I am looking for a true seeker
of the Lord this morning. someone who needs mercy at the
hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy for yourself or mercy for
a lost son or daughter, husband and wife. In the Gospel of Matthew
chapter 15 is a story of a woman who came to the Lord Jesus Christ
seeking mercy for herself and for her lost daughter. This story
is recorded also in the Gospel of Mark chapter 7. It says he
came in verse 21 into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon
was at the far end of the land, the uttermost part. And this
is God manifest in the flesh who is able to save to the uttermost. And he goes to the furthest most
parts of the earth to save his people. He came to save this
woman and he had her brought to him by sovereign grace and
sovereign mercy. It says in verse 22, she was
a Canaanite woman, a Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile woman. In Mark's
gospel, it says that our Lord entered a home, a certain home,
how blessed that home was to have him come into their home,
and he began to preach and teach as always. Well, this woman came,
and she heard of him, and she heard Christ, and she came to
this home. And it says in Mark's gospel
that she fell at his feet. And I pick up the reading here
in Matthew 15, 22. Behold, a woman of Canaan came
and cried unto him, or fell at his feet, as Mark said. saying,
have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, for my daughter
is grievously vexed with the devil. She fell at his feet.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Ezekiel says, I saw
the Lord and I fell at his feet. Daniel said, I was on my face
before the Lord. John on the Isle of Patmos says,
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. Salvation
is to know the only true God, and Jesus cried. And all who
come to know Him first fear Him, and fall at His feet like this
woman, and they call Him Lord like this woman. None of them
called Him merely Jesus, His earthly name, but they called
Him Lord and Master. And she cried for one thing. One thing needful, she said,
have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, that is the Christ,
the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior. She heard of him, faith
cometh by hearing. She heard that he is the Christ,
he is the Messiah, he is the Redeemer, he is Lord and the
only Savior. So she came and fell at his feet,
and asked Him, begged Him for mercy. Would that more people
would see their desperate need of mercy. This is the one thing
needful for sinners. Would that more people would
come and fall before the Lord Jesus Christ and cry unto Him
for mercy. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in them that fear Him and those that hope in His mercy. Well,
she comes to him for mercy on behalf of another. She says,
my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. Now the Lord
delights to answer prayer, especially prayer for someone else. Our
Lord Jesus Christ was always praying for others and the Father
always heard him. She said, my daughter is vexed
with the devil, an unclean devil. How so? Well, maybe she was not
openly immoral or openly or outwardly wicked, but to be vexed with
the devil, to be possessed by the God of this world is to have
no thoughts of God. No thoughts of God is to be given
to this world. You can be rich and prosperous
and well off in this world and be possessed by the devil, who
in a measure has some of these things to give, to entice men
and women with. But this girl perhaps was openly
or outwardly immoral and wicked, but maybe not. Maybe she was
just given to the world, given to sin, given to self. Well,
how did this woman know she was vexed with the devil? Being vexed
with the devil is not like the Hollywood movies depict, but
a person can be seemingly in their right mind and yet be possessed
by and owned by the God of this world and be possessed with the
things of this world. One is either possessed by the
Spirit of God or by the God of this world. It can't be both,
and there's no middle ground. How did this woman know that
her daughter was vexed? Well, perhaps she herself was
one time vexed. I believe she was. All who have
been in this world and delivered from it, all who have been in
the throes and the grasp of the God of this world and the sin
of this world and delivered by Christ, they know what it's like.
This mother was grieved over her daughter, that her daughter's
one great need was mercy from the hands of the Lord, to know
the Lord Jesus Christ. That was her daughter's great
need, and that is our daughter's great need. Her daughter probably
didn't care. Her daughter was not calling
on the Lord, but her mother was. Her mother was calling on her
behalf. Lord, have mercy on my daughter. She's grievously vexed
with the devil. But verse 23 says, He answered
her not a word. He did not answer her. The Lord
Jesus Christ did not answer her. He doesn't have to. Do you understand
that? That God is not obligated to
answer us. The sovereign Lord and King is
not obligated to answer or acknowledge anyone. He's not obligated to
save us or our children. To the contrary. You see, we
go for years without giving God a thought, without giving God
a word of thanks. We go for years. We even take
credit for things that God has given us. We take glory in things
that God has given us. And some of us took his name
only to curse with and only call upon him when we're in trouble.
