Thank you. Matthew chapter 15. Matthew 15. That prayer of Ezra, that's something
in it. Doesn't that go well with the
Bible study this morning? I believe if the average person
would honestly read this passage here that we're going to look
at, the story of this woman of Canaan, Syropoenicia. It was
a town. I believe if the average person
would honestly, just honestly read it, as it is written, that
they would be shocked at the way the Lord dealt with this
woman. And yet, you who have read it, and have heard it, really
heard it, better yet have experienced what she experienced, have been
right where she is. You're not shocked at all. And this is what you heard from
him, or didn't hear. And her response was and is your
response. I see recognition in the faces
of many. The truth is what she heard.
Now, this is the same old message. Same old message. Same old, same old. You're going
to hear it again. And I've preached it more than
you've heard it. There's nothing we need other
than this right here. My wife has been teaching our
children the one thing needful. And this is it right here. This
is the best part. This is the good part. It doesn't
get any better than this. And I'm going to try to deal
with it one more time. I thought, you know, that this
was awful familiar. I thought, we just looked at
this six months ago. But no, it's been three years,
believe it or not. Well, if the Lord will give
us ears to hear. Now, verse 22, it says, Behold,
a woman of Canaan. Mark's Gospel says a certain
woman. A woman of Canaan came out of
the same coast and cried unto the Lord, saying, Have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Now, I didn't attempt to say
that the way she said it. But she's crying. She's begging, pleading with
the Lord. Mark's Gospel says she fell at
his feet. Have you ever been so overcome
with something you fell down? Have you? Would that more people would
do this. They would receive mercy. Their
daughters, sons. I mean, fall down as desperate. This woman's desperate. You ever
been desperate? Desperate means you despair of
everything and anyone and everyone, especially yourself. You're in
despair. No hope, no help, nowhere to
turn. She's desperate and she comes
to the Lord Jesus Christ. and falls down at his feet and
cries unto him from the depth of her heart, have mercy on me,
O Lord. Would that more people would
do that. Would that believers always felt upon coming here,
and that's why they come here, I've always felt a desperate
need of this gospel and this mercy. I preach to some who I haven't
seen a tear in their eye in years. Or a gleam of joy and rejoicing
in years. And Paul one time said to the
Galatians, where is the blessedness which ye spoke of? I know what the problem is. You know, when Ezra prayed, he
said, we, didn't he? When he prayed all the way through
there, he said, we. I know what the problem is because
I'm a man of like passion. I'll tell you what the problem
is. It's this world. We're rich and increased with
good, and have need of nothing. That's the rebuke the Lord gave
Laodicea. Old Bunyan in his book, Holy
War, said to the people, Where's Mr. Wedd-Eyes? We're in captivity. Let's send
Mr. Wedd-Eyes to Immanuel. And we've heard it a long time.
It's becoming commonplace to us. But this woman, she's desperate. And she falls down at the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we come here, we come here
to Christ. We come here to hear from Him.
And somehow, some way, we have got to fall at His feet. Why? We've got daughters grievously
vexed. We've got sons grievously vexed. We've got husbands, we've got
wives, we've got mothers and fathers, and we've got maybe
us grievously vexed. Mercy is what she wanted and
needed, and mercy is what we want and need. Mercy. We need
mercy. We need mercy. Scripture says
it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. He said,
I'm the God of... I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Mercy. Mercy means... She cried
mercy. What she was saying is, Lord,
don't give me what I deserve. That's what mercy means. Don't
give me what I deserve. Lord, don't deal with me according
to my iniquities. Don't punish me what I deserve. Lord, spare me what I've earned. That's what mercy means. Lord,
spare me what I've earned. Spare my daughter what she's
earned. The wages of sin. Sinners against God. That's who
we sin against daily. Daily. Not we were. We are. That's why we keep coming
to hear this gospel daily. Sinners against God daily. We're
in daily need of great mercy. And bless God, they're new every
morning. We just sang that song. No, Sherry played it. How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? How? Don't give me what I deserve.
That's what she's crying. Don't give me what I deserve.
Don't take this gospel from me. Don't take thy Holy Spirit from
me. Have you ever told a story to
somebody that wasn't interested? How often does that happen to
you? You've got something you really really excited about something
that happened to you, or something you want to tell, something that
thrills you, and you start trying to tell it to somebody in there,
you know, they may be looking at you, but they're not listening.
