with me for scripture reading
this morning to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, and I have a funeral
this afternoon for Christine Johnson and some kinfolk on the
Lawson side. And also, there's going to be
a meeting. meant to put in a bulletin this
week, forgot it. November the 11th through the
13th up at Cottageville, West Virginia, where Mike Walker's
pastor, Bruce Crabtree, Marvin Stoniker, and myself will be
preaching up there, November the 11th through the 13th. All
right, let's read the 51st Psalm together. Have mercy upon me,
O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, According unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly
from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin as ever before me. Against thee,
thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight, that
thou mightest be justified when you speak. and be clear when
you judge. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth
in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. hide thy
face from my sins, blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me
a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast
me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I
teach transgressors thy ways. Sinners shall be converted unto
thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation,
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord,
open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
For thou desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it. Thou delightest
not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine offer. Now I want you to look with me
in Matthew chapter 15, Matthew chapter 15 for a message today. Matthew chapter 15. And I want to start reading here
in verse 21, read down through verse 28, and this will be my
subject today. Matthew 7, 21. 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. 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 worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. But he
answered and said, it is not meat 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, 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. My title this morning is Seven
Blessings of Faith. Seven Blessings of Faith. Faith,
what a most glorious gift from God. Faith is a gift. Men are not born with it. It's
not natural to them. And if a man has faith, God gave
it to him. You see, it's faith that makes
Christ our Lord precious to us. It's what faith does. It's faith
that makes His blood precious. Because His blood cleanses us
from all sin. It's faith that makes His righteousness
present because we know that that's the only righteousness
that we are accepted before God. It's faith that makes the promises
that's in our Lord Jesus Christ precious. And no wonder Simon
Peter called it precious faith. Precious faith. You see, faith
that God gives a man is what causes his heart to go outside
himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith never looks to itself. Faith always goes outside. If you want to know if you got
true faith or not, faith always goes to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith always has an object, true faith does. And that object is
not gifts, it's not prayer, it's not devotion, it's not consecration,
it's Christ Himself that we go outside ourselves and all that
goes with Him. And here in this story, this
story of this Syrophoenician woman, we have faith illustrated
for us. Oh, so clearly, so plain. and
several, seven blessed, glorious truths about faith here. First of all, I want you to look
down here in verse 22. Faith, this is the first blessing.
Faith is given to the most unlikely people, to the most unlikely
people. It says here, behold, a woman
of Canaan came out of the same coast. And you know, Tyre and
Sidon was Gentiles. A godless pagan is what they
were. She is a Canaanite. She is a child of a cursed race. And I'll keep this. And look
in Genesis 24, 3. Look what Abraham wanted here. Genesis 24 and verse 3. You know,
faith is given to the most unlikely people. That's why Paul said,
So for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh. How many PhDs are in this building
this morning? How many doctors of philosophy?
How many people, great people, politicians and people with power
and prestige are in this building today? God chose foolishness,
foolish people, foolish things. People that are nobodies to bring
people that are somebodies down to nothing. And when we face
God in judgment, everybody who thinks there's somebody in this
world will find out there was absolutely nobody in the sight
of God. I don't care how high an office
you attain to. I don't care how much money you
got, how much power you got, how much prestige you got, or
what office, or how much education you got. None of those things
matter to God. The only thing that matters to
God is His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and your relationship
with Him. And people's gonna find that
out the hard way. They can make fun of the Lord
Jesus Christ, make fun of God's sovereign election, make fun
of man being lost and desperately lost in trespasses and sins.
But God chose nobodies. And you know how we know we're
nobodies? God made us to be nobodies. I was somebody till God got ahold
of me. I mean, God gets old of you.
You know, when you're 75 years old, you become a baby, don't
you, Herman? Baby in Christ. Yeah, if you get that old. But that's what I'm telling you.
