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[0:00] 15. We're in Matthew chapter 15.

[0:16] Appreciate the singing already this morning, the little bit of energy going on in here. I'll try not to kill it. But let's see what happens.

[0:27] Matthew 15. So we got into, let's find our place here. We're going to start in verse 21, kind of a little shift here. Of Christ departing where he was and dealing with these Pharisees, calling them hypocrites, just the drama that he has to deal with of a religious nation who's lost their way and has lifted up themselves in pride and resists their own creator, resists their savior, resists their God, and accuses him of things, accuses his disciples of things, of breaking their traditions.

[1:08] So he gets away from them here after letting them have it, of course. And chapter 15, we'll pick it up in verse number 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

[1:21] So this is the northern Palestine. This is going up the seacoast towards Syria. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David.

[1:37] My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. So this woman, in Mark, it says that she's a Syrophoenician, that she's from Syro being Syria.

[1:48] Phoenicia is the name of the region or the land there. And it's the Roman occupied, or I guess you'd call it a Roman province, or part of the Roman province of Syria where she's from.

[2:02] She's from the north. And she's a Gentile. In Mark, she's called a Greek. Here she's called a woman of Canaan that came out of these coasts. So she's coming to him. She identifies him as the Messiah, calling him the son of David.

[2:15] Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. So she got the correct title. She displays her faith and her understanding in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and who he is and what he's here for.

[2:30] She's got all that. She's checking the boxes off. The Jews have already, in part, rejected him as their Messiah. Not completely as a nation, but their leadership surely has.

[2:44] Not only have they rejected him, they've accused him, as I mentioned, of disobeying their laws. They've attacked his credibility. And if you want to think about something that this has been, it's not so much maybe today, currently, it kind of, maybe it came and went, this little phrase of, what would Jesus do?

[3:06] It kind of became a thing and people wearing bracelets and little WWJD. And I'd like to pause right at that, at the end of verse 22 and think, what would Jesus do? A woman that's sincere, that believes on him, that has a problem that she can't fix, for her daughter, a younger woman, perhaps, grievously vexed with a devil, and she's crying to him, the one that she knows can resolve the issue, can solve her problems, can heal her daughter, can cast out the devil, crying to him for mercy.

[3:42] I mean, that's what the blind beggars have done. Have mercy on us. Thou son of David, have mercy on us. Remember that in Luke 18, Bartimaeus and the others? And what would Jesus do in this moment?

[3:54] Well, let's understand. This is going to really help us understand why this teaching through this book and this doctrine is so crucial to get and understand.

[4:05] And you just, what your picture of Christ and what you think he should do and what the majority of preachers might say he would do or should do is just not the case.

[4:16] He doesn't react very polite, does he? Verse 21 says, but he answered her not a word. He ignored her. She's got a real problem. She's serious.

[4:27] She's, I mean, she's about to get on her face in a moment. She's authentic. And he just disses her. Answers her not a word.

[4:39] Is that the way you would expect the Lord Jesus Christ to react? Why did he react that way? There's one reason he reacted that way. It's because she was not a Jew.

[4:50] That's the only reason. If that woman were a Jew, if it said she came out of this, one of the city of Bethsaida or came from the shores of Dan or whatever the case, he would have said, be it unto thee.

[5:08] He would have healed her right away. There's a reason he's not answering her. Now come back to chapter 10 and let's just, again, stay grounded in this doctrine of this book and how Christ is being presented.

[5:23] Matthew 10, we came through here and saw this plainly that Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples with very specific instructions that this is a message and a ministry for Israel only.

[5:38] Matthew 10, verse number 5, then these 12, Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and as you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[5:58] Then there's healing, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. All of those signs that he had empowered them with and that power was for Jews only. So we're going to see this again.

[6:10] It's just, it's worth bringing out and it's worth kind of parking on and making sure that you got it. That what's going on in this, the gospels, in this time and ministry of Jesus Christ is specifically, primarily to Israel and to Israel only.

[6:26] All right, so he answers her not a word, not a very polite response, we would say, or think, of this meek and lowly Savior who we picture Jesus Christ to be, really the Jesus that many would preach in and believe in would have taken her by the hand with a warm smile and healed her and just made everything go away.

[6:50] But if you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ and you want to see all sides of him, then you need to be in your Bible and you need to read it and let it speak and teach its truth and don't be quick to say, well, I don't like that sound because I think Jesus should be nice to everybody.

[7:04] Because I should be nice to everybody. And just let the Bible teach itself here. Don't twist it like the Pharisees were earlier in the chapter. So we need to bring our understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ into balance and make sure we know who he is and see his mission, see it clearly, see the seriousness of his mission to Israel and what he's trying to accomplish here.

