How To Meet the Doctrine of Election
(No. 1797)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1884,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"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." Matthew 15:24,25.
You that know the loving heart of our Lord Jesus are quite sure that He
would never needlessly discourage a soul in coming to Him. Yet in this
case, "He answered her not a word." Is Jesus dumb when misery entreats
a word from Him? The Friend of Man is usually all attraction,
encouragement, drawing and welcoming–yet the eager woman cries in vain
to Him for her tormented daughter! We are not disquieted about this. We
know our Lord too well to suspect Him of a lack of love. He is not
sporting with a wounded bird. He is in no fit of bitterness. He would
not even seem to discourage any heart that beat within a human bosom
unless there had been some great necessity for it, some gracious end to
be served.
Nobody will have the impudence to accuse our Divine Lord of undue
harshness to a soul that sought His help. The world might suspect some
of His ministers of being hard and cold, like yon pulpits of marble
which have, in these chill times, been exalted among the people. They
might think some of us more touchy than tender, for are not some of us
great stone creatures almost without feeling and not easily to be
approached? People may suspect that we are scant in affection, or that
we lack earnestness–they may even hint that we are too great sticklers
for orthodoxy, or that we are so distrustful of our fellow men that we
naturally love to try them with things harsh and forbidding in order to
keep them a good mile off at the least! I know they think us sorry
fathers, more ready with the rod than with our cheering sympathies–
and for this they have far too much justification. I would it were not
so.
You may suppose hard things of us, who are His servants. The
supposition may be true. It may be slanderous–but you cannot suppose
anything of the kind concerning the Lord Jesus Christ–He is so
evidently loving, gracious and cordial that you could not have the
heart to suspect Him! If Jesus has ever received you, you have had, in
that fact, unquestionable proof of His tenderness and you are, and will
be, henceforth, confident in His compassion. You are sure that the
"bruised reed He will not break, and the smoking flax He will not
quench," for He neither broke nor quenched you. Yet He did discourage
this woman. Not only the disciples did so, but the Master did so, too.
Therefore, I say that there must have been a secret need for so
doing–there must have been a motive for her good which moved the
tender Lord to answer her with words so harshly–and with speech so
dispiriting.
I believe that we, dear Friends, the humble imitators of the Lord Jesus
Christ, are bound to encourage all in whom there is any hope. Whenever
we see a wandering soul turning its face homewards, we should be ready
to lend a hand to direct its tottering footsteps. Still, if we imitate
our Lord, we may be led to say sore things which, like the faithful
wounds of a friend, are as sharp as they are salutary. Love's lips do
not always drop honey! Flattery charms with her dulcet periods, but a
wise affection full often uses tones most harsh and cutting. There is a
tendency among certain goody-goody people to comfort too much and to
keep back important Truths of God for fear they should be
misunderstood. Glorious doctrines which made our fathers strong are
left in the shade for fear they should become stumbling blocks to
unsettled minds! We are coming to be rather overdone with the Gospel
prepared for infant'–they are putting the flour through so many sieves
that there will not be an ounce of bone-making material left in it!
If it were always wise to comfort and encourage, the Master would have
kept to that line of things. But, since He did not do so, I assume–and
I think that none will dare to contradict me–that men require
something else beside encouragement. Do we not read that "all Scripture
is given by Inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works"? There are
Truths which ought not to be kept back because they may not encourage,
for their use is to reprove and correct. There are Truths which, at
certain seasons, ought to be told, even though the temporary effect may
be to dampen the ardor or to dull the hope of the sinner who is coming
to Christ. Like our Master, we must always long after the salvation of
sinners and, like He, we must go about it wisely. We must exhibit great
fatherly tenderness toward sinners and be very gentle, even as a
shepherd is with the lambs–but that very love, that very tenderness
will lead the well-instructed teacher to utter many things which the
disciple had rather not hear!