God takes people, not the mighty, but the weak, so he can confound
people that are mighty. Oh, they let people look at you
and say, oh, these poor weak fools. He's poor weak food. But
look what he said here in Genesis 24, 3. This is Abraham now. He's sending off to get him a
wife for his son Isaac. And he told his servant in verse
3, And I'll make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and
the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of
the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell. I don't want
my son to be married to a Canaanite, but this is who came to our Lord
Jesus Christ. So faith is given to the most
unlikely people. She's a Canaanite, a godless
pagan. But this is the difference. She
was an object of God's eternal electing love given to her in
Christ before the world ever began. She wouldn't be here if
she wasn't. And listen, I tell you what,
she was an object of God's eternal electing love in Christ. And
the people who value faith is the people who possess it. They
would not part with the faith that God gave them for 10,000
worlds. It's God's gift to them and them
personally. Ain't that right? What would
you part with your faith for? What would it take you to part
with your faith? to part with the faith that makes
Christ to be your whole salvation. I tell you what, there ain't
enough gold in the ground, not enough gold, there's not enough
gold, there's not enough silver, there's not enough diamonds,
there's not enough rubies, there's not enough precious anything
to make a soul part with their faith. That's how precious it
is to them, that's how valuable it is to them. Because it's God's
gift to them. They ain't going to part with
it. A fella come by the other day and asked me, you know, he
wanted to talk to me about the Bible. And I said, well, I'm
a preacher. I said, I'm a preacher. I've
been passing the church going on 38 years. Oh, yeah. Told me,
asked me where it was. And I told him. He said, well,
he said, you know, are you one of those people who believe once
saved, always saved? And I said, according to who
saved you? I said, if the church saved you, or decision saved
you, or your will saved you, your free will saved you, no,
no, no, you ain't got none. But if God saves you, not only
will He preserve you, but you'll persevere. And boy, he said,
boy, that's, said, never heard a cry like that. He just shook
my hand and left. And I said, who do you think
runs the world? And I said, God's running this
world. And there's a bunch of leaves coming off a tree. And
I said, see every one of those leaves coming off that tree?
I said, God, before the world began, he directed every leaf
and every place it would go to land right there. He said, I
got about that big. And he said, OK. And that's the
way it is. We're talking about God and that
faith that God gives us. So it's most unlikely people.
Here's the second thing, back over in Matthew 15. Faith, faith
is born in the heart by hearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your
faith is born in the heart by hearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now you keep Matthew again and look with me in Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10, look with me here. You know in Mark chapter
7, this is the same story and what it is in Romans chapter
10, Mark 7, excuse me. It says there that when she heard
of Him, she heard of Him, so you know every one of them, but
look in Romans chapter 10 verse 14 with me. When she heard of
Him, and here's the thing, a person's got to hear about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Romans 10 verse 13 says this,
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Now that's a true statement ain't it? But now watch what
else it says here. How then are they going to call
on Him in whom they have not believed? You're not going to
call on somebody you haven't believed in. You're not going
to call on Him to be saved if you don't know anything about
Him, if you've never heard anything about Him. And if you never know
anything about it, then how shall they believe in him of whom they
have not heard? How are you going to believe
in Christ if you've never heard anything about him? How are you
going to trust Christ if you've never had him preached to you?
How are you going to trust Christ if he's never been revealed to
you? How are you going to trust Christ if you've never heard
through these ears of who he is and what he's done? Now watch
what goes on to say here. And how shall they hear without
a preacher? People say all the time, we don't need a preacher.
Oh yes you do. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He preached
and He preached to people, told people the truth. He went to
the woman at the well, brought all the Zacchaeus up the tree,
Lazarus in the tomb, sat in the temple and He preached, went
in the ship, sat way outside and preached the sermon on the
mount. Our Lord was a preacher. And he said it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that belief. Somebody's
got to tell you, when that Ethiopian eunuch was going back down to
Ethiopia, what did God do? He sent him a preacher. So how
are they going to preach except they'd be sent? And then look
what it says down in verse 17. We'll skip the other two verses
there. But in verse 17, it says, So then faith, Faith comes by
hearing. Hearing, listening. And hearing
by what? The Word of God. Huh? And so
she heard of Him, of the Lord Jesus Christ. How she heard of
Him? When she heard of Him? I don't know, but she heard.
And look back over here in Matthew 15. Look what else it says here
about Him. And oh, look, the first thing
she said to Him was, in verse 22, He was coming to those coasts
and she cried unto Him saying, have mercy on me. And here's
why she called Him, O Lord. And you know what that Lord means
right there? God, Jehovah. She recognized
Him as the Lord, as God. She recognized Him with all the
power and all the authority. And that's what He is. He had
all the power and all. She called Him Lord. And that's
the same word that's called Jehovah in the Old Testament. That's
called God in the Old Testament. And that's why she called Him.
And you know that no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy
Ghost? And this idea that people preach
and teach you, it says you know you need to make Jesus Lord.
