Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to Matthew chapter 15. The lesson this morning is crumbs
for the master's dog. Having painted a very clear and
revealing picture of false religion. That's what we've been looking
hard at last week, week before last. and having exposed the
most highly revered of the Jewish hierarchy." This is the religion,
all the religion, that these disciples have ever known. And
the Lord reveals to them, in the most highly revealed of all
the Jewish hierarchy, He reveals them as heartless hypocrites
to His disciples. And now he goes to the most disgusting
place to a Jew that there ever was on the face of the earth.
He goes to the land of Tyre and Sidon. Canaanites. Anybody who's ever read the history
of Israel knows how they despised the Canaanites. and what God
taught them about these Canaanites. They were Phoenicians. They were
Gentile idolaters. And the Jews viewed these people
as beasts, as dogs. Paul described them in Ephesians
chapter 2, talking about those that God had converted from them.
He described them in their days gone by as having no Christ. They had no promise of a Redeemer. None. Not in all their history
now. Go all the way back to Cain.
No promise anywhere of a Redeemer to the Gentiles. No prophets. God didn't speak to them. Totally
ignored them. Left them to themselves. Left
them to worship whatever they wanted to worship. Left them
over there to worship Baal. and Dagon, and all these gods. They were aliens, he said, from
the commonwealth of Israel, and therefore strangers from the
covenants of promise, and they had no hope in all that they
did, and all that they worshipped, and everywhere they went, and
all of their family trees, and all of their history. They had
no hope. No hope. And without God in the world. No understanding of the true
and living God and no evidence of His presence. There was absolutely
no visible sign of God's mercy in all their history. No prophets,
no inspired writings, no signs of God's mercy with them at all.
Just faintly here and there like the widow, like the widow's barrel,
and a few places like that. And this is the place where the
Master will show us something about saving faith. He'll show
us something about sovereign grace. We like to think, well,
I've seen this or I've seen that, and I see a little potential. I'll tell you where potential
is, where you don't think there's anything. That's where there's
potential. God will take His people from
nothing. From nothing. And I find in this
story a very accurate and timely application to those we preach
to in our day. Let's read the text together
here in Matthew chapter 15 beginning with verse 21. And Jesus went
thence, and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, Boy, I tell you,
when you see that word, that means this is something. This
is something. In 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, son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And He answered her, not a word. He didn't say anything at all.
Totally ignored her. Just acted like she wasn't even
there. Acted like she didn't have anything
to say. Answered her, not a word. And then 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. Then
came she, now watch this, this is a Gentile doll with no understanding. I'm talking about somebody who
just don't know anything whatsoever about God. But she had heard
this from somebody. And when he totally ignored her,
and then he told her, he said, you've got nothing to do with
me or anything that I'm about. I'm not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. She worshiped him. Huh? Boy, I've never gotten that reaction
from anybody I've ever preached particular redemption to. I've
had them gasp for breath and everything else when you told
them that Christ died for a particular people. This woman worshipped
Him. She came and worshipped Him,
saying, Lord, Lord, help me. But He answered and said, it's
not meat 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. Dog that I am, I'm your dog. I'm your dog. Gentile that I
am, I'm your dog. Lost as I am, I'm your lost. And even the dogs eat crumbs
from the 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
that very hour. I have four things I want to
point out to you this morning in the light of true saving faith
as it's given to heathen dogs. That's what we are. We're Gentile. We're Gentile. And God showed
us mercy and He's given us faith. And the first thing I want you
to see here is faith's approach. I'm talking about faith is the
gift of God. It's not something you conjure
up. This is not something you just do on the spur of the moment.
This ain't something that just strikes you fancy one day and
you decide you're going to believe. Faith is the gift of God. And
faith is the work of God in you. And when God begins a work of
faith in you, it has a certain approach. When it approaches
God, there is an approach. And the first thing about, I
see here, in Faith's approach is she came to the right place.
She didn't stay over in Tyre and Sidon. She didn't stay over
there among those heathen idolaters she heard of. of Christ and His
disciples and heard about the miracles of God and how He confirmed
His ministry and began to ask some questions. And somebody
gave her some answers. And she said, I'm going to go
there. I'm going to go there and see what this is all about.