[7:29] So in verse 23, it says, the answer to not a word. Now it says, his disciples came and besought him, saying, send her away for she crieth after us. So he ignores her.

[7:40] So what does she do? She's not going to leave. She's not going to stand there and quit. She's serious. She's got something inside of her. She cares and loves her daughter. She came this way. She met him. She looks to them.

[7:52] Peter, hey, Peter, do something. Peter's like, get lost. No, get out of here. James, John, somebody, Philip.

[8:04] She's going one by one, perhaps. She's just imploring the whole crowd of them. Do something for me. Help me. Please have mercy on me, on my daughter. She's serious.

[8:16] And what do they do? They come to Christ and say, would you send her away? Would you get rid of this woman? She's crying after us. She's bothering us.

[8:26] So here's his reply in verse 24. But he answered, this is to not the woman, but to them. He answered and said, I'm not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[8:38] This is, he drew a line, very clear. Lord, I think what they're saying is, would you just fix her problem and get rid of her for us? Because she's crying after us now. She won't leave us alone.

[8:49] Would you just send her away? And he's like, I can't do that. I can't deal with this woman. I'm not here for her. And this line is serious to him. Now you've seen in other cases, in Matthew chapter 8, you've seen him heal a centurion and a centurion servant because the centurion displayed such great faith.

[9:09] And he said, so great faith, I have not found no not in Israel. And when he saw the faith of that man, he just couldn't help but to grant his request. Now here's the case where this woman has a problem.

[9:20] I'm sure she wasn't the only one that he's, you know, came across in his ministry. But he drew a line. Said no. The answer's no. I'm ignoring her. Secondly, after ignoring her, secondly, he refused her request indirectly.

[9:33] He refused it through his disciples by answering them, saying, I'm not sent, but I'm the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So, tough. I'm not doing it. It's not what I'm here for. Okay, now verse 25.

[9:44] Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Now I don't doubt she's on her face when it says that she came and worshipped him. In chapter 18, verse 26, says, the servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience.

[10:02] I could take you to a ton of references where worship is also been associated with being down on their face or down on their knees. And it seems that's the case. She comes crying after him.

[10:13] He ignores her. She goes and works her way through the disciples and they get sick of it and say, Lord, just get rid of her. And that doesn't work. And now she's just coming and trying to stop him dead in his tracks, maybe getting in front of him, falling on her face, getting in his attention.

[10:29] Help me. And notice his response. Do you think he's going to give in now? Do you think he has compassion on this woman? He's still just as ready to step right over her. Verse 26, he answered and said, it's not meat to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.

[10:46] It's not meat. It's not acceptable or suitable to take the children's meat, bread, and to cast it to the dogs. So, he ignored her.

[10:59] He refused her indirectly through his disciples. And now thirdly here, he refuses her in a third way and this time with a direct insult. You're a dog.

[11:11] And she understood what he said. She understood exactly what she said. What he said. The children are the Jews. We've seen that plenty of times. Matthew chapter 8, the children of the kingdom.

[11:21] Matthew chapter 13 in the parable, it was the children of the wicked one and the children of the kingdom who are the Jews. The seed of Abraham. Jesus Christ is here for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's the children.

[11:33] It is not meat to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord. That's true. Now come back to chapter 7.

[11:44] Here's a, here Christ another time uses the word dogs and the application of the statement is Gentiles. Just notice it in verse number 6.

[12:00] Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine. The term swine, dogs, is representative of Gentiles and representative of an unclean animal and dog returns to his vomit again.

[12:18] The swine that was washed who were wallowing in a mire. The sow that was washed. Look at one more. John chapter 4. John chapter 4.

[12:30] Just to see one more space where the division between Jew and Gentile was great. It's one that is not crossed over. There's been a line for a long time.

[12:41] In John 4, here's a woman of Samaria in verse number 7. Christ comes to Jacob's well. And he is wearied of his journey. He sits down.

[12:52] In verse 7, John 4, 7, There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For his savers were gone away in the city to buy meat. And just the fact that he spoke to her and that he requested something of her just floors this woman of Samaria.

[13:08] Why? Because there's a line drawn between Jews and Gentiles. Verse 7, or verse 9, Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou being a Jew asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?

[13:20] For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. You know, first things first, we've got to clear the air here. Why are we talking? Why are you even acknowledging me? That's how bad this is.

[13:32] In verse 22, Christ said to this very woman, He said, You worship, you know not what. We know what we worship. You Gentiles, you dogs, you just don't have a clue. We worship the true God.

