In the sermon titled 'Crumbs from the Master's Table,' Jason Dohm explores the themes of faith, humility, and perseverance as illustrated in Matthew 15:21-39. The sermon begins with the encounter between Jesus and a Canaanite woman, who despite being an outsider, demonstrates great faith and humility in her plea for her demon-possessed daughter's healing. Jesus' initial silence and subsequent dialogue highlight the broader narrative of redemptive history, where His primary mission was focused on the lost sheep of Israel, yet the woman's persistent faith leads to her daughter's healing. The sermon contrasts the Canaanite woman's faith with the legalism of the scribes and Pharisees, who emphasize external traditions over genuine love for God. Additionally, the sermon discusses the feeding of the four thousand, underscoring Jesus' compassion and ability to provide abundantly, symbolizing His power to address both physical and spiritual needs. Dohm encourages believers to emulate the Canaanite woman's perseverance and humility in prayer, emphasizing that God's table is so abundant that even crumbs can suffice for His children's needs. The sermon concludes with a call to acknowledge Jesus as Lord in practice, not just in words, and to trust in His timing and mercy.

Matthew 15, 21 through 39. Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to him saying have mercy on me Oh Lord son of David My daughter is severely demon possessed But he answered her not a word and his disciples came and urged him saying send her away For she cries out after us But he answered and said I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Then she came and worshipped him saying Lord help me But he answered and said it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs? And she said, yes, Lord. Yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table.

Then Jesus answered and said to her, Oh woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others.

And they laid them down at Jesus' feet and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel. Now Jesus called his disciples to himself and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat, and I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." Then his disciples said to him, Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude? Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have? And they said, Seven and a few little fish.

So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left now those who ate were four thousand men besides women and children and he sent away the multitude got into the boat and came to the region of Megdala. Let's pray.

Oh Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us. Oh Lord, would you show us Christ through the preaching of your word this morning would you give us broken and contrite hearts would we seek forgiveness Would we repent and follow you our Creator and Sustainer of our lives? Father, please Bless the preaching of your word. Bless the preaching this morning. Bless the hearing of your word.

Bless, Jason, Father, that your word would be heard, that your truth would be believed, and that you would be glorified. Amen. The title of the sermon this week is Crumbs from the Master's Table. In our text Last week, Jesus was defending against the propagation of false gospel. The scribes and the Pharisees have come, and they're raking Jesus over the coals about the traditions of the elders.

There were traditions that had risen up, had no foundation at all in the Word of God. And yet, the religious leaders of the time are insisting that those traditions be followed. In many ways, those traditions actually set aside the explicit commands of God, so that by being zealous for the traditions of men, you actually would violate the law of God. Jesus will just have none of that. This is relevant not just for scribes and Pharisees, but it is relevant for the people of God in every age because this is what the heart of man will always do with religion.

Always, always, always. The heart of man will always gravitate towards accentuating, emphasizing external things that you can measure, you can see outwardly. And then the heart will be lifted up and proud because the external hurdles are cleared. While the heart is not engaged at all, there is no love for God. And over time, the drift gets further and further and further from a true love for God.

And so Jesus is coming against, vehemently, strongly coming against this emphasis on externals that aren't even founded. Even these externals aren't even founded in the Word of God. We just should pause now and say how merciful God is. That when there is this drift in the heart of man, that man's natural tendency is to veer in that direction. That God won't just put up with that, or even just set aside people who do that and despise them, but actually he'll confront them in that.

This is a sign of the mercy of God. And so we see Jesus do what we've seen him do over and over again since the beginning of Matthew, which is to drive all these things back into the heart. The scribes and the Pharisees want to know why the disciples, why Jesus aren't hand washers. Jesus essentially says, don't worry about the dirt on your hands. That is the least of your problems.

Your problems reside in your heart. And you can wash your hands a thousand times and your hearts will still be far from me. Because murder and adultery and evil thoughts and on and on and on begin in the heart. And you better find out what to do with these defilements that are already in your heart. Jesus actually sets a pattern that Paul will imitate in Galatians 2 when Peter is acting like a hypocrite.

