Beware of Dogs

Beware of Dogs

Phil 3:1-3 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Rev 22:14-15 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

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Our God is a covenant making God. He chooses to work through covenants. A covenant is simply an agreement between two people. It is not a contract, for a contract has a termination date but is lasting as long each person keeps up their end of the bargain. God ALWAYS keeps His end of the deal, and if a covenant agreement fails, it is always because of the human on the other side that broke it.

When Noah stepped off of the Ark having been through the first and worst rainstorm in history, knowing that he and his family were the only people alive on the face of the earth, he stepped off with a conviction that God was a God of judgment. Can you imagine how it must have felt knowing that you must live on the earth that was just destroyed for sinfulness under the watchful eyes of a Holy God?! Noah got off the ark and did a very smart thing: he began to offer sacrifices unto God. What he was really doing was getting God's attention and saying "hey God, I want to make a covenant agreement with you." It wasn't a deal like some people make when they are in jail or injured. The kind that very few people keep. But is was a genuine request for a relationship and covenant with God. God may have used bad situations to get you hungry for Him, but somewhere you have to fall in love with God and offer your friendship and life to Him out of a love for Him and a desire to have a relationship with Him! God responded to Noah's request for a covenant and came down and made some promises to him. Noah had basically promised to dedicate his life to God and in return God assured him that the earth would never ever be destroyed by water again. For a sign of this covenant, God showed Noah a rainbow. The next time it rained, and Noah and his family were frightened to the place of wanting to run back to the ark, imagine their delight in seeing a rainbow appear! God was reminding them that He was keeping His end of the bargain! Noah's dead and has been so for thousands of years, but still after the rain we can see a rainbow! God is reminding us that even though Noah is dead and can't do anything more, God is STILL keeping His covenant with him! When God makes a covenant, He keeps it!

Psalms 50 is a direct word from the Lord. The Psalmist heard God speak and wrote down the words directly. The words are those that God will speak when He comes back to earth:

Ps 50:4-5 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. 5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

When God comes back, he will gather the saints together who "have made a covenant...by sacrifice." When Cain and Abel were alive, God was looking for a covenant by sacrifice. When Noah stepped off the Ark, he pleased God by offering up a covenant by sacrifice. God called Abraham, told him to leave his homeland, told him to leave his idolatrous ways, placed him on a long journey both physically and spiritually, and when it was all said and done, God still tested him by asking him to sacrifice his only son! Why? The long journey to get a relationship with God was to lead him to a place where God could see if he was willing to make a covenant with God by sacrifice! And even today, though times have changed, God is still really desiring one thing in your life, that you be willing to make a covenant with Him by sacrifice! In fact the saints that He gathers together in the last days will be those who have done so!

Just to make sure you understand, God goes on to state that it's not the sacrifice of bulls and goats that He is talking about:

Ps 50:13-14 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

Then after talking about what will happen to those who do not make such a covenant with thanksgiving, God then sums up exactly what He means by sacrifice:

Ps 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

Praise is important! God is interested in people who are willing to praise Him, but there's something else. "To him that ordereth his conversation aright" "Conversation" is an old English word that means your conduct, actions, or style of living! The word here in the Hebrew literally means "a road" symbolically meaning the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you live down this road called life. "Ordereth" here in the Hebrew means "to put or place forcefully or passionately." In other words the covenant with sacrifice that God is interested in today is a person that is willing to change their lifestyle to what will glorify God! Who will forcefully confront their fleshly desires and bring them into subjection to God's Word! And only those saints who do so, will God gather together! It's all about a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, but we've got to keep our end of the deal with our lives!

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By now you are wondering what this has to do with my title about dogs. Many people today are pet lovers and we tend to view animals, particularly dogs, through the opinion of today. Because our culture is so different from the Biblical times, we tend to miss however on some of the comparisons of the scripture. The past few weeks, crazy as it may sound, I have been doing a careful study on dogs in the Bible. The seed thought came from my wife and I driving home from my cousin's wedding and somehow the subjects of dogs came up and we were trying to name all of the dogs mentioned in the Bible off of the top our heads -- it was a long trip, okay! Before you decide that we better give the pastor something else to do with his time, listen to what I discovered about dogs, it may astound you!

