If you're following along, turn
to Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12. I'll read
one verse as kind of my text verse for this morning. Proverbs chapter 12 and verse
10. A righteous man regardeth the
life of his beast, That's what makes this a proverb.
But, and I should say a contrasting proverb. A righteous man regardeth
the life of this beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked
are cruel. Now as we seen last week, a proverb,
in a proverb there's often far more than meets the eye. A proverb
is One of those passages, and Earl used to call it something
along the line of artistic license and the spiritual artistic license,
but a proverb is actually one of those passages where you can
take the words to mean far more than what the words themselves
say. Now a lot of people try to proverbialize all kinds of
other scripture. That's not right. Because when
God says, thus saith the Lord, then he's meaning exactly what
he's saying. And we have no right to say,
we believe it really means this. No, it means exactly what he
says. And even the Proverbs mean exactly
what they say, but they often picture or symbolize something
greater or something more, or maybe even something different.
Okay? So this proverb says, a righteous
man regardeth the life of his beast. But notice it didn't say,
but the wicked man doesn't. That's not the point. It said,
but the wicked, you see it? But the tender mercies, rather,
of the wicked are cruel. I mean, that is to me, it just,
I never thought of that. I could have never come up with
that. My mind does not work that way because my mind is bent toward
stark contrasts without such sarcasm. Sometimes I'm just far
too blunt. You know? I have trouble with
the thing of, be a wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. I have
trouble with that. Sometimes I feel more like, was
it James and John, which was it the Lord called Somebody called
the sons of thunder? Let's just call fire down from
God out of heaven right now and consume these people. I relate
to that. I'm not saying that's right,
but I relate to that. I understand that attitude all
too well. But again, in a proverb, there's
often more than just meets the eye. For instance, turn to Proverbs
8, and you'll see that it's quite clear Everyone here probably
already knows this, but Proverbs 8. Doth not wisdom cry and understanding
put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high
places. And so it talks about wisdom, wisdom. And those things
mean wisdom. But then we see this very wisdom
then in verse 22 through 36 personified in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is wisdom personified. In other words, you want to look,
you want to find out what is wisdom? Look at Him. You'll see
what wisdom really is. And when you see that kind of
wisdom, you will see that wisdom is not so easy as just to be
able to reach out here and lay hold of it. It doesn't happen
that way. So there's often more than meets
the eye. And in this proverb, Proverbs chapter 8, being especially
one of the long proverbs, it clearly defines this, doesn't
it? Clearly defines this. And there
is no question that the last verses of Proverbs 8 are speaking
of our Lord. The only people who would refuse
that or reject that are people who hate Him to start with. That's
the only reason they would reject that. It's far, far too evident
from the scriptural words there. So there may be multiple applications
from one proverb. Right? Go back to chapter 12
again, just one verse after my text verse. Look at it. Chapter
12, verse 11. He that tilleth his land shall
be satisfied with bread. Simple enough, right? You till
the land, you sow seed, you put forth effort, you're going to
eat. But he that followeth an empty person is void of understanding. Do you see that? Now that means
exactly what it says. But it also applies into many
things. In other words, engage the work. Engage the work. What are you going to see? You
will see results. They may not be the results you always expect. They may not be the results you
always personally desire. But engage the work, there will
be results. Follow an empty person, a self-serving
person. What are you going to have then?
Emptiness. All you're going to have is emptiness.
You see, even if another person never believes the gospel, we're
to preach the gospel simply for preaching the gospel's sake. I often become discouraged. And
I try not to sit around all the time and talk about this because
it discourages me even more when I sit around and talk about being
often discouraged. But I often become discouraged
because I look. People that don't know us, they
see me standing here in this corner, they don't know what
in the world is going on. What I do, I'm looking out here and I see
a couple handfuls of people. It's been that way for years.
It's been that way for years. 30 years I've been standing in
this place. With you people, 30 years. It's always been about like this.
Sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less. But it's always been
what? About right here. But you know
what, sometimes that's discouraging. And yet I think of Noah preaching
for 120 years, and only seven other people believed, and they
were his family members. Either directly or by marriage. 120 years. And while he was doing
that, he was building a massive boat. And then my shame begins to flood
over my soul. You know why? I know God Almighty
put me right here. And I know God Almighty has right
here exactly what God Almighty wants right here at this particular
point of time. And that's the only thing that
keeps me sane and keeps me going. Because there are times it's
like, well, why should I stay there? Have you ever thought
about that? Now maybe you haven't. Maybe you have. I'm not saying
you have to, but sometimes it's like, why are you there? Because
God put me here. But here's the thing. Engage
the work. You'll see benefits. You'll see
results. It may not be what you always
expect, but if you sit on your backside, you will see nothing. You see now what I'm talking
about? It has more than one application. Now it means that literally,
you go out and till the ground, God's going to give you some
bread to eat. It'll happen. Now, granted, there'll be seasons
of drought. There'll be seasons of... But
if you go out and engage in the work, go out and sow the seed,
Paul, till the ground, God's going to give you some beans
or some potatoes. He's going to give you something to eat.
But if you get lazy and start following empty people, you know
what's going to happen? You're void of understanding.
So engage the work. And this is true in all aspects
of creation. Whether it's salvation, whether
it's in your job, no matter what it is, don't sit back on your
keister and say, it's all by grace anyway, so I'll just wait
until God decides to bless me. That's dangerous ground to stand
on. There are times when God says,
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Isn't there? And
then there's times when he says get up and move forward. So the key is doing what God
says when God says it. Not trying to make everything
fit into some Calvinistic school of thought. But have it flow
from the commands of God in the scripture. My text is one of
these similar proverbs. Think of just a couple, three
things. First of all, God regards the life of all his creation. And actually, if you look, man
is actually put in there. Now it does say, a righteous
man regardeth the life of his beast, but man is not there.
In other words, this is a principle through a righteous being, a
righteous person, a righteous man, a righteous woman, they'll
regard the life of their beast. You know what he's saying? And
God regards the life of His creation. He sustained it. For at least
what we know of at least 6,000 years of Biblical history. At
least that. Maybe even more. But at least
6,000 years of Biblical history. He sustained His creation even
after the fall. And Scripture says that He causes
the rain to come down on the just and the unjust. He feeds unbelievers as well
as believers. And He gives them all things
richly to enjoy. Believers or unbelievers. God
regards the life of His creation. Think about it. He suffered an
ass to speak out when Balaam was beating it. I mean, God said,
don't go. And Balaam kept on and kept on
and God said, alright, well then go ahead then. That's basically
what happened. But he already told Balaam, you
don't be going down there. But Balaam kept nagging and kept
nagging and God said go on. And on the way down, the angel
stood in the way. And the beast was unable to see
that angel with that sword. And you remember, it kicked and
crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. And Balaam knocked
the fire out of that beast. And he'd done it a couple times.
And finally, God opens the beast's mouth and said, why do you hit
me? It was basically the beast was saving Balaam's life. Attempting
to at least. Trying to avoid the angel of
God's wrath. The beast seeing what even Balaam
couldn't see. And the beast spoke out. But
what did Balaam basically say? Well, I could have killed you. You see how the tender mercies
of the wicked are cruel? Balaam then speaks to his ass
and says, well I could have killed you, all I did was hit you. God legislated even concerning
animals, did you know that? A few of the passages, Exodus
20 verses 10 and 11. Exodus 23 verses 4 and 5. He
even gave legislation under the Mosaic law concerning birds and
their nests. If you had a piece of land and
there was a bird in the nest on it, there were certain ways
you were supposed to conduct yourself toward that bird and
her nest and her eggs. It's in Deuteronomy 22, 6 and
7. And then in Deuteronomy 25, verse 4, he said, don't you muzzle
the mouth of the ox that treads the corn. In other words, feed
the ox its daily ration every day. But even when it's doing
its job and it's going around and it's going around, don't
muzzle it. Let it eat what it wants. while it's doing the work. You see that? And then Paul comes
along and applies that to the gospel ministry. Does he? Yeah. He does. He comes and applies
that to the gospel ministry. Truly a righteous man regards
the life as peace. God ordained creatures lives
and deaths. Our Lord said in Matthew 10 verses
29 through 31 He said, not a sparrow falls to the ground without your
father. That sparrow's life is engaged
and sustained and kept. As long as it's there, it's kept
by God Almighty Himself. Every breath that that little
bird takes is a gift from God to that creature. God sustains
it. But what does fallen man do?