And he would eat with the Gentiles, but then when certain men came from Jerusalem, then he separated himself from the Gentiles. And it wasn't enough for Paul just to go off in a corner, in a quiet corner, and correct Paul. Because Peter, through his actions, was representing a false gospel, handling it quietly wouldn't do. So he actually rebukes the Apostle Peter in front of everyone. And we see that Jesus has set the pattern for this.

When it comes to a false gospel, the people of God give no quarter. Now what does no quarter mean? No quarter is a military term, which means we don't negotiate. There is no mercy extended, but there is unrelenting war until there is total victory. And so, in many ways, the people of God are to be a gentle people, a peaceable people, but when there is a false gospel that is being advanced, there is no quarter, there is no negotiation, there is no mercy, but there must be unrelenting war against that false gospel until it has been vanquished.

Now we come to our text this week and you see such an amazing contrast. Last week it was scribes and Pharisees and they're coming, they're wanting to dictate the terms. They are wanting to confine Jesus. They are wanting to actually rebuke Jesus, the Son of God, for His practices. In this text, it is completely in the other direction.

We find people who are hungry to receive from Jesus Christ. They're not trying to constrain Him at all. They are actually willing to accept His view of the world and act as if he is Lord. As we get into the meat of this text, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this text.

Every week we come to a text and every week we acknowledge our need for it. You would not have given it to your people if we didn't need it. So the fact that it's here means we need it, that there are things to be gained from it, and so we pray for the moving of the Holy Spirit, for the help of the Holy Spirit to come and be among us. Show us Christ. Christ is high and lifted up in the text.

May Christ be high and lifted up in the preaching of this text. And may we leave rejoicing in our Lord. I pray it in Jesus' name, amen. The text begins by saying that Jesus leaves this conflict with the scribes and the Pharisees, and he departs to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And the NASB, the ESV, and the NIV actually render it instead of departed to says that Jesus withdrew.

And when we go to the parallel account in Mark 7. We see that that rendering is really born out of the context in Mark. Listen to Mark 7, 24. From there Jesus arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon and he entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but he could not be hidden. So he's definitely withdrawing.

This is not a preaching tour in Gentile territory. He's withdrawing. He goes into a house and he doesn't want anybody to know it, but he finds like he's been finding that he just cannot be hidden. So he's in this region that is dominated by two cities that are on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. And So he's gone north and west into the region of Tyre and Sidon.

We're first introduced to Tyre and Sidon, these two cities, in Matthew 11. It's by way of rebuke. Only in Matthew 11, Jesus isn't rebuking Tyre and Sidon. He's using them as a point of comparison. He's actually rebuking cities that he's been doing all his preaching and miracles in, in Israel, in Galilee.

And he says this, Matthew 11, 21 and 22, woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you." So when Jesus speaks of Tyre and Sidon in Matthew 11, he's talking about regions that have really been passed over by God. In other words, Jesus as the Messiah hasn't been sent to Tyre and Sidon. He's been sent to these cities in Galilee.

And they've received so many means of grace that they've done nothing with it. So he says, these pagan cities would have done something. Had I gone and done my miracles in Tyre and Sidon, where all these pagan Gentiles are, they would have done something with these means of grace, but you've done nothing, so it will be better for them in the judgment than it will be for you. So now Jesus has withdrawn himself into pagan Gentile territory And he's in these famously sinful pagan cities. It would be like saying, woe to you, Youngsville, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Las Vegas, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

That's essentially the comparison that Jesus makes in Matthew 11. So now Jesus finds himself, he's taken himself to these famously pagan, famously sinful cities like Las Vegas. They have the reputation of a Las Vegas. He's tried to hide himself in a house there, but it's not working for him. And he's approached by a Canaanite woman.

And we just read that, and it's easy for us to skim over the top of it. But Matthew is writing to Jews and it would mean a lot to a Jew that a Canaanite woman is coming to him because there is a significant history attached to a Canaanite woman. In Deuteronomy 7 verses 1 through 9, the Israelites are getting ready to go into the promised land and they are commanded to annihilate the Canaanites. Don't leave any men, don't leave any women, don't leave any children, don't leave any livestock, don't leave anything. The express command of God towards the Canaanites as the children of Israel are getting ready to possess the promised land is to annihilate them.

