Matthew chapter 15 verse 21 this
morning. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coasts and cried unto him. There's not much
crying in our day. I don't guess there ever has
been really. But there's some. Say and 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 unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He didn't
send her away, but he told her the truth. 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, not just the master, their master's
table. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. This passage starts with
her saying, O Lord, and now he says, O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. What do you want from God? What
do you want from Christ? What is it that you will? from
him. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. This passage begins with a beckoning
word, calling you to look, take notice, pay attention, observe,
inspect, examine, behold. Behold what, Lord? A woman. A woman, why? Because she's beautiful? Because there's something special
about her? Well, yes. But it doesn't have anything
to do with her appearance. And it doesn't have anything
to do with her own goodness. It has to do with this, and only
this. She is a trophy of the grace
of God Almighty. And Christ delights to put his
trophies on display. That's what you do with a trophy.
You put it in a place where people might ask about it and say, what's
that for? And if they don't, you're going
to tell them anyway, aren't you? They come over. In Matthew eight,
we read recently of a centurion who came to the Lord pleading
for mercy. A centurion was over 100 soldiers in the Roman army.
a man of great authority, became pleading for mercy because one
of his servants was on death's door. And the Lord said, I will
come and heal him. And that centurion answered and
said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my
roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.
For I'm a man under authority. I have a boss too. I am a boss,
I have soldiers under me, but I'm also under authority, and
I know something about authority. And I know that you can just
say the word and it's done. When I say the word, I say to
this man, go and he goeth. And to another come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and
he doeth it. Lord, just speak the word. And when Jesus heard it, he marveled
and said to them that followed, we're talking about trophies
of grace. He said to them that followed and great multitudes
followed him everywhere. So you can imagine the crowd
that was there. He said, verily, I say unto you
that I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. This man was a Roman soldier. And the Lord said, look at the
faith. Paul said in Jude verse 24, now
unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present
you faultless. For the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. he presents the trophies of his
grace. Why? If I had some trophies in
my house and I'd put them on display there and you came over
for dinner, I'd probably be hoping you noticed them, you know. If
you didn't, I'd say, look at this. This is a trophy that was
presented to me for some achievement that I was awarded for. I would describe some accomplishment
of mine. Why would I do that? Why would
I do that? So that you'd look at the trophy and say, man, that's
the prettiest trophy I've ever seen. No. So you'd say, what
an accomplishment. That must have been something
for you to do that. That's quite an accomplishment.
Now, if I did that, it would be obnoxious, wouldn't it? It'd
be bragging. I hate it when people do that, don't you? But when
God does that, He does that because he's worthy of all glory and
honor and praise and adoration. Paul, in rebuke of those who
object to the truth of electing grace, which is the clear teaching
of our passage this morning in Matthew that we'll see in a minute
here, he answered this way to the objections to this truth.
He said, nay, but oh man, who are you to reply against God?
Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast
thou made me not thus? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel under honor and
another under dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long
suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that
he might make known the riches of his glory? on the vessels
of mercy. Why did he save them? Why does
he say, look at this woman, that he might present the trophies
of his grace? Why? Because that makes known
the riches of his glory. It shows his achievement, his
accomplishment, the reason that he's praiseworthy and worthy
of all honor and glory and adoration. The saints in heaven are saying,
power and wisdom and honor and glory unto him that sitteth upon
the throne. Look at the trophies of his grace,
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had
afore prepared unto glory. He's wanting to show something
when he saves a sinner. That's why he says, behold a
woman. So the almighty son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is willing from all eternity to make known
the riches of his glory and grace on his vessels of mercy that
he made from a corrupt and worthless lump of clay. How will he make
that known? Behold a woman. The way you know
something of the riches of his grace is by beholding the objects
of his grace. and looking at the work that
He's done in order to make them what they are. Now, I said that this passage,
like Romans 9 and countless other places in Scripture, sets forth
clearly the doctrine of God's electing grace and love in Christ
Jesus. And that's clearly so, isn't
it? He is the sovereign Savior of God's elect. And this passage
sets forth that truth in the harshest possible reality of
our true condition before God. What do I mean by that? Well,
it's one thing to be told in your rebellion and disinterest
in Christ and the things of God, which is where most people are.
