and and I invite your attention back
to Matthew chapter 15. In this chapter, our Lord teaches his disciples by parables. He
sets the truth before those who believe that they have a righteousness
that is acceptable to God because of all things they wash their
hands before they eat. And they think that by cleaning
the outside of the platter that is acceptable to God, but God
doesn't look on the outside, he looks on the inside, on the
heart. The same people that our Lord said to, you're just a bunch
of whited coffins. You look really good on the outside,
but inside you're full of dead men's bones, you're vipers and
snakes. You clean the outside of the
cup, but not the inside of the cup. But these people washed
their hands religiously, for lack of a better word, they would
never without washing their hands, because they believed by taking
water, they'd wash the defilement off of their body, and they were
no longer defiled. And our Lord said to them, after
they came and said, how come your disciples don't wash their
hands before they eat? And he said, they don't have
to. That's basically what he said
to them. He says, you transgress the word of God by not taking
care of your mama and daddy. Your mom and daddy have need.
You tell them, no, I can't give you that money because that money
belongs to Jesus. We're going to keep that money.
He said, that's Corbin. And he says, you defy the truth
of God by teaching the doctrines and tradition and commandments
of men. And this astounded his disciples and they asked, well,
what do you mean by what are you saying? Because he had just
said, it's not what enters into the body, but what comes out
of the heart that defiles a man. For what enters into the body
is cast out the draft, but out of the heart proceeded evil things,
murderers, evil eyes, blasphemy. All these things proceed out
of the heart of man. And after he had said that, and he was
pretty fed up with these Pharisees, another account of this and another
gospel says he went to a man's house and would have no man know
it. He went and hid, because he is
sick of the Pharisees and sick of the religion. But it says
he could not be hid from this woman right here, because she
had a great need. And those who have a great need,
will always find the Lord Jesus Christ. They will always find
him. I love this story. I love this
story. I love it because this woman,
without her knowing, became a teacher and her students were the Lord's
disciples here. It was the disciples who learned
a lot this day with this incident here when she came to the Lord.
And I say this only because it is the language that our Lord
used to describe her faith. He said, Oh, woman, great is
thy faith. Now, who gave her the faith to
start with? He did, but he's honoring her faith. Great is
thy faith, because she wouldn't quit. She wouldn't give up. Our
Lord said this to her and honored her request for the healing of
her daughter. Oh, great is thy faith, so be it, however you
want it, that's how it's gonna be. And from that moment, her
daughter was healed. And her faith was great in many
ways. There's no doubt about that. It was great in that it
does not fit the scheme of what religion calls faith. I know
men talk about faith, they talk about their faith. You ever hear
people talk about, you know, well, I have my faith, you know.
Have you lost your faith? You know, they come through a
great, well, my faith pulled me through this catastrophe,
my faith. Nobody says that in scripture, though. You don't
find the apostles saying that. Religion calls great faith or
faith great if it has power over circumstances over disease. If you had enough faith, you'd
be healed. Men make a lot of money saying that. Religion calls
faith great if a person who professes it makes it through some great
trial and then credits his or her faith for getting them through
that trial. Our Lord only called someone's
great faith twice in the Word of God, here and with the centurion
who besought Christ to help his ailing servant. There are numerous
examples of faith in the gospels, there's no doubt about that.
Men to come to Christ believing, the woman at the issue of blood,
she reached out and touched the hem of his garment and was healed
of her issue after 12 years of hemorrhaging. Blind Bartimaeus
sat at the roadside begging, but he heard of Jesus Christ
and said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And
immediately Jesus Christ stopped and said, call him to me. Said
he left his coat and went to Jesus Christ. that I might receive
my sight, he said. And the Lord gave him his sight.
The leper who came to the Lord Jesus Christ at the bottom of
the mountain after the Lord had taught what is called the Beatitudes
or the Sermon on the Mount. These are just a few. And these
all had faith. There's no doubt about that.
