you all again. I'm thankful for
the opportunity and the invite. I'm thankful that we had traveling
mercies and most of all I'm thankful for
the grace that the Lord's given to you all. during the trials
that the Lord saw fit to purpose. You don't need me to tell you
what those are, you already know. But I'm thankful to see the grace
that the Lord's given you and the congregation still meeting
together. And the love that you have for
one another and unto the Lord. And truly your hearts are knit,
knit together. And that's something that's priceless.
That's something that's priceless, something the Lord has to do.
But again, I am honored to be here. Turn with me in your Bibles
to 1 Samuel chapter 17. As I was preparing this message,
I struggled a little bit with the name. And originally, I was
going to title this message, All Dogs Go to Heaven. All Dogs
Go to Heaven. That was a movie, I think, back
in the 90s. I never watched it, so I have no idea what it's about,
so I'm innocent in that. But it's true that the Lord's
dogs go to heaven. But I buy what the Lord gave
me was to change the name to am I a dog? Am I a dog? And the reason for that is here
in our text, David is speaking with Goliath and you know the
story well. David being a lad was not able
to go to the war that was taking place. You had Israel on one
mountain and you had the Philistines on the other mountain. There
was a great valley in between the two of them. And their champion
would come out, the Philistine champion came out, Goliath, Gath,
nine foot tall, solid man, come out, was taunting the Lord's
people, taunting them, saying, send out your champion to fight
me, and whoever wins, they'll be, will become your servants
if you win, or you'll become our servants if we win. And all
the children of Israel, all the ones that were the army of the
Lord there, they were scared. They didn't respond. Very well
matter of fact they ran and hide most the time well in the fullness
of time Jesse David's father says go and check on your brothers
Take some bread take some cheese with you, and he does just that
When he gets down there he sells them he finds out about Goliath
and he Goes up, and they they said he was interested in fighting
Goliath. He said well I'll fight him who
is this uncircumcised Philistine that he dare defies the art the
the God of the universe the God of heaven and And so they bring
him in before Saul, and Saul says, Saul, that he was just
a lad, and he says, well, if you're willing to do it, here's
my armor, here's my shield, here's my sword, and David said, I can't
take that. I've not tried these yet. I've
not tried these in battle. What I have tried is a sling,
and what I have tried is a staff. And a lion came and a lion tried
to devour one of the sheep. But I was able to overtake the
lion and caught him by the beard and slayed him and got the lamb
back. And again a bear came. And I was able to slay the bear
and recover the lamb from the bear. And the Lord will deliver
this giant. This Philistine into my hands
by grace by the Lord's grace, of course, and so Saul says go
go David leaves David goes get five smooth stones from the brook
and he starts heading down to meet at the appointed time To
meet Goliath Goliath comes out and sees David and that's where
our text start. Let's read this 1st Samuel 17
verse 43 through 48 Says and the Philistine said
unto David when he saw him Well, let's go to 42 and when the Philistine
looked about he saw David He was disdained to him where he
was but a youth and ruddy and a fair countenance and the Philistine
said unto him Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves?
and the Philistine cursed David by his gods and the Philistine
said to David come to me and I will give thy flesh into the
fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field and And said David
to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a
spear, with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord
of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver
thee into my hand, and I will smite thee and take thy head
from thee, and I will give it to the carcasses of the host
of the Philistine this day. I will give the carcasses of
the host of the Philistine this day into the fowls of the air,
and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that
there is a God in Israel. And all the assembly shall know
that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle
is the Lord's. He will give you unto our hands.
And it came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and
drew nigh to meet David, David hasted and ran toward the army
to meet the Philistine. Philistine asks a very specific
question, but it's sarcastic, isn't it? Sarcastic question.