Rebellion and utter disinterest. Oh, they love religion, but I'm
talking about the Christ of the Bible now. They have no interest
in the sovereign. We will not have this man to
reign over us. He can bless us and make us rich
and happy and well-liked in this world, but no God. No, we want sweet little Jesus,
but no God. It's one thing to be told in
that rebellion and disinterest in Christ and the things of God
that you're not worthy to receive anything from God but condemnation
in hell. That's true enough. But to come
begging for mercy and be told it wouldn't be right for me to
do anything for you. That's harsh. And our reality,
the truth, the reality of our condition before God is harsh. You're not worthy of anything
from me but disdain and to be ignored, to be left in your misery
to endure it alone. That's what you're worthy of. All of these encounters of our
Lord and these Words of our Lord and these miracles that he performed
teach us the spiritual truth of how God saves a sinner. And
that's where he saves us from. A place where we deserve nothing
but God's indignation and wrath. A place of guilt and shame and
helplessness. This is where the gospel begins.
You and I are unworthy of any pity, any mercy. If we were worthy,
it wouldn't be mercy, by the way. Any regard even from God. You remember what it said about
Cain? God regarded not Cain and his offering. He regards not
the sinner and the best he can do. But he regarded Abel and
his offering. Not Abel. Abel and his offering.
Why? Because it was a blood sacrifice.
Offered by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We deserve to be left in our
horrible condition of sin and condemnation and guilt and eventual
wrath. And coming and begging for mercy
doesn't make us worthy. It just doesn't. The mercy beggar
is not any more worthy than the hardened rebel who shakes his
fist in the face of God and cries like that poet wrote, my head
is bloody but unbowed. I know some people that are saying
that. this morning. But the mercy beggar is not any
more worthy than him. But we have this promise from
God, the son. And I repeat it to you now because
it's the most important thing you'll hear today or in your
life for that matter. If you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ and plead for mercy, if you believe on him, trust him.
that he's able to save you from your sins. If you take your rightful
place before him is unworthy and unable. And trust that he's able to save
you from your sins. Trust him as your sin offering
and as your only righteousness before God. He will in no wise
cast you out. But we'll have mercy on you and
make you whole. Not because you're worthy of
it, but because he is merciful to the unworthy. This woman's
case was desperate and she was shunned and discouraged. In her
desperation, the Savior ignored her. The Holy Spirit is careful
here to specifically state the fact that he answered her, not
a word. It doesn't have to say that.
We could have just implied that. You don't need to imply. It says
specifically, he answered her, not a word. He deliberately ignored
her. Not a word of comfort, not a
word of compassion. Why? Have you ever thought about
that? Why? You know, our Lord's heart
was hers. She had his very heart from the
beginning. This is one of the objects of
his everlasting eternal love. Why did he treat her this way?
Because as sinners, we must understand our desperate condition before
God. And he did this also to show
us that a real sinner, a real sinner, will never be offended
by the truth of our total depravity before God. It's not going to
offend you once you are what God says you are in your own
eyes, in your own heart, in your own estimation. It won't be offensive
to you then. That takes a work of God's grace. We are utterly unworthy and we're
unable to become worthy. of any blessing from God. We're worthy of only condemnation
and wrath because of our guilt before Him, our sin before Him,
in our natural condition. And somebody like that, somebody
that knows that, who takes their place in the dust before Him,
when our Lord says, let me go, like He did to Jacob, At Peniel,
you remember he said, let me go. A sinner will say every time when
brought to that place in the dust, by the grace and revelation
of God, that sinner will say, I will not let thee go. The disciples said, send her
away. She crieth after us. You know
why? Because she didn't have anywhere
to go. She had nowhere else to go. She crieth after us. She wasn't crying after them.