Very few people kept dogs as pets in Biblical times. Most dogs were not tame and to tame dogs took years of breeding and hard work so that only the very rich could afford dogs as you and I think of dogs today. Indeed most of the dogs of the day were very wild and vicious creatures, who lived outside of the city and looked for opportunities to attack and steal and kill whatever they could for food. In those days, you did not allow your small children to play outside of the walls because of the vicious packs of dogs that would attack them.

This is why the Psalmist prayed for protection:

Ps 22:19-21 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me. 20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. 21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Unicorns probably referred to a one horned species of the rhinoceros which was known for it viciousness, so the psalmist was naming the most vicious thing that he could think of in his prayer: rhinoceros' horns, lion's mouth, AND the power of the dog that would try to attack his loved ones! The dog was a much different creature than the tame docile fidos that we are familiar with today.

We also find that the heathen that did not believe in God were compared to the dog:

Ps 59:5-7 Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. 6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. 7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?

Under Moses' law, the term dog was used to refer to a prostitute and also a homosexual. Money gained by such means was, of course, not allowed to be offered unto God.

Deut 23:18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

When the Psalmist prophesied in the 22nd Psalm about the anguish and suffering that Jesus Christ would suffer during His crucifixion, the writer used the term dogs to describe the manner that the enemies of Christ mobbed Him and attacked:

Ps 22:15-18 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

Dogs were obviously feared and avoided at all costs in those days. I also realized as I studied that they were referred to just enough to have a deeper meaning. For instance, Jesus told His disciples:

Matt 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

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I didn't see how all of the references tied together until I remembered the story of the Syro-Phonecian woman who came to Jesus. Jesus was in His third year of ministry and time was running out for Him to teach His disciples thoroughly. In an effort to get away from the vast crowds, Jesus actually traveled out of Galilee and up into the Gentile inhabited area of Tyre and Sidon. Despite all of His stealth, a woman found out that Jesus was in town and came and asked for a miracle:

Matt 15:21-28 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.

Jesus wouldn't talk to her, and the disciples wanted nothing to do with her! Jesus had cast out many devils before, but this time He did not respond. Why? To understand, you must remember that God used the Jewish people to reveal His plan to the world. When God made a covenant with Abraham, the nation of Israel was the result. When God gave the law, He gave it to the Jewish people. When the prophets came along and prophesied about a coming Messiah, they were Jewish men prophesying about a coming Jewish Messiah! When God came in flesh, He was born to a Jewish mother and raised in a Jewish family. Thankfully, God was going to open the doors of salvation and blessing to the Gentiles also, but it was His divine plan to come to the Jews first and the Gentiles second. We even see this when the Holy Ghost was poured out, in that only Jews received the promise on the Day of Pentecost and it wasn't until the 10th chapter of Acts until the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles!

Jesus came under the law. When He walked the earth, He did so in the time when Moses' law was still in effect. The sign of their covenant was obeying the law of Moses. The Jews were the ones that had entered into a covenant with God, and the Gentiles worshipped idols and had no covenant. Therefore when this Gentile woman came and asked for deliverance for her daughter, she was a covenantless woman asking for the blessing reserved for only those who had a covenant!

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.

