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Part of the chapter that I wanted to focus on was there in just verse 2, where the Bible reads, Beware of Dogs. That's the title of my sermon tonight is Beware of Dogs, and it's going to be a little interesting sermon and it's going to be a little bit different. The concept that I want to do today is I want to do a study on the word dog in the Bible. Because if he's saying for us to beware of dogs, what does that mean? Well I think the only way to really get a good idea of what that means is to look at every time dogs mentioned in the Bible, and it's mentioned in 40 different verses 41 times. So one verse mentions it twice, but there's 40 different verses, we're going to look at all of them. Go to Exodus chapter 22 if you would. Now I'm going to prove to you tonight that dogs, what they really represent is the really wicked and ungodly and just the unsaved heathen. It's super clear what the Bible says, there's no positive mention of a dog in the Bible, and God gives us a lot of earthly examples, gives us a lot of things that we can understand really well to give light to spiritual truths, to give light to the things of God. That's how God reveals a lot of different things to us. Look at verse 31 of Exodus chapter 22, it says, and ye shall be holy men unto me, neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field, ye shall cast it to the dogs. And I have six attributes that I think the Bible kind of outlines for us about dogs. The first one is that they're unclean, these are just unclean animals, and if you go to Leviticus chapter 11, go back, or go forward here by one chapter to Leviticus chapter 11, we're going to see the Bible tells us there's a difference between clean beasts and unclean beasts. Now the children of Israel back in that time, they weren't allowed to eat an unclean beast. So let's look at verse three in Leviticus 11, it says, whatsoever parted the hoof and is cloven footed, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that shall ye eat. So it's going to outline a lot of things that we shouldn't. This is the only part where it says this is what you can eat. It says if it's, you know, parted in the hoof, if it's cloven footed, meaning it's like two, meaning it just has like two little parts. It's not really like a paw, but if you've seen like a goat, or you've seen a lamb, or you've seen a deer, these are the animals that have this type of a hoof. And it says that they chew the cud, cud's kind of an interesting word, it just means that when they're eating straw, or grass, or hay, that they regurgitate that food. So it like goes down into their stomach, and then later, it comes back up again, and they chew on it more. And then it goes back down like a cow, it has four different parts to its stomach. So it eats its food over, and over, and over. I read on an article today, it said that a cow will chew its food for eight hours a day. I mean, it said the main purpose, the cow goes out and he just like stuffs himself, and then he goes and finds a safe place, and he just sits there and just gnaws on that food. And he chews the cud. And that's what Baptist, fundamental Baptist need to be today. We need to chew the cud, meaning we need to just soak in the fundamentals of the faith. Just salvation by faith, that Jesus Christ is God, the Trinity, the King James Bible, all these fundamentals of the faith, we need to eat them so much, just regurgitate them so much, that we can go out and teach them. We're not just hearers of the word, but we're doers of the word. That we move on from just, oh, I've heard that before, to, oh, I know that, oh, I have that memorized, oh, I can go out there and teach that. I can show all these fundamental things, because I've been regurgitating it, I've been meditating on it. That's what it means to be fundamental. It's the fact that you know the fundamentals of the faith. What a shame today, there's so many fundamental Baptist today, if you go talk to the person in the pew, they can't explain any of the doctrines to you. They could maybe just say, yeah, we believe in God and Jesus and the Bible, but He's like, can you show me some verses on that? They would really struggle. That's a shame because they're not chewing the cud, and we see that's what's a clean beast. But let's look at a few other verses, let's keep going. Look at verse four, nevertheless, he shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof, as the camel, because he cheweth not the cud, but divided not the hoof, he is unclean unto you. So that's kind of the only animal that, you know, is kind of an exception, because he doesn't chew the cud. Look at this, verse five, and the coney, because he cheweth not the cud, but divided not the hoof, he's unclean unto you. Look at verse six, and the hare, because he chewed the cud, but divided not the hoof, he's unclean unto you. That's talking about some of the men saying the Bible, but they're still in the Word. They're still in the world. They're still out in the world. They haven't divided themselves. They haven't separated themselves from the world. They want to still live in the world. You can't have it both ways. And we see that if you're in the world, even if you're like regurgitating the Word of God, you're studying it, you're going to be unclean according to God. Let's skip down to verse 26. Interesting part here. It says, the carcasses of every beast which divided the hoof and is not cloven footed nor chewed the cud are unclean unto you. Everyone that touches them shall be unclean. Look at verse 27, and whatsoever goeth upon his paws among all manner of beasts that go on all four of these are unclean unto you, who so touches their carcass shall be unclean until even. So if you know a dog, I think everybody knows that dogs have paws, that they go on all fours. The Bible says it's an unclean beast, and it never changes this fact. It's always clear. This is just a dirty animal. And the verse that I had you read, it said when they had this abominable flesh, they would just cast into the dogs and the dogs would eat it. I mean, what will a dog not eat? I mean, my dog will eat just about anything. I mean, you can just throw it on the ground and it'll try to eat it. About the only thing it doesn't try to eat is usually vegetables, something that's kind of like healthy, you know, but I mean, they'll just eat anything. And that's what the world is like today. They have no restrictions. They have no morals. They have no guiding compass. They'll go and do and say anything. That's right. They'll, they'll compromise themselves in any way. They'll fill themselves with any kind of abominable flesh. They don't care. They turn on the TV, they'll go listen to any kind of music, they'll go to the movie house. They'll watch it all. There's no filter. There's no guide. Why? Because they're likened unto a dog, those that are unsaved. They have no restrictions. They have no guiding, you know, morals that can be founded on anything that's in the Bible, typically. Go to 1 Kings chapter 14, 1 Kings