Or... And you think, why am I telling
them this? Man, this is God's Word. This
is Christ's Book. This is His Gospel. And it's life or death. It really
is. It really is. Some of us in here,
some in here, I won't even presumptuously include myself, some in here
are going to go be with the Lord someday, forever. And I hadn't seen or heard that. We can't enter into it. If we
could, really could, all of this would fade and some are going
to miss. Some are going to miss. That's right. It's always a savior
of life and death. Both. Always. My daughter is vexed. Young ladies,
young teenage girls, and guys, but since it's a daughter here.
Whatever it is that's vexing you, and I know what it is, is killing your mother. Oh yeah. Young men, young sons, whatever
it is that vexes you, just tears them all to pieces. They are grieving more than you
are troubled. Absolutely. Let me give you an
example. Have you ever had a pet, a little
cat or a dog or something, and it got hit by a car or something
happened to it, got sick? Have you? Anybody? Something
wrong with it? It made you so sad, didn't it?
You really mourned over it. You grieved over it. That's a mighty poor example.
But you can't believe how your father and your mother are grieving
over your soul. You just can't believe it. Maybe
someday you will. And may God have mercy upon you. And if He does, He'll have mercy
on your mother. The happiest day of her life
will be when the Lord heals you of this vexation called the sin
and the world. You don't understand it now. My daughter, the mercy she wanted
was for her daughter, for herself. Have mercy on me, my daughter. You see that, Teresa, what she's
saying. You'll be merciful to me if you
spare my daughter. You might spare me. Spare her. Now, verse 23, she cried unto
him, and verse 23, he answered her not a word. He didn't answer her. I'm laughing that, I hope,
holy laughter because I know what I'm about to say. I know
what he's going to do. He doesn't answer her. She's
begging. She's crying. He's ignoring her. No, no, no,
no, no, no, no. I looked up that word. I've used
that before, saying he's ignoring her. No, no, Melanie, he's not
ignoring her. Ignore means pay no attention
to pretend they don't exist. He's not ignoring her. He's hearing every word she's
saying. Every tear is dropping from her
eye. He sees it. That's what David said, not all
my tears in a bottle. But he's not answering it. He doesn't have to. He doesn't have to answer. He
doesn't have to answer her or anybody for that matter. The
sovereign Lord and King of glory is not at man's beck and call. Meaning he's just waiting for
you to call on him. No. God is not obligated to answer
or acknowledge anybody. Everyone in here, from the youngest
to the oldest, at some time, at some point in our lives, is
going to call on God for whatever reason. for whatever reason,
going to get in trouble or get sick or something traumatic happen
or hopefully it will be under conviction of sin, but everybody
in here is going to call on God at some point. God is going to
hear some and not going to hear some other. Why should He? Stop and think
about it. Why should God hear us? We go for years, everyone in
here, we go years, without giving God a thought. Without giving God a thought.
And He feeds us, and clothes us, and provides for us, and
keeps giving and giving. We don't ever give Him a thought,
then we get in trouble. And then we call on Him. Anybody
in here got any friends that the only time they call them
is when they need something? Huh? That's what it says. Scripture
says a friend is born for adversity. Friend in need is the old saying,
is a friend indeed. You don't mind calling on you
when in need, but you know, Honestly, we live for however long without
giving God a thought, and then we get in trouble, and then we
call on Him. And He's supposed to be just
waiting to hear us. And then, quite often, we get out of trouble
and forget Him all over again. Most people go to church, so
to speak, when they get in trouble. When their marriage is broken
up or whatever, get sick or near death or whatever, and they come
to church, and then if things get better, they're gone. And they get in trouble again,
and then they call again. Why should God listen to them?