God made Him Lord before the world ever began. He'll be Lord when we leave this
world. He was Lord when we got here.
He'll be Lord when we're through. And He'll be Lord when we get
to heaven. He'll be Lord. Ain't that right? And we worship
who? The Lord. We call Him Lord. He is our Lord. He is our Master. And oh, look what else it says
here now. And then now she said, Oh Lord. And then she said, Son
of David, Son of David. How does she know anything about
him being the Son of David? Because she understood that according
to the flesh he was going to be a king. That he was going
to have the rightful king. He's going to be the one who
was the Son of David that came into this world. And this is
blessed truth that was revealed to her. Oh Lord! That's your
and your Godhead. Son of David. There you are in
your manhood. God and man in one blessed person. Oh my! Look what else, faith
is born in the heart by hearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh
my, that's why we got to keep preaching this gospel, got to
keep preaching this gospel. And then look what else it says,
faith always seeks what only God can give. And you know what
she said there in verse 22? She cried unto him saying, have
mercy on me. Faith always seeks only what
God can give. She sought mercy. Mercy. Oh, mercy. Have mercy. Mercy. Oh, Shirley's talking about this
this morning. She said, all I can do sometimes,
Lord, have mercy on me. You know, mercy? She never attempted
to tell the Lord what to do. She never attempted to tell the
Lord what to do. This is what I want you to do
for me. This is what you ought to do for me. She made no demands. She didn't come up and say, well,
I've been a good mother. I've took care of my daughter,
and her got all kinds of problems. I've suffered my life, you know,
taking care of my children. She made no demands. She claimed
no marriage. She didn't say, I'm a good person.
I've done the best I can. I've been going to church for
a long time. You know why she said? Have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. That's a good
thing to pray for. How many times have you done
that in your life? How many times have you said, Daniel, Lord,
have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. And let me
tell you something. Sinners need mercy. Sinners need mercy. Only sinners need mercy. I need
mercy. Who used to say mercy beggars? Mercy beggars. I forget who said
that all the time. We're mercy beggars. And what
she's saying is that I'm a sinner. Have mercy on me. She's saying
my hope for pardon, my hope for anything from you is based on
your mercy. If I get anything from you, it'll
have to be because you Have mercy, because you delight in mercy
and you show mercy. And she said, if I get anything
from you, it's going to have to be mercy. I read Psalm 51,
where David said, Oh, Lord, have mercy upon me according to thy
loving kindness, according to thy tender mercies. Have mercy
upon me. And she submitted to the will
and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, confident, confident
in His ability and willingness to show mercy. Tell you something
else, not only is faith given to the most unlikely, faith is
born in the heart by hearing of the Lord Jesus. Faith always
seeks what only God can give, His mercy. Faith cannot be silenced. It'll always be cried out. Always
you can't shut faith up. You can't stop faith. You can't
shut say shut your mouth faith faith can't be shut up What's
what it says here now in verse 23? But he answered her not a
word oh My the Lord seemed to ignore
The Lord just seemed to say well, I you know just act like he didn't
hear a word. She had to say I The Lord seemed
to ignore her cries, and she cried out to him. She lifted
up her voice, and look what it says, and his disciples came
and besought him, send her away from us, she crieth after us.
And then the disciples treated her with contempt. and even arrogance. She cried out to the Lord Jesus
Christ. She didn't cry out to them. They
can't do nothing for her. She didn't say, Peter, would
you have mercy on me? She didn't say, Matthew, would
you have mercy on me? She didn't say, John, would you
have mercy on me or James? She said, Lord, have mercy on
me. And these fellows said, well, she's crying after us. She's
not crying after them. She's crying after Christ. She's
not crying out to the Pope. She's not crying out to the preacher.
She's not crying out to the church. She's not crying out to an apostle.
She cried out to the Lord. And these fellows said, oh, they
treated her with such contempt and arrogance. Oh, Lord, just
send her away. She ain't nobody. She's a Gentile. She ain't nothing. Send her away. Just send her away. She's aggravating
us to death, hollering after us, following us around. Oh my
goodness. But oh my. And then look, since
faith can't be silenced, not only did the disciples, the Lord
ignored it, and the disciples said, Lord, send her away. She
cries after us. And then she was confronted with
God's sovereign election. Look in verse 24. And then he
answered her and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. She is confronted with God's
sovereign election. I've come to save sheep, lost sheep. I'm on the trail of God's sheep,
that's what he said. He said, I come to lay down my
life for the sheep. I ain't gonna save no goats.
