question asked in my topic this
morning is how to seek and find mercy. How does one seek and
find mercy? And for the answer to that question,
I want you to turn to Matthew 15, and let's look first of all at
verse 21. Matthew 15, 21. Now the first
thing I met with in the story of this woman who sought and
found mercy of the Lord are two facts that I see in verse 21
and 22. Now let's look at them. Verse 21 and 22. Then Jesus went
thence and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Christ
came to the coast of Tyre and Sidon. That's the first fact,
Christ came to this particular place. Now the second fact is
found in verse 22, and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of
the same coast and cried unto him. The second fact is a woman
of Canaan came out of the same place. Our Lord came to the coast
of Tyre and Sidon and this woman came there to meet him. He came
to the coast in power. She came to the coast in need. Now those two things are necessary
if we're going to seek and find mercy. First of all, the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to have to come here to this place, to
this congregation, in power and mercy. If my voice is the only
voice you hear, we're not going to accomplish anything of any
eternal value. You're going to have to hear
Him speak through His word. You're going to have to meet
with Him. Without Him, we can do nothing. Apart from the vine,
the branches are withered and dead, and they stay withered
and dead. Now, here's the second fact that's important. This woman
came to meet Him, and she came with a need. And if you find
mercy, you're going to have to come with empty hands to seek
grace from Him. He's going to have to visit with
us in power, but you're going to have to meet with Him. Christ
is seeking the lost. Are you lost? Christ has mercy
for sinners. Are you a sinner? Christ can
meet every need, but the question is, do you have a need? Do you
have a need? People with full cups already
are not going to receive a blessing. People whose hands are already
full are not going to receive from the Lord gifts of grace
and mercy. So these two things are uppermost
and of great importance. Christ came in power. This woman came in need. He came full of grace. She came
empty-handed. And they met in the coast of
Tyre and Sidon. Now the second thing that stands
out in this text is what made her seek the Lord's mercy. What
was it that drove her to seek the Lord? What was it that made
her seek His mercy and His grace? Down here in verse 22, it says,
And the woman came out of the same coast, and she cried unto
him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thy son of David! My
daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." Strange to say. A devil had a hand in her seeking
the Lord. A devil had a hand in her seeking
the Lord. Her daughter was grievously vexed
with a devil. trouble drove her to Christ.
Without this trouble, she probably would not have come. Without
this great sorrow, she probably would never have sought the Lord.
And I find this is always the case. Men only seek the Lord
when they need Him. Men and women only seek the Lord
when they have need of His grace and of His power. This woman
needed She was in great trouble, great distress, great difficulty,
and so she, with that need, sought the Lord. But this is Scripture. We'll turn to Psalm 107. Let
me show you something here. In Psalm 107, this is a very
outstanding psalm. I want you to turn over there
and look at it and become familiar with it. In Psalm 107, It begins,
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy
endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and
gathered them out of the lands, from the east, from the west,
from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness
in a lonely, solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them, and then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble." Why do men not cry
unto the Lord? They're not in trouble. Why do
women not cry unto the Lord with sincere hearts, with broken hearts? Because they're not in trouble.
These people cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered
them out of their distresses. Look down at verse 13. Then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them
out of their distresses. Look down at verse 27 and 28. They reel to and fro. They stagger
like a drunken man. They are at their wits' end. They are at their wits' end.
Have you Have you come to this place today with sin, with guilt,
with sorrow? Do you really need mercy? Are
you really helpless? Are you really without strength,
without hope? Are you really at your wits'
end? Look at verse 27. They reel to
and fro. They stagger like a drunken man.
There's none to help. There's no human strength that
can solve their problem. There's no human hand that can
lift them from this pit of despair. They're at their wits' end. Then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them
out of their distress. Now, there's a third thing. First
of all, the Lord came to this place. Now we can forget it if
he doesn't come. If he's not here, all the psychology,
all of the words of comfort, all of the words of encouragement,
all of the words of advice will do no good. He's got to come. And you've got to come empty-handed. You've got to come to meet with
him. You've got to come seeking His face. This woman came. He
came in power, but she came in need. And the second thing that
stands out is this woman was in severe, serious trouble. She knew that no human hand could
deliver. No human help was forthcoming. She was powerless without Him.