Am I a dog? That you come to me with sticks
and stones, you come to me with stabs. Am I a dog? That's the question this morning
I want us to ask ourself. Because if the Lord causes us
to see the truth of that question, we'll realize, truth, Lord, I
am a dog. Truth, Lord, I am a dog. But
I want to be your dog. I want to be your dog. This Philistine
was arrogant and prideful. He was very well versed in war. He knew what he was doing. He
was a very strong, he was nine foot tall. He's, he's, well,
he's a giant. David's just a lad, it says,
probably between 14 and 16 years old. Goliath was very insulted
at the appearance of David, said, am I a dog? Am I a dog? He asked him sarcastically, didn't
he? But soon enough, God performs a miracle with this little shepherd
boy with a sling and a stone, and he slays the giant. He slays
the giant. Now, how else can you describe
that but it being a miracle by grace? God had to be the doer
of it. Well, the three things it's mentioned
that I've already talked about, the lion, the bear, and the giant,
are representations of things. And I don't want to spend too
much time on this to detract from the message, but the lion represents
our adversary, Satan. And the bear represents the law.
You and I can neither one defeat Satan or fulfill the demands
of the law on our own. And the giant represents our
flesh. Our flesh. Much bigger than we are. We can't
conquer the flesh, as Eric already said. We're not sinners because
of what we do. We're sinners because of what we are. So we
need our David to conquer these things for us, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's what he accomplished on the cross of Calvary for his
people. He put a muzzle on the... He bruised the head of the serpent.
He bruised the head of Satan on the cross, defeating him.
He satisfied all the law's demands. All the law's demands for God's
chosen people. Satisfying justice. Putting away
the sin of the Lord's people. And then, he... in a perfect place to be perfect
before the lord you and I don't have that that's what that picture
is here now question is am I a dog most of the questions that the
lord asks for life and death Those that have been made sinners
needing a savior those that have been made by God's grace in order
to see their need and made Had been given Christ to fill that
need or the others are those that in arrogance and pride say
am I a dog really? I'm not that bad. I work with somebody that actually
told me recently We're talking about heaven. I said, well, what
is your What do you think's gonna happen when you get to heaven?
She said, well, I've been a really good person. I'm really nice
to people. So when I stand before God, I'm meeting him. We'll just
talk and I'll explain myself. He's God. You ain't gonna do
any talking. I'm not gonna do any talking.
we'll say truth Lord, whatever he says, we're gonna bow and
confess Jesus Christ as Lord, the grace that we need is to
be able to bow right now and say Jesus Christ as Lord. Not
then, there won't be any grace given, that'll just be in reverence
because of who he is, he's sovereign and holy, he's just and true,
he makes no mistake. And as we heard the first hour,
he can do with whoever he will, whatever he will, when he wants
to, how he wants to, because he's God, it's his right, it's
his right. how you view yourself as a direct
reflection of grace bestowed or grace withheld, withheld. If the Lord withholds his grace
from us, and think about this, all that God has to do for you
and I to go to hell is just leave us to ourself, that's it. Don't
ever come to me, don't ever talk to me. I'm going to choose my
flesh. Your flesh right now, and my
flesh, this nature that we have, hates God right this second. And we'll continue to hate God
till the day it goes back to dust. Till the day it goes back
to dust. We need a new nature. We need a new heart. As we heard
the first hour, we need a new heart. One that looks to Him
through the eyes of faith, believes on Him. Believes on Him. See, if I declare that I'm good
in myself, I'm declaring that I'm not a dog. I'm not a dog. Well, what do I mean by that?
Well, I wrote down four things and we're not going to, I'm not
really good at being like a first thing, second thing, third thing
kind of preacher. I do that sometimes, but for the most part, I don't
do that. So I'm just going to tell you these four things and try to
just elaborate on it just briefly. But things that dogs are good
at. I know we have some dog breeders here, and I have dogs at home.
