I want to take my place with
this woman at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him
for mercy. Mercy. Mercy. I need the mercy
of God. So I'm taking the title for the
message, Matthew 15, Matthew 15 verse 25. I'm taking the title
for the message in the words that are found there in verse
25. Then she, then came she and worshipped
Him. She worshipped him, saying, Lord,
help me. At his feet, worshipping the
Lord, the only place a sinner will truly worship is at the
throne of the absolute sovereign God. She recognized his lordship,
recognized him as the Messiah, and she worshipped him and begged
for help. Begged for help. It's a very
short prayer, isn't it? Lord, help me. The shorter the better. The shorter
the better. Lord, save me. That reminds me
of the words of another sinner in desperate need of mercy. Remember
what Peter cried when he was sinking beneath the boisterous
waves right across the page. Find Matthew 14. When the Lord
told Peter to come, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come. And
he said, come. Verse 30, but when he saw the
wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, Lord, save me. Another three-word prayer, Lord,
save me. That's a good thing to do, to
ask the Lord for mercy. Now this is great encouragement
to sinners in need of mercy, is it not? Those who came to
the Lord seeking help, those who came to the Lord seeking
healing, seeking salvation, were never, no, never turned away
from the Lord Jesus Christ. You know why? He delights to
show mercy. He is always ready, willing,
able to show mercy to helpless, vile, wretched, guilty sinners
and to save them by His grace. If He's going to save and determine
to save sinners, I'm going to take my place before His throne
as a sinner, in sinner in need of mercy. Now, in Matthew chapter
15, in verse 29 and verse 31. I meant to read this when we
were reading, but look at Matthew 15, 29, and here we have multiple
examples of the Lord doing just that. Jesus departed thence and
came nigh unto the Sea of Galilee, and went up into the mountain,
and sat down, and great multitudes came unto him, having with them
those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others,
and casting them down at his feet, what did he do? He healed
them. He healed them, insomuch that
the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb speak, the maimed
made whole, the lame were walking, the blind were seeing, and they
glorified the God of Israel. Boy, there's a multitude. Remember,
we've read this several times. Everyone who came to the Lord
in need of mercy received mercy. Everyone who came to the Lord
in need of healing, He healed everyone who had need of healing. That ought to encourage all of
us. We're to seek mercy where it's found. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in our time of need. Notice it's the
throne of grace. This is one of the reasons that
we meet here together each week. One of the reasons we come to
worship him. But don't we come here as mercy beggars seeking
the Lord for mercy each day? Each time we come to worship
Him, we come as mercy beggars seeking salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Seeking pardon, seeking forgiveness. He came to save sinners. The
Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. If I can find somebody
who's really a sinner, a bona fide, genuine sinner, I've got
good news. Christ died for sinners. He came
to seek and to save sinners. I'm going to take my place by
His grace. I'm going to take my place before
His sovereign throne as a sinner in need of mercy. The Lord delights
to show mercy to such as we are. Now, we have such a great example
of that in our story. Here's a poor, desperate Gentile
woman The Lord called her a dog, seeking help for her child that
was grievously vexed with the devil. We saw last week how the
Lord dealt harshly with the Pharisees and the Pharisees with their
religious pride and self-righteousness. You remember, he dealt harshly
with them. Remember Matthew 15, look at
verse 7. He hypocrites, well did Isaiah
prophesy of you, saying, this people draw nigh unto me with
their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but their heart
is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. The Lord told those disciples
who said, you know, they were offended in what you said. Look at verse 13, Matthew 15.
Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be rooted up. Leave them alone. They be blind
leaders of the blind, and the blind lead the blind, both will
fall into the ditch, the ditch of ruin. The Lord told the disciples
to leave the Pharisees alone, leave them to their own wicked
devices, their own religious pride and unbelief. But today
the Lord gives us an example of great God-given faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ to a most unlikely Gentile woman who lived in a
strange place, a place where idolatry was real. And the Lord says of her that
she was granted great faith. Now, let's go back to verse 21,
Matthew 15, verse 21. The Savior went there, and He
departed, departed from the company of those self-righteous Jews, and He entered into the coast
of Tyre and Sidon. Now, everywhere the Lord went,
He went on purpose. This was planned and decreed
from all eternity. He just didn't say to His apostles,
I think, let's go north. Let us go up to Tyre and Sidon
and see if we can find anybody up there that needs help. The Lord knew exactly where He
was going and He knew exactly who He was going to meet and
exactly all the circumstances that was going to be involved.