This is explained two chapters later in Deuteronomy 9 where God says, because of their wickedness, I'm giving you this land. And in that chapter, he's saying, it's not because you're righteous, Israelites, that I'm giving you this land. It's because these nations are wicked. And so I'm sending you in. So don't be proud.

It's the wickedness of the people that you're displacing, not your own righteousness. So the Canaanites are wicked people and God desires that they would be annihilated for their idolatries and for their wickedness. Had the Israelites obeyed God, obeyed the express command of God, this woman wouldn't even exist. The Canaanites are the ancient enemies of Israel because they are the ancient enemies of God. And yet here is this Canaanite woman and she is coming to the Jewish Messiah and asking for mercy and asking for help.

Something very extraordinary is happening here. This is not where we would expect to find a deep reservoir of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the last place we would expect to find a deep reservoir of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in these pagan cities with a Canaanite woman, these ancient enemies of the people of God. And yet, here she is. And she's crying out, She's not saying, she's crying out, have mercy on me, oh Lord, son of David.

My daughter is severely demon possessed. So we don't have a dispassionate request here. We have an impassioned plea for mercy. Think if your daughter had been completely overtaken by the devil. Your own daughter completely overrun by Satan.

Now, we don't know what's been happening in this home, but we know that there have been very disturbing things that have happened. And this girl is undoubtedly little by little being destroyed in front of the eyes of her parents by the work of the devil. So here this woman who cares for her daughter comes to Jesus and she cares enough to overpower all those sensibilities that would cause you to be nervous about approaching someone, especially a famous someone that you didn't know. She's willing to override all of those fears and come because she loves her daughter. And she can't bear to see her in this state where she would actually describe her as my daughter is severely demon possessed.

She has heard of Jesus. She is probably about 80 miles away from where Jesus has been ministering, but they have been hearing things in this region. This is very consistent with the text that we've been coming out of in Matthew. Herod has been hearing reports about Jesus. When Jesus came to Gennesaret about a chapter and a half ago.

The people instantly recognized him and they sent runners out into the surrounding regions to bring people who were sick and need healing to Jesus. And so his fame has been spreading So much so that even here in the region of Tyre and Sidon, this Canaanite woman has heard about Jesus. And she's heard something very specific, that he's the Messiah. He's the one that these Jews have been waiting for for hundreds of years. He is the one who has been the object of all of these prophecies.

Son of David equals Messiah. Everyone knows it And everybody has been waiting for this figure. In Matthew 22, Jesus asks the Pharisees, whose son is the Christ? And without blinking, without hesitation, they say, the Christ is the son of David. And it's not just the Pharisees who know this.

This is everyone's expectation, and they've been waiting for this. So it's tremendously significant when this Canaanite woman says, Oh Lord, Son of David, have mercy upon me. She's calling on help from the Messiah, the one the Jews had been waiting for. This is just the type of request that we would expect Jesus to grant, isn't it? Just the type of request that he would grant.

Acknowledging that he is the Messiah, It's obviously coming in humility. Oh Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me, for my daughter is severely demon possessed. Who could say no to a request like that? People in the last chapter have been coming and not even asking him, just touching the hem of his garment and they're healed. And so now when this Canaanite woman comes you just know he's going to reach out his hand in compassion.

Here's this Canaanite woman expressing faith in his ability and acknowledging that he's the Messiah. Jesus? Not a word, not one word. Total silence. And so the request of this woman, whose daughter is tormented by the devil, is just hanging there in the air and there is no response from Jesus.

This is his first refusal. The Canaanite woman is not dissuaded by the silence. She keeps crying out, so much so that the disciples say, send her away. Either the disciples are disturbed that she keeps crying out or they are annoyed or there is some combination of the two. But if Jesus isn't going to grant her request, or if she's not going to be quiet then they want her to be sent away.

In verse 24, Jesus explains why he hasn't granted this woman's request. He says, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is the second refusal of this mother's request. In Matthew 10, Jesus is sending out his disciples, two by two, and he is sending them out to preach, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The thing that he has been preaching, he is sending his disciples out to preach.

