Well, welcome. Good to have you
folks with us. Our Bible studies have been going
out on the CDs, and Larry and Gladys, and I believe Marvin,
and Gene and Judy have all received the CDs. So they've kind of stayed
with us a little bit on our Bible study. But for those who may
be receiving this recording for the first time, we're going to
continue our study of Simon Peter, an apostle of Christ. We're in
our 12th study of this subject. Looking at the things that our
Lord is going through teaching Peter, to the point where he
sits down and writes his epistles. Just as our Lord teaches Peter,
though, He teaches each and every one of us through His Word. Peter
is standing there in person with our Lord Jesus, but we are also
standing here in the presence of His Word. Not this book, but
the words that are in it. The words of truth that point
us to Him. We turn to the book of Matthew searching out the
lessons our Lord may be pleased to teach us as we go about through
the scriptures looking at the lessons that our great Savior
taught Peter leading up to the writing of his two epistles.
In our last study, we looked at verses 21 and 22 of chapter
15, considering this woman, a Gentile for whom Christ departed into
the coast of Tyre and Sidon, that He would give faith to this
poor woman who was distressed over the vexation of her daughter.
The Lord taught us that for most, we must be brought to distress
before we will cry unto Him. Paul wrote this, he said, Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. That's a tough thing
to do for any of us. But yet, knowing who the Lord
is, we can do that very thing. Our Lord says to us, all things
are for our good. I don't know how, But I know
the day will come when we will see how 9-11 was for our good. All things, our Lord says, not
just this and that and that, but all things are for our good,
including our infirmities. And most of the time, our infirmities
bring us to the very situation that this woman was brought to.
Lord, have mercy on me. The love for her daughter, who
was grievously vexed with the devil, compelled this broken-hearted
mother to come to the Savior, bringing her daughter's need
to Him. She asked the Lord Jesus to pity
her daughter as an act of mercy to herself. She says, have mercy
on me. That was her cry, bowing to Christ
as her Lord. She knew that this man had been
healing the sick, making the blind to see and the lame to
walk. She knew that only God could
perform these kinds of miracles. And she had submitted to that
very fact by coming to Him and asking for Him for mercy. By
coming out of the coast and coming to Him. Her desperate need brought her
to the Savior and taught her how to pray. In verse 23 we read,
But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought
Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. Now here's
a lesson that all of us need to know and need to learn, as
well as Peter. It's a very sad lesson, but it's
one that we must learn. The saints of God in this world All of them are sinners still. Justified and sanctified in Christ,
yes, but still sinners in the flesh. And sometimes we act if
we didn't know the Lord at all, don't we? Here's a woman, a poor,
broken-hearted woman crying out for mercy. And here we see a
band of blood-washed sinners, those who themselves had obtained
mercy from the Lord our God, Jesus Christ, looking down their
noses upon this Canaanite woman, as though she was not worthy
of being identified with them. What a pity. Those very men who
had experienced grace said, send her away. Send her away, as it
says in verse 23, for she crieth after us. She wasn't crying after
them. She wasn't crying to them for
mercy. She was crying to the Lord for mercy. And yet they
had the gall, right there in front of God, to say, send her
away, for she crieth after us. How thankful we ought to be that
our Master is far more gracious than we are. Let us ever beware
of and on guard against our natural prejudices, our pride, our hardness
of heart towards those who are around us. Do not let us try
to determine who is and who is not sincere and true, or who
is and who is not a believer. I fall into that trap a lot.
That person can't be a believer. Look what they're doing. I'm a failure at that. This is
a lesson that I need to learn personally. That's a free will church down
the street. There's not a saint there. We can fall into that trap real
quick and easy too. Let us ever beware and on guard
against our natural prejudices. Do not try to determine who it
is and who it is not. We cannot look upon the heart.
You and I should never be doubtful of those that profess faith in
Christ. In Romans 14, 1, verses 2-4,
it says, him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not
to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may
eat all things, and another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not
him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let him which
eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who
art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master
he standeth or followeth, yea, he shall be holding up, for God
is able to make him stand. In verses 24 through 26 we read,
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
is not meat to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. Pastor Don Fortner wrote this,
he says, nowhere else in the book of God do we find a sinner
coming to the Savior discouraged by Him. But this woman met with
great discouragement. At first the Master did not even
answer her. Then he who calls every poor, weary, heavy laden,
broken hearted soul to come to him, assuring all who come that
they shall find rest, said to the one coming to him, he said,
I am not sent. I am not sent, but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. It is not meet to take the children's
bed and cast it to dogs." He goes on to say, does it sometimes
appear that the Savior refuses to hear your heart's cries? Have you ever sat there and had
something on your mind so terribly it brought you to tears? Lord,
why aren't you, do you not hear my cry? When that is the case, Fortner
says, lie still before the throne of grace and wait for Him. He
sees you. He hears your cries. He knows
all of your sorrows. It is He who measures out our
portion day by day. And being touched with the feeling
of your infirmities, He is infinitely more disposed to give you mercy
than you are to ask for His mercy. Our Lord knows what we need before
we ever need it. Many a times in our lives we
are brought to situations that we will see our need of Him.