Our shepherdry deals not only with the green pastures, but also with
the place of the sheep-washing and the shearing. We have not only to
console, but to correct–ours is the edification which deals frequently
with pulling down dilapidated bits of wall in order to the security of
the whole fabric–and, therefore, we occasionally seem to be destroyers
where we are really builders, together with God! Our Lord knew that
plain speech upon a certain Truth would weed out His disciples. Did He,
therefore, preserve a discreet silence? Not He! In due time He
delivered His soul and we read, "from that time many of His disciples
went back, and walked no more with Him."
We now come to consider why the Savior spoke to this woman in this way.
Why did He announce to her a fact which could not possibly assist or
strengthen her faith? We may learn the answer as we proceed. Our Lord
Jesus virtually discouraged the Syrophenician woman with the Doctrine
of Election. I grant you that there is a difference between the
election of the nation of Israel and the election of individuals–but
into that we are not going, tonight. The point is this–it was the
Doctrine of Election which the Savior threw in this poor woman's way.
He said to her, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." This was enough to dampen her spirit, surely, and yet the
Savior put it before her then and there.
Why? I think He did so, first, at that time, that it might come from
Him rather than from the disciples. If you feel it necessary that a
person should be somewhat sharply rebuked, you conclude to do it
yourself. You say to yourself, "If I send that message by the best
friend I have, he will blunder over it; he will make it more cutting
than I meant it to be and he will miss the point. He will inflict more
pain than I intended. Therefore I will communicate the unacceptable
statement myself." And have you not often felt it to be a matter of
real urgency to get before all others? Yes, you who have the care of
hearts and minds know that there are times when you need to do all the
speaking and would like to block every other telephone in the world!
You know the person and the effect which statements are likely to have
upon him and, therefore, you would gladly monopolize his ears for a
season.
The Savior knew that, by-and-by, this woman would hear that the mission
of the Christ was only to Israel–and she might hear it in such a way
as would much more depress her spirit than if He, personally, told it
to her Himself. So He Himself said to her, "I am not sent to Tyre and
Sidon. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
That is to say, Christ's mission as a Prophet, while He was here in the
flesh, was to Israel–and to Israel He usually restricted His labors
throughout His life. He told her that Himself, I think, lest she should
hear it at second hand. It will be wise for us, when we find poor souls
hopefully coming to Christ, to manifest thought and prudence–and
introduce them to the deeper Truths of our theology–because they will
hear of them one way or another. And they had better hear of them,
first, from loving, tender-hearted Christians, than from hard,
careless, loveless spirits whose delight is found in mere terms and
phrases.
You cannot keep these young people in a conservatory! Why should you
wish to do so? It is poor policy to try and conceal the Truth of God!
It has a little of a Jesuitical look about it. Why should this
particular Truth be concealed? Are we ashamed of it? If so, let us
revise our creed, but, in the name of common honesty let us hide
nothing which we believe! The more Light of God the better! The more
fully the Truth of God is made known, the more surely will good come of
it! For one, I bless God that I knew the Doctrines of Grace from my
youth–they have been the staff of my manhood–and I believe they will
be the glory of my old age! So far from being ashamed of the Election
of Grace, it commands the enthusiasm of my whole being!
Again, I think that He brought that Truth before her mind, just then,
because she might hear of it otherwise, when she was in a worse
condition for the receiving of it. Now, this woman was desperately set
on getting a blessing from Christ. Her whole heart was awake, her
spirit was on fire–her whole nature was eager for the blessing. If she
could stand repression at any time in her life, it was just then. "How
do you know?" you ask. I know it by a kind of instinct. The story
opens for me a window into the woman's soul. I am persuaded that the
Master would not have applied anything that looked like a discouraging
Truth of God to her unless He had perceived that she was quite able to
bear it and, perhaps, better able to bear it then than upon some future
day. I think there is great wisdom in communicating Truth to people at
a fit time. Did not the Lord, Himself, say, "I have yet many things to
say unto you, but you cannot bear them now"? Just at that time His
disciples were unfit to hear those many Truths and, therefore, the
oracle of love was silent for a while. At another time the Savior
abounded toward them, as He does toward us, in all wisdom and
prudence–and then He made known to them the mystery of His will after
a fuller measure.