I like what Earl said one time. Man is one of the only creatures
that will filth his own nest. There's very few creatures that
will do their business. You know what I'm talking about.
Go to the bathroom in its own nest. But you know what? That's
what we'll do. That's what we are by fallen
nature. We'll foul our own nest. That's what we are. But let me
move on. There's another application here.
The believer, because truly righteous people, that's believers. Believers
are declared to be righteous. As a matter of fact, it says
God made him, that is God the Father made the Son, to be sin
for us. Who knew no sin? That we might
be what? Not just imputed righteousness.
We are imputed righteousness by faith. But we're more than
imputed righteousness by faith. If imputed righteousness by faith
was all we needed, Christ didn't have to die. Think about that. If all we needed was the imputed
righteousness of faith, then why did Christ die? Why didn't
God just impute righteousness to us by the gift of faith and
be done with it? Why? Because we had sin in the
way. And God made Him, the Son, to
be sin for us. That is, the Son, Nuno, the one
who knew no sin, that we might be what? Made the righteousness
of God in Him. I am made the very righteousness
of God. Do I see it? No, but I believe
it because God says so. And I am made the very righteousness
of God in Him. That is, in my standing in Christ,
I am as holy as God's Son Himself. I don't have a legal righteousness. I've got a deity righteousness.
I've got a deity righteousness. So the believer acknowledges
God's sovereign hand even in the animals that's under that
believer's I mean, you've got a believer,
he's got a farm, he takes care of his animals. You feed them.
You water them. Mason, sometimes you build barns
for them to get in and out of the weather. They take care of
them. Why? Because they realize God Almighty
gives life and takes life and it's all in His sovereign hand
and we bow down before it with responsibility, Mason. with responsibility,
knowing that we are accountable under God, but the best ways
of unbelievers rejects God's will and places creation under
human will and human law. That's cruelty. You know, if,
and it is an impossible if, I acknowledge that, but if we could walk according
to God's ordained law, both Sinai and natural, this world would
be paradise. You know that? This world would
be paradise, but we can't. Because we have to interject
our will, and our way, and our rules, and our laws, and even
our best ones are cruelty. They're cruelty. But here's the
third one. Here's what I want to kind of
zero in on. Christ is the righteous one. You could say in the Hebrew,
a righteous one regardeth the life of his beast. You could
put it that way. That's the way it could actually
be rendered. A righteous one regardeth the life of his beast,
but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Let me say
to you, Christ has some beasts. Yes, sir. Doesn't he? Yes, sir. Now, even the Armenians
acknowledge that Christ has some beasts, and they're called what?
What are they called, David? Right. Right? He's got some sheep. Even Armenians
acknowledge that there's some sheep. But what do they do? Well,
here's what you need to do to become a sheep. And I'm here
to say that that may sound like tender mercies, but that's cruel. That's cruel. a fallen, depraved,
God-hating beast as myself, that I could do something to gain
the favor of a thrice holy God? It may sound good. But truly,
the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Do something to gain
God's favor? Oh, God in eternity looked down
into time and seen who would dot, dot, dot, and then they
fill in whatever they think God's seen you would do. It's always
some good spiritual thing. He's seen you would believe or
He's seen you would repent. They're not in our repertoire.
Believing God is not within my power. Repentance is not within
my power. Obedience to God is not within
my power. It must come from God. Christ the righteous one, He
regards the life of His beast. You know that? Yeah. He regards
the life of His beast. But anti-Christ religion, and
you know, Arthur Pink, A lot of places, he said in the Old
Testament, when it talks about the wicked, he said that means Antichrist.
So think of it that way. A righteous one regardeth the
life of his beast, but the tender mercies of Antichrist are cruel.
And what is Antichrist after all? What is it really? Remember
John says it'll be a person. Why? Because this book says so.
The man of sin. The son of perdition. All singular.
