Sermon: How Christ Matures Our Faith

Turn with me please to Matthew 15, Matthew 15, verses 21 through 28. As you're turning there, let me bring you the warm greetings of Pure Term Reform Theological Seminary and the Heritage Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's been great for my wife and I to be with you this weekend. We've been looking at, um, how to grow and mature in faith, and I focused at the conference on three largely neglected spiritual disciplines.

Today, a life of earnest prayer, taking hold of God, taking hold of yourself, and a life of spiritual meditation, a neglected art, and then a life of diligent daily intentional family worship. And behind the addresses I was saying, these are three of the major spiritual disciplines that can help you grow in grace and become more mature as a Christian and as a Christian family. And uh, this morning what I want to do is

as kind of a capstone on this series, I want to talk with you about this history in Matthew 1521 through 28 about how Christ is maturing here, the faith of the ish woman through afflictions. The Puritans used to say, afflictions are actually a means of grace that God uses to grow us. So we shouldn't run out of God's gymnasium when he buffets us, but we should bow under his chast hand and keep looking to Christ persevere and grow in faith.

And I want to show you how Jesus does that here in this history, uh, from the Kish woman. So read with me Matthew 1521 through 28. Then Jesus went then and departed into the coast of Tyre. And sight and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him saying, have mercy on me. Oh Lord, thou son of David, my daughter is grievously, vexed with a devil. But he answered her not one word, and his disciples came

and besought him, saying, send her away for she cryeth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it's not meat or fitting to take the children's bread and to cast the two 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 old woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very our may God bless the reading of his word. Let's unite in a word of prayer, Lord God, as we approach this surprising, somehow mysterious history of the ish woman, give us insight and direction and practical application that we too may be tested by thee in a variety of ways through affliction.

And that thou would use it to grow us in grace and in faith so that we would be mature and robust Christians sold out to live holy and solely for thee white hot flames of zeal as a puritans would say in the totality of our lives, to live for the triune God. So bless us now and use this sermon to help those who are under affliction, to arrest the uninvested, the unsaved to and to mature thy people in their most holy faith.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So if you're a Christian this morning, what kind of Christian do you want to be? A scale of one to 10. That's what I actually ask couples quite often when they come to me for marital counseling, I ask them on a scale of one to 10, how, how, how good do you want your marriage to be? And almost inevitably they say 10. Now one guy said 11. But the point is this. You see, when you come for help, you, you want

to be robust in your marriage. You want a great marriage. Well, when you're a Christian, you don't wanna settle for mediocrity, you don't wanna slip back to four or five. You really want to be, I hope, a robust Christian because if God is a living God, he's worth living for entirely. So how do you do that? How do you get to be a so-called our forefather's language here, a father and a mother in Israel, a robust, mature Christian living

for the glory of God, a person that people, other people see Christ in you and you become known as genuinely a humble, godly Christian who fears God, who puts Christ at the center of your life, who evangelizes unsaved people and sees every unsaved person as a mission field and are sold out to live holy and solely for him and a man in my church who is now with the Lord, but he used to begin every prayer, oh Lord, help me

to live holy and solely for thee. I I love that expression. You gotta be like a Caleb, don't you living fully for God? Well, how do you learn that? Well, you learn that through the spiritual disciplines we've been talking about to some measure. But you can't learn that robustly without affliction. A little baby when the baby cries, the mother and father go to it right away. But if you're seven years old, boys and girls, every time you cry,

every time your mom goes to the store, you don't just cry and weep over your mishaps and your your disappointments. No, your mom would take you to the doctor and say, this boy's not growing up. What's wrong with this child? Emotionally? You see? And when you get afflicted as a Christian, it's part of your growing up. It's part of your maturation. And I wanna show you that this morning from, from this story, this beautiful history.

And our theme then is how Christ matures our faith. We want to look at it, three thoughts. First through his apparent silence, second through his apparent rejection, and third, through his apparent insult, apparent silence. Verse 23, he answered, not a word apparent rejection. I'm sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 24, a parent insult. It's not fitting to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.