Matthew 10, 5 and 6 says this, these 12 Jesus sent out and commanded them saying, do not go into the way of the Gentiles and do not enter a city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." All the way from the beginning of Matthew, even up to this point, we're in chapter 15 now, we're over halfway, Jesus' mission is focused like a laser beam on the people of God. The historical, national, genealogical, in other words, family, literal, physical descendants of Abraham, Jesus has been sent to them and his mission has been focused like a laser beam on the nation, the family of Israel. And the Gospel is not going to be sent in earnest to the Gentiles until Pentecost. Jesus is going to die and He is going to seal the new covenant in His blood. He is going to be buried.

He is going to be raised again and then He is going to send the Holy Spirit to give them power and then the gospel will go in earnest to the Gentiles. So we see that there is a sequence to redemptive history. It's not targeted at everyone all the time. And we are at a point in time where The Gospel has not been sent in earnest to the Gentiles, although we have been encountering stray Gentiles here and there along the way. Jesus has actually been sent to the people of God.

A turn to Matthew 22. In Matthew 22, Jesus illuminates this in a parable. Matthew 22. We're going to read verses 1 through 9 and really break off right in the middle of the parable because that's what serves the purposes today. Matthew 22 verse 1, Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come.

Again he sent out other servants saying, Tell those who are invited, See I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready, come to the wedding. They made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm and another to his business. The rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. He sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.

Then he said to his servants, the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding." There is a stream of redemptive history. There is a sequence to redemptive history. And so What we see in this text is that Jesus' response is about the timing and flow of redemptive history. The day will come, and it will come soon, when the gospel will be sent to the Gentiles.

They will be the target then, but they are not the target now. This is what Jesus is saying. This is very clear in the parallel account in Mark. Listen to Mark 7, 27. But Jesus said to her, let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.

This is what this is about. Let the children be filled first. The children are first. They are the target of redemptive history up until the point where the new covenant is in place, which is not yet. So Jesus says essentially, this is not for you now.

The Canaanite woman is not dissuaded. She comes and she worships. Some translation says she bows down or she kneels down. Some say she worships Him. Either translation is acceptable.

This is the word that is used in Matthew 2.2, when the wise men come from hundreds of miles away bearing their gifts and this is the word that is used when they're before Jesus they worship him they Kneel down before him they bow Down before him and this is what this this woman does it's it's literally a posture of being bowed down before. But this isn't shoe tying. There's something behind the posture. There's a prostrating before one who is Lord. And this is what's happening here.

She's prostrating herself in front of the son of David. She says in verse 25, Lord, help me. In verse 22 she said, have mercy on me, O Lord. Now she says, help me. She's just continuing to plead with Jesus that he would help.

His silence would not put her off, and his saying that these things were not for her would not put her off. She is just going to keep asking that He would have mercy, that He would help her. So this is when Jesus would say, Relent, right? Okay. No.

Verse 26. It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. This is Jesus' third refusal. At this point, it's important to understand the Greek. In Matthew 7 verse 6, Jesus said, Do not give what is holy to the dogs.

In Philippians 3 verse 2, Paul says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of demutilation. In 2 Peter 2, 22, Peter says, a dog returns to his own vomit. In Revelation 22, 15, John writes, but outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie. These are all uses of the word dog, but it's a completely different Greek word than we have here. In all those other usages, the distinction is between the saved and the unsaved.

Those who have a saving faith and knowledge of God and those who do not." This is a completely different Greek word. The New King James translates it well as little dogs, but it's essentially a pet dog. This is not the wild dog that the other word is. This is Fifi. This is your Chihuahua.

It's not the children. It's the pet dog. And So the distinction is not between the saved and the unsaved, but between those who are within the household, members of the household, and those who are not. You can love your dog a lot. Fifi is well loved, but Fifi is not going to inherit.

You can't make Fifi into a child. There's a distinction, and Jesus is making that distinction. This is the time of the Old Covenant. Israel is the people of God. It's genealogical.

It's family. It's a bloodline. Sons of Abraham. It's national. She's not related.

She's not within the nation. There are ways you could come into the nation and be grafted into that, but this is not her. And this is the distinction that Jesus is making. I'm not sure there's a new covenant equivalent to this, but in the time when Jesus is saying this Israel is national and genealogical. The new covenant is not that way.

