I didn't expect to be back so
soon. Well, I'm glad to be here, and
I'm glad you're glad I'm here. Well, I'll just be out here in
a few minutes. But it is a joy to come down
here and preach the gospel to you. I think I might have went
a little bit too long the last time I was here. I looked at
that and I told Vicki, I said, man, I'm starting to go too.
I don't know what's going on. Turn to Matthew 15. Matthew chapter 15. I titled this message, Lord, help me. Help me. Have you ever been there? I mean really been there. To where you really, really needed
help. And the only one you knew that
could help you was the Lord. He's the only one. He's the only
one that can save. He's the only one that can deliver. Oh, and the sooner we find that out,
the better. The sooner the Lord brings us to the end of ourselves,
which is really a short trip. It's really a short trip. We
just don't realize it. But the sooner he brings us to
the end of ourselves, oh, the happier we'll be. What a contrast we are going
to see here. What a contrast between the self-righteous Pharisees
in the beginning of this chapter. You see there in verse 1, then
came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees, which were at Jerusalem, saying,
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
Putting him on trial. Can you imagine that? Bringing
God into question. That's what they were doing.
They were so self-righteous that they were willing to stand in
the presence of Almighty God, even though they didn't recognize
him as God, and bring him into question. What a contrast between
the self-righteous Pharisees and the scribes and this Gentile dog. I started
to title this The Master and His Dog. But what a contrast. The one came to straighten him
out while the other came for mercy. The one came to instruct,
the other came to beg, to beg. One came with pride and arrogance,
the other came with a broken heart. came in humility and a
broken heart. All who come, come one way or
the other, one way or the other. Pharisee, Republican, one way
or the other. In verse 22, it says, and behold,
give attention to this, don't just, don't let this pass you
by now, there's something going on here. Something worth paying
attention to. A woman of Canaan came out of
the same coast. No doubt she heard of him and
heard that he was in the area. And she cried unto him, saying,
have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David, my daughter. My daughter is grievously vexed. with the devil. She called it
what it was. She didn't call it a disorder.
She said, the devil has my daughter. That's what she said. The devil
has my daughter. Here is something now for us
to take note of. A dog and its master. And we're
going to watch how he handles her. How he handles her. Now
this woman was a Canaan. She was Greek, a Syrophoenician,
a Gentile. She belonged to a cursed people. It says in Genesis 9.25, Cursed
be Canaan. She was a descendant of Ham. But you know that everyone, everyone
whom God saves, he saves from a curse. Everyone whom God saves,
he saves from a curse, and the curse is real. We're not talking about this
pretended voodoo curse, you know, somebody's going to put a curse
on you, you know, you've seen these pincushion dolls and stupid
stuff like that, no. This curse is very, very real. Cursed is everyone who continues
not in everything, that's written in the book of the law to do
it. Have you done it all? I haven't
done any of it. I haven't done any of it. I realize
when I read the word of God how much I need Christ and how much
I need salvation to be all of grace. When I read scriptures like this,
be ye holy for I am holy, that makes me want to run to Christ. He tells that adulterous woman,
go and sin no more. And you know what? He actually
meant that. He meant, go and sin no more. God never approves
of sin, ever, in any shape or form or fashion. He never approves
of it. Go and sin no more. Does that
not make you feel your need of Christ when you read scriptures
like that? Because that's all I seem to
do is sin more and more and more. Just seems like there's no end
to it. Now she comes and she cries to
him. She cries, she gets violent about
this and her bleeding. She cries to him for mercy. She's
asking for something that she does not deserve. We can beg for mercy, but we
cannot demand it. I cannot demand God show mercy
to me. I could beg him for mercy. I
can sue for mercy. I could ask him for mercy, but
I can't demand it or it wouldn't be mercy. And she recognizes His Lordship
over all. Here's the Pharisees and the
scribes who study the Word of God and they come to Him and
they speak down to Him. Here comes this Gentile dog and
she speaks up to Him. She looks up to the Lord. Lord,
she recognizes His Lordship over all. Thou art the sovereign. She recognizes his sovereign
right to do as he will. When I first heard the gospel
years ago, from Henry preaching on television, the first thing
that just struck me, that just stood out, was that God could
pass me by. There was an Armenian church
just above where I lived, and they worked on me hard. They
caught me in the living room one time, and they were just
two of them, and they were just going at it, trying to get me
to make a profession. And I really thought God wanted
me, and I was holding out until I heard the gospel, and I realized
he'd pass you by. He might save you, and he might
not. And for the first time in my life, I became afraid of God. I think I learned something about
the fear of God, the fear of the Lord, the beginning of knowledge.
