Rev. Angus MacKay, M.A.
(Mr Mackay was minister of Tarbert Free Presbyterian Congregation from 1953 to 1986 and is now retired. This sermon is republished, with some editing, from a past issue of The Free Presbyterian Magazine).
Text: And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil, (Matthew 15:22).
IN this chapter we find Christ re proving the Scribes and Pharisees for transgressing God’s commandment by their own traditions. Then He tells the multitude, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth; this defileth a man… For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…” (verses 11 and 19).
In these words we have the Lord declaring plainly the total depravity of the
heart of man. This is a doctrine which the large majority in our day does not wish to believe, but the sin of our land is proving the truth of it. We should be thankful to the Lord for exercising His restraining grace. Also, we should be asking the Lord for saving grace. We should have this prayer continually: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
We read further, “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,” (verses 21 and 22). She was a woman in great trouble. From the words of our text we would notice: first, the trial of this woman’s faith; secondly, the woman’s perseverance in faith; and thirdly, the Lord answering her and comforting her.
In the first place, we notice the trial of this woman’s faith.
We see that the woman did have saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She believes and acknowledges His divinity when she says, “O Lord.” She believes that He is the Eternal God. She also believes in His true, holy humanity, when she says, “Thou son of David.” With regard to His humanity, she believes that He came through the lineage of David. She sees what only saving faith can see: the glory of the Person of Christ, and that He is both “God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever.” When, in her trouble, she prays, “Have mercy on me, O Lord,” she wholeheartedly believes that she is praying to “God manifest in the flesh.”
We will not enter into the nature of her trouble, but just mention that she had severe trouble. The word of God tells us that her daughter was grievously vexed with a devil. She felt the trouble of her daughter to be so very close to herself that it was even as her own trouble. Therefore she prayed, “Have mercy on me.” When the people of God have deep affliction, the Lord means them to feel it. The Lord does not mean them to be stoical and unfeeling in trouble. And He means them also to see His own hand in their trouble.
When the woman prayed earnestly to the Lord, we read that “He answered her not a word”. So now, along with her special trouble, she felt something else which was very trying – the Lord’s silence towards her as she prayed. The Lord’s people know something of this: they know what it is to pray earnestly in time of trouble, and to feel the Lord’s silence in His not answering them a word.
Dear soul, do you know anything of this anguish of heart yourself? The people of God know it, and this is the Lord’s way of teaching them certain lessons. In our troubles we should always remember, in all humility, that “with us he dealt not as we sinned, nor did requite our ill”, (Psl 103:10). If the Lord were to mark our iniquities we could not stand.
Now, we see that the Lord tried her faith in another way. Instead of answering her according to her desire, the Lord, in His sovereignty, sent more trouble to her. We read that it happened thus: “And His disciples came and besought Him saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.” These words from the disciples must have given sore pangs to her troubled heart. They accused her of causing much trouble, and it seems they were doubting her grace and sincerity. This teaches us that we ought to be very tender towards a child of God in trouble. It is most grievous to a gracious soul in affliction to see aloofness in the people of God, and to feel coldness from them.
We see also that this woman of Canaan desired that the Lord would answer her at once – in her time. She learned by the trial of her faith that she must wait for the Lord’s time.
So we see that where saving faith is present, it will be tried. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,” (1Peter 1:70).
Now, the Lord spoke and said to her, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The Lord was again trying her faith, and she felt it, as indeed the Lord meant her to feel it. There is no trial of faith without a heart-feeling of it. She knew that she was not of the commonwealth of Israel. She was a Greek, a Syrophoenician woman, and therefore what comfort could she receive from these searching words from the Lord? They went home to her heart and tried her faith, and she felt it.
At the same time the Lord was preparing her heart for comfort. When the Lord has a special blessing in store for a child of God, He prepares the heart to receive the blessing with humility and thankfulness. As we are in ourselves, we know not how to receive the mercies and blessings of God with humility and thankfulness. But the child of God will be taught to do so, as we read, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.”
This woman, however much her faith was tried, would not go away. The more she was tried, the more she cleaved to the Lord. What do we ourselves know of such an experience? When we are in trouble, it is cause of great anguish of heart to be conscious of the Lord’s silence, and then to be searched by the word of the Lord. We need to cleave to the Lord. We need experimental, heart religion in order to be saved in view of death and eternity, and that is what this woman of Canaan had.
We read next that she came and “worshipped Him, saying, Lord help me.” She knew that only the Lord could help her. Dear child of God, in your extremity, and by the teaching and loving-kindness of the Lord, you are
brought to this: to cry, “Lord, help me.”
The Lord went even further in trying the woman’s faith when He said, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.” The trial was prolonged. The trial of our faith is often prolonged, and this shows that we are meant to learn patience under it.