Consider with me this amazing encounter of the can woman with the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem, they're getting harassed, they're trying to arrest Jesus and perhaps the disciples as well. So they escape and they go all the way to the northern boundary of Israel by tire inside him in and at that boundary, they meet this woman who's coming all the way from Canaan to find Jesus in Israel and in God's wonderful providence, as soon

as she crosses the border, there's Jesus just like that. This woman has a daughter who's demon possessed and she's troubled. She's overwhelmed. No doubt she's tried all the doctors in her area and there's no one to help and no local deity to help. She's tried everything you can be sure. And she hears about Jesus, that he opens the eyes of the blind, that he unstop deaf ears, that he hears sinners before they cry and answers their prayers.

And probably she says to her neighbors, I'm going to go to that Jesus. She hears that he's the son of David, which is the Hebrew word expression for the Messiah, the long awaited Messiah. And no doubt her neighbors said to her, how could you be so foolish? Don't you know that every area has its own local deity? He's just a savior for the Jews only. He won't hear you, he won't respond to you. But she says, I will go, I will go.

And already you see, the seed of faith is wonderfully mysteriously, is implanted in her soul, no doubt by the Holy Spirit, be because she comes, meets him and cries out, have mercy on me. Not Jesus of Nazareth, kind of a despicable term, but oh Lord, thou son of David. Here's a heathen woman who recognizes the deity of Jesus, the messiahship of Jesus, and she cries out, my daughter is grievously, vexed with a devil. Now, if you know your reformed theology well, you know

that there's three constituent elements in faith, knowledge, trust, and ascent. And we're going to see in these three trials that this woman faces through the afflictions that Jesus brings her way. She exercises all three of these here already. She exercises a saving knowledge. Oh Lord, thou son of David, she sees who Jesus really is. This is amazing. And then she cries out, my daughter is grievously, vexed with a devil,

and the Greek is in the continuation mode. That means that she repeats her cry for help over and over until the streets are ringing with her noise. You would think that Jesus wouldn't, you would answer her now right away and send her on her way. She's coming to the right person. Jesus. She's coming by faith. She's coming with urgency in her request. Why wouldn't Jesus simply respond and say, your daughter's healed? He did that at other times. But you see,

Jesus wants to mature this woman's faith, and that's what you, you observe in the very last verse of this history, old woman, great. Or you could translate it. Mature is thy faith. Often when you have mysterious parables, mysterious histories in the gospels, as Jesus is acting, doing wondrous things, you find the secret of interpretation in the last verse. Here it is as well. Old woman, mature is thy faith. So you know immediately, aha, this is the key

to unlock this history. Through all these trials, Jesus is maturing this woman's faith. But of course she doesn't know that. So what a contrast this is when we read in verse 23, but he answered her not one word. What a contrast. A crying woman and a silent Jesus. What? Cause for doubt,

you might think this woman will return home now, right? I mean it's no use going to Jesus. She's crying over and over and he just keeps standing there or walking there and doesn't respond with a single word. Boys and girls, what would you think? If you came home to your mom or to dad, your dad and you were excited about something and you walked in the house and you cried out to them, but they didn't answer you anything,

you'd say, what's wrong, mom? What? Are you mad? Are you angry with me? You'd be very upset, wouldn't you? But you see, this woman doesn't walk away. She doesn't go back home because the seed of true faith is there. She has nothing to go back home to also, but a demon possessed girl. And so she feels deep inside of herself that there's nothing else to do, but go to Jesus, give me Jesus else, I die.

True faith never turns. Its back on Jesus because faith has only one object, which is Jesus. So true faith perseveres because Jesus is the object of it. He's everything to her and she cannot do without him. Even his silence will not send her away.

Now, all true Christians know two things in their experiential pilgrimage with God.

They all know what it is to commune with God and to find their greatest joy in life in that communion. Like Spurgeon said, God's people have the best of both worlds in this life. They know a true joy in communion with Christ. That goes way, way, way beyond all the joys of this world. There's nothing to compare with communion with Christ. And that's why young people, may I say this to you as teenagers, make sure you surrender

your whole life to Christ. Now while you're young, fill those young years that are so critical that you'll, you'll remember all your lifetime. Fill them with Christ. That's the only way to live.

