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[0:00] Good morning, everyone. A warm welcome to the service this morning. It's good to see all of you. It's good to see some visitors from different places with us as well and you're especially welcome.

[0:11] ! There's tea and there's coffee at the end of the service. If you're able to stay behind, please do so. Especially the visitors, it's good to get a chance to meet over a cup of tea and coffee.

[0:22] The notices, I think, probably have been on the screen before the service began. I'll just highlight a couple of things. First of all, let's say that there is a Sunday school for primary school children.

[0:33] So if you're here as a visitor and you don't want to listen to the whole sermon, then nobody will blame you for that. And you can go through after the second praise to the Sunday school.

[0:44] So that's primary school children. There's also a creche on my right shoulder. I don't see or hear any babies at this point, but if there are any hiding and they want to go through there, they're more than welcome.

[0:56] Evening service is at six tonight. I'll be taking that myself, God willing. And then I'll be on holiday from tomorrow morning for three Sundays, three weeks. If anyone requires to speak to a minister at that time, the Reverend Donald MacDonald will be on call and he's willing to be available for anyone during that time.

[1:19] Probably speak to an elder first and they'll put you in touch with with Donald. This Wednesday prayer meeting will be taken by Cammie. The next one also will be taken by Cammie.

[1:34] So there's two Wednesday evenings. The services, I'll just give you the services over the next couple of weeks. Next Sunday, we have the Reverend Kenny I morning and evening.

[1:45] The Sunday after that, the 20th, Duncan. It's good to see Duncan and Morag back with us this morning. So Duncan will take the morning service. Richard will take the evening service.

[1:56] And then on the 27th, Donald MacDonald will take the morning service, which is English, and the evening service, which is the last one of the month, will be a Gaelic one.

[2:08] Congregational Fellowship on the 27th. Just a heads up for those who are organizing it. It's Anthony and Christian and Nurse Marian. So these are the things to note.

[2:19] One more thing, actually, is just to say that there's various jobs that we need to do outside of the church. A few things that are required to do. They're not all highly specialized tasks.

[2:33] There's tasks for skilled people. There's tasks for unskilled people like me. So there's tasks for younger folks and older folks as well. So a list has been drawn up just now.

[2:46] We're getting tools and materials organized for these particular jobs. What we find is Saturday mornings doesn't really work. People have changeovers and all kinds of things to do. So we'll have a running list.

[2:56] If you're able to help, speak to myself or Jan Angus or David Cameron and just let us know. And even half an hour painting, weeding, whatever, will be a huge help.

[3:09] Many hands make light work. I think these are all the notices. So let's begin this time of worship. We'll sing to God's praise. And we will sing from Psalm 95.

[3:22] Psalm 95, hopefully, will be on the screen in just a minute. And I'll read the first verse or two of the psalm. O come, let us sing to the Lord.

[3:34] Let us, everyone, a joyful noise make to the rock of our salvation. Let us before his presence come with praise and thankful voice.

[3:45] Let us sing psalms to him with grace and make a joyful noise. I hope we've got enough verses. For God, a great God and great King, above all gods, he is. Depths of the earth are in his hand.

[3:57] The strength of hills is his. Down to the end of verse 6 is what we are singing. I'm not sure if we have a... Oh, no, we... It's only my screen that has a problem.

[4:07] Sorry. So let's stand now and sing to God's praise. Amen. O come, let us sing to the Lord.

[4:27] O come, let us sing to the Lord.

[4:57] O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us sing to the Lord. With praise and thankful voice.

[5:08] Let us sing to the Lord. Let us sing to the Lord. Let us sing to the Lord. The air are in its hand, the strength of its hand.

[6:00] The air is in its hand, the strength of its hand.

[6:17] The dry and long so from its hand, its form had versed in.

[6:34] O come and let us worship Him, let us have done it all.

[6:51] And on our knees before the Lord, our Maker let us fall.

[7:14] Let us bow before God in prayer. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for the privilege that we have to come into your presence this morning and sing praise to your name.

[7:33] We thank you for that psalm where you reveal yourself to us as the God who is holy, the God who is exalted, the God who is worthy of all our praise.

[7:49] We thank you that as we meditate upon the words that we have sang, we are reminded of the fact that you are the sovereign God, the one who reigns over all.