She was crying after the Lord. She was ignored. Our woman that
we're considering this morning was ignored. And then the disciples
said, Lord, send her away. And she heard that, of course,
but that didn't stop her. And can we learn something this
morning from their hardness, their coldness? Learn something
about ourselves. There is that in us which has
no pity on sinners like ourselves. And he told her the terrible
truth. He didn't lie to her, of course,
but the truth left her all but hopeless. He said, I am not sent,
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I am not sent. The very first thing that we
learned about this woman before she ever spoke is that she's
a woman of Canaan. God had said of old, cursed be
Canaan. She's not of the house of Israel,
not in a natural sense. The woman of Canaan, do you know
what that meant? God has a chosen people and you're
not one of them. That's what he said. That's what
she heard. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2.
This is where she was now. Paul says, remember verse 11.
Wherefore, remember, he's talking about these ones who have been
quickened by the grace of God, who were dead in trespasses and
sins, and who were by nature the children of wrath, even as
everybody else is. But God, who is rich in mercy,
has loved you. He's loved you, and quickened
you by his grace, quickened with Christ, by grace you say, but
he said, now you remember that you, 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. And he specifies in the flesh
made by hands because there is a circumcision that's not made
by hands, it's circumcision of the heart that Paul talks about. It's not done by men, that happens,
that's the work of God and his grace. That at that time, verse
12, You were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. Look
at these next words. This is where this woman was
now, and he told her this is where she was, having no hope and without God in the world. That's where you are. if you
don't know Him. If He has not yet had mercy on
you, that's where you are. You don't have any hope except Him. No hope without God in the world. Oh, but my friends, the lesson,
the gospel message of our text this morning in this, Christ
is the savior of the hopeless. That's who he saves, the hopeless.
He saves those who have no hope and who are without God. You
go down to this church down here, about, I don't know, five or
six miles up the street here on the right, and you ask them,
are you without God? Are you hopeless without God
in this world? You wouldn't find many that would
say yes, if any. But that's the ones God came
to save. That's who he came to save, the hopeless and those
without God in the world. They have a hope, don't they?
It's not the true God of the Bible. It's not the Christ of
the Bible. They have a hope. They're not
without hope. It's a false hope. Christ is the savior of the hopeless.
Do you know what her response was? To this terrible truth It's
in verse 25. It says she worshipped him She
worshipped him and said Lord Lord Sovereign Sovereign Christ
who does with his own what he will and Sovereign Savior who
saves and damns sinners at his own discretion. He gives life
to whomsoever he will and withholds it from whomsoever he will. Lord,
help me. Help me. Does this remind you
of Peter's prayer as he sank beneath the wave? Lord, save
me. Help me. The thief said, Lord,
remember me. The shortest prayers are the
best. The most desperate are the best. Are you beginning to see why
the Lord said, behold a woman? What a trophy of his grace. This
is not us by nature. And this is not us until the
Lord shuts us up to Christ and removes all other hope, all hope
in our own works and our own ability to please God. And he says, behold a woman,
not because there was anything to her, but to show forth the
riches of his glory. and grace in having mercy on
sinners. And we see that here, don't we? I was not sent, but unto the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. She didn't say that's not fair.
You know how many times I've heard that in my life? That's
what Satan said in the garden. Hath God said you can't have
this fruit? He knows that when you do that,
you'll be better off. Why would he say, I wonder why
he would say, you know, that you can't have, that's not fair.
You're going to be better if you eat that fruit. And ever since then, Satan and
his disciples have been responding that way to God's truth. That's
not fair. I believe everybody deserves
a chance to be saved. Don't you? Salvation is not by chance. It's by sovereign grace. It's not by your choosing, it's
by His. It's not by your will, it's by
His. It's not of Him that willeth or of Him that runneth, but it's
of God that showeth mercy. And this woman knew that. She didn't raise those objections
that Paul addresses also in Romans 9, where we've already quoted
this morning. Romans 9, 14 through 20. You remember the two objections
that are raised by sinners to the truth of God's electing grace?
He said, I'll have mercy on him. I will have mercy. And Paul said,
what will you say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? We accused God of not being fair, not being righteous, not
doing the right thing. That's not fair for him to do
that. He has no right to do that. Will you say that to God? Or
maybe this is your response, maybe both. God made me the way
I am. Nobody has resisted his will.