When you learn that God might save you, I don't know, I know
there's something here lost. God might save you and he may
not. He may do that and he may not. He may leave you alone. She may leave you alone. She
comes and she recognizes his lordship. Thou art the sovereign.
All things, all persons are under your authority. All belong to
you. And she recognizes him to be the
promised Messiah. Something that the Pharisees
and scribes would not recognize. But here this Gentile dog, it's
evident, it's evident the Lord was at work in her. It's evident
the Holy Spirit had been teaching this woman something from what
she'd been hearing. It's like that woman who spent
all of her living and was none better but rather grew worse.
She had that issue of blood. It says she heard of him. And
when she heard of him, she came to him. And I have no doubt this
woman heard. And her daughter grievously vexed
with the devil. She says, he can do that. He can save her. He can save
her. So she recognized Him not only
as the Lord, but as the Messiah. Son of David. Son of David. And she asked for mercy on herself. Have mercy on me! Yet she's asking
mercy for her daughter. Asking help for her daughter.
Here is a good lesson a good example to every believing parent. This ought to encourage us to
seek Him to save our children. You asked for it back there in
prayer. Save our children. Oh, how we desire that. They
are vexed with an evil spirit. Until God saves them, They are
children of darkness, and we need to recognize that. They're
under the power. They might live under your roof,
and you may have control over them, but I'm telling you, they're
under the power of darkness. My dad was strict. I mean, he
thought he kept a thumb down on us. He tried, he kept a thumb
down and his belt loose. Why? Because I was under the
power of darkness. I wanted to do things that he
didn't want me to do. I'm like, I wish you'd go somewhere. Under the power of darkness.
And we have to recognize this. And we ask the Lord. Save our
children. Save them from the curse. Save
them from your wrath. Save them from the devil. Save
them, because he's a very real person. It's not a myth. It's not mythology here. This
is real. What I'm talking about is real. What she had, what her daughter
had, was not a physical problem. It's a spiritual problem. We
have to recognize it. It's spiritual death. It's a
spiritual problem. You can't take pills for this.
They don't make a drug for this. They don't make a drug for Satan. Hey, you can't cure sin. We keep giving all these drugs
to take care of the symptoms of sin. Really, I mean, everything
we got comes from sin, doesn't it? All these body elements and
sicknesses and diseases. But you can't cure sin. Christ put it away. He can put
my sin away. But she knew, she knew that he
could cast this devil out. You're the Lord. When you read the Gospels, is
there any place in the Gospels where a demon, when the Lord
said, come out, is there any place in the gospel where one
demon said, no, no, I'm staying here, that's mine? No, they came
out. Where the word of a king is,
there's power. And when King Jesus speaks, they
gotta go. And she knew, this one, this
Greek Gentile woman knew more than all those Pharisees and
all those scribes who studied for, they would study for 26
years before they would begin to teach as a scribe. And they
didn't know anything. Can you imagine that? Studying,
going to school and studying for 26 years and come out dumb
as a box of rocks? I told Jeremy when he went to
college, I said, the only one thing I ask of you, don't come
out as dumb as you went in. I'm serious. Now you may think
that's kind of a slam, but I was serious. 26 years, come out dumber than
you went in. Stand there in front of God and
you don't even know it. But now listen, he's going to
try her faith. This is tough. This is not like... He answered her, not a word.