[8:02] And we praise you for the comfort that that brings to us, the steadying peace that we are given. As we remember that this world, with all the apparent chaos that we see and read of as we follow the news, and our own lives with the ups and downs and the challenges and the things that come at us that we never saw coming or expected.

[8:31] We thank you that we thank you that we are not living in a world that is chaotic, but we are living in a world where you are still God over all.

[8:43] When we see much that troubles us, we know that there is much that grieves you because this world is a sinful, broken world that groans under the weight of sin.

[8:53] But we thank you that Jesus has promised that he will return to make all things new. And we thank you for Jesus, the rock of our salvation.

[9:06] We thank you that we thank you that we have a savior, not only a maker. We don't even, we don't just have that clear understanding of the fact that we speak just now to the God who made us and who sustains all things.

[9:25] But we thank you that we speak to the God who loves us. The God who sent his son into this world to save us from our sin.

[9:37] And we thank you for the promise that as we confess our sin, that you will forgive us. So even now we take the opportunity once more to say to you that we are sinners.

[9:50] We think about the things that we have done and said, left undone, remain silent over which have been sinful.

[10:01] The thoughts that no one else has seen, but you have seen. And we ask that you would cleanse us in the blood of Jesus. We thank you for that blood that was shed and for the cross that we return to week by week.

[10:17] We see the love of God. Here is love vast as the ocean. Love and kindness as the flood. When the prince of life our ransom shed for us his precious blood.

[10:30] We thank you for the cross. But we thank you that today Jesus is not on the cross. We thank you that he is risen. And every Lord's Day we are given the reminder of that.

[10:44] We worship a risen savior. So Lord God we thank you for who you are and all that you have done for us in Christ. We thank you that Jesus told us to pray.

[10:57] And said when you pray, say our Father. And we thank you that we come in Jesus name as your children. To a Father knowing that we will never be pushed away.

[11:11] But we will be received and helped. So we pray Lord for your help. We pray that you would meet us at the point of our need. All of us are sinners and need cleansing.

[11:24] But we all have different needs as we travel through this world. Some of us are anxious this morning. We pray for your peace. Some of us are confused and uncertain about the way to go and different decisions.

[11:38] And we pray for that wisdom from heaven. Some of us battle with addictions. We pray for strength and for release. Some are sick.

[11:52] Some who may be here. Others who may watch at a distance. We pray for your healing touch if that's your will. And if not grace. That is sufficient for every trial.

[12:03] Some are sad. And have hearts that are sore. As they grieve for loved ones lost. We thank you that when our loved ones are in Christ.

[12:17] And when we are in Christ. We have the promise that the loss and the pain and the separation is only temporary. We thank you that there is a heaven to be gained.

[12:30] Also a hell to be shunned. So make us wise we pray. And give us comfort as we grieve. We pray on for the world.

[12:42] Asking Lord that you would be at work in places where there is greatest trouble and unrest. We thank you that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And we pray for that peace in troubled places.

[12:55] And especially the Middle East at this time. We ask Lord that you would intervene. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And the surrounding areas.

[13:07] We pray for Christians who meet around the world. And who are at particular risk at this time. We thank you that we have peace and safety and security in this building.

[13:17] We are not expecting the doors to fly open. We are conscious that there are many who meet in hushed tones and secret rooms. Because they love Jesus.

[13:31] And we pray that you would bless them. As we pray that you would bless us. So hear our prayers. Lead us and guide us in worship. We acknowledge that apart from you we can do nothing.

[13:44] We know that we are in need of the help of the Holy Spirit. To be able to understand. To see. To hear. To believe. To praise.

[13:56] And so we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit. That the name of Jesus would be lifted up. That we would know the blessing of God the Father upon us. And that we would be in the spirit of worship on the Lord's day.

[14:11] And we ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Boys and girls would you like to come forward please? How are you guys doing today?

[14:36] So it's taking the long way around. Or maybe the wrong way around. So today boys and girls. We are going to be hearing a story in the Bible.

[14:48] With the older ones. You can ask them over lunch. The older ones to see if they were listening. But there's a story about a woman who had great faith. Jesus said to her.

[15:01] Oh woman great is your faith. Faith. We're going to be thinking about faith. But can I ask you a question? And see if you can answer.

