This is an endearing account
of a woman who comes to Jesus in desperation and the Lord shows
mercy to her. Let's ask the Lord to be with
us. Dear Father, we pray that you would be so so gracious to
us today for Jesus' sake that you would open your word to our
hearts and you would draw out from us the grace that you give to us,
that we might know you and worship you, not just outwardly, in fact,
not outwardly at all, but in our hearts in truth. And the
truth that we need, Lord, is in your word concerning our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for this text of scripture
we're about to read and consider. We pray, Lord, that you would
apply it to our hearts. and you would cause us to be
like this woman and see and know the Lord Jesus Christ and His
salvation. Thank you for your mercy. Thank
you for your grace in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We're going to read here in Matthew 15, but before we do, I want
to look at one verse in Isaiah chapter 9. Hold your place in
Matthew 15 and turn to Isaiah chapter 9. And this verse is in verse 13,
and in this verse is the title of the sermon. It says in verse
13 of Isaiah chapter 9, "...for the people turneth not unto him
that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts."
The people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do
they seek the Lord of hosts." So the title of this message
is, Seek Him that smiteth thee. And hopefully as we go through
this you'll understand what I mean by that. Let's turn now to Matthew
chapter 15 and read from verse 21 through verse 28. We see this account of a woman
here. And it is, as I said, an endearing
account. It's one of my favorite places
in scripture. And so I pray that the Lord would
bless this to each one of you. In verse 21 of Matthew 15, Then
Jesus went thence and departed into the coasts 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. Vexed just means troubled. 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
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
to 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." What an encouraging account of Scripture. I want you to hold this verse
from Isaiah in your thoughts as we go through this. Seek him
that smiteth thee. In the Old Testament, in Isaiah,
it was referring to the fact that God had chastised his people
And yet, in all of their trouble, they did not seek the Lord. Whenever
we suffer as believers, it is always under the administration
of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring to pass His will in our lives. In order to conform us to His
own image through the trial of our faith. That's a fundamental
principle. I hope that you understand that. We suffer as believers under
Christ's administration of His will to bring about His will
of conforming us into His own image. And that's called a trial
of faith. In James chapter 1 verses 3 and
4 it says, "...the trying of your faith worketh patience,
but let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect
and entire, not wanting nothing." And then also in 1 Peter 1, he
says, the trial of your faith has a purpose. In 1 Peter 1.7
he says, the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found, and here's the purpose, unto praise and honor and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So the trial that we experience
is a trial of our faith, and the purpose of that trial is
that our faith might be found to the praise and glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing. And then in Romans chapter 5,
and I won't read all of this, but in verses especially 3 through
10, tribulation teaches us to cling to this truth. When we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Therefore, Therefore, we shall be much more saved by his life.
So all trouble in our lives is from the Lord, and trouble actually
increases and purifies our faith. But with trouble, more and more,
the Lord teaches us to cling to Christ as everything in our
salvation. And when we do, when God gives
us that grace to see and believe Him out of trouble, we experience
peace, joy, comfort, and a growing assurance of His love. And this is what faith teaches
us, that Christ's grace is all sufficient to save us and to
bring us to glory. Now, trouble often, perhaps most
of the time, is a consequence of our own foolishness and our
own faithfulness in sin. But what are we to do? What are
we to do when trouble comes to us and we experience trouble
even because of our sin? Give up? or cower in fear, complain,
leave the gospel as the very truth of our salvation? No. According
to Isaiah 9.13, we are instructed that rather than leaving or fearing
or complaining in unbelief, we are to seek Him that smites us. We are to come boldly to the
throne of grace to seek mercy and grace and find help in time
of need. That's in Hebrews 4.16. So God often uses natural consequences
to trouble us, but He especially uses inward trouble when we sin. And that leaves us in a desperation
in our soul and an anguish of our soul. Listen to these words
in Psalm chapter 32. In fact, turn to Psalm chapter
32 with me, and we'll read it together. I don't want to fly
so quickly through this that you don't take in these scriptures. He says in Psalm 32 verse 1,
"...blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile." Then listen in verse 3. You see how God is smiting
him in his inward parts? Verse 5, I acknowledged my sin
to thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess
my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin, Selah. For this shall everyone that
is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found surely
in the floods of great waters, They shall not come nigh unto
him." The floods of great water is an expression that shows the
immensity and the power and the number and variations of trouble
that come into our lives. He says, Thou art my hiding place.
Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance. Therefore, if we act in faith,
as the Lord instructs us to, we will seek the Lord who smites
us. And this is God's mercy. Even
though we have sinned against Him, He will hear the cry of
His people for Christ's sake. In 1 John 2 it says, My little
children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our
sins. That's what the covering means
in Psalm 32. The Lord has covered our sins
by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He made satisfaction
for our sins to God in justice. So when we're downcast, even
perhaps as this woman was for her own children, or as Job was
for his children, he prayed for them every day, in case they
had blasphemed God. When we're in trouble, and sometimes,
if not most of the time, our trouble is a consequence of our
own foolishness, what shall we do? In whatever way we are smitten,
of the Lord, we are exhorted to seek Him who smites us." And
remember what God says in Isaiah 55, this is such a familiar text,
it says, "...seek ye the Lord while He may be found." And the
time He may be found is actually in that time of distress. Call
ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." Therefore, we are to hold on to this promise. When
we return to the Lord Jesus Christ, He will have mercy upon us. He
will abundantly pardon. And we will do these things,
He will do these things for us, for Christ's sake. Look at Psalm
109. This is a very comforting couple
of verses here in Psalm 109. The psalm itself is actually
a dark psalm, but look in verse 20 and 21. Actually, 21 and 22
of Psalm 109. He says, "...but do thou for
me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake..." You see what his prayer
is? "...do for me, in order that you might receive credit and
glory and honor." Don't find in me something, but do it for
your sake. Do it so that you, Lord, will
get out of it. Because when God gets out of
it what He wants, then He is glorified and we're saved. So
He says, But do thou for me, O God, the Lord, for thy name's
sake, because thy mercy is good. Deliver thou me, for I am poor
and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. You see how God speaks
there? So what is it to seek the Lord? This woman in Matthew chapter
15 comes to Jesus. Isaiah 55 says, "...seek the
Lord while he may be found." What is it to seek the Lord?
It is to seek Him in Jesus Christ. To seek Him for everything in
Jesus Christ. That He requires of me, a sinner. a sinner who is worthy of eternal
damnation, having nothing to recommend me to God. To seek
the Lord is to seek mercy from God out of His pure and free
sovereign grace on the sole ground, the only ground, of the obedience
and sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to come
to God by Jesus Christ for everything, trusting, that out of his free
and undeserved and undeservable grace he will reward me for the
merits he finds in Christ alone. This is what it means to seek
the Lord, to seek him in Jesus Christ for Christ's sake alone. To come to God by him, as it
says in so many places in scripture. And to seek the Lord means to
seek Him continually. We don't seek Him and say, well
now I've got the answer and go away. It's to seek Him, to go
to Him continually for all that we need. For repentance and faith
and understanding and even truth in our inward parts. As David
prays in Psalm 51 6, he says, Thou desirest truth in the inward
parts. How can we have truth in the
inward parts unless God gives it to us? It's to expect to seek
the Lord is to expect nothing from myself, but to seek everything
from Him. And in seeking God, I look to
Christ as God and Mediator who has accomplished my salvation.
He, our Lord Jesus Christ, has pleased God in every way that
I never would and never could. And He has, as our Mediator,
brought me to God the only way God ever could and ever would. That's what our Mediator has
done for us. But when we seek the Lord, realize that God is
everywhere present. Do we seek Him by moving from
one place to another? No. The woman at the well of
Samaria, remember her? She asked Jesus, should we worship
God in this mountain in Samaria or in Jerusalem? Because she
thought that true worship depended on a particular place. But Jesus
told her that worship does not depend on where you are. Worship
is spiritual, it's not physical. Worship is in the heart, it's
not outward. True worship occurs when a sinner
realizes who Christ is and realizes what God has done in Christ.
Look at John chapter 4. I'm just going to refer you to
this in passing and not dig into it here. But John chapter 4,
Jesus says in verse 22, to the woman of Samaria. He says, you
worship, you know not what. This is in verse 22 of John 4. You, you Samaritans, you speaking
to this woman, you worship, you know not what. She was ignorant.
That's what we are by nature. Ignorant. We don't know God.