My wife and I have had pri privilege of speaking in many different countries, meeting hundreds of thousands of Christians in my lifetime. I've always asked people wherever I go, tell me how God converted you. Tell me about your Christian life. It's fascinating, but you know what? I've never met young people. I've never met a single person in the entire world who said, I'm sorry I've become a Christian. Never one. I've never met one who said, you know,

I'm sorry I spent so much time in the Bible. I'm sorry I spent so much time trying to grow in grace. I'm sorry I spent so much time in prayer, never one.

But I met a lot of people in my life who said, if only I'd sought the Lord when I was a teenager,

if only I hadn't thrown away so many years or, or maybe people who say, I think now it's too late for me ever to find the Lord. Don't let that be you. You seek him now. You come to him now you lay everything at his feet now. So a true believer is someone who knows something of genuine communion with Christ and it it far surpasses anything this world has to offer. So that's why Spurgeon said, true believer gets the best

of this world, but he also gets the best of the world to come, which is far better than anything in this world. But secondly, a true believer also knows times when he is confronted not with a presence of vibrant communion with God, but with the presence of the absence of a sense of God, confronted with the silence of God. Now if we're honest, every one of us experiences that in one way or another. Even those of you who are not yet saved, you

have a sense almost of perpetual silence of God or you're stifling your conscience convictions. But if you're a believer, you also know what it means to have unanswered prayers, don't you? Some prayers you've prayed for years and God seems to be silent, and that could be a burden, that can be a deep affliction. Scottish divine Samuel Rutherford said, the silence of God is the most bitter ingredient that the Christian has

to drink in his cup of sorrow. For the silence of God is a taste of hell on earth for the believer.

You read about that silence from the bride in the Song of Solomon chapter three. I sought him, I will seek him whom I soul loves, but I could not find him. I called out to him, but he gave me no answer or the cry of Jeremiah in limitations. Three. I cry and shout, but the Lord shuts out my prayer. Thou was covered thyself with a cloud that my prayer should not pass through,

or the cry of David in the Psalms be not silent to me. Les. If thou be silent to me, I become like them. That go down into the pit what anguish there can be. When God is silent, you cry, you shout, you sigh, you groan, you whisper, you pour out your heart. You hold nothing back, but you can get beyond the ceiling. It seems there's silence, deafening silence.

It's like the psalm says in the diversification, in in our salter in Grand Rapids with anguishes from piercing sword, reproach and bitterness. I hear while day by day with taunting word, where is thy God, the scoffers sneer. Martin Luther one day as he was seeking strength to rebuild the church on a biblical foundation, said to his wife, Katie, in the midst of a number of problems, God is so silent to me lately that I'm afraid he is dead.

And when he came home that night, all the shades in his house were drawn, which is what people did in those days when someone died. So he burst through the door and he said, Katie, who died today? And she said, well, you said this morning God. And he repented of course, and it slowed him in the conscience. But you know that feeling, don't you, God afflicts you sometimes with silence. It's like you can't get your prayers above the ceiling.

It's like he's not hearing my cry. He's not answering me. And you wait on him and, and, and, and you're afflicted. But why? Why doesn't God just answers people all the way right away? Why doesn't he just treat us all like little babies? As soon as we cry, bam, there's the answer. Well, because he wants us to grow. He wants us to grow immaturity. You see, God is a living sovereign God. He knows what's best for us. He's decreed all from eternity.

Our lives are laid out before him, like a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. He knows where every piece fits. He makes no mistake. Every hair of our head is numbered. He is a perfect detailed plan for us, but we don't know it. So we don't know many of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. We don't know many of the reasons why God does what he does and why he doesn't do what he doesn't do.

But I can say this much to you. We do know two big pieces of the puzzle. We do know first of all that he's doing this. He, he exercises silence to mature our faith. And we need to understand that that life is not a constant communion with Christ. That's heaven. We don't have solid heaven, perpetual, solid heaven here on earth.

But in fact, God uses these afflictions, these silences to grow us, to mature us. Have you, have you ever noticed that silence is very important? Just imagine right now if I was speaking to you without a speck of silence between any of my sentences, you'd be exhausted in five minutes.