[13:43] We know Him. He knows us. We're called by His name. But you all, you're just lost dogs and swine in this world. You know nothing. You worship. We'll see it even next hour.

[13:55] You take a tree and you carve it up and then you fall down and worship it and you offer things to it. That's how dumb you are. So that's the case here. That's the division between the holy people, the holy seed of Abraham, of God's chosen race.

[14:11] That's who Jesus Christ came to. Now back in Matthew 15, He calls her a dog and she gets it. It is the lowest of terms in the Jew and Gentile relationship and vocabulary.

[14:26] Some of you know Brother Mike Roberts in Vietnam and I heard him preaching and just describing how once you get to know the culture of Shem and you get into to dealing with them and understanding them after years and years and get on the inside and see and understand how they think.

[14:51] This term dog, He's like, I read through my Bible now and certain things just jump off the page. And He said, that's one of them. When Jesus Christ said, called that woman a dog, that is a low term.

[15:03] You don't call people dogs unless you're ready to fight, He said. And so He just really brought out that thought and that passage there in a way that I wouldn't have considered. But we understand He's definitely insulting her and demeaning her.

[15:17] And He said in verse 26, it's not meant to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. Now here comes her reply. And this is a reply that's worthy of the Word of God. It's worthy of us understanding and knowing throughout eternity.

[15:30] And she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Now this is just a wow kind of reply here.

[15:40] It's such a thing that Christ doesn't have a rebuttal for. He doesn't rebuke her on this and walk away. He's floored. It's almost as if He's backed into a corner and the only thing left to do is grant her request.

[15:55] What this woman did in this statement is something that the doctors and the lawyers, the Pharisees and scribes could not do with Jesus Christ.

[16:07] You read in here, you'll see it later, I think it's in 21, where they come at Him, I think it's four different times, they come at Him with questions, with things they think are going to trip Him up or tempting Him with a question of the law.

[16:20] And every single time He just sees right through it, lays them out, and they just, they have nothing to say. And it comes to a point where they don't, they're afraid to ask Him any more questions. But this woman comes with something at Him, she won't go away, she replies in such a way that he's kind of left speechless in the sense of, I can't resist anymore.

[16:42] It's incredible. What does she do? Well, one thing she does is she agrees with her position as a dog that she's not entitled to the treatment of the children. She said, truth, Lord, you're exactly right.

[16:55] You're here for Israel and it's not right for you to leave your job and duties to them and to care for me. You're absolutely right.

[17:06] I'm a dog. I'm a Gentile. I'm not a Jew. I'm not of God's chosen race. And see, I acknowledge that 100%. Truth, Lord, she said. She also identified that He is the master, that He's the master.

[17:23] The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. And while the master's feeding the children, the dog belongs to the master too, doesn't he?

[17:36] And the master cares. Back in the Proverbs, there's something in the law about caring for the beast. How's that worded? How's that worded? There you go.

[17:49] Praise the Lord. Chickens are not beasts. Okay, we're getting derailed quickly.

[18:03] I can't ask for anything from you. So, she acknowledges He's the master of not just the children, but the dogs too. And doesn't that make Him say, that's true.

[18:14] I created you. I created you too. You're made after the image of God. And I have a quote here. Some dogs dig in the trash and some dogs beg right where the food is.

[18:28] And that's what this woman did. She came to get it straight from Him. And she's really just saying, just throw me a scrap. Just throw me a crumb. You know what a dog does? A dog comes and begs.

[18:39] You know how they sit there and look at you. And I think that's what He saw in this woman was that similar thing that He just He gave it to her. Now, in verse 28, Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith.

[18:58] Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. So, great is thy faith, He says to this woman. You know who heard those words come out of His mouth toward that woman?

[19:10] Were those disciples that were walking with Him. Those very disciples whom He's told already more than once, O ye of little faith, O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

[19:22] How is it that ye have no faith? And then He looks at this woman and says, great is thy faith. I kind of think that might have been a little slap to them. Maybe not intentional, but nevertheless, based on what He said to them directly, to now what He's saying to this woman and what they're witnessing, she's got faith.

[19:41] She's got a faith that she gets commended for. After the rebuke, after the ignoring and the refusing, after the insult, now she's commended and she gets her request fulfilled.

[19:56] Now, some lessons maybe we can pull out of this. One thing is, even when God ignores a request, even when He refuses, perhaps, that same request, when it comes from the mouths of others, like pray for me, pray for me, pray for my situation, even when God doesn't seem to answer and answer and answer.