[15:11] Because sometimes you give answers that help all of us to understand a bit clearer. What does it mean to have faith? Because we use that word a lot.

[15:24] We say we need to have faith in Jesus. But what does it mean to have faith? Fraser. To have a trust in him.

[15:37] That's a good answer. Yeah. Any more answers? Michael? To believe. Yeah. So to believe. To have trust.

[15:48] Do you have faith in Jesus? It's a question isn't it?

[15:59] We'll be thinking about today. Emily. Do you have faith in your dad? Yes. I'm glad you said that.

[16:11] Out you come Stuart. See it's one thing to say. I have faith. In my dad. Or I believe.

[16:22] I trust in him. But it's another thing to show it. So. Lily if you move a wee bit to the side. Just now. Emily if you stand.

[16:34] No. Emily yes please. If you stand up. Stuart. If you stand behind her. Is she high enough? Is she high enough? Well maybe should we put her in a chair? You stand behind her.

[16:46] Yeah. And what is going to happen now? Because Emily has faith in you. Absolute faith and trust in you. She knows nothing bad will happen just now. And she won't be made to look silly at all.

[16:59] So she's going to fall back on her heels. All the way back. And just before she hits the floor. You're going to catch her.

[17:10] Aren't you Stuart? I'm a fan. So Emily. Emily. Eyes on me. Eyes on me. So. So you've got faith in your dad.

[17:20] So. I want you to. I want you to fall. All the way back. And show us. Oh. I don't think that deserves a clap at all. Our knees went bent.

[17:33] You sort of started to fall back. And then you bent your knees. To try and save yourself. So. No, no. We want you on your heels. All the way back. You've got faith. Right?

[17:44] One, two, three. That's better. Yeah. That's better. Good job. Thank you. So to have faith in someone. Is to trust them.

[17:55] We can see it. But we also show it. In the way that we live. Benjamin. And Finley. Was it two weekends ago.

[18:07] That you weren't here. And you went off to Glasgow. Didn't you? And how did you get to Glasgow? In a plane. And when you went to Glasgow.

[18:18] You put faith in the plane. Didn't you? Because you weren't flying out. Were you? So you got into the plane. And you believed that that plane. Would take you. All the way across to Glasgow.

[18:29] And all the way back. So you put faith in the plane. Just like most of us this morning. Put faith in a car. That would take us to church. And you put faith in the pilot.

[18:40] The driver of the plane. And they showed. That they were trustworthy. What does Jesus want us to do.

[18:51] Boys and girls. More than anything. What does Jesus want us to do? What does God want us to do? A phrase in. To have faith in him.

[19:03] To believe. In him. And. The question. Boys and girls is. Is can we do that? Is he trustworthy?

[19:15] See. Emily. Had faith in her dad. She knows him. And. She thinks that he's trustworthy. Most of the time. Can we trust Jesus?

[19:30] Yeah. How do you know? What kind of things help us to trust in Jesus? Because you might be in school. And. One of your friends might say.

[19:40] I don't know why you trust in Jesus. I don't know why you believe all that stuff. And go to church. I don't believe any of that. So. What can you.

[19:50] When sometimes. Maybe in your mind. The devil is saying. Oh you can't trust in Jesus. He doesn't really love you. What can we think about? Or where can we go?

[20:02] To remember. That God loves us. Where's the place that we go? Think about the Bible. Think about all the things that Jesus did for us.

[20:12] Where's the best place that we can go? To remember how much God loves us. Freedom. Well heavens where we'll know for sure. And we'll experience that.

[20:24] But. If we're sometimes struggling. And we're thinking to ourselves. Where can I see in the Bible. A story that will show me. How much God loves me. And how much Jesus loves me. Where can we go?

[20:36] Callum. What do you think? What did Jesus do. To show how much he loved us. To save us from our sins. Where did he go?

[20:48] The cross. So boys and girls. If ever you're thinking. Can I trust in Jesus? Does he really love me?

[21:00] Go back to the cross. And see how much. He loves you. He loved you so much. That he gave his life. To take away all your sin. So.

[21:12] That's how much he loves us. And if we think about how. How trustworthy he is. And how powerful he is. What happened after Jesus died? Michael. Did he stay dead?

[21:25] He came back to life. Not even death could hold him. So strong was Jesus. He promised. He promised. That he shook death off. And he promised us.

