I'm going to read those verses
23-28 again. This is going to be my subject
here. And behold a woman, our Lord
went into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of
Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Lord,
have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is
grievously vexed with the devil. 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 under the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It's
not me 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 unto 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. Our Lord said her faith was great.
That's what I want to talk about this morning, God helping me.
Great faith, great faith. Faith, what a glorious thing
it is. God said that faith is the only
thing that pleases Him. Faith honors God. Faith goes
out of itself. Faith does not examine itself.
Faith looks to Christ and Christ alone. And faith, what a glorious
thing it is. By faith, Abraham, when he has
tried, offered up Isaac. By faith, Moses, when he has
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Faith. Faith is something that
is very precious. Very, very precious. And here's
a woman whom our Lord Jesus Christ said had great faith. Had great
faith. Now, none of here, I don't think
any of us here, I don't think we would, would lay claim to
having great faith. I don't think any of us here
would claim and say, boy, I've got great faith. I don't think
any of us would say that. But I know that all of us would
like to have great faith. I know that. We'd all like to
have this great faith. But our Lord Jesus Christ said,
as you have great faith as the grain of mustard seed, size of
a mustard seed, you could say under this mountain, be thou
removed. And he wasn't talking about literal
mountains, he was talking about mountains that stand before us,
spiritual mountains, spiritual mountains. And none of us would
say that we have all the faith that we desire. We're like that
man say, Lord, I believe, I do believe. Help, help, help my
unbelief. But let's look together at this
woman of great faith and see if we can learn what it is that
is great faith. And see what God says about it,
what Christ says about it. And I'm going to give you several
things about what great faith is. It was great faith because
first of all it came from a great sinner. came from a great sinner. Look what it said about it there
in verse 22. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast. Now, a Canaanite is a Gentile. You know, and when they came
into, Israel came into Canaan, God said, slaughter everybody
in Canaan. All the Hittites, Hibbites, and
everybody else. I want them destroyed. And so
they were a condemned race. The Gentiles were a condemned
race. The Canaanites were a condemned race. Noah, when he came out
of his tent, he said, curse it, be Canaan. And look what it says. You keep this and look with me
over in Ephesians 2. Look in Ephesians 2 and see what
it says about these people. And this is us. This is really
us. This is what Jews think about
us. They think Gentiles are nothing
but dogs. She came from a condemned race.
That's what made her a great sinner. She come from a condemned
race. And look what it said here in
verse 11 of chapter 2. And he's talking to Gentiles
here now. Wherefore remember, remember
this about yourselves, that you being in time past Gentiles in
the flesh, who are called uncircumcision unclean by them which is called
the circumcision the Jews in the flesh made by hands and remember
this also that at that time you were without Christ you were
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel strangers from the
covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world
now this is what kind of woman this was that came to Christ
she come from a people who had no promise, who had no profit,
or ever had a gospel sent to them. She had worshipped idols,
like all of us had, we worshipped idols, and all the Canaanites
did. They worshipped Baal, they worshipped
all kinds of idols. But here she was. She was a great
sinner. And here's one blessed thing
that comforts me is that Christ Jesus came into this world to
save sinners. If we ever find a sinner, you
found somebody that Christ has saved. He said, I didn't come to call
righteous men. I got no interest in righteous
men. I got no interest in people that's doing good. I got no interest
in people who think they're good. Got no interest in everybody,
people who think that they can make it on their own. But he
said, I tell you who I'm interested in, who I came here to deal with. I came here to deal with sinners. I came here to save sinners.