They came to Christ believing that if they could, if he would,
he could heal them. They believed he was capable
if he was only willing to do so. But Christ They trusted Christ, but there
is no record of any one of them ever referring to their faith
on any level. Isn't that interesting? You'll
never hear a person in Scripture say, I have faith. James did
say, you show me your faith without works, I'll show you my faith
by my works. That's the only instance. But you don't find
people saying, I have faith. You find them saying it in the
third person. These all died in faith. Talking about their
faith, when he saw their faith, he made the man whole. But they don't talk about it,
I don't talk about my faith. One thing, I'm embarrassed by
how small and how unfaithful I am and how full of unbelief
I still remain as a child of God. You'll never hear a person
who's been given faith refer to his own faith in any other
way than to say that it is a gift of God. God gave it to me, that's
how come I have it. It's a gift from God that precludes
all boasting in anything but God. Scott Rich used to say,
faith places the crown on the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. How were this woman's faith and
the faith of that centurion great? Well, there's a whole lot of
things we could think about, several things are revealed about these
two. First, both of them interceded for someone else's needs. The two times the Lord said,
oh, great is our faith, it was people who came to Christ for
somebody else's need. The scripture says, faith worketh
by love, and love always goes out, it never comes in. Never
about it ever coming in, never about reciprocation, love is
always that way, towards someone, it always has an object. Faith
worketh by love. For the love of another, these
sought help from the master. And for both of these, their
faith was manifest with importunity. They wouldn't give up, they wouldn't
stop. They came as beggars to mercy's door. They both of them
came with understanding that if Christ wanted to, he could
help them. They didn't obligate him or think
they could simply by asking. They understood that if Christ
was so inclined, they would receive good things at the master's hand.
Scripture does say, he that comes to God must believe that he is
in the reward of them that diligently seek him. In every case where faith is
manifest and where it is besought at the feet of Christ for help,
folks get helped. I find that in Scripture. But
in every case, faith comes in weakness, not in strength. After Peter had walked on water,
you ever done that? I've never done that. I know
where the rocks are, so I stay above the water. That's only
because I know where the rocks are. There wasn't no rocks where
Peter was. He was walking on water. He had great faith. Then
he sunk and the Lord said, oh ye of little faith. Little faith. Our Lord said in Mark, all things
are possible if you'll only believe. Only believe. Faith believes
Christ. But faith only believes. Only believes. That word only
in the original comes from a base word that means to be destitute
of anything else. to abide here and go nowhere
else. Only believe. Can you do that? That's what
you're supposed to do. Only believe. Only. Nothing else. Nothing more. Only
believe. Faith finds Christ when religion
has no idea where he is. This woman found him. Faith knows
that Christ is not enamored with a religion, but is weary of it.
He don't give a hoot about what's going on around here and in religion.
Faith operates on need, always on need, always on dependency,
always looking to Christ alone for every possible thing. That's
how faith operates. Always need of Christ and never
presumed power or influence or ability with God. Now religion
translates that as ability with God and somehow an inroad into
God's power and if you'll just exercise it or call it down or
whatever term they want to use, you can get things done through
faith. That ain't so. We pray believing
God is able and God can do. And that's why we pray to begin
with because we know we can't do and we are not able. This
passage in Matthew is a record of the disciples of Christ going
to school, and they went to school on some serious things in this
passage of Scripture. They had a notion about who were
the children of God. They thought these fellows that
washed their hands were the real children of God, the people of
God, the elect of God. They'd been raised to believe
that they were true Israel, and the rest of the world were nothing
but a bunch of dogs, and especially this woman, this Canaanitish
woman, was nothing but a dog. And that wasn't just a general
reference, well, you old dog, you. What's a doing dog? That's
not what we're talking about. They held Canaanitish people
in the same respect as they held for a cur, for a dog. They saw that there was no more
difference. There was no difference between
a Canaanitish person and a real canine. That's what they thought. It's not some metaphorical appellation
given to describe the character of the Gentiles. They believed
the Gentiles were less than human, less than human. They were rather
beasts of the field. One Jewish writer wrote and said
this, the idolatrous Gentiles are not called men. that they are comparable to the
beasts of the field, to oxen, to ram, to goats and asses. The
fetus in the bowels of a Canaanite servant, they say, is like the
fetus in the bowels of the beast. That's what they felt. These
were beasts who's not people. And this is the woman that came
in the midst of all these fine Jewish men, Peter, James, and
John, Nathaniel, all those fine Jewish men, and they were brought
up to hate and despise those people. these Gentiles, though
the Old Testament didn't teach that. That's religion's take. That's what's going on in the
world today. It's religion's take on somebody that doesn't
agree with them is you hate them and you want to get rid of them.
