Now if you'll open your Bibles
again to the fifteenth chapter of Matthew. A woman of Canaan came to the Lord
Jesus Christ and asked him to heal her daughter. She said in
verse twenty-two, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thy son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. This seems like a reasonable
request. It says down in verse 31 that
he caused the dumb to speak and the maimed to behold, and the
lame to walk and the blind to see. He went about doing good
And yet the scripture says in verse 23 that he turned her away,
he answered her not a word. She said, Lord have mercy on
me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And the master did not even reply. Well, it says, as the scripture
goes on, and the disciples came to him, and they said, Lord,
she crieth after us. The woman evidently, when Christ
did not reply, did not answer her, went to the disciples and
begged them to heal her daughter. Peter, James, and John, she said,
my daughter is so sick. You've healed other girls, you've
healed other people. have mercy on me." And the disciples
turned her away also. They came to the Lord and they
said, this woman is worrying us. She won't leave us alone. Send her away. She was rebuked
again. She was turned away again by
the disciples. And then the scripture says in
verse 24, the master replied when they said this to him, this
woman is bothering us. send her away. The Master said
to the disciples in verse 24, I am not sin, but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Now he said this on another occasion
back in Matthew chapter 10. In the tenth chapter of Matthew,
verse 5, when he sent the twelve disciples out to preach, he commanded
them, saying, Go not to the Gentiles, Don't take the gospel to the
Gentiles. That's what it says in verse
5. Do not go into any of the cities of Samaria. Enter ye not
into any of the cities of the Samaritans, but go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Apostle Paul in Romans
chapter 1 verse 16 declares, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first. To the Jew first. And also to
the Gentile. He came unto his own. That's
what the scripture says in John 1. His own there is his own nation. His own people. The Jew. Our Lord was a Jew. And he said
to this woman, I am not sin. but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel she's turned away again. And then the woman came, in verse
25 it says, and fell at his feet and worshipped him, and she cried,
Lord, help me. Hear that cry for mercy. She
came to him once and he didn't even answer her. She went to
his disciples and They complained that she was worrying them and
requested that the Lord would send her away. And being a Gentile,
the master turned and said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel, and turned her away again. And then she
came and worshipped him. She fell at his feet. She would
not be denied. And she cried in a pitiful way,
Lord, help me. But the scripture says, the master
replied, listen to this, it is not proper, it is not right to
take the children's bread and give it to dogs. That's what
the Jews called the Gentiles, they called them dogs. And the
master said it's not right, it's not proper to take children's
bread and give it to to dogs. She's rebuked again. She's turned
away again. But now here is the key passage. And this is the faith that the
Lord commended. And this is the perseverance
and persistence that the Lord commended. And this is the humility
that the Lord commended. He called it great. Even after
being rebuked four times in a severe fashion The first time, he just
ignored her. Lord, have mercy on me. The Master
didn't even reply. Then the disciples rebuked her.
And then the Master said, I'm not sent to the Gentiles, I'm
sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And then after
that pitiful cry, that plea for mercy, Lord, help me. And then
to hear him say, It's not proper to give the children's bread
to dogs. I want you to listen to all us
proud folks ought to hear this. All us folks that believe God
owes us something and God ought to be honored to do business
with us or have us do business with him. And God ought to sure
be honored when we let him save us. Listen to her reply. Lord, that's true. That's true. It's not proper. It's not proper
to take the children's bread and give it to a dog. That's
absolutely true. And I'm not asking for the children's
bread. I'm not asking for the children's
bread. I'm asking for the dog's portion. I'm asking for the part that
belongs to the dogs, the crumbs. That's all I'm asking. You're
the children's master, but you're also the dog's master. And the
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And
brethren, the woman got what she wanted. And we can learn something from
her. And I'm convinced in my heart that we'd better learn
this lesson right here. The Lord resisteth the proud,
and he gives grace to the humble. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart. The Lord saveth such as be of
a contrite spirit. She didn't argue with the Master.
