We went to Matthew 15 a little bit last week, which really made me very interested in what is being said here. In Matthew 15:21-28, we have the account of a Canaanitish woman who comes to the Lord Jesus. It says:
Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then 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.
I will stop reading there.
This passage is very encouraging I think to all of us, because I am sure that God, in His mercy, has saved some people that came to Him the first time, as they came to God and said, “O Lord, have mercy on me.”
We actually have an example of this with the thief on the cross. It did not take very long for God to save him, and it was absolutely necessary that it not take long because he was going to die in a short while. But still, he said to Jesus, “Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,” and Christ responded, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” He saved him.
There are other instances, like the man who was paralyzed. First Jesus said, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Then when the Pharisees said, “Who can forgive sins but God only?,” Jesus said, “Whether is it easier to say…Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise…and walk?”
Actually, it is much easier for Christ to say, “Arise…and walk” because He is a mighty God. He is all powerful and He did say this to him and the man did rise very easily from God’s perspective, because this is within His might, within His ability to do. But in order for Jesus to say, “Thy sins be forgiven,” well, this is way more difficult because He had to take that person’s sins upon Himself and pay the penalty for those sins, which He did “from the foundation of the world.” He suffered and died in order to tell him, “Thy sins be forgiven.”
God, of course, does teach us that all the physical healings in the Bible are really pointing to spiritual healings that come in salvation when sinners are saved from their sins. It is true that some people, like John the Baptist, could have been saved before they even knew it and grew up as children of God. I hope that this is the case with some of the children here. Maybe since they have been under the hearing of the Gospel from the womb, from the time they were being formed in their mother’s belly, maybe God has saved one of these children and it is just not evident yet as they are so young.
God does do this, but I think a lot of people are probably more like me who have gone to God and cried out for mercy and it just did not happen like that. It did not happen like that at all. Maybe they have gone again and again and again, repeatedly, over a period of time, maybe even years, until the Lord did have mercy.
There are many people who are still not sure if they are saved, who have gone to God crying for mercy. Maybe it has been a long period of time and they still might be thinking that Christ is responding to them like He initially responded to this woman, “He answered her not a word.” He did not say anything to this woman.
This is one of the reasons why I wanted to come here. One of the first things I want to mention, because I do not want to forget this, is that this woman in verse 22, this woman was not coming for herself. She was not coming because she had a disease or because she was a leper or because she was “grievously vexed with a devil.” She was coming on behalf of another person, her daughter. It says in verse 22, Matthew 15:22:
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord…
This reveals something about parents. This really reveals something about mothers and fathers, not all mothers and fathers in the world today, but mothers and fathers whom God has saved, that have a knowledge of the truth of the true Gospel of the Bible and know that their children, even though they might be happy and healthy and perfectly whole, may not be saved.
Is this not what the world looks at? If they walk fine and they talk fine and they see fine, they must be fine. However, this is not the truth, is it? The truth is that from God’s vantage point, from His perspective as He looks on man, He sees the hearts of people and He does not see that all is well with the child. Whether they are a young toddler or an eight-year old or a teenager, all is not well just because everything looks fine on the outside.
They are like a beautiful young flower that is in the prime of life and continuing to develop, which is what the world praises. The world will praise beauty. The world will greatly honour individuals who have youth and are in the prime of life. They are like this beautiful flower and everything seems fine and okay, “but the LORD looketh on the heart.” When “the LORD looketh on the heart[s]” of people, and this is every unsaved person no matter what their age, He sees all manner of wickedness, filthiness, and desperately sinful ugliness, we could say. He does not see anything beautiful, just like He said of the Pharisees, “for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones.”
That is what God sees in people and believing parents understand this, that we are all sinners. We all come into the world in our sin and we need a “Saviour,” and this is very much like being “grievously vexed with a devil” when a person is not saved, because they are under the power and the rule of Satan in their life. They are not under God’s power. They are not under the rule of the Lord Jesus. Instead, they are in the kingdom of darkness.