It's a person. But there's a spirit that motivates
that person. John calls it the spirit of Antichrist. It's been in the world for a
long, long time. And what it is, is that which
tells men and women, if you just do this or that, you can gain
God's favor. That sounds like a tender mercy,
but it's cruel. It's cruel. Think of it. Christendom's tender mercy. When I say Christendom, that's
what I'm talking about. Antichrist religion. It may have the name
of Christian, but it's Antichrist. It's against His gospel. It's
against His Son. That's what they are. Christendom's
tender mercy is do this or do that and you can be a sheep.
Christendom's tender mercy constantly pleads you need to get saved. That may sound simple enough.
But those of us who know the truth ought to put that kind
of language out of our repertoire. Because the book nowhere ever
talks about getting saved. It says you have to be saved.
That's the whole difference. Getting saved means something
I do. Being saved means something God
does. And that's the difference between
the gospel of Christ and the perverted gospel of Antichrist. But let me ask you this question.
What? Now think about it. What is the first manifestation
of a sheep as a sheep? What's the first one? Anybody
want to answer that? What's the first manifestation of a sheep
as a sheep? My mind at first was, well, that
my sheep hear my voice. I know them, they follow me.
But that's not the first manifestation of a sheep as a sheep. The first
manifestation of a sheep as a sheep is found in Isaiah 53, verse
6, the first part. All we, like sheep, we follow
the Lord. Is that what it says? No. All
we, like sheep, have gone astray. There's the first manifestation
of a sheep as a sheep. It's a sheep who has gone astray. You see that? A lot of people
want to be a sheep, but they don't want to admit and will
not admit, ye cannot admit, well I've gone astray. Right? They want to be one of the elect,
one of the righteous man's beasts, but they want to do it by, they
want to say they're that by some act of goodness or spiritual
act on their part. No, the first thing in being
able to call yourself one of Christ's beasts, one of His sheep,
is to say, I'm a sheep that went astray. How many of those who get saved
have ever really gone astray? Now come on, how many people
say, I got saved? How many of them have ever really
went astray? How many of them have ever been
the prodigal son in the hog pen who finally comes to himself
and say, I've wasted my father's substance with righteous living
and I'm fed up with this. I will arise and go to my father.
How many people do that? No, most people decide they're
just going to give their heart to Jesus. If you're going to give it to
Jesus, wouldn't you think it's a pretty good thing? Huh? See, that's the difference
between God's sheep don't cry out. They don't cry out, oh Lord,
here's my heart, take it from me. No, it's oh God, give me
a clean heart. What does one of God's sheep
say? Create within me a clean heart, oh God. That's what the
sheep cry out. Why? Because the sheep's first
manifestation of a sheep as a sheep is that they go astray. They
go astray. Christ taught about having sheep,
didn't He? He said, what man of you has a hundred sheep? Which
one does he really look after? The one that is lost. Isn't that
what He says? You'll leave the ninety and nine
in the wilderness and go find the lost one. Hunt for it. Trod up and down over hill and
dale until you found what? That lost sheep. Our Lord said on many occasion
Matthew 10 5 and 6 Matthew 18 10 through 14 Luke chapter 10
19 and verse 10 I am come to seek and to save that which was
lost. Have you ever been lost? If you
ain't never been lost then you ain't got no right to think you're
one of the sheep yet Because nobody is saved until
they're first what lost He doesn't go save saved ones. Saved ones
don't need saving. He saved lost ones. And until
you're like the prodigal in the hog pen and become so sick of
the hog pen, that's where it's at. That's where it's at. It's not about, well, I came
to the doctrines of grace. No, I ask you, have you ever
been lost and the Savior, the shepherd of the sheep, come and
found you? That's what I'm asking you. I'm
not asking you if you believe the right doctrines. That's all
well and good, but you may still go to hell. But have you ever
seen, I'm lost. I don't even know which way,
Joe, to turn to start to get back. And even my righteousness, says,
are as filthy rags in God's sight. The more I do, the more abominable
I feel. The less I do, the more abominable
I feel. When I try not to do, so I'll
be a grace person, then I feel guilty because I don't do. But
then when I do, I feel guilty that I'm not a grace person,
and I feel guilty because I'm trying to do. You ever been to
her? Now I know there's some people
say, well, bless God, I'm not gonna do anything. I'll just
sin all I can and maybe I'm one of the elect and I'll go to heaven.