She pleaded. She didn't claim what she deserved. She begged for mercy. She took
her place at his feet as a dog. She gave him his place as the
Lord and Master, and she just would not be denied. Now, God doesn't owe me anything,
and God doesn't owe you anything except the wages of sin. That's
what God owes you, and that's what He owes me. The wages of
sin is death. And if God sends me to hell,
he'll give me exactly what I deserve. And if God sends you to hell,
he'll give you exactly what you deserve. But according to this
book, the sinner is to seek the Lord, and the sinner has, in
the presence of the Lord, at least an eightfold plea. And
I want to give it to you from this passage of Scripture. The
sinner, if there's a sinner here. I don't know whether there's
a sinner here or not. You say, everybody here is a sinner. Ask
them. Ask them. If you think everybody here is
a sinner, you ask them if they're sinners. And I'll guarantee you,
every one of them, except those who have had their hearts broken
by the Holy Ghost and had revealed to them their guilt and brought
to faith in Christ, will give you a qualified answer. Well,
I'm not I'm not such a bad sinner, or I'm not the greatest sinner,
or I'm not the chief of sinners, or I'm not such an evil sinner.
They'll all give you a qualified answer. The hardest thing in
the world to find is a genuine, bona fide, spirit convicted,
unadulterated, unqualified, guilty sinner. One old hymn writer said,
a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
The most difficult thing in the world to find is a sinner. Every
sinner Christ found, He saved. Every one of them. And I'll tell
you this, I hope you can understand it, it's so. God's going to save
every sinner. There's not a single sinner who's
going to be lost. Christ came to save sinners.
You can go to the prisons, you can go to the jails, and it's
hard to find a sinner there. Everybody there is on a trumped-up
charge. Everybody there is there because
he doesn't deserve to be. A sinner is a hard thing to find.
First of all, A man can plead, if he's a sinner, he can plead
his misery. That's the way this woman began.
Lord, have mercy on me, my daughter is grievously vexed. Grievously
vexed. Has your sin ever become grievous
to you? Has your sin ever actually become
a burden? Christ said, Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are, what? Heavy laden. weary, heavy laden,
grievously vexed by sin. That's the way the leper felt
whom Christ healed. He came and cried, Lord, that
I might be clean. I don't want to be unclean. I
don't want to be filthy. I don't want to be diseased. I want to be clean. His disease
was a burden to him. And when sin becomes a burden
to a man, when sin becomes a heavy burden, when it becomes grievous
to him, that's when he'll seek forgiveness. The blind man came
to Christ and he cried, Lord, that I might see. I'm tired of
darkness. I don't want to live in darkness. This darkness is a burden to
me. It's a grief to me. I'm blind. I want to see. And when the sinner cries, Lord,
my sin is a burden, my guilt is a heavy weight, my sin is
grievous to me, I'm weary of it, tired of it, and when a man
seeks the Lord in that fashion, he'll be heard. Oh Lord, my daughter
is grievously ill. The second thing that a sinner
can plead is this. He can plead his inability. The woman could not heal her
daughter. The doctors could not heal her daughter. Her friends
could not heal her daughter. The disciples could not heal
her daughter. She knew there was only one who
could heal her daughter. And that was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's the reason she perseveringly and persistently and consistently
stayed at His feet. That's the reason she would not
leave. The Lord turned to His disciples
on one occasion and said, Will you go away? They said, To whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Jeremiah said, Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? No, sir. Can the leper change
his spots? No, sir. Can you do good that
are born to do evil? No, sir. Can the Ethiopian skin
be changed? Yes, sir. Who can change it? The Lord. Can the leper's spots
be changed? Yes, sir. Who can change them?
Only the Lord. Can you be made to do good who
are accustomed to doing evil? Yes, sir, by the power of God's
grace. Jonah was shut up in the whale's
belly, and he cried, Salvation is of the Lord. Can Jonah deliver
himself? No, sir. Can his friends deliver
him? No, sir. Does the church have
the power to deliver him? No, sir. Can he be delivered?