So this woman is coming because her daughter is troubled by an “evil spirit.” She is “grievously vexed with a devil,” just like the man in Mark 9:21-22. This man was crying out that his son might be healed, and Jesus says:
And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
That is the father’s plea. He is pleading not just for the child. He said, “us”; he is crying out for both of them. He has been greatly afflicted himself through his child, because the child would throw himself “into the fire, and into the waters.” He was possessed. As a result, the father was very pained because this was his child and he loved his boy.
This is what we see about parents that have come to Jesus on behalf of their children. There is a love there that God has placed within the mother or within the father so that they come very earnestly to Christ, “beseeching him” that He would save their young one because they can see that the young one is in trouble, that the young one is “grievously vexed.”
At that time, of course, if you had a child throwing himself “into the fire, and into the waters,” this would be a very outward behavior that you could see. But the truth is, any child today or anyone who is not saved is seriously and “grievously vexed with a devil” and in tremendous danger. This is because the time for salvation is getting very short.
God’s people, who are parents, are aware of this. We realize this and understand that if the current situation that is going on today with our children continues tomorrow and the next day and next year and all the way into May of 2011, our children, if they continue on as we look at them and see little interest in the Bible, little interest in the Gospel, these same children whom we love are going to die. They are going to die horribly. They are going to die at some point. Either on May 21 or at some point during the five-month period, they are going to perish and be destroyed.
We do not want this. We are afraid of this, and so we go to the Lord “beseeching him,” just like this woman. This is actually a prayer because she is going to Christ and asking Him to heal her daughter.
If we go over to Mark 7, we have the parallel account in Mark 7:24-26, and it says:
And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
Here, we get a little bit more information about this woman. She “fell at his feet.” She is on her knees. She is on her knees before Christ and crying out, as it says here in Matthew 15:22:
…Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David…
She is coming exactly as God would have someone come to Him, humbly. She is coming, not saying, “You must save my daughter. Lord, You have to save my daughter.” She is coming petitioning, very humbly, recognizing that Jesus is God, recognizing that Jesus is “the Messiah,” the promised “son of David,” and she is just laying it all out, “Have mercy on me.” Why? Because her daughter was in serious trouble. She is on her knees, which is why it is so striking, “He answered her not a word.” “Not a word”; Jesus did not respond to this woman.
Have any of you gone to God in the secret chamber, which is different for everyone? But have you gone in your home somewhere when you got alone and got down on your knees and prayed to the Lord for mercy, either for yourself, for your children, for your family, for your friends, for your neighbours? What happens?
Well, we do not know what is going on with God as far as our prayers. We know that He hears us in the sense that He knows all things. As believers, we are also knowledgeable that we have to go to God and say, “May your will be done.” We cannot insist or force God to save anyone, but we can plead with Him that He might save someone. We can go to Him and as we do, it could be that nothing, seemingly nothing happens, and so we get up. At this point, some people get discouraged and become disappointed because they feel like they poured out their heart and they feel like they did come to God humbly, and yet, “no word.”
This is why this passage is so encouraging to all of us who are praying for others, and we will go on with this in a little bit but I want to also mention a couple of other things. One other thing is that this is a prayer addressed to Jesus while He was on earth. He came out of the “coast of Tyre and Sidon.” He was in the world. In other words, He was at a particular place.
Have you ever thought that if Jesus was in downtown Philadelphia today or in a nearby city like New York or Baltimore, you would go to Him? Have you ever thought this? Were not these people blessed? Were they not more blessed than us? Jesus was in the world. He was at a specific location that they could reach. Maybe they had to travel a little bit, but they could take shipping or they could go with their family. They could actually go to Him and could talk to Him personally and “let [their] requests be made known unto God,” “face to face.”
Many people thought, “I do not even have to talk to Him. If I could go to Him and ‘only touch the hem of his garment,’ if I could just ‘touch him,’ I would be healed of my plague,” just as the one woman thought this, as well as others. There were all these crowds around Him constantly who just desired to get near Him and to “touch him” in order to be healed. Really, this was a picture of salvation.