[21:36] That he will. Take away our sin. And he will give us. Life that's everlasting. If we believe in him. So let's pray. And let's. Ask for help to believe.

[21:48] Lord God. We thank you. That you love us. We thank you. That you are powerful. That you are stronger. Than anyone. Or anything. Even death. We thank you.

[22:00] That. You have told us. That we are to believe. In Jesus. For God so loved the world. That he gave his only son. That whoever. Believes in him.

[22:11] Shall not perish. Shall not die. But have everlasting life. So. We pray that the boys and girls. And all of us. Would believe. In Jesus. That we would put. Our faith in him.

[22:23] And that we would know. His help. And his love. All the way through this world. And we would know. That we have a place. In heaven. And we ask all this.

[22:33] In Jesus name. Amen. We're going to sing now. About the cross. So. Mission praise. 755. When I. Survey the wondrous cross.

[22:44] On which the prince.

[23:11] Of glory died. My riches gave. I count but lost.

[23:23] And bore contempt. On all my pride. Forbid it Lord.

[23:34] That I should vote. Save in the dead. Of Christ my Lord.

[23:44] All the great things. That charm me most. I sacrifice. And to his blood.

[24:00] From his death. His hands his feet. Sorrow and love.

[24:10] No may well done. It has the trump. And sorrow beat.

[24:22] For thoughts compose. So rich and proud. And the whole realm.

[24:32] Of nature mine. That where an all. In heart is small.

[24:44] Love so unmade. Change so divine. Demands my soul. My life.

[24:56] My own. My own. Okay boys and girls. If you head to the Sunday school please. Pray for them as they go. Remember. Remember. If we could turn.

[25:22] In our Bibles please. To Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15.

[25:40] We'll read from verse 21. To the end of the chapter. And Jesus went away from there.

[25:58] And withdrew to the district. Of Tyre and Sidon. And behold. A Canaanite woman. From that region. Came out and was crying. Have mercy on me.

[26:09] O Lord. Son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed. By a demon. But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him.

[26:20] Saying send her away. For she's crying out after us. He answered I was sent only. To the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and knelt before him.

[26:32] Saying Lord help me. And he answered. It is not right to take the children's bread. And throw it to the dogs. The puppy dogs is the translation. She said yes Lord.

[26:44] Even the dogs eat the crumbs. That fall under their master's table. Then Jesus answered her. O woman. Great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire.

[26:57] And her daughter was healed instantly. Jesus went on from there. And walked beside the sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain. And sat down there. And great crowds came to him.

[27:09] Bringing with them the lame. The blind. The crippled. The mute. And many others. And they put them at his feet. And he healed them. So that the crowd wondered.

[27:20] When they saw the mute speaking. The crippled healthy. The lame walking. And the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples to him.

[27:33] And said I have compassion on the crowd. Because they have been with me now. Three days. And have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry. Lest they faint on the way.

[27:44] And the disciples said to him. Where are we to get enough bread. In such a desolate place. To feed so great the crowd. And Jesus said to them. How many loaves do you have?

[27:55] They said seven. And a few small fish. And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves and the fish. And having given thanks. He broke them.

[28:06] And gave them to the disciples. And the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate. And all. And they all ate. And were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full.

[28:18] Of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men. Beside women and children. And after sending away the crowds. He got into the boat.

[28:30] And went to the region. Of Magadan. Amen. And may God bless that reading. Of his word to us. We're going to sing. Again now. To God's praise. We're going to.

[28:40] Sing the next two stanzas. Of Psalm 95. Verses 7. And 8. I'll read them in English. We're going to sing them in Gaelic. And we remain seated. To sing. In Gaelic.

[28:52] For he's our God. The people we. Of his own pasture are. And of his hand. The sheep today. If he's voice will hear. Then harden not your hearts.

[29:02] As in the provocation. As in the desert. On the day. Of the temptation. These two verses. And we'll remain seated. To sing. To God's praise. Thank you.

[29:41] Thank you.

[30:11] Thank you.

[30:41] Thank you.

[31:11] Thank you.

[31:41] Thank you.

[32:11] Thank you.

[32:41] Thank you.

[33:11] Thank you. Thank you.

[34:11] Thank you. Thank you.