The Lord does not teach us all Truth at once, but by degrees He admits
us into the chambers of His hidden treasure. You know how a surgeon,
when he has operated upon a blinded eye, says to his patient, "Your
sight is completely restored, but during the next few days I must ask
you to sit in a darkened room. I shall ask you to receive light slowly,
that you may retain it surely." Infinite is the wisdom of the Holy
Spirit in gradually enlightening souls! The Lord does not, all at once,
let the sinner know the full extent of his sin, nor does He give him a
full idea of the punishment due to it. Nor, I think, does He give him,
at the beginning, all the knowledge he will have of the complete pardon
of his sin and of the innumerable joys which come to pardoned sinners
through Jesus Christ their Savior. Little by little, as we must feed
newly-born children, not with meat, but with milk–little by little, as
you teach the younger scholars in the school. Precept must be upon
precept, line upon line–here a little and there a little. His mission
to the house of Israel was one of the Truths which the Savior saw this
poor Canaanite woman would have to learn and, therefore, He
communicated it to her when she had faith enough to press over all
discouragement and obtain the blessing upon which her heart was set.
These two things should prove instructive.
Now I go on to deal with souls who are somewhat in this woman's case. I
shall notice the discouraging word which has come to them of late,
which is somewhat similar to that which came to her. And then I shall
ask them to imitate the commendable act of this woman in connection
with her discouragement, for though she seemed to be repulsed, she,
nevertheless, came to Christ and worshipped Him. Before concluding, I
wish to mention a few helpful considerations to any who may be troubled
by that great doctrine which I mentioned just now. Come, Holy
Comforter, and fill our hearts with heavenly cheer from this glad hour!
I. First, then, THE DISCOURAGING WORD THAT CAME TO THIS WOMAN. It was,
as I have said, a certain form of the Doctrine of Election–the
unquestioned Truth that God designed to bless the seed of Israel by the
personal labors and testimonies of His Son Jesus–and that these
blessings were not, at that time, sent to the people of Tyre and Sidon.
The Doctrine of Election has been made into a great bugbear by its
unscrupulous opponents and its injudicious friends. I have read some
very wonderful sermons against this doctrine in which the first thing
that was evident was that the person speaking was totally ignorant of
his subject! A little knowledge would have made our author hesitate and
deliberate and, therefore, it was like Saul's armor to him–he had
rather proceed in his naked folly! The usual way of composing a sermon
against a Doctrine of Grace is this–first exaggerate and belie the
doctrine and then argue against it. If you state the sublime Truth as
it is found in the Bible, why, you cannot say much against it! But if
you collect a number of silly expressions from hot-headed partisans and
denounce these, your task will be easier. Dress up the doctrine like a
man and then burn it! What a wonderful deal has been done by men in
burning figures of their own stuffing!
Nobody ever believed the Doctrine of Election as I have heard it stated
by Arminian controversialists. I venture to say that nobody out of
Bedlam ever did believe that which has been imputed to us. Is it
remarkable that we are as eager to denounce the dogmas imputed to us as
ever our opponents can be? Why do they earnestly set themselves to
confute what no one defends? They might as well spare themselves the
trouble! Our friends abhor the doctrine as it is stated by
them-selves–and we are much of their mind–though the doctrine,
itself, as we would state it, is dear to us as life itself! They
suppose that we never preach the Gospel freely to sinners–which thing
we never fail to do with a freeness which none can excel! Can they tell
us how we can improve in Gospel preaching? We should rejoice to learn!
They say that if we preach the Gospel freely, we are inconsistent, to
which charge we are at no pains whatever to reply. So long as we
believe that we are consistent with Scripture, it never enters into our
heads to need to be consistent with ourselves! To hold all revealed
Truths of God is our desire–but to compress them all into a
symmetrical creed is beyond our expectation! We are such poor fallible
creatures, that if we were once to fabricate a system which would be
entirely logical, we would feel sure that we must have admitted
portions of theory and masses of mere guess-work into the singular
fabric. In theology we live by faith, not by logic. We believe and are
safe! But the moment we begin to speculate, we are like Peter sinking
in the waves. If we will keep simply to what the Word of God says, we
shall find in it Truths apparently in conflict, but always in
agreement! On every subject there is a Truth which is set over against
another Truth–the one is as true as the other! The one does not take
away from the other, nor raise a question upon the other– and the one
ought to be stated as well as the other–and the two set side by side.