I have five dogs, and so I know a little bit about dogs. A little
bit about dogs. What are dogs good at? Well,
they're good at begging. Is that not true? Dogs are really
good at begging. Begging for attention. Begging
for food. And that's the second one. They're
good at needing food from the master. They're dependent upon
the master. That's what dogs are, what they
do. Well, the third thing dogs are
really good at is making messes. Anybody else have dogs? You know
exactly what I'm talking about. Making messes. The last thing
scripture says that the dog returns to its vomit. , and that's where
we're going back to the same the same scene over and over
its model which amended used to be a getting better and better
know it's a wretched man that I am right now So can you say that you're a
dog knowing that information? Do you beg? Are you a mercy beggar? Do you have need from crumbs
for the master's table? Are you good at making messes? I'm pretty good at making messes.
I make messes all the time. Not physically. I mean, physically
we make messes, but you understand what I'm talking about. The mess
of our sin. The mess of just trying to fix things that only
the Lord can fix. Can you say that you're a dog?
Although we see the arrogance and self-righteousness of Goliath.
And don't forget that was the question asked, are you a dog?
Well, we have some examples of grace in the scripture, and that's
what I want to show you. So we see grace withheld in Goliath. God didn't love Goliath. God
didn't die for Goliath. God didn't intend to save Goliath.
If he did, Goliath would have been saved. No, Goliath was put
here for the purpose of the Lord's glory and the Lord's honor, and
that's exactly what the Lord got out of it, glory and honor.
But this next person that is called a dog says truth, Lord. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
15. Look at verse 22 through 28. Matthew 15, and behold, a woman
of Canaan came out to the same coast, Tyre and Sidon, and cried
unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David.
My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. But he answered
her not a word. And his disciples came and besought
him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered
and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Then came she and worshiped, and said, Lord, help me. You
know, I love that the Lord never turned away a mercy beggar. I
love that. He answered and said, it is not
meat to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And here's
what she said, truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from the master's table. And Jesus answered and
said unto her, Woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even
as I will. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. And I understand this woman of
Canaan, she would have been an outcast, a Gentile. And the word
dog would have been a very condescending word to use. They didn't have
doggy purses back then like we do now. They didn't have doggy
sweaters like we do now. A dog would have been a pet to
some degree, but it wouldn't have been treated like we treat
dogs. Our dogs are really spoiled as
I'm sure you got dogs, you probably spoiled your dogs. That's not
what he was saying to her. He wasn't saying you're a cute
chihuahua, he was saying you're a mangy mongrel. He actually,
the word dog also translates here puppy. So not only did he
call her a dog, but he called her a dog without very much intelligence.
Puppies are not very smart when they're first born. So it would
have been insulting to her. Well, why did he do that? To
draw the confession out of her that he draws out of every one
of his people, every one of his elect, truth, Lord, truth. I am a dog. I am a dog. And the dogs desire the crumbs.
fall from the master's table. Dogs desire the bread of life,
the fountain of living water, and only you possess that. Only
you have that. Am I a dog? Am I a dog? Am I begging for one more crumb
from the bread of life, one more drink from the fountain of living
water? Do I see Jesus Christ as nothing of consequence? Do
I see myself arrogantly saying, am I a dog? Or am I actually
saying, am I a dog? I hope I am. I hope I'm his dog. Do I need him to save me and
have mercy? Or do I believe I'm good enough on my own? Do I need
his righteousness or do I have my own righteousness? See, everything
is just black and white in the scriptures. There's no gray area.
Either you have your own righteousness, which is no righteousness at
all, or you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ freely bestowed
by his sovereign grace, by his right. Oh, I need that grace. I need that mercy. If I don't
have that, I have nothing. I have nothing. either we believe that the blood
of Christ accomplished everything that the Lord purposed for it
to accomplish on the cross of Calvary, or there is something
you must do in order to make that blood effectual, there is
no in-between. There is no in-between. Does the blood of Christ, did
it accomplish what it was supposed to? Absolutely. Absolutely. There's nothing I can do to constrain
God, there's nothing I can do to restrain God. What does that
mean? That means I can't prevent Him from doing something, and
I can't obligate Him to do anything. It's not what I do that determines
my salvation. I asked this the first hour.