The Lord departs from them, these self-seeking Pharisees, and seeks
out one of His lost sheep. And He does so on purpose. The
Lord on purpose went to Tyre and Sidon, at least 50 miles
away. You can look on your map and
what is today, present day, the country called Lebanon, where
they're launching all those bombs down to Israel, that's Tyre and
Sidon. The Lord went there seeking out
this woman to heal her and her daughter and to show mercy. Like
we read likewise in John chapter 4 where we read that he must
need to go through Samaria There's a woman there who needs the well,
the water of life, salvation. And he crossed her path and he
saved her by his grace. All those the Lord wisely saves
and the Lord heals, he does so on purpose. There's no chance
meeting, but rather it's ordained of God from all eternity. It's no accident that you bumped
into the gospel. The Lord sent you a gospel preacher
to tell you the truth. The Lord our God always saves
sinners on purpose. Purpose by His sovereign grace,
His sovereign mercy. Purpose. I love that verse in
2 Timothy 1-9 where Paul in prison writing back to young Timothy
said, don't be ashamed of me, the prisoner of the Lord. God
saved us and called us, not according to our work, but according to
God's own purpose and grace, purpose and grace, given us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. God's purpose,
God's grace. God always saves sinners by his
sovereign purpose, sovereign grace, sovereign mercy, not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us. Saved by purpose. God's purpose. Now, look at verse 22. And behold,
behold, take a look at this. That word behold there means
pay attention. It means to stop, look, and listen.
Behold a woman of Canaan, this Gentile woman, came out of the
same country of Tyre and Sidon, and cried unto him, saying,"
Can you just imagine her words, the desperate cry of this mother? I mean, she was, her daughter
was demon possessed, her daughter was dying. It says in Mark 7,
she was young. She was a young girl, demon possessed. Can you imagine the cry of this
mother? Some of you mothers here, if
your daughter or your son was grievously vexed with a disease,
wouldn't you just cry unto the Lord? Cry unto the Lord? Hey, you'd keep on crying, wouldn't
you? Have mercy on me! Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. She came and worshipped
Him as Lord. And then she recognized Him as
the Son of David, the greater David, the Messiah. My daughter
is grievously, grievously vexed. Demon possessed. What a poor,
poor condition this is for this woman. In Mark chapter 7, describes
this woman as a Greek, Syrophoenician by nation. And she besought him
that he would cast the devil out of her daughter. So she was
a Gentile. She was not a Jew. But this woman
hath been marked out, elected and chosen to salvation before
the foundation of the world. The Lord hath been elect from
all nations, kindred and tongue, who are redeemed by His blood,
whose path He must pass in saving mercy." Remember from our study
in the Revelation chapter 5, the Lord has redeemed by his
blood out of every kindred, tribe, nation, tongue, and people under
heaven that sing unto him, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Wherever
you find a seeking sinner, you will find a seeking shepherd. You'll find the good shepherd
seeking out his lost sheep. Another case of that, you remember
Zacchaeus, that publican? who heard about the Lord Jesus
Christ walking through town, climbed up that sycamore tree
so he could get a sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord
walked right underneath that tree, looked up and said, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for today salvation has come to your
house. How did he know his name? How
did he know he was up that tree? Purpose. Every sinner God saves,
he saves on purpose. Purpose, purpose. Whenever you
find a seeking sinner, you will find the good shepherd seeking
out his sheep. The Lord said to Zacchaeus, salvation's
come to your house. Well, I know you're also one
of those chosen sons of Abraham. All those children around there
were sons of Abraham, not like this one was. He was a special
elect of God, the spiritual son of Abraham. This woman heard
of him, came and fell at his feet and worshipped him. A very
good place to be. When we're seeking mercy of the
Lord at his feet, humble before his throne. We've seen this before. Hold your place there. Do you
remember in Matthew chapter 8? Turn back there. Matthew chapter
8 verse 1. When he was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed him. Matthew 8 verse 1. Behold,
there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
his leprosy was cleaned. Lord, if you will, you can. The Lord said, I will. be thou
clean. He came, the leper came and worshipped
him and begged for mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Now we
see her urgent plea, Lord have mercy on me, Lord have mercy
on me. Her trouble Her trouble brought
her to seek mercy, didn't it? My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Trials are sin of God by God's
sovereign purpose to draw us to him. If we're his, that's
what they do. Paul said, when he writes about
trials, he said, our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Trials that God sends our way to his people don't drive us
away, they drive us to him. To him. David said, thou and
your faithfulness hath afflicted me. One old preacher of the 1800s
said this, health is a good thing, but sickness is far better if
it leads us to Christ. Prosperity is a good thing, but
adversity, trouble, and heartache is far better if it drives us
to the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice she also addressed
him, not only as Lord, but as the son of David. She recognized
him to be the Messiah, the promised Messiah that was sent of God.