Well, let me tell you, one of the first signs of being a sheep
is going astray and knowing it. But it's knowing it. And the
shepherd goes out and finds every lost sheep. You remember the father, you
know, when our Lord gave that in Luke 17? It is actually three
parts of that message he gave. And the last one was, remember
the father, that son got tired of the hog pen. He said, I'm
going back. I want to tell my father, just make me one of your
hired servants. You know? But what did the father say?
Rejoice with me, my son, which was dead, is alive again. You see? You got to find out. God's got to show you first how
dead you are before you ever experience life. You don't just
come to know the doctrines of grace. It's not just coming to
know the five points and, oh, I've got a profound thing. No,
you've got a bunch of doctrine. You know why? Because there is
another manifestation of a sheep as a sheep. Here's the second
manifestation of a sheep as a sheep. Start turning to Psalms. Let's
turn to the 23rd one. One of the manifestations of
a sheep as a sheep is this. The Lord is my shepherd. You don't worry about whether
you're a sheep or not if you know the Lord's your shepherd.
If the Lord is your shepherd, that automatically qualifies
you as a what? A sheep. So there's two things
in scripture. God's sheep, the righteous man's
beasts are what? Lost sheep. And then there are
ones that once they're found, they find out the Lord is my
shepherd. What? I shall not want. It didn't
say now, I have plenty of pasture, therefore I shall not want. No,
the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Do you see
that? Think about it. Having the Lord
as shepherd precedes want field. But most people want their wants
filled, then they say, well I'll let the Lord be my shepherd.
It don't work that way. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want. That's the order. He doesn't
fill your wants first and then you let him be or he becomes
your shepherd. He is your shepherd because you
are lost. You went astray. He came and
found you and you then realized he's my shepherd. And then you
can say, once he's my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. That
is your realization of it. You come to understand it. You
come to trust it. You come to lean on him. Then
you say, I shall not want. Let me tell you something. There's
a lot of things I'd like to have, but I lack nothing in this world. You hear me? And God may hold
me to it, but if I lose everything I've got, This very day, if the
Lord is my shepherd, there might be a lot I'll miss. There might
be a lot that I desire, but I will still, if He's my shepherd, I
will still lack nothing. If He takes my home, He takes
my wife, takes my health, if He's my shepherd, I shall not
want. Because having Him as the shepherd,
It means I'm a sheep. Doesn't it? Think about this. Verse 2. Look
at it. He maketh me. I thought God didn't make people
do anything. People need to quit lying on God and start telling
the truth. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Think about this. Resting precedes
walking. You see that right there? Resting
precedes walking. You don't walk to rest, you rest
so you can walk. Now, if you're a believer in
Christ, you understand what I'm saying. We don't rest just to
rest. We rest to walk. But resting
always precedes the walking. Number three. Verse 3, look at
it. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the path of righteousness for His namesake. Number 3, restoration
precedes righteous paths. Do you see that? Most people
think you walk on the righteous path first, then God will revive
you, restore you. No! It's the very fact that we're
so prone to walk on the wrong path that we must be first restored
So then we can walk. Do you see that? This is what
it means to be a sheep and have the Lord as your shepherd. Look
at another one here, verses four and six. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me, thy rod, thy rod, that's the correcting, and thy
staff, that's the guiding. Yes, sir. Thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. Verse six. Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell,
where? In the house of the Lord forever. Amen. In other words, endurance
depends on Him. Yes, sir. That's what that's
teaching, doesn't it? As a matter of fact, if the Lord
is your shepherd, that's the only way He'll come. Because
every time you try to endure on your own, God will just let
you see how miserable you are. He'll let you fail over and over. Every time we try to do it ourselves,
guess what? You will fall. If you ever try
to do the right thing, just so you can say, boy, I'm doing the
right thing, God will let you fall just so you do not rest
in yourself. But truly, yea, though I walk
through the valley of shadow death, I will fear no evil. Why?
