Everybody, I'm often nervous
to preach. I just about can't hold my hand
still. I pray this is good for you.
If you will, begin opening to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. I wanted to bring some good news
first. Many of y'all have heard of,
maybe you've met one or two of you, Larry Brown. He was in the
congregation at Danville for a long time, and then he was
in Madisonville. He's the one that set up Free
Grace Radio, the website where you can go find where Grace Preachers
are. For us pastors, he's set up,
those that preach, Ultimate Index. It's a zip file with every kind
of book you can think about reading that's good. It's all on there,
commentaries and everything. And Grace Ebooks, he helped publish
some of the men that wrote things and many other things. He was
a great blessing for the furtherance of the gospel in this generation.
And Friday night, he's without sin. The Lord took him home. So that's a great blessing. Those that are in Madisonville,
those that know him and his family will miss him. And it'll hurt
their hearts, I'm sure. He ain't missing them. He's with
his Redeemer. Here in Matthew 15, the title
of my message is Great Faith Proven. The Lord's gonna try
this great faith. This Canaanite woman, gonna prove
her faith. And in that, he's gonna prove
himself. There's four types of ground, ain't there? Sometimes
that seed goes and it shoots up and boy, it looks like it's
just a piece of wheat like the rest of us. But it's different. That wind comes, when the trial
comes, the affliction because of the word comes. When all these
things come, if there ain't no root there, it just falls right
over or it's plucked away. So he's not proving that this
woman's diligence or this woman, nah, I'm leaning on my faith.
He's proving she ain't got no faith and he's her faith. There's
no faith in and of ourselves. Christ is our faith. He's the
faithful one. And if the Lord don't show us
that, Men, women are gonna go into judgment thinking they're
all right. I'm about to jump three quarters way through my
notes. I hope this is a comfort to those that are disturbed and
those that are comfortable. I hope this disturbs you. I do
for your sake, for your soul's sakes, I do. Look here, what
do you think of great faith? Whatever you think of great faith.
That's being tough and strong, you know. and being tried, experienced. If we think we're tried, if we
think that we're the proven ground, we're in trouble. Christ is the
one that was tried. He's the faithful one. I'm telling
you, it seems like a slight difference. It's a dangerous ground to be
walking on. 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 coasts 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. And he answered
and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Then she came and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, it
is not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.
Is that loving? Is that tender and kind? Hello, buddy. You're a dog. I can't give you children's food.
That is loving. Don't seem like it on the outside.
He's putting himself in his right place and her in her right place,
in her heart. And she said, truth, Lord, capital
T truth. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's tables. And Jesus 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. He begins there in verse 21,
says, Jesus went thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. You know where Tyre and Sidon
is? That's way up north. Nowadays, it's outside of Israel,
it's in Lebanon. Lord's gonna go up to bring her
down. He ascended on high that he might
make us descend in our own hearts, that we decrease and he increases.
You see that? And it's way out there in the
uttermost parts, way off Tyre and Sidon is. This is the one
that's able to save them to the uttermost that come to him by
God. That's drew to him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for us. He had a child up there. He had a sheep up there and he
had to go get her. He went all the way out there to Tyre and
Sidon. And behold, a woman, verse 22, a woman of Canaan came out
of the same coast. What made that woman come out
to Christ? Well, there's two things, wasn't there? There was
a need, her daughter was, vexed with the devil, an unclean spirit
was in her, and she heard. Everybody's got a problem. This one heard. Who preached
to her? Adonai, an unnamed source, didn't it? It says in Mark, the
same account, Mark 7, for a certain woman whose young daughter had
an unclean spirit heard of him. She heard of him and came and
fell on his feet. And this woman was a Greek, a
Syrophoenician by nation, a Gentile woman. way out there in the boonies
with a sick child, heard of Christ. Almighty God says that's a miracle.
If people, if I bring everybody to me, it's missing a left arm,
got blown off in war or whatever, got cut off in a tree chipper.
And I go, and their arm grew back, which was a miracle, wasn't
it? Lord said all those things happen
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. This poor Gentile
dog, somebody preached the gospel to her. She heard and she believed
and she had a need and she knew he would supply all her need
and she came. This is miraculous. This is the
work of God. This is how God saves sinners.