Imagine a piece of music, an orchestra playing without a moment of silence here or there. Actually, there was a 19th century conductor of a symphony who was just really powerful. And one one day in the 19th century, he conducted Beethoven's ninth symphony so powerfully that it was a constant standing ovation for minutes afterward. And someone walked up to him afterward and said, what makes, what makes your orchestra so different than the others?

Why is it so much more powerful? And he humbly said, well, it's the pauses and the silences. Sometimes God sets us apart with a silence. Doesn't answer us, but he wants to mature. He wants to mature our faith. When I was nine years old, my dad took me, which was very unusual, to be alone with my dad, took me on a trip from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Hoboken, New Jersey to pick up my grandfather coming across the ocean. And I saw mountains for the first time in my life.

But what I didn't expect was that we drove through the mountains in things we call tunnels. And uh, the first tunnel we were in, I got a bit of claustrophobia. So I said to my dad, you know, is this tunnel ever going to end? My dad said, oh yeah, don't worry about it. Um, there'll be in a little while a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel. So we get closer to coming out of it. The light will get bigger and bigger and bigger

and you will break out and you'll enjoy the sunshine more than ever before. And that's exactly what happened. But 10 minutes later, we were in another tunnel and then another eight of them in all. And you see, the Christian life is often like that. God brings you into a tunnel. You learn to cry out to him by faith. He doesn't always answer right away, but he exercises that faith in the weight room of his gymnasium. And we are not to run out of

that gymnasium when he buffets us, but we're to wait on him clinging to him, not turn back and go home, but face him, worship him, bow before him, trust him even in darkness. And we give more glory to his name when we trust him in darkness than when we walk in the sunshine of light and we too grow in faith. That's the beauty of this story. That's the beauty of your story, dear believer, where would you be without any affliction in your life?

You be an immature, spoiled Christian if you always got everything you wanted right away.

The silences of God mature our faith in remarkable ways because it's in the silences, in the tunnels of affliction that we learn to cry out to God when he seems to be pushing us away with one hand in the darkness. But in the other hand, by his spirit, he's secretly drawing us to himself to cry out, give me Jesus else. I die. So that's one reason why God matures our faith through silences just to mature us and to help us.

The second way he matures our faith is to teach us that his silences are really for his own glory, for his own glory. Turn with me a moment to John 11, John Levin. It's powerfully taught here. You know, Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and he got word when he was in Jerusalem six miles from Bethany that Lazarus was sick unto death. Now, what would you expect Jesus to do? I'll go right away. Of course. Look at verse six,

John 11, when Jesus heard, therefore that Lazarus was sick under death, he ab obeyed two days still in the same place where he was. By the time he finally got there, Lazarus was dead.

Why? Why in the world would would Jesus do that? He could have been there in an hour and a half? Well, the answer is verse four, Lazarus. He said, this sickness is not unto his death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified, thereby the glory of God is the supreme purpose of all things. So how does God get more glory? How does Jesus get more glory here by healing a sick Lazarus or by raising from the dead a dead Lazarus?

Oh, the question is obvious. It's a rhetorical question really. But translate that into your own life. How does Christ get more glory? Does he do it by answering all your prayers right away or by testing you and maturing you and getting more glory by answering your prayers when it seems that you've come to your wits end in praying and it seems impossible. You ever get an answer? And then from the the ashes of your four Lauren hopes, he bursts up with a flame

of a glorious answer and you give him all the glory and realize everything in your life is all his sovereign grace, solely Dale Gloria. That's the end of his silences, that purpose.

Now, put that into your own life for a moment. If you were to look at affliction this way, God is chast me to mature my faith and to get all glory for himself.