For thou art with me. You see that? Surely goodness
and mercy shall what follow me. It's got my back as well Joe
He's with me right here. He's with me, but surely goodness
still fights all follow me right up got my back Got my back Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me how all the days of my life
I Will dwell in the house of the Lord not just here but for
ever Here's another one, let me give you this one. First part
of verse five, look at it. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of thy enemies. Our enemies cannot thwart him. You see that? That's what it
says. Thou preparest a table before
me, where? In the presence of mine enemies.
Listen to me. I know this is tough, because
when it happens, we forget. When pain comes, when difficulty
comes, we forget so easily, and we murmur and complain, just
like the children of Israel did in the wilderness. But an enemy
cannot touch you. If he or she has touched you,
then God Almighty suffered it to be so. And He's prayed for
you, for one reason. Why, what's the one thing Christ
prays for, for His people? I prayed for you that your faith
fail not. That's a glory. That's a glory. And the last part of verse five,
what does it say? Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth
over. You know, most of the time, I'm
worried about what's being spilled. Rather than glorying in the fact
that it's running over. Don't you sometimes? You get aggravated
because, but why all that waste? It ain't a waste. That stream
that just keeps coming and coming. And Joe, you get down and you
drink it and you drink it and you drink it and when you really
see the truth, you thank God. I'm glad it don't just come out
spurts. I'm glad it's just rushing. It may look like it's wasted,
but no, it ain't wasted. But it's gushing forth. Gushing
forth. Think about it. His work. This is the meaning of the last
part of verse 5. His work. His work. Thou anointest
my head with oil. My cup runneth over. His work is my utter fullness.
Do you see that? His work is my utter fullness.
Scripture says we are complete. Where? Where are we complete? In Him. You look at me, you're
not going to see completion. One day, yes. One day. Got to
wind all this up. One day, yes, but not right now.
But I have a perfection. It's in Him and His work. And
I just have to rest in that. That's why we say the Lord is
my shepherd. I don't see it. Do you see yourself
as being complete in Him? Do you? No. Also faulty. Now here's another one. Let me
turn to Matthew 15 now. In other words, a righteous man,
that is the righteous one, Jesus Christ, He regards the life of
His beasts. Does He not? But there was a
woman one time, A couple of the writers of the New Testament
mention this woman. Matthew chapter, let me find
it, chapter 15 and verse 21, isn't it? Let me look, I hope
that's right. Where am I at? Matthew 15, 21,
yeah. Then Jesus went thence, and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, there's one of them
beholds, Joe. A woman of what? Canaan. A Canaanite. Not an Israelite. A Canaanite! A Gentile piece of garbage! You understand that language?
That's the old language. As a matter of fact, it's a Gentile
dog. Now look, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same
coast. Isn't it just amazing? The Lord
just happened to be there. Wasn't she lucky? Huh? He knew exactly where he was
going. Because there was at least one woman there He had to come,
his path was going to cross her path. Behold, a woman of Canaan came
out of the same coast and said unto him, saying, Have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Think of it, she wasn't even
looking for something for herself so much as she was looking for
relief for a loved one. And this is amazing when I read
it, when I still think of it, but He answered her, not a word. He ignored her. Don't lose hope. You hear what I say? No matter
how much you cry out, no matter how much you plead, no matter
how much you try, no matter how much you fail, don't lose hope.
Look, and His disciples came and besought Him saying, send
her away for she crieth after us. In other words, here's a
person you couldn't easily shut her up. That's the kind of person
we're talking about that's a real sheep. You can't just shut them
up. You can't just tick them off
with one message and they run off forever. It don't work that
way. That's not the way it is. A person
who can be upset by one message or two or three or four. Now
Joe is one who has stumbled at the stumbling stone, has become
offended at the rock of offense, and does not see Christ as their
sanctuary. She kept on, kept on, and he
said, send her away. But he answered and said, I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now let
me stop a minute. Be careful. Now don't prejudice
your mind. Be careful and not be like some.