The two relative Truths make up the great road of practical truth along
which our Lord travels to bless the sons of men.
Some like to run on one rail. I confess a partiality to the two and I
should not like to make an excursion, tomorrow, on a railway from which
one of the rails had been taken. It must be sorrowfully admitted that
the Doctrine of Election has discouraged many who were seeking the
Savior, but the truth is that it ought not to do so. Viewed aright, it
is a royal herald arrayed in silk and gold, freely announcing to the
unworthy that the King receives sinners, according to the good pleasure
of His will! How it has encouraged some of us! What marrow and fatness
it is to us, now that we have found the Lord! We feed upon it as upon a
Divine portion which sustains, satisfies and satiates the soul! When I
first came to Christ, I was perfectly satisfied to be as one of the
dogs under the table–but I would not be satisfied to be so now, since
the Lord has called me to a higher place! Now that I have become one of
His children, I am as Lazarus was, of whom we read, "but Lazarus was
one of them that sat at the table with Him." The blessed Doctrine of
Election is, to my soul, as wines on the lees well refined! It is a
better, deeper and more glorious fact of Divine Love than I ever hoped
to realize! "He asked for water and she gave him milk; she brought
forth butter in a lordly dish." We asked for pardon, but He gave us
justification! We asked for a little mercy, but the Lord gave us
boundless Grace, yes, Grace upon Grace, saying–"I have loved you with
an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you."
If a sinner really knew the doctrine of the choice of Grace, he would
not run away from it, but he would be inclined to run into its arms!
Yet to many it does seem to be as that black side of the cloud which
the Lord turned upon the Egyptians and, therefore, I am going to notice
the discouragement as Christ put it before this woman. He said to her,
first, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
"I am sent," He seemed to say, "to the Jews. I am sent to the house of
Israel, but I am not sent to you." That great Truth of God, she would
have been sure to find out sooner or later, and if she had found it out
later, she might have feared that the cure of her daughter would be
taken away from her because it had been received contrary to the
mission of the Messiah. Jesus lets her know this hard Truth at once, so
that it may not worry her afterwards. When she did obtain the cure of
her daughter, He would have her know that it was given openly and
above-board–and not by a blunder of pity, or an oversight of charity.
She was to be, once and for all, assured that the Lord Jesus had not
forgotten Himself–that He knew all about the limitation of His
commission during His mortal life and that in overstepping it, He knew
what He was doing, and had not been wafted beyond Himself by the
impetuosity of His spirit.
Now, there is such a thing as the choice of God. The Lord has a people
who are redeemed from among men. The Lord Jesus has a people of whom He
has said, "Yours they were, and You gave them to Me." Some are ordained
unto eternal life and, therefore, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does this fact discourage you? I do not see why it should. Why should
you not be among that number? "But suppose that I am not?" asks one.
Why do you not suppose that you are? You do not know anything about
it–therefore why suppose at all? To give up supposing would be a far
more sensible thing than to brew for yourself a deadly potion of
despair out of the worthless husks of mere supposition! I have enough
to do to bear up under facts, without overloading myself with
conjectures. What God has not revealed, we are not bound to know.
Indeed, it would seem better for us to be in ignorance where the Lord
grants no information. The Lord has chosen a people to be saved and I
am glad to think that He has done so, for none can prove that I am not
of the number!
If there are some whom God will save, then I know, also, who they are,
for He tells me that they are such as repent of sin, confess it,
forsake it and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life!
These same things would my soul desire to do–and when I do so, I know
that I am of the chosen number and shall be saved! What is there in
this to discourage a soul? Yet it does discourage some. When people are
in the dark, they are afraid of anything, everything! Nothing!! "There
were they in great fear, where no fear was." Once get a person into a
low and nervous state, and the fall of a leaf suggests an avalanche!
