Now let us turn to God's Word in Matthew chapter 15. 15th chapter of Matthew and we shall read from verse 21. Matthew 15 verse 21. 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 the 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 to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's 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. Last week we met a man full of leprosy who came to Jesus for healing in Matthew 8 verses 2 and 3. And he fell down and worshipped Jesus and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole. And our Lord had compassion upon him and said, I will. Be thou clean. Here we have another individual who came to Jesus and she too did not go empty away. However, she was from outside Israel. We're told in verse 21 that our Lord left the place where he was and travelled toward the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. This is the area northwest of Galilee, outside the region, of course, of Israel. And here, the very fact that he met a representative of that part, that Gentile part, shows that he is a light to lighten the Gentiles and that the Gospel is for the entire world, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles. The leper was answered at once, but this lady was not answered at once. And it reminds us that the Lord deals differently with each of us when we pray. Some have their prayers answered very soon, others are having to wait upon the Lord for His time. And if we see another Christian with their prayer answered and our prayer is not being answered, remember that. The Lord knows us as individuals and He knows our states, conditions, particular needs, and He will not deal with us the same uniformly because we're not all the same. And for one he will answer prayer sooner, for another he will answer prayer later. Prayer is not getting what we want, it's the Lord getting what he wants. And there is a divine dealings that the Lord has with us as we pray. And for some, in some cases, like this woman here, there are other things the Lord wants to accomplish besides an immediate answer to the request that we are making. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord treats us in this way, in perfect wisdom and perfect love. Well, as we come to consider this woman, The sequel to it, of course, is verse 28, where our Lord says to her, O woman, great is thy faith. And she has her prayer answered and her daughter is delivered from that demon possession. But it was only a great faith because the Lord brought out that faith and enlarged it in her. first and of course that was the secondary purpose of our Lord there in answering prayer. It was that he might give her this great faith and even wonder at it himself as well as the thing that she asked for. When we pray we do sometimes get a lot more than we imagine because the Lord knows that we need, we need sometimes that much more. Well let's see then what happened here and let's trace this and see how akin to gracious experience it is for us. First of all you can see evidence of an appointment verses 21-22, Jesus departed to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and so on. And you get the impression that this is an appointed meeting with an appointed individual. Behold a woman of Canaan. Nothing else was done in this place, no one else, we read, was ministered to. It was just this one case, as if it was appointed and meant to be. A blessed encounter that was no accident. And the more remarkable, because this region of course, the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, what wretched associations they have, don't they? Phoenicia. And do you know who was from Phoenicia in the Old Testament? Jezebel. And between them she and her husband Ahab brought Israel to the worship of Baal and other false gods. Baal was a Phoenician deity and this awful woman Jezebel was from that part. And of course Tyre and Sidon, parts of Canaan, cursed by God, God's ancient enemies and ancient enemies to Israel, everything that is really the worst of places and yet out of such a place comes a woman who meets the Lord Jesus or shall I say Jesus meets her and she is blessed. Now whether she experienced conversion at this time as well as the deliverance for her daughter, we're not sure. If this was a time of her conversion as well, then she was an elect vessel, wasn't she? whom the Lord brought to the edge of her country, and whom the Lord met at the edge of his country, on that border there. And dear friends, wherever there are the elect, they and the Lord Jesus will meet, because it's the time and place appointed from eternity past, isn't it, in the covenant? And no accidents happen in these matters. If it is that this dear woman was already a savingly enlightened individual, well, we don't know how it happened. She had some knowledge of our Lord, didn't she? Verse 22, O Lord, thou son of David. She knew him to be the Messiah. It would seem something, somehow, in God's sovereignty had reached her darkened heart. and she was found there and brought out. And now she comes with a prayer to the Lord. But either way, this is a wonderful case of a part of the world not necessarily having to be known for something notorious, but able to be known for something glorious instead. The glorious grace of our God. And you see, on our Lord's part, there is a deliberate journey, it seems. Verse 21, Jesus went thence and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, to the edge of Israel, close to this Gentile region. Spurgeon says, the great bishop went to the very borders of his diocese. Into the coasts. Literally, Coasts can mean a part due or assigned to one. One's lot. One's destiny. And this lot was Our Lord's allotted place to be. And it was destiny for this woman. An appointment, you see. The woman of Samaria, John 4, he must needs go through Samaria to come to the village of Sychar to meet this woman who comes to the well. And so it is here. He goes thence and departs