That's why they call me Jesus, because that means Savior. That's
why they said call his name Jesus because he shall do what? Save his people from what? Their sin. So listen, it came
from a great sinner. And I'll tell you one thing,
it's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing. If you
ever become a sinner, you'll always all your life be nothing
but that. You'll be always nothing but
a sinner coming, coming, coming, coming, coming to Christ. Ain't
that right? You'll never be anything else
but that. Joe and I was talking about the other night. I was
thinking the other day and I was calling on the Lord and I said,
Lord you absolutely owe us nothing. We had nothing coming to us. Nothing coming to us. But you
know what he did? He gave us everything who had
nothing and deserved nothing. He turned around and gave us
everything. When He gave us Christ, He gave us everything He had. The best He had, couldn't give
no more, couldn't give no less. Thank God He came to save sinners. Her faith was great because she
was a great sinner. And another reason her faith
was great because where it originated from. You know where her faith
come from? It didn't come from her. She wasn't born with it. Don't know. Where did she get
it from? Where did she get this faith?
Huh? For by grace are you saved through
faith and that's not of yourself. What is it? It's the gift of
God. is not only giving you to suffer
for Christ, but also to believe on His name. And every good and
perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights. And she
gave her this wonderful gift. The Scriptures tells us as many
as were ordained to eternal life, what happened to them? They believed. They believed. And I tell you,
the Apostle Paul said in 2 Thessalonians, that all men have not faith,
Faith is a gift of God. Faith is an operation of God.
And faith is by the power of God. And it's a sovereign gift
of God. He doesn't give it to everybody.
And listen, let me tell you something. These preachers will tell you,
you've got faith, exercise it. If men were born with faith and
men's really got faith, why in the world don't they exercise
it? Why don't they exercise it? Why
ain't this place running over with people exercising their
faith? It's a sovereign gift of God.
And why do you think he went into Tyre and Sidon for? Why
do you think he went there? Same reason he went into Samaria
and sent out that on Jacob's way until that woman came. Same
reason he passed under that tree that Zacchaeus was up. He had a sheep down there under
Tyre's sight. He had a sheep that he had to
go down there. He had a lost sheep that he had
to go down there. And he's got to bring that sheep
to the fold. She's lost and he's going to
find her. And beloved, she's going to find him and they're
going to meet and they're going to meet on the only ground that
can be. He is the Lord and she's the
sinner. Huh? Oh, let me tell you something.
She's seeking the Lord. She said, oh, have mercy on me,
oh Lord, thou son of David. She's seeking the Lord. Why is
she seeking the Lord? I'm telling you why. Because
grace went before to prepare her before he got to her. That's
the way God works. He goes ahead of time. We call
it provident grace. And grace goes before grace to
do the work for grace to come into the heart. And if you think
faith is easy, oh my, and everybody has it. You try to believe without
God. You try to believe without God.
See how hard it is. Here's another reason she's got
great faith. The great sinner, and because
of its origin, it comes from God. And here's another reason
why she has great faith. Look down here in verse 27. You
know, she said, our Lord told her in verse 26, it's not neat
to take the children's bread and cast it to the hogs. You
know what she said? She said, truth, Lord. Great
faith always agrees with the truth. It agrees with the truth. When it hears truth, it agrees
with it. And that's why she had great
faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ told her a truth. And she agreed
with that. He confronted her with sovereign
election, and yet she still cried after him. Look what it says
down here in verse 24. And you know, he's talking to
his disciples here now. She's there and she's listening.
His disciples said, send her away. She cries after us. But he answers, said, I'm not
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He confronted
her with sovereign election. I've got sheep. They are sheep. They're my sheep. And they're
lost sheep. And I've got to go find them
sheep. We've got to save them sheep. And she came still and
worshipped Him. And He confronted her with sovereign
election. And yes, she still cried after
Him. And she said, It's not necessary. It's not right. It's not fit.
That I take thy children's bread. And I turn around here. And here's
a dog. And I take the children's bread. And I hand it down here
to this dog. And you know what she said? She
said, Lord, that's the truth. I understand, that's the truth.
I can tell you something about true faith. True faith doesn't
know everything. And true faith doesn't have to
know everything. But I do know one thing about
it. When it hears the truth, it always agrees with the truth.
That's how you can know if you've got faith. When you hear the
truth, do you believe the truth? Do you agree with the truth?