This is not going on in my country. I don't see anything going on
in my country. I'm going to go there. She went
to the right place. Her native land couldn't do her
any good. Her need had caused her to take a close examination
of their religion, and it was all just a vain show. And for
all their exquisite buildings and statutes and their priests
and prophets and all their pomp and ceremony, they were empty
as an empty box or an empty bucket. They had no power to change anything. It was just an empty, hollow
form, a show of groundless, helpless, hollow religion. And this, my
friend, is an accurate picture of the religion of our day. It's
idolatry. It's idolatry. It's a vain and
empty show, parading around like the old prophets of Baal, parading
around in their gowns and in their makeup and in their titles
and in their recognition and all that. They paraded around,
but they couldn't cause God to come down and reveal himself
in power. They couldn't cause God to come
down and consume their sacrifice. They couldn't get God to accept
their sacrifice. Not able to show the power and
presence of God. And like the woman of Samaria,
they worshiped they know not what. And she found no hope where
she was. So she came to the place where
she heard God's presence and power could be seen and found.
And then secondly, she came to the right person. She came to
Christ. She came to Him. She heard something
that made her believe that He and He alone could meet her needs
and no one else. And then thirdly, she came for
the right reason. She came looking for mercy. Looking
for mercy. True saving faith doesn't come
seeking rewards or rights or benefits. True saving faith seeks
mercy. Our Lord said, it's not of him
that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. The Pharisees came seeking recognition
and honor, and John told them to go home and bring back fruits
to repentance. He said, I don't have anything
for you. When you can come seeking mercy
and repentance, turning to God from yourself and your idols,
he said, then I have something for you. Till then, you might
as well go home. The scribes and Pharisees came
to Christ seeking the same honor and recognition. He told them,
he said, the whole need not a physician. He said, you go home and learn
what this means. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice.
Then you come talk to me. She came for the right reason.
She came seeking mercy. Faith of God's elect learns where
to go, and it goes there. And it learns who to seek, and
it seeks Him. Seeks Him. You know what that means? Seeking
God. Seeking Christ. Have to have Him. Can't do without
Him. My life is just a mess. It's
just a corrupt mess without Him. I'm lost without Him. I'm free-falling
in space without Him. I've got no control over my life,
no control over my future, no hope for my destiny apart from
Christ. And we seek Him. We seek Him
because we don't have any of the things that we need. We seek
Him. And in Him, everything we need
is. That's faith's approach. It learns
where to go, and it goes there, and it learns who to seek, and
it seeks them. And it always comes for the right reason. It
comes for mercy. And then secondly, let's look
at faith's attitude. There's two things here that
I want you to see. First, that she came to him in
full recognition and honor of his offices. Somebody told her
who he was. That's the first thing you learn
in the Gospel, who He is. Who is this man? Who is this
man? Jesus Christ. Who is He? Is He
who God says He is? Is He who this book says He is?