The reason Islam hates those that aren't in religion because
they're not Islam, that's the only reason. If you were to say,
I convert, why, they'd take you into the mosque right now. and
give you ladies all a burka to wear. They'd give one of them.
Probably give it to you, wouldn't have to buy it. But religion, that's
the take on religion. And that's the natural result
of natural thinking concerning election. Natural election, the
election of Israel, their natural response to that, that they were
chosen and other men weren't, was that everybody else was evil,
and everybody else was a dog, and they were God's people. Now,
election of grace never teaches you that. Election of grace teaches
you that you are a worm, and vile, and filthy, and could not
ever in any way help yourself at all. Had not God chosen you,
you would have perished. True understanding of election
drives pride down. Natural understanding of election
lifts pride up. And so these men looked at these
Gentiles, and the Old Testament didn't teach that. Beginning
early on in Genesis and now we're studying in Isaiah. We're studying
in Isaiah over and over. The Lord talks about that ensign
being raised up for the Gentiles. For the Gentiles are gonna come.
I'm gonna call them from the people who are not of my people.
Bring them into this fold. All the way through the scriptures.
Where'd they get this idea? They got this idea because God
chose me. I'm something special. And you're
not. You're not. Disciples held this
woman of great faith in utter contempt, while yet fearing and
honoring those who Christ had just disdained. These faithless
hypocrites that the Lord had talked about in verses seven
through 14. The disciples still had that there was some virtue.
They still held this, and we who were raised in false religions,
we still hold to this too. We don't want to. It makes us
mad when we find it in ourselves. We'd like to cast it out in the
gutter so we'd never think of it again, but it's there. We
believe somehow in the back of our heads there's some virtue,
some merit in the practice of outward religion, outward cleanliness,
believing that it somehow relates to inward righteousness. We believe
that. Sad, that we do, but we do. These fellas needed to go to
school, and we needed to go to school, and what they went to
school on, every one of us do, continually. We never get out
of kindergarten on this thing. I've been preaching the gospel
over 35 years, I'm still a kindergarten student. Because the things I
struggled with in my old flesh, I struggled with greater as I
get older. It ain't gonna get better, does
it? Don't get better, does it, Julie? Don't get better. Gets worse. Gets worse before
we see it in ourself. I need the divine providence
of God to take me to school all the time so I can learn and know
some things. And this woman taught some things without ever hardly
opening her mouth. The disciples learned at the
feet of the master, but they learned from this gal, this Gentile,
this dog that day. What did they learn? First of all, they learned that
a sinner in need, a believer, cannot be offended by God. This woman cried out to Christ
and he didn't even talk to her. He turned her back and walked
away. Well, what'd he do that for?
That ain't right. Ain't he up there in heaven over
the banisters of heaven wishing you'd let him do something for
you? Ain't we inviting you down front all the time so you can
let him save you? Ain't that what Christ is for?