Those are two really good purposes. All things work together for good. Romans 8 28 For them who love to them, who love him, all your afflictions, dear believer, work together for your maturation and for God's glory. If you could hold onto that, you will grow in grace a great deal. So now you would think though, that Jesus is going to have mercy upon her, but no, he puts her through a second test. Look at verse 24, but he answered

and said, oh, I'm sorry, verse 23 B. And then 24. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, send her away for she cries after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent. But unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,

this is a double barrel rejection. The disciples reject her. They're worried that she crying on the streets will attract too much attention that Jesus is, and they are going to get re arrested after all. In fact, they even say she cries after us. They're kind of self-centered here. She's the one that crying after them. She was crying after Jesus. So they're sinning by their lack of evangelistic zeo for this woman. They're doing all kinds of things wrong,

but at least we can get some understanding there because we also make lots of mistakes in our life and and commit many sins. But Jesus, Jesus seeming to reject her. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, what in the world is going on here? A woman is crying and begging for help and Jesus seems to be pushing her away. She's a gentile, she's a Canaanite, she's a Phoenician. And he's saying, I'm only come

for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What does that mean? Well, Jesus had not yet suffered and died. He had not risen from the dead. He had not ascended to heaven. And above all, he had not yet sent his spirit to spread the gospel around the world. You know, we often forget this. If you take the globe in your hands, Israel is a one tiny little pinprick on that gold. You couldn't even put the end of your index finger on it

and not cover the whole country. The idea that the gospel would go out to the Gentiles was radical unheard of. And that would fill the whole earth. So John Kelvin says, it's as if Jesus is saying to her in this second test, woman, don't you know that I am called to be in my lifetime ministry, a savior, a messiah, to the Jews, and the door won't be thrown open to the Gentiles until Pentecost. And so here and now I'm basically confining my ministry to the Jews,

and you're a gentile. So Kelvin says it this way. It says, if Jesus is saying to her, don't think you can sit at my table with all my fellow Jews when I've come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel when you're a Gentile, and raid the table of its food in the middle of the meal that I am serving to the Jews.

So now what? What? Now what do you Now what would you do if you were her? Well, of course you'd go home, right? No, no, no, no. Faith never turns us back on Jesus. So Jesus finally speaks. The disciples first reject her, and then he seems to reject her lost sheep of the house of Israel. Well, she's lost. She started out, well, I got that qualification, but she's not a sheep. She's a Gentile. And the Jews call Gentiles dogs

and she's none of the house of Israel.

What does she do? This is really beautiful. Look at verse 25. Then she came and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. I I I love this verse. Then she came when she was pushed away, when she was rejected. You see, when you're a Christian, you say, don't you gimme Jesus else. I die. I I I can't live without him. I can't live a week without him. I can't live a day without him. I need him every hour. She came, she came closer.

When it seems she was pushed, pushed away and she worshiped him. The word worship in Greek is pro canal. Pro means towards canal means to kiss. The idea of worship is that all the affections, not only my intellectual acument, but all my affections, also my whole inner man, my soul goes out to the object of worship, which is Jesus Christ. So as he seems to push her away, Jesus falls prostrate before him And worships him And says,

Lord, help Me. Now, What is Jesus doing here? Well, he's maturing her faith. Again, notice her prayer here at the end of verse 25 and her first prayer verse 22, notice the length is different, but the content is also different. Oh Lord, thou son of David, my daughter's grievously, vexed with the devil, Lord, help me. You see what Jesus is doing? She comes with her daughter and Jesus takes, may I call it a flashlight of focus on her daughter and turns it on the woman.

And Jesus does that often. Have you ever noticed that when a parent brings a child in great need, remember Mark nine Father brings the the son, the demoniac son possessed by a demon, and the boy is wallowing on the ground and the Father looks at Jesus and looks at his boy. All the focus is on the boy. And he says, Lord, if you can do anything, Help us. And Jesus takes the flashlight off the boy focuses on the man and says, if you can believe all things are

possible to him that believe us. And The Father bursts out in tears and says, Lord, I believe helped thou my unbelief.

Could it be that one of the main reasons among many reasons why God blesses us with children

is to teach us our dependency upon him? That we can't, we can't. We can't raise kids without him.

Any parents here who are, who have been perfect parents never needed the Lord. No. Only perfect parents I've ever met in my life anywhere in the world are those that don't, don't have kids yet. They know how to do it. But when you're a parent, you need the Lord. And this is one of the reasons why God gave her this child to draw her to Jesus. Our very children can make us cry out. Lord, help me. In fact, my wife used to say that to me.