The power, the power that's in his silence. She's crying after him. It's
a desperate situation. If you ever realize, when a sinner
realizes they're lost, they'll realize what a desperate situation
is. I mean, when you really, really know it. And he answered her, not a word.
He will speak when it's time to
speak. I want you to get this. For every
time he speaks, power goes with it. Every time he speaks, it's
full of wisdom and power and truth. I can't say that about
me. We can't say that about ourselves.
We say a lot of things. If we didn't say any more than
what would need to be said, we wouldn't be saying much at all. He kept silent. Here she is desperate,
crying after him, and he answers her not a word. And here also
he demonstrates his sovereignty here. Does God owe me a word? Does the scripture not say that
he gives no account of any of his matters? He gives no account of any of
his matters. If he answers her, and if he
answers me, and if he answers you, it's an act of mercy on
his part. In his silence, he reveals to
her her unworthiness. Don't you think, I mean, he's
standing there, and I can just see his eyes just looking at
her, piercing through her. This is the one who knows the
thoughts and intents of the heart. This is the one who can go straight
to the heart. And he looks at her with those
piercing eyes. And the longer he stood there
in silence, the more she felt unworthy. The
more she felt her unworthiness to be there. And she knew, she
realized. And she didn't deserve what she's
asking for. Not at all. And she cries to his disciples
to speak to him for her. She looked, she cried to him
in silence. Silence. And they handled it badly. We usually do. We usually do. She cries after us. Send her
away. That's how they handle it. The Lord does not save sinners.
He does not call sinners and save sinners and then send them
away. No doubt they were embarrassed
of her. She's a Gentile dog. Their attitude was this, get
this dog out of the house. I was telling some people the
other day, I have four dogs. I told them if you include me
and Vicki, that would be six. I've got four dogs, and they
come into the house. And they watch TV with, well,
they're in there with us watching TV at night. I start saying they
watch TV, that's thinking a little bit too much of my dogs. But
they, we let them in. But my parents, they absolutely
wouldn't let a dog in the house. They would not let a dog in the
house. And their attitude here is get this dog out of the house. Get her out of the house. She's
crying. She crieth after us. Don't flatter
yourself. She's not crying after you. She's
crying after him. She's not crying after us. Us can't do anything.
Remember that man who brought his son. He was throwing himself
in the water and in the fire. And he said, I brought him to
you disciples, but they couldn't do anything. And the Lord said,
and I love this, bring him to me. And he asked that father, he
said, how long has this been? He said, of a child, of a child. And the Lord commanded that evil
spirit to leave, and it left. She's not crying after us, can't
do anything, can we? We can tell you about him, but
he is the only one that can do it. He's the only one that can
say it. His righteousness is the only
righteousness that there is. There is no other righteousness.
Self-righteousness is no righteousness at all. It's just another form
of sin. It's a higher form of sin. It's
the worst of sin. She cries after us. She's crying
after Him. She needs Him. And here's his answer. It's a tough answer. It's a tough
answer. He answered and said, I am not
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said to his disciples, and
no doubt she heard what he said, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel." The first word she heard from
Christ was on election. You shouldn't tell sinners the
first time about election. Well, he did. He did. Evidently, she needed to hear
that one. She knew, listen, here's what
she knew. He said, I'm not sent but to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She knew she was a Gentile
dog. He's making her realize, now
I'm telling you, he's making her realize you don't deserve
what you're asking for. You don't deserve what I'm about
to give you. That's what she's gonna come
to realize. You don't deserve what I'm about to give you. It's another trial of her faith.
You can't run a genuine bona fide sinner in need of mercy
off. You can't run them off. Notice some of the words here.
He said, I'm not sent, yet I am sent. Christ was sent by the Father.
He tells us here. sent by the Father to this world
to redeem, to establish the righteousness, to shed his blood for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Who are they? I'm looking at
them. If you believe the gospel, if you believe the gospel, you're
an Israelite. You're a true Jew. If you believe
the gospel. And he was on a mission with
a purpose to accomplish. He didn't come into this world
just to do some good. He came to save, and that's what
he's going to do. He's going to save. That's the
reason why this world is still standing. He's still saving.