Yes, sir. Who can deliver him? Only the
Lord. When Israel came to the Red Sea
with the water in front of them and Pharaoh's forces behind them,
Moses cried, Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And the waters parted, and they
walked through on dry land. Turn to Matthew chapter 19 in
verse 25. The Lord Jesus Christ had been
talking about the difficulty of salvation. And the scripture
says that frequently, if the righteous scarcely be saved. And that translation is, if the
righteous with difficulty be saved, where shall the ungodly
appear? And the disciples said to him,
well, Lord, verse 25, Matthew 19, who can be saved? That's a good question, isn't
it? Who can be saved? And the Master replied, hear
it, And hear it well, with men it is impossible. It is impossible. The church cannot save, but the
Lord can. Good works, the law, doctrines,
preachers, priests, sacraments, ordinances, baptism, these things
cannot save. With men it is impossible, but
with God all things are possible. Salvation of the Lord. Salvation
of the Lord in its planning. Who planned salvation? Was it
conceived in the mind of a man? Did it come out of the counsels
of the church? The salvation of the righteous
was born in the mind of God. Salvations of the Lord in its
planning, it's of the Lord in its execution. Who sent Christ
to the cross? God so loved the world, He gave
His Son. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. Salvations of the Lord in its application. Who opens the
heart of the guilty? Who convinces a man of sin? Who
begets life in the dead sinner? Who grants repentance and faith?
Faith's the gift of God. Who keeps us by his power? Who
providentially brings us to hear the word? The Lord. Salvations
of the Lord in its continuing power were kept by the power
of God, and salvations of the Lord in its completion. The third
thing that a sinner can plead, he can plead for mercy, he can
plead his misery, he can plead his inability, and he can plead,
listen, he can plead his sinfulness. The Lord Jesus said, you're a
Gentile dog. She said, that's true. That's
true. I'd like to have a quarter for
everybody I ever offended by calling them a sinner. I haven't
called them dogs. The Bible calls them worms. The Bible calls them vomiting
dogs and wallowing sows. That's what the Apostle Peter
calls them. I haven't called him, but all I've said is a man
is a sinner by birth, he's a sinner by nature, he's a sinner by choice,
he's a sinner by practice, he's a sinner in attitude, in motive,
in imagination, in dreams, in thoughts, in deeds, in every
way he's a sinner. But Christ called this woman
a dog. And she replied, that's true. There are many things that I
don't know about this Bible. There are a lot of things I don't
know. But I know one thing, and of
this I am positively sure, and that is the Lord Jesus came to
save sinners. And if a man never becomes a
sinner, he'll never be saved. I promise you that. Christ said
in Luke 19, 10, "...the Son of Man is come to seek and to save,
the lost. In the beginning of his life
here on this earth, when the angel appeared to Joseph, he
said, Fear not, to take unto thee Mary, to be thy wife, that
holy thing which is conceived in her is conceived by the Holy
Ghost, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. I feel sorry for the man who
has no sins. You say, what do you mean? Are
you proud of your sins? No, some are ashamed of them. But I'm
sure glad I can see them. I'm sure glad I can recognize
them. I'm sure glad that God revealed to me that I'm a sinner.
Because it says in verse 10 of Romans chapter 5 or verse 6,
when we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. In verse 8 it says, Why were
we yet sinners? Christ died for us. In verse
10 it says, When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. For whom did Christ die? He didn't
die for good people. He died for sinners. He died
for the ungodly. He died for enemies. And when
our Lord would illustrate this matter Himself, He said, Two
men went up to the temple to pray. One was a religious man
and one was a publican. And the religious man stood in
the very prominent place and he cried, God, I thank you I'm
not like other men. Now a while ago I said, I thank
God I'm a sinner. This man thanked God he wasn't.