chapter 14, we'll look at another mention of dogs. I'll read for you from 2 Corinthians 6, the Bible says, Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. So you say, well, we're looking at a lot of Old Testament passages where it's talking about unclean beasts. How does that apply to me today? Well, in the New Testament, he's applying it to a spiritual or to the fact that you shouldn't hang out with unbelievers. You should be out of the world. You shouldn't have your closest friend be an unbeliever. You shouldn't have some guy that doesn't believe on Jesus Christ, maybe even hates Jesus Christ. That's not your friend. That's not the person that you should be hanging out with all the time. You should be calling him and bringing him over and doing the barbecue. No, the Bible says not to touch the unclean thing. Now, making this clear, this isn't saying like you can't touch a literal dog. I'll be honest, I have a dog. I pretty much always had a dog. I'm not trying to say that it's a sin to have a dog or it's bad to have a dog. No, but the Bible's using the dog as an illustration to show us something spiritual that this is a dirty unclean beast. We shouldn't have those type of people in our life as our best friend. What is the dog known for in the world? Man's best friend, right? But that's not, that's the opposite of what the Bible's telling us. That shouldn't be our best friend. The unclean beast should not be our friend. Now, of course we should love them. You know, the unsaved people, we just want to get them saved and we should be friendly unto them, but that doesn't mean they're going to be our closest pal. They're going to be teaching us things. We're going to be sharing our lives together. No, if you just go ahead and preach them the gospel all the time, either they're going to get saved or they're not going to want to be your friend. So that's the best thing to do. Look at 1 Kings 14, where I had to turn, look at verse 11. Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city, shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat, for the Lord hath spoken it. Look two chapters over, chapter 16, look at verse four. Him that dieth of Beasheth in the city, shall the dogs eat, and him that defieth of his in the fields, shall the fowls of the air eat. Go to chapter 21. We're going to see another similar statement there. Look at verse 19, the Bible says, And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. So you see these dogs, they're just eating these people, they're eating blood. Again, just confirming the fact, they're just, they have no filter. They have no sensor. They're just going to eat all kinds of wicked and filthy things. We're not supposed to, we're commanded in the Old Testament not to even drink blood or consume blood. That's not a, that's not a healthy thing for us. That's a, that's a sin. But you know, this is like the wicked. They like to lie and wait for blood. Go to Proverbs chapter one, if you would. I'm going to read for you a couple of verses. In Psalms 55, the Bible says, and verse 23, But thou, God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in thee. Psalms 59, two says, Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, save me from bloody men. Look at verse 11 there in Proverbs one, if they say, come with us, let us wait for blood. Let us look trivially for the innocent without cause. Go to Proverbs chapter 12, this is what the unsaved is like. They lie and wait for blood, just like the dogs. They're going to feast on that blood. They're going to feast on the flesh of those that are weak or injured. They don't really care. The young heathen is just looking out for himself. And that's the best way to describe a dog. A dog doesn't really care about anybody but himself. He just wants to go out and he's just going to satisfy all the lusts of the dog's flesh. You know what I mean? He's just looking for the next meal. I mean, I sometimes wonder if I just got a bowl of food that was just like endless if my dog would ever stop eating. I don't think it would. I think most dogs just sit there and eat and eat and eat and just consume. And that's what the unsaved are like. They're just trying to gratify their flesh to the fullest. They're just going to keep gratifying and gratifying. It's never satisfying to them. They're just going to keep filling it. And we see that they're also filling it with blood. They're filling it with eating the flesh. Look at Proverbs 12 verse 6. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver. So just as we see the dog's going to lick the blood, who are the people going for blood in the Bible? The wicked, ungodly, saved people. It's the same parallel with the dogs. Go to 1 Kings chapter 21. Go back if you would. We're going to see a few more verses where it says the exact same thing. And it might be a little laborious tonight, but I want to look at every mention of the word dog because I think it's going to really help solidify in our mind what the Bible is saying when it says beware of dogs. Look at 1 Kings chapter 21 verse 23. And if Jezebel also spake the Lord saying, the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezebel. Look at verse 24. In the diet that they have in the city, the dogs shall eat and in the diet in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. Now it's talking about their dead carcass. So it's not saying like they're going to be viciously attacking them in these verses. It's just saying they're going to eat disgusting, vile. I mean, dogs will eat the most disgusting things on the planet. I used to have a cat. Luckily it died because I don't really like cats very much. I'll be honest. But my cat, we had a litter box and my dog just couldn't wait to get in that litter box and eat everything that my cat dropped down. I mean, that's just disgusting. That is filthy. He'll eat, the dog will eat feces. It eats its own vomit. It'll eat other people's vomit. I mean, it's an unclean beast. It's just super clear and that's what the world's like. Don't be deceived. The unbeliever, the unsaved, he's going to eat the most wicked, vile things, spiritually speaking. I mean, he can consume anything. Don't take it, Pat. Don't think, well, this guy's a really nice guy, even though he's not safe. Now he'll eat the most disgusting things when you're not looking. Go to chapter 22, just go one chapter forward. So we're looking at a lot of verses that say the exact same thing. We'll look at a few more that say basically the same thing. First Kings 22 verse 38, and one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria and the dogs licked up his blood and they washed his armor according unto the word of the Lord, which he spake. Go to second Kings chapter nine. Second Kings, just another book in the Bible, second Kings chapter nine, look at verse 10. It's just going to keep hammering on these wicked people that these dogs are eating. It says in verse 10, and the dog shall eat jezebel on the portion of jezebel and there shall be none to bury her and he opened the door and fled. Go to verse 36, skip