[35:11] Thank you. Thank you.

[35:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes.

[36:19] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Seeking help for her daughter who's sick.

[36:53] And seeking help for herself. And Jesus describes her in verse 28 as having great faith. So what I want to do this morning and this evening is look at this encounter that Jesus has with this woman.

[37:12] And I want to think about what great faith looks like. Seven points. Don't worry, only three will be the morning. But I'll give you the seven because I suspect some of you will not return in the evening.

[37:27] And the passage itself is a passage which is quite difficult. There is parts of this conversation between Jesus and this woman that feel very awkward.

[37:42] And I'm afraid you're going to have to come back this evening if you want to get a proper grasp of what's going on there. But I'll give you the seven points and then we'll work through hopefully the first three this morning.

[37:54] Point number one, great faith seeks Jesus. We see a woman who seeks Jesus. Above all things, she seeks Jesus. Point number two, great faith sees our need of Jesus.

[38:07] She's in desperate need, as is her daughter, which is why she seeks Jesus. The third point, the last point for this morning, is great faith sees who Jesus is.

[38:19] That he is God, the Son. That he is the Savior. Not just another man, philosopher. Not just a religious guru, one among many. He is the God-man.

[38:32] That's the morning. In the evening, we'll see, as the passage continues, great faith waits upon the Lord. She's asking for help.

[38:44] There's a silence. She doesn't walk away. She waits upon the Lord. Point four. Point five, great faith is not deterred by the failures of God's people.

[38:55] The disciples do their usual, and they are excellent at saying, send them away. These people are a nuisance to us. This woman is a nuisance to us. Send her away, Jesus.

[39:06] And yet she's not deterred by the failures of the disciples of the Lord's people. Point number six, great faith is humble and not easily offended.

[39:20] She could have taken very quick offense to what Jesus was saying, but she trusts him. She works, and she waits, and she listens to what Jesus is saying to her and how much he loves her.

[39:33] And then the last thing is great faith in Jesus. It leads to salvation. It's saving faith. So that's the map for the day. And we'll begin with point number one, great faith seeks Jesus.

[39:46] Verse 21. And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Now, if you were just to scan back through the previous verses in the chapter to get the context of this, what we can see is that the demands on Jesus' time and energy were constant, and they were relentless.

[40:16] From dawn to dusk, everyone wants Jesus. They want the attention of Jesus. They want the help of Jesus. If we look at Matthew chapter 14, we see Jesus is with the crowds all day.

[40:30] He's teaching them. He's healing their sick. There's queues of people coming to have a touch of, a healing touch from Jesus. And he heals them. And the crowds are hungry.

[40:44] And there's no local shop. There's no deli. There's no takeaway. And so Jesus, he feeds them, all 15,000 to 20,000 of them, which is a major operation.

[40:57] So he's preaching. He's healing. He's feeding the 5,000 men, 20,000 people probably. At the end of that day, Jesus is exhausted.

[41:08] So he sends the disciples away in a boat to cross over to Gennesaret. That's verse 22 of chapter 14. And Jesus wants some time out so he can be alone, verse 23, with his father to pray.

[41:22] But the disciples are out at sea. They're in trouble at sea. Three and a half miles out. The winds are against them. The waters are rough. And Jesus, he sees their trouble.

[41:33] He sees their peril. He comes down from the mountain. He walks out to the sea. He saves them. Verse 24 to 33. This is the middle of the night now. So all that in the space of what?

[41:49] 20 hours? Early hours of the next morning, Jesus and the disciples, they arrive at Gennesaret.

[42:01] And no sooner are they on dry land after the trauma of this storm, and the crowds are back on Jesus. And so we see in verse 34 to verse 36, Jesus is healing all these people who are coming to him again.

[42:22] And then as we go into Matthew chapter 15, in verses 1 to 20, which we looked at last week, we see this clash between Jesus and the religious priests, the Pharisees, the scribes.

[42:34] They are sent from Jerusalem HQ. They have their clipboards. They have their notebooks. They have questions to ask Jesus. Jesus answers their questions, and they don't like the answers.

[42:48] They are offended by him. So off they go back to HQ. They are building a case against Jesus. Now that's just about 24, 26, 27 hours.