Do you rejoice in the truth? I don't know how many people
have told me, when they hear the gospel, they say, I love
it, I love it, I love it! They don't just like to hear
it, they say, I love it! And she agreed with the truth. And I tell you all, listen, anybody
that wants to argue with God's truth, they ain't got no faith. No, no, no, no. You take that
thief on the cross. Now listen to me. That thief
on the cross. Our Lord Jesus Christ took him
to glory. He said, today you're going to
go with me and be with me in paradise. Now how much did that
thief on the cross know? Did he know what we would term
the doctrine of grace? Would he know what you and I
know after all these years that we've heard the gospel? No, he did not. But I do know
this, that if he was sitting here in the gospel today, he
would agree with every truth that he heard. It's not how much faith you have,
it's where your faith is at. Who's it in? Who's it on? Look what they've said about
look what it said back down here in verse Verse 13, you know in
verse 12. Look what the difference is here
now Then came his disciples and said unto him knowest thou that
the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying They heard
the truth That offended them. It hurt their feelings. It made
them feel bad. Oh My he hurt their self-esteem
And you know what our Lord said I love it. He answered, every
plant, every plant which my Heavenly
Father hath not planted, God plants his people. Every plant
that my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted And
listen to them. Let them along. Just let them
along. Leave them to themselves. They
want to be hurt. They want to be offended. Just
let them along. And listen to what he said. They're
just blind. And they lead to one another. And they're blind
lead to blind. They're just in the ditch and
they ain't got sense enough to know they're in the ditch. They're
too blind to know where they're at. And that's why our Lord Jesus
said this. He said, as it's written in the prophets
they shall all be taught of God and everyone that hath heard cometh unto me and my sheep my
sheep hear my voice and they follow me and here's another
thing that makes it great because it first is this great sinner
where he gets his faith from from God and because it agrees
with truth it agrees with truth I remember my mother-in-law.
I don't know how many times she said. She said, I don't have
so much in the Bible, I tell you what, and nobody knows all
that. But she said, there's not any part of it I don't believe.
Even though I don't know it, there's not a part of it I don't
believe. Is that not right? You haven't found anything in
there yet you haven't believed? You haven't crossed anything
in there that you say, oh no, I don't think that's right. No,
no. No. Reread it. It comes from
God's Word. That's got to be it. It's got
to be it. And here's the fourth reason
why it's great faith. Because of it's object. Look
what it said. She cried unto him. In verse
22. Behold a woman of Cana came out
of the same cross and cried. Listen to what it said here.
Cried unto him. cried unto him. Oh my. And then it says down
there send her away for she cries after us. When she cried unto
him that means that she was calling out to him. Crying out to him. Howling at him. Trying to get
his attention. And look at the first words.
Look at the first words out of her mouth. Have mercy on me. Huh? And you know she called
him Lord three times. She called him Lord three times
and called him the son of David once. She, and oh listen, she
cried unto him. She cried unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. And she said, oh Lord, that's
the first word, oh have mercy on me, oh Lord. You're the Lord. It's like those lepers that came
down from the mountain. and worshiped him and said, Lord,
that's the first word out of the mouth, Lord, not Jesus, not just Jesus. We're not dealing
with just Jesus. We're not dealing with a baby
in a manger. We're not dealing with a man on a cross. We're
dealing with the Lord of glory. And she said, Lord, and he said,
they said, Lord, if you will, You can make a being clean. And that's what she said. She
cried after Him. Cried unto Him. If you cry out
today, cry unto Him. You know how easy it is to get
to Christ? Just call on Him. Just call on
Him. Just look to Him. That's how
easy it is to get to Christ. You get to Him without moving
a muscle. In your heart, in your heart. And I say, Lord, cry unto
Him. And she said, Oh thou son of
David, she knew something about him. She had been taught some
something. And then in verse 25, when they
tried to send her away, and he said, I'm not sent for the house
of Israel. You know what she did? That never
stopped her. She's not going to, this faith is not going to
rest. And then she came and this one said, worshiped, worshiped. She worshiped Him. Where else
is she going to go? What other door is she going
to knock at? She knew who He was, the Son
of God, the Son of Man. She called Him the Son of David.