He's still saving. Well, that ought to encourage
us to keep on coming and keep bringing our children and keep
sitting under the gospel. Who knows what God will do? He's
still saving. He came to save lost sheep. And she's sitting there thinking,
I'm a dog. I'm a dog. And when he said this, When he said, I'm not sent, but
the lost sheep of the house of Israel, when he said this, did
she get up and say, all right, at least I tried. You can't run them off. You can't
run off a good dog. Can't do it. Then came she, in verse 25, then
came she and worshiped him saying, Lord, Help me! Help me. My daughter, the devil has her.
That's what she's saying, the devil has her. We need to learn
some things from this lady. She came, she said, Lord, help
me! It's like Peter, when he's about
to go down under the water, he said, save me! It's amazing. Spurgeon said it's amazing how
shorter her prayers got as it got more desperate. It got down
to the point where she just said, help me. Help me. She recognizes his Godhead, Lord,
she cried, Lord, all belong to you, even me, even this dog. I don't know all about this election,
I don't know all about the lost sheep of the house of Israel,
but I know this, you're the Lord, I'm your dog, and I need help. That's all you need to know.
That's all you need to know. that you need him. You need help. You need mercy. You cannot, you
cannot run a sinner off who needs mercy. You don't have to beg
him to come down an aisle. You don't have to beg him to
do anything. They do the begging. Get their
own people here doing the begging. She will do the begging. The
sinner will do the begging. God will do the saving. He didn't say one thing to her.
Now you notice this. He did not say one thing to her
that would even in the slightest way encourage her to keep on
asking, to keep on coming. He, on one hand, he's discouraging
her. He's telling her the truth. The
truth is tough on his flesh. Yet on the other hand, he's holding
her up. On one hand, he's discouraging her. On the other hand, he's
secretly, by his divine power, encouraging her. She keeps recognizing
his lordship. Boy, does she keep bringing that
up, doesn't she? There's your lesson. She keeps bringing your
lord, his lordship up. But he answered and said, It's
just, I mean, it's like he's throwing rocks at her. But he answered and said, it
is not me to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. He's
going to bring a real conviction of her unworthiness to be there. It's not proper. It's not fit
to take the children's bread, to take their salvation, to take
their promises. The children's bread, Christ
said, I am the bread of life, and give it to the dogs. If your children are hungry and
your dog is hungry, who's going to get the plate? Who's going
to get the food? That's what he's telling her.
What you're asking for is not fed. We would have all already packed
up and left. We would have just went home and said, he ain't
going to do anything for me. But if you're ever desperate
enough, you won't. You won't. You'll never leave
him till he, like Jacob said, I will not let you go till you
bless me. You see, he's working on her
heart. This is true heart surgery without any anesthetic. That's
what it is. He's going to make her feel every
stroke of it. Every cut, she's going to feel
it. She's going to feel her complete
unworthiness in his presence. Salvation is his to give or to
withhold. That leper said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. But the opposite of that is,
if you will, you can leave me alone too. But he's never, he's
never turned away a sinner who sought for mercy, ever. I tell you this, the scripture
teaches us that God delights to show mercy. God delights to
show mercy more than you and I will ever delight to have it,
more. And she said, truth, Lord. Truth. You're right. You're right. It's not, I am a dog and it's
not fit to do, to give me what I'm asking for. You're truth,
Lord. Truth. She's not offended. You can't offend a sinner. People
who are easily offended just are people who think too highly
of themselves. And this woman's in the dust. He's got her in
the dust. He has stripped her down and
laid her low. He has whipped this dog. She's
laying at his feet. Everything you said is absolute
truth. I don't deserve your mercy. I
have no right for what I'm asking for, and I am a dog of a sinner. I am. But I need you. I need you. The master and his dog. Someone
said, probably shouldn't tell you this, but someone said, if
you want to find out who loves you the most, your dog or your
wife, Put them both in the trunk of a car. Hour later, let them
out and see which one comes to you. It'll be that dog. I assure you,
it'll be that dog. But don't try it. Don't try it. It'll be that dog. She said, truth, Lord. Truth. He had her in the trunk of the
car. Truth of the Lord. If you'll notice over in verse
12, look over in verse 12 of chapter 15. Then came his disciples
and said unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended
after they heard this saying? Boy, he couldn't offend her though,
could he? Calling you a dog, a wretch. Undeserving. Ungodly. What are you asking for? The Lord put her in her place.