He said, I thank you I'm not like other men. I go to church,
I tithe, I fast, I give alms to the poor, I'm not like this
publican." And Christ continued, he said, the publican would not
so much as lift his eyes to heaven out of embarrassment, out of
shame and guilt, but smote upon his breast and cried, God, be
merciful to me, a sinner. And a correct translation of
that is, God, let thy blood be propitiation for me on the mercy
seat. I'm a sinner. And Christ said
this man who recognized his sins, who owned his sins, who pleaded
for mercy, who pleaded his sinfulness, went home justified, forgiven,
pardoned. The other man did not. So a sinner
can plead his sinfulness. In the fourth place, a sinner
can plead the example of others. They called my Lord, and a name
that they thought would bring shame to Him actually is His
greatest glory. They called Him the friend of
sinners. Mary Magdalene found in Him a
friend. Nicodemus found an adversary. The woman at the well found in
Him a friend. The scribes and Pharisees found
an opponent. Zacchaeus, the traitor, the tax
collector, the cheat, found in him a friend. The rich young
ruler turned and walked away. The dying thief found in him
a friend. Saul of Tarsus, a friend. Nowhere in the Scripture. Now
you listen to this. If I'm wrong, I want to hear
from you. If I'm not wrong, I don't want to hear from you. Nowhere
in the scriptures, not one place, do you ever find any man, woman,
boy or girl being commended to the Lord for His grace based
on that person's goodness. Not one single place. Even the
moral young man, the young ruler who came to Christ and said that
he had kept the commandments from his youth up, heard Christ
speak to him in this measure. If you want to prove your morality,
go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and
come take up your cross and follow me. And if you can't do that,
you stop boasting of your morality." And the young man turned and
walked away. The Scripture says, "...for he
had many riches, and he loved them. But all who saw their guilt
found in him a friend." All who own their sins found in him a
friend. All who recognize their sinfulness
found in him a friend. And then the next thing that
a sinner can plead, he can plead the purpose of God. The Father
anointed Christ to save sinners. That's what the angel said to
Joseph. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sin. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world. The world was already
under the condemnation of God. God sent him to save. That's
why he came. And when I come before God asking
for mercy, I plead the purpose of God. I plead the will of God. I plead the very plan of God.
That's why Christ came. He didn't take upon himself the
nature of angel. He took upon himself the nature
of the seed of Abraham. He came as the Redeemer. His
very name, Jesus, means Savior. And then the Holy Spirit was
sent to convince men of sin and reveal Christ the Savior. Turn,
if you will, to John chapter 16. Christ said in John 16 verse
8, and when he is come, speaking
of the Holy Spirit, and when he is come, this will be his
task, he will convince the world of sin. Verse 14, And he shall
glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and show it to you.
That's why the Holy Spirit's come. So I can plead the purpose
of God. The Father sent the Son, the
Son came to save, and the Holy Spirit is given to reveal Him. What's the next thing a sinner
can plead? He can plead the sacrifice of Christ. As Abel brought the
blood offering and put it on those rocks and lifted his eyes
to God for acceptance, as Abraham put the lamb on the altar and
Isaac stared, as the holy priest went into the Holy of Holies
once a year with the blood of a sacrifice, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness. Even so, we look alone to the
sacrifice of our Lord. who was wounded for our transgressions,
and bruised for our iniquities, and chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." We plead the
blood of the cross. We don't plead the works of the
law, we don't plead the deeds of the law, we don't plead the
rituals of religion, we don't plead the sacrifices of our self-righteousness,
we plead the blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. I hear people say that they don't
care to hear preaching about the blood. They don't care for
this slaughterhouse religion. They don't care for this talk
in the pulpit about the blood cleansing and the blood atoning
and the blood purifying. My friends, in the natural realm,
not talking about the spiritual realm now, but even in the physical
realm, blood is a very prominent part of our lives. The shoes
I have on are because an animal shed its blood. An animal shed its blood. The
food that I sat down at the table and ate this afternoon, my noon
meal, was provided by some animal being slain and blood being shed. When one of your loved ones is
in an automobile accident, and the blood flows out on the pavement. The ambulance comes and picks
him up or her up and puts him on a stretcher and puts him in
the ambulance, takes him down to the hospital. What's the first
thing they do? They grab that container of that
precious, beautiful, life-giving, nourishing blood. and to hang
it up on that thing and take a needle and put it in that loved
one's arm. I want to hear you say then,
as you stand at the foot of that loved one's bed, I don't want
to hear about the blood. Every drop of that blood is beautiful
as it flows into the veins of that one that's already turned
pale and white over loss of blood. He's got to have that blood.
