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Many people today are pet lovers and we tend to view animals, particularly those that we now keep as pets, through the viewpoint of today's norms. But, because our culture is so different from the Biblical times, we often miss meanings of the scriptures that were written back when things were vastly different than they are today. This is particularly true in the case of the mentions of dogs in the Bible.

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 dangerous, wild and vicious creatures, who lived outside of the cities and looked for opportunities to attack and steal and kill whatever they could for food. In Biblical 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.

Understanding the difference in the times explains some difficult passages of scripture such as when the Psalmist prayed for divine protection and said:

"Unicorns" referred to a one horned species of the rhinoceros which was known for it viciousness, so the psalmist was naming the three most vicious things that he could think of in his prayer and that included: rhinoceros' horns, lion's mouth, AND the power of the dog!

We also find that wicked men who did violent evil were compared to the dogs of the day:

Prophesying about the brutal verbal and physical assault by Jesus' enemies at His crucifixion, the scriptures say:

Obviously dogs were vastly different in Biblical times than the gentle creatures that we keep as pets today. Dogs back then were something on the outside to be feared and avoided. They were something that lurked outside the city gates that brought destruction and pain.

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In Matthew chapter 15, 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 areas of Tyre and Sidon. Despite all of His stealth, a Gentile woman found out that Jesus was in town and came and asked for a miracle:

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. Jesus came to fulfill the promises of God of those who had entered a covenant relationship with Him. 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 covenant-less woman asking for the blessing reserved for only those who had a covenant!

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! To us today, this sounds like an insult, and yet the lady in the story was no offended, because to call someone a dog back then had a very specific meaning that the woman understood and accepted. The term had come to refer to someone who was outside a God-given covenant relationship. When Jesus called her a "dog," He was in effect saying that "you are outside of the camp and have been doing nothing but trying to oppose the work of God within His covenant people."

The term "dog" doesn't necessarily refer to only Gentiles but anyone or anything that is against a covenant relationship with Almighty God! In Deuteronomy 23:18 we find that both the prostitute and the homosexual are called "dogs" and the reason that the term was used to refer to either of these sins was 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." Their lifestyle is an attack on the covenants of God Almighty, therefore they are rightfully called "dogs."

And so we come to our text where Paul was writing to the church in Philippi:

When he said "beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision," Paul was warning the church 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!"

Paul joined with Jesus who had told His disciples:

Jesus was warning the disciples -- as He did many times -- of the Pharisees, the very ones whom the Psalmist referred to as the "dogs" that crucified Him! They seemed religious and yet were not at all interested in a true covenant relationship with God. 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!" Take heed that you don't give them anything valuable!

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So now that you understand what "dogs" represent in scripture, you need to know that dogs such as these still exist in a spiritual sense in our lives today. 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! The command to "beware of dogs" is just as valid today as it was in Paul's day because just as there are a people who are entering into a covenant relationship with God and choosing to live for Him, today, there is also things that will rise up to try to destroy that commitment! And so, for the rest of this sermon, let's look at some dogs mentioned in scripture and identify them lest they sneak in and steal and rob and destroy our joy and relationship with God! Here are some of the "dogs" that we best beware of and look out for:

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 was jealous of David's anointing and relationship with God and also jealous of David's friendship with his own son Jonathan. In his lifetime, Saul 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 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:

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!

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!

Most of you are familiar with Brother Job. Despite only doing what was right and faithfully serving, God, Job was tested with the most severest trial. In a very brief period of time, Job lost his children to a horrible catastrophe. He lost his camels and his stock and his crops. He lost his health. In one day, Job went from being the richest man in the land to the poorest. But the worse thing was the response of his friends. For chapter after chapter in the book of Job we see those whom he thought were his friends rail and accuse and turn on him in the time of his crisis. Those who were his friends when he was wealthy and blessed and in good fortune, became his biggest critics and deserted him in the low times! And so we read in Job 30:1, he says:

He's talking about his fair-weather friends and he likens them and their families to being at the level of his herding dogs! And so I'm preaching to you today, it hurts to have someone who supposedly was a friend turn their back on you and kick you when you are down. It hurts even worse, when that "friend" was supposedly a Christian brother or sister. And in times like Job when we have been insulted and accused and assaulted by those who were supposed to be holy and fair, it is easy to grow despondent and depressed and decide to give in to those feelings. 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! Jesus will never forsake you; He is the friend that 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!

Similarly, 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 of rejected love! You may have extended your friendship to a brother only to receive hatred and bitterness in return. There might come a time when someone despises you and is jealous towards you despite your doing everything to love them and be their friend. Whatever you do, don't let the dogs of rejected love to destroy your relationship with God!

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!

The Bible several times refers to these as being dangerous dogs, such as in Habbakkuk:

Having gone all day without any food, wolves and wild dogs are more desperate and hungry and dangerous in the evening. As the darkness begins to set in, people were in the greatest danger of being attacked by the packs of ravenous dogs.

So it is in our lives! In the time of plenty and fulfillment and light in our lives, we are less likely to give up on our commitment with God. But what about when you've gone awhile waiting on a touch from heaven and you've been waiting for strength and nourishment to come for a while, and it seems as if your situation is getting more and more desperate!? These times of desperation where it seems that the sun is about to go down on your situation without help, and when to us it seems that hope is fading, are dangerous times because if we are not careful, it will be in these times that we give into the enemy that is trying to devour our relationship with God through doubt and hopelessness!

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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, but yet let's think about him:

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 and as these dogs didn't attack him, they probably were tame ones that belonged to the rich man! 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!

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!