Oh, but when she began to worship Him, everything changed! Jesus was trying to get her to realize what she was asking Him to do. She was asking Him to step out of time and go ahead in the future and bless the Gentiles! With the exception of Roman soldiers, this is the only Gentile that Jesus directly blessed in His ministry. He reminded her that the Jewish people were then the children of God and she was but a DOG! Rather than be offended, she told Him, "I may be a dog, but even the dogs get the occasional crumb that falls from the table!" When she combined her worship and faith with an humble spirit, Jesus couldn't help Himself, He stepped out of time for a few moments, and said "I know it's not time, I should wait and let one of my disciples perform this miracle after Calvary." "I should wait until Cornelius and his household receive the Holy Ghost in what's going to be Acts chapter 10, but I can't help myself." In that moment her daughter was delivered! The woman described as a dog had been blessed! You may feel as if God will not hear your prayer, or you may be even offended at God because He hasn't responded to you like you though He should, but if you really want to be blessed mix your worship and faith with an humble spirit: God can't help but bless you!

The important point to remember for our lesson today is that Jesus called the woman a "dog" because she was not in a covenant relationship with God. In other words, "dog" doesn't necessarily refer to only Gentiles but anyone or anything that is against a covenant relationship with Almighty God! The reason that the term was used to refer to a prostitute or a homosexual is because both want the benefits of a relationship without entering into a covenant before God! They want their desires fulfilled but don't want the commitment therefore they are referred to as "dogs."

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In our text, things had changed since the day that Syro-Phonecian woman came to Jesus. It was after Calvary and God had been filling the Gentiles with the Holy Ghost. In fact, Paul was writing to a church made up of almost entirely of Gentiles!

Paul was warning them to beware of the Jews who were teaching that you had to live under Moses' law to be saved! Everything had flip-flopped! Now the Gentiles who had been born of the water and the Spirit and were serving God under Grace were the children of God and the Jews trying to live under the old law were the out casts! And when Paul referred to them who were trying to push the old sacrifices and circumcision on the Gentiles, he called them "dogs!" Beware of dogs! Beware of the people and things that will try to steal and replace your covenant relationship with God! "Philippians, you are now in a covenant relationship with God and there are things and people in this world that are circling and wild and want to steal God's precious children and steal that relationship with God. They are spiritually like the wild dogs of old, looking for an opening, looking for a way into the walled city of the church, looking for you to grow weak and stumble! Live for God, rejoice in Him, but BEWARE OF THE DOGS!"

How many times did Jesus warn the disciples of the Pharisees, the very ones whom the Psalmist referred to as the "dogs" that crucified Him! Every time that Jesus warned about their false teachings or their doctrine, He was in effect telling His disciples "Beware of dogs! They want to steal your relationship with me. They want to steal everything precious! They look harmless but are wild! Take heed to yourself! Watch out for the dogs!"

There are many types of dogs. They come big and little, they come in all shapes and sizes but if it's a dog, it's out to steal your relationship with God! We won't have time to mention all of the dogs of the Bible, but I feel God led me to a couple that He wants to identify in someone's life today. That is, He wants for someone to see what has been sneaking in and stealing and robbing and destroying your joy and relationship with God!

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We are all familiar with the story of King David and how that he became king when God rejected King Saul because of disobedience. Saul had been highly jealous of King David and even chased him from cave to caves at one point trying to kill him. Saul also was jealous of David's relationship with his own son Jonathan and tried to do everything that he could to mess up their friendship.

Saul and Jonathan were killed on the same day and when they died many people rose up and killed almost all of the remaining men in Saul's family. When the news of the large number of tragic deaths, reached the city, the nurse of Saul's five year old remaining son was so upset in trying to flee with the child that she dropped him causing damage to his spine and feet and rendering him lame. The child's name was Mephibosheth. The kid ended up living in the house of an ordinary man named Machir in a town called Lo'debar.

In one turn of fate as a helpless five year old, Mephibosheth went from being the son of the King and heir to the throne, to being a crippled, outcast living in poverty. The man that he lived with name meant "sold." The town that he lived in meant "not a pasture." It was quite the opposite of the palace. Put yourself in Mephibosheth's shoes for a moment, and indeed someone here may have been in his shoes: nothing you have done to deserve this, it's happening while you are just a kid. You are crippled, poor, orphaned, all of your relatives including your daddy and brothers are killed in one day, and you are kicked out of the palace and the secure home to live in a place that is not even a decent pasture!