It is interesting that we think this way, that if Jesus were in downtown Philadelphia, nothing would stop us, not a thing would stop us. We would go there immediately. However, when we talk about prayer, when we think about going to God, when we go to the Lord Jesus, we are going to the same person, right? Exactly the same. Yes, He was in the world at that time and He is not in the world in a physical body at this time; but otherwise, He is exactly the same person with the same characteristics. He is of the same “compassion” and “mercy” and He is “gracious.”
Today, if we want to go to God, yes, it might be convenient for us if He was in downtown Philadelphia, but what about the people in India and the people in China and the people in Africa? They could not get to Him. Actually, Jesus is seated upon “the right hand of God” in the heavenlies upon “his throne” and He is incredibly more accessible today than He ever has been or than He ever was when He was in the world.
Is this not true? We can go to a bathroom and get in a stall and close our eyes, and we can talk to the very same Lord, the very same Christ who was in the world, possessing the very same nature. He is the great “Saviour.” He is “merciful” and “kind” and “good.” He is the very same God.
I do not think that it is really true when people say, “If Jesus were in downtown Philadelphia, I would go to Him quickly.” For most people, I think that this is not true. If it were true, we would go to Him today, in our homes, in our closets. We would go to Him and talk to Him right now. But many people do not, even though there is wide open access. He is seated upon the “throne of grace” and we can go to Him, “beseeching him.” And yet, normally, we find many other better things to do, we think. Instead, we do not go to Him and we do not “beseech him” that He might save us, yet the time is getting ever shorter, ever shorter.
This is like an individual who is on his deathbed. He has wasted his whole life. The doctor has told him that he has a very short time to live. While he is dying is when he wants to go to God. Normally, these instances are not very sincere. They are brought about because of the terrible tragedy that they are about to die.
Of course the church loves this kind of thing. They send a priest or they send a pastor and they hear a deathbed confession. Then the individual says, “Oh, I want God. I accept Jesus.” Everyone is happy. Everyone is content that this person went to be with God in Heaven.
But it is not true. It is not true because salvation is still in God’s hands. We cannot demand of Him to be saved. We cannot pick the day and time of our salvation. We do not know if God will save us on May 20, 2011. “Now” the Bible insists is the time. “Now is the day of salvation,” not any future time, never any future time.
One other thing, and this is what makes this verse stand out as really shocking that Jesus “answered her not a word,” is God’s great mercy. He is just tremendously merciful, and Christ demonstrated this while He was on earth. People came to Him who were “blind” and He gave them “sight.” People came to Him who were “deaf” and He gave them “ears.” People came to Him who were “lame” and He gave them the ability to “walk.” He gave an individual with “a withered hand” a normal hand. Someone had their ear cut off by Peter and Jesus restored the whole ear, good as new. Again, and again, and again, Christ heard the beseechings of people that He grant them physical healing.
Can you think of any occasion in the Bible in the life of Christ, in the Gospel accounts, when a leper cried out to Him or a blind person cried out to Him, like “blind Bartimaeus” who cried “Thou son of David, have mercy on me,” when Jesus said, “No, I do not have time; go away”?
It is true that Jesus continued to walk on as though He did not hear Bartimaeus the first time. Then others noticing Christ continuing on told him to “hold his peace.” It is true that Jesus delayed there. But despite what everyone was saying to him, Bartimaeus continued to cry and said, “Thou son of David, have mercy on me.” Then “Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called” and He gave him his request.
Someone, please tell me where in the Gospel accounts Jesus refused to hear the cries of some poor soul and refused to give them their desire. There is not one, is there? There is no occasion in the Gospels where the Lord Jesus, who is God in the flesh, held back from hearing the requests of people who were coming to Him.
Before we go on, let me just make this clear, because some people will hear certain things and then that is all they will hear. Even though we are noticing this—because it is a fact and a truth that Jesus never turned someone down—this does not mean that He must hear our prayers, that He must save us, that He is obligated in any way to hear us, that if we go to him and ask, like a couple of Bible verses seem to indicate, that whatever we ask for, He will answer.