into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts. See our Lord's journeyings are not random. They're directed by the Spirit and foreappointed by the Father. Deliberate journeying. Now, as far as this woman is concerned, of course, God's purpose has brought her to where she is, to meet the Lord, but there was an additional thing, wasn't there? There was a grievous need. Verse 22, A woman cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord! My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. And it was that desperate need that brought her to meet the Lord. And so he who was destined to meet her and purposed to meet her brings her by means of this affliction. And how often it's the case, isn't it, that elect sinners are brought to the Saviour sometimes because some crushing thing has been given them in order to be that which drives them or shall I say draws them to the Saviour. He sends a pressing need and the pressing need sends us to Him. Where would we be without affliction? Thank God for that trouble that brought us to Him at the time of our conversion. Thank God for every trouble that is given us that drives us to prayer and makes us need the Lord more, endears Him to us, causes us to see Him as our only hope and our only refuge. Hosea 5 in verse 5, In their affliction they shall seek Me early. We would not be so blessed or prayerful without affliction. It's the Lord's own means, sweet cords of love, to deal with us and bring us to Him, to know His wonderful grace. So this is an appointment here. Everything in place, everything happening in order for the two to meet. Let's look secondly, beyond the appointment the praying and notice how it begins in verse 22 have mercy on me O Lord thou son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil and so on. Now notice how she puts it have mercy on me but surely the mercy is needed for the daughter but on me Lord why is that? well isn't it because as a mother she identifies herself so much with her daughter's need she and her daughter are one and so for the daughter it's really just as much for me As Matthew Henry says, tender parents very sensibly feel the miseries of those that are pieces of themselves. Now it's interesting that when you compare her with a father of a son who is possessed of the devil in Mark chapter 9, He brings his demon-possessed boy to Jesus and says, if thou canst do anything, have mercy on us and help us. Why is that? Well, is it not because a mother feels far more deeply? She is bound up in the bund of life with her daughter. She and her daughter are one. Me, Dad, is a little bit more objective, although still, of course, fully identifying with his boy's need, but it's us in the case of Dad. See how remarkable Scripture is in the way it records those very details. But dear friends, as parents, as we have prayed for our children and do pray for our children, it is a case of me in them, isn't it? Us, they and we, together, We enter into their needs. We feel with them their needs. They are us. We are them. And that's a good thing. Not only for outward things, of course, but most of all for their soul salvation. Or if they are Christians, for their sanctification and their spiritual blessing. But you see, there's real praying, isn't there? identifies herself with this unnamed daughter and in this praying let's be careful to notice that it's not have mercy upon me for another reason which it might have been as if she was saying Have mercy on me, Lord, that I might be relieved from the consequences of all that's happening to my daughter. Have mercy on me that I might have a better time of it. Have mercy on me and sort this dreadful problem out so that I can be easier in my mind because I'm on my own here with this child. No, no, it's not that, is it? In other words, it's not a selfish thing. And we've got to be careful, haven't we, about a right motive in our praying. James 4 and verse 3 says, Ye ask, and ye have not, because ye ask amiss, that ye might consume it upon your lusts. You're only praying and only asking concerning this matter for your own sake. And you can slip into that, can't you? Because this situation has given me a hard time of it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could be delivered from that? And so we pray the Lord will sort it out. This unconverted son is breaking my heart. Oh, that I might have comfort in knowing that he's saved is that really the chief motive? this member of my family is giving me grief it's affecting us all Lord save that person so that we as a family might be able to enjoy our lives more is that a right motive? Lord this problem at work I'm dreading going to work these days It's ruining my life! Help me! Is that the chief motive? He ask and receive not because he ask and miss! It's missing the mark! These reasons are perfectly understandable and would be the best consequences of answered prayer but they are not to be the motive, are they? What is the chief motive? What is the chief motive that moves us to ask for certain things in relation to these matters? It's the glory and praise of God, first and foremost and supremely. If thine eye be single, that's the thing, a single eye to the glory of God. Our aim must be that high. God first in everything. And when we rise higher than our own pressing struggles and difficulties and all the reasons why we love to see these things happen and our prayers get answered. Rise above these things and aim at the glory of God. Then you won't ask a miss, you'll ask a right. Because you see, of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory for ever and ever. And maybe sometimes we need to be realigned in our outlook and our aim when we're praying. Realigned so that we look upwards to the throne and have a zeal and a jealousy for the glory of His name. and say, Lord, if this be thy will, if this could be for thy glory, do it. And the Lord is well pleased with that kind of praying, isn't he? So she's not