You're preaching, Paul, that he does as his will in the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. So how can he find
fault in me for being how he made me? Do you remember what
Paul said to that? Who in the world are you to reply
against God? This woman didn't say anything
like that. She didn't raise any objection at all. She worshipped
him and cried for mercy. Lord, help me. Help me. I wish I could find a dog somewhere. Don't you? There's not many dogs
in this world. I know a few. And our Lord said to her, and
remember now again and wonder at this. Before she ever approached
the Savior, she was in his heart and has been from all eternity.
This is one of the ones that he so loved that he gave himself
to be the propitiation for her sins. But he said to her, verse
26, he answered and said, it is not meat. to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. There's bread for sinners. There's
bread for the children. But you're not worthy to receive
any of it. The word meat means good. It
wouldn't be good to do that. I was reminded when I saw her answer to this,
I was reminded of when the disciples argued and fought with one another
over who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. That's our flesh, isn't it? That's
our flesh right now. And yet here is the spirit of
God's grace in her answer, Lord, it's true. I'm a dog. But can I be your dog? If all that the Lord said is
true, then why did he save her? How could he? It's true that
Christ had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and she's
a Canaanite. But who is Israel? Listen to these scriptures instead
of, well, you can turn there if you want to, Romans 4.16,
but let me read you from Romans and from Galatians, and you know
this is right, but this is, This is the truth here. He said, I'm
not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she's
sitting there thinking I'm a Canaanite. But the truth is, she's one of
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said, Zacchaeus, come
down. I've got to come to your house
today and abide. How come? Because you're a son
of Abraham. What about all these other sons of Abraham? You're
a true son of Abraham. And so was this Canaanite woman.
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. If it's up to your free will,
then nothing is sure. Nothing is sure. It could be
that nobody is saved. If he's just done all he can
do and now it's up to you, what if nobody believes? But no, this
promise is going to be sure. The covenant promise that God
made to Abraham is going to be sure to all the seed. How? By
grace through faith. Because God gives faith to every
last one of them that was included in that promise. So it's sure.
This promise is sure. It's not depending on you. It
depends on God. And so it's sure to all the seed,
not to that only, which is of the law or the Hebrews, the Israelites
who had God's law, but to that also, which is of the faith of
Abraham. who is the father of us all. What does he mean by us all?
Verse 17 of Romans 4, as it is written, I have made thee a father,
Abraham, of many nations. Not just the Israelites. He's
a spiritual father. He's called the father of the
faithful in the word of God. He's a spiritual father of people
from many nations. Before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickened the dead and calleth those things which
be not as though they were. He said, why does it say that
there, that he calls those things that be not as though they were?
Because God, when he appeared to Abraham, he didn't say, I'm
going to make you a father of many nations. He said, I've done
it. I've already done it. I have
made thee a father of many nations. And he talking about all of his
people from all the nations of the earth. Galatians 3, 7. Go ahead and turn there. Let's look at it together. Galatians
3, 7. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, those who have faith from God, faith in Christ, the same are the children of
Abraham. and the scripture for seeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith. Who's the heathen?
Everybody but an Israelite was called a heathen. We're all a
bunch of heathens here this morning. You're a heathen. You can go
tell everybody, my pastor called me a heathen today. And my pastor's a heathen too. But God justifies the heathen.
Do you own it? Through faith. That's how he
does it. Through faith. Preached before the gospel unto
Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then, they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. They which are of faith, the
same are the children of Abraham. She's a woman of Canaan, but
she's a son of Abraham, a child of Abraham, a daughter of Abraham. If she has the faith of Abraham,
if she has the same faith that God gave Abraham, then she's
a child. Did she have faith? The Lord
said she did. Not just faith, but grace. Look
at verse 27 again. And she said, truth, Lord, truth,
truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from their master's table. I'm a dog, but I want
to be your dog if I'm your dog. If you're my master, the dogs
eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. If I'm your dog, I won't go without.