There's something in it. Gentile woman heard of Christ.
And there was in the verse 22, behold, a woman of Canaan came
out of the same coast and cried unto him saying, have mercy on
me. Oh Lord, thou son of David. That's saying he's the Christ.
You're, you're, you're out of the house of David, your Lord
and your Christ. That's who you are. I believe,
I believe my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. This may
have been outwardly. This may have been a possession
of a demon and this girl's thrashing and throwing herself in the fire
like another one was. Or it could be internal. This is all of us by nature,
did you know that? Every one of us, we all have
a cut. And born of Adam, there's one race on this earth, Adam's
race, and it's in trouble. Somebody needs to tell them,
they need to hear. And we're filled with a devil called self.
Do you know that? Now over Matthew 16, the Lord
started to show his disciples how he's going to go to Jerusalem
and suffer all these things of the elders and the priests and
the religious folks there. And that's going to kill him.
And he was going to be raised again the third day. And Peter
got mad about that. And Peter took him, he grabbed a hold of
him. And he said, began to rebuke him. He was rebuking God. And
said, be it far from thee, Lord. This shall not be unto thee.
No, Lord, not that way. No. And he said, get behind me,
Satan. Ooh. Ooh. That's us. We don't think poor
old Peter. I don't think poor old Kevin
Thacker. Left to myself. We'll look next hour. Without
him making my cup run over, my cup will fill up with self. Self. Being told I know something,
and I know best, and I have experience, and I've been tried, and I've
been proven, and I've been through this a whole bunch, and I know
what to do. The Lord looked him dead in the eye and said, get
behind me, Satan. Get behind me. We are all unclean in the
love of this world. Not God. We care about the things
of this world. We worship the creature and not
the creator, don't we? That was so plain in Romans 1. professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image like to corruptible man, to birds, four-footed beasts,
creeping things, pick one, whatever it is, not God. And God gave
them up to uncleanness, through the lust of their own heart to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth
of God into lie, and who worshiped and served the creature more
than the creator, who's blessed forever. We need to hear about
that creator, don't we? That's all of us, we're all vexed
with the demon. This woman's praying for her daughter who
she loved. What was the response? God save
my daughter. You parents, do you pray for
your children to hear the gospel? I pray for your children to hear
the gospel. Here's a response, Matthew 15, 22. 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. This is the true proven ground
of faith. Do you know that? Silence from God. We go through
heartache. We go through trial. We do. We
cry out in pain. Not too often do we cry out in
joy, do we? Just, oh, Lord, thank you, today's
a good day. But to cry out desperately and
not be answered. He said in Isaiah 54, for thy
maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy
redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. The God of the whole earth shall
he be called. The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and
a grieved spirit. That's what this is, isn't it?
It's Isaiah 54, you can read that when you get home. A wife
of youth, when I was refused, saith thy God, for a small moment
I've forsaken thee. But with great mercies will I
gather thee. And a little wrath, I hid my
face from you for a moment. We cried out, how long's a moment
with God? Might be a twinkling of an eye,
that could be a hundred, a thousand years too. Days of a thousand
years. But with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Every
time I read it, I always think of a parent. Our children sometimes
get a little rambunctious and go exploring in the stores. And
so we just step back behind that aisle, you know, kind of peek
a little bit. And when they start looking around,
they don't see no parent we've hid our faces from. What do they
do? Run to find us, don't we? Teach him something. Lord said,
I've hid my face. He's, Lord, I'm with you always. We have
to have a little understanding here, don't we? Sometimes you
caught God and he don't answer. You ever prayed for somebody
you love for 15, 20 years? Don't hear a word, do you? And
then one day, just for a moment, that's all that 18 years was,
just a moment, and he'll answer. He'll draw you. Matthew 27. That's us. We feel bad. But what's
our affliction? It's light. That ain't nothing. Because we're required to look
to him always and we forget God. We forget him. Christ was forsaken. He cried out, Eli, Eli, lamna
sabachthani. That's to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He called out. While being forsaken,
not a word. Not a word. He called out to
God, not a word from him. And instead of cursing and turning
and getting frustrated like I do, maybe like you do, our king did
this. That's what we read in Psalm
121. I lifted up my eyes into the hills from whence cometh
my help. He didn't have no help. He didn't have a word. I'm still
looking to the father. Well, he's slaying you. I trust
him. That's what Job was taught. Isn't that a good lesson? Don't
you want to be taught of God? We want to do cartwheels and
win the lottery and drive Porsches and have houseboats. I want to
be made like Christ. I want to think the way he thinks.