Jesus has called this woman a little dog, the family pet, not a child, the family pet. The Canaanite woman is not dissuaded. Verse 27, Yes, Lord, Yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. In saying this, this Canaanite woman is communicating a couple of things. The first thing is this, you're right, Lord, I'm a little dog.

You're right. Yes, Lord. Secondly, she's communicating Secondly, she's communicating this, you're the kind of master where I don't need a child's portion. I just need a crumb. Your table is such that the things that I'm asking for don't need a child's portion.

Just a little crumb will suffice. His portions are so magnificent, so extravagant, so abundant. She doesn't need that. She just needs a crumb that would fall off of this table. There is no fourth refusal.

Verse 28, oh woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire. Mark 7, the parallel passage, tells us something we don't get in Matthew, which is that the young girl is not even there. Mark says that it's a young girl. And we find out in Mark 7 that she's not even there.

When this woman goes home, she finds her free. She finds her lying on her bed. She's not tormented anymore. She has received the object of her request. I'd like for you to turn in your Bibles to Genesis 32.

I want to compare the texts that we are in today in Matthew to this account in Genesis 32 and suggests that at their hearts these are relating the same thing. In Genesis 32 Jacob's in a pinch. He's headed back home, but it's not likely that the welcome at home is going to be universal because when he left 20 years before, his brother was making plans to murder him. So he's headed home and he's just gotten a report that his brother, the would-be murderer 20 years ago, is coming out, I believe, with 400 armed men. This is the report that he's received.

And the gap is quickly closing. And as night falls, Jacob breaks his group into two companies and then he separates himself for the night. And This is where we are in Genesis 32 verse 24, which is where I'll begin reading. Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him.

And He said, Let me go for the day breaks. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So he said to him, What is your name? He said Jacob. And he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.

For you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. This Canaanite woman has been wrestling with Jesus. He, in so many words, has said, let me go. He's refused her and refused her and refused her and she has had her arms wrapped around his ankles and she has been saying, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Until you bless me.

I will not let you go. This Canaanite woman has the spirit of Jacob. She wrestles with God and she prevails. You only prevail with God if He lets you win. That's the deal.

But he delights when people prevail with him. He's probably shocked when people prevail with Him. Because we give up so quickly, so easily. Have you learned to cling to the Lord Jesus Christ? Obviously this pertains to people who need to be saved, but that's not really what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about people who are his children, who are saved, but they let go too fast. They don't prevail. We should look at the example of this woman and thank God for this example. And we should put ourselves in a frame of mind where we would say, God we will not let you go until you bless us. Not in a dishonoring way, but in an honoring way.

In faith. Not insisting on our way, but insisting that we believe that God is able and that He is full of mercy and that if we prevail long enough, we will have the object of our faith. We need, as the people of God, we need to learn to cling to the Lord Jesus Christ like this Canaanite woman is clinging to Him. Why will none of the Jews do this? He's been with scribes and Pharisees.

They're the men who should know the best that Jesus is the one to be clung to. Why will none of them do it when this Canaanite woman, this one who was born an enemy of God and of the people of God, she lives in these famously wicked cities, but when Jesus comes to town, she will not let him go until he blesses her. Praise God for the example of this woman. May her tribe increase at Sovereign Redeemer Community Church. In the book of Matthew, in the Gospel of Matthew, four times the disciples are rebuked for having little faith.

Here this woman is commended for having great faith. That never happens to the disciples. Now maybe he did and it wasn't recorded, but let the record show that it's Canaanite women won and disciples zero. And the only other time in the Gospels that anyone has ever commended for having great faith, it's Jairus the centurion. And that story in Matthew 8 reads just like this.

It's his sons at home. Jesus gives him the object and Jesus commands him for having great faith. So here we have these disciples who are with Jesus day in and day out there with him all the time. But Jesus' testimony of them is, oh you of little faith. And here we have these Gentiles, this Canaanite woman and this Centurion man, and they have great faith.

You've thought to yourself, There just can't be faith there. That person, their brain has just been pickled in an atheistic home or they've rejected God for too long Or, or, or, or, or. There just can't be faith there for this set of reasons. Nonsense. God determines where there's faith.

