Well, it's good to see you all out this morning, those who requested prayer. We have a birthday this week. I have a player. I want to tell you how old she is. She's 39. Remember Peggy Crowe, though, she's Her back's really in bad shape. She's trying to adjust to medication at the doctor here right now, so she won't feel so goofy. I told her to go ahead and pill up and buy some B.B. King albums and sit down and enjoy life for a few days. She said she might do that.

Also, Randy, Debbie's brother, passed away on 11-23, Friday night. So remember that family in your prayers. As far as the arrangements go, it's going to be cremated, and they're going to have the memorial service somewhere down the road. We don't know. So remember that family in your prayers, if you will. And also, Teresa's sister is going to be operating on the 23rd of December.

Let's begin our worship service with hymn number 250. When peace like a river it is It is well, it is well with my soul! Oh, Satan should love you! Oh, Christ should come! with my soul praise the lord It is well, it is well with my soul. And Lord, haste the day when my face shall be sighed. The clouds may roll back as a scroll. The trump shall resound. is my soul

In Scripture reading and prayer we're seeing him number 287, like a river flowing. The Bible's term would be in Matthew, the 15th chapter. Beginning with verse 21, we'll read from verse 28. Then Jesus went thence, and departed to the coast of Tyre and Sidon. Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, our son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. And he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away. For she cried that for us. But he answered and said, I'm not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. And he answered and said, it is not me to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. And she said, truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. And Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour,

let us pray. Our father in heaven, merciful and gracious thou art, full of tenderness and kindheartedness toward your children. For as pitiful as we are, As a father pities his children, even so the Lord pities them that fear him, who remembers their frame and knows their dust.

We thank you, Father, that as we have been taught by your Spirit, our own wretchedness and inability and impotence, your Spirit has also taught us the potency, the great high potency of our Lord Jesus Christ. who is able to say to the utmost limit, come God, I am. We are thankful to shed blood of Jesus Christ for that great transaction that was accomplished between you and your son when he offered himself to sacrifice for sin, for his people. And he was made to be sin for us. He knew no sin, that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him.

We marvel at the mystery of our salvation, the wonder of it. No human being in his brightest state of intellect could ever conceive of such a thing. For God Almighty to come to this world, Take upon himself the likeness of sinful flesh and die for sin. For those who were born in this world hating him and despising him. Ever let us be full of wonder for what you have done, for the great things you have done, what you have brought.

Father, we pray for those who are sick. Peggy, she's had trouble with this back problem. Ask your Lord for your help for Teresa's sister who's going through this operation. We pray the doctors will be prepared to be able to help her. We pray for Randy's wife and family as they mourn the loss of a father who may be losing a brother. We know that our days are numbered. Our months are with thee. With thee, our boundaries are set that we cannot pass. But this indeed is a comfort to your children. But they don't need to worry about when it's going to happen. We know it's going to. But we trust, Lord, in your mercy and your grace and in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Knowing that as our bodies fail, we become more frail and we are ready to leave this world. that on the other side of this life is eternal life, full, free, without sickness and no tears and sorrow.

Help us to think on these things, to consider our Savior as worthy of all praise, and be like this Canaanite, Shire of Phoenician woman, to come and to fall at the feet of Jesus Christ and worship Him, beseeching Him to help us. We ask for your help now, Lord. As we hear the message, as we take the Lord's table this day, let us do so with joy and thanksgiving. We pray in Christ's name, amen.

In number 287, like a river flows. O'er all victorious, Jesus died and rose. Earth, He gave it for us, fuller every day. Earth, He gave it for us, Freedom from Jehovah, our song through the airs, I make as He promised, perfect peace and grace. Hidden in the heart of His place, ? Never folk can follow, never traitors team ? ? Not a surge of worry, not a shade of fear ? ? Not a blast of fury, touch the spirit of fear ? Spirit of Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, binding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Every joy or triumph will come, We may trust Him fully, all the rest we knew. May you trust Him wholly, find Him holding true. King of all Jehovah, hearts of holy bears,