The least shadow of a cloud foretells the total extinction of the orb
of day and a drop of rain is the commencement of the final
conflagration! "Odd expression," you say. Yet it is not so singular and
outrageous as many of
the inferences drawn by a resolute despondency. Alas, for these
troubled ones–they feel that they cannot be saved because there is an
Israel whom God has chosen to be saved!
Our Lord put before this woman something worse than the positive fact
of the choice of Israel. He declared the negative side of the sacred
choice. He said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." It is very little that you and I, who are ministers of the
Gospel, have to do with preaching about what Christ is not sent to do.
Here I fear that unrenewed minds, armed with a pitiless logic, have
sinned grievously against the love of God. The Truth of God treated
Scripturally is a holy medicine, but treated after the manner of the
schools, it may sour into a deadly poison! Poor penitent Hearts, there
is nothing in the Divine decree to shut out one of you from hope! "The
Lord has not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; He has not
said unto the seed of Jacob, Seek you Me in vain." Nevertheless, the
Savior did distinctly turn the blackest side of the doctrine to the
woman, and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel."
What was worse, in her case, was that she knew that this election, as
far as Christ had stated it, must exclude her, for He told her that He
was not sent except to the house of Israel and she well knew that she
did not belong to that house. She was a Canaanite woman, a native of
Tyre and Sidon and, therefore, distinctly shut out–and Jesus Himself
had told her so. That must have made the sentence fall like a
death-knell on her ears! If the servants tell us such a thing as that,
we can forget it, but if the Master says, "I am not sent but unto the
lost sheep of the house of Israel," then the matter ends in blank
despair. The poor Canaanite woman might have very logically ended her
pleadings, saying, "What more can be done? I cannot go against the word
from Christ's own lips." Yet she did not so, but, like a true heroine,
she pressed her suit even to the joyful end.
You see her cause for discouragement was much worse than yours can ever
be, for you do not know that you are shut out–there is nothing in your
race or city which excludes you. Moreover, Christ has never told you
that you are shut out. I do not think that any minister has ever told
you so, but if you have ever gathered from any ministry under Heaven
that there is no hope for you, you have no right to come to such a
conclusion! In my soul's intent, I have never desired the
discouragement of a single soul among you all. Far rather would I die
that you might live! But if you have copied out bitter words and have
come to wretched conclusions, then I would urge you to be as sensible
and as brave as this woman was, who, when she had not gathered it from
ministers, but had received it from Christ, Himself, that He was not
sent to such as she was, yet nevertheless persevered, pressed forward
and came to Him and worshipped Him, saying, "Lord, help me."
Some may say to me this evening–"Why talk about this difficulty at
all?" I talk about it because it exists. It frets and worries many
minds. Many are troubled and the servants of God must deal with their
trouble. Gladly enough would I let these fears alone if they would let
my people alone! The stern fact of predestination meets most men
somewhere or other–even in the paths of philosophy it is not escaped!
And when it comes darkly over truly gracious souls, much of its power
for mischief will lie in the ignorance of the person assailed. If we
were better instructed, we would probably find no mystery where all is
now mystery! Men forget that the ordination of God deals with
everything–not only with the spiritual, but quite as certainly with
the natural world. Yet they never allow it to interfere with their
labor for bread, their struggle for wealth, or their race for fame!
Why should they dissociate the matter of salvation from the 10,000
affairs which are encompassed in the same ring? Why will men act, in
other matters, according to common sense, but upon this matter make
molehills into mountains? They fancy that the will of God settles one
or two matters and leaves all the rest loose! They dream that it takes
away free agency and responsibility–and makes men into machines. They
cannot understand that Divine plan which interferes with no will of man
and yet secures the will of God–nor can they see how everything
proceeds by the free agency of the creatures as much as if there were
no God–and yet God rules over all. I wish that this subject did not
vex men, but it is idle to wish. It has vexed them from the beginning
and will vex them even to the end. As we cannot alter facts, we must
deal with them.