The woman knew that the term “dogs” was used by Jews in referring to Gentiles. She knew that she was a Gentile and she undoubtedly felt being numbered among the dogs. The Lord was preparing her for the blessing. He was teaching her that she was utterly unworthy of it. When the people of God are prepared for a special blessing, they will learn painfully their own unworthiness. They are not worthy of the least of His mercies. Learning often is not easy, whatever trade or profession we are in. Spiritual learning is not easy, though profitable. It is often by painful experience that we learn. And this is one thing we must learn: to loath ourselves because of our sins and the sinfulness of our hearts. How precious this truth is: that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Now, the woman, although her faith was so tried, did not give up. Let us observe then, in the second place, her perseverance in the trial of her faith.
We see that when she was convinced of her unworthiness, she wholeheartedly acknowledged it and answered, “Truth Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” I think the implication is that she was saying, as it were, “It is all true that I am unworthy, but if thou wilt give the blessing to me; if thou wilt help me, a poor, unworthy sinner, this will not deprive thy people of any good. I, with them, will be blest.” Because she had that faith by which she saw the glory of the Lord, she saw her own unworthiness. Only those, who by faith see the glory of the person of Christ, as the Lord and Saviour, see their own sinful hearts. The person who has that “faith which worketh by love” and “purifieth the heart” is the person who sees the wretchedness and vileness of his own heart. The child of God is taught that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” – sinners! wretched rebels!
We notice also her gospel spirit and attitude towards the disciples. When she was despised by them, she still believed that they were the true followers of Christ – that Christ loved them and that they loved Christ. She still loved them and respected them as the servants of the Lord. It is only grace, and much grace, that will enable one to be exercised in such a gospel manner in similar circumstances.
When the Lord tried her faith by telling her, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” instead of hopelessly turning her back on the Saviour, she came and worshipped Him, praying, “Lord, help me.” This is the
nature of faith – seeking the glory of God in worship and prayer. We cannot worship in spirit and in truth without spiritual, heart prayer. We cannot pray in a true sense, without adoring the Lord. This was the exercise of this Syrophenician woman, in the trial of her faith. The formalist knows nothing of the heart pain or comfort connected with the trial of faith. He has no saving faith, and, therefore, no trial of faith. It is a great comfort to the child of God, when the afflicting hand of the Lord is upon him, to know that it is written: “Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth,” (Heb 12:6). There is no exception here. All of them are chastised and scourged. This woman learned much that was to the glory of God and for her own good, in her trial.
Sin has brought groans, sighs and tears into this world. The people of God know this experimentally in their trials and afflictions, but “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” They shall have their troubles in the wilderness but the promise is: “So to the haven He them brings, which they desired to see.” When the Lord gives them moments of His sweet presence, He gives them a foretaste of the sweetness they will have in eternity.
Let us notice, thirdly, the Lord answering the woman and comforting her.
Jesus addressed her, in the presence of His disciples: “O, woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” She received the special blessing which she requested, and for which the Lord prepared her heart. Along with the blessing, she received the joy of full assurance of faith, and rejoiced in the comforting presence of the Lord. Child of God, you know something of this yourself, and how sweet this has been to your soul. The Lord gave you (as he gave the Syrophenician woman) the blessing most suitable for you in your time of need. He gave you a measure of assurance, which caused you to humble yourself before Him. You had some consciousness of the love of God shed abroad in your heart. You tasted the sweetness of this promise (although maybe not in these exact words, yet in the essence of them), “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.”
We mentioned that the Lord gave her this comfort in the presence of the disciples. Now they realised that she was a believer in Christ; that she loved the Lord and that she was a humble petitioner in His presence. She and they were in the spirit of the gospel towards one another. This is what all the people of God need. “Let each esteem other better than themselves.”
The woman was now in a haven of rest. By way of illustration, I might tell you of one morning’s sea crossing from Lochmaddy to Tarbert. It was very stormy, and the waves were mountainous. Although I was used to the sea, I
was afraid at times that the “Lochmor” would capsize. I was alone in the lounge. The captain came in and kindly spoke to me, comforting me by saying, “She will soon run out of this; we will soon be in the shelter of the land.” Oh, child of God, you may be in the storm at present, but the Captain of our Salvation, even Jesus, in eternal love, by His Spirit and word, whispers in your ear and comforts you, saying that you will be out of the storm soon, and in the shelter of Emmanuel’s Land. Moreover, you will soon be with Himself in glory. At times, here, the people of God can sing,
The storm is changed into a calm
at His command and will;
So that the waves, which raged before,
now quiet are and still, (Metrical Psalm 107:29).
By faith they look forward to the rest that remaineth to the people of God – as we were reading in our magazine recently:
O happy harbour of the saints, O sweet and pleasant soil,
In thee no sorrow may be found, no grief, no care, no toil.
The Syrophoenician woman, her trial of faith over, is now in glory with the Lord, rejoicing in a way that we cannot yet understand, except in the measure that we experimentally know the presence of the Lord here. Along with her, you, child of God, will know to all eternity, the glorious meaning of the truth that says: “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.”