Let us pray. Father, again we approach in the name of Christ, knowing full well that everything we have this side of eternal perdition, which we fully deserve, is a gift of grace. We thank you for the unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ. We thank you that with him you freely gave us all things, all things that pertain to life and godliness, and everything to sustain us until the day of our coming home. Help us to run under these gifts with thanksgiving in our hearts. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

of of of of of Yeah. I invite your attention back to Matthew, the 15th chapter. Part of my message this morning is elementary education. What transpires in this passage of scripture is the Lord actually teaching His disciples something they need to know. I love this account recorded in the Gospels, and I love it because this woman's situation was a teaching moment for Christ, and the pupils were His disciples. I say this only because it is the language that our Lord used to describe her faith, this woman's faith. Our Lord told her that she had great faith, great faith. It says that in verse 28. It says, Jesus answered and said to her, is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And her daughter was made whole at that very moment. Oh woman, great is thy faith. Our Lord said this to her and honored her request by healing her daughter.

Her faith was great in many ways. It was distinctly great in that it does not fit the scheme of what religion calls faith or talks about faith in the day in which we live. Religion calls faith great if it is able to do great things. That's how they refer to it. If you have faith, you can do great things. There's these healing campaigns that go on in the world. It's faith healers, so-called, when they get on stage. If a person is supposedly healed, they tell them they have great faith. And if they're not healed, they tell them they don't have no faith. But that's the way that works.

Our Lord said to the disciples, if your faith was that of the size of a mustard seed, you could move mountains. And people said, well, you know, we won't be able to move mountains. Our Lord wasn't saying that your faith could be great. He said you have heart that can handle it all. You have a very small faith in our faith. The faith that God gives us is measured. It's not great. It's not huge. It will not move mountains. It will sustain us one way. believing the word of God. That's what faith does, not faith does.

Religion likes to think that if you have faith you can move mountains, you can make things happen. Religion calls faith great in that way. Religion calls faith great if a person who professes it makes it through a great trial and accredits his or her faith, which many to do today. If you listen to who they have They have things online, they have seen things on TV, and they talk about my faith. Our faith, my faith. My faith got me through this. Your faith didn't get you through nothing. Through nothing.

Our Lord only called someone's faith great twice in the Word of God. Two times. It was here. and with Jarius when he sought help for his daughter or his ailing servant. There are numerous examples of faith in the Gospels, no doubt about that. A woman with the issue of blood who reached out and touched the garment of Jesus Christ and was immediately healed. blind Bartimaeus who sat by the side of the road and cried, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me that I might receive my sight and God made him blind and made him see again. The leper who came to Christ at the bottom of the sermon on the mount and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can makes me clean. Jairus also, these are just a few. They all had faith and trusted Christ, yet there was no record of any of them. In fact, anyone in all of scripture, not one of the saints, not one of the prophets, not one of the historians, not one of the writers of the gospel, not one of the writers of the epistles, saying anything about their faith. They never say, my faith. And nobody says that. And these are the ones who were close to God, who God inspired, whom God gave the words to write in. They never talked about their faith.

These all had faith, but they never talked about their faith on any level. And the reason is quite simple. Faith, true faith, never looks to itself or boasts in itself. refers to itself. Paul said, Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Faith, when it comes down to it, the faith that God gives between a man or a woman and his or her God. You'll never hear a person in scripture say, I have faith. You'll never hear a person who has been given faith refer to his own faith in anything other than to say that it's a gift of God Faith places the crown on the head of Jesus Christ.

How were this woman's faith and the faith of the centurion great? Several things were revealed about these two. First, both of them interceded for someone else. They made supplication for someone else. Scripture says this about faith in Galatians chapter 5 verse 4. It says, Faith worketh by love. And it's the archetype of not loving yourself. Love don't act that way. Love is always outward moving. It's moving toward the object of love. Faith worketh by love. For the love of another, these sought help from the master. They went to Christ for somebody else.

Both of these, their faith was manifest in importunity. They would not be turned away. Those circumstances seem to say that they should. They did not come to Christ with a sense of entitlement or looking to impress Christ or somehow obligate Christ to do something for them. They came as beggars to mercy's door. They both came with understanding. This woman came knowing the Lord could or could not help her. Mercy is not a given. The Lord said He will have mercy and I'm thankful that He wills and that's part of His goal. That was what he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion, and be gracious unto whom I will be gracious. He's gonna be gracious, he's gonna be so merciful. It's his mercy, and it's his grace. And if you want that mercy, if you desire that mercy, it's because you've been made alive by the Spirit of God.