Dear troubled Souls, Jesus would have you come to Him without fear! He
invites you to trust in Him, yes, more–He commands you to believe on
His name! Nothing He has thought, or ordained, or purposed, or
predestinated has any tendency to drive you from Him. Whatever
predestination may, or may not, be, this one thing is sure–"Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Everything beckons towards
His Cross and Himself. Come, and let nothing hinder you even for a
single hour!
II. Now, observe THE COMMENDABLE ACT OF THIS WOMAN. In considering what
she did, we shall come to
the practical part of the subject. And I notice that she did not
attempt, for a single moment, to deny what Jesus had said. He said, "I
am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and she
did not reply, "Lord, that is not true." She did not question anything
which Jesus asserted–that would have been gross presumption on her
part. She did not quibble, or object, or raise opposition. She accepted
what Jesus said without any argument whatever. She did not attempt to
say that it was unjust that the Christ of God should come only to the
house of Israel. She did not assert, as some have shamelessly done,
that God should deal with one as with another, or else He would be a
respecter of persons. All that kind of thing, which we have heard so
often, was far from her mind!
She was silent and submissive as to the Savior's speech. She did not
even argue that surely, in her solitary instance, she might be
permitted to break through the regulation. She did not argue at all.
She left the Truth of God, which to her was dark, in the keeping of Him
whose name is light. She sees the black cloud, but she passes through
it, feeling that it cannot be anything more than a cloud–and so she
comes to the Savior's feet and cries, "Lord, help me. I do not
understand this. I am all in a fog and all in a muddle. Lord, help me!
Lord, I do not ask to understand, but I do cry for help. Enable me to
believe and to receive the blessing, let the dark Truth say what it
may."
Many persons are so weak in judgment that if they have to do battle
with a difficulty before they can be saved, they will perish in the
attempt. Oh, poor Heart, do not battle with a difficulty at all! Leave
it alone! If it is a great Truth for men and you are nothing but a
babe, and hardly that, do not choke yourself with man's meat. If a
great mystery meddles with you, then fly to Jesus Christ for relief
from it–with this prayer in your mouth–"Lord, help me. I am in a
difficulty. Help my understanding. I am despondent–help my heart. But
especially, I am full of iniquity–help my poor and sorrowful case and
do for me what I cannot do for myself. Save my soul and deliver me."
Now, then, we have seen what she did not do, and in this she is
admirable. Now let us see what the woman actually did. She came to
Jesus. Read the words, "Then came she and worshipped Him." First, she
came to Jesus and did not go round about. She came not to Peter, or
James, or John–she came to Jesus. She did not stand still and cry, as
she had done before, from a distance, but crying unto Him, she came to
Jesus, drew near to Him, grasped Him. I do not doubt she fell at His
feet as though she would have held Him. She came to Jesus. Now, from
everything beneath the heavens, poor Soul, fly to the living, personal
Christ! There is such a One now living as Jesus Christ, the Savior of
sinners, whose delight it is to deal with the sicknesses, infirmities
and diseases of men. Do not, I pray you, stop in doctrines, or in
precepts, or in ministers, or in services–but come straight away to
Christ–the living, personal Savior, anointed of the Lord. Your hope
lies in Him!
"Which way shall I go?" you ask. If it were a matter of physical
coming, I know that if the road were long and dreary, you would start
upon it, tonight, without delay. But it is a mental coming. You are to
come to Jesus, not with feet and legs, but with mind and heart!
Remember that there is such a Person. Consider Him. Think of Him.
Believe Him. Reverence Him, for He is the Son of the Highest. Trust
Him, for He is "mighty to save." This is coming to Him. Since He is a
Savior, let Him fulfill His office upon you. You greatly need
saving–give Him the opportunity of showing what He is able to do. Say
within your soul, "I am the chief of sinners–lost, ruined, and undone.
Behold, I come to Him! If I perish, I will perish trusting in Him." It
cannot be that a soul can die relying upon Jesus–sooner shall Heaven
and earth pass away than Jesus fail to save the soul that trusts in
Him!