And sometimes she's home all alone and she'd just think about all the needs of the children and she'd just cry out, out loud, actually this exact prayer word for word in the home. Lord, help me. Lord help me.

This is beautiful. Affliction brings us into personal need, makes us cry out to God, matures our faith. So we learn we can't do anything without the Lord. I need thee Lord every hour. And this is a beautiful step of growth in grace as well. So this woman, praise this three word prayer, but actually there's everything in this prayer that we need. Isn't that amazing? Help is the word of mediation pointing to Christ mediator.

That's biblical. John Bunion says in pilgrim's progress that when Christian was in the slew of dessan and couldn't get out, a man came along, pulled him out, his name was help. And in the margin, bunion has this text there that was laid help upon one who is mighty and says, that is Jesus. He's help Lord. Lord, she cries out. She goes all the way to heaven as it were, Lord neede through thy son, help come to me in all my need, in all my lowness.

I'm in desperate straits. My daughter's vexed with the devil, but I need thee as well. Lord, help me. So the daughter falls away for a moment and the woman comes face to face with Jesus and says, basically, give me Jesus else, I die. That's growth. That's growth in grace. That she's being matured by Jesus. Lord, help me notice the son of David title has now dropped. That was the Jewish term, the Jewish Messiah. So she's appealing to him as Lord of heaven and earth.

Surely Lord, you have something. Your character is generous and gracious. You receive sinners. Surely you have something even for a Gentile like me.

Wow, you think Now surely Jesus is going to bless this woman. Now she's passed two amazing tests with flying colors. What's going to happen now? Well, Jesus has a third test. Look at verse 26, but he answered a third, but, but he answered and said, it is not fitting to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. He's using the derogatory Jewish term, calling the Gentile a dog.

Why does he do that? Well, this woman has been matured through silence. She's been matured through rejection, but she hasn't yet admitted that she's nothing but an unclean beast before God, like Caman said about himself in one of the Psalms, she hasn't become a lost sinner yet before God as one who's unclean. So Jesus is maturing her, yet in a third way, giving her a third test. So now how will she respond? Will she say, look, Lord, I've come to you. I need you.

You are silent then you're rejected me, and now you insult me. I have enough. I'm going back home. No faith never turns. Its back on God. She says Truth. Lord Jesus is exposing her heart to her. I'm unclean. I'm like an animal. I'm an unclean beast before thee Truth, Lord. But then she does something marvelous. I love what Luther says about this. Luther says she ensnares Christ in his own words. He who loves to be so ensnared. And what does that mean?

Well, Jesus used a Greek word here that actually it's similar to um, certain words in English where we add a prefix or a suffix that means little in the Dutch language, it's very common. For example, the word child is Kent in Dutch. But a Kent with a je, anything with a je on it means little. So je little child kinia in Greek, there's something similar to that. In fact, a new King James version actually translates this

and to cast it to little dogs. Now, why is that important? Well, because in Old Testament times, it wouldn't have been important because all dogs were wild. Boys and girls, nobody had a pet dog In Old Testament times, they were all wild. In New Testament times, people were just beginning to bring little dogs into their homes as pet. All big dogs were wild, but little dogs would be taken into homes and the little dogs would get the leftover crumbs

after the family had eaten. And Jesus uses that word. And what faith does, faith takes hold of the words of God and it reasons with God. It argues with holy argumentation back with God and says, Lord, do as thou has said, do as thou has said. So she says, truth, Lord, I'm a dog. I'm glad to be your dog. I'm glad to be your pet dog. I don't ask to sit at the table with, with the Jews and to raid the table in the middle of of the Jewish meal

before the time comes when it goes open to the Gentiles. No, no. All I want is just a few crumbs of the leftovers off the edge of the table onto this gentile heart at the border of Israel. Surely Lord, there's room for a few crumbs, a few leftovers because one crumb from thee is a great thing because it's from thee truth, Lord. Yet the dogs let this dog eat a few crumbs from Teva and I shall be satisfied. This is a master stroke.