No, some false gospels teach this today—name it and claim it—go to God for what you want; but this is not what the Bible teaches. God’s perfect will will be done. However, the fact that Jesus never turned anyone away is teaching us about His character, His person, His “compassion,” the “great love” and “compassion” and “mercy of God,” that He does “heal” and that He does grant the request of sinful people.
A little bit further along in Matthew 15, in Matthew 15:30-31, we read:
And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
Again and again, repeatedly, “This is what I am like,” God is telling us. “Look, do you not see? Do you not understand? People come to Me and they are ‘vexed,’ maybe ‘with a devil.’ They are vexed with an ‘affliction.’ They are ‘greatly troubled.’ Again and again and again, I heard them. I heard them and I granted their request. Will you not come to Me?”
Does God not encourage us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace”? We are to come “boldly,” not arrogantly. It is “bold” because we can come at all, that He would accept us in Christ and allow us and permit us to come. That is what is “bold” about it. But when we come to Him, we come “beseeching him” for “mercy.” And here He is in the flesh showing us just how merciful He is.
Let us look at another verse about God’s mercy in Psalm 86. Psalm 86:15-16 says:
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.
There are numerous verses, too many verses to mention, that are just like this in the Bible, telling us about God, telling us that He is “full of compassion.” He does not have a little compassion. He has an abundance of compassion, far more than we could ever imagine. He is extremely merciful.
Let us also go to Mark 1:40-41:
And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
Just like that, right away, He heard. He answered and the man was cleansed of his leprosy, and he was like a new man, physically. Of course, this is all a picture of salvation and being “born again.”
This is what makes it so unusual and so out of the ordinary that the woman comes to Jesus and “He answered her not a word.” It was not like Him, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean…I will.” But with the woman from Canaan, He put her off. He ignored her; He did not hear her right away.
It is a very serious thing to not answer. Look at 1 Samuel 28. In 1 Samuel 28:5-6, we read of Saul, King of Israel. It says:
And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of JEHOVAH, JEHOVAH answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
He answered Saul not a word.
Then in verse 15, 1 Samuel 28:15, we read:
And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?…
After God did not answer Saul, which was a test, Saul fails the test by going to this witch of Endor. He seeks another source to help him in his trouble. 1 Samuel 28:15 continues:
…And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
You see, it is not “a light thing” when we go to God in prayer and, seemingly, He does not answer. In Saul’s case, God had departed from him, which led to Saul’s utter destruction.
When we go to God in prayer and it seems that He does not answer, this is a test for us. How are we going to respond? What are we going to do when we have poured out our hearts before God and yet our children are still unsaved or our spouses are still unsaved or our mothers or our fathers are still unsaved? “I keep praying and praying and praying and yet I do not see any change in anyone!” This is really how it is with some people, is it not? We pray and pray. “God, are you not listening? Or are you not hearing my prayer?”
Well, in the account of the Canaanitish woman, Jesus definitely heard. He definitely heard; but for His own purposes and for His own reasons, He did not respond to her at first. He just let her talk into the air, “Okay, let us see what happens to this lady as I give her a stiff arm to keep her away.” Yet the woman continued to come.
Let us go back to Matthew 15. This is after she pleaded for her daughter. We read in Matthew 15:23:
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
Do you see how they would pick up on the Lord’s mannerisms? To them, it seemed like He had no interest in this woman, “Well, just ‘send her away.’” This is the viewpoint of man, because we do not understand what God is doing. But Christ had a very serious purpose in mind, as He finally answers her in verse 24, Matthew 15:24:
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
He is sent to the Israelites, right? Is it true that Jesus only came for the Israelites? Is it true?
There were Israelites and He did come to save some Israelites, but “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” is language that is telling us that He came to save His elect, and His elect comprise far more than only Israelites. They are Canaanites or they are Chinese or they are Indian or they are African or they are American, too. They are people from all over the world, though this was hidden truth.
But in making this statement at that day and age, it would have been very easy for this woman to think, “Oh, this means that I am left out. I am left out. I am not an Israelite, which is obvious. I am ‘a Greek, a Syrophenician.’”