And then when the trouble ends, we forget about him. Why should
he answer us? Why should he? David wrote in
one of the Psalms, what is man that thou art mindful of him?
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ did not answer her. So she went to
his disciples. She went to Peter, James, John,
Matthew, these disciples, and besought them to help her, which
was a good thing because the Lord has some true disciples,
some true preachers that he has sent, some true men of God who
know the scriptures, who know the way of salvation, who know
the truth. It would be wise to go to them.
But after all is said and done, no man can save anyone. No man can truly help anyone. Salvation's of the Lord. And
all that a man can do is tell a person to seek the Lord, to
call upon Him. to cry unto the Lord. So they
came to him. The disciples came back to the
Lord in verse 23 and said, she crieth after us. She's calling
on us and we can't do anything for her. In verse 24, he answered
and said, he spoke to the disciples and told them to tell her, he
said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. I am not sent, but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel." First he says, I am. This is
God. This is God manifest in the flesh,
not merely Jesus, a man, a mortal man, but the eternal Son of the
Most High God, equal with the Father. He says, I am. Not sent. He's saying the Father has sent
me. I am sent to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. I'm only sent for the sheep,
the elect, the chosen. Christ said this. My sheep hear
my voice. I know them and they follow me.
The Father gave them me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Goats will not, but his elect
will, his chosen sheep." And he turned to some and said, you
don't believe because you're not my sheep. As I said unto
you, I give my sheep eternal life and they will come to me.
This woman has come to Him. She is one of the sheep. She
doesn't know it yet, but she is. The Lord knows it, and He's
trying her. He's testing her, testing her
importunity, testing her sincerity, testing her to see if she will
go away. He knows she won't. She is here. She's come by His sovereign mercy
and grace, by His sovereign power. But He says, His answer to her
is, I am only sent to my elect. Israel, lost sheep of the house
of Israel. Well, if she was an average person,
average woman in Methodism or Catholicism or a Baptist, a good
Baptist, church-going Baptist, she would have got angry that
he ignored her and then sent one of her servants to tell her,
I'm only sent for the elect. She would have gone away mad.
But not this woman, because this is one of his sheep. And she
says in verse 25, verse 25 it says, she came and worshipped
him, fell on her face before him. She came and worshipped
him. She came worshipping, before
she received an answer from the Lord, before He gave her anything,
she worshipped Him. Worship is fear, worship is reverence,
worship is respect, worship is adoration. She knows she's a
nobody before the sovereign, holy, and just God of the universe,
and she is unworthy of anything. So she worships. Do you know
the meaning of the word worship in one place is defined in the
dictionaries as a dog licks its master's hand? Complete adoration
and fear and respect and reverence. And she simply says a three-word
prayer, help me a short prayer from the heart Lord help me well
now surely surely he's going to answer her surely he's going
to receive her surely he's going to tell her how glad he is that
she has come to him nope in verse 26 he answered and said it is
not meat is not fitting to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs How insulting. He calls her a dog. How insulting. How offensive. How degrading. Nope. Just the truth. Here's
the truth. Man needs mercy. And sovereign
mercy is of the Lord. That offends man's worth, man's
pride. Sovereign election offends man's
will. Sovereign grace offends man's
works. Sovereign revelation offends
man's wisdom. Salvation is of the Lord. This
is what the Lord confronts every single person whom he has chosen
to save with, the salvations of the Lord. He says it's not
fit, it's not meet to take the children's bread and cast it
to dogs. Let me tell you something about
a dog. A dog is a worthless creature. A dog is not unique. There are
billions just like him. A dog is a helpless creature.
A dog is ignorant. A dog is owned by someone or
else they'll be destroyed. This is one of the Lord's dogs
he came to save. And she said, her answer to this
was, verse 27, truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from the master's table. Truth Lord. She doesn't argue. One point, she said, truth. Truth. The truth is God is sovereign.
Man is dead. Christ came to save his people
and God chose whom he would save. The truth is that they will all
come to Christ repenting, calling, Asking for mercy and the truth
is the Holy Spirit will save them all give them to Christ
and Give them a new heart and they will be saved eternally.
That's the truth. Nothing more nothing less truth
Lord everything you say about yourself and me is the truth
and the Lord said Oh woman great is thy faith be it unto thee
even as I will and her daughter was made whole from that very
hour and I'm looking for someone seeking the truth, seeking the
Lord. Oh, may the Lord reveal Himself to you is my prayer. Amen.