Luther says, Jesus loved to be ensnared by this woman. Luther also said, she's a New Testament Jacob who wrestled with God and prevailed. And now Jesus can't hold back. He's matured her faith. She's confessed her sin. She's ex, she's, she's shown knowledge. In verse 22, she's shown trust in verse 25, she's shown ascent in verse 27. Yes, Lord, I'm nothing but a dog. I agree with who I am, but I also agree with who thou art.

And thou has some mercy. Thou has crumbs surely for gentiles like me. And then Jesus, what does he do now? All he answers so beautifully, so wonderfully all woman mature is thy faith. Be it unto thee. Even as thou wilt. Don't you love that statement? Great. Mature is thy faith because I have just matured it.

Now, an Armenian would read this text and say, oh yeah, you see there's a proof of arminianism. Great is th faith. It's all because of her faith.

But no, no, God gives faith and then gives it away to his people and calls it theirs.

Doesn't mean that the credit for faith goes to her. No. Jesus is weaving this into her soul. In all three of these tests, it's sort of like this. When our kids were young and home, then my wife would come to me a week or two before my birthday and she'd say, uh, the kids, uh, want to get you a gift. And I knew what that meant. I took out my wallet. And uh, how much? How much do you, how much do you want? Well, $20, whatever. Maybe it was 30.

I give the money, kids would go out, she'd help them pick out a gift, and they come back to me on my birthday and they gimme a gift. So what do I say when I open the gift? Oh, this doesn't mean anything to me. It's my money anyway. What? Of course not. Thank you so much for your gift. And I don't add with my money. No, I gave it to them 'cause I love them and it's theirs and they gave me the gift. Woman mature is die faith.

The faith I've given me. I love to see that faith come back to me. God loves to see his own promises come back to him. God loves to read his own handwriting. When you plead his promises, when you wrestle at his throne, when you fill your mouth with holy arguments like this woman did, the dogs eat the crumbs of the master's table. Truth, Lord. You see, that's the way, that's the way to go to God. You use that holy argumentation.

I am blind Lord, but has so then I sat for the blind. I am poor Lord. But did thou not? Who is rich become poor? That poor sinners may be made rich in thee. I'm weak Lord, but our thou not the strong and mighty one to save. I'm unrighteous Lord, but our thou not the Lord. Our righteousness. I'm a dog Lord, but does thou not have crumbs for dogs?

You see, when you become a spiritual beggar like that,

the answer is near at hand. And God will not desert you. God will not reject you. God will not be silent forever to you. When my dad was nine years old, he lived with my grandparents, boys and girls. And they had a very small house, just two or three rooms. It was so tiny and behind they were very poor. But behind the house was a train track. And the train would often stop there and a beggar or two would get off the train

and it was quite common for them to have a beggar on the front door. So one day my dad answered the door and uh, a beggar was there and the beggar said, I need a sandwich. So my dad went to my grandma and said, there's a beggar on the door and he needs a sandwich. And my grandma said, well, you go back and tell the beggar just as poor as he is. So my dad did that, went to shut the door, but the beggar stuck his foot in the door.

And he looked down at my dad and he said, just one slice of bread. And so my dad went, went to my grandma and said, the beggar won't go away. He wants just one slice of bread. Oh, my grandma said he's a real beggar. Make him a whole sandwich. And you see, that's what God does with us sometimes. He waits to be gracious, to mature our faith and to get more glory for himself so that we cry out and we keep knocking at the beggars door.

We keep sticking our foot in the door and we say, Lord, I can't leave the alone. I need thee now come and visit me with I salvation or come and hear my cry, or whatever the case may be. And he comes and he visits us and he answers our requests. Oh woman, oh man. Oh, teenager, oh boy, oh girl, great. Mature is your faith. But our problem is that often we stop knocking and it's like we give up again. Remember pilgrim's progress when Christiana in the second

part was coming with her children and knocked and she was received and the children were received, but Mercy stood without and she kept knocking and knocking and knocking, but she wasn't invited in. And then bunion says she would've knocked until she fainted. And finally the good man of the house let her in. It's all a picture you see of how God deals differently with different people. Some don't knock as long in their received,

but what bunion is saying is you keep knocking. You keep your foot in that beggar's door

until you hear, oh man, a woman, be it unto you, even as you will. So it's like Jesus took the keys out, the storehouse of grace and took him out of his pocket and handed them to her and said, I'm speaking figuratively now go into my storehouse and take whatever you want. It's all yours. I trust you. And she goes in and she takes two full loaves of bread, one for herself, one for her daughter, and she goes home. Home and she finds her daughter already made whole.