down to verse 36, wherefore they came again and told him, and he said, this is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, saying in the portion of jezebel shall dogs eat the flesh of jezebel and go to Psalm 68. This will be the last verse for this point, Psalm 68. So we've seen a lot of verses just saying the same thing over and over and over, but it's giving us a real clear picture of what these dogs are like, right? The really disgusting, vile things, they're not a clean beast. Look at Psalm 68 verse 23, the Bible says that thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thy enemies and the tongue of thy dogs and the same. So again, they're just, they love to drink blood, they love to eat anything disgusting and vile. So go back in your Bible, let's go back to Judges chapter seven. So my first point is that the dog's super clear as an unclean beast. So we've looked at several verses already. My second point is that dogs are unprofitable, unprofitable. Go to Judges seven, look at verse four, and the Lord said unto Gideon, the people are yet too many, bring them down into the water and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, this shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee, and of whosoever I say unto thee, this shall not go with thee, the same shall not go with thee. Look at verse five. So he brought down the people into the water and the Lord said unto Gideon, everyone that lapeth of the water with his tongue as the dog lapeth, him shalt thou set by himself, likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth were 300 men, but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, by 300 men that lapped will I say and deliver the media into the hand and let all the other people go, every man into his place. So now this is kind of a mystery, I think it's kind of a harder passage, you're like why in the world is God asking these guys to do these things, you know, he's trying to separate the forces and they have like a great multitude that's going to go fight this battle and he's trying to wield them down and he finally gets to, he's like let's just get the guys that lap up some water like a dog and it gets down to 300. And I think the key to understanding this verse is the context and verse 7, look at where it says in the middle, it says by the 300 men that lapped will I save you. Now the whole point of what God was trying to do was just trying to prove I'm the one that saves you, I'm the one that's going to give you deliverance. It's not by this great host because they were going to fight, you know, like millions of people, they were going to go and fight this battle. He's like look, by the guys that drink water like a dog I'm going to save you. Just 300 of these guys that lapped water like a dog because a dog's just worthless, a dog's just unprofitable, he has no real value and these guys are like drinking water like a dog, I'm going to save you. So I think that's what he's trying to say, he's just trying to show look, you know, these guys that are drinking water like a dog, these are the guys that are going to save you. You look at them and you're kind of like, I'm going to get saved by these guys? I mean, they just look like animals. You can picture some guys, maybe they're not the strongest ones, they're not the most valiant, these guys are drinking water like a dog, you're kind of like, really? Those are the 300 guys that didn't go out in battle? The guy's like look, I'm the one that's going to lose, I'm the one that's going to save you. It's not by our might, it's by God's power and we see that there was at least 300 of them standing. I think that's another application you could take in this passage, there was 300 guys outstanding, all the other guys bowed down to drink the water but there was 300 guys, with 300 guys he defeated millions and that's just to show God can do a big work with just a small group of people. If they stand, if they're going to follow God, and guess what? These guys weren't doing it because they were strong, because they were mighty, because they trusted in God. That's the key, that's the key. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 24, you know, I mean, there's one application that I think a dog has some value but for the most part, they're just an unprofitable beast, they're just an unprofitable animal and the Bible likens them as to being one of the most worthless beasts on the field. 1 Samuel 24, look at verse 14, after whom is the king of Israel come out, after whom dost thou pursue, after a dead dog, after a flee? He's trying to say after a dead dog saying like this is just the most worthless thing, I mean a dead dog? I mean this is just nothing, this is just so unprofitable, there's nothing to benefit from this. Look at 2 Samuel, go to 2 Samuel if you would, 2 Samuel chapter 9, again we're looking at every single time the Bible talks about a dog. So in the Bible, when we read in Leviticus 11, it said that if you touch the carcass of the animal that had a paw, you were unclean. So it's like, you know, this thing is just, it's so worthless and nobody wants to touch it, it's just so disgusting, it's unclean, there's nothing you want to do with it. It's going to say the same thing in 2 Samuel 9 verse 8, and he bowed himself and said what is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 16, go a couple chapters forward, we're going to see the same phrase repeated a few times here, 2 Samuel 16 verse 9, then it said Abishai the son of Zoriah unto the king, why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over I pray thee and take off his head. So again, it's just kind of a negative slang term, he's just saying a dead dog, he's just worthless, there's no value, I mean they're just completely unprofitable. Go to Job chapter 30, Job chapter 30, we're going to see the exact same thing here in Job as well, and we even have Job talking, I'll give you a little bit of the context, it's Job talking in this chapter, and we'll just look at verse 1, it says, but now they that are younger than I have me in Jorishan, whose fathers I would have disdained to have sat with the dogs of my flock. He's saying, look, these guys that are younger than me, that have me in Jorishan, I think they're so of unimportant value, I wouldn't even want to set them with the dogs of my flock. And he's just saying like the dogs are just, you know, hardly worth anything, they're just so unvaluable, I mean I wouldn't even want to set these guys that are least esteemed with my dogs on the flock, go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9. So we're seeing the Bible saying look, these beasts are unclean, there's pretty much no value, there's no point to these beasts, and the Bible says that without faith, it's impossible to please him. Meaning what? Meaning the unsaved, we're supposed to repent from dead works, and we see there's no profitableness in an unsaved person, and the person that goes down and gives all their money to the poor and tries to live a really good life, it's of no value to God. Because without