When David came to the throne he remembered the promises that he had made to Jonathan. You see, David had been such good friends with Jonathan that they had made a covenant relationship with each other. David's end of the bargain was that he would always show kindness and bless Jonathan's kin. After a search of the kingdom, David discovered that Mephibosheth was the only relative of Saul left alive. David sent for Mephibosheth.

Put yourself in Mephibosheth's shoes once again. Your life is a complete utter failure and disaster. You are a victim in every way possible. Then to make matters worse, your daddy's enemy, rival, and replacement orders you to come stand before the throne! No doubt, Mephibosheth feared the worse! Yet, he obeyed:

2 Sam 9:6-8 Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! 7 And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. 8 And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?

Did you catch his words? The ugly dog of past failure had arisen in Mephibosheth's life. The dog that reminds you of how many things have gone wrong in your life and how that you've been such the victim. But something in Mephibosheth caused him to push past the dog and into the presence of the king! And when he did to his surprise, he found mercy, he found David giving him part of the kingdom, he found himself being invited to eat at the table of the king!

I'm preaching to somebody today, that every time you desire to grow closer to God, that old dog of your past failures begins to raise it's ugly head. That dog that reminds you of what a victim you are and what a loser you've been! But I'm here to tell you: Beware of the Dogs! Your past memories are trying to make you miss out on a relationship with the King of Kings! Beware of the dogs, and don't give in to them! When Mephibosheth got past the dogs of his past, he found an invitation to dine with the king waiting! He found every blessing and every thing that he had ever dreamed of waiting! But if he would have listened to the dogs and not gone before the king, he would have never received the king's blessing! If you let it, that dog of your past will rise up and steal your blessing from the King, but get past that dog! When the feelings of loneliness and depression begin to come into your life! When the memory of some ordeal that you went through in your past begins to bark at you that you will never be anything for God. When you feel like you will be forever crippled because of what you once were, then you need to push past the dogs and go spend time with the King! The devil is a liar! Beware of the Dogs! Don't believe them for a minute! Beware the dog of condemnation and past failure! Don't you let it steal your covenant relationship with God!

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I don't have time to go into as much detain on the other dogs. But another couple of dogs that will try to sneak in and steal what's precious to you is greed and jealousy. King Ahab had the finest vineyards in the kingdom, but we find that he wanted another owned by a man named Naboth. King Ahab tried to buy it but Naboth wouldn't sell it for vineyards take hard work and many years of labor to cultivate. Queen Jezebel, Ahab's wife faked papers from the king accusing Naboth of sins worthy of death. He was falsely accused, tried, and stoned to death, and the scriptures tell us that dogs were present to lick his blood.

King Ahab was worried about the dogs, he didn't care by what means he got what he wanted and now the expensive vineyard was his! But the dogs were still there. Later on, just as God had spoken through the man of God, Ahab was killed and the SAME DOGS that licked Naboth's blood licked the blood of Ahab. You will reap what you sow! You better beware the dogs of jealousy and greed! Just a little envy may seem harmless but it will end up consuming you! Before you get jealous over the blessing of God to someone else, realize that you don't know the hours of work and hard labor that they have put into the vineyard of the Lord! I've heard Christians state that they don't understand why God has seemingly blessed someone else more than them, and then they begin to compare themselves, and then move to tearing their brother or sister down. They may even resort to spiritual murder with their tongue! But you better "Beware the Dogs!" Jesus said that he who lives by the sword will die by the sword! Don't fall into the trap of tearing other people down in order to justify yourself! Beware the Dogs! The dogs got Jezebel too. They couldn't find anything left of her except the palms of her hands and her skull. Once you allow the dogs of bitterness in, it will consume you and eat you up! Beware the Dogs!