saying, Lord, help me, because it's me, me, me that wants to be blessed and for things to get better for me. No, no. It's because she's bound up in the life and existence and sufferings of her dear daughter and that is not the selfish thing that it might have been. So this praying then, rightly directed, we believe. Let's come thirdly to the main thing here, from the appointment to the praying to the exercise. Now this is it from verse 23 onwards, have mercy on me and so on but look at the response she gets verse 23 but he answered her not a word now things take an unexpected turn and of course the reason is because the Lord knew the strength of this woman's faith at least potentially and he would therefore try it and put it to a severe test to make it greater still and so if you are tried in your praying by being made to wait or being made it seems disappointed because nothing is happening far from suspecting that the Lord is displeased with you or that your faith is too small. Might it be really that the Lord knows your heart and the exercise and the sincerity of your faith but he's wanting to draw it out more and exercise it more so that the more you pray and the more you exercise your faith like the muscles of the limbs they'll get stronger through use And this is certainly what happened here, wasn't it? Let's look at this silence. But he answered her not a word. Now we know this of course, don't we? How long have you been praying for a certain thing and you've not heard a thing from heaven? Not yet. and not now he answered her not a word five years, ten years and more fifteen years not a word ah, but it doesn't say he heard not a word of course he heard Every word came into his ears and touched his heart. O thou that hearest prayer. Something to think, isn't it? That the Lord says to you, in effect, I'm hearing you all this time. I'm hearing you. But there was further discouragement. Look at verse 23. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us." If it was that they were impatient with her because of the noise she was making, calling out repeatedly in almost a demanding kind of way because of her desperation, And these men tired and a little bit frazzled and anxious that our Lord have some rest and be not disturbed because Mark tells us that he was in a house with the disciples and they were having a time together but he could not be hid. He'd come out of the house to deal with this woman. But dear friends, what a thing it is, isn't it, to meet with a silent Christ and then meet with unsympathetic disciples. Sometimes the Lord's own people can make things harder, can't they? Perhaps well-meaning, but not sensitive. And saying things and doing things that don't edify and encourage us, but rather put us off and break us down in our spirit. But the point is, dear friends, don't take your Christianity from other Christians. Take it from the Bible and take it from Christ. The Lord's dear people at their best can be an inspiration to us, but sometimes at their worst they can do the opposite. But never mind. At least this woman looked past them. And when she carried on praying, the Lord spoke to her, not to them. Verse 24, He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So she got a word from Him. But oh, you see, one thing on top of another can be so off-putting, can't it, in prayer. But never mind. Now is the latest thing, the rebuff. He says, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When he did answer, it was no more hopeful to her than when he was silent. Sometimes, when we do get a response, when the Lord says something or does something, it seems no better, even seems to be worse and the devil says what's the point of praying the more you pray the worse it gets and can this be a God who loves you and is perfectly wise in all his dealings with you but you see why it is happening, why it has to be because at the same time as our Lord seemed to be rebuffing her by reminding her that his mission was to the Jews not to the Gentiles he was actually inviting her to respond and not take this no for an answer John Trapp has a lovely quote a lovely word at this point John Trapp the Puritan in his commentary on Matthew And he says that in hearing these words from our Lord, so off-putting, so discouraging, he was also speaking by his sweet spirit to her heart, saying to her, cry louder. And of course, the Lord, while he can seem to discourage us in prayer, On the other hand, He draws us in our praying. The two can be happening together. And certainly it was happening in this case. And look at that beautiful response in verse 25. Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me I know that thou art sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but wilt thou not also include me?" That was a very gracious, gracious thing, wasn't it? And it's interesting that when she first began her praying in verse 22, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David! My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. Quite a longish sort of sentence in prayer. Now that she's more drawn out still in her praying, more intense, although perhaps not so loudly now, but more intense, the prayer is shorter. Lord, help me. You'll find that the more intensely we pray, the less lengthy will be our prayers. The fewer the words, and perhaps really that's a good sign that we are praying, really praying in our prayers when brief sentences, just short statements come out, the cry of our hearts Lord, help me! As Peter said when he was sinking beneath the waves, Lord, save me! And so on. She was really praying. Oh, the Lord loves it. The Lord really loves it when we're praying like this. When we're not taking discouragements, silences, discouragements, rebuffs for any answer at all, but are carrying on. But look! The next thing that happens, verse 26, He answered and said, it is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. Now that seemed to be really the final blow. As