Why? Is it any wonder that God's not answering? There's people
praying by the millions, aren't there? Pray it. Some God, Islam,
everybody, billions of people are praying. And it's obvious
God is not answering it. Not answering. Why should he? Why should he? And, well, this woman, then she
went to his disciples. Look at verse 23. He answered her not
a word, and his disciples came and besought him. She went to
them, asking them to help her. And you know, that's what she
should have done, shouldn't she? Who were the disciples? They
were God's apostles, Christ's apostles. These were gifted men. Christ as a shepherd, they're
under-shepherds. They're the ones whom Christ has gifted and
blessed to deal with, and he gave them gifts and so forth
unto men. She should have done that. She
should have. She did a good thing in doing
that. And like that article in the
Bulletin last week, you know, none called it for justice. I
don't have anybody asking me anything. I don't have people
calling me about anything. And I blame it mostly on preachers,
you know. There are so very few true ones
that don't have anybody's respect. They can't do anything for anybody. Well, these true disciples, what
they did, When she came to them, what they
did was went right straight to the Lord. Lord, you do something. We can't do anything. You do
something. And verse 24, and he answered
and said, now he spoke this to them. He said this to them. And I think they went back and
told her. See, he's not answering her. But she is going to hear from
him through them. He answered and said to them,
I am not sent but unto the lost chief of the house of Israel.
In other words, he says, the God of heaven sent me. I am sent down here. When you
are sent, what does that mean? And he says this often. And this
is something this religious generation doesn't have a clue about. Because
they don't know God. They don't think God has a will
and a purpose. They don't think God is sovereign.
They can do anything without man. They don't think Christ
came down here with a job to do. They certainly don't think
he did it. But he says this over and over again. I'm sent throughout
the Gospel of John especially. Sent. The Father has sent me.
I'm sent. God Almighty. before the world
began, made a purpose, according to his good pleasure and his
will, to do something. It's called salvation. For a
bunch of rotten, no good maggots that don't want it, don't care
for it, not calling for it, not asking for it, but God. Mercy
and grace and a love that nobody can understand. Nobody. And nobody can preach it. Since
his son And we don't know anything about this either. He who left
heaven. You know, we're going to leave
this cesspool and go to heaven. We. Whoever. Somebody's going
to leave this cesspool and go to heaven. Like leaving a pit
of absolute filth and corruption and go to paradise. And we're
never even going to think about this place. We're going to think
about it with nausea if we did. He left that. We sang that. He left that place. Why? To come down to this filthy hell
hole called planet earth. Why? For you. for a dog, for a dead dog. I am sent, he says. You see,
there's a message and a word in it. Sent. And when I say sent,
when Scripture says sent, it means God had a will, had a purpose
concerning him, a job for him to do. Call his name Jesus because he's
sent to do something. Father sent him to do something. Somebody. Did he do it? Oh, yes, ma'am. After he got the job done, John,
he went back and sat down, unlike any other high priest. He sat
down, job finished, expecting it would all be carried out and
fulfilled. What he did, job done. Took off
his work clothes. Sent. I'm not sent, except but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." What he says there
is, God Almighty, the God of heaven sent me to this earth
to save the elect, the chosen seed of Israel. Nobody else. I'm not sent to say, I came here
to save the elect. Tell her that. Go back and tell
her that. I'm only going to save the elect." So they did. And a faithful preacher,
that's what he'll do, buddy. God said it. Christ said it. He said, you get up and you sound
it forth. There's a remnant according to
the election. So they repeated it to her. Lost sheep of Israel. Lost. Don't know the way. You ever
been lost? Don't know the way. If you're
lost, you can't save yourself. Old Brother Barnard used to say
this. He said, I'm not trying to get people saved. I'm trying to get people lost. That's the way it is in our day.
There are a few lost people. Lost sheep. I'm not here to argue
with goats. Don't you know the Pharisees
were offended? They said, but, but, but. I'm not talking to goats. I've
come for my sheep. They're humble. They're broken.
They're submissive. Sheep, they don't butt. They
bow. Sheep of Israel. The elect. Jacob have I loved. Lost sheep
of the house of Israel, Jacob have I loved." What do you think
about that? I love Jacob, but I hate Esau. What do you think
about that? What does she think about that? It's what you heard, wasn't it?
This is what you heard. You might have called on God
for a while, but He didn't answer you. He doesn't have to. But He heard you. Hey, he might have heard your
mama. For your sake. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Isn't that a principle
throughout Scripture? Job prayed when his sons and
daughters weren't praying. Didn't God hear Job? Well, verse 25 says, Then came
she, she heard all this. What does she do? Irene, what
does she do? Where did she come? She went
to the disciples first. Now she comes to Him, to Christ. And what does she do? She hadn't
heard anything from Him yet. Her daughter hadn't been healed
yet. There had been no promise to her at all of mercy yet. What does she do? She worships
Him. Is that why you're here? Worship. We're trying to teach
our children to worship the Lord. I tell them, you tell them, sing
these psalms. Even if you don't feel it in
your heart yet, sing them. Make them sing. Is that hard? No, it's just right. Shouldn't they worship the Lord?
We read that about Samuel. Didn't he worship the Lord before
he knew Him? Can you do that? Well, he did it. Did the Lord
bless him? Did He bless him? Look at God's Word with us. This
is God's Word. Not Dad's Word. Not the preacher's
words. God's Word. Come worship the
Lord. Why should you? Because He's
worthy. Everything you have is from the
Lord. Oh, mercy? The rest of the Lord's
mercy is not in hell right now. I'm not in hell right now. Huh?
Why should we come? He's merciful. Let's come thank
Him for His mercy. She came and worshipped Him.
Fell at His feet. Worshipped Him. That's why we
come and said, Lord, help me. Can you hear the desperation
in her voice? Help me. Well, now Jesus is going to tell
her. Jesus is going to tell her how much he loves her, and what
a sweet and precious lady she is, and how sorry he is for her,
and how he wants so badly to help her. Now, surely he's going
to tell her that, isn't he? How he's been waiting all this
time for her to accept him, and she hadn't, but now he's so happy
that she has let him into her life. Isn't he? Jesus is going
to tell her that, isn't he? No, sir. Not the Jesus Christ of Scripture.
Another Jesus would, but not this one. What's he saying? What's
she hearing him say? Look at verse 26. He answered
and said, It's not fit. It's not right to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. You're a dog. You're a dog. I'm the great master. I don't have time for dogs. She's going to be mad now. Oh,
you offended her now. She's never coming back. What
did you say that for? She ain't never coming back now.
She won't like that. If she's a dog, she won't mind. If she's a dog, she won't mind
being called a dog, will she? My pastor preached this message
and he entitled it, All Dogs Go to Heaven. Every person in Scripture that
said they were a dog, the Lord loved them. God is a dog lover. And the name of this, the title
of this message is, The Master and His Dog. Now, what good is a dog? Honestly. You've heard this so many times
that I have too. I tell it a lot, don't I? Because
it blesses me, Hannah. Every time I look, there's an
old black hound that's laying around that just can't get close
enough to me. Can't quit looking at me, Ron.
Sometimes I think, well, just quit looking at me. He can't get close enough. He
saddles up to me. He follows me. This dog. I got better things to do than
to tend to the dog, don't I? But I pay attention to him. And
I love him. I really do. I love him. Why? Because he's a humble dog. He's a solicited dog. He's a
dependent dog. Every morning, he's crying and
he wants out. Have you ever thought about how
dependent a house dog is? Dogs aren't meant to be in the
house, you know that. That's a good illustration of
it. Dogs aren't supposed to come in the house. They aren't meant
to be in the house. Dwell with humans. They're not fit to dwell
with humans. That's a good illustration of it. But some of you, us, love
dogs so much you let them in the house. You feel sorry for
them, you have compassion on them. Cats, too. Now some of
you think, boy, you've taken it too far now. Cats. Especially
you men. Nobody in their right mind would
love a cat, let alone let it in the house. Well, you know,
beasts receive mercy from merciful people. And anyway, dogs aren't
supposed to be in the house. Every now and then you let them
in the house. Some of them stay in the house. Oh, they must be special,
dog. No, they're just dogs. They do
the same things in the house that dogs do out of the house. They're still no good. Here's
the point. They're no good, dog. I don't
care how you dress them up. I don't care what you call them.
I don't care what pedigree they have. I don't care what they're
wearing. They're just dogs. And they're euthanizing them
today. Right now, as we speak, they're being euthanized somewhere.
They're being killed by the thousands. Right? I don't have time for a dog.
It's not right for me to give the children's bread to a dog.
What does she say? Look at this. God's Word is so
complete. Tammy, it's so complete. She
says, Truth, Lord. I want that to be my heart's
confession. Everything written in this book. Everything that comes my way.
