The title and subject of the
message this morning is, A Woman of Great Faith. A Woman of Great
Faith, found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 15, if you want
to follow along, or just listen as I read and make some comments. When you hear of a woman of great
faith, this is not a woman who did something great, great acts
of charity or works of faith. but it's merely a woman who came
to Christ, worshipped Him, called on Him for help, confessed herself
to be a dog, and called Christ her Lord and her Master. And
the Lord said she had great faith. The title of this message could
be, The Master and His Dog. Saving Faith. is to know God,
the living God, who He really is. It's to come to Him and worship
Him. It's to know yourself to be what
you are, to own it and confess what you are. It's to know Christ
is the only help, the only hope, the only salvation. Bow to Him.
Believe Him. And call on His name. That's what this woman did. Verse
21 says, Jesus went into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. He left
the Sea of Galilee, the area of Galilee, and walked 30 or
40 miles one way into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. This was the
uppermost, uttermost part of the country, the uppermost, northernmost
part of the country. Why did he go that far? Because
he had a prearranged meeting with this woman. This meeting
was predetermined, predestined by Him, by God, before the world
began, as are all things. The place, the person the Lord
would come to save was predestined, predetermined. He went a long
way, He went great lengths to uttermost parts of this land
to save one of His lost sheep, and He did, and He does. Not
one of God's chosen will be lost forever. Not one whom He loves
will perish. But he came to seek and to save
that which was lost, his people." Now, Tyre and Sidon was a heathen
land. It wasn't really part of Israel.
It was a heathen land, part of Phoenicia. In chapter 11, the
Lord called it a wicked and sinful place, just like Sodom. There
was no synagogue here. There were no people of God in
Tyre and Sidon, just like Sodom. The Lord could not find five
righteous people in all of the great city of Sodom, but the
Lord came to save one lot. And he called him, he laid hold
of Lot and brought him out as he came to save this one woman. Now verse 22 says, This woman
of Canaan, now she's of Canaan. Canaan is another name for all
of Israel. But she's in Tyre and Sidon.
Why is she there? What does she do in this heathen
land? Was she offered a better job? Is there a better opportunity?
Did her relatives live there? There's no good reason for her
to be there. Now her daughter is with her,
living there, and her daughter is vexed with the devil. Her
daughter is given over to the world. That's the God of this
world, what He uses to vex our sons and daughters and ourselves.
Like most of the daughters in America. Now listen to me, if
you live, someone's hearing this, you live where no people of God
are, no gospel is, no true church of God, no preacher of the gospel,
and you have nothing but turmoil and troubles at home and in your
family, you need to leave there. You need to move. You need to
go where the gospel is, where God's people are, for the good
of your family, for your own good. In the story of Lot in Genesis,
he left Abraham, God's man, God's people. He left there tempted
by Sodom. And he went there and his wife
perished, his sons-in-law perished, his daughters were Sodomites.
Well, this woman came out. She heard Christ was in the area
and she came out. She heard He was near so she
came out and she cried unto Him, verse 22, Have mercy on me, O
Lord, Thou Son of David." My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. She called, she cried on him.
What did she call him? She said, Lord, Son of David,
Christ. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Help me. Lord. She called him
Lord. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord, shall be saved." That's His name. That's who He
is. If you do not call Him Lord,
if you do not bow to Him as Lord, if you do not see that He is
Lord in whose hands your breath is and all your ways, your only
hope, your only salvation, that He's Lord over you, over this
world, you don't know Him. I see signs everywhere. Thank
you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. I see religious
people everywhere. Thank you, Jesus. Raising their
hand. Well, I say they don't know Him. They aren't calling
on the Lord. And He's not listening. You call
Him Lord. That's what He said to His disciples.
You call Me Lord and Master and you say, well, that's for so
I am. So she called on the name of
the Lord. What did she ask Him for? What
was she calling for? She said, Have mercy on me, O
Lord. Oh, how men and women and young
people in this nation and the world need to call on the Lord
for mercy. How men and women and young people
need to see the hand of God, the wrath of God revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, the
judgment of God upon this nation, upon this world, upon its people,
of all the sin, unrighteousness, idolatry, pride, blasphemy. God is angry. We need to cry
out in the name of the Lord for mercy for ourselves and our children. He said, Lord have mercy, my
daughter, my daughter is grievously infected with the devil. She's
living in this ungodly place and she's caught up in it. She's
taken with it. She's totally captive by it. No thoughts of God. The God of
this world has her captive. Her God is her belly, food, drink,
clothes, sex. That's her life. She's possessed
by the God of this world. Lord have mercy. Verse 23 says that He answered
her, not a word. He seemed to ignore her. Perhaps
He walked away as if He wasn't listening. He didn't hear her. Why? Why didn't He answer her? Why should He? Why should He
answer us? Had she called on Him before?