Ain't that what God is for? No. What if you called on God
and He turned His back and walked away? If you was religious, you'd
turn your back and walk away too. But if you had a need, you
wouldn't. If you needed Him, you'd hang
around. The religious are always offended
by God, but the believer is never offended by God. When this woman
besought Christ, she besought Him with a true need. He didn't
speak a word to her. He just didn't talk to her. Religion
believes that because of what they do and how they live, that
God is obliged to listen to them. The gospel is offensive because
it lays all of man's doings in the dust and accounts man for
what he is, a dog and nothing more. Religion is appalled at
the idea that God might not respond to them. They have this notion,
and they've been taught, because they've been taught the two basic
lies that govern false religion, that is, God loves everybody.
And because they believe that, what they know about love is
that it feels good, and it usually ends up helping you when people
love you. And so you can't convince somebody
who's been told that God loves them all their life except by
a work of grace. You can't convince them that
God means them harm or that God might not have anything, won't
have anything to do with them at all, that God has disregarded
them, that God has never regarded them. But that's the teaching
of scripture. And men can't stand the thought
of that. It drives them crazy. That's what God is for, they
think. But their God that they invented, that is what he's for,
but not the God of Scripture. The believer knows that help
comes from the Lord at his good pleasure and according to what
he desires to do and is designed to do. I approach the Lord for
forgiveness. I ask him as I confess my sins. But I wait on that forgiveness.
I don't demand it. But I know that he's just to
forgive me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness because of
what Christ did on Calvary Street. The first lesson is this. If you love God, none of this
is gonna offend you. It will not offend you. What
he says about you is not gonna offend you. I was telling this
morning in the Bible study about Joel Osteen and what he's decided.
He was in some type of interview and he said he believed that
Paul and Peter and James and John that wrote the New Testament
were in error And these were first century ideas, and they
were no longer of value today. And he even questioned whether
or not what Christ taught was right. Now here's a man who says
he's a Christian. He said, I don't call people
sinners. Don't tell them they're sinners, because most people
are basically good. And what he was saying is basically the
old universal idea that God's gonna save everybody, because
everybody's good. God don't save good people. God
don't save good people. If you're a good person, you're
in trouble today. God saves the vilest of humanity,
the wicked, the undone, the unclean, those that drink iniquity like
water, those that are doomed, damned, dead, and dying, those
that have no interest in Him, those that hate Him and would
tear Him off the throne if they could. That's who He saves. Christ
died for the ungodly, not the godly. Every time He went up
with a godly person, He'd run them out of town. He told them
there's a bunch of snakes and vipers. And here's an old Canaanite woman,
and she learned something, and she taught him something that
day. She went up there and begged for Christ, and he turned away,
and she just kept on begging. He kept walking away, and she's
right at his feet. And then she ran to his disciple, please tell
him to listen to me, please. Why? Because she had a need.
She had a need for Jesus Christ. Secondly, they learned that natural
Israel was not true Israel. You know, they thought they were
Israelites, this was a Canaanite woman, but it ended up being
that this woman was to Israel, because she believed Christ.
She believed Christ. In verse 23, he looked at his
disciples, because they had come to her, or after she had come
to him and begged, and he answered not a word. Then his disciples
came and besought him saying, send her away. Send her away,
she's worrying us. We got better things to do. We're
God's people and we got a mission here, you know. We're gonna go
into all the world, you know, we gotta do that sort of thing.
But he answered and said, he said this to the disciples, not
to her, now she heard it. But he said this to his disciples.
