SERMON TITLE
LOST IN THE HOUSE
Matthew 15:21-28 21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 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. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying; Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
INTRODUCTION:
The Canaanite woman is an example of those who are lost in the house; Jesus called her “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. There are many among us who are lost sheep, yet we know it not. We have a job to do in the house as well as outside of the house. We are to care for those who are perishing in the darkness of the world. We are to insist in intercessory prayers for the sinful. We need to feel loves for our own as well for those who are not related to us. We need to demonstrate love and compassion toward them.
Matthew 15:21-28 21 aJesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of bTyre and bSidon.
I. 22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, aSon of David; my daughter is cruelly bdemon-possessed."
A. This woman cry out in anguish, this was not light pain to her she was not indifferent to the pain of her daughter. She felt within herself, her daughter pain, this is a sign that the
Spirit of Christ was already moving within her heart.
1. Have you ever cry out to the Lord in anguish for one of your love one? Have you ever experience someone else’s pain within your own self?
2. This woman cry out in pain to the Lord saying “Have mercy on me, Lord” she recognized that this man in front of her was not a common man.
3. She heard the testimonies of other that he cure all kind of deceases, she probably seen those upon whom Jesus cast out the demon out of them, living a healthy life, with a heart full of joy following the lamb of God that take away the sins of the world.
B. She believes the promise that the messiah was to come out of the branch of David, or from the offspring of David. She saw in Jesus the coming Messiah, upon whom many have long waited for. She heard of Jesus as the one who cure all kinds of deceases. Even the devils tremble and let go its prey at his command. Other has received healing from Him recognizing him as the Son of David.
KJV Matthew 20:30 And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. 31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.
This men were persistent, crying out after the Lord, their prayers is nothing like our two minutes prayer, they didn’t care about the multitude they saw nothing but merciful Jesus in front of them.
1. She said the key word, which many who belong to the Israel of God, dare not said. She recognized in this dusty carpenter, the one upon whom all promises are fulfilled.
She looks through the eyes that the Jews dare not look, for she look through the eyes of faith. “And those who are of faith the same are the sons of Abraham and therefore the sons of God.”
2. Have we not spiritual discernment? Are we not to look beyond the outward look? Can we see and accept the little humble brothers among us?
3. The Jews recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and call him the “Son of David” only when he was proclaimed a King as he enters the City of Jerusalem.
But most of the Jews didn’t believe and this brought confusions among them as to whom Jesus was...Let us read...
NAU John 7:41 others were saying, "This is 1the Christ." Still others were saying, "Surely 1the Christ is not going to come from Galilee is He? 42 "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"
C. My daughter is cruelly bdemon-possessed." All demons are bad but this one was a cruel demon. This one tries to put an end to her daughter by torturing and bringing an exaggerated pain to this poor girl.
Dictionary meaning for the Word Cruel>>>>> disregarding or taking pleasure in the pain or suffering of others. 2 causing pain or suffering.
ORIGIN Latin crudelis, related to crudus ’raw, rough’.
1. Is anybody here going through something cruel? Have you ever thought about your husband being cruel to you? Or husbands have you ever thought about your wife being cruel to you? Has anybody in your church family done something to you that make you think of that person as somebody cruel? Has anybody caused you or any of you relatives’ pain?
2. I don’t believe that gives the real meaning of the word cruel. It could be maybe somebody has caused you pain, it may be that your wife or your husband or someone here on church, has cause you some pain, but I don’t believe that make any person here cruel.
3. We as human being make mistake, “for all have sins and fell short of the glory of God”. But we don’t take any pleasure at all on seeing other being on pain, unless that person is demon possessed.
II. A lesson to the loves one. Jesus pretended not to hear this woman cry after him to sink down to the very heart of the disciples a lesson they will never forget.
23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, "Send her away, because she keeps shouting 1at us."
A. What is going out inside our Master’s heart has he changed his way? Has the Lord stopped from being merciful? Doesn’t he care anymore? Has He learned the way of men? Is he tired of giving up his gifts and not receiving anything back, from us not even a word of thanks? What happen when God keeps silent?
NAU Psalm 28:1 A Psalm of David. To You, O LORD, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me, For if You bare silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit.
B. For mercy is sake He pretended not to hear her cry for mercy, for the mercy of the Lord has never failed, behold they are made new every morning. Mercies not just to the woman’s daughter or her race but also to the disciple themselves, whom were racist and inconsiderate to other nations. They treated other nation as if they were dogs.
C. Joseph in Egypt pretended not to recognize his brothers for mercy sake; he had a plan that at the end would bring glory to God and the Lamb. Let us read...
JV Genesis 42:7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them...
D. I believe that when Jesus saw her daughter, he knew her. The sorrow and pain that this young woman was going through was not strange to sweet Jesus. He knew the tortured that was inflicted to her, and the pain that these demons were causing her. He loved the daughter as well as he loves the mother, and he had a plan for both of them.