She knew He was the One who is going to sit on David's throne
forever, the Promised One. She knew that He is the only
one that could do anything for her. The one who would carry
our griefs and our sorrows. She came to Him. And oh my! Listen, I've said
this and I keep saying it as long as God let me preach. True
faith has one object. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way, only way in the world you can know you've
got true faith. If you got the faith, God-given
faith, it looks to Christ all the time. Never looks to anything
else. Don't look at his circumstances.
Don't look at his faith. Don't look at his works. Don't
look to his own prayers. Faith does not look to anything. The minute you look to anything
besides Christ, you get down, you get discouraged, you get
doubtful. But I'm telling you what, faith,
true faith, when you wake up in the night, who do you look
to? When you get up in the morning,
who do you look to? When you're sitting at your desk
or you're working somewhere in the middle of the day, where
does your mind go? It goes to Him. Whenever you hear about somebody
in trouble and they need something, who do you go to? That's the only way in the world
you can know you've got true faith. Is it you look to Him. And you never ever stop looking
to Him. You know when you'll stop looking
to Him? when you die and then you'll spend the eternity looking
to nobody and looking into his face. Face to face with Christ
my Lord. That will be something won't
it? Faith will be sight. Oh my. Oh listen. Who else are we going
to look to? Who else are we going to look
to? And then I tell you it's great faith. Great faith because
of this request. Look what she said. First word
out of her mouth, Lord have mercy on me. Lord have mercy on me. You reckon anybody ever asked
Christ for mercy and didn't get it? Have mercy on me. And you know
why she wanted mercy for? My daughter. is grievously vexed
with death. And I am impotent to do anything
for her. I can't change her. I can't change
her nature. I can't change her heart. I can't
heal her. I can't change in the condition
that she's in. I'm impotent. I don't have the
power to do anything. But oh Lord have mercy on me. Then look what she said down
in Verse 25, and she said, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. You ever heard
anybody say that, laying in bed, being sick, being frail? I've
heard a lot of people do that, laying in their bed, laying sick,
hurting. And say, Oh, Lord, help me. Help
me. Help me. You reckon you could
say, Lord, help me, and Him not? You reckon you say, Lord, help
me, and Christ wouldn't help you? Thank God for a gospel of mercy. I want to show you something
over in 1 Corinthians 1. You keep Matthew now, and look
in 2 Corinthians 1. Look over here. I love this verse.
Well, I love them all, but this one here really is something.
2 Corinthians 1 and verse 3. When you get there, Lord have
mercy on me. Mercy, mercy beggars. Mercy beggars. He said here in verse 3, Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to it. The Father
of mercies. Our Father is the Father of Mercies. We call on Father, we say Our
Father. When you call on Him, say Our Father, you're calling
on One who is the Father of Mercies. Father of Mercies. And not only
is He the Father of Mercies, but look what else it says about
Him. And the God of all comfort. Oh Lord have mercy on me. Lord help me. Will he help you? Will he have mercy on you? Yes
he will. I tell you another reason, not
only because he's a great sinner, because he's great because we're
originated from God. Great because of his request.
It reads with truth and has its object. But oh, it's great when you contrast
it to what the Jews did. Oh, what great faith. The Jews were
offended at Him. Their faith was in themselves. Their faith was in their works.