We can see, again, how Jesus, in forming His words in this way and in making this statement to this woman, is really saying, “I have come for Mine elect.” Yet at the same time, this was hidden truth. Therefore, she could easily have been discouraged and put off by it.
But you know what? If we go to Mark 3, we find people from the same area who are being healed. We read in Mark 3:7-10:
But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea, And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon…
That is exactly where this woman came out of. She came out of “the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.” It continues:
…a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.
In other words, people from the same area that this woman was coming from went to Christ and were healed at an earlier time. Even more than this, God healed people from Sidon in the Old Testament.
Let us go to Luke 4. In Luke 4:25-26, this is after Jesus goes into the synagogue and reads from the prophet Isaiah, after which “he closed the book.” He says in Luke 4:25-26:
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias [or Elijah] sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
“Tyre and Sidon.” This widow woman that we read about in the Old Testament was of the same place that this woman is near as she comes out of “the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.”
So when God is saying that He saves “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” He is actually indicating that this could include you. This is possible. You are not left out. There is no human being from any nation or tongue or tribe that is out of reach of God’s salvation. There is no one who has sinned so much that God will not save them from that nation. However, He does use them from time to time—like the Moabites whom He cursed and then makes sure that He saves “Ruth the Moabitess”—to let us know that this does not mean that people from that particular land cannot be saved. God can save anyone from any land and from any country in the world: “God is no respecter of persons.” Whoever we are, wherever we come from, it does not matter. All are welcome; all are encouraged to come to God. The cry goes out to all the world for us to go to Him and “beseech him” for His salvation.
I wanted to look at this because today we know that our time is short. What is going to be the most important thing as we get closer and closer? It is not going to be our knowledge of certain doctrines. As we get closer and closer to this day, the most important item in the world for any one of us is going to be, “Am I a child of God or not? Am I saved?” If we are a parent, “What about my children? Are they saved?”
God is encouraging us to go to Him now at this time, just like the Ninevites in Jonah 3. Before the judgment, Jonah had given the warning: “Yet forty days.” We see “time and judgment” in this. It says in Jonah 3:6-9:
For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Their lives were interrupted as they sat in sackcloth and ashes and fasted. It was not “business as usual.” Their lives did not continue on as normal. They heard the information, “Yet forty days.” They were told that there was a time that was set for the judgment and there was a response from the king on down.
It is interesting how God leaves us right there. We do not know how long they fasted and we do not know how long they sat in sackcloth and ashes. Did they do it just for that day or did they do this throughout the whole forty days? God does not think that it is important for us to know this. This is because the point is that their lives were interrupted. The analogy for our day is that they were not thinking of school and then college and then following that with a career or getting married: all the normal things of life. Instead, there was a big interruption in their lives to where they went to God and cried to Him for “mercy.” They cried “mightily unto God.” Notice, too, that they did not think that this guaranteed anything because they said, “Who can tell if God will turn.” It was a possibility.
Is it not a wonderful, merciful possibility today that God is saving “a great multitude” of people from around the world? He is encouraging all people to come to Him and to experience this salvation. If we go, we would go “boldly.”
In the book of Hosea, God also gives us a little instruction about going to Him and “beseeching him” for salvation. In Hosea 14:1, it says:
O Israel, return unto JEHOVAH thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
This is referring to any of us, because we are sinners, right? We are “fallen by thine iniquity.”
Now look at verse 2, Hosea 14:2:
Take with you words, and turn to JEHOVAH: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.
God is instructing us that when we go to the “throne of grace,” we are not to go with a formula, as in, “O Lord, have mercy. Amen.” Rather, “Take with you words.” What words?
Well, you can use your own words; that is fine. You can say, “O Lord, I am a sinner. My life is a mess and all that I have done in my life has really done no good. Here we are coming down to the end and I believe You God. I believe Your Word. I trust Your Word, and yet I still struggle. Am I saved? Am I a child of God? I do not know. But, O Lord, I know one thing. I know that You are ‘merciful.’ You are ‘full of compassion.’ You are ‘full of grace.’ You are ‘kind’ and ‘good’ and all of the things that I am not. O Lord, please, ‘have mercy’; ‘have mercy.’”