E. While the disciples implore Jesus to send her away, because they don’t want to be bothered, yet this Canaanite woman seen to be very determined to ask Jesus for a miracle in her daughter’s behalf.
Do we do well to other because they bother us? Do we have the right spirit when we do what we do? When you pray for you brother do you prayed for him because you love him or because every time he see you he ask you to keep him/her on your prayers? Does the cry of agony bother your ear? Or does it move you to be merciful upon other as God has been merciful unto you?
III. Who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to whom Jesus was send?
A. In the book Desires of Ages page 402...We get a picture of the “lost in the house...
“When He said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” He stated the truth, and in His work for the Canaanite woman He was fulfilling His commission. This woman was one of the lost sheep that Israel should have rescued. It was their appointed work, the work which they had neglected, that Christ was doing.”
24 But He answered and said, "I was sent only to athe lost sheep of the house of Israel."
B. In Acts 2; we see that the people who received the gospels at the time Peter preached spoke all kinds of language, yet they were Jews who lived out of the House of Israel. Let us read Ezekiel 34: 5, 16
NAU Ezekiel 34:5, They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. 6 "My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; my flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them."’"
1. VSE 16 gives them, hopes for even though they were scattered abroad the good shepherd was going to bring them back. It was God purpose for this to happen so that the gospel can be spread out through out the entire nation
C. But most of the Jews that live in the House were the one that rejected Christ. If all the Jews that were scattered abroad were in Jerusalem as the rest of Jews they too would have rejected Jesus. So here we can see that God was merciful to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
D. In the parable of the prodigal son we see that both the younger as well as the older son were lost in the House. But when the prodigal son left the House, and found himself wondering far away from the father, than he was found by the Father. None of us would have been here unless the Father has found us in the person of his son Jesus Christ, you never found God, and he actually found you lost in trespasses and sins.
E. It seems to be that the devil is very smart dealing with those who are in the house. We need to pray more and ask God to please let us see ourselves as we really are. The Jews thought that by belonging to the Israelites people they were automatically saves, but we can see clearly that this is not the case.
F. We can see that Jesus came to seek and save those that were lost sheep, is better to be a lost sheep in the house than a wolf who thinks is not lost yet eat and nourished himself from the benefits of the sheep. For there are wolves (false shepherds) who are the cause of many sheep being lost?
IV. Even thought this woman was not being appreciated at the time yet she felt that the Spirit who was moving her was the Spirit of Christ, and she knew she was not being deceived... This woman probably brought to Jesus’ mind, his servant Jacob during the night of struggle... KJV Genesis 32:26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
I will not let you go, humiliate me but I will not give up my hope in you. Let us fight and struggle with our hopes, but don’t let go.
25 But she came and abegan 1to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"
A. How much humiliation would it take for this woman to give it up? It depends on how much love you have for the person on behalf of which you being humiliated.
B. The greatest love was that of Jesus, “for there is no greatest love than this that one gives up his life for his brother”. And Jesus gave his life for us yet it was not that simple he endures the worse of all the humiliation and even suffered the worse death given at that time, the death of the cross.
C. Do we bow down to God when we are being humiliated? Or do we just leave Him behind and forget about it? This woman was even called a dog.
V. Jesus didn’t share the same spirit that the Jews had by believing that other race were like dogs. Yet he made the disciple believe that he agree with the Jews.
26 And He answered and said, "It is not 1good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs."
A. I like the way the book of Mark say it...let us read...
NAU Mark 7:27 And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs."
B. Jesus said that his people the children of Israel were to be satisfied first, with the truth knowledge of the gospel, and them the gentiles.
27 But she said, "Yes, Lord; 1but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table."
A. She even considered herself what the Lord never thought of her, she was willing to considered herself a dog, than to go away without healing to her heart and her daughter’s.
B. She was willing to take crumbs of blessing that felt from the abundant table of the Jewish nation...she endured the test, her humiliation was about to turn into joy and gratitude.
KJV Lamentations 3:32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
C. God didn’t do anything in vain He wanted to blessed this woman and her daughter with a blessing that surpassed all understanding, Job testified of what God wants to do with everyone of us.
NAU Job 23:10 "But He knows the 1way I take; When He has atried me, I shall come forth as gold.
28 Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, ayour faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed 1at once.
D. She believes His word and went home with the assurance that her daughter was healed...
NAU Psalm 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.
CONCLUSION:
We are lost in the house when we don’t practice persistent prayer...
We are lost in the house when we don’t forget each other faults...
We are lost in the house when we want to leaves the Father’s house...
We are lost in the house when we don’t feel the pain and sufferings of others...
We are lost in the house when we leave Jesus behind, and ask for Barrabas...
We are lost in the house when we loose sight of Jesus...
We are lost in the house when we forgot God’s work in our lives...
We are lost in the house when we don’t keep the Sabbath properly...
We are lost in the house when we don’t love our neighborhood...
We are lost in the house when we don’t act as if Jesus lives in our heart...