We don't know how to worship Him. We think coming to God is
moving physically about. She says, Jesus answers and says,
but we know what we worship, and here's what he's speaking
about, for salvation. is of the Jews. We worship God
only if we know who He is in Jesus Christ, and knowing who
He is in Jesus Christ and what He has done in Jesus Christ to
save us from our sins. True worship is always Godward
as He has revealed Himself in Christ and in His salvation alone. And so men do not worship God
if they only worship Him in creation. They don't worship Him if they
only worship in an outward form of religion without faith in
Christ and what He has done. Men only worship God when in
the heart they see themselves as sinners at the mercy of a
sovereign God with no strength to help themselves and no reason
in themselves to expect help from God. Men only worship God
in Christ when they see their salvation is in His sovereign
hand as absolute God. And when they see His mercy and
grace to sinners is founded only on the just ground of what Christ
has done as my substitute in His life and sufferings and death
for His people. There are several examples of
people seeking God in the scripture. Remember what the leper said
in Matthew chapter 8 and other places. It says that Jesus, he
came to Jesus and he worshipped him. Here is a foul and unclean
leper. One that God's law prevented
from coming to people. Put your hand over your mouth
and cry, unclean! And so he would have to do that.
But he comes to Jesus and he says to him, Notice how he addresses
him. It's up to you. It's up to your
will. And I know that you can do what
you will. All that you can do is in the
power of your hand. And Jesus put forth His hand
and touched him and said, I will be thou clean. So now let's look
more carefully at Matthew chapter 15 in verse 21. It says, there
was a Syrophoenician woman. It doesn't say she was Syrophoenician
here, but it does in the other account. She was a Syrophoenician
woman of Canaan, and she came to Jesus. And she was from the
coast of Tyre and Sidon. Now, Tyre and Sidon in the Old
Testament days was a notorious pair of cities located on a coast. And these cities were known for
their idolatry. They were known for their riches
and their wealth, and they were known for their pride. These
things were characteristic of those two cities, Tyre and Sidon.
Throughout the Old Testament, Tyre and Sidon is held up as
an example of an idolatrous, wicked, greedy, self-complacent,
proud people. In the book of 1 Kings, in chapter
11, Solomon marries a woman, a daughter of the king of Sidon. In the Old Testament, spelled
with a Z. In the New Testament, spelled with an S. Same city.
He married a daughter of the king of Sidon, and he actually
set up worship King Solomon did, to the god Ashtoreth in the place
where he was supposed to be king. This was something that Solomon
did in wickedness. And so the people in Judah and
Jerusalem actually started worshipping these idols. He set up idols
to all of his wives' gods. And then later on, Ahab married
another woman. Remember Ahab? He married a woman
named Jezebel. And Jezebel was the daughter
of a man, a king, in Tyre, whose name was Ethbaal. And he brought
in, Jezebel brought in the worship of Baal. So Ahab began to worship
Baal. So Solomon sinned, and Ahab sinned,
He marries this woman and brings her in. Jezebel, remember her.
She tried to kill Elijah for killing the 450 prophets of Baal. And so this was an idolatrous,
wicked city. In Ezekiel 28 it speaks of the
king of Tyre as being very proud. And thinking in himself that
he was God. He is a picture of Antichrist religion. But without
getting into that... I want you to notice what happens
here in verse 21 of Matthew 15. It says, Then Jesus went thence,
and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And then look
at verse 29 of Matthew 15. And Jesus departed from thence,
and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee. What happens between
verse 21 and verse 29? only one thing. This woman of
Tyre and Sidon is given mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, Jesus came to the coast of Tyre and Sidon And then Jesus
departed from that place, and He only did this one thing. He healed her daughter. We see
that this woman came to Jesus, because she does come here in
the next part, in verse 22 and following. She came to Jesus
because, why? He first came to her. Remember
that song that we sing by Horatius Bonar? I sought the Lord, and
afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek Him seeking me. And this is ever the way it is.
Listen to Isaiah 65 verse 1. Isaiah 65 verse 1 says, I am
sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said behold me, behold me to
a nation that was not called by my name. And of course that's
a prophecy of the Gentiles being saved when they were not God's
people. By nature they were without God,
without Christ, without hope in the world. And yet the Lord
saves them. And know this, if you are a believer,
you know that the Lord Jesus Christ sought you when you were
not looking for Him. You were not seeking Him. Oh,
you may have been seeking many things, but they were all false. We may have been religious, but
we didn't know God. We didn't trust His salvation.