But if you desire that mercy, the first thing you're gonna do is attribute sovereignty to the one who can give it or keep it from you. You ask forgiveness for someone, you don't say, you've got to forgive me, you have to forgive me. You don't say that. You say, forgive me. And what does that mean? You can't. You might, or you might not. But you're truly in sovereignty of the one who has the mercy. And these came as beggars to mercy. She didn't come saying, Lord, I've done a lot of good things. I've been a good person. I went to church. I paid my tithes. I did all this stuff. I'm good. You've got to help me on this. She didn't say that. She fell down at His feet and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me. Lord, help me.

Look over Matthew chapter 8, the other account. Matthew chapter 8, verse 5. It says, And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion beseeching Him. That's begging Him. and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick and with a palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said, I will come and heal him. Now Jesus said, I'll come over and heal him. And the centurion asked him, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou should come under my roof. But just speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority. He said, what he's saying is, I understand who you are. I'm a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this man, go, and he goeth. And to another, come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. You see, understand that a person who has power, he says, I'm authority. When he says something is to happen, then it happens. He says, Lord, you got all authority. You got all authority. And when Jesus heard what he said, he marveled. And said unto him, verily I say to you, I have not found so great faith, in all of Israel. That's the other one that had great faith. Great faith.

Then in chapter 15, the lady who came to him for her daughter said in verse 27, she said, truth of the Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. She was asking for help. And not as an equal, but as a curse. They both understood that Christ, if He was so inclined, they would receive good things in His hands. The promise of faith is, he that comes to God must believe that He is and the reward of them that diligently seek Him. If you ever truly come to God for help, somewhere down in your soul you believe He's going to help you. You believe He's going to help you.

And every graceful faith is manifest where it is called great. It has a singular object. They came to Christ. They looked to Christ and besought Christ for help. In every case, faith comes not in strength but in weakness and applies to God's ability and not its own. She didn't say, Lord, I have faith and I believe my faith will make my daughter better. She said, Lord, help me. Faith believes Christ. That's what faith does. It's what it only does. Faith only believes.

Our Lord said only believe. Only believe. That means don't do anything else but believe. Believe only. The word only in the original curse, the base word means to be destitute of anything else. To be destitute of anything else, to abide here and go nowhere else. This is the wonder of faith, of salvation, and why people who have not faith have difficulty understanding the whole concept of faith. Our salvation is based on the fact that Jesus Christ died, and he's given us faith to believe that. I mean, you are counting, if you're a child of God, this moment you are counting on this fact. And believing, by God's grace, on this fact, that 2,000 years ago, 20 centuries ago, on an only hill outside Jerusalem called Golgotha, the place of the skull, a Jewish shepherd was hung on a cross and died. And that death secured your eternal salvation.

And the world says, that's crazy talk. It is. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit that foolishness do. Neither can he know them, nor discern them, because of foolishness. Faith finds Christ when religion has no idea where he is. In Mark's account of this, in Mark's chapter 7, the Syrophoenician woman came and said Jesus was fed up with the Pharisees and went into somebody's house and hid. Because he didn't want anything more to do with the Pharisees and he hid so no man would find him. But he could not be hid from this woman. She found him because her need was so great.

Faith knows that Christ is not enamored with religion. Faith knows that the problem Jesus Christ had on this earth was always with religion. He never called a wretched, vile sinner a viper. or a snake, or a whited grave, or an empty vessel, or a two-fold bore of the child of hell. He never called a sinner that. But he said that about the religious world. He said they're hypocrites. Faith operates on one thing, which every child of God knows it never ends. Faith operates on a need for Christ. We need Him. If you ever stop needing Him, you're going to be in trouble. Faith always operates that way on need of Christ. It never presumes power, or entitlement, or influence, or ability with God. Faith looks to Christ.