We've got to be brought to that place. We've got to be brought
to the place without strength, without hope, without help, at
our wits' end. Now the third thing, she would
not be discouraged. She would not be discouraged.
Several things happened to discourage her. First of all, in verse 23,
it says, But the Lord answered her not a word. She came to Him
crying, O Lord, have mercy on me. My daughter is grievously
vexed with a devil. Serious trouble. But there was
no answer forthcoming. She came on Sunday and nothing
happened. She came the next Sunday and
nothing happened. She came the next Wednesday night
and nothing happened. And so she just quit. No. He answered her not a word. And
even his disciples, verse 23, she besought his disciples and
they came to the Lord and they said, send her away, she's crying
after us now. This woman came to the Lord with
her trouble, with her sorrow, with her need, and she cried
to him and he didn't answer, he didn't say a word. And then
she turned to the disciples and she said, somebody help me, my
daughter is so sick. And the disciples helplessly
came to the master and said, now she's crying after us. And
then she came to the Lord again, and he answered and said, verse
24, I am not sent, this was a Gentile woman, I am not sent but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she still cried. She came
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered again,
and he said, verse 26, It is not right to take the children's
bread and cast them to dogs. But this woman continues to cry. True, Lord, that's true. And
yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
And finally the master turned to her and said, Great is thy
faith. So this woman was persistent.
She would not be denied. She knew where mercy was to be
found, and she was going to continue until she received it. She knew
where help was to be found, and she would not turn away. One
day the disciples, our Lord had preached to a great multitude.
The multitude had left, and the disciples were the only ones
there with him. Everybody had forsaken him but
the twelve disciples, and he turned to them, and he said,
Would you also go away? And they said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Now,
do you want mercy? Let's learn something from this
woman's example. And I believe we'll go away with
the Savior's mercy. She met the Lord. She came to
meet the Lord. Trouble drove her to the Lord.
We've got to come to the end of ourselves before we'll seek
Him. We've got to come to our wits' end before we're going
to seek His mercy. We're going to have to come to
the end of human strength and human help. We're going to have
to come to the place where if something's done for us spiritually,
He'll get all the glory. and all the praise. As long as
we're looking to human strength and human health, God can't get
all the glory. And then we're going to have
to be persistent. If God doesn't answer our first call, we're
going to have to call again. If God doesn't answer our first
letter, we're going to have to write again. If God's not pleased
to give us the answer in one day, we'll just have to wait
one month. And if He doesn't give it in one month, we'll just
have to wait one year. But to whom shall we go? to whom
shall we go. Perseverance and persistence
are marks of true seekers. A true seeker does not give up. Perseverance and persistence.
All right, here are three things I believe that are necessary
in seeking and finding mercy. If you can meet those others,
you can come in here, but if you can't meet the other statements
that I made, there's no use going on with us at all. But if you've
come to meet the Lord, and if trouble has driven you to Christ,
the well don't need the physician, it's those who are sick. And
a man who's sick enough, he'll sit in the doctor's office till
he sees him. A woman who's sick enough will stay at the physician's
feet until he ministers to her. A person who's desperate enough
and deeply enough in trouble is going to stay at the fountain
until he finds water, because it's the only fountain and he's
the only physician. And if you can meet that, let's
look at this. First of all, if you're going
to seek and find mercy, you're going to have to agree with the
Lord in whatever He says. You're going to have to agree
with Him in whatever He says. Now he said to this woman, I
am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And then she came back to him and asked for mercy and he said
it's not right to give the children's bread to dogs. And this woman
made this tremendous statement. She didn't say this is hard.
She didn't say this is unjust. She didn't say this is unkind.
She didn't say, I don't understand that kind of talk. She didn't
say, who does he think he is? When our Lord made these statements,
this woman said, that's true. That's true. Now whatever the
Word of God says about God, about me, about my condition, never
contradict the Word of God. agree with what the Lord says.
That's the first prerequisite to finding mercy, agree with
what he says. She came to the Lord Jesus Christ
and asked mercy for her daughter, and first of all, he didn't even
answer her. And then when he did answer her,
he answered her with a doctrine of election. He said, I am sent
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then he answered
her again, and he said, It's not right to take the children's
bread and give to the dogs. And when he said that, she replied,
That's true, Lord. What you say is absolutely true. Now the Lord resisteth the proud,
the arrogant. He giveth grace to the humble.