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. Notice that every time she addressed
the master, every time. In verse 22, Oh Lord. In verse 25, Lord help me. And in verse 27, truth Lord. Do you notice a theme? She worshipped Him and took her
place as a dog at His feet. You know, I hear religious people
talking all the time about me and Jesus. I just want to, you
know, do the will of Jesus. Does that bother you when they
just call Him Jesus? You'll never find that in the
Word of God. When the Holy Spirit is narrating, He says Jesus went
and did this or that, but you look at where his disciples talked
to him. Or any sinner. Who wasn't his
enemy? Lord, remember me. Lord. Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. She took her place as a dog.
Well, we just said she was a child. Which was she? A child or a dog?
She was both. She was both. And I'll tell you
this, all dogs are children of God. All of them. All of them. And I want you to notice one
final thing. What is great faith? What is great faith? Our Lord pointed out her faith
as an example of great faith. And here's the answer to our
question. She still has not received anything from the Lord except
reasons why she should not have what she came for. Before he
ever gave her any reason to think he was going to do anything for
her but discourage her, he said, there's great faith.
She never spoke like religion does. I know that God's going
to bless me because I've named it and claimed it. That's faith,
you know, name it and claim it. No. That's not faith. Faith worships
Christ, whether he gives or withholds. And this lady doesn't know. She
has no reason to think that the Lord's going to bless her. She
doesn't know if he'll bless her or send her away. But she believes
him. Truth, Lord. Truth. She believes the truth concerning
herself. She knows that he's able. Lord,
have mercy on me. That cry acknowledges the fact
that he's able to. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Will you make me whole? This
is her cry. She believes in Him, and she
believes Him. She knows that He can, and she
has no place else to go. That's great faith. Faith acknowledges
the Savior as our only hope. Will you go away also? Lord,
to whom will we go? That's faith. I'm not going anywhere. I can but perish if I go. I am
resolved to try. Faith acknowledges his ability
and will not leave until it finds out whether he will or not. Faith,
no matter what the master says, no matter what he says, if he
opens his mouth and something comes out of it, the response
is this, truth! Lord. What about you? What about me? When you hear the message of
the gospel that declares that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
seek and to save a specific people and that you are utterly unworthy
of the least of his mercies, how will you react to that? How should you react to that
truth? How do you react this morning? to that truth, because you will
react to it. The gospel demands a response. I'll tell you this, I know this
much. How you do react will depend on how many options you have.
That'll be part of it. When the Holy Spirit shuts you
up to the Lord Jesus Christ, you will Come to Him and you
will cry after Him until He blesses you. The Holy Spirit comes and when
He does, when He comes to you, He gives what He gave this woman,
great faith. You know, there's weak faith
and there's great faith. I know that's right. But all
faith has a great object. All faith isn't a great savior.
All faith is possessed by great sinners. Because that's part
of the faith. You believe God concerning yourself.
That's the faith that He gives. The fruit of the Spirit is faith.
Not the fruit of your natural heart, your nature. It's the
fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives faith. And He gave this woman Great
faith, and if he gives you that faith, you'll act like she did.
You'll respond the way she did. And the Lord will say to you
what he said to her. Be it unto thee, even as thou
wilt. I asked you in the beginning,
I'm gonna ask you again. What is it you want from Christ?
Here's what Paul wanted. He said, doubtless, I count all
things but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, I want to know Christ. Everything else
is a waste of time compared to that. I want to know him. For whom I have suffered the
loss of all things and do count them but done, that I may win
Christ. I must have him. I've got to
know him. I've got to have him. And I've
got to be found in him. That's the next phrase of what
he said. And be found in him. What do you mean by that, Paul?
Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. But that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ, that's what it is
to be found in Him. It's to be righteous. It's to
be found in Him as our representative, as our mediator, as our sin offering. It's to be righteous before God
in Christ. The righteousness which is of
God by faith, 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. I need righteousness. I need
forgiveness. I need redemption. I need a Savior. I need Christ. Oh, to hear the
sovereign Savior say, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. Let's bow in prayer.