You can add to this whatever you want; your words are fine. “Take with you words,” your own words. But we can also go with the Words of the Bible. We can go to God like King David, “Have mercy upon me, O God.”
Let us read this in Psalm 51. This is after David was greatly convicted of his sin with Bathsheba and with slaying her husband, Uriah the Hittite. It says in Psalm 51:1-4:
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
That is, “I am a sinner. Here it all is. It is all laid out before Your eyes. I know that ‘all things are naked and opened’ to Your sight anyway. Here is what I have done with my life.”
When I look back at my life, it is not a pretty sight. How about you? When you look back and you see how you have lived and what you have done, it is not a very pretty thing. But “God is merciful” and He is “kind.”
We can go with the words of Luke 18, as Jesus gives us this great parable. Luke 18:10-12 says:
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Here is a good verse that teaches us what not to pray. This teaches us what not to say to God:
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
That is, forget whatever you have done; forget it: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not…in thy name done many wonderful works?” Forget the money that you have given. Forget the tracts that you have handed out. Forget how many hymns you have sung or how often you have read the Bible. Forget every work that you could have ever possibly done and never go to God on these grounds or on this basis, “I have no righteousness of any kind. All of my ‘righteousnesses are as filthy rags.’ There is nothing in me or of me. I come because You are merciful, because You are ‘merciful and gracious.’”
Then it says in verse 13, Luke 18:13:
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying…
Now, these are the words that we can take to God:
…God be merciful to me a sinner.
Period; this is it: “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
So we can go to Him and we can use the words of the Bible. God would be very pleased with this, that we are reminding Him of His own Word. But it is never because of what we have done. It is because of what Christ has done in working out salvation for His people.
Now, let us go back to Matthew 15 just one more time. We read in Matthew 15:24-26:
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.
This is one stubborn lady, huh? This is one stubborn lady. She will not give up.
There was one commentator that I read on this passage who said, “With one hand, Christ was pushing her away; and with the other, He was holding her fast,” which is exactly how it is with God’s salvation plan. He draws us to Himself, and yet it surely seems that we are maybe not one of His elect at times as we are praying and praying to Him and there seems to be no answer. So we keep going. We keep going back to Him, and we know that God’s elect will and that He will save His people; He will not let them go.
So here, once again, Jesus is discouraging this woman. She could have easily walked away and said, “Huh! I heard that You were ‘full of compassion.’ I heard that You were ‘merciful.’ I heard that You were ‘gracious.’ But look at Your response to me. Look at how You answered me. You ignored me. You put me off.”
You see, it was a test throughout the whole time, and yet she did not walk away because she trusted in the Person of God and in His nature, that He was all of those things. She knew that this Person whom she had been hearing about, the Lord Jesus Christ who was healing all kinds of people all over the place, that He had to be a “loving” and “merciful” “Saviour.” “He has to be; therefore, I am not going anywhere. You can try and push me away, but I am not going anywhere.”
It continues in Matthew 15:27-28:
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith…
Was this all her “faith”? Was this her “belief”? Was this her ability to muster up this kind of spiritual trust in God?
Absolutely not; absolutely not! The Bible tells us that none “seek Him…no, not one.” But here she is and she is seeking and seeking and seeking because the Lord Jesus is the “faith” that has saved her. He is the One holding her fast, not willing to let her go. It is He who brought it to completion. He tested her severely and He tried her very hard, but He also made sure that she passed. He also definitely kept her there until her request was granted.
By the way, in Mark 7 we find another account of this. We do not read this here in Matthew; but in Mark 7:28-30, we read:
And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
So her daughter was not with her; she was back home suffering and “vexed with a devil.” The mother went to Christ and “fell at his feet” and cried out stubbornly, beseechingly for her daughter. Then she traveled home after Jesus granted her request. She went into her house and found that her daughter was fine; her daughter was normal.