[43:01] All that. And after all that, verse 21 of chapter 15 tells us that Jesus went away from there, no much wonder, and he withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

[43:21] Mark, in his account, his parallel account, tells us in Mark 7, 24, that Jesus entered a house, and he did not want anyone to know. He's going to be exhausted.

[43:39] Remember, Jesus is the God-man. He feels what we feel. He doesn't go through a storm unfazed. He needs sleep.

[43:49] He needs rest. And he's had none of it. So he enters a house, doesn't want anyone to know, it's almost like Jesus has put a do not disturb sign on the door of the house.

[44:05] So he can just get a little rest and quiet time. But his rest and his peace is short-lived because in verse 22, it says, and behold.

[44:18] So we have this picture of Jesus. He's in a room, closed door, getting a wee bit of rest, and behold. A Canaanite woman. So in the Greek, there's no exclamation marks, there's no bold, there's no underline.

[44:38] So the use of the word behold is like an exclamation mark. We could paraphrase verse 22 as something like this. Can you believe it?

[44:50] Just when Jesus is trying to get a little bit of rest and quiet, look, there's someone at the door. So let's think for a moment about this woman at the door.

[45:09] And she's in desperate need and it seems that she's come to Jesus for help at the worst possible time.

[45:19] Now, I think we've all been in that situation where we are in need and we knock on the door looking for help and immediately we open the door we get that sense it's not a good time.

[45:38] So it's awkward. They're stressed and they're not happy to see you. And so when that happens, when we knock on the door and we get that kind of atmosphere, we tend to retreat and we say, I'm sorry to have bothered you.

[45:57] Maybe I could come back later. And all the signs here would indicate that this is not a good time. We can just imagine, I know this is not in the text, but we can just imagine Peter standing at the door saying, what is it you're wanting?

[46:23] There's every reason here for this woman to say, I'm sorry to bother you. Maybe if it's convenient, I could come back later. But what we see about this woman is that she is seeking Jesus.

[46:42] And there's an earnestness, there's a fervency about her seeking of Jesus. And that's to be commended.

[46:54] This Canaanite woman, we don't even know her name, but she teaches us much about how we are to seek Jesus.

[47:10] And at these times in life when other people say, listen, it's not a good time. You know, life is so busy. We've got so much going on. Work is chaotic. The children are so demanding.

[47:21] I know you're seeking Jesus, but leave it till later. How often have I heard that kind of talk? This woman challenges that.

[47:34] And she shows us the importance of seeking Jesus now. even when it doesn't appear to be convenient, we seek him now.

[47:51] Even though it appears that there may be barriers and difficulties and reasons to delay and grounds for leaving it till a more convenient time, this woman teaches us that we are to seek the Lord Jesus while he is near.

[48:06] She knows that he's near. And so she seeks him now. She gives us a picture of Isaiah 55, verse 6, which says, seek the Lord while he may be found.

[48:22] Call upon him while he is near. So can I ask the question in that location, are we seeking Jesus?

[48:34] We see a woman here who is seeking Jesus. Are we seeking Jesus? Of course, we don't have to open a door to find Jesus.

[48:48] We have the Bible. We can open the Bible. We have prayer. We can come to Jesus in prayer. We have church. We have the prayer meeting.

[48:58] We have YF. We have the Sunday school. These are some of the means that we've been given, that have been made available to us to seek Jesus. Are we seeking him? And are we seeking him with the earnestness that this woman was seeking him with?

[49:20] Are we seeking Jesus first? Is his kingdom, not this world, our first desire?

[49:33] Or is Jesus down our list of priorities? Somewhere below are we seeking success in business or school or sport?

[49:54] Are we seeking Jesus as much as we are seeking our leisure time? will we be seeking Jesus tonight at half past six? Or will we be watching YouTube?

[50:08] Are we seeking Jesus as much as we are seeking family time? Will we be in God's word or will we be out on the beach having a picnic? Are we seeking Jesus more than we're seeking me time?

[50:27] Where we switch off and we scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll through pointless, meaningless, brain-frying reels. This woman teaches us to seek Jesus first above all other things.

[50:47] Great faith seeks Jesus. Point number one. Point number two, great faith sees our need of Jesus.

[51:02] That's still in verse 22. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

[51:17] So this woman clearly, she feels an acute sense of need for her and for her daughter. She is broken.