And if he wants great faith, saving faith, persevering faith, entire inside and in a Canaanite woman, then that's where he'll put it. We should read these accounts and pray so boldly for the people that we've written off because faith can't exist there God will determine where faith is. Matthew Poole says this in his commentary, three things are remarkable in her answer besides her faith so eminently expressed. Number one, her humility. She owns herself to be a dog.

Number two, her modesty. She begs no more than a crumb. Number three, her fervency after three repulses. By this we learn our duty in prayer to go to God humbly, to implore Him modestly, and to be instant in prayer, going on in our duty, though we have not presently such an answer as we desire." You see what he is saying about this woman. This woman humbles herself before God so that she's not offended and she's not insisting on having her way when Jesus is silent.

She's begging him for mercy and he's silent. But she thinks he's Lord. She thinks he's the right to be silent. Her request is modest. She's not asking for a palace.

She's asking for the deliverance of her daughter from the dominion of the devil. She's not asking selfishly. She's asking for real need. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. She is asking according to the will of God.

And she is fervent. She is denied, she is denied, she is denied. She keeps right on. She hasn't got the answer she wants, so she keeps asking. In Matthew 7, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, there will be people who just talk like Jesus is Lord. Talk talk talk talk talk. But he's not really Lord. Here's a woman who acts like Jesus is Lord. He's Lord not in speech, but he's Lord in practice.

Do you merely call Jesus Lord or is he Lord? You exist for him, he does not exist for you. And sometimes he's so good, he's so full of mercy, he's so abundant that we forget that we exist for him. And that it's the Master's right to be silent. And it's the Master's right to have mercy on whom he will have mercy.

And it's the Master's right to rebuke you. Is He Lord or do we just say He's Lord? Is it okay if Jesus is silent to your requests? Is it okay if he decides to have mercy upon whom he will have mercy? Is it okay if he rebukes you?

For the Canaanite woman it was okay. She accepted it as from the hand of God, and Jesus was Lord to her. One final point, and J.C. Ryle makes it. Affliction sometimes proves a blessing to a person's soul.

Health is a good thing, but sickness is far better if it leads us to God. Prosperity is a great mercy, but adversity is a greater one if it brings us to Christ. Anything, anything is better than living in carelessness and dying in sin. Better a thousand times be afflicted, like the Canaanite-ish mother, and like her flee to Christ, than live at ease like the rich fool, and die at last without Christ and without hope. We often bemoan our afflictions.

We are sorry for our afflictions when we should bless God for them. Because God has designed our afflictions to prevent us from living carelessly and dying in sin. If He let us have our ease all the time, how careless would we be? We would die in our sin. I tell you, we would die in our sin if he let us have everything that we thought was good for us.

Verses 29-31. Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. Then great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others. They laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.

Mark 7, our parallel text, Mark 7.31 says this, again departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. So in Matthew it says that he skirted the Sea of Galilee. These things are completely consistent. Mark just gives us a little more detail. It tells us exactly what he is.

He's in Decapolis. Now that's on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee and Decapolis just means ten cities and it's ten Hellenized cities. In other words, Greek culture predominates there and It's mostly Gentile. There's a small Jewish population there, but it's almost all Gentile. It's the Greek culture that is the culture of Decapolis.

We've only seen the Decapolis one other time. It was in Matthew 8 when Jesus is crossed over and he meets the demoniac and he sets this man free. And we read this in Mark 5. This is the end of that story, the last time Jesus was in Decapolis. When Jesus got into the boat, he who had been demon possessed begged him that he might be with him.

However, Jesus did not permit him, but said, Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he has had compassion on you. And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and all marveled. So last time Jesus was here, he cast out a legion of demons from this man. The demons go into the pigs, they rush down, and they're killed. And the people are disturbed by this, so they beg Jesus to leave.

But Jesus leaves behind a mole. This demoniac who had been set free. And he leaves this evangelist there and this man won't be quiet. He's all over Decapolis saying that the Lord has had compassion on him and set him free from demon possession. And so when Jesus comes back, not only is he not asked to leave, the multitudes gather and they want to be healed.

Must be at least in part because this man has been walking around saying that Jesus can do this. So the people bring Jesus the lame, the blind, the mute, the maimed, all kinds of diseases and they put these people at his feet and he heals them. Now turn to Mark 7. Let's look quickly at Mark 7. This is just Mark's account of the same events.