[20:15] And sometimes He might flat out say, no, the right response is what she does first as she lines up with the Word of God. She says, truth, Lord, and acknowledges this is all true, this is all true.

[20:29] She doesn't say, but you don't care for me. She doesn't start with that whining attitude, selfish attitude. She just stays right where she belongs and acknowledges the truth and just asks for mercy.

[20:42] I think, well, we won't turn this morning, but you know in Luke chapter 18 that there's the woman that, it's the story of the woman coming to the, her Lord asking and asking and asking and He's like, I don't want to answer this at all, but lest by her continual coming she weary me, I'm going to answer her.

[20:59] I'm going to request or fulfill her request and there seems to be a hint of that here. In James chapter 4 it says, you have not because you ask not and He says, you have not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lusts and there's a reason why some people don't get their request fulfilled because it's not according to the Word of God.

[21:19] It's about their own lusts and selfishness. But your prayers can be effective and perhaps they need to be more continual. God can be moved and you see that in the Scripture.

[21:31] He can be moved from His original position and there's different reasons why. But I want you to consider also this woman did not have any pride that needed to be stripped away from her.

[21:42] She just came here begging for mercy, falling on her face, scrappling about with any remnant of possibility that she could get her request fulfilled and when the Lord rebukes her or even insults her she's no problem with that.

[21:58] Truth, Lord. She'll take whatever she can get. So come down now to verse 29 and we'll move on. Verse 29 says that Jesus departed from thence and came nigh unto the Sea of Galilee and went up into a mountain and sat down there.

[22:18] 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. In so much that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak and the maimed to be whole the lame to walk the blind to see and they glorified the God of Israel.

[22:39] Now again this is the kingdom signs that have been prophesied in Isaiah of the kingdom. They're being revealed. They're being displayed proof of His Messiahship and turn to Mark 7 here.

[22:52] There's a specific case that Matthew doesn't give us that Mark does at this very moment. Up in this mountain there's a specific case.

[23:06] Mark 7 in verse 31 you'll see this same passage and you can look just earlier and see where it mentions the woman of Syrophoenician in verse 26.

[23:20] Okay, so verse 31 again departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon He came unto the Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring unto Him one that was deaf and had an impotent impediment in His speech and they beseech Him to put His hand upon Him.

[23:35] And He took Him aside from the multitude and put His fingers into His ears and He spit and touched His tongue and looking up to heaven He sighed and saith unto Him Ephaptha that is, be opened.

[23:46] And straightway His ears were opened and the string of His tongue was loosed and He spake plain and He charged them that He should tell no man but the more He charged them so much more a great deal they published it and they beyond measure astonished saying He hath done all things well.

[24:01] He hath made both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. So Mark gives this one specific account of one and they bring unto Him one that was deaf and had an impediment in His speech.

[24:16] So His speech was impeded something with His tongue something with His ears and Christ with His hands with His fingers in His ears and He touched His tongue.

[24:28] So with His hands He resolved this faulty bodily function we might say. And the reason I point this out since it's in the timing of where we are in Matthew there's some look at chapter 9 this is where I want you to see it there's some healings that are just organic and I know I caught this somewhere in Matthew earlier but here's a great case to bring it out some some that are just organic nature of a faultiness of the body of years and effects of sin on the human race and the DNA and just things come out wrong sometimes.

[25:12] It doesn't mean that they're possessed with devils although in some cases they are. And here's a case in Mark 9 where you're going to see the very same thing I'll just this is a father bringing his son verse 17 one of the multitude and one of the multitude answered and said Master I have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit notice now this is a dumb spirit and Christ is not going to spit he's not going to touch his tongue with his fingers he's not going to do that and he describes that this spirit taketh him in verse 18 teareth him and foeth he gnashed the teeth pineth away I spake to thy disciples they could cast him out they could not and he answered him and said O faithless generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you bring him to me they brought him unto him and when he saw him he straightway the spirit tear him he fell on the ground wallowing foamed he asked his father how long is it ago since this came unto him he said of a child and often times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him but if thou can't do anything have compassion on us and help us

[26:21] Jesus said unto him if thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth and straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief now verse 25 when Jesus saw that the people came running together he rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him thou dumb and deaf spirit I charge thee come out of him and enter no more into him and the spirit cried and ran him sore and came out of him this is a spirit a foul spirit and it's manifest by these same two things of Mark 7 of being deaf and dumb something with the speech something with the ears but in Mark 9 he it is identified as a spirit there's additional things going on with the spirit casting him into the fire just this self mutilation destructive nature about him and it's been going on for a long time it's more than an organic malfunction or handicap of just being born with something wrong a deformity this is a spirit and it's identified as such in the passage and the spirit is is rebuked by the word of Jesus

