot of things I don't understand. But I understand how God saves
sinners. And I understand my need of him. I understand that. Lord, help me. He didn't say
one thing to her that would even in the slightest way encourage
her to keep on coming. He didn't. He didn't say one
thing that would encourage her to keep coming, to keep asking. And yet at the same time, he's
the one who keeps her coming and keeps her asking. He's the
one who's holding her up at the same time he's slaying her. Laying
her in the dust. He's the one that said, I kill
and I make a life. I wound and I heal. And that's
the process it takes in saving a sinner. That's what it takes. But he answered and said, it
is not me to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. He
just gets tough with it. Now he's calling her a dog. Do you realize what he's calling
her? You're a dog. They didn't think of dogs like
we do. No, he said, you're a dog. Real conviction of sin has to
happen. Real conviction of sin. You're asking me to take the
children's bread, their salvation, their promises, and give them
to you? Is that what you are asking? That's not proper. To take the
children's bread off the table and give it to the dogs. He's
working on her heart. Salvation is a heart work. He's
working on her heart. He's not going to say to you,
repeat this prayer after me, and it'll all, you know. No. He's doing salvations of
heart work. And he's working on this woman's
heart. This is true open heart surgery. Like the woman at the well, go
call your husband. I don't have a husband. Oh, I
know. You've had five, and the one you've got now is not your
husband. Oh, I perceive you're a prophet. You're that prophet. That's who he is, that prophet. And you know what she said? What would you say? If you were being called a dog,
not sitting in here now, not sitting in here. We all get used
to it in here. But out on the street when you
get away from this place and somebody calls you a dog, And here's what she said, truth
Lord, truth, that's right. I fully 100% agree that's the
truth. I am a dog, but I'm your dog.
I'm a dog, but I'm your dog. Truth Lord, everything you have
said about me is absolutely truth. You know, she didn't just say,
well, that's true. You know, she went stronger than that.
She said, truth! That is absolute truth! What you just said, Lord,
concerning me. That's absolute truth. God said,
there's none good, no, not one. Truth, Lord! I rode out by that
even me. We forget that sometimes. There's none that seeketh after
God. Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. See, God deals with
the heart. He does business in the heart.
He exposes the heart. Truth, Lord, I don't deserve
your mercy. I have no right for what I'm
asking for, and I'm a dog of a sinner. I am. You couldn't offend her. Over in verse 12, it says, the
Pharisees said, And said, listen, then came his disciples and said
unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended when
they heard this? She wasn't. She wasn't. Our Lord felt comfortable in
the presence of sinners. Our Lord felt comfortable sitting
down and eating with publicans and sinners, publicans and harlots. He felt comfortable with them. Listen, they felt comfortable
with Him. The publicans and the sinners
felt comfortable with Him. The Pharisees were the ones that
were uncomfortable. The church-going people were the ones uncomfortable
with Him. Not the sinners. Oh my, not the
sinners. What the Lord's doing here, He's
putting her in her place. Everyone is out of place until
the Lord puts them in their place. You know that? We are. Every
one of us is out of place. We think more highly of us. There's
no one who thinks more highly of me than me. I can assure you
that. There's no one who thinks more
highly of us than us. We think we're smarter, prettier, when the Lord exposes us as us. That's not a good sight. That's the reason the gospel
is not the gospel now. That's the reason it's not popular
with this world. It's not popular with false religion because it's
too hard on us. But it's the truth. It's the
truth. I'd rather my wife, well it's
probably not so either, but I'd rather she tell me the truth
about do I look good in this suit or do I not? I mean, Waffle was ripped up the
back. She said, yeah, you look good in that suit. And I walk
in here and you all said, what in the world? And he know his
coat and jacket's ripped? No, my wife lied to me. She said,
I look good in it, fine. That's what happens when these
people, they stand before God and they say, Lord, we preached
in your name. We cast out devils in your name.
We've done many mighty works in your name. And he says, depart
from me. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Job says, it says in the book
of Job, they were confounded because they had hoped. They
were confounded that they thought they were saved. They believed
they were saved and found out that in the end, they were lost.
I don't want to find that out in the end. I preached in Madisonville,
Kentucky one time. This has been years ago. I was
telling you all about it yesterday. I was on my way home that night
to preach for Maurice Montgomery. I had no idea how I missed it,
but I ended up in Bowling Green. And Bowling Green is, is that
south? Anyway, it wasn't home. It wasn't
headed home. And when I got down there and
I saw the sign, it said, Bowling Green. I was so mad. I was mad all the way home. I
was like an hour or so out of my way, and it was late already. You know how many people in hell,
all of hell, they're going to be mad, mad. He said if I just repeat this
prayer after him, I was saved. If I did this, I was saved. If
I did that, I was saved. Now you know why there's so much
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. A bunch of angry people
who thought they had gone to heaven and they wound up in hell.
Because they missed Jesus Christ. They missed the person. They
missed salvation in Him. They missed Him. You don't want
to miss Him. She says to Him, yet the dogs,
the little dogs, the puppies, eat the crumbs which fall from
their master's table. That's one of the most beautiful
statements in the Word of God. She said, yes, Lord, but the puppies,
the little dogs, they eat the crumbs. All I want, all I'm asking
you for is a crumb of mercy right now. Just give me a crumb of
mercy. There she sits like a begging
dog for a crumb of mercy. I have a bird dog, Molly. And
I made the mistake of letting her taste our food. And she will
sit there, she don't sit, she stands like she's on point. I
don't care if I sit there for an hour, if I'm sitting there
with a plate in front of me, she sits there and looks at me
and doesn't bat an eye until I give her something. She wears
me down. It's amazing. Just looking at me, she can wear
me down that I end up giving her a crumb. And this woman,
she ain't leaving. Heaven suffers violence and the
violent take it by force. Have you ever prayed violently? Have you ever sought the Lord
and prayed and called upon Him violently for a need? She's not going, like Jacob said,
I will not, I will not let you go till you bless me. You see,
we're so used to everything being like fast food, fast this, fast
that. If we're not blessed like that, we'll just go on. If you ever, if you and I ever
really know what conviction is seen, if we know what it is,
We'll know what it is to violently pray for mercy and forgiveness. She recognizes him. Look, she
fell down at his feet. It says in Mark 7, she fell down
at his feet, right where she belongs. Right where she belongs. She recognizes him as her master
and waits for the crown of mercy from him. And you know what he
says to her? Great is thy faith. He never
said that to any of his disciples. Great is thy faith. It's great
because He gave it to her. I'm going to wind this up. He
gave it to her. It's great because it's in Him.
He's the object of it. He's the object of faith. And
great faith believes God against all else. Great faith believes
God. When there's nothing else to
believe, not a glimmer of anything to hold on to, I believe God. Abraham said, I believe God. He didn't say, I believe in God.
There's a lot of people believe in the existence of God. Abraham
said, I believe God. And this woman heard of him and
she believed he's the only help I've got. He's the only hope
for my daughter. Great faith, always believes
God. always. She heard of Him, and
she believed what she heard. She came to Him, fell down and worshipped Him.
She gave Him the glory due His name. She called Him Lord. She
called Him Son of David, and she confessed her deed of Him. Lord, help me. Help me. Whatever my situation,
your situation, my need of forgiveness, Lord, help me. He's the only
one who can. Okay, Mike, you can sing.