Mark 7 beginning in verse 31. Mark 7, 31. Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, he came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they begged him to put his hand on him.

And he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers in his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, Ifafa, that is, be opened. Immediately his ears were opened and the impediment of his tongue was loosed and he spoke plainly. Then he commanded them that they should tell no one. But the more he commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.

And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, he has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. In Matthew we get this general account and It's wonderful. It says that they bring to him all these kinds of diseases and they set him at his feet and he heals them. But it's easy to read that and we've already seen several of those.

And so these things are old hat for Jesus, but they're not old hat. All of these accounts represent dozens of people who come not being able to walk and they walk home, who come not being able to hear and go home hearing, who come not being able to see, and they can see for the first time, maybe in their lives, the lame walk, the maimed, receive the use of their limbs again. And so Mark gives this little glimpse, takes it out of the summary statement, the generalization, and shows us there's a man here who can't hear with a speech impediment. And at the end of this, this man, a real person in space and time, hears when he can hear and can speak. And the people, all they can do is say, He does all things well.

He is a king, and in His kingdom, There are no deaf people. They hear. There are no mute people. They speak. There are no lame people.

They walk. And this is just more fulfillment of prophecy. Listen to Isaiah 29, 18 and 19. In that day, this is talking about the day of the Messiah, in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." It reads almost exactly like our text in Matthew.

Matthew 15-31, right here in our text, may glorify the God of Israel. In the day of the Messiah, the deaf will hear, the blind will see, and people will rejoice and they will glorify God. This is exactly what is happening. Verses 32-39. Now Jesus called his disciples to himself and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat, and I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.

Then his disciples said to him, Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude? Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have? And they said, Seven and a few little fish. So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground and he took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples. And the disciples gave to the multitude, So they all ate and were filled.

They took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were 4, 000 men besides women and children. He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. We can't miss the similarities between this account of the feeding of the 4, 000 men plus women and children and the feeding of the 5, 000 men plus women and children in the last chapter, in chapter 14. Only then, they had only been together less than a day.

And now Jesus has said that the multitudes that have been with him have continued with him for three days. So whatever provisions they brought with them have been exhausted. And Jesus has compassion. He doesn't want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way. In Mark 8 verse 3, which is our companion text for this account, Mark records Jesus saying, For some of them have come from afar.

So people have come from far away, they've been together three days, and they're out of food. And So Jesus commands the multitude to sit down. He takes the seven loaves and the couple of fish and He gives thanks and He breaks them. They pass it out. It says that all of them were filled.

They had all they wanted, and then they had seven large baskets full of leftovers. In verse 34, Jesus asks the disciples, How many loaves do you have? They say seven and a few little fish. Jesus already knows there are seven loaves and a few little fish. Jesus is not lacking in the information department.

So when Jesus is asking, He is actually asking for the destruction of his disciples. We saw the same thing when he fed the 5, 000. When he fed the 5, 000, Jesus said, you give them something to eat, right? Knowing full well they didn't have the means to give them something to eat, but he was teaching them, he was proving to them that the resources weren't on hand so that the miracle would be miraculous, so they would understand what's happening. Now he's doing the seven things.

How much do you have? Nothing. You've got 4, 000 people and you've got seven loaves and a couple of fish. You have nothing. And Jesus wants it on the record that they have nothing with which to feed these people.

Only a few little scraps, not nearly enough. What should we take from this account? Three things. One, that Jesus is God. Doing this is nothing for Jesus.

He is not made tired by this. His power and authority are not lessened by one grain by doing this. He can do this all day, every day, and still be God and not need a rest. We should read this and be so bold in our prayers. This is nothing, taking seven loaves and two fish and feeding four thousand people.

If you were at the conference this past December, that would be what? Twice that, at least. And Jesus can just feed them like this is nothing to him. We should pray. We should ask and seek and knock, knowing who Jesus is, that He is God.

Number two, that as God, He is good. Jesus is full of compassion, and He is most concerned with the state of our souls. The outward afflictions that these people come to him for are just symbolic. The outward healings are just symbolic that he's able to heal what really needs to be healed. That's the significance of prior chapters where they brought him someone and instead of healing him he said, Son, your sins are forgiven.