So when God reminds you of your guilt, When God reminds you of
your sinfulness, He only tells you what is true. And you ought
to reply, that's true. That's true. When the Word of
God describes you with a deceitful heart, desperately wicked, say,
true Lord, that's true. How do we answer? Well, I'm not as bad as somebody
else. How do we answer? Well, I've
done the best I can. How do we answer? We answer in a self-justifying
manner. We defend ourselves. This woman,
no matter what the Lord said to her, no matter what he said
to her, she said, that's so. When the Word of God describes
me as a lost sheep with a depraved nature, that's true, Lord. When
the Bible represents me as ungodly, as an enemy of God, as a traitor
against the kingdom of heaven, that's true, Lord. When a word
of God describes us without strength, without hope, without God, that's
true, Lord. It's all true. When a word of
God describes me as being no good, unprofitable, with a poison
of snakes under my tongue, my hands dripping with blood, my
feet swift to walk in paths of evil, that's true. That's true. You're not going to find mercy.
You're not going to find divine help. You can forget it. Until, like this woman, you can
agree with what God says. That's true. Unless with a submissive
heart, with a submissive spirit, with a broken, contrite soul
and spirit, you can honestly say, Lord, everything you say
about me is so. That's true. Oh, we're so quick
to, when somebody swings at us, we throw up our guard. And we
do it not only physically, but we do it emotionally and mentally
and spiritually. If someone charges us with being
guilty, it wasn't me, it wasn't my fault. Someone charges us
with an offense, it's not my fault, it's somebody else's fault. I'm not the guilty one. I'm not
the creature that's responsible. It's somebody else's fault. When
Almighty God charges us with guilt and responsibility and
sinfulness, we're going to have to say, like this woman, that's
true. That's true. And then, when the
Lord reminds us that he owes us nothing, that if he withholds
that mercy, That if he doesn't give us what we want, if we don't
get the solution to our problem or our need, if he's not pleased
to give us mercy, he only tells us what's true.
Huh? That's right. He said, it's not right. He said
to this woman, it's not right for me to take the children's
bread and give it to dogs. And she said, that's true. I
don't owe you anything. The problems that this human
race, the problems we have, we brought on ourselves. The mess
we're in, we got there of our own free will. All of the consequences of sin,
we brought on ourselves, didn't we? And if God is not pleased
to help us, and not pleased to aid us, and not pleased to relieve
us, and not pleased to give us mercy, He'll be just. Is that right? Mephibosheth, who was of the
household of Saul, David sent for him, brought him up there.
and told Mephibosheth that he was going to make him as one
of the king's sons, that he was going to eat at the king's table,
that he was going to be one of the heirs of King David. And
he fell on his knees and he said, King David, who am I that you
should show such mercy to such a dead dog? I don't deserve this.
If David had left him to perish in the house of no bread, David
would have been just, because he was of the household of David's
enemy Saul. If he had never brought him up
to the capital, if he had never given him mercy, David would
have been within his rights. And you and I come to God with
our cares and with our sins and with our disturbances and with
our sorrows. God doesn't owe us anything. Now you get that out of your
mind. You think, well, it's not right for me to be in this mess.
It is right, too. The mess was brought on by your
sins and by your rebellion. And if God doesn't... A man said
to a preacher one time, the preacher asked him, he says, do you think
that God's going to take you to heaven when you die, living
as you live? Why, he said certainly. Isn't
that what God's for? Isn't that what God's for? No, that's not what God's for.
