Okay, if you would, let's turn
to Matthew 15. Matthew 15, and I want to begin
in verse 21. Now this account is also found in
Mark, Mark chapter 7. And in these passages, we read
where Christ and his disciples went into Tyre and Sidon to a
house where Christ was wanting to stay hidden. He didn't want
anybody to see him and the disciples. So that kind of gives you the
idea of what they were doing here in this passage. But he could not be hidden, it
says, because there was a woman that had heard of him. And Christ
was pleased to reveal himself to her. It says in Mark that
she heard of him and we can see that she was determined to talk
to Christ. In Matthew 15 verse 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, 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. Aren't you glad Christ doesn't
do what his disciples ask all the time? Next we read, it says,
but he. It's the same thing as saying,
but God. He wanted to reveal himself to
her. But as he does with all believers,
he's going to bring us down to show us what we are first. He
says, But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It
is not meet 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. When Christ is revealed to you,
you will cry out for help because you'll have nowhere else to go.
He brings you to that place where you have nowhere else to go.
There is an initial time when he does this initially to us. He brings us down to let us know
we're nothing. But he also continually reminds
us that we are nothing and he is all of our help. You will
be willing to eat crumbs from the master's table because you
know your help is only going to come from the master. And
whatever he allows will be sufficient. However, Christ doesn't just
give us crumbs. And if you would, please turn
to 2 Samuel 9. These are very familiar passages
to you. I'm always reminded of Jay Wimberly
when I read this passage. 2 Samuel chapter 9. We'll just
read the whole chapter. And David said, Is there yet
any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show him the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. This man
was lame on his feet. This man had a fall that put
him, made him lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where
is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
Behold, he is in the house of Maker, the son of Amiel, in Lodabar. And if you look at these words,
this is From this fall, he was sold in, God's people were sold
into a place of no bread. God's people are. Now, everyone
else, they never know this no bread place. But this no bread
place is anywhere you might be. It might be in the midst of a
sovereign grace assembly. But he will put you in a place
of no bread. Then king David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makar the son of Amul from Lodabar.
Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,
was coming to David, he fell on his face and did reverence.
And David said, Mephibosheth? And he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's
sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed
himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look
upon such a dead dog as I am? Then the king called to Ziba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertains to Saul and to his house. Thou therefore
and thy sons and thy servants shall kill the land for him,
and thou shalt bring in the fruits, that thy master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth thy master's
son shall eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen
sons and twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant,
so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. And
Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Micah. And all
that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually at
the king's table, and was lame on both his feet. By nature, I am this Syrophoenician
woman, and I am Mephibosheth. I'm a dog, but not only that,
I'm a dead dog, lame on both my feet. I'm unable and unwilling
by nature to come to Christ. It's not that I'm just not sure
about this man, Jesus Christ, by nature. I'm very willing to
not have him. So much so that I can say, if
that is who God is, I don't want a God like that. In other words,
I will to not have this man reign over me. There's plenty of scripture that
actually tell us who man is by nature. It just, it specifically spells
out and tells us what we are by nature. But I got this new
Bible and I was looking through it to see, you know, what all
it has, the concordance and all that stuff. And I, I came across
this list of miracles that Christ did. And these miracles kind
of give us a picture, if you will, in our mind of who we are,
what we are by nature. So what are we dead? That should be enough there.
Yes sir. The absence of life to God. We are spiritually dead so that
we cannot please a holy God. Unclean. I am unfit to approach
a holy God. Lame. I am unable to, I am unable
to approach God or to walk with God. Bloody. I am unable to stop what kills
me or what ails me, what makes me sick. I'm blind, I cannot
see Christ. Withered hands, I cannot reach
out to Christ. Deaf and dumb, I cannot cry out
to Christ and I cannot hear Him call. Full of devils, evil of
every kind. Somehow we have to overcome all
these things in order to come to Christ. And this is where
the Buck God comes in. Ephesians 2, 4 tells us, But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might shew the
exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Jesus Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them." Now we know, even from this passage,
that salvation was accomplished by Christ. You know, in my mind
I break it down into, and it can be said, a lot better ways
and probably broken down even further, but we have salvation
accomplished, salvation experienced, and then final glory with Christ. What I want to talk about for
the rest of this time here is the experience of salvation. And we read in our passage in
2 Samuel 9 that he fetches us. How does he fetch us? There's more to it than what
I'm going to say. I can't exhaust it. But he puts his spirit in
us. And then he sends someone to
us with the gospel of his son so that we know what we are and
we know what Christ is. He reveals himself to us. You
can read that in Romans 10. He sends a proclaimer, a preacher. Another sinner. This one scent
tells me of the marvelous grace. And the dead sinner who is being
given life hears this message and begins to believe it. God
says in his word, for after the wisdom of God, the world of,
in 1 Corinthians 121, excuse me, for after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. His table
was found where two or three are gathered in his name, where
Christ is proclaimed in all that he is and all that he has done.
That's where you will find Christ in his gospel. At his table,
we have all we need, all we need, water, bread, lamb. He is our water. But John 4,
14 says this, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. The water he gives is refreshing
and cleansing. And it's a well of water springing
up, Christ in us. He's our bread. John 635 says
this. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. He is
that manna from heaven. God provides it daily and exactly
what we need. He is our lamb. 1 Peter 1.18
says this. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation, receive a tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish
and without spot. He is fullness to the believer.
He's everything I need. He causes me in that fullness
to rest in him. that he is both meat and drink.
John 6.54 says, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood
dwelleth in me and I in him. God's people long for eating
at the master's table. They long to come hear the gospel
preached. Because there they find everything
that is needed for their journey. Everything on the master's table
is Christ. Though we be lame on both our
feet, at his table we're still told we can eat continually at
his table. What I want to hear is Christ
and him crucified. We read in the passage also about
servants. You have servants of the king.
They're all servants of the king, but you have servants serving
other servants. God sends his servants to tell
me of his son. They show us that the table is
laid out for us to eat. Comes from a master's table are
good, but he has set us at his table to eat his bread continually. If you were God's servant, He
puts it in you to do things. One might do this, one might
do that. Jack, when you mow the yard, what God is causing you
to say is, I want more water, more bread, more land. When you
reach in your billhole to put money in the box, you're saying,
I want more water, more bread, more land. When you show up here
to hear the gospel message, you're saying, I want more water, more
bread, more land. When these people stand up here
to speak his glorious gospel, they're saying, I want more water,
more bread, more land. Now, this can be faked. But God,
who has put it in his people's hearts to do so, they do this
because they want more Jesus Christ. They can't do it without
him. And all I can say is, Joe Walker, more water, more bread,
more land. Mason, will you lead us in prayer,
please?