Every dealing. Every time he doesn't hear me. Whatever he says about me. To
me. This be my confession. Truth,
Lord. It doesn't say true. A lot of
people say, that's true. You ever heard somebody say,
you know, you say something to them and they say, well that's
true. Have you? Oh yeah, that's true,
but she says, truth. Everything you've done is truth. That's the way it should have
been done. That's the way I should have been treated. Every time
you didn't answer me, you didn't have to. What you say about who you came
to save and to elect, truth. It's truth. That's the truth. What you say about me, everything
you say about me, I'm a dog. Truth! That's the whole truth
and nothing but the truth about me. Truth. And you're Lord. You're the Master. And I'm a
dog. Yet, dogs get a few crumbs from the
Master's table. I'm not asking for much, she
said. Just some crumbs. The crumbs of mercy. I'm not asking for money. I'm a dog.
That's right. Truth. You know, when we finally
hear who God is, we'll worship Him. Nobody will have to ask
you to come here. You can't wait till the doors
open. When we finally hear what we are, we'll come running to
the Lord Jesus Christ Begging him to have mercy upon him. Worshipping
him. No preacher will have to beg
you or tell you what to pray. No sir. You'll be begging the
preacher. What shall we do? What can I
do? I don't think I'm saved. Help me. Help me. And he'll go
right to the Lord. Help her. Help him. Truth, Lord, even dogs will eat
crumbs. Just a few crumbs is all I want. I'm a dog, and you're the Lord
of glory. You're so far above me, but I
just want a few crumbs. I don't want much. Just a few
crumbs of mercy. Now, let me ask you, honestly,
everybody in here, have you ever heard anything like this in your
life? Have you ever run into anybody
like this at all? Ever? Have you ever heard anybody? Have you ever talked to anybody
at work or your mother or father or somebody you're related to,
your friends, told them who God is and who Christ is and what
man, what we are, and heard them say anything like that? Have
you? Anybody? I haven't. I haven't. Never heard
the likes of this, except what I read. Well, Ron, that's what
the Lord said. He said, O woman, great is thy
faith. Over in Mark's gospel, he said,
I've not found anything like this, not even in Israel. I've never seen the likes of
this. Never heard it. Great is thy
faith. Great faith. Great faith. Saving faith. This will get you
into heaven. This will guarantee that you
go to heaven. What? Coming to the feet of Christ.
Acknowledging that God doesn't have to answer you. That you
need mercy. That Christ is your only hope.
That you're a dog. Everybody that confesses this
has saved in faith. He said this to her. He said,
Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. What does she want? What was it she wants? Her daughter. The Lord saved her daughter.
And the Lord had mercy on her. Great mercy. Great mercy. All her real troubles. Real troubles were over. They
say what? Don't you imagine that from this
day forward, she has a healthy daughter, Margaret, no more vexation. I believe the Lord saved her
daughter, whoever he takes an unclean spirit out of. And he had mercy on her. Did
she have any real problems after that? She had the typical problems,
you know, but, oh, mercy is what she needed and mercy is what
she got. As thou wilt, be it unto you. Great faith. And that's what
it is. I'm a dog. I'm a dog. I'm just like millions of others,
worthless, sinful human beings. I know better. I know better,
there's a billion more just like me. If I die, the world won't
miss a thing. Won't miss a thing. I thought
about, I brought up Ellen last time. I thought about they're
going to bulldoze her house. Have they done it yet? Well,
they will, aren't they? Progress. It's coming through. There's a little white house
down there on 220, or on 40. A little bit of white, clabbered
house. A little widow woman sat in it
for years. Nobody from nowhere. And they were just going to level
it to the ground and put something up. And nobody will ever know she
existed. Or do they? The world won't. They won't care.
She'll be totally forgotten. Just another old widow woman,
just like thousands and millions all over this planet. Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. She belongs
to somebody, Sherry. And they leveled her house. And her body's in the grave where
it's corrupting. But she's sitting right now at
the master's feet in a mansion in glory, clothed in white robes,
singing his praise, the doom of youth, on her brow. You wouldn't
recognize her. Even her own daughter wouldn't
recognize her. The master and his dog. She's in the big house to stay. Going to stay there forever. All dogs go to heaven. That's
a great thing, because we've got a great master. All right,
let's sing a closing hymn. Brother Gabe, what number have
you got picked out? 314. 314. 314.