I said, is salvation a choice? And I paused. And I want you
to think about this. Is salvation a choice? Did you
know the answer is yes, absolutely, 100%? It's just not mine and
your choice. It's God's choice. That's the
difference. That's the difference in the truth. And what men say
today that it's up to you. No, I'm a dog. I'm a dog. What power does the dog have
over the master? No, it's completely relying upon the master to provide
and to feed and to care for and attend to. I'm a dog. I have
no hope of saving myself. I'm a dead dog sinner. Desperately
needing the master. I'm a dog. All that I can do
is beg for mercy, need food from the master's table, make messes,
and return to vomit my sin. Just keep sinning. I don't want
to. I don't mean to. And we don't glory in the sin
that we do. We do not. No, we never make light of it.
We never say, well, that's just because I'm a sinner. We don't
justify it. No. No, but the good news of the
gospel is if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous. That's the good news of the gospel. Paul said these words, and I
think I already said this, but I want to reiterate this again.
Paul said, O wretched man, that I am. And this was a long time
after his conversion. Do we understand that a lot of
men believe that they're getting better, and they're getting better.
A lot of women believe they're getting better and better. But
the Lord's people are made to know, I'm getting worse and worse. Why? because I see him more and
more, and I see my sin more and more. This flesh is not getting
better. This flesh is dying from the
time that it's born until the time we draw our last breath.
My only hope, my only hope is that God would save me by grace
alone, that he would be my sanctification. Not that I'm getting better,
but that I'm sanctified in him, that he would make me the righteousness
of God in him. That's our only hope. Difference between the Lord making
you a dog or not is this Pharisees had a lot in common with Goliath,
although they weren't the same kind of religion. It was still
false religion They just put the name Jehovah on their religion
rather than all the gods that the Philistines have still false
religion didn't matter what name you call it, but it was a Pharisee
in a temple one time and a publican in the temple and And the Pharisee
is praying within himself. Now I like that wording because
it means that he was pretty much praying to himself. He was bragging
on himself to himself to God. And that's what men do by nature.
He said, Lord, I thank thee that I'm not like other men are. I'm
not like, I tithe, I fast, I pray, I do this, I do that. I thank you that I'm not like
this publican here. And it says the publican would not lift up
his eyes under the heavens. It means his face was down. He kept beating upon his chest
saying, have mercy on me, the sinner. See, he saw himself as
a dog. He saw himself as needy. That's
what dogs are. Dogs are needy. And just so you
know, a dog and a sheep is the same thing that I'm preaching
right now. The sheep, it's the Lord's people. It's the Lord's
people. Am I a dog? Something interesting about a
dog. The dog doesn't become a dog the first time it barks. I've
already said this, but think about this. It doesn't scratch
to become a dog. It doesn't flee itself to become
a dog. It doesn't lick to become a dog.
It does all these things because it is a dog. And everything that
we do is because we are sinners by nature. We're sinners by practice. We're sinners by choice. And
we need a savior. We need a savior. We need the
Lord Jesus Christ. That he. The only hope that we
have is when the Lord said, call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. That was his purpose in coming.
Scripture says this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of whom I am
chief. I want to show you how he does
that turn with me to say it can say it. Samuel Chapter 9. I'll
be the last place we turn. Now David is remembering a covenant
that he made with Jonathan. Jonathan and him were like brothers. They had their hearts knit together.
Jonathan would have been Saul's son. He would have been rightful
heir to the throne. Saul was the king at the time
when they made the covenant. Time has passed and now David is king. Saul's dead and so is Jonathan.