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There are other dogs that want to steal your relationship with God. Whatever you do, don't let them! In Job 30:1, Job associated dogs with his fair weather friends. When he was wealthy, everybody wanted to be his friend, but when he was going through the trial of his life, they deserted him! It hurts when you have a Christian brother turn his back on when you are low. But Beware of the Dog! It may hurt, and it may be lonely, but whatever you do don't let it destroy your relationship with God! He will never forsake you; He sticketh CLOSER than a brother! Don't let fair weather Christians who only live for God when things are good steal your faith and joy! Beware of the Dogs!

In I Samuel 24:14, David used the term dog to refer to the way he felt while trying to reach out and show love to a bitter Saul who was trying to kill him instead of receiving his friendship! Beware of the dogs! You may have extended your friendship to a brother only to receive hatred and bitterness in return. Whatever you do, don't give in to the dogs and don't let them steal your relationship with God!

In I Samuel 17:43, David faced Goliath who cursed his God and asked "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks and stones?" No matter how big the Giant, trust in God! Beware the Dogs! Keep serving God. David's brother had allowed the dog to cause them to tremble and hide from the duty of serving God! But David said "I come to you in the name of the Lord!" No matter how big the dog in your life -- stick with Jesus!

In Judges 7:5, Gideon listened and watched with a sinking feeling as God told him to keep only the men who got down and lapped water like dogs. God was telling Gideon to take the losers and not many of them at that and go fight the battle with the large enemy army. Some time you feel overwhelmed and overmatched, and the dog of defeat begins to bark, but Beware of the Dogs! Do it God's way no matter what the odds, Gideon did and God gave him victory!

In II Peter 2:22, Peter likened someone returning their previous sinful lifestyle as a dog returning to his own vomit. It does get hard living for God sometimes. Sometimes the desire to go back into the world may seem strong, but BEWARE THE DOGS! Don't go back to the world! Don't go back on your promises to God! They want to steal your covenant relationship with God!

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I close with one final analogy:

We all know the story of the Rich man and the beggar Lazarus. We tend to focus on the Rich man and how that in hell, he lifted up his eyes and begged for one drop of water and then begged that someone would go back from the dead and tell his brothers that no matter what, they don't want to come there. Indeed the beggar Lazarus is a minor character in the story and doesn't say anything.

Luke 16:20-21 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

All we know is that Lazarus could not physically work. All he could do was beg for a living. He was probably all alone in this world for the rich man's relatives are mentioned but not any of Lazarus'. He was forbidden to even go inside the gate of the rich man's palace. He just wanted the scraps from the rich man's table but didn't even get that. To make matters worse, the dogs began to come! They were drawn to the scars and the sores and the places where Lazarus had been hurt. There were more than physical dogs licking at Lazarus. There was the dog licking at the hurt caused by loneliness. There was a dog licking at the hurt caused by rejection. There was the dog licking at the hurt caused by being a victim of things way beyond his control. No doubt at times, the dog of envy and jealousy would try to come and attack a wound. But learn the lesson of the beggar Lazarus well: Lazarus made it! He made it to eternal life! He made it to a heavenly place! Despite the dogs circling around him, he managed to keep a right attitude and a right spirit and would not allow them to steal his relationship with God!

Rev 22:14-15 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Lazarus may have never entered into the gates of a fine dwelling place on earth, but he got into the gates of the New Jerusalem! When you enter into a covenant relationship with God Almighty, and guard it with everything that you have, He will keep His end of the deal!

Only those who do God's commandments will enter into that blessed city with streets of gold. And without the gates are the dogs! That's why you must Beware of the Dogs! They are trying to destroy and steal your relationship with God and are trying to keep you out of eternal life and the New Jerusalem! Push through them here on earth! Don't let them steal your covenant relationship with God! Because if you keep living for God despite the dogs, then one day you'll make it and there will be no dogs in heaven! They can't get into the gates! There will be no pain, failure, depression, cripples, defeats, oppression, tears, fair weather friends, and enemies in heaven! So for now BEWARE THE DOGS! Don't let them keep you from getting to eternal life!