This passage in Matthew is the record of the disciples of Christ getting elementary education. They had an ingrained concept about who were the children of God, the people of God, the elect of God. They know that Israel was an elect nation, and they believe that applied to eternal life, but it didn't. It was a temporal election. It was an election that had to do with time, and it didn't have to do with spiritual things and eternal things. It had to do with earthly things and timely things. When our Lord said things like, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, I will heal them and give them eternal life. No. He said, I will heal their land. I'll give them back Canaan. Every time he talked about them repenting was to return them to their land. It was never about going to heaven. It was never about spiritual things. It was about things they could touch, feel, and handle. not things they couldn't see.

I noticed today there's a great marketing going. Christianity, so-called Christianity is having a great marketing bulge in the world of business today. So yesterday you can buy all kinds of apparel with little crosses on them and pictures of Jesus or Bobby Leacock actually, but they say it's Jesus. But all these things, religious technology, you know the largest record sales in the United States or in the world actually. It's not rock and roll. It's not blues. It's not symphonic stuff. It's Christian music. It's big business. It's big business. People wear this stuff saying, I'm a Christian. Listen, if you can see it, it's going to pass away. It's going to melt with a furrow of heat. Faith cannot be seen. If you have it, it's between you and God. I can't see it. You can't even see it. We are dead, and our life is hidden with God. We believe. We believe. What does that mean? That's it. That's it. We believe.

The disciples are about to learn something. They'd been raised to believe that they were true Israel and the rest of the world was nothing but mangy curves. This was not a metaphorical appellation given to describe the character of the Gentiles. No, they believed that the Gentiles were less than human. They believed that. They believed that they were beasts of the field. That is not uncommon to what was going on in America. Many people and nations were looked at as less than human. And that went all the way, maybe it's even going on today. But they considered the Gentiles less than a human being. They were the human beings. One Jewish writer said, the idolatrous Gentiles are not called men. that they are comparable to the beasts of the field, to oxen, to rams, goats, and asses. The fetus in the bowels of a Canaanite servant, they say, is like the fetus in the bowels of a beast. That's what they felt.

So here we were, some fine Jewish fellas, a lit nation, hating this Gentiles, and here shows up this Gentile, Syrophoenician woman. A Canaanitish woman. And the disciples held this woman of great faith in utter contempt while yet fearing and honoring those who Christ disdained. Those who were faithless hypocrites. They honored them. The disciples honored the Pharisees.

Look at verses 7 through 14 of this chapter. Our Lord said to these Pharisees, you hypocrites. And He said this to the religious folks. Well did Isaiah prophesy unto you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. In other words, the laws that they've made up, the laws that they've come up with on their books about things like you must wash your hands before you eat, you must dress a certain way, you must look a certain way, these laws, they say, God said to do that. He said, in vain they do worship me. And he called the multitude and said, I want to hear you and understand. I want you to hear some and understand what I'm saying the Lord said. Not that which goeth in the mouth defileth a man. Because some of these Pharisees would not eat if they hadn't washed their hands. They wouldn't drink water. If they hadn't washed their hands, they must have washed their hands. They would have actually starved to death before they... and they believed this was honoring God.

He says, Not that which goeth in the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Not what you eat or drink. I grew up as a Southern Baptist, a Southern Baptist church buddy, and if you drank, you were an Ethel. If you had a beer, you were an Ethel. I can never forget the fellow that came on my porch many years ago, an old man, knocked on the door. I didn't know him from Adam, never knew who he was, never got his name. He left after he spoke. But he says, he knew I was a preacher because I lived right beside the church. He didn't want to tell me what a great fellow he was. He said, open the door, this is what he said. He said, I want you to know, I've never been to a movie show, I've never drank a beer, and I've never smoked a cigarette. And I wanted to say, but I didn't. I wanted to say, you missed the best three things in the world. I wanted to say that, but I didn't. But that was his life. That was his righteousness before God.

And it don't take much to be righteous. You can be righteous. Debbie and I were talking about it. I forget what sign we saw over in Seville the other day. Just sitting in a little sign, I thought, well, it don't take much for you to feel righteous about something. I felt righteous. He said, all these things I've done, I'm not taking beer into my body. I'm not inhaling cigarette and tar and nicotine in my body. And that makes me righteous. Christ said, no, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. Some people believe if you eat pork, you're unrighteous, but if you don't eat pork, you're righteous. No, you're not. It's not what goes in your body that defiles you.