Well, you know, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. That's who I come for. And I bet inwardly they
thought, He's gonna send her away. Cause
she's a Canaanitish dog. I'm not sympathetic to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. But what did he do? He gave her
her request. He said to her, oh woman great
is thy faith. And they learned something that
day. This woman was who he came to. This woman was who he came
for. This woman was who he was interested
in. By declaring the woman's faith
to be great, he was declaring that she was the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. Imagine the systemic shock to
the sons of Abraham as they stood there and listened, but that's
what the Lord teaches throughout scripture, Romans chapter two. He is not
a Jew which is one inwardly, or one outwardly, but one inwardly,
whose circumcision is of the heart and not of the flesh, whose
praise is of God and not of men. Romans chapter nine and verse
six, all that is of Israel is not Israel, but they, in Isaac
shall thy seed be called, in the child of promise, the Lord
Jesus Christ shall thy seed be called. Paul said, we are the
circumcision who worship God in the spirit, who rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. You don't know
who Israel is? It's not that nation over there, it's the church
of the living God. That's true Israel. And that's
what these disciples found there. We're Israelites, we're sons
of Abraham. That woman's faith is great. What a lesson they learned that
day. The third lesson they learned, what true worship is. They had
an idea. They thought it was like these
guys here in the first part of the chapter. They washed their
hands before they ate. that followed in the traditions
and doctrines of men that were rigorous religionists. They learned
that wasn't the case. It's not washing of the hands
or the religiosity of saying that you have dedicated your
life and your stuff to the Lord, because that's what they said.
They wouldn't take care of their mom and dad, because they said,
we'd this money set aside for the Lord. He says, you disobey
the commandment by doing that, because it's the bad commandment.
It says, love, honor your mother and father. Disobedient, but they had a regulation
and a rule says you have to lay a certain side amount for the
for the temple And that wasn't just the tithe that was taken
into the temple That was something that they come up with Their
little money club that they used What is true worship? You'll
never find a more clear representation of it than this right here It
says she In verse 25, then came she and worshiped him, saying,
saying, Lord, help me. And she was a Canaanitish dog
and the Lord told her so. And she kept on worshiping him.
The reason for that, True worship is beseeching the Lord for help.
True worship is calling on your belly like the reptile you are
to his feet and begging for mercy. Worshipping in scripture is a
combination of two Greek words, pros and cuneo. It means hound
dog licking. I love that. That's exactly what
it is. You ever had a hound dog, you
know. You might have to whoop them and take them to the woodshed
and wear them out or just hit them over the head with a newspaper
or something to get their attention. But what do they do? Run off and
never talk to you again? You stand there and look at them,
they get on their belly and they crawl up. And they lick your shoes. Why? Because you're the master. That's what worship is. True
worship comes from need and love. True worship is ascribing God
to God the honor that he is due. She said, Lord, Lord, help my
daughter, Lord, help my daughter. That in turn leaves any and all
responsibility for the result of the whole situation to the
Lord, doesn't it? He said, Lord, help me. Lord, I've helped myself,
now you help me too. Lord, I built a bridge halfway,
you build the other half. Lord, I've taken the first step
and you take the second step. Lord, help me. Help me. I got nowhere to go. I got nowhere
else to go. Lord, help me. True worship is
born of great need and expressed in beseeching the Lord for mercy
and waiting on his response. I will wait upon the Lord for
my salvation, said Jeremiah in the Lamentation. Fourthly, they
learned that true faith takes the place that God assigns. Get her away from us. Why don't
you tell her to leave us alone? She's bothering us, this dog. So our Lord says, you know, After
she had begged, he said, it's not fit for me to give the children's
bread to dogs. And again, I'm sure the disciples
said, got rid of that one. Our Lord, in no small reference
to the words they call worship, Pro Sconeo calls this woman a
dog. It much is called that. You asking
for bread from me? Children's bread is not for dogs. So she gladly became what he
said she was. You ready to do that? Have you
learned that lesson? God caused you a wretch, is that
what you are? God caused you foul and unclean, vile and undone. Remember many years ago, Loretta
was talking to someone, I hadn't been a pastor, I believe you
still had your jeep, because somehow I related to the fact you get
out of that orange jeep and you told me about it. That's how
memory works. Some lady was talking to Loretta
about religion, and she said, Loretta says, we ain't nothing
but maggots. And the woman said, what? What
are you talking about? Of course, Loretta immediately
shifted the blame. She says, well, that's what the preacher
said. But that is what the preacher
said. I remember one time I was preaching up in West Virginia.