who say, well then, since he wasn't sent but for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel, then evidently this woman was
truly, indeed a true spiritual Israelite. No. No. Even in the New Testament, where
the Apostle Paul talks about the believer, the Gentile believer's
union to Israel, calls us, in that case, a wild olive branch,
grafted into where others have been broken off. and we partake
of the root and fatness of the olive tree, but we still, at
the same time, are still a wild olive branch. Yes, we may have
supplanted some, But we are not true Israel. We are partakers of the glory
and the grace that comes to true Israel. That's the New Testament
doctrine. In Christ, there is neither Jew
nor Gentile. There is neither bond nor free. Here's the truth. But he answered
and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Then came she and worshiped him. He basically told her, I don't
have anything for you. You know that? But what if, she
would not quit. Yea, she could not quit. quit because God had placed within
her soul a knowledge, an understanding to some degree that this man
and this man only can help me even if he's ignoring me and
even if he says I've got nothing for you. I have nowhere else
to go. Huh? I have nowhere else to go. Look! Then came she, now most
people they get peeved off and huff and I'm out of here then.
Is that what happened to this woman? And I'll tell you why. Let me jump, now let me jump
in. Cause she had a faith. She had a God given faith. She
had a faith that cannot quit in spite of adversity and trouble. Then came she and worshipped
Him saying, Lord help me! But he answered and said, it
is not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. What an insult! Right? What an insult! But how true. But nevertheless, how true. You see, just because something's
an insult, don't mean it ain't true. Paul said concerning them
Cretans, they're evil beasts and slow bellies. This witness
is true, wherefore rebuke them sharply. Well, but Paul, you
shouldn't stereotype. That's what they are. It don't
matter what stereotype or whatever, that's what they are. Evil beasts,
slow bellies, rebuke them, sharply, so they can be sound in the face.
In other words, get your blessed emotions off your shirt sleeve,
or every time you wipe your head, you're crying about yourself.
Oh, look. It's not meat to take. It's not
proper to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And
she said, truth Lord! Yet the dogs eat the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. You know what she's saying? God,
you're right. I'm just a dog. But I'm your
dog. You're my master. The Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want I see it. Call me what you will, Lord.
It's the truth. I'm a filthy red maggot. Call me that. I won't get perturbed. Oh, maybe a little, but I'll
get over that. Because I realize that I really
am. Woman, you're a dog. It's not meat for me to give
Israel's bread to you. She said, I don't want the bread,
Lord, just the crumbs. Just the crumbs would be sufficient. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great, great is thy faith. You see that? Two
things, faith. One, faith trusts Christ no matter
what. Even when Christ seems to be
rebuffing. And that same faith acknowledges
what the individual is in and of themselves. Right there is
great faith. It acknowledges who man really
is. and acknowledges who Christ really is. And that's where it
all starts. You don't have to know much,
you know, you don't have to know anything about the great, deep
doctrines of predestination and election, but this one thing
you'll know, I'm nothing but a dog if the Lord says I'm a
dog. But he's my master. He's my master. He owns me lock,
stock, and barrel, David, and aren't you glad that a righteous
man regards the life of his beast? Then he said unto her, O woman,
great is thy faith. Now look at it. Be it unto thee
even as thou wilt. Now that was coming from the
first Calvinist that ever walked on the face of this earth. Jesus
Christ himself. Isn't it? Be it unto you as you
will. Why? Because he knew her will
was bowed down to his. That's it. What a glory. And her daughter? was made whole
from that very hour. What a glory. What a truly, truly
a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender
mercies of the wicked are what? Cruel. Our gospel's not cruel. It's not people say it is, but
that's what men do. They lie about the truth of God,
and then they call the lie the truth. Why? Because we hate God in our essence. But if God ever breaks that hatred
down, oh yeah, every particle will still cry out with pride,
Joe. But if God ever breaks that down and gives you a humbled
and humiliated heart before him, you'll find yourself just like
this woman. Lord, I've got to be blessed by you. You're the
only one that can do it. And yeah, I'm a dog. I'm a dog. That's the way it is. Bless our
hearts and minds with these truths. Teach us these things, though
hard they may be to learn, but teach them to us by experience,
and not just in doctrine, but I ask in Christ's name, amen. Thank you, Gerald. Do I leave this thing on right
now, Paul, before I cut it off? Before you cut it off?