Another thing that we tend to think is what a blessing it would be to go to Jesus in person so that He could heal us right there on the spot. Yet it is totally and completely unnecessary for us to go physically to God. It is impossible today anyway to go to Jesus in this manner and it is unnecessary because God can heal long distance.
Do you remember the Roman centurion who sent “the elders of the Jews” to Jesus because one of his trusted servants was ill? Even the Jews said, “This man ‘was worthy for whom he should do this,’ because ‘he hath built us a synagogue.’” Of course, this same man who sent these messengers said, “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,” but “I am a man under authority” like You, “and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh.” “When Jesus heard it, he marvelled,” at his faith because He had not seen that kind of faith even in Israel. Then He said, “So be it done unto thee” as you desire. Then the servants went home.
Actually, this is in two different Gospel accounts. One seems to indicate that the man was there. The other seems to indicate that “the elders of the Jews” were there. But the man found that “his servant was healed in the selfsame hour” in which Jesus had said these words. He healed him.
We do not know how many miles away He was, but does it matter? Whether it was a mile away or a hundred miles away or all the way into Heaven, does it matter? This does not really come into the equation. It does not matter if Jesus is in downtown Philadelphia or if He is seated upon the “throne” in Heaven. It is actually far better that He is seated upon the “throne” in Heaven because He does not have to personally touch someone. He does not personally have to heal someone. He can do it right from the “throne” where He is.
So we can go to Him by His grace because of this great privilege that He has given us. We can go to Him and we can pray, “‘Have mercy.’ Save me, O Lord. ‘I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only’ and it will be as You command. Just say it from Heaven, ‘Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.’ Speak to my heart.”
Matthew 15 is a beautiful passage that is teaching the principle that we should not “faint.” We should not “faint”; we should not give up. If you remember, Jacob “wrestled” with God? We know that God could have destroyed him, but God let Jacob wrestle with Him. What was Jacob’s desire, his plea? Jacob said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”
This is the principle that God wants us to know: “Do not let go. Do not ‘faint.’ Do not stop now.”
You have come this far, almost to the very edge of the end of the world. Is this the time to draw back? Is this the time to “faint”? Is this the time to doubt the “goodness” and “mercy of God”?
Maybe He has not answered you yet, but there is still time. There is still time. So think on the nature of Christ, think of how merciful He is.
Let us just read this in closing. In Luke 18:1-6, we read:
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
This was an “unjust judge,” a sinner. A wicked man heard her plea because she was very annoying, “She is really disturbing me. She just keeps coming, so I will grant what she wants.”
Or go a little bit back. I know I said that this would be the last verse, but let us look at one more in Luke 11, which gets into the whole matter of asking and seeking after God. In Luke 11:11-13, this is the point behind what He had in mind in asking and seeking. God says:
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil…
We are “unjust,” just like this judge. If we:
…know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Again, look at the nature of God. Look at how “just,” how “holy,” how “right,” how “good,” and how “loving” He is compared to anything in this world.
Let us close with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for time. It is also part of Your mercy that there is still a space of time available where You are still saving. The door is not shut. The door is open, “a great door and effectual.” We know that You are the Door and the Way and that You are still operating in the world and saving a “great multitude.” Father, we ask, those of us who are saved, that You would permit us to be humble “doorkeepers,” that You would allow us to minister the Gospel, which from Your blessing can enable people to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. May You help us to work in this area more and more as this Day is approaching, and may You also help us to pray, to strive and fight in prayer, to go to You beseeching that one of our loved ones or one of our friends or just anyone whom we know, may we pray for them and may we pray diligently. May we come to You in the manner in which You would have us to come. Father, we ask that we would take “words” with us. We know that You do not hear for “much speaking,” but You do tell us to take “words,” words that we are to offer to You, yet all the words that we could come up with would only show that we are undeserving. The only grounds for Your hearing would be because of what Christ has done. Father, we do pray that You would be with each one of us as individuals, as You continue to work with individuals in the world until the end. May You be with each one of us as we go home. May You strengthen us and encourage us by Your Word today, this Sabbath, this Holy Day. We pray these things in Christ’s Name. Amen.
(There was no question/answer session pertaining to this study.)