Job was taught that, and this woman here's taught that, a Gentile.
I'm a Gentile, maybe he'll teach me. He said, my health coming
from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer
thy foot to be moved. But we don't see him. The Lord's
doing just as he sees fit, just as right. what's good for me
and for the glory of his son. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. The Lord's thy keeper. He ain't asleep somewhere. He
ain't snoozing, he's awake. He's doing all the work, just
like we learned in Ruth. Naomi said, honey, you go to
bed. That man ain't gonna sleep till the job's done. He ain't
going down. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. That's what we need. We need soul preservation. We
got a soul problem. Lord shall preserve thy going
out and not coming in from this time forth, even forevermore. I get communication from people
that desperate, they have a need and they want me to pray for
very specific things and very specific outcomes. I pray they receive the one who
is needful and they have grace and trouble in their time of
need. But I can't do anything special.
Did you know that? Now I am not. Let's not hear that part, and
then I lose you. And you say, well, Kevin's telling
us not to pray for one another. Let's attend the whole shooting match,
okay? I'm not saying we're not to pray
for one another. Like I put in the bulletin, I need you to pray
for me to get a message for you. And I need you to pray that God
gives you hearing ears so you hear it, not a spirit of slumber.
Both are needful. The Lord told us to do both,
didn't he? We are to pray for one another. But I need that
not because you got a 1-800 number, direct line to God, or I do.
It's because you'll ask for the things I won't ask. I'll ask
for something selfish. I'll consume it on my lust. Say,
Lord, take this thorn from me. Make it easy on me. Do all these
good things that I want. Instead of, Lord, your will be
done. Your will be done. And verse 23, he answered her
not a word, so she went to those disciples. She said, well, he
ain't listening. You're a man of God. I'll talk
to you. And his disciples came and saw him saying, send her
away for she crieth after us. Lord, we're trying to work here
and she's wearing us out. But he answered, said, I am not
sent, but the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Lord can preach. He don't
need 30 minutes to preach a message. He can say a word. He can wave
his hand if he's pleased, but he said, I'll speak it. And he'll
say, live. Or he'll say, follow me. Look
here at this message. You talk about a sermon. I am
not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. A sentence, isn't it? He's preaching
a wonderful message. What's he say? I am. The great I am, the one that
spoke to Moses. The self-existent one, the one
that is. We don't even understand that.
He was, he's gonna be. No, back then he is, right now
he is, he's gonna be. He said, I am. I am. I am not sent but to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel, the holy sovereign God of all
creation, of all providence, of all salvation, of all preservation. He's all and in all. He does
with his own as he sees fit. That's a Gentile. I came here
for Israel. Was that a physical nation? This
is a spiritual nation. The rain falls on the just and
the unjust. We're all of Adam's fallen race, but God, this is
good news. He's rich in mercy, and he's
pleased to save some of those sons of Jacob. He said, Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And natural mankind, who's vexed
with the devil, says, how in the world could he hate Esau?
That ain't fair. That's us sitting in judgment. We're making ourselves
a judge. If God shows us that we're the
ones vexed with the devil, if he brings us down, makes us a
dog, we'll say, how in the world could he love Jacob? If we see
him high and lifted up, if God reveals Christ to us, not some
buddy, not some co-pilot, not some dude wearing tennis shoes,
he's God, a holy God. We'll bow down our face before
him, we'll be a dead man. We'll seal up our lips, we'll
stop talking, start listening. Sovereign electing grace. And
he says, I'm sent. The father sent him, didn't he?
It's on purpose. On purpose. What a message. I couldn't get over it this week.
I was pacing this morning and everybody showed up. I could
tell somebody. It's sent, the God man came. God with us for
his sheep. Then she came and worshiped him.
Same message, isn't it? While I'm in time of need, hear
this message. I'm in time of great joy, hear this message.
It's raining or it's sunny, it don't make a difference. That's
what we need to hear. The great I am is gonna save his people
and he's gonna get all the glory for it. We don't need three R's, we need
him. Get that? We are ruined by the fall. We
are redeemed by his blood and he has to come regenerate us.
That's so, that's all him. And she came and worshiped him,
saying, Lord, help me. You notice how each time, you
read the mother accounts of Mark, everything she says, every time
she talks, just like that blind man in John, keeps getting shorter
and shorter and shorter and shorter. Help, Lord. Help, Lord. You need help? She cried for
him. But he answered and said, it's
not meat to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.
I came to feed my people. He says, you were a dog. You
were a dog. Brother Mahan, he said one time,
if somebody, if a child of God, if they can put up with the Lord,
they can put up with you. The hard things the Lord has
to say to us, you can handle a person. He tells us the truth,
don't he? He said in John 6, wherefore
said I unto you that no man can come to me except it were given
me my father. That's exactly what he's just saying. Nobody can
come to me except the father gave them to me and they're drawn.
I came for the house of Israel, that spiritual house. And from
that time, many of his disciples went back to him, walked no more
with him. You run them people off, Lord. What'd you say to
them? He said, you gonna go too? How
about you? That's a successful ministry.
Lost 5,000 people in a congregation. Looks at the only 12 standing,
said, you beating it too? What'd he say? I've got some
demands and we'll stay. Hogwash, get out of here. He
said, Simon Peter said, Lord, to whom, not to what, not to
where, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure. That's on a Tuesday and
on a Thursday and on a Sunday, not just Lord's Day. We're sure,
I know it, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God, your Him. We know you. How am I gonna leave
you? You're my husband. We're married,
we're made one. I can't leave you. No more than
I can leave my right arm. She threw up her hands when the
Lord said that. It's not meat to take the children's bread
and cast it to the dogs. She goes stomping off and saying,
well them disciples wouldn't help me and the Lord wouldn't
help me and guess I'll do it myself and we'll get some remedies
and try something else or a witch doctor. She didn't say the Lord
abandoned her, did she? What'd she say? Verse 27. And
she said, truth, Lord, truth. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. I'm the dog. You're the
master. What a sermon this lady's preaching. You're right. You're right. I'm a dog. I ain't worth nothing. No matter how low I am. If I
go below a dog, there's things lower than a dog. Do you know
that? Dog ain't worth nothing. Old Don said, now the people's letting
them in their homes and on their beds and on their kitchen tables. Dog ain't worth nothing. What
about a worm? What about a maggot? I'm a maggot. You're the master.
You're my lord. Lord, that's everything. That's everything. Henry said
that too. We ought to quit coddling people
and calling them Christians whenever all they do is think about God
once a week on Sundays. They don't know him. They don't
know him. If you know him, you love him.
I think about that woman all day, every day. There's been
times of darkness, I go, seems like a couple days or longer,
and don't think on the Lord, and oh boy, what a pit, you think
you're doing okay, and when God reveals that to you, you talk
about hitting the dirt. Dog's got it a whole lot better
than I got it. I'm a worm, ain't nothing, maggot. He's still the
Lord, my Lord. He's the master. That's what
I need. That's what I need. He said,
I'm the way, the truth, and life. That's what was lost in the garden.
Adam didn't have no way to get back to God's presence, did he?
Lies is all he knew now. He didn't have no truth. He didn't
have no life. He's spiritually dead, though.