Now, all of a sudden, she's got real troubles, and now she calls
on the name of the Lord. Should He come running? Should
He come and run into us? Isn't that man? Isn't that what
people do? Rarely give God a thought. Certainly
don't give Him thanks. Only use His name to blaspheme.
God's name is on the lips of men, women, and children. Oh,
my God. Nobody calling on the Lord saying,
Oh, my God, have mercy upon us. Calling the name of Jesus Christ
in blasphemy and mockery and derision, religion is worse. Why should He answer us? If anybody
calls on Him in truth from a heart truly broken over sin, over true
need of mercy at the hands of a sovereign, holy God, He will
hear that person. But not just those who need a
little help from their troubles and go right back to it. Well,
she went to His disciples and she asked them for help. She
asked them for help. Now, these men were Christ's
disciples and most people knew it. They knew it. They took note
that these men had been with the Lord Jesus. They were sinning. They were preaching everywhere. The people did well to come to
these men. And even now, God has not left Himself without
a witness. There are true preachers around today, though most preachers
are false, though most of them are phonies and fakes and false
prophets and all about health and wealth and money and come
in their own names in the synagogue churches so-called are full of
people. But God does have a few true preachers. And this woman
came and called on these men. These men knew that they couldn't
do anything for her. And they went back to the Lord
and said, Lord, You must help her. We cannot. People visit
me in my office, my study, quite often. And they ask me for help.
What they want is money. And I tell them, one thing is
needful. You need one thing. You need
one person. You need mercy. You need salvation. to know God, to know Christ,
to bow at His feet and worship Him. Rarely do I see those people
again. They don't need God. They don't
need mercy. All they need is money. Verse 24, He answered
them, and they went back to her. He answered them and said, I
am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
He told His disciples, and they came and told her, The Lord said
He's only sent for Israelites, for the Jews, not Gentiles. He's
saying, My elect people, I came for My elect people, My chosen
people, Israel, His chosen people, not Gentiles. And He said, They're
lost and I came to find them. They're sheep, they're not goats.
I didn't come to save goats. They're My elect and that's who
I came for. Now most people hate the sound of the word of election,
though found often in Scripture. Twenty-seven times some form
of the word, not to mention the word chosen. Most people hate
the sound of it. Not God's elect. They love it. They know if He hadn't chosen
them, they would never have chosen Him. Now here's what she said. She came and worshipped Him. She came and worshipped Him and
bowed down at His feet. Now in Matthew's Gospel, He came
down from the mountain after preaching, and there was a leper
came and worshipped Him. Came and fell at His feet and
worshipped Him. A multitude of people all around
Him, but one man, a leper, came and worshipped Him. And I looked
up the definition of the worship in that verse, and it says, as
a dog licks his master's hand. So this woman, like a dog at
his feet, says, Lord, she called him Lord again, help me. Well, he said, he said, it's
not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. First
he ignored her, then he talked to her like a dog. Surely now
she's offended. Surely now she's insulted. Now
she's mad. She's going to go away and never
come back. People listen to me. I had a
dog. that I loved. And you know how I talked to
him? I talked to him like a dog. That's what he was. A dog. He never got offended. He knew
what he was. I knew what he was. He's no special
creature. He's no wise, mighty, or noble
creature. He was totally dependent on me. But I loved him. He loved
me. I'm here to tell you that God
all that know themselves to be nothing and nobody, just dogs,
totally dependent on the Master for everything. They all go to
heaven, all dogs go to heaven. This woman did. He saved her
daughter. Here's what she said. Here's
her answer to him ignoring her, to him saying, I've just come
to save my people and you're a dog. She said, truth, Lord,
truth. Everything you said is the truth. What you said about me is truth. What you say about yourself is
truth. What you say about salvation is truth. Everything you say
is truth. Thou art the way, the truth,
and the life. That's what I believe. That's
what I know. I know who you are. I know what I am, and I bow to
it sovereignly, but I sure need some help." He said, old woman, great is
thy faith. And her daughter was healed that
very hour. Is this the God you believe?
Is this the Christ you know and believe? If it is, you have great
faith. Oh, may the Lord reveal Himself
to you. Amen.