Then came his disciples and said unto him, because he said this to the Pharisees, called them hypocrites, that vainly worshipped him. Then came the disciples and said unto him, don't you know that the Pharisees were offended when you said it? You offended these religious folks when they heard this saying. And Jesus answered this, every plant which my heavenly father had not planted shall be rooted up. He said, every one of them clowns, I'm going to pluck them up by the roots. He told his disciples, leave them be. Let them alone. Think about that. You mean I'm not to go out of soul with them all? I'm not to invite them to church? Leave them alone. Why? They're blind. Leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a ditch. Both of them shall fall into a ditch. That's what our Lord said about them.

These disciples held these fellows in high esteem. Don't you know you've offended Him? And this poor woman, who came on her belly, crying for help from the Lord, they said, she's a dove. So our Lord plays on what they think. Our Lord sees what they're thinking in their mind. The staff still held that there was some virtue, some merit in the practice of alphabetic cleanliness. Believed that it meant inward righteousness. They needed to go to school, and that was the first lesson they learned this day. To know some things in divine providence brought this woman to a place on this day that was a primary matriculation for this crowd. What did they learn? First of all, they learned that a sinner in need A believer cannot be offended by God. Cannot be offended by God. The religious are always offended by God, but not the believer. Verse 22 and verse 23, first phrase. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord. She called him Lord, Adonai. And I saw David, Here is your David Strong, the true messiah. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil, but he answered her not a word. Wait a minute, here's a great opportunity. This woman wants something, you can get her to walk down the aisle. You can get her to make some kind of confession. I bet you can get her to say the sinner's prayer. You can do all that kind of stuff with natural words. answered her not a word. When this woman saw Christ with her true need, he didn't speak another word to her. Religion believes that because of what they do and how they live that God is obligated to pay attention to them. They do. Over in Isaiah chapter 58 we have a picture of that. Here the people are saying this is what we do and why haven't you paid attention to the Lord. Isaiah 58 verse 3. Wherefore, how come we have fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore, have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? They say, why do they do it? So God can pay attention. They believe that they get God's attention. People believe that today the gospel is efficient because it lays all a man's doings in the dust and accounts men for what they are. Back in our text, in verses 15 through 20, then Peter answered Peter, declaring to this parable, Jesus said, Are you also not understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatsoever entereth the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out of the draft? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemy. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands, that don't defile a man. That doesn't defile a man. Religion is appalled at the idea that God might not respond to them. The believer knows that help comes from the Lord and His good pleasure and when He wants to help you, He'll help you. And not until then. in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Paul said this is the Corinthian church. Verse 7-9 he says, and lest I should be exalted above measure. Now remember Paul was going to the third heaven. I guess that's in the presence of God. This happened around the time when he was stoned to death at Lystra. And he went to the third heaven. Now you've heard stories about Blue sky, white clouds, watermelons the size of Volkswagen, trouts the big as Mogadishu, you know, silly stuff. He went to heaven, Paul did. He's the only one or two people that had something to say about it. Our Lord went there and he didn't tell anybody about what it's like. But Paul went there, he said, I can't tell you what it's about. He said this, how that he was caught up in the paradise and heard unspeakable words which are not lawful or possible to be uttered. He said, I can't. I can't explain what I saw. Can't explain. But he's a man. And being a man, having that kind of experience, you might expect that a man might actually glory in that. I've been to the third heaven. So Paul said, lest I should be exalted above men. Because that's happened to me. Through the abundance of the revelation there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted as Lord mentioned. For this thing I have besought the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of God may rest upon me. Therefore, I'll take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. But when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. When I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. The believer knows that help comes from the Lord at God's good pleasure. God's good pleasure. The second thing they learn is that the natural Israel is not true Israel. Natural Israel is not true Israel. Back in our text, in verse 23, the second phrase. And it says, the disciple said, send her away. She crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Of course, they, to