Is He who this preacher says He is? Who is He? Who is this
man? She came to Him in full recognition
and honor of His offices. She acknowledged Him. in his
active rule as Lord. Some of you in here know what
I'm talking about, and some of you ain't got a clue what I just
said. He rules. But he don't rule over me. I
ain't nothing but a rebel. Yeah, he rules. He rules over
you. That's why you're still a rebel. Why you're still a rebel. And you're going to stay a rebel
until he takes his hand off of you. Brings you to him. He rules. He rules. The devil
is God's devil. The devil wanted to do something
to Job, but couldn't. He had to ask God's permission,
didn't he? Those demons, when he cast him out of that demoniac,
they asked permission to go into the swine. They didn't just run
over there and jump in that herd of swine. They asked his permission
to do it. That's active rule. And he rules
over nations, and he rules over kings, and he rules over presidents,
and senators, and governors, and he rules over you, and he
rules over me. The heart of the king is in the
hand of the Lord like rivers of water, and he can just turn
it wheresoever he will. He rules. She acknowledged that. He rules. If He wants to save
a people for His glory, He's Lord. It's okay with me. All
right with me. I can't find any reason for Him
to save anybody. So if He in His sovereign grace
has purpose to save some, I'm going to rejoice, ain't you? And then secondly, She acknowledged
Him in His active rule as Lord. Lord over all, even the dogs. And three times in this supposition,
she calls Him Lord. Three separate times she calls
Him Lord. My friend, this silly sentimental
Jesus that's being preached today can't do you any good. He's got
no power. He's like old Dagon over there
in the land where she lived. He's like Baal. He just stands
there and looks. He's like old Dagon after God
turned him over. He's nothing but a head separated
from his members. He's got no feet but your feet,
no hands but your hands, and so on. He can't do what he wants
to do because nobody will let him. The Jesus of this generation
is nothing more than a figment of fallen man's imagination,
and he does and says what men allow him to say. But the Son
of God sits at the right hand of God. And He rules over everything
that is, and He works all things, everything, after the counsel
of His own will. Our God is in the heavens. He's
done whatsoever He pleases. That's what David said. It's
His sustaining power that keeps this universe in place. And by
Him all things consist. He's not just Lord to those who
willingly submit to Him, but even over the devils and hell.
And then secondly, she acknowledged Him as the Messiah, the Redeemer
of Israel. She called Him the Son of David,
didn't she? The Son of David. That's a term
that only Jews use to describe the Messiah. She called Him the Messiah, the
Redeemer, the Promised One of God. And then thirdly, she worshipped
Him, which means she believed Him to be God. Now whatever it
is you worship is your God, isn't it? Isn't that what this book
teaches? Anything you worship, I don't
care if it's your grandkid, that's your God. If you worship your
paycheck and your business, your paycheck and business is your
God. Men worship their God. And she worshipped Him, which
means she believed Him to be God. And then the second thing I want
you to see about this attitude of Faith is that she acknowledged
his account of her person and came into full agreement with
him. He said she was a heathen. She went like that. That's what
I am, a heathen. Can you take your place as a
heathen? That's what God said we are, heathens. That's hard, ain't it? Natural
man ain't going to have it. I can tell you that. Well, I
ain't always doing the right thing, but one thing I never
did. No, you did that too. Yeah, you
did. He said she was a dog. I might be ungodly, but I ain't
no dog. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what
you are. Just a dog. She wasn't even worthy
of a response. Not even a response to her pleas. And she acknowledged that. And
she didn't go away. Face approach. Face attitude. Now let's look at face trial. True saving faith is always tried,
and I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about that. The trial of faith is not to
prove a man's faith to God. Now, did you hear what I said?
The trials that God sends your way is not to prove to him that
you have faith. He's the author of faith. He
gave you faith. You think God doubts what He
gives? You think God doubts the work
that He does? Paul said that his one hope toward
the Philippians was that what God had began this good work
in them would finish it to the end. God's not in doubt of His
work. This proving of your faith is
to prove it to you, and to prove it to me, and to prove it to
those around you. It's not to prove it to God.
God knows what He does, and He knows what He does is effectual. He don't stand in doubt of His
work, but you do. And He's going to prove it to
you. And He proves His faith. That multitude who followed Him
to the other side of the sea said, what must we do to work
the works of God? And He said to them, this is
the work of God. That you believe, huh? This is the work of God. That
you believe on Him whom He has sent. It's the work of God in
men when they're brought to trust in, rest in, and rejoice in Christ. In the case of this Canaanite
woman, the Lord manifests the work of faith in her in two ways. First, He tries her understanding. He tries her understanding. He
shuts her up to His sovereign particular redemption. He said,
I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
My presence, my offices, my ministry in this world is not universal. It's particular. It's not the
purpose of God to save every son of Adam, or as many as He
can save, some men say, or as many as will let Him, some men
say. God's purpose is to save His
elect. That's what he's purposed to
do. That's what he did. That's what he's doing. And to attempt to make his sacrifice
or his faithful obedience or present reign and glory, anything
else renders his work of none effect. I'll give you some examples. If Christ died for the whole
world, then his death was a total failure for thousands. Because
hell has had to enlarge its borders. So his work didn't work. Is that
not right? If our faith makes the death
of Christ effectual, then faith becomes the redeemer, not the death of Christ. And
if God loves everyone and wills for everyone to be saved, yet
thousands die in unbelief, his love really didn't make any difference
either. And then the same thing concerning
his righteousness. If his righteousness is made
effectual by faith, then faith is exalted above the righteousness
of Christ. Faith is made to see the mystery
of the gospel in the sovereign particular redemption of Christ. His love is effectual. It can
only be effectual if those He loves He saves. Isn't that what
that says? There's no other way for all
things to work together for good to them who love God, to them
except to those who are called according to His purpose. And
in that statement, of particular redemption in Romans chapter
8 verse 28, you go down through there and you'll find that he
goes all the way down from beginning to end and shows you how these
things are absolutely effectual. Effectual only because of particular
redemption. His sacrifice was substitutionary. That is, in the place of certain
individuals. He didn't die to make salvation
possible. He died to put away our sins.