you know what he's saying is the children's bread, they're the children of Israel. They're the ones entitled to the blessings. They're my covenant people. Dogs? Well, that's a term, isn't it, for Gentiles? And they're outside the covenant, outside the pale. And to answer your prayer would be like to take what belongs properly to my people and to cast it to the dogs. And remember what our Lord said in the Sermon on the Mount? Chapter 7 and verse 6. cast not that which is holy to the dogs." And of course, dogs, Gentiles, dogs in this culture, in this country and situation, unclean animal, like pearls before swine, you see, unclean animal, pariahs. Remember what happened in Phoenicia? What the dogs did to Jezebel? when her dead body was lying on the ground they ate her body and only left her skull and her hands well that's the sort of thing that dogs are filthy vermin horrible wolfish animals and here now she can't have what the Lord's own people may have but the wonderful thing is that in this there is a hint of encouragement because you perhaps have heard this before that the word for dogs that our Lord uses here in verse 27 is a different word and refers to different kind of dog it's in the diminutive form and it means a domestic dog, it means a pet dog and there were pet dogs kept in Jewish homes sometimes. Dogs in the home and so he's saying in effect that it would be like casting crumbs from the table down to the dogs, down to the doggy that's waiting beneath the table expectantly and hopefully for a scrap that might fall off the edge of the table. Now that's a different context altogether, isn't it? You've seen, I'm sure, the situation when you've been at the table. You don't have to own a dog, do you? Perhaps been in another person's house who's got a dog and you sat at the table and you're aware that there is someone down there on the floor looking up. And it can be a very pitiful look, can't it? A very imploring look. And it's very hard to resist flicking something for the dog to catch and make its day. What is this, a family situation? And she's saying, in effect, or she's hearing now, this thought that, yes, it's a different context it might well be that there is mercy mercy for me and she seizes on it and with such a beautiful stroke of surely inspired praying she says there verse 27 truth Lord yet the doggies eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table and she tells him the very thing that's implied in that diminutive doggy in his words and so in a way she puts herself into the family situation and she asks that she might be considered even as a little doggy and there might be a portion even a crumb even a crumb from the family meal that might reach her if for them why not then for me now that's too much for the Lord and he has to yield he's been caught in his own metaphor and as Luther puts it she snares Christ in his own words and of course Verse 28, O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee as thou wilt. That's what he was encouraging, you see, that's what he was drawing out and that's what he was enabling her to catch at and she caught at it and she was successful. And it's as if he bends his will to hers, be it unto thee even as thou willed, he can't do anything other but grant her her request and at a mere distance without a word the daughter was delivered from the demon that very hour Mark tells us that when the woman got home she found her daughter delivered from the demon lying on the bed wonderful and so you see to seize upon this and the Lord loves to be argued with in prayer and if you can think of some reason why the Lord should answer your prayer catch at something he said in his promises. Remind him that you think this would be greatly for his glory if he were to answer your prayer. Tell him that you feel that if this prayer were answered it would so powerfully speak to non-Christians and impress them with the truth of the gospel and might result in others being converted. Tell the Lord that you feel this would be so consistent with His great love to you and His care for you. Argue with Him. Reason with Him. Like this. And the Lord loves to be drawn in. And who knows that the Lord might well yield. But you see, never, never, never take no for an answer and just give up and go away and leave it. Then it will be ye have not because ye ask not. But keep praying. until you've got the definitive answer. Other answers might come meanwhile that are negative, off-putting, discouraging and all the rest of it. But until you know you've got the definitive answer and God gives you the peace and the rest and the assurance that that's it, whatever it is, keep praying. And do not give the Lord rest until you have that answer from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This woman's faith was great because it was drawn out in such an exercise, wasn't it? It never would have been if it had not been that the Lord had dealt with her in this way and see how much more she got, how much more she received, more than the problem concerning her daughter and just as much the increase and development of her own faith and her own knowledge of Christ. Oh, she went home that day, such a blessed woman. Looking forward to seeing her daughter well and looking forward to living out the rest of her days as a believer in Jesus with a greater faith and a greater faith than many in Israel. So the Lord has dealt with her. and all dear friends because of an appointment and the affliction that sent her praying and the exercise that was made such a blessing to her. What a wonderful thing, what a wonderful thing prayer is. The great business is not so much that we get prayer automatically answered 1, 2, 3 It's that in praying we ourselves are blessedly changed and wonderful things are wrought, perhaps exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think. Well, may it be so in our case too. For the glory of His name. Amen. Let us sing together now Hymn 386.