The woman came to Jesus immediately after He uttered His words of
discouragement. We read in the text, "Then came she." "Then came she
and worshipped Him." What, then–when He seemed to drive her
away–then? Why, He had just told her that He was not sent to her.
"Then came she." He had just uttered a most mysterious and discouraging
Truth of God, but, "Then came she." That kind of faith which comes to
Christ only on a summer's day among the lilies of the field is not of
much use! Flowers and butterflies and all things which come of the calm
and the bright are soon gone–we need a hope which can survive the
frost! That is the sort of faith which comes to Jesus in the middle of
winter, when the cold devours and the fierce blast prowls among the
snowdrifts. That is the faith which saves the soul–the faith which
ventures to the Savior in spite of all weathers.
Saving faith learns to credit contradictions, to laugh at
impossibilities and to say, "It cannot be, but yet it will be." Our
poor friend who was buffeted by our Lord's words was secretly upheld by
the sight of His Person. What can a word be compared with a
person–compared with such a Person as that of Jesus, the Sinner's
Friend? She believes Him rather
than His way of speaking! He says that He is not sent, but there He is!
He says that He is not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel–and yet there He is! He has come here where there are none of
the house of Israel! She seems to say to herself, "Whether He was sent
or not, here He is. He has come among Tyrians and Sidonians–and I have
come to Him! Therefore He is not kept from me by His commission. I do
not understand His language, but I do understand the look of His face.
I do understand His manner. I do understand the winsomeness of His
blessed Person. I can see that compassion dwells in the Son of David. I
am sure that He has all power given to Him to heal my daughter–and
here He is. I do not know about His commission, but I do know Him and I
shall still plead with Him." So she came to Jesus, then and there, and
why shouldn't you?
Now, Soul, is this the darkest night that ever was for you? Come to
Jesus now! Are you quite sure that your case is hopeless? Quite certain
that your doom is sealed? Have you written out your own death warrant?
Have you made a covenant with death and a league with Hell? Do you feel
sure that you will be damned before the morning light breaks on you?
Then come to Jesus Christ now! "Then came she." That is the thing–to
come to Christ when He has a drawn sword in His hand, as Bunyan puts
it–to come to Christ when He frowns–to come to Christ when everything
says, "keep back." "Then came she." Brave woman! By His Grace I will
even do the same.
But now notice how she came. "Then came she and worshipped Him." My
heart greatly rejoices! I wish I could picture the scene. She did not
stop to work out the difficult question with which He posed to her–she
looked at Him and she came to Him and when she got near to Him, she did
the best thing she could–she worshipped Him! Down she went on her face
before Him! And when she looked up, it was with a look of reverent awe
and childlike confidence! Blessed be His name–if we cannot understand
Him, we can worship Him!
Now, you have been thinking about yourself, and the more you do this,
the more you will despond and despair. No possible comfort can come to
you by that road. If I were you, I would give up that task and begin to
think about Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of men. "Oh, but I am
such a sinner!" Yes, and He is such a Savior! "Sir, I am so black with
evil!" But He is able to make us whiter than snow! "Alas, I greatly
deserve His curse!" Yes, but He was "made a curse for us: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree." By death the Lord
has put that curse away. Behold Him, then, upon the Cross removing
human sin, and see if you cannot copy the woman's example–"Then came
she and worshipped Him." Now, try, poor timorous spirit–try and
worship! This is a homage which a humble heart can render in acceptable
style.
A self-conceited heart will do anything sooner than worship. Pride,
self and rebellion cannot worship–but humble hearts are happy in the
deed! Oh, that you would now bow with me before the Lamb of God!
Worship Him now! "Blessed Son of God! Blessed Son of God! That ever You
should become Man for men and die in the sinner's place! Oh, Your love!