What? I came to be able to walk. No, your problem is that your sins need to be forgiven. But Jesus is not blind to the physical needs of his people. He's actually full of compassion.

He's good. And it matters to him if you're deaf, or if you're maimed, or if you're lame. And many times, sometimes, he's willing to heal. He's most concerned with the state of ourselves, but that doesn't mean he is not concerned when we are sick or when we are hungry. The Gospels show us over and over and over again that it does matter to Jesus when we're sick and when we're hungry.

And we need to be careful when we despise the social gospel. Now the social gospel says, let's just feed. Let's just send out the medical teams. Hopefully, through some sort of osmosis, good will be done and people will embrace the gospel. It's woefully lacking in the preaching of the Word of God so that people would know that their real problem isn't their medical infirmities, it isn't their hunger, it's their sin.

And if these other problems would consume them, but they'd be free on the inside, they'd be just fine for eternity. But if they are fed and well, but those problems aren't, then they'll spend eternity separated from God in torment. So it's not right to just address the physical needs. But I want to say that if all we have is proclaiming the Word of God with absolutely no thought for the physical needs and welfare of the people that we're preaching to, that does not reflect the Gospel as we see it set before us in these texts. Jesus cares when people are sick.

Jesus cares when people don't have enough to eat. We're seeing this again and again. So may it never be that we would give food and medical attention and not preach the gospel and feed people but allow them to go to hell because they didn't know about their sin and the redemption in Jesus Christ. But on the other hand, we would not be like Jesus if all we would do is preach and never relieve the physical needs that exist around us. Thirdly, Jesus is so patient as a teacher.

After the feeding of the 5, 000, Mark 6, 52 says this, For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened. They didn't get it. The miracle happened right in front of their eyes. Maybe the multitudes actually understood it better than the disciples did. Jesus comes back for round two.

He gives them the same. Now, undoubtedly, this was primarily about his compassion for the people. But Jesus is teaching. He's making men who are going to turn the world upside down. And He's teaching.

And He doesn't despise them because they didn't get it on round one. In fact, next week we're going to see that they didn't get it on round two. And so Jesus is going to give them another dose. So while he may rebuke them for being slow, he doesn't despise them and cast them off because they don't get every lesson on the first time. A few concluding remarks.

Listen to 1 Peter 5, 5 and 6. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time." God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. Peter has just encapsulated the whole chapter 15 of Matthew.

The scribes and the Pharisees, they come to Jesus, they're proud, and God resists them. Jesus resists them. The Canaanite woman comes to Jesus, she is humble, He gives grace to her. He exalts her in due time, in His time. Not the first time, or the second time, or the third time, but in the right time.

He exalts her in due time. As the people of God, we ought to have a daily routine that mirrors this. Where we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, looking to Him to exalt us in due time. And due time means His time, which means we're content if He's silent, we're content if he says, that's not for you now. We are content if he rebukes us because he is Lord.

Finally, Friends, when we consider the greatness of God, when we consider the goodness of God, all we need from His table is a crumb. Now, we're children. Had we been born 2, 500 years ago, we'd be little dogs, almost all of us in this room. We'd be house pets. But now the new covenant has come and we're adopted.

We're children. And he has made us great and precious promises, but his table is so abundant that all we need is little crumbs. This should make us pray. This should make us pray for grace from God because He is so able. But so often He is willing and able if we will persevere in prayer.

This is what we learn from this text. We knew He was able. He wants to teach us that He is willing and able if we persevere, if we ask humbly, if we ask modestly, and if we persevere in prayer. He delights. He is predisposed to give to His children.

If you who are evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give to those who ask Him? Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this text. I thank you for this woman who came and humbled herself under the mighty hand of God. You poured out grace and you exalted her in due time.

God, may her tribe increase among us as we look to you, trusting you, acknowledging that you are Lord so that silence from you does not disturb us or put us off. We don't insist upon having our way, But we're happy to wait upon you, knowing that your timing is always best, and knowing that you're full of mercy, and that not only are you able, but so often you're willing, if we'll wait upon you. Make us that kind of people in Jesus name. Amen.