We didn't know His salvation. That's what salvation is, is
coming to the truth of the gospel. We did not worship God. We didn't
worship Him in Christ. We were ignorant. Romans 3.10
and 12 says there's none that understand. There's none that
seek after God. Just as those of Tyre and Sidon
were ignorant, idolatrous, proud, and greedy people. That's what
we were. Ephesians chapter 2 says it this
way. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
2 says, In time past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's
the devil, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience,
among whom we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved." Ephesians
2. So if any man comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ, it's because the Lord Jesus first came to them. He called them. He looked to
them. He sought them. He bought them
and He brought them. Do you see the grace in Jesus
coming to the coast of Tyre and Sidon, verse 21? That is the
grace of God. The Lord Jesus Christ came here,
just like He came to the woman of Samaria. I must needs go through
Samaria, He tells His disciples. And here He must come to this
woman. But in His coming to her, we're going to see something.
Look at verse 22. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast. That means she was of those people.
And she cried to him saying, listen carefully, have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil. Notice, have mercy, she says,
O Lord and son of David. She needed mercy and she asked
for it. The Lord Jesus Christ delights
in mercy. He delights in mercy. Remember
what He says, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. And in Micah 7.18 He says that
He delights in mercy. She called Him Lord. She recognized
Him to be the Christ of God. She said, Son of David. And she
asked for mercy against the enemy of her daughter's soul from the
Lord Jesus Christ. This was a perfect prayer, wasn't
it? Coming to Christ, asking for mercy, knowing He's the Lord,
knowing He's the Christ, and asking for help against the one
enemy of her daughter's soul, the devil. Only God can deliver. Only God could deliver her daughter
from the kingdom of darkness. And only God can save a sinner.
And now we see that's what Jesus will do here. But not without
difficulty on her part. Not until the Lord smites her
in her inward parts and she finds that she has to seek the Lord
who smites her. Before the Lord Jesus makes known
His mercy, He afflicts her soul and smites her in order to try
her faith. Though she has tried, the Lord
preserves and even upholds and increases her faith in this."
And that's what we see here. In this principle, we learn that
great faith seeks mercy from Him who smites her. What a blessing. Faith is the gift of God. And
Christ will do all for this woman. But before He fulfills her request,
He tries her. He draws out the greatness of
His gift of faith to her. And when He's finished, He commends
His own work. Remember what God said in the
creation? He made everything. And then
He looked at what He had made. God looked at what He had done
and He says, Very good. The Lord Jesus Christ is about
to do that here. He's going to work with this
woman. He has given her faith. Her faith comes as a gift from
Him. And He's going to try that faith.
And in trying that faith, at the end He's going to say to
her, Oh woman, great is thy faith. He's going to commend His own
work. And so we see how faith ascribes
greatness to God who gives it. And then look at verse 23. But he answered her not a word. And then his disciples came and
besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us." You may have heard that God saves
His people. You may have heard that He only
saves His sheep, His elect, His church, His adopted sons. And
if you've heard this... You've heard the very truth of
Scripture. Look at John chapter 17. I'll just take you to one
verse. I'm not going to go through this
truth throughout Scripture, although we easily could. But look at
one verse in John 17. Jesus says in verse 1 and 2,
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and said, Father, The hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy
son also may glorify thee." And how is He going to glorify His
Father? "...that as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given
Him." You see what the Lord Jesus is saying here? In His prayer, Christ speaks
to His Father, and He asks Him to glorify Himself, to glorify
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in giving Him to save His people,
all those that God had given Him, out of all humanity. And
so God gave to Jesus Christ power over all flesh that He should
give eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him in His
eternal election. His people are those given to
Him. I'm going to take you to three
verses. And I had thought not to do this, but I'm just going
to give you three verses. Look at three. One is in Ephesians
chapter 1. In verse 4, he says, God has
blessed us, in verse 3, with all spiritual blessings and heavenly
places in Christ. And then he says in verse 4,
according to what God's blessings were in Christ. He says, according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. What did God choose us to? He
chose us to be holy and without blame before Him in love. And how did He do that? Before
the foundation of the world. He chose us and He gave us to
His Son. And then look at John chapter
6. Another verse that underscores
this. John chapter 6 and verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. They come because they're given.
And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And look
at John chapter 10 and verse 29. He says, John 10 verse 29, my father,
speaking of his sheep, I'm going to lay down my life for the sheep.
I give my life for the sheep. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. And he says, my father, which
gave them me is greater than all. See, they were given to
him. Which gave them me is greater
than all. No man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. So, the Lord Jesus Christ saves
his sheep, his people. His people are those given to
Him. They are His spiritual wife. He lays down His life for the
church. They are His sheep, the church
of God. The only hope a sinner has for salvation is that God,
from first to last, saves him by Jesus Christ with absolutely
no dependence. for any contribution from the
sinner. Christ must take all that the
sinner is and fulfill all to God for him. He must take our
sins on himself and he must endure the punishment those sins deserve. He must answer God's justice
to satisfaction of God and then he must fulfill all of God's
law. He must act in the sinner's place and on the sinner's behalf.
And this is what Christ did in His life and in His death. He
gave Himself for the sheep, for the church. He saved His people
from their sins. Matthew 1, 21. Now, if you've
heard that, if you've heard of God's electing grace, you may
have become uneasy, because you don't know if you are one of
God's elect. But no one who comes to Christ
knows whether they are God's elect or not. We don't come because
we are God's elect, because we know we're God's elect. We don't
come knowing that. We don't come knowing we're not
God's elect. We don't know. It's God's choice. All we need to know is what we
learned from this woman. She came to Jesus. She was desperate. She begged him for mercy on behalf
of her daughter against the devil. She came in the right way. She
came for the right cause. Yet we know that God's mercy
is God's prerogative. Romans 9,15. I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. In this verse, Jesus does not
answer her even one word. If I were her, I would have shriveled
in indescribable despair. And as if more were needed, the
disciples add a greater weight to her grief in verse 23. Jesus hadn't answered her. And
so she begs them. She begged Jesus and now she
turns to the disciples because he doesn't answer her and she
cries after them and they actually pray to Jesus against her. They say, she's crying after
us. They blame the woman for their
own helplessness to help her. And so they ask Jesus, send her
away. She's crying after us. And it's
as if, seemingly, Jesus had ignored her cries. The disciples asked
him to take the next step. Since he's ignoring her, send
her away. Don't just ignore her. Never send a sinner away from
Christ. Never send a sinner. Remember
his golden promise, we just read it. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. But look at verse 24. He answered
and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Once again, she heard this. And
if I were in her place, the words of the Lord Jesus would have
confirmed my very worst fears. I knew it. I cannot be saved
because I'm not one of God's people. Notice what Jesus said
here, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It means the elect
among the nation of Israel. Remember in Luke 15, Jesus describes
the hundred sheep that are in the fold, but one of them is
lost? One is out. What does the shepherd do? He
leaves the 99 that were in the fold, and he goes out after the
one sheep that's lost. He seeks that sheep. He finds
that sheep. He lifts up that sheep, puts
it on his shoulders. He carries the sheep back, and
he brings it to his fold, and he puts it in the fold. That's
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who saves his people
in every way. That one sheep represents all
of God's elect. They were given to Him by the
Father. And they're called the children.
The children. He says later on, He calls them
children in our text here. They're children of promise.
The elect of God are found throughout the world. They're found in Revelations
5-9. Look at this with me. Revelation
chapter 5. The redeemed are in glory. They
surround the throne. Christ is sitting on the throne
with His Father. And the redeemed are singing
this song in verse 9 of Revelation 5. He says, "...they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book..." He's speaking
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. "...the book is
the full revelation of God's will." The eternal revelation
of God's will, every part, what's revealed to us, what's hidden,
the Lamb takes His book and He opens the seals thereof. For
thou wast slain and thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation. Who are
the sheep? They're those that Christ redeemed
out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. He found
them, He sought them, He bought them, and He brought them to
Himself. And they're called the children of promise. But by His
reply, Jesus says to this woman, you're not in this group. At
least He implied it. It wasn't known to her at this
time. And his reply to the disciples excluded her, at least on the
surface. But here again, we see the irresistible
drawing of the Spirit of God of this woman to Christ. All,
Jesus says in John 6, all who have heard and learned of the
Father come to Me. This woman came to Jesus and
cried to Him. Even though His words did smite
her, she sought Him still. And what is this, O my soul,
but the grace of God drawing irresistibly a sinner to Christ
in the face of all of her soul trials. All the trials of her
soul. Listen to what she says when
she hears Jesus say this. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. I've heard people, dear to me
even, who have said, well, if God chooses whom He will and
they're the only ones that He saves, He's going to do what
he wants. I don't have to do anything.
I'll just go on and live my life. That's not what this woman did.
That's not what she did. And that's what we're to learn
here. Listen, he says, She came and worshipped him saying, Lord,
help me. Lord, help me. She's worshipping
him. If you fear that you are not
one of God's elect, if your sin testifies against you, what should
you do? Hear what God says of His Son
in the Gospel. He justifies, who does He justify? The ungodly. Hear His purpose
for coming. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Then go to him and say
what this woman did, Lord help me." The best prayers in scripture
are the shortest prayers. Have you noticed that? She says, Lord help me. Peter
prayed in the chapter before this, Lord save me. The publican
prayed, God be merciful to me the sinner. And the leper we
just talked about said, if thou will thou canst make me clean.
And the thief on the cross, remember what he said? Remember me when
you come into your kingdom. Short prayers are the best prayers. And she says it best, Lord help
me. But He answered her in verse
26. And He said, it is not meat,
it's not right to take the children's bread and to give it to dogs. Now in scripture, dogs are unholy. Jesus said in Matthew 7 verse
6, do not give that which is holy to dogs. And God commanded
Israel in Exodus 22-31, He says, if there's an animal that's been
killed by another beast, don't eat it. Don't eat that, because
you're to cast it to dogs. And then in Psalm 14, Jesus said,
the dogs are workers of iniquity. You eat up God's people like
bread. Dogs never truly repent. They
always return to their own vomit. 2 Peter 2.22. Therefore, Jesus
said, it's not right to take the children's bread and give
it to dogs. They're unholy. And then another
place in Isaiah, God compares unfaithful pastors to dogs who
are greedy. They're dogs that don't bark
when they need to. They're blind dogs. These are
all references to the shameful unholiness of dogs. And so when Jesus says it's not
right to take the children's bread and to give it to dogs,
The children are the people of God, the elect of God. The bread,
what is bread? It's the mercy of God in salvation
by Christ. Remember what Jesus said in John
6? I am the bread of heaven. If a man eats me, eats my flesh
and my blood, believing him, he has eternal life. So he's
the bread. Therefore Jesus said as much
to her, it's not right to take the mercy God intends for His
elect children and give it to heathen dogs. What greater discouragement
could you give to this woman? The Lord Jesus Christ comes from
heaven. And here, He comes to the place
where this woman is. She's right there talking to
Him. And she's pleading with Him.
Lord, Son of David, have mercy on my daughter. Grievously vexed
with the devil. Pleading with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And first, He doesn't answer her. Then his disciples
pick up on that and ask him to send her away. And then he says,
I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And she worships him. And she says, Lord, help me.
And then, he wouldn't think he would go any further. Then he
says, it's not right to take the children's bread and give
it to dogs. And the Spirit of God gives this
woman wisdom And faith, as I said, the Lord Jesus Christ gave this
to her. Even though he had done all this,
she was from an idolatrous people, unholy by nature, like a dog. Listen to the argument that the
Spirit of God put into her mouth, and for us who are like her.
She says, listen, she says in verse 27, Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. All that you say
is truth, Lord. You are sovereign. I'm not in
the right group. Dogs are unholy. I'm naturally
in that group. Like it says in Ephesians 2,
we were dead in sins, living in lust and fulfilling the desires
of our flesh, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God who is rich in mercy. And so she comes to him
and says, it's true Lord, I am a dog. But then God gives her
this wisdom and she says this. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. I am a dog. But I'm your
dog, the master's dog. And if I'm the master's dog,
then I get to eat a crumb from your table. And if I can just
eat but a crumb, I won't take from the children. I just want
the crumbs that fall from the table. If I can just eat a crumb
of your mercy, of your self-saving grace, by your blood and righteousness,
if I can just partake of that by faith, then I'll have all
that I need. Do you see how she sought Him
who afflicted her? She says, I am your dog, in so
many words, and I want to eat the crumbs from your table. Just
let fall one crumb of your mercy from your hand and it'll be enough
to save me from the fear and tyranny of hell itself, my daughter. If you've been tortured by the
truth of your own unworthiness, and by the truth, maybe, of God's
sovereign grace to sinners, then take this woman's words as your
own words. They're the words of faith. They're
the words of God to sinners under the darkness and blindness of
their sin. Lord, I'm your dog. Just let
fall a crumb of your mercy to this unholy, greedy dog and let
me eat the bread of life and I shall live. Let me never leave
your table. Let me hound you continually
for this bread of sovereign grace that does everything to save
helpless sinners. And let me eat from the table
of your salvation. And behold you, and hear you,
and stay with you." And notice what Jesus says in verse 28.
Then Jesus answered and said to 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. When our Lord Jesus speaks in
this place, He draws out from this woman the wisdom of God
that was given to her. We see here a clear affirmation
of God's sovereign, electing and drawing grace. If the Lord
only came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and yet
He saves her daughter, Does that not imply that her daughter was
of the lost sheep of the house of Israel? If He only came to
save sinners and not call the righteous, doesn't it mean that
He can save sinners like her and like you and me? We must
take the reasoning God gives in His scripture and take it
to Him as this woman did. It's so... clearly set forth
that no desperate sinner is left without hope here. Over and over
in Scripture, sinners are encouraged in the tenderest and most heart-stirring
terms to come to Christ. Salvation is personal and it's
internal. Go to Him. Give him no rest. Say as this woman did, Lord,
help me. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Lord, save me. This woman believed,
as it says in Hebrews 11, 6, that God is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek Him. She diligently sought Him, didn't
she? To believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him is to believe, I have nothing. That I must seek everything from
Him. As this woman, I must seek Him
in the Lord Jesus Christ. She came to the Lord Jesus, didn't
she? Our mediator. To believe anything else is to
believe I can save myself as if I possess what I need apart
from Christ's salvation, something I don't freely receive of God's
grace in Christ. But it is wicked to expect anything
from myself. It's wicked not to seek everything
in Christ. That's what it means. He that
cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him. Seeking in itself is not
meritorious. Seeking is agreeing with God.
I am a beggar, empty, naked, blind, diseased, sinful, hopeless
and helpless. I need everything. And to seek
God is to seek Him continually for repentance and faith and
life. It's to seek Him for a new heart,
a clear conscience. I seek everything in Christ. He is everything in my salvation. Don't wait till you're better.
This woman couldn't improve her daughter. Don't wait till you
understand more. Don't wait till you feel spiritual
enough. Don't look. I remember a friend
of mine I worked with several years ago when I was maybe 18. Yeah, that was a long memory,
huh? I didn't think I had a memory
anymore. I remember him... asking me, he said, I want to
be saved, but I can't be sincere enough. Don't wait for the right
amount of sincerity. Don't look for faith in yourself.
Don't look for evidence. Don't look for anything in yourself. Come to Christ for everything. You are under the curse. You are smitten of God. Come
as you are. Look at Psalm 2511. I love this
verse. Psalm 2511. This is recorded
for us by the Spirit of God. For sinners to take in prayer
to God. He says here in Psalm 2511. For thy namesake, O Lord, pardon
mine iniquity, for it is great." If your iniquity is great, then
ask God, pardon it for your namesake. Don't expect to understand everything. Christ is your wisdom. Come for
everything. God has provided abundantly more
than you can ask or think in Christ. Look at Psalm Chapter 35, Psalm 35. Take this
prayer. Abandon all backup plans. Christ
is enough to save you all by Himself. He says here in Psalm
35 verse 1, Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive against
me. Fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield
and buckler and stand up for my help. draw out also the spear,
and stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my
soul, I am thy salvation." You see, if all you have is Christ,
then you have the fullness of the Godhead bodily in Him. You are complete in Him. Let's
pray. Father, thank you for this woman
that you've held up to us for sinners to have no reason not
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the face of all of the discouragement
that could have been heaped upon her, you upheld and preserved
her in faith and brought her to the Lord Jesus Christ. You
brought her to seek Him who smites her. And Lord, we know that this
smiting in our souls is the grace, the gracious work of our God,
causing us to see the guilt and the shame and the condemnation
and the filth of our sin and our helplessness and hopelessness,
but what we have in Christ, and causing us to see that in the
Lord Jesus Christ, you've done everything to save sinners. So
we pray, Lord, draw us to yourself. Give us a sight of Christ. Help
us as those bitten in the wilderness to look to Him, to look no further,
and to be satisfied in Him, and to find Him to be all of our
hope and salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.