And David remembers this covenant that they made. And the covenant
was very simple. It's that if anything happens to me, you look
after my family. And if anything happens to you,
I'll look after your family. And they entered that covenant
together. David remembered this covenant. And he says, is there
any yet left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And Ziba, who was Saul's servant
before Saul died, spoke up and says, yes, there's one. His name's
Mephibosheth. He's down in the house of Makar.
in Lodabar. Now the house of Makar means
sold into slavery and the house of Lodabar means the land of
no bread. What is the picture here? Well
the picture is that we are born in sin. Understand Mephibosheth
was lame on both of his feet not because of what he did to
himself but because of what somebody else did to him, they dropped
him. You and I are born sinners, not because of what we do to
ourself, but because we are from our father, Adam. And being of
his seed, we are born in sin. So it's a very, very parallel
picture to us, Mephibosheth is. We're lame, we can't get to the
king. Mephibosheth would have been the enemy of the king, being
Saul's descent. Understand back then if it would have been the
former Kings relative he had a claim on the throne technically
and yet we see that David Was not interested in doing him harm.
He was interested in showing him mercy, but Mephibosheth didn't
know that Mephibosheth didn't know that he couldn't have got
to the king if he wanted to because certain death would have awaited
him and You and I are born lame, sold to sin, under the law, enemies
of the king, in a land of no bread. That's us. That's us. Couldn't get to the king if we
wanted to. But I love what David tells Ziba, the servant. He says, go fetch him. Go fetch
him. I love that. Did you know that's
exactly what happens whenever the Lord chooses to shine his
glorious light out of darkness into our heart? He causes us
to believe his truth. Holy Spirit is sent to do so. Go fetch him. Go fetch him. He's
one of mine. He's one of mine. He calls his
dogs out of darkness into his light. He fetches us. Can you
imagine the fear of Mephibosheth? I mean, inner end of what's going
on here. He's the enemy of the king and a chariot comes rolling
up. I mean, OK well they found me,
it's over six through eight. Now when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David,
he fell on his face and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth,
and he answered, behold thy servant. And David said unto him, fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's
sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father.
Thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed himself
and said, what is thy servant? that thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I am. He called himself a dead dog
to the king, called himself a dead dog to the king. in the king The Lord has been misspoken about
in so much that people don't understand about His sovereignty
anymore, about His holiness anymore, about His justice, about His
judgment. Everybody preaches a baby Jesus, meek and mild,
that can't do anything unless you let Him. That's not God.
That's a figment of men's imagination. No, God is seated on the throne
as the successful Redeemer of His people. He succeeded 100%. Did not fail in anything. And
now He summons us to His throne room, and what are you going
to do? . The universe is as everywhere all the time knows everything
all the time we're gonna do it we go to his throne room were
falling face were falling face that's what john did in revelation
whenever he saw the more he stated, space is a dead man , a family's
feet of the dead man Only those who are arrested to
the throne room by the Lord, only those who are arrested by
the Lord's Spirit are summoned to the throne room. Take note also of the grace that's
shown to Mephibosheth. He was to eat at the king's table
continually. Now, those of you who have dogs,
I don't know what the rules of your house are, and it's none
of my business. If you do have a dog that sits
at your table and eats with your family, that's between you and
your family. My dogs are not allowed at my table. No, they're
dogs. They don't need to be there.
They don't eat off my dishes. They have their food. I have
my food. I might slip them scraps here and there. I guess we do
that. this is That's what, think about the
magnitude of his condescension and what he had to become in
order for you and I to be made the righteousness of God in him.
He had to be, he, understand this, as the sinner's substitute
on the cross, when God saw the sin of his people upon his son,
he crucified him, he executed him because that was the only
way to put away the sin. He was our substitute. Became what we are that we might
become what he is righteous and holy. Something else to think about
the King's table. He seated at the King's table
eating bread continually. But most tables do they not have
a cloth upon them? They don't have a tablecloth
on them? I know mine does. This was the king's table. So
you know they had this nice spread. There'd been cloths and things.
And what color do you think that cloth was? Well, the scripture's
not clear on this, but I believe it was red. And I'll tell you
why. Because every time Ephibosheth would sit underneath that table,
nobody could see his infirmity. Nobody could see that he was
lame. He sat with everybody else just the same, and he was covered
with the red cloth. That's a picture of the Lord's
blood. That's what that is. It's our covering. That's what
he did for his people. He didn't only bring us to his
table, but he covered our infirmity. Matter of fact, he put it away
on the cross of Calvary. That's what he did for his people.