I think it was Earl Cochran's church way back there in Mabiscot.
After I preached, this woman went back there shaking the preacher's
hand. She says, you tell that redheaded preacher I ain't no
worm. I ain't no, yes you are. And God says, you a worm, what
you gonna come as? A worm. God says, you a vile, what you
gonna come as? A vile thing. God says, you're a maggot on
a dunghill, you're going to crawl off the manure pile right to
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ as a maggot writhing and wriggling
upon the earth. You ain't going to give the children's
bread to dogs. That's what I am, Lord. I'm a
dog. I'm a dog. Listen to a word. He said, it's not mean to me
to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. She said,
truth, boy, that's the truth. Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from the master's table. That was the Jewish way of doing
things. If they had a dog in the house, not a Gentile, but
a dog, which they thought a Gentile was just a lie. She came as a
what? Someone that could obligate Christ
by her prayers, by her importunity, by her long suffering, crying
unto God. She did not wash her hands or take up the vain religious teachings
of men in order to influence Christ. Christ said, I'm not,
it's just children bread, not dogs. She said, I'm a dog, I'm
your dog. I'm your dog. I'll be your dog. I'll be whatever
I gotta be. Whatever you say I am, that's
what I am. She was like Caleb, that faithful
dog, that's what Caleb meant. There wasn't but two entered
into the promised land out of the original that came out of
the promised land about 20 years old, only two went in. Joshua
and Caleb, the Savior and his faithful dog. That's who went
into the promised land, that's who's going to the promised land
today, the Savior and his faithful dogs. His faithful dogs. She came as Mephibosheth, who
was brought to the king's table. She said, I am nothing but a
dead dog. Why do you pay attention to me? She took the place of the proverbial
dog who waits for what is left, for the crumbs left after the
children have eaten. Gil wrote of an old Jewish saying,
it said this, a king provides a dinner for the children of
his house. While they do his will, they eat their meat with
the king, and he gives to the dogs the parts of the 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 to the children. Even so, while the Israelites
do the will of the Lord, they eat at the king's table, and
the feast is provided for them. And they of their own will give
the bones to the Gentiles, but when they do not the will of
God, lo, Christ says, The table is set, the feast is come, and
the feast is for the dogs. The dogs. Thou preparest a table
before me, that's the feast of the king, in the midst of my
enemies, these dogs. In that scenario and 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. That's who gets to eat. Or just
knock a crumb off a man. That's all I want. A little crumb
of mercy. I ask you, have you so learned
Christ? Can you take the place that is
assigned to you, whether the dog, the maggot, or the dunghill
beggar? Do you need Christ? Desperately need Him to the point
that you can and will look nowhere else? You're done looking, you're
tired looking. Can you become the beggar at
the door of sovereign mercy? Falling down saying, Lord, if
Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. Will you be offended if
He seems to pay no attention to you? If you don't get some
kind of immediate gratification or result out of your religious
experience? Will you just go somewhere else and do something
else? Will you slink off in anger when you find out that He's chosen
a people for Himself? Will you willingly and gladly
take your place beneath the Master's table and wait for the mercy? I know this in every instance
in Scripture, no sinner who ever sought Him for help was disregarded
by Him. He disregarded a lot of people.
They were all religionists. But the sinner coming to Him, finding Him, needing Him, He
showed him mercy. And one thing they all have in
common, they acknowledged His Lordship and His prerogative
to do what he would with them. Every one of them, including
this woman. You know what she did? Poor old
dog, poor old thing. All she did was believe. Only. She kept on believing. When God turned his back on her,
When God told me you had to elect people, when God called her a
dog, what did she do? Lord. That's the truth. Lord, help me. Lord. Lord. Have you so learned Christ? Father,
bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen.