This morning we are looking at
the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15 if you
want to follow along. And this is the story of the
Lord Jesus Christ dealing with a woman of Canaan, Syrophoenician
woman. And his dealings with her might
shock you. And this woman's reaction to
what the Lord says and does not say is the true reaction of every
true child of God upon hearing the truth when the Lord really
reveals Himself to someone. This is their reaction. Verses
21 and 22 I read, Then Jesus went thence, and departed into
the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto Him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David! My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. This woman comes running out
to the Lord Jesus Christ, crying for mercy unto him. This woman
was a desperate and needy woman who had come pleading with him
to help her. Now, if the truth be known, All
of us are in a desperate situation, desperate need of the Lord Jesus
Christ, of his mercy, of his mercy. The scripture says in
Ecclesiastes, it is of the Lord's mercy that we're not consumed. And the fact of the matter is
we're not under the love of God by nature, but we're sinners
in the hands of an angry God. God, the Scripture says, is angry
with sinners every day, with the wicked every day. God Almighty
will soon destroy this planet and everything and everyone in
it, except those that are in Christ by faith. And salvation
is by the sovereign mercy of God. Sovereign mercy. We don't deserve salvation, but
God freely bestows mercy, has mercy upon the Son. They don't
get what they deserve. and grace. He gives the gift
of salvation to some. So we need mercy like this woman. We all need to cry with this
woman, have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. She calls
him son of David because that's who Christ was to come from,
the lineage of David. David was the king, the first
true king of Israel. And so the Christ, who is the
Son of David, is the King of kings. The King of kings and
Lord of lords. Who hath power over all flesh
to give eternal life to as many as God has given Him. So this
woman comes to the right person and says the right thing. Oh
Lord, have mercy upon me. And she says, my daughter is
grievously vexed with a devil. And people, not only our daughters
and our sons, but we ourselves by nature are vexed, whether
we know it or not. By nature we are vexed with the
devil. Peter says, Satan as a roaring
lion seeketh whom he may devour. Paul in 2 Timothy 2 said that
we are led captive by him at his will. and must be set free,
and only the stronger than he can do so, and that is none other
than the Lord Christ Himself. Now, this poor woman has come
to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy. Surely He is so glad she
has come. Surely He is so happy to help
her. Surely He has been waiting on
her to come to Him. That doesn't sound like the story. Verse 23, he answered her not
a word. He did not answer her a word.
He ignores her. He ignores her. This sincere
woman crying for mercy while the Lord Jesus ignores her, doesn't
even answer her, perhaps turns his back upon her. How could
he do this? Why would he do this? Because,
folks, this is the true Christ of Scripture. This is the true
Jesus of Scripture. This is the true God and the
true Lord Christ of Scripture. The true Christ of Scripture
of the Bible is not at everyone's beck and call like preachers
say He is. He's not obligated to answer
anyone at any time. A true sovereign, a true king
is not obligated to speak to his subjects at any time. He's
not waiting, hoping they'll call on him. No, sir. Why, most folks,
listen to me now, most folks go a lifetime without giving
God much thought, let alone giving Him thanks and giving Him glory
and worshiping Him for His mercy, for His grace, for His goodness
to them. But you let some trauma happen
in their life, you let some calamity happen, sickness or death or
whatever, lose their job, and they start crying out to God
all of a sudden. After all these years, they start
crying to God. Does God have to answer? Should
He answer? Why, no, He doesn't have to answer. No, He should not answer. And
most of the time, He doesn't answer. If you read for yourself
Proverbs 1, It says that there will be some people someday calling,
and God said, I will not answer. Our Lord is trying this woman.
She is one of His elect. She is one of His children. And
her response is the response of every true child of God. Let
me ask you, what do you think about what has been said thus
far? Does the Lord have to answer you? When you call upon Him,
does He have to answer you? Do you think that the Lord Jesus
Christ of Scripture is obligated to answer the sons of men? Not the Christ of Scripture.
He ignores this woman. So she goes to the disciples.
The Lord turns His back on her and walks away. She goes to the
disciples to ask their help. Now, these are true preachers,
true disciples sent by God, called by Christ. These are true ministers.
for the name of Christ and the glory of Christ, true to his
word, true men, and true to the people of God. They don't give her all kinds
of answers of how to this or how to that. Listen to it. Verse 23, He answered her not
a word. And his disciples came and besought
him, saying, Send her away, she crieth after us. In other words,
the woman went to the disciples asking them for help. What did
they do? They came straight back to Christ
himself and says, you do something, you do something. We can't help
her. So it is with the true preachers
of God. They go straight to Christ when
asked for help by men and women realizing their own insufficiency
and inability to to tackle their own problems, who turn to Christ
for their own problems, they go straight to him and say, you
do something about her. We can't. We can't help her unless
you do. Either help her or send her away.
Verse 24, the Lord answered and said, I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said this to them, and I believe
they repeated it back to her. I'm not sent, he said, but until
until the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, I'm
only sent to certain particular people, lost sheep of the house
of Israel. Now, this again, as I said, is
a test of true believers, God's true people. God's true people
who worship Him as God, who desire His glory and His will to be
done. Not man's will, not our own will. Those who bow to, submit to,
and believe and love God's sovereign right to be God. Listen to what
he said. First, he ignores her, and secondly,
he says, I'm only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Lost. Christ came to save the
lost, not good people. He came to save sinners, not
righteous people. He came to save those who don't
know the way, who can't find a way, who can't save themselves,
those who are lost, the poor and the needy. have the gospel
preached unto them, not self-sufficient, self-righteous Pharisees, moral
people, but sinner, lost. It's hard to find anybody lost
out there today, truly lost. That is, those who have no goodness,
who have no righteousness, who don't know all the answers. Lost
sheep, not goats. Our Lord wasn't He didn't come
to argue with goats or convince goats, but he came to save his
sheep. Not goats, who are constantly
kicking and butting. That's what a goat does when
you tell him the truth. He says, but, but, but, but,
but. Lost sheep of the house of Israel. House of Israel. He
said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. The house
of Israel. I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac,
not Ishmael, and Jacob, not Esau. particular elect people, God's
chosen elect people. Salvations of the Jews, he told
the woman at the well. Israel, lost sheep of the house
of Israel, I'm only sent to God's elect, and they're lost and they're
sheep, and I will find every one of them. What does she say
to this? What's her reaction to this?
What's your reaction to what you've heard thus far? Verse
25, Then she came and worshipped Him. She came
and worshipped Him. You see, true worshippers worship
God as God. True believers believe God is
God. They believe God is God. He has
the right to do as He will with whom He will, because He will. It's His will and purpose, not
ours. It's all according to His will. And they don't deserve anything
from Him. That's what true believers believe. Nevertheless, they cry
to Him for mercy. Lord, she says, help me. Lord,
help me. Do you reckon the Lord will now? Do you think the Lord will help
her now? Surely. Surely the Lord will help her
now. Surely He'll answer her. Listen to verse 26. But He answered
and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. He calls her a dog. Yes, he does. That's what he says. In effect,
it's not right, it's not fitting that I take the children's bread,
my children, the children of Israel, children's bread and
cast it to Gentile dogs. He calls her a dog. What's she
going to say to that? Now listen to this. Listen to
what happened now. of glory. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the true Christ Jesus of scripture and his dealings
with a person seeking him. First of all, he ignores her.
I mean, he flat ignores her. Doesn't answer her at all. Turns
his back on her. Secondly, he says, only the elect. I'm only sent to the elect. God's
elect. Thirdly, he says, dogs aren't
worthy. Dogs aren't worthy and you're
a dog. What's she going to say to that? What do you say to that? Well, listen to what she says.
It reveals a true nature of her heart and who she really is,
a believer. Verse 27, she said, truth, Lord,
truth. People, do you believe the truth? You know, most folks have a one-sided
idea of God Almighty. God is love. That's it. God is
love. That's true, but it's not the
whole truth about God. God has hatred, too. God is holy. God is just. He is first a just
God and then a Savior. He must be just first to be God. He's a just God. He's holy. He's righteous in all His ways. God has anger, has wrath, has
hatred, judgment. God is of judgment. God will
punish. And God is merciful. God is gracious. God is love. Yeah, this is the
truth. Everything makes up the truth
of God, the truth of what man is. What do you say to these
things? God is sovereign. God chooses
whom He will. God saves only His elect sheep,
and there is none worthy. All are dogs. What do you say
to that? She said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs,
she said, that fall from the Master's table. And he says,
listen to his answer, verse 28, he finally answers this woman.
Putting her to the test, he finally answers and says, O woman, great
is thy faith. Be it unto thee, even as thou
wilt." And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Only two people in Scriptures
that Christ said had great faith. And all she said was, I'm a dog,
but I'm your dog, and you can do with me as you please. And
that's great faith. What do you say to these things?
What do you say? I hope your answer is as this
woman's, because that's saving faith. Because that's who the
Lord Jesus Christ truly is. Sovereign Master. Without obligation
to any creature of His. Sovereign to do as He will with
whom He will. Whom He chooses. What do you
say to these things? Truth, Lord. Until next Sunday,
good day.