Every time God saves a sinner, He has to put that sinner in
his place. Him or her. That sinner. You have to. We're
all out of place. We're absolutely out of place.
We think we're something. We think we're somebody. It takes
God Almighty to bring us down and show us who we are and who
He is. And then we get it right. But she says this. Man, we could
learn something here. Yet the dogs, the little dogs,
she says, eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Their master. You're my master. Save me or not. You're my master. You own me. You own me. The earth is the Lord, the fullness
thereof, and they who dwell therein, he owns you whether you believe
him or not. You're the master. There she
sits. For you who have dogs, you can
get this in your mind. You can get this. There she sits, begging,
like a begging dog, just looking. I got a dog, a bird dog, English
setter to drive you out of your mind when you're eating, when
we're eating. She'll sit there and won't bark
or anything, but she'll look at you. And she won't take her
eye off of you, won't bat an eye. And I don't care if you
sit there for an hour, she'll sit, she'll stand right there. I can just see this woman just
hoping for mercy, hoping for a crumb, just a crumb, just let
a crumb fall from the master's table. That's all I ask for. And she fell down at his feet,
finally. There's where he's bringing her to. She recognizes him as her master
and waits for a crumb of mercy to fall from his table. But she's
not going to leave until she gets it. See, this is what you
call violent praying. Have you ever prayed violently?
Has God ever put you in a situation, has he ever brought you into
a street where you prayed violently? Jacob
said, I'm not going to let you go. Do you bless me? This ain't
happening. I'm not going to let you go.
This woman wasn't going to leave. She wasn't going to leave. She
was violently crying after him. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. And she's one of
them. And look what he says to her.
He says to her what I don't believe he ever said to any of his disciples.
Great is thy faith. The ones who follow him every
day, slept out there under the stars with him, ate with him,
heard him, watched his miracles, saw all this. Did he ever say,
great is your faith, Peter? Great is your faith? No, he's
always saying, why are you so fearful? What's your problem? But this woman, he says, great. Oh, it looks like he turns to
his disciples and says, pay attention here. Great is her faith. Great faith is found where you
don't expect it. We expect it to be right here
in the pulpit, and it ought to be. But it's probably some lady out
here who just believes God and just takes Him at His word. That's
what great faith is. That's all it is. Great faith
is just saying, well, God said it. That's it. Great because it's in Him. Great faith is believing God
against all else. Let me close this. This woman heard of him. She believed he
was able to save her daughter. She said, have mercy on me. And yet she was praying for her
daughter. I tell you what, if God saves my children, if he
saves your children, that's a mercy on me. That's an act of mercy
on me. She came to him and worshipped. We sang that song, I don't remember
which one it was now, but she's standing in awe. Now listen,
you haven't worshipped God until you stand in awe of him. You
haven't done it. I haven't done it until I stand
in awe of Him. She gave Him the glory due unto
His name. She called Him Lord and Son of
David. That's who He is. And she confessed
her need to Him and would not, she was not going to leave there. And He said, woman, It's a Gentile dog. Who would
have thought such faith would come up from that? I tell you what, I want to be
such a dog. Lord, let me be such a dog. Let me be your dog. Let
me be your dog. And give me some crumbs. This
evening, just give me some crumbs that fall from your table. Crumbs
of mercy that fall from your table. All right.