And guess what? What do you think they talked about? I think the first thing they talked about was Jesus. I think the mother told her everything about Jesus, how he tested her, how wonderful he is, how he gave her, not crumbs. See, when you ask for crumbs, even if you got one crumb from Christ, it's like a full loaf of bread because it's from him. There's no small things, no small gifts from Christ because you treasure the giver more than the gift.

You know, think about it this way, when your kids are four or five, they bring you these, uh, quite honestly ugly drawings that make no sense. Uh uh. You can't even, you don't. You have to ask 'em what it is. I mean, it's so bad, but because it comes from your child, you say, that's wonderful. This is great. I'll take it to my study. I'll pin it up on the wall. I mean, this is fantastic and it's really ugly, but it's from your child.

It makes all the difference. See if God gives you something. Of course the parallel does breaks down there. It's never ugly. But when God gives you something, the fact that it's from God, even if it's a crumb, means more than anything else.

I've got some letters in my study that I've saved from very special people because it has their signature on it. Got some books like that too, 'cause of who it's from. And when you get gifts from God, this is of inestimable value.

A crumb becomes a basketful because it's from God, a woman, be it unto thee. Even as thou wilt, Jesus is affirming her faith. He's actually giving her assurance of faith. Mature is your faith. He's embracing her with his arms of amazing gospel love. This is the way God gives. We come for crumbs, but he gives us overwhelming basketfuls like Ruth experienced in the fields of Boaz. Jesus is our greater Boaz. He gives us to overflowing my cup Runeth over

the Psalm said, so there are no small gifts from God because it comes anything from God is a, is a big, is a big gift. And so this woman goes home.

She's an assured mature Christian. Jesus has walked her through three trials and brought her to himself with a fullness of beautiful faith, healed her daughter and made all things wonderfully well.

This is what Christians experience in this life, so that on the day of judgment, we can say to our savior, thank you Jesus for everything. Your plan for me has been perfect. You've made everything well, wonderfully well. You know when you cross the threshold through the celestial gates and you enter into glory and you'll see your life like a Persian rug thrown at your feet, every string in the right place, all the dark strings

of affliction as well, that symbolize affliction. You'll understand like you never understood before, that you needed every affliction you ever received to mature you in faith so that you could be presented to Christ holy as He is holy. In that great day, this savior matures our faith still today. Not just through the use of the spiritual disciplines as we've been seen all weekend, but also through maturing our faith by afflictions.

Embrace your afflictions. Bring them to Christ, bow under him, and don't let him go and say with the New Testament, Jacob, I will not let you go until thou bless me. Amen. Let's pray. Gracious God, we thank you that this unworthy woman receive so much from thee because the silence, the rejection, the insult was only apparent the real silence thou ditched endure. My God, my God. Why is thou forsaken me? And that was pushed away with both hands of thy father

and there was deafening silence. Thou were the one who was really rejected, spat upon cast, out by Jew and by Gentile that we might never be truly rejected. And thou was the one who was insulted as no man ever was called Baab. The prince of the devils come down from the cross, if thou be the Christ, oh Lord Jesus, we thank you so much that this silence and this rejection and this insult was only apparent because that was taken on the real silence

and the real rejection and the real insult so that we could be set free and embrace thee in the arms of faith. Oh Lord, help us to treasure that, to treasure Christ and help us to cry out. Lord, increase our faith and bless also those among us Lord, who do not even know the saving seed of faith within themselves, who are living for this poor perishing world, who are going through the emotions of Christianity but can really live without Christ.

Stop them. Turn them around, show them their need. Draw them to thyself. Help them to cry out. Lord, help me. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. Help them to repent and to believe in Christ alone for salvation and speak to their souls.

You can have whatever you want, all the riches in my storehouse for I receive every coming sinner. We ask all this in name. Amen.