So we were speaking of the desperation of a sinner that leads them to Christ. It was when the woman with the issue of blood had spent all that she had and only grown worse that she said, I must touch the Savior. I must touch the hem of his garment. So we're taught all through the scripture and all of these situations that Christ is never an option. We come to Christ when we have no options. We come to Christ when the case is hopeless. And a sinner will refuse to confess the hopelessness of their case. You see the tenacity of it in religion. They're not going to just say, I'm a goner unless God decides to have mercy. They're not going to say that. You need to do this. You need to do that. If you do this, God will do that. No, no. You've got to confess that every time you do anything, it's sin.

He literally told the disciples when they asked Him, who can be saved? He said, with men it's impossible. You can't do it. Works and grace don't mix. It's all grace or it's no grace. And that's what we see here, desperation. She's not gonna, the disciples said, Lord, send her away. They told her to shut it and leave them alone. She's not going anywhere. To whom would she go? Does that ring a bell? Think of the circumstances in which those words were said, Lord, to whom shall we go? The Lord is preaching the doctrine of election in John chapter 6. He's saying, you're not coming to me unless my father brings you to me.

And people were offended by that. and a whole multitude went away, it says, and walked no more with Him. That was it. They didn't come back and give Him another shot. They walked no more with Him. And that's when the Lord turned to the disciples and said, Are you going with them? And they said, Lord, to whom shall we go? We've got no place to go. There's no one to whom we can go. Thou hast the words of eternal life. How do you leave an oasis and go into the desert? Nowhere to go. That's where this woman is. She's not going anywhere. They said, send her away, and she heard that, but that didn't stop her.

You see the salvation of a sinner here? You don't have to beg somebody to come down and make a decision for Jesus. If the Lord reveals himself to you, which is how sinners are saved, I couldn't keep you away from the Savior with a big stick. That's how it happens. She's not going anywhere. I'm not worried about whether you're going to make a decision for Jesus or not. That's not what keeps me up at night. We stay up pleading that the Lord will do something for you because when he does, he will and you shall. That's the covenant of grace. And everything else is a counterfeit. If I could get you, I could manipulate you like religion does.

It ain't that hard. They don't even have to study the Bible to do it. It's not that hard to get people to do what you want them to do, unless they're the Lord's people now. I couldn't fool you who know the Savior if I wanted to. You're not gonna leave Him once you know Him.

And can we learn something from their hardness? She was just a nuisance to them. And there is that in us, which has no pity on sinners like ourselves, because we don't, you know, we have a tendency to think, well, they're, you know, they're, they're not like us. You know, we wouldn't, we wouldn't, we're not like that. You know, like the Pharisee, we all have a Pharisee still living in this, don't we?

Think about how cold and cruel that is. Lord, send her away. Aren't you glad he didn't do that to you? What if he had sent you away? And then our Lord spoke to her after ignoring her completely. And he told her the terrible truth. He didn't lie to her, of course, just the truth. revealed where the case she was in.

I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You think about that, that's election. The Lord Jesus Christ is not gonna save anybody but his sheep. Read John 17, he said, I don't pray for this world, I pray for my sheep. I pray for those you've given me. If the Lord's not interceding for you, you're a goner. I don't intercede for this world. He said in John 10, I lay down my life for my sheep, and then he turned to the Pharisees and said, you believe not because you're not my sheep. That's why you hate me. My sheep hear my voice. I don't just really hope they will. They hear my voice. They always hear my voice in the time of mercy. They hear my voice and they follow me. because it's the Master's voice. He commandeth the blessing.

He confronted her with the doctrine of election. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You know, a lot of people say, I don't want nothing to do with a God like that. I had somebody tell me those exact same words when I told him, God has a people. He has an elected people. He has a chosen people. He died for his people and nobody else. He redeemed a people.

I don't want anything to do with a God like that. You know what she said? Lord, that's the truth. That's the truth. He'd already had mercy on her, hadn't he? He'd already had mercy on her. That's the truth. The first thing we learn about her is she's a woman of Canaan. God has a chosen people and you're not one of them. You're not one of them in the physical sense.

Ephesians 2.11, listen to this verse. Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. That's what the Lord is confronting her with. Being Gentiles, being part of the uncircumcision. You're a Gentile dog. That's what the Israelites called the Gentiles, a bunch of dogs. You're not even a human being. That's what hatred does. It dehumanizes its enemy. and therefore justifies murder and all kinds of horrible crimes.

Listen to this. This is what the Lord said to her and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope. She needed to know that. She needed to know that she was in a place where she had no hope until the Lord gives the word until he speaks in power, there's just one hope. There's just one hope. But Christ is the savior of the hopeless. That's why, you see, she had to become hopeless because that's who he saves is the hopeless. her response to this terrible truth that seemed to separate her from any hope. It seemed to exclude her, and by nature we are excluded. But her response, it says that she worshiped him and said, Lord. Again, this is so instructive.

What's religions? You know, what's their testimony? I accepted Jesus as my personal savior. Really? What Jesus was that? Although there are many Christ, there are many that say here is Christ and there is Christ. And the Lord said, don't listen to him. There are many false Christ, even now, he said in this world. I accepted Jesus as my personal savior, you know, the first thing that's going to come into your mind and heart and from your lips, Lord.

She bowed. What did Paul say to the Jews in Romans chapter 10? It wasn't just that they had different opinions. They were all on the road to heaven, just different roads. No, he said, I would to God that he would save them because they haven't submitted. They haven't bowed to Christ as their righteous king. She worshiped him and said, Lord, help me, help me.