faith, it's impossible to please him, and the works that the dog does is just kind of worthless, I mean the look at it is like this is the most worthless beast, it's so unprofitable, Ecclesiastes 9, look at verse 4, for him that is joined to all the living, there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. You see that sounds kind of positive, but he's saying nope, not really, because he's saying look, a living dog is better than dead lion, meaning what, even the most worthless beast, if it was alive, was better than someone's dead. He's just contrasting the fact that once you're dead, it's over. You're not going to get any more rewards in heaven after you die. It's over. I mean, so you need to spend your whole life, you say how many rewards do I want? Well you better get them all done while you're alive, because once you're dead, it's over. And he's saying even a dead dog, I mean at least, even a living dog, I mean the dog could get saved, I mean the dog could still do good things, I mean the dog has an opportunity to do something, and it's better than the person that's died. Maybe somebody that's courageous or strong or somebody that has a lot of wisdom after the flesh. It's better than that living dog because he's at least alive, that's the whole point of that. But it's saying it's using the beast that's least esteemed. It's pretty clear. He's not trying to use a really great beast, he's using something of no value basically. Go to Isaiah 66 if you would, Isaiah 66. So you see the dog really doesn't have much value. I mean it's better if you're alive at least than dead, but the contrast there is between a lion and a dog, a lion being one of the strongest beasts of the Bible, something that's very powerful, something with great strength and value. Isaiah 66, look at verse 3. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb is as if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offered an oblation is as if he offered swine's blood. He that burneth incense is as if he blessed an idol, yea, they have chosen their own ways and their soul delighteth in their abominations. So you see he's contrasting good things with bad things. Like the guy that was going to offer a sacrifice to the ox. God looks at that because they were so disobedient as they're killing people. And he's saying look, you're not offering a lamb, it's like offering a dog's neck. Because he's contrasting a lamb with a dog. Keep your, well don't keep your finger, just go to Exodus chapter 13. Exodus chapter 13. We're going to see something interesting. He said cut off a dog's neck. What is that talking about? Well the Bible makes it clear that there was a command in the Bible for them to make a sacrifice for the firstborn. So whenever they were coming into the new land, all the firstborn males were supposed to be given unto God and they were supposed to make a sacrifice for them. And if we see in Exodus 13 verse 13 the Bible says, And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeemeth the lamb, and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck, and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. So the lamb, they were supposed to break the neck of the lamb as a sacrifice to redeem all the males in the Old Testament. And we see that he was contrasting the lamb with the dog being the most vile, wicked, anti, you know, anti-thesis of a lamb. Basically the fact that the lamb represents Jesus Christ. It represents everything that's holy and right and spotless and perfect. What does the dog represent? If that's what subscripted the lamb's representing, it's the wicked, the ungodly, the unsaved, those that hate Jesus. I mean, it's something very bad. Go to Luke chapter 16, this will be the last verse that we look at for this point. But it's pretty clear that the dog's just an unprofitable beast. There's nothing good, it's unclean, it's pretty much worthless. It's not going to take the place of the lamb and the sacrifice. Luke 16 verse 20, the Bible says, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So he's saying, well, how does this mean that the dog's unvaluable or not profitable? Well I used to have a, I have a dog that used to have a problem. She had this paw, this right paw, and it had a little bit of an open wound. And you know what happens is they start licking it because they think that that will help. But you know what happens with that wound? It just gets bigger. And then they keep licking it more. And then it gets even bigger. And soon enough, I mean the dog is just sitting there licking its paw just forever. And you know, licking sores doesn't make it better, it makes it worse. And you know what these dogs do? They go to all these homeless beggars on the street and they lick their sores by giving them five bucks so they can get another drink and it makes them worse. And it makes them, it's horrible. And that's not profiting anybody anything, that's unprofitable. And that's what all these people do. They're like these dogs just coming licking the sores of these beggars and making our society worse and worse and worse to the point that it becomes so dependent on the need of that that they can't do anything else. We see the dogs that get the sores so bad, so much of an itch, so much of a dependence, it just says to keep licking it and licking it and licking it. And that's what happens to these homeless beggars and these derelicts in the gutter. We don't need the ungodly, but that's what the ungodly thinks they need. They all just come lick the sores. I'm doing such a good thing for this guy, I'm just gonna help him out, I'm gonna give him a couple bucks, but we see he's actually making it worse. And that's what the government does. It steals money from all of us and it gives it to the lazy and the people that don't want to work and it just keeps making things worse. Why? Because the unsaved can't profit anything of anybody. You say, well they give money to the poor. No, they're doing it wrong and they're making things worse. None of their works are good. Their dead works. We can only do luck through Jesus Christ. Don't get confused today. Beware of dogs. You say, this unsaved guy is so nice and he's so good, he's doing all these good things, he's not doing anything good. He's not helping anybody. It's unprofitable. The Bible makes this super clear. Go to Matthew chapter 6 if you would. You know, basically you have to put the dog in a cone or something. You gotta just kind of like restrict it. You gotta just tell this thing no, because it's gonna do it whether or not you want it to or not. The Bible says, I'll read for you in a place, it says in Matthew 25, 30, and cast thee the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's interesting that Christ relates the unsaved person to the unprofitable servant. How much did this guy profit? Zero. And that's how much the prophet of the unsaved person has. Matthew 6 verse 3 says, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what the right hand doeth, that thy alms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee open. You see, the unsaved, they don't like to do this, they like to do it before men. And they have their reward on this earth, but guess what, it's not profiting anybody anything. So we see that these dogs, they're unclean, they're unprofitable. And we can take from the cardinal example of a dog, we can learn spiritual lessons, spiritual application to our lives, and how we're supposed to live in this life. The point of the sermon is to be aware of dogs. We should be aware of these things. Go to 2 Samuel 3, we'll look at my third point. The third point I think is just super obvious. Dogs are unwashed. I mean, dogs are just stupid. I mean, they'll do all kinds of just foolish things. You can basically trick a dog into anything if you have, you know, some food or whatever. I mean, they have all these TV shows, back when I used to watch a lot of TV, you know, the bad guys would come and there's this vicious dog. What do they do? Just throw a piece of meat and the dog runs away. Because he's just unwise. He's just foolish. He's stupid. 