Well, if he's put away the sins of the whole world, then the
whole world's justified before God. So that's not true. So he must have died for his
elect. And his righteousness is charged to the account of
his people. And then the second thing he
tried concerning his work of faith in her was her heart. Faith is a heart work. It's a
heart work. Her heart was fixed on Christ
and could not be turned away. He ignored her and she stayed.
He said, I have nothing to do with you. I'm not sent for you. I'm not here for you. Go away. She ain't going nowhere. He said,
you ain't nothing but a dog. She said, yeah, but I'm your
dog. And I'm camping under your table. I'm not going anywhere. Faith that can be defeated is
not faith at all. Our Lord began to tell those
Jews around Him in mysterious language, He began to say, except
you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you've got no life
in you. And they said, he's a cannibal.
He's preaching cannibalism. He's nuts. And they all just
went like that and turned and walked away. And you know, he
turned to the 12, and he said, will you go also? That door,
it opened going out, same as it worked coming in. You know
what they told him? Where are we going to go? Where
are we going to go? Huh? Faith understands that,
don't it? I've got nowhere else to go.
I can't go back to Canaan. There's nothing there but idolatry.
I can't go back to my house. There's nothing there but idolatry.
I've got nowhere to go but Christ. I've got nowhere else. It's all
in Christ. I'm not going anywhere. And if
crumbs is all I can get, I'll take the crumbs. I'll take the
crumbs. Be honest with you, I'd rather
have his crumbs than I would the banquet down there where
the idolaters are. I'd rather have the crumbs. Turn
with me to Romans chapter 8. This is the last thing I want you
to see, faith's victory. Faith is not discouraged in circumstance
or in itself because it don't look on those things for hope.
The faith sees Christ. And seeing Christ, it finds a
full sufficiency in Him for all that it needs. And if all my
hope is in Christ, and Christ has already won the battle, are you with me? If all my hope
is in Christ, there is nothing depending on me. Not on my works,
not on my righteousness, not on my strength, not on my ability,
not on my will. Everything is riding on Him.
If all my hope is in Christ, and Christ has already won the
victory, then I have the victory if I have Christ. Is that not
true? We are, Paul wrote to the Ephesians,
raised up with Him and made to sit together with Him in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Romans 8.34, and I'll close with
it. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. I have an advocate at the right
hand of God. I've got somebody there to plead
my case before God. And it's somebody that God listens
to. Somebody that God's already approved. Therefore, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? Distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Peril? As it's written, for thy
sake we are killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep
for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. Faith is always
victorious because of its object. And its object is Christ the
Lord. I'll tell you when you're going to fail when your faith
looks to you or looks to a man. or looks to a religion, or looks
to a doctrine, or looks to this, or looks to that. When you take
your eyes off the Redeemer, that's when faith goes down the tube. Faith, victorious faith, is in
Christ. This woman knew that. And God
proved it, not just to her, but He proved it to those apostles
around her. And He did it in the most unlikely
of places, in the most hated, despised, God forsaken place
on this earth. That's where He did it. And He
did it that way so He'd get all the glory.