She just didn't figure this out on her own. It was the sovereign
revelation of God to her heart. It says in Mark 7, 25, this woman
heard of Him and fell at His feet. She heard of Him. She heard
about the Word of God describing Him, and it was revealed to her,
this is the Messiah. This is the Messiah. And it comes
by revelation. We're going to see that. In a
few weeks, turn one page to Matthew 16. Remember the Lord said in
Matthew 16, 13, whom do men say that I am, the Son of Man am?
Matthew 16, 13. They said, some say that thou
art John the Baptist or Elijah or another prophet, Jeremiah.
But he said to his apostles, whom do you say that I am? And
Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ. the Son
of the Living God. Thou art the Messiah, the Christ,
the Son of David, the Living God. Now look at it, verse 17,
Jesus answered and said, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babe, even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Faith is not born of ignorance. Faith is born of hearing the
Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Now look at verse 23, back in
our text. And the Lord heard that cry,
no doubt about that. But He answered her not a word.
Silence. Silence. And the disciples came
and besought Him, saying, Send her away. She's crying after
us. She's bothering us. He answered
her, not a word. He did not immediately respond
to her. He was silent. But that didn't
stop her, did it? She was so determined to get
help for her daughter. She went after the disciples.
The Lord threw up a roadblock. And she just plows right through
it. Because she's in desperate need. True faith is determined
to seek salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ no matter what.
I've got to get to Him. I've got to get to Him. We come
to the Lord Jesus Christ as we are, as I've often said over
the years, we come as mercy beggars. We say with Jacob, Lord, I'm
not worthy of the least of Your mercies and the least of Thy
truth. The disciples said to the Lord,
send her away. This woman's a bother to us.
Well, that wasn't a good spirit, was it? Send her away. She's
bothering. We don't have time for her. The
disciples had a very poor attitude toward this sinful Gentile woman. They knew she was a dog. They
knew she was a Gentile. And they said, just get away
from us. Maybe their heart was full of pride. Maybe Peter and
John thought, well, you know, we're apostles. We're Jews. Maybe their heart was full of
pride instead of pity. Maybe their heart was full of
resentment instead of love. Maybe their heart was hardness
of heart instead of showing mercy. You know, those who have received
mercy and received forgiveness, those who have received mercy
are ready to show mercy to others. But these apostles, go away. You're bothering the Master.
He came 50 miles to this place for this reason. Verse 24. Now what's the Lord going to
do? Not only is He silent, but now
He declares His sovereignty. His sovereignty in salvation.
He said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep. This is one of
the lost sheep of the house of Israel, of God's elect. That's what he's talking about.