[27:39] Christ he did not fix or touch his skin and his flesh to make him whole it's two different operations going on the disciples want to know why they couldn't cast him out in verse 29 he said this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting and so there's even diversity of the spirits in the as they're manifest now the point I'm making just from this since this deaf and dumb man gets healed in Mark 9 or 7 there's another case with the similar symptoms but it's not exactly the same symptoms is it at all so there are differences here that Christ is just fixing some faultiness of the one of the man versus casting out a devil in the other and the point is when people see somebody deaf and dumb or blind in the scriptures and they see Christ casting out devils then for some reason they make this jump of an assumption to say well it must be all these things are spiritual devil related and therefore today when somebody can't hear or can't speak do they have a devil in them is that what it is is the devil holding them back and there's no reason to make that jump here we have a case where it's not identified as a devil at all and Christ with his hands fixes it one man's blind and he puts the clay on his eyes and he fixes the eyes they are just organically faulty he doesn't ever say he has to rebuke a devil inside that man to get him to see so the bible will be clear it will discern between the two when it is sorry come back to

[29:15] Matthew and notice they glorified the god of israel in verse 31 the god of israel nationally what we have going on here is not individuals believing on jesus christ for salvation on his death burial and resurrection we have a nation of jews that are to come together underneath the messiah ship of jesus christ and they're glorifying the god of israel it's the same thing of the lord's prayer in matthew 6 of our father which art in heaven our collectively nationally that's what this is going on here we don't see it that way often because we're so familiar with our personal relationship with jesus christ and access to the father through the lord jesus christ by the spirit and these are two different things going on this hasn't even happened yet in this day that we're reading of so glorify the god of israel verse 32 actually you know what something else to notice that notice that it's these are just the common people that are coming to christ in faith looking to get their problems fixed you don't see in these passages the educated stiff necked religious hypocrites trying to get their children fixed up and they're not coming to them i'm sure they had problems i'm sure there was issues and family members to those men too but they wouldn't dare set foot coming to jesus christ to have it fixed but the ones who were healed and the ones who found out who jesus christ was were the ones who were just common folks with common problems and verse 32 jesus called his disciples unto him and said i have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat and i will not send them away fasting lest they faint in the way and his disciples say unto him when should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude are you hearing the same things i'm hearing after chapter 14 was this not almost the same exact situation look at back 14 in verse 15 when it was evening his disciples came to him saying this is a desert place the time has now passed send the multitude away that they may go into the villages to buy themselves victuals it's not in

[31:43] Matthew it's in the other it was in John where they asked that question they're asking him is 200 penny worth going to be enough how can we do this how can we possibly handle this and here they are again when should we when should we have so much bread in the wilderness is to fill so great a multitude are you serious are we going to go over this again Christ says in verse 32 for Jesus saith unto them how many loaves have ye and he said seven and a few fishes now something to notice here we got seven this time and a few fishes and I've never understood or I've always wondered about the numbers felt like there's always something to these things and in Matthew 14 it's five loaves and two fishes and here it's seven loaves a bit more and a few fishes which is probably three or better and so we've got more to work with but notice there's less people and notice they take up less at the end before it was five thousand beside women children this time it's four thousand beside women children last time they took up twelve this time it's seven that they take up verse thirty five he commanded the multitude to sit down the ground and he took the seven loaves and fishes and gave thanks and break them and gave to his disciples and disciples to the multitude so same thing same set up and they did all eat and were filled and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full and they that did eat were four thousand men beside women and children and he sent recent or what had a thought and

[33:28] I can't put it all together because I feel like I'm missing a piece of it but one thing we noticed that it is a decrease in people and what was gathered up at the end and there was an increase of what he used and the thought was that the more Israel is without faith and as this drags on and goes Christ limits himself he did not many works in his own hometown because of their unbelief and if there's one thing that does limit God it's faith from working and from displaying himself and it seems as though as time goes on it just gets less and less and less and this could be a truth or evidence of that in this fact of these two things are back to back and they're just different locations and maybe there's nothing to it but if there's something to it and the Bible does record the numbers and it does record the specifics and I don't think it's random so for that to be the case the only thought

[34:32]  I have with that is that if this would happen again and again and again it'd be need more food and it'd be less and less and less with it so I think we'll stop there we're about at a good stopping spot here a few minutes early but we'll pick it up in chapter 16 to start next Sunday morning Lord willing with the Pharisees and Sadducees what do you know tempting him looking for him to do something so let's