them, this meant, OK, he's talking about us. He's probably going to send her away. He's talking about us. They learned the fact because he said this woman's faith was great. Wait a minute. Great faith. That she was in the house of Israel. The true house of Israel. What is true Israel? What is true Israel? Is it that nation over there, that small little speck in the Middle East? Is that true Israel? That's Israel, the nation. But that's not God's Israel. That's not true. Scripture makes that clear. Let's look at a few passages here for me. Look at Romans chapter 2. In Romans chapter 2. Verse 28. It says, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is the heart, and in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." Then again, over in Romans chapter 9, he says this, in Romans chapter 9, verse 6, he says, "...not as though the word of God had taken none effect." Because, the reason he says this is because Israel, as a nation, had been given many things. Now all of them, we know according to the book of Hebrews and the New Testament, pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't see that, but they had been given great things. Things that no other nation in the whole world got. It's a little group of people, these 12 tribes, got more than any other nation. Got things that the other nations could not even imagine. They got the priesthood. They got the adoption. They got the covenants. They got the giving of the law. They got the service of God. They got the promises. And the fathers of Israel, from that group, the line of David, of Benjamin, that group, came the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary was in David's line. David's line. They had the service of God. They had the promises. They had the oracles. They had the word of God. No other nation had that. No other nation. They had the ceremony. No other nation had someone, a place where you could slay a lamb and burn him up, and that represented the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody had that. They didn't have the Day of Atonement. On one day a year, for this nation and a 15 by 15 foot cruiser, the high priest went in with blood and sprinkled that place with blood, sprinkled himself. And that day, the sins were atoned for one year. No other nation had that. But the nation was a murmuring bunch of complainers. Read the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Daniel, Amos, Hosea. Read all of them. You'll find they all said, this is an idolatrous, adulterous nation, and God's done with it. God's done with it. So they had all that. You think, well, certainly that has some effect. but it didn't. And so Paul says, not as though the word of God has taken none effect, but they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. All of this nation, Israel, is one thing, but there's people in there that's another Israel. And that Israel, he says, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, because they claim to be Abraham's children. Are they children? But in Isaac. shall thy seed be called. What does that mean? How was Isaac born? How was Isaac born? Isaac was born by the power of God. For it says in Romans chapter 4 that Sarah and Abraham had passed the place where they could produce children. They were too old to infirm. So Isaac was born by the power of God. Now Abraham had another son, Ishmael, which means God hears. Ishmael. But he was born of Abraham's seed with the woman, Hagar, who was given as a housemaid. Sarah said, take her and make me a baby. And they did. Ishmael. What happened to Ishmael? He was cast out. Why? Because he can't represent Israel, though he is a son of Abraham. He can't represent a child of God. He was born of the natural power of the flesh. He was not born by the Spirit of God, which speaks of our salvation. He was not born of fleshless flesh, that which is born of the Spirit of the Spirit. In Isaac, shall I say, we come. And he goes on further in the same thing to say this division was made when he talks about Jacob and Esau. He said, The children may not yet mourn, neither having done any good evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand. He saith, The elder shall serve the younger, which flip the law upside down. Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Somebody says, Well, that makes God unrighteous. Paul says, God forbid. Scripture said he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy but he says Not as though the Word of God has taken an effect, but they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Remember our Lord said to his disciples, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Who's he talking about? He's talking about the descendants of Isaac, those who are seen as born by the Spirit. Paul, in speaking to the Philippian church, talked about the Pharisees, the circumcised. Those that came in and said, oh, we believe in Jesus. He said, OK, but you've got to do something that can be seen as physical. You've got to have a shedding of blood. So the blood's got to be shed. There's got to be some payment here for something. And so they said, you've got to be circumcised. And basically, that represents keeping the wall open. For if you start keeping the law at one point, you've got to keep the whole law, you've got to keep it perfectly. Paul said to those total flesh cutters in Philippians 3, the concision, he made up that word, the flesh cutters, beware the concision of those. He wasn't talking about Gentiles, he was talking about Pharisees. He said, we are the circumcision. We worship God in the spirit. who rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We are their servants, isn't it? So what these disciples are about to see when God, when the Lord Jesus Christ says, if this sorrow for these women, great is your faith, I ain't seen nothing like this in Israel. They're learning that the lost sheep of the house of Israel contained this woman. See, part of that rule is what Paul called in Galatians, true Israel, or the Israel of God. He said those were interesting people. They lived by this rule that he said, and they are, that peace will be upon the Israel of God. And what is the rule? The rule is simple. This is the rule. This is the rule he gave, to live by. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world was crucified unto me, and I am crucified unto the world. The man that lives by this rule, peace be upon the God, the Israel of God. This is that rule. So this is what they learned that day. that they thought when he said I'm not sent but to the lost people of the house of Israel they learned this woman's in the house of Israel because he was sent to her thirdly they learned what true worship was back in our text in verse 25 that she came to him then came she and worshiped him saying Lord help me true worship It's not the washing of the hands or the religiosity of saying that you have dedicated stuff to the Lord, as these men did in verses 1 through 8 of this chapter. I'll let you read it. True worship is beseeching the Lord for help. The word worshipping is a combination of two Greek words, proskuneo, two Greek words, actually a suffix in order, proskuneo. A dog licking. Now if you ever had a dog, you know your dog likes to lick you. And you can be mean to them. You can straighten them out. You can be harsh with them. They'll crawl right up at your feet and lick your feet. Lick your head, flip your legs. Why do they do it? They're worshipping you. You're their master. And they're worshipping you. That's what this moment is. True worship is ascribing all glory to God, all honor to God, and all that He's due is Lord. And Psalm 29 says everybody in God's congregation gives glory to God, and not to men. Not to men. She gave glory to Him. She came worshiping. People talk about coming to worship, but today's worship service, you have worship You have worship singers. You have worship dancers. You have worship drummers. You have all kinds of things. This is worshiping God. And people leave sometimes and say, well, I didn't get anything out of that. Well, let me tell you something about worshiping God. It's not for you. It's for God. It's to honor Him and glorify Him. And if you're a child of God, when you glorify Him, you'll get full of joy and full of peace when you give all honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. They learned that day what true worship was. They thought it was washing hands. And even certain things and not even certain things. That's what they thought. Ruth versus the one through us. I know what they thought. But it wasn't that. She came worshiping Him, and she said something. which is the bottom of true words. Lord, help me. Help me. Fourthly, they learn that true faith assumes the character by which the Lord describes you. Our Lord in no small reference to the words that mean worship, dog licking, calls this woman a dog. He said in verse 26, after she said, Lord, help me, he said, it is not meat or suitable to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. I said, well, that hurt my feelings. Then one time, the redditor told the lady that she was a maggot, and the lady was surprised and knocked out. Why do you say that? She blamed it on me. She said, that's what the preacher said. That's what we are. And here she's describing it all. So she gladly took that place. The Lord says you're a sinner. The Lord says you drink iniquity like water. The Lord says you come from the womb as soon as you're born speaking lies. The Lord says you're impotent. The Lord says you're sick. The Lord says you're corrupted. The Lord says you're vile. The Lord says you stink. The Lord says you don't understand. The Lord says you're a dog, and blind, and haunt, and lame. The Lord says all that about you. And here he says, she says, Lord, help me. He says, that's not for me. For me to give the children, the dogs, and what you do. She says, you're talking about me. That's who I am. And that's what I am. She said in verse 28, verse 27, Lord, that's the truth. Truth, Lord. Let the dogs eat the crops from the master's table. She did not take up religion. She didn't suddenly decide to wash her hands, the main tradition of religious activities. She agreed with Christ and took the place of the hungry hound. She bowed as Caleb did. Caleb's name means the faithful dog. She was like Mephibosheth, who said to the king, I'm a dead dog. And he ate at the king's table all the days of his life. She took the place of the proverbial poor pup who waits for what is left, the crumbs left after the children have eaten. Gil spoke of an old Jewish saying, a king provides a dinner for his children's for the children of his house. And whilst they do his will, they eat their meat with the king, and he gives to the dogs the part of bones to gnaw. But when the children of the house do not do the king's pleasure, he gives the dogs the dinner, and the bones go to them. Even so, while the Israelites will do the will of the Lord, they eat at the king's table, and the feast is provided for them. They of their own will give the bones