He said, I lay down, and what he said was, he said, I'm not
sent but that the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And I
tell you what, you reckon he'll find them? Oh, listen, he'll
find them. It's like that sheep that was,
had 99 and one was lost and he went into the wilderness, into
the wilderness and found it and laid it on his shoulder and brought
it home. And then look what else. She
knew and owned her unworthiness. And she said, oh, I'm not worthy.
Look what she said in verse 25. You think that's gonna stop her?
Look what it says then. Then she came and worshiped.
And that word worship means she adored him. She bowed to him. Her heart went out to him. And
you know what she said? Lord, help me. Help me. These fellows want you to send
me away. And you said you got sheep. And Lord, I'm not worthy. And she just said, Lord, help
me. Oh, my. Shouldn't it not give
up her plea for mercy? Lord, help me. Send her away.
Lord, help me. I'm not sent but the lost sheep
of Israel. That's my purpose. You're a Gentile. I'm not going to quit. Lord,
help me. Help me. And let me give you
another one. Oh, my. Faith. Faith takes its
proper place before God. Oh, my. But He answered and said,
He just keeps throwing obstacles in our way. And ain't that what
He does for us? Our sin gets in our way. Our
unbelief gets in our way. Our unworthiness gets in our
way. And sometimes our goodness gets in our way. But we, we are
not going to quit seeking. Not going to quit. You ain't
going to stop faith. But He answered and said, it's not me. It's not
fit. right that I take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. Oh my, what would you do if the
Lord called you a dog? Oh, and you know what the first
thing she said when he said that? She said in verse 27, she said,
truth, Lord. Truth. Truth, Lord. Everything
you said is truth about the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
That dogs does not take children's bread. Take what belongs to the
children. You got your children gathered
around you. And you got bread to feed them. You got a meal
sent before them. And then we're not going to take all that food
that's on that table, and we're not going to take it down here
and hand it down to the dog. And she said, Truth, Lord. Truth,
Lord. She acknowledged the truth of
our Lord that our Lord sent before her of herself. She acknowledged
the truth of the justice of His sovereignty and displaying His
mercy and dispensing His mercy. Truth, Lord. Everything's in
your hands. All power's in your hands. All
mercy's in your hands. All salvation's in your hands.
All power's in your hands. And she said, truth, Lord. And
let me tell you something about faith. Faith does not argue with
God. No, no, no, no. Faith doesn't
argue with God. Faith never says, Lord, I wish
you hadn't have done that. Or, Lord, I wish you hadn't have
said that. Or, Lord, I wish you hadn't have said this my way.
Or, Lord, I wish you hadn't have let that happen to me or anybody
else. Faith does not argue with God.
Don't even say, Lord, why? It doesn't argue with God. It
doesn't bargain with God. She didn't say, well, Lord, I'll
tell you what, I'll do this. I'll do this for you if you do
this for me. I'll do this for you if you'll
do this for me. How many bargains you reckon
has been made with God over the centuries? Men in the military,
every single one of them made a bargain with God one time or
another. If they was in a combat situation, every single one of
them made a bargain with God. God, you let me get home. You
let me get back to my family. You let me make it through this.
And when I get home, I'm going to serve you. We got home. We forgot God. Just like that. People, somebody in the family
gets sick, deathly sick. And it looks like they may not
make it. And people start saying, Lord, if you'll save them, if
you'll raise them back up, if you'll heal them and let them
come back home, I promise, I promise that I'll serve you. I promise
I'll go to church. I promise I'll go here. I promise
I will. And they make these promises.
The faith doesn't bargain with God. You know what faith does?
It says truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. What you say is
true. Anything comes out of your mouth
is true. Anything comes out of your word is true. And then let
me show you what else happens here. Faith. Faith. Here's the sixth thing. Faith
makes need. Capital N-E-E-D. Makes need an
argument for mercy. Look what she said here in verse
26 and 27. But the answer said it's not
meet, not right, not fit that I should take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. And she said truth Lord. And
then she took her knee and took it one step further, Lord have
mercy, Lord help me. And she said, yet the dogs eat
of the crumbs. Now watch what she says now,
which fall from their master's table. The Lord put her on the ground,
she said, he put her on the ground of being a dog, being no better
than a dog. And we're not going to feed the
children's bread and take it down here and take all the food
off before it's ever been eaten by the children and give it down
to the dogs. He said, we're not going to do that. That's not
right to do that. She said, Lord, that's the truth. But even dogs,
they eat from the crumbs which fall from their masters. You're
the master. And if I'm a dog, even the dogs
get the crumbs. that come off the master's table.