Their faith was in Moses. Their faith was in works. And
these Jews, they had everything. They had Moses. They had the
prophets. They had the ceremonies. They had the rituals. They had
the sacrifices. They had the priests. They had
the Word of God. She had nothing. She had nothing. And yet, they had everything,
and yet they didn't believe. They bragged about their merits,
and she'd come along and seeks mercy. they was concerned about
their traditions and she come along and she bows to truth oh my they were concerned with
the outward and the external what they ate and how they ate
it they were vain worshippers but it says she came and worshipped
him she cried unto him she worshipped him she came to him They talked
about the Lord. She believed the Lord. They were
offended. She believed and was blessed. Oh, what a great contrast. What
a great contrast. And look at the apostles. Look
what they said. These apostles weren't much better. Look what, look how, this is
awful. I hope me and you don't get like
this. I hope God keeps us from being like this. She said, Oh Lord, have mercy
on me. And he didn't answer a word.
Didn't answer a word. And then his disciples came and
said to him, they asked him for something. They didn't ask for
mercy. They didn't ask for faith. They didn't ask for grace. They
didn't ask for pity. They didn't ask for help. They
didn't ask for the things that she asked for. They ask Him for something. Send
this woman away from here. Send this woman away from here. What? Apostles? Apostles, the disciples, the
son of God's people? Send her away? Send her away. Why do you want to send her away?
She cries after us. She just will not stop crying. She just won't shut up. She just
will not take no for an answer. She just keeps coming, coming,
coming, coming. She just keeps on crying. Lord,
she's in her way. We can't take no more of this.
And you know what? And he's answering them when
he says this when they besought him. The answer said, I'm not
sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They were
selfish and they said, we need some time for ourselves. But she wouldn't stop crying.
She's still after the Christ. And oh, when he said that to
her, She bowed to that truth and she came and worshipped him.
Worshipped him, saying, Lord have mercy on me. Have mercy
on me. Oh my. And here's the thing.
These apostles were saved by grace. They were all sinners. Remember when Simon Peter said,
depart from me, I'm a sinful man? Had they so quickly forgot
what it was to cry after Christ? And they so quickly forgot what
it is to look to Christ and need the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? Oh my. Why didn't they, since
they had been shown mercy, why didn't they say, Lord, she needs
help, help her. Help her. Here's another reason because
it's great. The cause of her perseverance
Look what he said there in verse 23. He answered her, not a word. Didn't say a word to her. She
kept crying after him and he just wouldn't say nothing. Just wouldn't say nothing. Just
wouldn't say nothing. That's an awful predicament to
be in. To call on Christ in the heavens to be brass. But not a word. The more he put
her off, the harder she came. Oh my. The harder she came. She just kept on coming. Not only did he say that, but
she bowed down and worshipped him. Bowed down and worshipped
him. And I'll tell you what, she just
kept on coming. And then look what he said, he called her a
dog. He called her a dog in verse 24. It's not me to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. You know how many people in the
scriptures call themselves dogs? I'll tell you two people that
I know about off the top of my head. The Old Testament called
themselves dogs. Mephibosheth, when David sat and fetched Mephibosheth
and brought him to the king's palace. You know what the first
thing he said to David? Why lookest thou on such a dead
dog as I? Not only a dog, but a dead dog. A dead dog. You mind being called
a dog? Oh, it's not right for me to
take the children's bread. The children's got bread. We're
His children and we have bread. And you know what that bread
is? It's Christ Himself. He's that bread sent from heaven.
And He called her a dog. Called her a dog. Boy, that would
have been about as much as most folks could have took. And that's
what about almost... I remember going down toward
Nashville one time years ago to preach. And I preached to
a couple of nights on how lost men are, how depraved they are.
Now depravity doesn't mean that man's as bad as he can be. But
he's as bad off in the sight of God as he can be. Now that's
what it means. I mean depravity. But man are
born sinners, live sinners, and will die sinners if God don't
intervene. And I preached on that a couple
of nights. And the third night, the preacher told me, he says,
man, he said, we can't take that anymore. These folks can't take
that anymore. They can't take being talked
to like that. He said, we just got to stop
this. We can't go on. He couldn't take
being called sinners. They couldn't take being called,
being alienated from God. And that poor old preacher was
so shook up, he didn't know whether he was up or down. And I got
in my car and left, and they never gave me a penny. I had
everything in there. You know, they didn't say, hi,
bye, how you doing, nothing else. Same thing happened out in Kentucky
one time. I was up there preaching, preached
about five or six nights, and finally this woman got up, and
this old woman got up in the middle of the congregation, and
she said, don't you know what this preacher is saying to you?