Your wondrous love! And You have gone up into Glory now. You sit at the
right hand of God and there I worship You as my Lord and my God! If I
may not call You my Savior, yet You shall be my God! If I may not
rejoice in You, at least I will worship You." This is holy talk! It has
a perfume about it which the Lord loves! That way faith will come to
you. That way life and peace and rest will come to you. This trembling
Canaanite "came to Him and worshipped Him"– follow her and share her
blessedness!
Then, notice her prayer. One has well observed that if you were on a
rotten piece of ice and you could not get to the shore, or feared that
you could not, one of the very best ways would be to go down on all
fours and try to crawl along as gingerly as you could–and try to get
off the ice and somehow onto the shore. This woman so proceeds. She
seems to fall flat upon that awful Truth of God which she cannot
understand! She adores and worships and reverences Him that spoke
it–and thus she spreads out her weakness upon every possible resting
place–and comes safely to shore. "Lord," she says, "help me. Oh, do
not put me back, but help me! Lord, do not leave me, but help me!
Whatever You have to say to me, say it, and I will worship You while
You say it–
" Though You slay me, I will trust, Praise You even from the dust,"
but, Lord, help me!"
My dear Hearer, do that, and do it now! No doctrine will trouble you
long–I am sure it will not. On the contrary, you will enquire why you
ever let it trouble you. Do you ever let predestination trouble you in
the matter of your daily business? Tomorrow you hope to make a few
shillings at your daily calling, but it may be that you will not–you
may
lose some. Why do you not say to yourself, "It may be that the
Providence of God has arranged that I shall not earn anything
to-morrow; therefore I shall stay at home and do nothing"? Why, you are
not such a fool! You will take down your shop shutters, display your
goods and do your best–or you will go out to your calling and look for
your usual wage. Let the Providence of God do what it may, your
business is to do what you can! So is it with a poor seeking soul–that
soul's business is to let the Lord do what He wills, but meanwhile to
cry, "Lord, help me!" Wholly submissive, but heartily adoring, lie at
Jesus' feet and believe that this Divine Savior must and will save
every soul that hangs upon Him. This is the way of wisdom; follow it!
God help you to do so, and to do so at once.
I do not think that I need to say anything more by way of comforting
you, for that may well suffice, if the Lord shall incline your heart to
seek His face at once. Remember this, however, that there never was a
soul, yet, that came to Christ and Christ cast it away! Remember,
again, that there never can be such a soul, for He has said, "Him that
comes to Me, I will by no means cast out." Remember, again, that every
soul that ever came to Christ came because the Father drew him–and
that every soul that came, found out, afterwards, that there was an
election of Grace that encompassed him– and that He was in it! Even
this poor woman turned out to be one that Christ was sent to bless!
Although, as a general matter of fact, in His lifetime He came to the
seed of Israel, just as the Prophets came to Israel, yet there always
appeared an exception about the Prophets and, therefore, it was no
marvel that there should be exceptions in the case of their Lord.
Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, but unto none of them
was the Prophet sent, save to a woman of Sarepta, who belonged to the
very city out of which this woman came! Many lepers were in Israel in
the days of Elisha, yet none of them was healed save Naaman the Syrian.
Naaman did not belong to the favored race at all, but was a far-off
stranger–and yet he received the blessing of healing from the Lord God
of Israel! The election of God as to these temporal things seemed to
exclude all but the seed of Israel–but it was only in seeming–there
were always some strangers in the chosen line. And so that particular
form of election which consisted in our Lord's personal ministry being
only to the Jews did not cause the exclusion of this poor believing
woman. To her, Jesus Christ had manifestly come in the chosen line, for
there He was! He was outside His own boundary! He had come to her!
Now, at this moment, whatever you may think about this doctrine or
that, Jesus Christ has come to you. I have preached to you His Truth
and you have heard it! Yes, and you have felt something of its power.
Yield to it, I beseech you. If you yield to it and come to Him and
trust Him, then rejoice that the lines of electing love have
encompassed you! You are His! You could not and would not have come to
Him in prayer and simple faith if it had not been so! Your coming to
Him proves that His eternal love of old went after you! Go home, O
woman of a sorrowful spirit, and be no more sad! The Lord bless you
all, for Christ's sake. Amen.