to the Gentiles, but when they do not do the will of God, lo, the feast is for the dogs. The dogs are theirs. I'll prepare the table before me, and David said, in the presence of mine enemies, this is the feast of the king in the presence. These are the dogs that sit before the table looking for their part of the bones. In this scenario, in our text, who gets to eat at the master's table? Not the hypocrites who give lip service, but the dog under the table waiting for a morsel of mercy. Here's the question, have you soberned Christ? Can you take the place that is assigned to you, whether the dog, or the maggot, or the dumb-hell beggar? Do you need him, desperately need him, to the point that you can look nowhere else? Can you become the beggar at the door of sovereign mercy? Will you be offended if he seems to pay no attention to you? Will you slink off in anger when you find out that he has a chosen people for himself? Will you willingly and gladly take your place beneath the master's table? No sinner who ever sought him for help and who disregarded all but him has ever ultimately been turned away. I don't find one. Here's the key, only believe, only believe. This is the first assignment school on the blackboard of faith for the disciples. As we gather at this table today, we get not crumbs, though we approach as dogs. We get the feast of fat things, wine on the leaves, and well-refined. We feast on that which is memorial to the body and blood of Jesus Christ, that which symbolizes his death, that settled every issue between us and God. To every old manger cur, we say, come and dine, come and dine. On the night I was betrayed, he took bread and gave it to his disciples and said, take it, this is my body, I'm going to give it to you. All of you do this and remember it's a baby. Then he took the cup and blessed it. He said, this cup is the new testament, a new covenant in my blood. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you will show forth my death until I come again. Why do we show forth his death? Because that's what's in it. The soul is in it that shall die. Our Lord never sinned. He was the spotless Lamb of God. But on that cross, a wonder of wonder was made for, was made to be sin for us. I don't understand that. And we'll understand it, but I believe it. And we were made the righteousness of God in Him. He died the death that we owe God. And in that death, God's justice, God's righteousness, God's law was perfectly satisfied. So much so that God looks at people like us, us, frail, weak, polluted, dying individuals. He says, I find no fault in you. I will never remember one sin you ever committed. I will never remember, never recall it, never charge you with it. I will never impute sin to you. Why? Because of something you didn't know, because Christ died. So we take this table for that purpose. To memorialize that glorious death and settle it all. In one fell swoop, in a few hours in human history, all of a sudden all of history belongs to that single thing. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's ask the Lord to bless you before the table. Father, bless us for our understanding as we receive this table. We do have the privilege to, as children of God, as those saved by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ, given faith to believe the gospel, as we take this table, let us do so with joy and thanksgiving, knowing, knowing that 2,000 years ago, every issue of sin and debauchery and wickedness was forever settled and put away by the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father, for allowing us this privilege. In Christ's name, amen. On the night I was betrayed, he took bread. It was the bread of the Passover, the last Passover. Unleavened bread. Unleavened means without taint. He said, beware the leaven of the Pharisees. Sin. He took the unleavened bread and he'd break it in the hand of his disciples. And he said, take ye, this is my body, broken for you. It wasn't his actual body. His actual body was sitting there, symbolic. Symbolic. It didn't become his actual body. It was bread. He pictured his body being broken in half. He said, as awful as he'd eaten his bread, he sure fought my death until I couldn't do this in remembrance of me. Then he took the cup. And after he blessed him, he said, this cup is the New Testament, a new covenant in my blood. His disciples didn't know anything about the New Covenant. They didn't know that the death of Jesus Christ answered all the symbols and pictures that were painted in the Old Testament of every lamb, ram, goat, kid that had been slain in the Old Testament. It was a picture. It didn't accomplish anything. It didn't take away sin. It was a picture of him. He said, this is the New Covenant, the covenant that actually puts away sin. This is the new color in my blood of my death. So often as you drink, eat this bread and drink this cup, you show forth my death until I come again. Do this in remembrance of me. And that night, I sang a hymn. The Lord went out. Just a few days later, he'd be hanging on the cross. That night, one of his friends, a man named Judas Iscariot, got together with some soldiers, some priests, scribes, and elders, and they came looking for Christ. And Judas says, the one I kiss, that's Him. Betrayed with a kiss. All part of the plan. St. Francis like us. Let's stand together. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but only lean on Jesus' name. Make sure that you love each other before you leave. God bless you. Thank you for listening to me.