He's calling you sinners. He said, you're no good. And she said, I know you, you're
not that way. I'm telling you the truth, I'm
telling you God said that. And the preacher said, I'm going
to see how he's going to deal with this. Well, she sat back
down. And I just kept on preaching,
you know. But I'm telling you why, folks don't like that. They
don't like being called a dog. They don't like to be said, well,
they made a few mistakes in my life. I ain't been perfect and
I'm not perfect, but... But here's the thing about it,
she didn't put no buts in it. She didn't say, yes, I'm a dog,
but... I'm a dog, but I'm sincere. No,
no. She just agreed with what he
said. Yes, Lord. Everything you say
about me is true. It's true. You said you sent a sheep. And
then you turned around and called me a dog. But you know what she said? She said, Truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. Oh, truth. That's the truth. Everything is the truth. Yes,
that's exactly what I am. And then, of course, she said,
get the dogs. The dogs. Eat the crumbs. If I don't get
the bread, And you won't give me the bread. She said, even
the dogs eat the crumbs. And listen to this now, which
fall from their master's table. Their master's table. Yes, Lord, I'm a dog. And it's
your table. And if Iowa gets crumbs, I'll
take it. I'll take whatever you give me.
Oh, you're the master. I don't care being your dog. Oh my. And she just kept on calling
on the Lord. She kept on persevering. And
then look what our Lord said to her. Verse 28. This is great faith because of,
look what, look at this results. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, O woman, didn't call her by name. That could
be anybody, O woman, O man, O sinner, O dog, O sheep. O woman, great is thy faith. and oh my and listen to what it says great
is thy faith and then he says be it unto thee even as you will
whatever your will that you want from me whatever is in your heart
that you accept what you came to me for you got it you got
it you will for your daughter And look what happened now. You
will to have mercy. You will eat from my table. You
will to worship me. And then look what he said. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. Oh my. That's what he said. She knows
it. Just keep on coming. Keep on coming. And our Lord's
word to her, what a comforting word he gave her. Oh great is
thy faith. You come to me for mercy, here's
some mercy. You come to me for help, here's
your help. You came to worship me, here's what you get. Here's
what you get. And then it was a commending
word. Oh woman, great, great, great is your faith. He didn't
say great is your sin. He didn't say great is your noise. Great is your voice. He just
said, great is your faith. And then, whoa, look what a wonderful
commending word. Be it unto thee. Be it unto thee. It's the king speaking now. He's
giving a command. You come to get something, here
it is. Here it is, it's yours. And he complied with her word,
her request. Her faith touched him like the
woman with the issue of blood, if I can but touch the hem of
his garment. And now he's going to touch her
by his word. And what, what, what a word when he says, thy
daughter, thy daughter was made whole. Do you reckon, do you reckon
we come to Christ like that? Come to Christ like that. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Bless you for your gospel. Bless
you for the truth. And Lord, make us lifelong seekers
after you. May our whole of our lives be
sent in calling on you and looking to you, trusting you, believing
you. And Lord, our souls rest in you.
Rest in you. We don't look for nothing else.
We don't want nothing else. We're satisfied. Oh, you've satisfied
our soul. You've satisfied our heart. You've
satisfied our conscience. You've satisfied everything that
we would ever want. And Lord, oh, we come always
with empty hands, taking from you. Blessed be your name. Christ's name. Amen. Amen. What is that song? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's
just something about Master Savior Jesus like the
fragrance after the rain Jesus Jesus Jesus let all heaven and earth
proclaim. Well, see you this evening, God
willing. I hope the Lord does something
for some of you in your hearts and God enable you to trust Christ.