The life of the flesh is in the blood. And as that blood flows
into the veins of that loved one, and they take the empty
container down, run, put another one up, and more blood flows
in, and transfusion after transfusion is given, and after a while that
loved one stands up strong and well. Thank God for somebody's
blood that was given. Have you ever given a pot of
blood? Thank God for the blood. And I'll tell you this. Thank
God for the blood of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the blood
of Christ. It's that cleansing, life-giving,
purifying, soul-atoning blood of Christ that flows into the
body of the sinner. Except ye eat my flesh and drink
my blood," Christ said, you have no life in you. And I plead the
blood. I plead the blood. And the seventh
thing, quickly, he can plead the intercession of Christ. Christ
not only took my nature, Christ not only met the law of God,
the perfect law, and obeyed it, Christ not only went to the cross
as my substitute and gave me a transfusion. His own blood. He took my disease and gave me
life. He took my filth and gave me
holiness. He took my hell and gave me heaven. But right now, He pleads in glory
for our salvation. Turn to Hebrews 7, verse 25. He prayed for us in the garden.
He prayed for us on the cross. Father, forgive them. And the
Scripture says in Hebrews 7, verse 25, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost, that come to God by him. Watch it,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." In the
hour of trial, Jesus pleaded for me, lest by base denial I
depart from thee. And then last of all, What can
the sinner plead? He can plead the gift of faith. The centurion did. The Lord Jesus
came to him and, well, he came to the master and he said, My
son's dying, Lord. And the Lord Jesus said, Well,
if you can believe, if you can believe, all things are possible
to them who believe. And the centurion said, Lord,
I believe. help my unbelief. You can pray
that, can't you? If you ever are broken by the
Spirit of God to recognize your need, if you ever face your misery,
if you ever face death and judgment and hell moving up to meet you
at your coming, if you ever face your inability and the fact that
Christ alone can make you whole, You can plead the gift of faith.
Lord, I do believe. I have some faith. Help my unbelief. Ask, he said, and it shall be
given. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
to you. The songwriter has captured what
I'm trying to say in these words. When pangs of death seized on
my soul unto the Lord, I cried. Till Jesus came and made me whole,
I would not be denied. As Jacob in the days of old,
I wrestled with the Lord. An instant, with a courage bold,
I stood on his word. Old Satan said my Lord was gone. and he would not hear my prayer.
But praise the Lord, the work is done, and Christ the Lord
is here. I would not be denied. I would
not be denied till Jesus came and made me whole. I would not
be denied. I plead tonight my personal testimony
by misery and tired of sin. I plead my inability. I cannot save myself. I plead
the mercy of God, the purpose of God, the blood of Christ,
the sacrifice on Calvary. I plead his intercession. He's
praying for somebody. And I say, Lord, pray for me.
Pray for this poor sinner. And I plead the gift of faith.
I do believe. God knows I believe. But I ask
him to help my unbelief. I can't help him. I can't produce
what the flesh cannot produce. It has to be produced by spiritual
gift. God grants faith. As he gave
life, give it more abundantly. Our Father, bless the Word. We
thank Thee for it. We are unworthy of even the least
of Thy mercies. If You gave us justice, You would
plunge us away from Thy presence into eternal hell. But we plead
mercy. We plead the blood of Christ.
May the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ atone for all our guilt.
In His name we pray.