[51:32] She's crying. She's desperate. her daughter, we're told, is severely oppressed by a demon and we can assume that there's that physical, mental, spiritual suffering and distress that goes with this condition.

[51:53] And she's likely tried everything, but she's heard about this Jesus. She's heard that a touch from this Jesus can be a healing touch.

[52:04] a word from this Jesus can send demons flying. A word from Jesus she's heard can set the prisoner free.

[52:20] And so as she sees her daughter imprisoned, suffering, under this dark oppression, she comes to Jesus.

[52:36] Desperate, earnest and with a great sense of need. She's crying out for mercy. Ligon Duncan, the commentator, says, she's desperate.

[52:53] Her daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. There is no human aid she can seek. And so she seeks help in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[53:03] She knows that Jesus is her only hope, the only hope for her daughter being cured. J.C. Ryle says she had seen her darling child vexed with a devil and been unable to relieve her.

[53:20] But yet that trouble brought her to Christ and taught her to pray. see, when we have no sense of need, it's possible there are people who are in the building, but there's no sense of need.

[53:44] When we have no sense of need, we don't look for Jesus. We'll look for other things, but not Jesus. We have no sense of need, we have no faith in Jesus.

[54:00] But when we see and feel our need, as this woman did, we look in faith to Jesus as our only hope. I remember visiting a lady in hospital, probably 16, 16 years ago maybe, she had become ill, and I'd got a phone call to go and see her.

[54:29] She'd received a bad prognosis. She was dying. And she knew that she was dying, and she knew that she wasn't ready to die.

[54:45] She knew that she was moving fast towards a lost eternity. she could see hell approaching. So what did she need to do?

[55:01] Well, she needed to come to Jesus, like this Canaanite woman did. She needed to ask for mercy from Jesus, and I made that as clear to her as I possibly could.

[55:17] And her response to me was, I didn't come to Jesus when I was healthy. I can't come to him now when I am in such great need.

[55:32] But that's exactly when we are to come to Jesus, and the reality is, all of us are in great need. None of us are going to live here forever.

[55:49] We're all moving in the direction of eternity. We don't know at what pace we're moving. We don't know at what day we'll arrive. But we're all in this woman's position. We might not be severely oppressed by a demon, but all of us are oppressed by Satan.

[56:09] All of us, because of our sin, we are heartsick. and there's only one person who can free us from that oppression.

[56:24] There's only one that we can go to who can make us well, and that's Jesus. So if we see and if we feel our need today, what are we to do?

[56:44] You don't see your need, don't feel your need, you'll do nothing. But if God the Holy Spirit is working, and he's showing us our need, and we are seeing our sin, what are we to do?

[57:04] Well, we're to come to Jesus like this woman did. We're to cry out for mercy, like this woman did. We're to ask for the healing, saving touch of Jesus like this woman did.

[57:27] I mean, her situation was awful. Her suffering, and the suffering of her daughter was severe. Her need was great, but it was her trials that drove her to Jesus.

[57:48] J.C. Ryle says this, I'll give you, it's a slightly longer quote, but it's worth reading, I believe. He says, trials are intended to make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees.

[58:13] Health is a good thing, says Ryle, but sickness is far better if it leads us to God. Prosperity is a great mercy, but adversity is a greater one if it brings us to Christ.

[58:32] Anything, anything, says Ryle, is better than living in carelessness and dying in sin. Better a thousand times be afflicted like the Canaanite mother, and like her flee to Christ, than live at ease like the rich fool, and die at last without Christ and without hope.

[58:58] great faith sees our need of Jesus. Final point, great faith sees who Jesus is.

[59:16] And at this point in Matthew's gospel, people are struggling to see who Jesus is. if we rewind to the passage that we were thinking about last Sunday morning, at the beginning of chapter 15, we see the scribes and the Pharisees.

[59:35] Now, these were the men who were the most familiar men with the Old Testament. They were the academics, they were the theologians, they were the ministers, the elders of their day.

[59:46] But they were utterly blind to the identity of Jesus. And Jesus says, you're blind guides.

[59:57] If the people follow you, you're both going to end up falling into a pit. They can't see Jesus, they won't see Jesus.

[60:10] Charles Price says, there's a warning there for us as we think about the scribes and the Pharisees. He says, the more familiar we are with the things of God, the more casual we may become in relation to them.