And now, it's gone. You and I might see each other
and say, okay, well, that fella, he's rough, and he's this and
that. I can tell it. The Lord's people don't have time to look
at other people's sin. They're too worried about their
own. Is that not true? I'm too concerned with my own sin to
worry about yours. Lord, save me, that's just the sinner. He's covered by the blood. That's
the picture here. So what brought all this to pass?
What brought all this to pass? A covenant. A covenant of grace. A covenant determined before
Mephibosheth even existed. And that's exactly what this
is a picture of. The Lord Jesus Christ entered
into a covenant with the Father that He would redeem all those
that the Father elected, and the Spirit agreed that when the
time comes, He would come and fetch each and every one of them,
calling them out of darkness into His light, and that's exactly
what He did. In order for that to happen,
the Son had to agree to die, to make His soul an offering
for sin, and He did just that. The Son drank the cup of damnation
dry. The Son endured the full wrath
of justice and judgment of God upon the cross of Calvary for
everyone that God had elected, everyone that God loves. And
all that sin has been put away, cast as far as the east is from
the west, never to be remembered again. There is now therefore
no condemnation of them which are in Christ Jesus. If you're
in Christ, you're His dog. And he saved you by his grace
and brought you to his table, giving you everything you'd ever
need. See, everything God requires, he must provide because he only
accepts that which he provides. He doesn't accept the works of
my hands and the works of yours. He accepts his son. This is my
beloved son with whom I am well pleased. David wasn't pleased
with Mephibosheth. David was pleased with Jonathan.
That's what allowed Jonathan to come to the palace. But get
this, when Mephibosheth walks in, who do you think David saw?
who you think they would solve the city's seem a bit of a shambles
sure we'll see see you also have children some of you know what
your children resemble a resemble mom and dad don't think Those who are in Christ Jesus,
the father is satisfied with because they are in Christ Jesus. of this, it's not contingent
on any man in any way everything that was required god. God. You and I were born in these
are the king without hope without help in a land of no bread more
comes where we are infections of his throne room because the lord sees Jesus Christ
that's why He saw the blood and passed by
there. That's our hope in Christ Jesus so that he would see the
blood and be satisfied. Be satisfied with you and I. Our Lord being our substitute
surety on the cross imputed righteousness to his people. He saved his dogs
from their sin. Are you a dog? Mephibosheth was
a dog. , and I'm not sure if we should
woman from Canaan she was a goal not not a lot of people don't
know I don't know if the lord ever shows the sinners that we
are more gladly say truth lord but others are crumbs of all
from your table others are crumbs of all three table it's finished you're gonna make me your dog
make me a whosoever will as we know because of our flesh we
won't we'll to come to him the places in the two against god
he's gonna give me a new wheel to give me a new heart to give
me a new man one that seeks after him on the police and one that
says truth or I am a goal I am a goal if you come And without price, you have to
come and buy. Without money and without price, it says. You know
why? Because it's already been paid for by the blood of the
Lamb. Anything you add to or try to take away from that is
just damning to the soul. It's damning to the soul. There's
nothing more to do but fall on your face before God with His
given faith. Cry out. and hear what he says. He never turned away the mercy
beggar. Hear what he says. You're my
dog, come sit at my table. He gave him a ring, did you know
that? I didn't read that part and we're out of time, so I'm
gonna finish with this. He gave him his ring, gave him a robe.
Isn't that what our savior did? He gave us his robe. He robed
us in his righteousness. He gave us his seal, his signet.
He said, I approve of you because you're in my son. I see the blood
and I'm satisfied. The question is, am I a dog?
Truth, Lord. The dogs are the crumbs that
fall from the master table. Truth, Lord, I am a dog. Are
you a dog? Come to the master. Come to the master. If he's made
you one of his dogs, the good news is all dogs go to heaven. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would
take these words, your word. And you would make it effectual
to our heart. Blessed to our understanding.
All for your glory. We ask this in Christ's name,
Amen.