He's walking around on two feet. And all that's born of him may
just like him. We need capital T, truth. Truth. Before we bow to the only true
God and Savior, Christ our Lord, we have to have that need. We
have to be in trouble to cry to him. We have to hear. Mankind
doesn't need to be coddled and told what good job they're doing,
and that they're good little boys and girls, and, oh man,
you've done everything wonderful. We need to be told we're nothing
but grass. I was talking to Brother Elmquist preaching this last
Wednesday. I preached this to you all almost five years ago
now. Three ways to approach God. She
came looking for help for somebody else, then she came looking for
help for herself, and then she's a dog, and that's when God's
gonna bless her. And anytime I think I'm something other than
a dog, I'm in trouble. I'm vexed. That's what's needed,
isn't it? Where are the disturbers of Israel? Got that from Henry too. You
think, I hit pause on it. Think about what a good preacher
is. Now, we want a real good preacher. We want a real good
pastor. Now stop, and you think through your mind, I did, he
got me. Think through your mind, what
was that? What does that mean? What does that look like? Well,
it's somebody that don't really offend people, that ain't out
to cause trouble. It's somebody that unifies and
makes everybody happy, and he emphasizes, and that's able to
grow a big congregation and keep them happy. A happy congregation. Where's the disturber of Israel?
Where's the sons of thunder? Where's the prophet that says
repent to God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Stop doing
what you're doing. You ain't the way. He's the way.
What you know ain't true. He's truth. Well, I'm alive. No, you ain't. You're spiritually
dead. He's life. He's life eternal. Bow to him. See him. Know him.
Love him. Believe him. We're dogs, and
he's the master of all. Come to his feet, come for a
crumb, come begging for a crumb of mercy. Lord, if I could, like
that woman that touched the hem of his garment, if I could but
touch the hem of his garment, that's all I need to do. And
this whole DNA problem I got issued, blood is cured. This
woman, same thing. I don't need a stake. Lord, if
I got just something that fell off of your piece of bread on
the way to the ground, that's all I need, all I need. Now what's
he say, he ignored her? He said, you ain't nothing but
a dog, get away from me. You ain't supposed to be here. And he answered, said to her,
oh woman, great is thy faith. God says, that's great faith.
Do you want that kind of faith? That's saving faith. I don't want to see proud people
walk into judgment thinking they did something. I don't. I want
to cry from the walls of this Jerusalem as loud as I can and
don't give them any rest and say, knock it off, repent. May God make us dogs. He said,
great is thy faith, colon. You got faith. There's days you
say, I think, oh, what little faith I have walking through
this world of darkness, this valley, the shadow of death,
scared, mad, nervous, upset, whatever. Lord's on his throne,
why don't I have faith? And then other days I say, yo,
you have little faith. Did you hear that? He said, we got faith.
We got a crumb, that's all I need. That's all she needed. Thankful
too, wasn't she? He said, great's your faith,
colon. Now that's settled. Now something else is going.
She sought first the kingdom of God. Now something else is
going to happen. Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter
was made whole from that very hour. He did all that and healed her
daughter too. That's what she showed up looking
for. Boy, she left with a lot more. He provided exceedingly
abundant to her, didn't he? Do you want to be provided exceedingly
abundant for? Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. What honors God? Well, let's
willfully sin against God. How about that? And then grace
can abound. God forbid. What honors God? I want that. Do you? I have to be shown what
that is. I don't have a good idea. Lord's
patient, he's the faithful one. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to
you. All that other stuff will be alright. And if it ain't,
that's alright too. He gives us that grace, doesn't
he? Like Paul said, take a thorn from me. It hurts. And he said,
my grace is sufficient for you. You'll be alright. He'd leave
it there. And I bet every time that tweaked a little bit, whatever
it was that bothered Paul, he thought, well, Lord's faithful,
not me. And everything he does is right
and I wouldn't have it no other way because he's being glorified
in it. I wonder what her attitude was
and her demeanor and her disposition as she walked away from that
place. Huh? I got a good idea. Let's pray
together. Lord, make us thankful, dogs.
You haven't gave us crumbs, Lord. You gave us a body of Christ,
the whole of him for the whole of us. What a thought and perfection. And this is right. You justified
us, Lord, and you're just in it because of our Redeemer, because
our propitiation, our substitute. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. May Christ be exalted in this
place. Lord, may the dew come and the rain your words from
heaven. and make us grow. Forgive us our unbelief, forgive
us our doubts and our frustrations and our impatience, Lord, and
be with us as you promised you will be. We ask these things
because of your son, because of his shed blood. Amen. All
right, we'll meet again at 1030.