Sovereign, who does what he will, who saves and damns at his own discretion. Look up that word Lord in the New Testament sometime. There's a little homework for you. See if it says this, one who decides. the one who decides. You see why we call religion antichrist? Because they say you're the one who decides. That's antichrist. That's just the opposite. That's opposing Christ.

You see why now the Lord said, behold, this woman, because there was nothing to her, but he was showing the riches of his grace on the vessel of mercy. She didn't say that's not fair. I think everybody deserves, I deserve a chance to be saved, don't I? That never entered her mind. She said, Lord, help me, help me. She didn't raise the objections that Paul addresses in Romans nine. She was a dog and she knew it.

Our Lord said to her, Remember that all this time before she ever even approached him, she was in his heart. He loved her with an everlasting love. And he knew the truth cut. He knew the truth of electing grace. It puts us in our place before God, helpless, hopeless, up to him. You're never going there without his grace. She was one of the ones that he was talking about when he said he so loved, he so loved, that he gave himself to be the propitiation for her sins.

But he said to her in verse 26, it's not meat, it's not appropriate, it's not right to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. He added literally insult to injury, literally. There's bread for sinners, but you're not worthy to receive any of it. It wouldn't be meat for you to have any of it. The disciples one time, they argued and fought over who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

That sounds just like us, doesn't it? This woman said, Lord, it's true, I'm a dog. I'm a dog. If all that the Lord said is true, then why did he save her? How could he save her? If it's not right, if it's not good for him to give the children's bread to dogs, then how did he save her? The lost sheep of the house of Israel are the only ones he's going to save, but who is Israel?

Romans 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations. Not just the Jews, but for him who he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Things are what God says they are. Galatians 3, 7, know ye therefore that they which are of faith, those who believe, did she believe?

Did she cast all of her hope on the Savior? Did she have nowhere else to go? Was she completely desperate and saw that He was her only hope of salvation? They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. She was one of the children. She was one of the children. for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith. She was a heathen. And yet she believed on the Lord Jesus Christ by his grace. Preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed, Canaan and all the other ones too. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Did she have faith?

And she said, truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. That says so much, doesn't it? She's acknowledging what he said. She's a dog and she deserves absolutely nothing. And you know what else she said? You're my master. You're my master. I'm a dog, but I'm your dog.

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. That's why we're looking at her, because the mercy of God in a sinner shines so beautifully. His very glory Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. And he said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt, and her daughter was made whole. From that very hour. Notice just a few more things here. Every time she addressed the master, verse 22, verse 25, and verse 27, she called him Lord.

If your hope is that you accepted Jesus as your personal savior, then you have no hope this morning. She worshiped him. and took her place at his feet as a dog. And one final thing, what is great faith? What is great faith? Our Lord pointed out her as an example of faith and she still hadn't received anything from the Lord. Did she know her daughter was made whole from that very hour?

I don't see how, except she believed him. She believed him. But you know, faith, faith doesn't love and cling to the Savior because of results. There's no indication that her daughter was with her at all. And yet, not knowing I imagine she assumed she was made whole because the Lord dealt kindly with her from that moment on, but she didn't know, she didn't see that happen. And before he even spoke to her, she believed. What was in her heart and what came out of her mouth because of what was in her heart, caused the Lord to say, great faith. And it didn't have anything to do with the results.

If the Lord saves me or damns me, he's the Lord. If he has mercy on me and my loved ones or not, he's good and he's right and he's faithful. It's not about what he does for me, it's about who he is. when it comes to faith. Faith is not believing everything's going to work out great. It's believing Him. Believing Him.

She wasn't going to name it and claim it. She was looking to the Lord. She never said that she, she never presumed on. She said, Lord, the dog, the dogs get crumbs from their master's table. But faith worships Christ, whether he gives or takes away, didn't Job. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. When you hear the message of the gospel that declares that the Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and to save a specific people, that he loved them from the beginning, that he loved them with an everlasting love, that means without beginning or end, in Christ Jesus, we're loved of God eternally. And that we're utterly unworthy of the least of his mercies.

How will you react to that? What's your reaction to that? Your reaction will depend on several things. One of them is how many options do you have? Where am I going to go? Where are you going to go? Are you going to call on God? Well, the thing is, God is God. and he's to be bowed to, submitted to, acknowledged as such, acknowledged as sovereign, his will is supreme. Where are you gonna go?

If you have other options, you'll probably take them. It's when the Lord shuts you up to Christ that you'll meet him. And if the Lord gives you great faith, If he gives you anything, any kind of faith, any faith at all in him, then the Lord will say to you what he said to her, be it unto thee even as thou will. What is it that you want from Christ?

Paul said, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but done. Why? For what? That I may win Christ. What do you want from Christ? Prosperity? Healing? A promotion? For life to go easy for you?

What a real sinner wants from Christ is Christ. May He bring us to that place. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, that I may know Him, that I may know Him. What did we say the other night? All of this is for that reason, isn't it? That we may know him. I want to know him. Don't you know him, Chris? Well, I think so. I pray so. Then why would you say I want to know him? Because he's all. What else is there? What else is there?

I need righteousness. Christ is my righteousness. I need forgiveness, redemption. I need to hear the Savior say to me, be it even as thou wilt. When what you want is him, that's what he'll say. May God bring us to the place where he brought this Canaanite woman. And may we, like her, find love for the unlovable, mercy for the undeserving. Amen.