but he waits to be gracious at the best time, at the time that
is best to fulfill his purpose and best for you. All things
are for our good. Still the trial of her faith
is not finished, is it? When the Lord finally spoke to
her, his words must have cut her to the heart. He said, I
am not sent, but under the lost sheep of Israel, it is not meat
to take of the children's bread and cast it to dogs. Can you
imagine what that must have done to her heart? Here's the one
who's been healing these folks, and I come to you, have mercy
on me, Lord. My daughter is vexed with a demon,
and you turn me away. Who can imagine how she must
have felt when she heard those words? Yet those are the first
words the Savior spoke to her. He who loved her infinitely and
everlastingly, who was determined to do more for her than she had
asked of or thought of, made the trial of her faith even greater." I hesitate. I want you to hear
that. Our great God loves us so much. even when He puts us in the trials
that we must go through. The trials of seeing a loved
one suffer. He who loved her infinitely and
everlastingly, who was determined to do more for her than she had
asked for or even thought of, made the trial of her faith even
greater because He desired to make her an everlasting monument,
an example of faith among His people. Teaching us by her example to
hope against all hopelessness. Teaching us by example to trust
in Him. Is that not how all the trials
come to a child of God? As we go through it, as I mentioned
just the other day, it seems like once, I've heard this from
other, this is nothing new, I've heard this from other preachers,
it seems like once you leave one trial, you go right into
another. But oh, how we look back on that trial and see how
the Lord is the one who delivered us from it. How many trials can
you look through in your life and say, this is what the Lord
had taken me through for my good. I can look back and see all kinds
of them now where I never saw them before. By all this he sweetly and graciously
forced her, drew her, brought her publicly to take her proper
place before him. He called her a dog. And she knew she was. She said, of truth, Lord, yet
the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the Master's table. Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat
the crumbs which fall from the Master's table. Just in proportion
as we seek Christ's glory, we will see and acknowledge our
unworthiness of His grace." In verse 28, we read that very
thing. No, that was 27, this is 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
that very hour. How is it, folks, how is it that
He calls this faith great? Why would the author of faith
declare that this woman's faith is so great and yet he called
his disciple's faith little? O ye of little faith. Isn't that what he said just
not so far back out on the ocean where Peter walked on it? O ye
of little faith. First and foremost the faith
that is expressed here is the faith looking to Christ. looking to Christ and Christ
alone, trusting in Him alone for all mercy and for all grace.
In 1 Corinthians 1 we read, verses 30-31, that no flesh should glory
in His presence, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Great faith is based upon the
Word of God. She believed Christ Jesus to
be the Christ, because He had met the prophecy of the Old Testament
and He had fulfilled it all. In Matthew 11, verses 3-6, and
He said unto him, Art thou He that should come, or do we look
for another? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John against those things which ye do hear
and see. The blind receive their sight,
and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.
The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached
unto them. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in me." She was not offended to come to this Lord Jesus Christ,
even though she comes from a land of people who worship all kinds
of other stuff, a pagan land. An idolatrous land. Yet here
she comes to the Lord, drawn by the power of God. It was the
day of His power. Great faith involves great repentance. She knew she was a dog before
the Almighty Creator. I know that I am a worm unworthy
of what God has given me. That's why it's called mercy.
That's why it's called grace. I have nothing that I can earn,
because there's nothing in me worth earning anything. And she
knew that. Agreeing with Him that yes, dogs
are unworthy of it, yet we do have crumbs that fall from the
table of the Master. That's another subject we'll
have to talk about someday. Great faith involves great repentance,
and repentance and faith always go hand in hand. This woman had
turned from her sin, her religion, and her gods, and she turned
to Christ. Great faith bows to the Word
of God. When Christ spoke of election,
notice that she worshipped Him. When He told her, I am not sent
but unto the lost, that's election. He's not sent unto the whole
world. I wonder what those who read
this and think that God loves everybody, I wonder what they
think of that very verse. He was not sent unto the whole
world. He was sent unto the lost. And our Lord spoke of election.
And what did she do? She worshipped Him. Is that not
what we do? I love election. I know for a
fact that when I didn't know anything about election, I was
going about my own way. And then God chose to call me
out of that darkness that I was walking in. He elected me before
I ever even knew it, before I was ever even born, before a world
was ever even made, before a star ever twinkled in the sky. When he called her dog, she acknowledged
it and used it as an argument for mercy. Great faith cannot
be driven from Christ. It never gives up, it never quits.
Look how this poor soul hangs on to Christ. She had nowhere
else to go. Great faith always gets what it wants, mercy. Faith
wants, needs, and seeks nothing else but mercy at the throne
of grace. and great faith must endure great
trials. Robert Hawker wrote this, and
I'll bring this to a close with two more quotes. He wrote, it
is as if Jesus threw the reins of government into her very hand,
saying as the prophet did in Isaiah 4511, concerning my sons
and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. You want grace? You want mercy?
You're calling for that? Here it is. And He gives it freely. Freely to us, but not freely
to Him. It cost Him His life. It cost Him His own blood. And
was there ever more finished Let me start that over again.
And was there ever a more finished instance of grace and mercy,
not only in following up this daughter of Abraham, her petition,
but planting such faith in her heart as might sustain so long
a painful trial. Fortner wrote this, and I'll
close with this. Let us remember this woman when we try to witness
to sinners. God's elect may be found anywhere. Let us remember this woman when
we pray. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much. Because our great God and Savior
waits to be gracious, let us remember this woman when our
faith is tried. The more greatly our God intends
to bless us, the more greatly He tries our faith. Amen. Would you stand with me, please?