The Lord declares his sovereignty and salvation. Remember he said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to save the whole house of Israel. I'm not talking about
the Jews in the flesh. I'm talking about the spiritual
sons of Abraham. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save all the elect of God, all the elect of God, all the spiritual
Israel. We read in Romans 11.25, and
all Israel shall be saved through the Deliverer. He will come and
deliver us and He will save all Israel. And that's exactly what
he did at the cross. He put away all the sins of God's
elect. The Lord, throughout his ministry,
plainly declared the sovereignty and salvation. He said, all that
the Father had given to me, they will come to me. And those that
come to me, I'll never cast them out. He prayed in John 17, all
power is given unto me in heaven and earth. that I should give
eternal life to as many as the Father has given to me? Isn't
He declaring that He'll have mercy on whom He will? Isn't
He declaring that He's sovereign in salvation toward His elect?
The Lord declared election so clearly, so plainly. He said,
I'll lay down my life for the sheep. The apostles did too. God who had blessed us with all
spiritual blessings, according as He had chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without
blame before Him in love, being accepted in the Beloved, in whom
we have redemption through His blood, forgiveness of sin, according
to the riches of His grace, to the praise of the glory of His
grace. So, she's first of all faced with silence, and then
second of all, she's faced with His sovereignty, Look what happens
in verse 25. She pushes right through that. Then came she and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. She wasn't discouraged. She was encouraged. You're the
Lord of salvation. You're the only one who can help
me. You're the only one that can help me. We see the perseverance
of true saving faith, don't we? This woman was not hindered by
the Lord's silence nor his sovereignty. Like a leper, she worshipped
at his feet, begging for mercy. She does not plead her goodness.
She does not plead her merit. But rather, she depends on his
goodness and his mercy. Now, verse 26. And then he said this, not only
was he silent, not only did he declare his sovereignty, now
he declares that she's a sinner. You see that in verse 26? But
he answered and said, it's not meet, it's not fit, it's not
right, or it's not proper to take the children's bread and
cast it to the dogs. She just called, he just called
her a dog, a Gentile dog. Now, wouldn't that offend you?
That would offend the average religious person if you said
you're nothing but a dead dog. Oh, wait a minute. That ain't
me. Yeah, it is. We're all by nature
dead dogs, aren't we? Dead dogs. But we see this woman
given true faith, perseveres. She still cries out, Lord, Lord,
help me. The Lord speaks directly to her
now in verse 26. And He said, it's not proper
for me to take the children's bread and throw it down on the
ground to a dog. She said, that's true. Lord,
I'm your dog. I'm your dog. I'm your dog. The Jews considered the Gentile
race as vile dogs and considered them to be no candidate for salvation. You're a dog. You're a Gentile.
Just leave. Just leave. Remember when the
Lord went to Nazareth, his hometown synagogue, and preached to those
Jews. And he said, the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach
the Gospel, to heal the brokenhearted, to give sight to the blind, and
to do all these things, and to save sinners by His grace. And
then, he read there from Isaiah 61. It said, this day is the
Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And then he gave an illustration
of what he was teaching. Remember, he said, in the days
of Elijah the prophet, God sent Elijah the prophet to one Gentile
widow woman in the town of Sidon. Same city where this woman was. A Gentile dog. God sent Elijah
the prophet to the house of that woman and provided bread for
her. On another, that same sermon,
the Lord preached Elisha, the prophet of God, caring for and
showing mercy to a Gentile dog named Naaman the Syrian. He was a leper. And he carried
him to Elisha for healing. When those Jews heard that, that
the Lord was going to save Gentile dogs, you remember what happened?
They were filled with wrath. They were filled with anger.
and they were going to take him physically out of the synagogue,
march him to the cliff, the brow of the hill, and throw him down
headlong to kill him. Murder was in their heart. When
the Lord told those Jews He's going to save a dog. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save dogs. I love what she says here, verse
27. You're right. Truth, Lord, Yet,
dogs eat crumbs which fall from the master's table. The dogs
eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. That reminds
me of another story. Remember the son of Jonathan,
Mephibosheth, 2 Samuel 9? When David comes to the throne,
he's anointed king. And Jonathan, his beloved brother,
was killed. Jonathan and David had a covenant.