And we come with our problems, and we think we deserve help. We think we deserve mercy. We
think we deserve grace. We think our problems ought to
be solved, that our sorrow ought to be comforted. That our needs
ought to be met. That our troubles ought to find
calm seas. Why do you think that? This woman
didn't. He said, I don't have anything
for you. I've come for somebody else. And it's not right for
me to take what God has decreed for them and give to you. And
she said, that's true. That's true. And this woman found mercy. And
I'll tell you, if we find it, we're going to have to take the
route she took. I know that. And the first thing she did,
she agreed with everything he said. She agreed with it. And when the Word of God—and
we're going to have to take the same attitude. When the Word
of God reveals our black hearts and our wicked deeds and our
rebellion and our pride and our arrogance and our sinfulness,
we're going to have to say, And when the Lord says, and we come
with our troubles, and He says, I don't owe you anything, well,
that's true. We come with our sorrow, and
He says, I don't have to do anything about that. I can leave you right
where you are and be just. That's true. I wouldn't deceive
you, my friend. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
telling you the truth. When we get the idea that We're
supposed to bring our little sorrows and troubles and heartaches
and sins, and Jesus is just standing waiting on us to bring them so
he can fix them up and send us away happy all the time. You're
deceived. And people have gotten the attitude
that God Almighty is somebody's valet waiting outside the door
for them to ring the bell and say, now you can come in, I'm
going to let you do something for me. He doesn't owe you anything. He doesn't owe you anything.
You can keep your sorrows, and keep your sins, and keep your
troubles, and God will keep His glory, and His righteousness,
and His justice. That's the truth. And he said,
our Lord said to this woman, I don't owe you anything, and
she said, that's the truth. That's absolutely true. Now,
we're partial to ourselves, and that makes us half blind.
We're partial to ourselves. There's not a person here that's
not partial to himself, from the pulpit to the back row. And
that makes us half blind. We're on good terms with ourselves.
We're not on good terms with everybody else, but we're on
real good terms with ourselves. And we justify ourselves, and
our proud hearts tell us we are superior, and we're different. And we excuse ourselves and condemn
others for the same thing. But God knows us and He exposes
us for what we are. His Word exposes us for what
we are. His Word reveals what we are. And the man who argues with the
Word of God is a fool in a capital letter. He argues with God's
Word. If he defends himself against
the charges of Scripture, he's a fool in capital letters. Now
when a beggar comes to your door, He's dirty, he's tired, he's
hungry, he's ragged. He's starving, he's got nothing.
You've got plenty, but he's got nothing. When he comes to your door to
beg, he takes the wrong direction if he chooses to argue with you.
He takes the wrong attitude if he chooses to dispute with you
about something. He takes the wrong attitude if
he sets out to defend himself and to point out to you what
he deserves. Isn't that right? Why, you send
him away. And when you come to Almighty
God set for the defense of your holiness and righteousness and
character and what you deserve, you're taking the wrong direction
altogether. Now if that beggar comes to your
door and knocks at the door and says, my friend, I'm in a mess. I haven't eaten for days. I drank and gambled and lost
my job. I mistreated my family and lost
them. I don't deserve anything. I've
been a fool. I've played the fool. I've squandered
away everything God's blessed me with. But I'm hungry. And you don't have to give me
anything, you don't owe me anything. What you have, you've worked
hard for, and you've earned it, and you've got a right to use
it for yourself and for your children. You don't owe me anything. You don't even know me. I'm a
stranger in your gate. But I tell you, I'd sure be much
glad if you'd share some of your bounty with me. Boy, I'm telling
you, you'd get busy fixing that fellow something, and you'd give
it to him. You'd give it to him. But we justify ourselves, we
defend ourselves, we come to God with a chip on our shoulder
just like we face the whole world. If he doesn't do things just
like we think he ought to do them, we'll quit God, and we'll
quit the church, and we'll quit the gospel. We're not hungry yet. We're not
naked enough yet. You want to look at human nature?
I'll show you human nature. Do you want to see human nature?
Human nature is that naked, miserable, shivering creature over there
trying to cover its nakedness with a withered fig leaf of self-righteousness. That's human nature. You want
to look at human nature? It's that old wrinkled, dead,
decaying body over there trying to beautify itself with the cosmetics
of flesh. You want to look at human nature?
It's that dirty, rotten traitor over there who sold out the king,
trying to appear to be a friend with smiles of hypocrisy, now
that the king's back on the throne. That's human nature. It's true,
Lord. It's true. And I'm saying to
you with all the compassion of a fellow human being, I'm saying
to you with all of the compassion of a minister of the gospel,
my friend, whoever you are, whatever your age, whatever your station
in life, whatever your wealth or poverty, whatever your wisdom
or foolishness, whatever your age, I'm saying if you want mercy,
you're going to have to come to God, number one, agreeing
with what he says. Agreeing with what he says. What
he says about you agreeing with what he says about his mercy,
he doesn't owe it to you. He doesn't owe it to you. God's
not obligated to do a thing for you. God's not obligated to this
human race. Almighty God will show mercy
to whom he will show mercy, and he will be gracious to whom he
will be gracious. True, Lord! That's true. And if you leave me in the mess
I'm in, I got here myself. That's the reason I'm here. If
you don't help me, you'll be just and I'll get what I deserve.