She said, and I'll take the crumbs. I'll take what you give me. You
give me the crumbs, I'll gladly take them. You go ahead and take
care of the children. I'll take what's left over. I'll
take what you give me. And oh, listen. She owned the
name, yes, Lord, I'm a dog. And she made her low character
an argument for mercy. Even dogs get the things from
their master. Oh, dogs got to be fed. And I'll
tell you something, dogs under the table suggest that the master
had plenty, that even the dogs ate pretty good. And dogs, I'll
tell you something about a dog. A dog will settle for any morsel
and be grateful for it, And they'll come back and look at you with
their eyes up waiting to give you some more. Ain't that the
way we do? God gives us something, we come
back with our eyes open. Give us some more of that. Give
us some more of that. Oh, the Lord's crumbs is better
than the world's best. Ain't that right? The Lord's
crumbs is 10,000 times better than the world's best. Oh my. And she said, I'll be a dog. You're the master. It's your
table and it's your master. It's your table and you're the
master of the table. And she said, I'm altogether
dependent upon you. It's your table. You're the master
of it. And the food on it belongs to
you. And I'll take what you give me. She said, I'm utterly and
absolutely dependent upon what you do for me right now. And
then look what our Lord Jesus Christ Faith always, always obtains
what it seeks. Look in verse 28. Then answered
Jesus and said unto her, O woman, didn't even call her name, O
woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee, even as you
will. And look what happened. And her
daughter was made whole from that very hour. Faith, she came seeking mercy.
And if you come seeking mercy, you'll always get it. And she
came seeking mercy and always gets it. And faith deals with
and seeks what's necessary. Not so much what it wants, but
what it needs. Faith comes looking for needs.
Faith comes crying out for needs. Faith comes crying out to meet
necessity. I need freedom. Cries out for
freedom. Set me free. Cries out for life. Cries out
for mercy. Cries out and says, Lord, not
my will but Thine be done. Cries out like David. Cleanse
me and I'll be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than
snow. Create in me a right spirit. Create in me a clean heart. Those
are the things we cry after. We cry after, Oh Lord, please,
please help me with my mind. Help me with my soul. Help me
with my heart. Help me with my life. Help me
in my home. Help my brothers and sisters.
Oh Lord, please do for them what only you can do. And you know what the Lord Jesus
always says to faith? Be it unto you. even as you will. You want mercy? I'll give it
to you. You want grace? I'll give it to you. You want
freedom? I'll give it to you. You want
life? I'll give it to you in abundance.
You want strength? I'll give it to you every day. I'll give it to you. All you
got to do is ask. The table's set. Just ask. Just ask. And boy, we'll go and
we'll say, Lord, You know what? I believe. But oh Lord, help
my unbelief. Help my unbelief. And I tell
you, when faith, when the Lord Jesus says, be it unto thee even
as thou wilt, faith honors the Lord Jesus by believing. I believe
you. I believe you. Nothing, nothing,
nothing honors the Lord Jesus Christ and God more than believing
him. Abraham believed God. Strong
in faith, giving glory to God. Nothing honors the Lord like
faith does. And the Lord Jesus Christ honors
faith. You know how he does it? By giving
what faith desires, what faith seeks. And none of us want no
more than what we need, do we? Our needs are spiritual. The things we're talking about
are spiritual things. We have spiritual needs. Spiritual
needs. Well, you know, He's going to
give us what we need in this world. But our needs are spiritual. And the Lord's never failed us,
never failed us yet. Our Father, oh gracious God in
heaven, blessed be your name, for allowing us to speak of the
great, great mercy, the great love, And Lord, how that faith
comes to you. Faith always comes to you, looks
to you, and seeks you, acknowledges who you are, submits to who you
are, submits to your will, takes the truth and believes the truth,
and bring our necessities to you, bring our needs to you,
the needs of our heart, needs of our souls, the needs of our
families. the needs of our life. Thank you, Lord, for hearing
us, meeting with us, giving us of your presence and power. Save
your people in this place. Cause the word to be effectual.
You're the only one who can cause it to be effectual. In Christ's
name, amen.