[60:28] The business of the Jewish leaders was to study, expound, and live the written revelation of God in their scriptures, but familiarity had bred contempt.

[60:43] So, there's these experts with their divinity degrees, and their scrolls, and their clerical gowns, and they cannot see Jesus.

[60:57] They cannot see who he is. What about the disciples? Well, the disciples are beginning to see who Jesus is, but they don't see clearly. They're still confused.

[61:09] Peter actually doesn't make a profession of faith in Jesus as being the Christ, the Son of the living God, until chapter 16, and verse 16. So, his vision is still bloody.

[61:22] But this woman, she sees Jesus clearly, and we know that because of what she says. Verse 22, she says, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.

[61:35] Everything in that sentence tells us that she sees who Jesus is. Three times she calls Jesus Lord. Verse 22, in verse 25, again, she calls Jesus Lord.

[61:48] In verse 26, again, she calls Jesus Lord, and Lord was a divine title. She seems to recognize that Jesus is more than a man.

[62:00] He is the God-man. And even her posture indicates that she sees that because, in verse 25, she kneels before Jesus.

[62:11] She approaches Jesus the way one would approach God, on her knees. So, she calls him Lord, and she calls Jesus Son of David, which was a title that was reserved for the Messiah, for the Christ, for the promised Savior.

[62:40] And she asks for mercy, which means that she is recognizing that she is a sinner, for Jesus is the Savior.

[62:53] He is the one who is able to grant mercy. mercy. So, everything about the way that she approaches and speaks to Jesus shows us that she sees who Jesus is, and she has great faith in him.

[63:09] Charles Price says, what was the nature of this woman's faith? She recognized Jesus' identity, son of David, his position, Lord, her own undeserving nature, have mercy on me, and her dependency on him.

[63:38] Lord, help me. Recognizing, says Charles Price, who Jesus is, what he does, and her utter dependency on him are essential components of faith.

[63:57] So, the question for us, as I finish, is, do we have faith? do we see that Jesus is God the Son?

[64:14] Do we see that Jesus is the promised Savior, and the only Savior? Do we see that we are sinners? That we are in need of mercy, but that Jesus will give mercy, that he will give the gift of grace to all who come to him, like this woman did.

[64:46] More tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for this woman, who had great faith in Jesus, love, and we pray that we would learn lessons from her life, from her approach, that we would seek Jesus as she did, and with the intensity that she did.

[65:12] We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would show to us our need of Jesus. We are conscious that there are likely people, even in the room here, who don't feel that sense of need.

[65:28] We know that we cannot do anything to change that, but it's the work of God, the Holy Spirit, so we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would be at work, showing us our need, and showing us that Jesus is God the Son, he is the Savior, and he is the one who can meet us at the point of need, and help us, and heal us, and give us life, joy, peace, satisfaction.

[65:55] We taste in this world and know eternally. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll sing to conclude the hymn on the screen in just a moment, What gift of grace is Jesus, my Redeemer?

[66:25] With all grace is Jesus my Redeemer. There is no more for heaven now to give.

[66:41] He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom. My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.

[66:55] To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus. For my life is holy unto him.

[67:08] O how strange and divine I can say, All is mine yet not I, but in Christ in me.

[67:25] The night is dark, but I am not forsaken. For by my side the Savior will stay.

[67:39] I labor on in weakness and rejoicing. For in my need this power is displayed.

[67:54] To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley he will lead.

[68:08] O the night has been won, but I shall overcome. O how strange and divine I can say, O faith I dread, I know I am forgiven.

[68:31] The future sure, the price it has been paid. For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon.

[68:45] And he was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold, my sin has been defeated.

[69:00] Jesus, now, whatever is my being. O the chains are released, I can sing, I am free.

[69:14] Yet not I, but to Christ in me. O the heavenly breath, I long to follow Jesus.

[69:30] For he has said that he will bring me home. And day by day, I know he will renew me.

[69:43] Until I stand with joy before the throne. To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus.

[69:58] O the glory evermore to him. When the race is complete, Till my lips shall repeat.

[70:11] Yet not I, but to Christ in me. Yet not I, but to Christ in me.

[70:24] Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the comfort, the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, be with us all now and forevermore.

[70:37]  Amen.