Can you come that way? That's the way this woman came.
Look at it carefully. That's true, Lord. That's true.
Everything you say is true. I don't owe you anything. That's true. You got yourself
in the mess. You're not so You're rotten and
filthy from the sole of your feet to the top of your head.
That's so. That's true. Man, I'd give my right arm to
get preached to people like that. I'd give my right arm to get
sit and counsel with people like that. I'm at fault. I'm to blame. Everything. I'm in the mess I'm in because
I got there myself. But no. We're sure like ourselves. We're superior. We're different.
We're different. All right, second thing. And
here's a three-letter word here that I've been looking at for
several hours. Y-E-T, verse 27. That's true,
Lord, yet. What's this woman doing? Here
she comes, a Gentile, not in the covenant, The prophets are
not from her, her people. An outcast called by the Jews,
dogs. And she comes, Lord, have mercy
on me. Who are you? Lord, have mercy
on me. I'm sent to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. Lord, help me. Well, it's not
right to take what belongs to the children and give it to folks
like you. That's true, Lord! Yes! I've got something else to say.
And the Master listens. And she says, the dogs eat of
the crumbs that fall from their Master's table. Now, although, my friend, you
may not argue with the Lord, you agree with Him, Yet secondly,
you can plead with him, and as you plead with him, set one scripture
against another. Now, don't contradict the judgments
of God, but answer the judgments of God with the mercy of God. That's what she did. All these
things are so. All of this is true. All of these
charges are so. But! But. David practiced this. Turn to
Psalm 73. Let me show you something here.
Now I'm showing you my question is how to seek and find mercy,
and I'm trying to show myself and you too how to find mercy.
And the first thing I know, I agree with everything he said. And
God whittles me down, I say, that's so. God strips me, knocks
my foundations out from under me, exposes my nakedness, it's
so. I don't owe you anything, it's
so. Now that's where you've got to start. But David said in Psalm
73 verse 22, listen, So foolish was I, and ignorant I was as a beast before God. Now that's true, Lord, see? Nevertheless, yes, I'm continually with thee. Thou
hast holden me by thy right hand. These two sentences set forth
the mercy of God right there. I'm no good, but God is good. I was as a beast, but he held
me by his hand. I was foolish and ignorant, but
he says, I'm continually with thee. Does the Bible say our
iniquities like the wind have driven us away? That's true,
Lord. Yet the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Does
the Bible say, Thy sins have separated thee from
God? Yet, the Bible also says, he
bore our sins in his body on the tree. Does the Bible say
the Lord is sovereign, he will have mercy on whom he will have
mercy? True Lord. The Lord delights
to show mercy. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Doesn't the Bible say, No man
can come to me except my Father which sent me draw him? That's
true, Lord. Yet, the Bible says, Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. You want mercy? You want help? You're going to have to agree
with everything he says, and then plead. Yet, Lord, this is
all true. But, I'll go to Jesus, though
my sins like mountains round me raise. I'll say to Him, I'm
a wretch undone without Your sovereign grace. I can but perish
if I go. I am resolved to try, for if
I stay away, I know I shall forever die. And this woman, helpless,
hopeless, at her wit's end, came to the Lord, and he made these
charges, and she said, That's true. Everything you say is true. What I am, what I deserve, your
sovereignty, giving it as you will, that's all true. But is
it not true that all who come to you, even the dogs, are fed? Is it not true all who call on
you, even the dog, get their share of thy grace and thy mercy?' And then the Lord answered and
said to her, Woman, great is thy faith." Now here's the third
thing. If you want mercy, agree with
Him, plead with Him, have faith in Now, it's not enough to feel
my sins and admit them. That's necessary, but it's not
enough. It's not enough to justify God in his condemnation. It's
necessary, but it's not enough. You can get morbid that way.