2 Samuel verse 3, look at verse 8, then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ibbe-sheth and said, Am I a dog's head, which against Judah do show kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me today with a fault concerning this woman? Now Abner was a great warrior and he had taken one of Saul's concubines in line with her. And now the king, Ibbe-sheth, of the, where the king was still kind of divided was David and Ibbe-sheth, who was of Saul, it was Saul's house and David's house they were kind of, you know, fighting for the kingdom when it was in this middle ground. And Ibbe-sheth, you know, brings up this accusation against Abner and he's like, you know, you're lying with this, this concubine of Saul. That's not right. And he says, Am I a dog's head? And he said, What does that mean? Like I was kind of pondering this and I was like, What does that mean? It's just saying it's like the mind of a dog. He's just trying to say, Am I an idiot? Because a dog's head's stupid. A dog's head is foolish. He's like, Am I a dog's head? Because he's saying, Which against Judah do show kindness as day of the house of Allah. He's saying, Look, I'm against Judah and we know Judah's like God's anointed city. I mean, he's blessing us. I'm fighting against them for you and I'm doing all this work and then you're just going to come and bring accusations against me and bring faults against me. He's like, I must just be stupid if I'm doing all this work for you and then you're just going to come and accuse me and find fault with me. So we see the dog here is representing someone that's stupid, someone that's just a fool. Go to Proverbs chapter 26, Proverbs 26. The Bible makes it clear that a dog's unwise, a dog's stupid. And that's the same way the unsaved are. They're foolish. They don't understand anything. The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. It says it's the beginning of understanding. It's the beginning of knowledge. If you don't have the fear of God, if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're just completely unwise. The Bible says you have no wisdom in you. Proverbs 26 verse 11 it says, as the dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. The unsaved, they also can't get the sin out of their life. I mean, they just keep returning to their own vomit even though maybe they don't even want to. I don't know. Maybe the dog doesn't even like eating his vomit. He just doesn't. I don't know. I don't know what goes through the mind of a dog. He's just kind of a slave to it. And that's what unsaved people are like. They're just a slave to their sin. You're just a slave to just go and commit all of this sin. And the Bible says where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. And I was thinking about this day when I was driving about how if you put borders on yourself, if you self-discipline yourself, that's when you have freedom. That's when you have liberty over your sin. If you don't put any borders or any gates over your heart, over your family, you're going to be a slave to the sins and all the things of this world, the temptations. They're going to take you and you're going to do the things you don't want. You're going to say, I don't want to commit this sin. But if you don't put a gate, you don't put a border, you're going to go and do it anyways. And what does a slave do? Does a slave do what he wants or does what he doesn't want? It's what he doesn't want. That's what it means when you don't have any kind of self-discipline. If you don't have any rules for yourself, if you're not governing yourself, you're going to do that what you don't want to do. That's what Paul was saying. Look, he does what he doesn't want to do. But what does freedom mean? Freedom means you do what you want. And God's going to give you the desires of your heart. When you protect yourself against the things you don't want, then it enables you to do the things you do want to do. That's what makes you free. That's what gives you freedom. It's not the absence of walls. It's not the absence of restrictions. It's not the absence of putting rules or guidelines. No, those are to protect you from the things you don't want to do so you can do the things you do want to do. That's where freedom comes. And if you take the Bible, you take the laws of God, and you apply them to your life, you make those principles, that's how you can have freedom. But see, the unsaved, they don't have any of that. So they just return back to their own vomit. Go to Isaiah 56. You see, the dog is unwise. Isaiah 56, look at verse 10. His watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant. They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Now, I'll say this. I don't believe the Bible has a positive mention of dogs in it. But from this verse, you could abstract an indirect positive mention because I would say that probably the one thing a dog really has value for is the fact that it can alert you. It can kind of warn you of things. And the Bible is saying here, it was using in the negative saying that these false prophets, these false teachers, they're like dumb dogs that don't warn you when there's trouble. They're not warning you about God's wrath. And so you're just, the enemy's coming. He's pillaging and taking and stealing and killing and destroying because there's nobody warning you. There's nobody warning you from your sins. You know, I don't think it's a sin to have a real dog. And I think the main reason I have one or the one I would have one is just, hey, it can alert me. I mean, my dog, the best thing it's going to do is lick an intruder to death. I mean, it's not going to, it's not ferocious. It's not going to tear its head off. I mean, it's just going to be its best friend to be pets head, you know. I mean, but whenever the door gets knocked or something, usually it'll bark. It'll kind of startle, give the warning. I think that's a lot of representative of a pastor. A pastor's not going to follow you around all day. He's not going to help get the sin out of your life physically. He's not going to be like, don't look at that. Oh, don't touch that. No, but when he's preaching, when he's sounding the warning, he lets you get the alert so you can correct the issue. So you can take, you can figure out what you need to do. Go to, look at the next verse. So that's, that's my third point is that they're unwise. Let's look at another point, another attribute of dogs. Look at verse 11. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough. And they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter. So you see dogs, they're just greedy. Kind of goes back to the point that I was saying how the dog just looked out for himself. But I see, I think the point here is that dogs are unsatisfied. So they're unclean, they're unprofitable, they're unwise. They're just never satisfied. I mean a dog will continue to eat and eat and eat and eat and then take more food. And then he's ready for the next meal. I mean he won't ever be satisfied with anything. It's a lot like Romans 1 when it talks about the reprobate being implacable. Being what, they can't be placated, they can't be satisfied, they can't be appeased. I mean I could pet my dog for an hour and it still ought to be petted. I mean the dog doesn't want, it's just living on the next thrill, the next thrill, the next thrill. I mean it's just got a short term memory. All it can think about is the next thrill. All it can think about is the next thing that's going to satisfy the flesh. That's what the unsaved's like. That's what the unsaved's doing. They're never satisfied with anything that they do. They just want to keep going for more and more. They're just greedy. Go to Exodus chapter 11. So they see that they're unclean, they see they're unprofitable, they see they're unwise, they're unsatisfied. Dogs are also unsafe. Now today in America, we kind of have a warped opinion of what a dog is. But throughout history, when we think of dog, it's not really what history was like with dogs. I mean only in the last few hundred years have we seen this just multiplicity of all these breeds of dogs that are even more unprofitable. Like the Chihuahua. I mean that thing is so unprofitable. I mean what does that thing work for? I mean if it just was out in the wild, it would definitely die. That dog is just completely unprofitable. If you have one and you love it, great. I mean my dog is not really vicious. He's not going to protect himself either. I have a Welsh Corgi. Go to Exodus chapter 11. I mean that thing is just like a trophy or just like a doll or something. You just think it's pretty, you like to pet it, whatever. But it's not profitable. It doesn't have anything. Dogs, for the most part, throughout history have been very unsafe. Have been a very dangerous animal. Look at Exodus 11 verse 7. So he's saying, look, these dogs, they're not even going to move their tongue. What does that mean? You know the dog is kind of like, You know, or it's got, it's foaming at the mouth. Sometimes my dog, you know, when the toddler or the baby comes near, I'm like, We just have to smack that dog. He's like, no, you're not going to move your tongue against my child. And that's how God feels about, you know, his children. He doesn't want the dogs moving their tongue and, you know, growling at them and irritating them. He says in Exodus, he wasn't even going to let a dog move his tongue against them. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17. But dogs were very, you know, dangerous beasts. They were very wild. They could cause a lot of damage. I mean, even today, there's still a lot of people, you know, these pit bulls or these big dogs. They can be very dangerous in certain situations. They can, they can harm people. They can kill people. More people die from dogs than a lot of other beasts. Than beasts that you think are dangerous. I mean, everybody agrees a shark is dangerous. But dogs kill way more people than sharks every year. Even in today's world. Go to 1 Samuel 17, look at verse 43. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog? The dog cometh to me with staves. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. So we see that when you come to a dog, you at least come with a stave. What is that? It's just like a long rod that kind of sharp at the end. So you're just kind of like keeping it at bay. You're trying to keep him back. I mean, maybe you'd go soul winning. You kind of know, hey, sometimes you got to keep a dog back. You got to kind of keep him away. It'd be nice if you had a stave or something. You got to get back, dog. You know, he likes a chain around his neck. We see, the Philistine was obviously kind of mocking him. He was saying, look, are you coming to me like I'm a dog with just a little stave? Which David didn't even have that. He just had the sling, you know, the rock. But we see that the dog, people would come to them with staves. They would come to them with some kind of thing because they were dangerous. They had some level of danger. Go to 2 Kings chapter 8. 2 Kings chapter number 8. Look at verse number 12. And Hazael said, Why weep with my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel, their strongholds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elijah answered, The Lord has showed me that thou shalt be king over Syria. So he's saying, he's kind of giving this prophecy to this guy. This guy doesn't even, doesn't really know. He's going to end up becoming the king of Syria and then doing a bunch of really wicked, awful stuff. And the guy even recognizes, he says, wow, am I a dog that I would do such wicked things? Why, because the dog is a dangerous, wicked animal, according to the Bible. And it, you don't have to turn there, but there's a verse in the Bible 4 that said, But Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed Israel all the days of Joahaz. So he fulfilled that thing. He was oppressing all the people. He was doing all of the things that God said were going to come to pass. Go to Psalms 22, if you would. Psalms 22. So you see the dog's unclean, he's unprofitable, he's unwise, he's unsatisfied, and he's unsafe. Psalms chapter 22, look at verse 20. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Like I said, we probably have a work view. I don't look at the chihuahuas being that powerful. I don't look at the chihuahuas being that powerful. As in that days. But most dogs, especially of the path of history, were very vicious animals. They were very strong animals. You maybe liken them more to what we think of a wolf today, of something being very strong, very powerful. I mean, it'll eat flesh, it'll eat blood. Look at Proverbs. Go to Proverbs chapter 26. Proverbs 26. I'll read for you verse 17. He that passeth by, and meteth with strife belonging not to him, but like one that taketh a dog by the ears. He said, that would be a really dangerous thing to do, is just grab a dog by the ears. Cause that dog's probably gonna rip your flesh open, or it's gonna bite you, or it's gonna do something that's gonna hurt you. Cause dogs can be vicious. Dogs can be dangerous. Go to Jeremiah 15. Last place we'll look for this point. Jeremiah chapter 15. So we're kinda just flipping through the Bible and keep going back and forth, and looking at the six attributes and it's been super clear. This beast is not a good thing. When he's saying beware of a dog, it's making it clear. This is not an animal that's good. And that's how we can know, I mean, the Bible, even if something's so, what seems insignificant or so small, just the fact of a dog, it's so consistent because it's the word of God. We can trust every single word. We know that when it talks about anything, all the examples of the Bible are gonna be perfect illustrations. They're all gonna flow together. Cause God's perfect. Cause God's errors and chalks and contradictions, only God's word can be such a flawless, perfect book like this. Go to Jeremiah 15. Look at verse three. And I'll point over them four kinds, say the Lord, the sword to slay and the dogs to tear and the bowels of heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. So we see the dogs are dangerous. I mean, they're gonna tear. They're gonna destroy. They're gonna do wicked things. And we see the unsaved, the ungodly today, they're full of war and envy and strife. We see that man before the flood, they are full of violence. I mean the unsaved person just wants to kill and murder and is full of blood. We need to beware of dogs. Let's go to our last point. I think this is gonna kind of help us sum it up. Go to Deuteronomy 23. Deuteronomy number 23. So see that the dogs are unclean. They're unprofitable. They're unwise. They're unsatisfied. They're unsafe. And the last attribute that I think the Bible really articulates to the dogs, we're gonna look at every verse, is that they're ungodly. They're just completely and utterly ungodly. They're not godly in any way. Look at Deuteronomy 23 verse 17. There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 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 value. For even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God. So you say, why in the world would God contrast a sodomite with a dog? Well I think we've sufficiently seen that the dog is what? Always unclean. He's always unprofitable. He's always unwise. He's always unsatisfied. He's always unsafe. Makes me think of somebody. It makes me think of all the faggots out there that are clearly reprobated according to Romans chapter 1. So why can God always say they're a dog? Cause the dog's always wicked. It's always ungodly. It's always unsaved. Why would he use the illustration of a dog? Cause he's pointing to an animal with no positive mentions. Just like the sodomite. No positive mentions. Look cover to cover. No positive mentions. That's why he's likening him unto a dog. But I don't think necessarily it's just saying sodomites are always dogs. Dogs aren't always sodomites. The ungodly, the unsaved, they're not all reprobate. They're not all sodomites. But a sodomite is always a dog. It's never saved. It's always to be something to be weary of. Something to stay away from. Have nothing to do. It's completely unprofitable. That's why he's using this contrast here. You know we think of dogs today. I kind of hinted at this already. I read on the article it said the dog is almost a few hundred years old. Having been artificially selected for particular morphologies and behaviors by people for specific functional roles. Through this selective breeding the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds and show more behavior and morphological variation than any other land mammal. So we see today we have all kinds of dogs, right? Greyhound, you know, like I said, bulldogs, chihuahuas, who else? Corgi, terriers, labs, poodles. I mean I can't even name all of them. There's a lot of dogs out there. And we see it through artificial breeding. Artificial breeding. And I was thinking about this. I think that's a lot like America today. I think that's a lot like the world today where we're breeding all these freaks and all these queers. We have the LGBTQ. We keep breeding all these new freaks out there today. All these new breeds of dogs out there today. And they're all unprofitable. And they're all wicked. But you know, the dog was always a negative beast. It wasn't a positive animal. But we see that people through artificial breeding they try to comb it into something that they think is pleasant or something they think is attractive. Oh, it's just the TV show Woodland Grace. It's so funny. It's so harmless. No, it's wicked. It's ungodly. There's nothing profitable in it. You say, what do we do in the world today? I mean, nobody would have thought of a Caitlyn Jenner. Nobody would have thought of the Chihuahua and all these weird looking animals and beasts. But we keep bringing them out. And people have all this pleasure in them and all this joy. And again, I'm not saying that it's wrong to have a physical dog. I'm taking the spiritual application of what our society is like today. We're supposed to be aware of these beasts. We're not supposed to keep breeding them and feeding them and letting them multiply and saying, oh, it's great. You can tame a dog. You can dress it. But at the end of the day, it's still a dog. It's still always going to be vicious inside. It's going to be wicked. It's going to be unprofitable. It's going to be disgusting and filthy. And these sodomites, you know, today we might dress them up and tame them and make them seem real harmless and innocent, but inside they're wicked and evil and we need to be aware of them. You know, today we look at the world today and there's so many people who they just love their dog. They love their poodle. They love their bulldog. I mean, they love it more than people. I mean, it's sick. It's disgusting. I'll say this. I would rather every single dog on this planet die and go extinct if just one ungodly person gets saved that wasn't going too hard. They're that worthless. We need to get unbrainwashed from the world. I'm not saying that dogs are bad. But people today worship their animal. They worship their beasts. They have all these graven images and molten images of their dogs everywhere. I mean, they literally worship it. I have a family member that has like 500 molten images of dogs in their house. It's disgusting. It's wicked. It's violent. You walk in and it's like, I mean, a Hindu temple might feel less, you know, idolatrous than that. You're like, what in the world? But you see, it affects the hearts of men and they desire the animals. They click on the TV and what do you see? You see this sad lab. You know, it's all the kennel. We have all these puppies and we're killing them. A dog can rescue a puppy. Well, everybody's dying and going to hell and people care more about a dog on TV. That's so wicked and evil. I mean, dogs are worms. We see people today are the same way. They like their dog. They like their actor. They like their musician. They like their athlete. This unsaved person that's completely unprovable, that's their whole model. That's the person they look to. That's the person they want to follow and have fellowship with and look at and idolatry. You know, their actor, their musician, their athlete, their blogger. I mean, these people love Glenn Beck. He's an unsaved Mormon. This guy's an unsaved false prophet, but they just love him so much we're supposed to be aware of dogs. Because you know what? It might come looking innocent. It might come saying, oh, it's so cute and it's been tamed and it's great and look how profitable it is. No, we need to believe the Bible. We need to have faith in the Bible and say this is something I should get away from. I should be aware of dogs. These ungodly, these unsaved people. I just have no fellowship with the unprovable works of darkness. Psalms 22 verse 16. It says, For dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. The wicked, ungodly people, the Jews that rejected Christ, they had them slain. Go to Psalms 59. I'll start reading in verse 5. Psalms 59. Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, have the heathen. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. Verse 6. They return to Eden. They make a noise like a dog and go round about the city. Behold, they belt out with their mouth. Swords are in their lips. For who say they doth hear? But thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them. Thou should have the heathen in derision. Look at verse 14. Skip down a little bit. It says, At Eden, let them return and look at Matthew chapter 7. So we see these dogs. They're wicked. They're making the noise like a dog. The ungodly sounds of this world, all their music, all their filth, I mean we hear the ungodly saying and they're wicked. They're trying to surround you to kill you. And they make their sound. They make their howl. It's kind of like a wolf sound probably I would imagine in the Bible. But look at Matthew chapter 7 verse 6. Give not that which is holy and sample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. What was Christ saying? He's saying look, there's really no point in trying to church the unsaved and trying to church those that don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You shouldn't cast your pearls before slime. The only thing you should give to an unsaved person is the gospel. I mean it doesn't even make any sense to these repent of your sins people. I mean why in the world would someone who says I don't believe the Bible, I don't believe Jesus, I don't believe the street preachers, they're yelling at the repent of their sins and to turn from their sins. That doesn't make any sense. Get them saved first then teach them the Bible. There's no point in going around and just telling people how wicked and ungodly they are when they're unsaved. Just try and give them the gospel. Try and preach them Christ and him crucified and that's it. That's what Paul did. He wasn't going around telling them how evil and wicked and terrible they were all the time. Obviously from the pulpit after some person about how wicked and evil they are. Try and give them the gospel. Try and get them saved. Cause guess what they might just turn around and rend you. And that's what you see these street preachers are constantly getting punched in the face and their sign torn down and thrown in their face. Why? Cause it's not profitable. Go to Matthew 15. We're gonna kind of hurry. I'll read for you. Let's look at verse 26. She's taking the Bible and trying to cast the dog. It's for the church. Church is for the saved. It's not for the unsaved. It's for the saved. Look at verse 27. And she said, truth Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table. Yeah, I mean every once in a while you might get an unsaved person coming in here. They might get a little extra Bible or they might hear a preaching online or something. I mean it's not that they can't get it but it's not purposed for them. Look at Mark 7. Mark chapter 7 if you will. Mark 7 verse 27. The Bible says, but Jesus said unto her, let the children first be filled for it does not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it unto the dog. So it's kind of the same thing. Mark 7 verse 28. And she answered and said unto him, yes Lord, yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. So say the same thing. Go to 2 Peter 2 and go to Revelation 22 Already 38 verses about dogs. Nothing positive. It's kind of a little unique of a sermon. We're just trying to do a Bible study on this word. But if he's going to tell us to beware of dogs I'd like to know what that means because he doesn't explain dogs and he doesn't use the word dog in that passage. We've got to use the rest of the Bible. We've got to compare spiritual to spiritual to get a greater understanding of what this word dogs means. 2 Peter 2, look at verse 22. But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire. The dog's always unsaved. He's always wicked. He's just going to turn back into his own vomit. Go to Revelation 22. So you see they're always ungodly. You see that they're always wicked. They're unclean beasts. They're unprofitable. They're unwise. They're unsatisfied. They're unsafe. They're ungodly. The Bible says beware of these people. We shouldn't make close friendships with the unsaved. We shouldn't be looking up to the unsaved as our role models. You know, thinking oh they're harmless. We've tamed them. They're not that bad. Look at Revelation 22 verse 14. 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. For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever would love it and make it a lie. The dogs are always unsaved. They're always wicked. They're always vicious. And they're not going into heaven for without means just outside. Meaning they're not going into heaven. They're outside the gates. The dogs, the unsaved people. And our main joy should not be from dogs. It shouldn't be from real dogs. It shouldn't be from the unsaved. We need to do as Paul instructed us to beware of dogs. They may seem harmless and fun, but if we have faith in the Bible, if we believe what the Bible says, we can know our fellowship should be with believers. We should find our greatest friends that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be equally yoked together with believers. We should find other soul-runners. And we should let iron sharpen iron. And we should beware of dogs in every form. The Bible makes it super clear. This isn't a positive mention of dog. There's not one in the Bible. I think I proved that pretty well tonight. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for giving us your Bible. Thank you that we can live by every word of God. And we can take every single piece of it and we can pair spiritual to spiritual understanding. Thank you for giving us easy illustrations to help us just understand greater spiritual truths. I pray that every single person in this room would have the faith and the understanding and knowledge to beware of the dogs out there today. That we should be like-minded fellowship with other believers. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.