Jonathan said, when I die, will you promise me you'll take care
of my family, take care of my son, Mephibosheth? You remember
what happened to Mephibosheth? He was crippled, lame on both
his feet. And when David came to the throne,
Mephibosheth was the grandson of King Saul. And when the new
king was installed on the throne, most of the time what happened,
the king wiped out the family of the former king. David, when
he came to the throne, for Jonathan's sake, and good as words, said,
I'm going to show mercy to old Mephibosheth. And they said,
David made a decree, go and get Mephibosheth, you fetch him and
bring him right here. What's Mephibosheth? Goodness, I can't get that out.
Mephibosheth, what did he say? Lord, I'm your servant. He, when
he came, he bowed himself as a servant. And you remember what
he said? I'm a dead dog, but I'm your dog. That's a good place
to be, like Mephibosheth, at the feet of the sovereign throne. I'm your dog. You're my master. Here's a good confession of faith.
Taking our place before the Lord as sinners, owing our unworthiness. The Lord Jesus Christ, this is
a faithful saying, the Lord Jesus Christ came to save, can you
finish the rest of it? The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. And Paul said, I'm the chief
one. I'm the chief one. Whenever you find in the Scripture
the servants of the Lord have been saved by His grace, they
always confess they are sinners. Isaiah said, oh wretched man,
I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. Job said, I've heard of
thee by the hearing of the ear, now my eye sees thee. I hate
myself. I repent in dust and ashes. The Apostle Paul said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And
he said, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now what's
going to happen? Truth, Lord, if the dogs eat
the crumbs which fall from the Master's table. I just need a
crumb of mercy. I don't need a T-bone steak,
just a crumb of mercy. A crumb of mercy. And the Lord
said, verse 28, in closing, the Lord answered and said, O woman,
great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou will. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. I want to believe God like that,
don't you? Great, great, great is thy faith. The Lord commends
her faith. What is great faith? What is
great faith? to believe God, to believe God. Abraham believed God. It was
countered to him for righteousness. How many times did the Lord say
to those apostles, O ye of little faith? When they were on the
boat and the boat was sinking, O ye of little faith. When Peter
was sinking and he cried out, Lord, save me. He said, why did
you doubt, O thou of little faith? But here's a Gentile woman. And
the Lord said, she has great faith. She has great faith. Great
faith. True faith honors Christ most. Christ honors true faith in Him
because He gives true faith and He honors and accepts that which
He gives. Faith is a gift of God. No wonder
faith is called precious, precious, precious faith. What is great
faith? Give me another example. Hold
your place there and turn back to Matthew 8 one more time. I'm
almost through. Give me a minute. Matthew 8 one
more time. Remember, here's another Gentile,
this Gentile soldier, this centurion, this Roman soldier, Matthew 8,
verse 5. There came unto him the centurion,
beseeching him, saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick
of palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said unto him, I'll
come and heal him. And this Jordan says, I'm not worthy that thou
shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only, and
my servant shall be healed. Well, I'm a man with authority.
I have soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go, and
he goes. And to another, come, and he comes. And to my servant,
do this, and he does it. Verse 10, when Jesus heard it,
he marveled and said to them that followed him, Verily I say
unto you, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. There's a centurion, a Gentile
dog. He said, you have great faith.
Here's a woman. a Gentile woman, dog, and the
Lord gives her great faith. What is great faith? It's saving
faith. Great faith looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ alone, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Great faith is based upon the
word of God alone. She heard of him. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Great faith never sees a reason
to be discouraged Undoubt, great faith is humbled before God.
Great faith is full of hope. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Great faith acknowledges
and loves the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Great
faith always receives what it seeks for. Christ is all and
in all. The publican cried, Lord, be
merciful to me, thee sinner, And the Lord said, that man went
down to his house justified rather than that Pharisee who bragged
on himself. Be it unto you as you will. This woman pursued mercy for
her demon-possessed daughter and received it from the hand
of the Lord. Her daughter was made whole. The encouraging thing about this,
the Lord is the same. The same Lord who healed this
woman is the same Lord today. We studied in Hebrews chapter
13 verse 8. Remember this morning? Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change. The same
Lord that showed mercy in that day is the same Lord that shows
mercy in this day. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that in and of itself is a gift of God. It's a precious
gift of God, saving faith.