I've known people who get to feel sorry for themselves. That's
a false humility. Well, I'm not worthy of God's
mercy, so I'll stay in my sins. I'm not fit to be saved. And
now you get that morbid martyr complex. Well, who am I, you
know? Who am I? It's not enough just
to feel your sins. It's not enough to admit your
sins. It's not enough just to justify God in His condemnation. It's not enough to confess our
sins. It is necessary to believe on
Him. It is necessary to receive Him. It is necessary to commit yourself
to Him. Now God will never deal with
you except in your true character as a sinner. Remember that. God
will never deal with you except in your true character as a sinner. And God will never allow you
to deal with Him except in His true character as Lord. As Lord. She cried, listen to her, back
here in verse, I like this, verse 22. She cried, O Lord, this is
faith, O Lord, sovereign King of heaven and earth. The leper
came that way, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. The thief
on the cross came that way, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. Paul came that way, Lord, what
will you have me do? And in Romans 10, 9 and 10 it
says, "...that thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord."
But now listen, something else, this woman's faith is clear here.
She said in verse 22, "...have mercy on me, O Lord, thy Son
of David." She recognized Him not only in His Lordship, but
in His redeeming character, the Son of David. Now I know to a
lot of people that phrase doesn't mean anything, thou son of David,
but to the diligent Bible student it means a great deal. For back
in the Old Testament, every prophecy of the Messiah in connection
with David had to do with this. He is the son of David. He is
the heir to David's throne. He is the heir to that eternal
throne. And every Jew knew that the Messiah
and the Son of David were one. Every Jew knew that the Redeemer
and the Son of David were one. Every Jew knew that the Christ
and the Son of David were one. And when this woman cried, Lord,
King, Sovereign, Son of David, you are the one sent to redeem. You are the one sent to set us
free. You are the one sent to bring
God to us. Have mercy on me. Have mercy
on me. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him. I came how? As I was. As I was. Weary and worn and sad. And I
found in him a resting place. And he has made me glad. Just
like he did this woman. She came as she was. True, Lord. Everything you say. Everything
you say. And I'm going to persistently
and perseveringly sit by this well of living water until you
give me something to drink, because you are the Messiah, you are
the Son of David, you are the Redeemer. But I am convinced,
honestly, I am convinced that divine help is quickly forthcoming
when we come to the end of ourselves. I think the biggest problem is
not getting the divine It's getting in the position to receive it
so that God gets all the glory. I think that's the trouble. It's
no difficulty getting people saved, it's getting them lost.
It's no trouble getting the robe of righteousness on a sinner's
shoulders, it's getting his rags off of him. He just won't part
with them. He'll hold on to that last thread,
that last outpost, that last defense line. He's just she and
he or whoever that sinner is, we're just not going to be emptied.
We're not going to be stripped. We're not going to be laid low.
We're going to fight back. We're going to answer. We're
going to defend ourselves. We're going to look down on others.
We're not going to be the chief of sinners. Somebody's going
to be worse than we are. And the problem is not, it's
not at all divine help. It's human justification. That's our problem. I believe
when a man or woman, by God's grace, is emptied, they'll be
filled immediately. Those that hunger and thirst
for righteousness will be filled immediately when they get all
the dregs out of the bottom of that human container so that
it won't be mixed with God's grace. so that when God fills
it, it'll be all grace, it'll be all mercy, it'll be all divine,
it'll be all the glory for Him, and not swimming around there
in a mixture of human works and divine grace. That's our whole
problem. I'm convinced of it. And that's
what the Lord did with this woman. He shattered, completely, totally
shattered her, and everything He said, she said, so. That's
so. That's so. And when she was totally,
completely humiliated, and stripped, and broken, and ashamed, and
turned off, she said, yet, yet, and never a dog left the Master's
house yet without some need. And brother, the Son of God says,
O great is thy faith. greatest, I think. So you just stay where you are
and defend yourself. You're half-blinded by your ego
and your self-prejudice. Just stay there until you feel
the whip of God's wrath. But if you want mercy, You allow
God to break you and be broken, and to strip you and be stripped,
and to humble you and be humble, for He gives grace to the humble,
and He rejects the proud. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. We thank You for Your Word. And
all these self-justifying human natures of ours, this pride which
goes before destruction,